Dharius Daniels - You Have to GROW Through It

When Jesus died, He bequeathed the New Testament to us, and Paul is saying that there are some promises in the New Testament for you that are only possessed by grown people. You want peace that passes all understanding? That’s for grown people. You want joy unspeakable, full of glory? That’s for grown people. You want to be spiritually steady enough to look the enemy in the face and say, «You meant it for evil, but God meant it for my good»? That is for grown people. In Galatians chapter 4, verse 1, Paul says, «What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.» Come on, listen to the Apostle Paul talking to people who are called, talking to believers in Galatia who are being influenced by Judaizers—people who are trying to conflate this new expression of adherence and allegiance to Yahweh with the old religious rules, regulations, and customs. Paul is saying, «Listen, listen, I want you all to understand something: that stuff was temporary. You have to grow out of that. You can’t stay in immaturity and expect to experience elevation.» He says there are some levels you won’t go to; you’ve got to grow to them. Come on and talk to me, church! He says there are some levels you don’t get to go to; you have to grow to. So he says, «What I’m trying to get you to see is that you can be an heir but be underage, and if you’re underage, even though you’re an heir, your experience is no different from a slave.» Y’all missed it! It’s almost as if someone includes you in a will but establishes that what they have left you in the will can’t be possessed until you reach a certain age. So you can have a humongous inheritance designated for you in the will, but you can’t access it until you get to a certain age. This is what Paul is trying to get people to see spiritually. He’s like the New Testament is a will; all the promises in it have been bequeathed to you by Jesus. This is why the writer of Hebrews says the testament is not enforced until the death of the testator, meaning the will is not actionable until a person dies. When Jesus died, He bequeathed the New Testament to us. And Paul is saying there are some promises in the New Testament for you that are only possessed by grown people. You want peace that passes all understanding? That’s for grown people. You want joy unspeakable, full of glory? That’s for grown people. You want to be spiritually steady enough to look the enemy in the face and say, «You meant it for evil, but God meant it for my good»? That is for grown people. This is why the enemy fights aggressively against maturity. He says, «I don’t mind them coming to church as long as they don’t get mature. I don’t mind them obtaining biblical knowledge as long as they don’t get mature.» Because biblical knowledge and spiritual growth are not the same thing. He says, «I don’t even care if they use their spiritual gifts as long as they don’t get spiritually mature.» Because the evidence of spiritual growth is not the use of spiritual gifts; it is not the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are a manifestation of the Spirit, but they are not an indication of your maturity. In Galatians chapter 5, Paul says there’s fruit of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is evidence of spiritual maturity. See, it is easier to speak in tongues, but it’s harder to hold your tongue. You’re not deep when you can speak in tongues; you’re deep when you want to go off when they deserve for you to go off, but temperance, self-control, constrains and restrains you. That’s evidence of spiritual growth; that’s Holy Ghost power. I need somebody—this is an honest church; that’s one of our core values. It’s an honest church with no pretension. I need some people who are honest enough to say, «Lord, You’ve got to help me with that»; to just say, «Help me, help me, Jesus, help me!» Because just this past week, Joseph had a dream. One of the dreams was about astronomy—the stars and moon—and his family bowing down to him. The other was agricultural; it was in the field, and the sheaves were bowing down to him. He goes and shares his dream with his family, his brothers, and their responses are indicative of and reflective of the three types of responses that you and I will encounter when we share dreams and visions. We see it in the text; it’s in the passages—the three groups of people that are in your circle. You may not know it yet, but your dream, the articulation of your dream, exposes what category they belong to. Prior to Joseph’s dream, he could probably say that everybody was family. After he articulated the dream, they were still family, but he could put them in different categories. You got me? So here’s the first category: supporters. These are people who believe in the vision or believe in you enough to believe in the vision. Now his mother, who was no longer around, would have been a supporter. Then you got a skeptic, which was his father, because the Bible says his father heard him and kept the matter in mind.