Dharius Daniels - Your Dreams REQUIRE Development

Maybe some of you are on schedule, and maybe some of you have never made mistakes. Perhaps some of you have properly stored lessons from every season of your life. However, there are some of us in this room who have mismanaged certain seasons, missed some opportunities, and don’t have time to catch up step by step. The only way we’re going to catch up is by leaps. It’s a law I call the law of process, which states that development, not desire, determines your destination. In other words, dreams require development. It is what we call the «be, do, have» framework: be fruitful and multiply, and have dominion. You have to be so you can do, and you have to do so you can have. Some people cannot have because they cannot do, and some cannot do because they won’t be. They are trying to reach the having without the doing and trying to get to the doing without the being. It is the omission of development. It is what the Bible calls discipleship; it is what theologians and biblical historians refer to as the Great Commission. It is what Dallas Willard calls the Great Omission. He says that as a result of the absence of development and discipleship, we have created an iteration of Christianity called vampire Christianity. What does that mean? It refers to a version of Christianity that wants Jesus' blood but nothing else: «Forgive me, but don’t lead me; forgive me, but don’t teach me; forgive me, but don’t correct me; save me, but don’t be my Lord; be my deliverer, but not my prophet.» If you are serious about the dream, you will become obsessed with your own development. Your willingness to invest in your development in the present is an indication of what you believe will happen in the future. Personal development is an act of faith. You’re saying, «God, I believe You’re getting ready to do something so extraordinary in my life that I must build the kind of character and spiritual stamina necessary to handle it before You send it my way.» I want to speak to some people in the room tonight who sense God is preparing to do something that your eyes haven’t seen, your ears haven’t heard, and your heart hasn’t conceived. If you believe God is going to make it rain tomorrow, build the ark today! Dreams require development. Come on, dreams require development. Dreams require development, right? Because it’s one thing to be the kind of person who trusts God; it’s another to develop into the kind of person that God can trust. Are y’all with me? Did you hear what I just said? Yes, it’s one thing to be the type of person that trusts God; it’s another to be the type of person that God can trust. Can you be trusted with the influence you’re asking for without exploiting it? Can you be trusted to mentor influencers without exploiting them? Can you remain faithful to your assignment when you have opportunities that are traps disguised as blessings? Dreams require development, and that’s why this text in Judges is so important. This passage we just read is a powerful illustration of what we call in the personal development space a Quantum Leap. The term Quantum Leap comes from quantum physics, describing how a particle of matter leaps from one space to another. What we’ve discovered is that what happens with the particle serves as a picture of the possibilities for people’s personal growth, because a Quantum Leap is an explosive acceleration in your personal performance that propels you far beyond the next logical step. It rejects the notion that the only way to advance is through incremental improvement. It indicates an alternative way to move forward; it suggests that you don’t always have to take steps—sometimes, you can take leaps. I don’t know who this is for, but I know this is not a leap year technically, but it is a leap year prophetically. I want to encourage whoever this is for: you are getting ready to stop taking steps and start taking leaps. I want someone who believes this is your leap year to raise your voice if you are ready to skip some steps! Do you know that the quality of your life is based on the quality of your decisions, and the quality of your decisions is based on the quality of the information that you have? This means you need reliable sources of information, and the most reliable source in the world is the Bible. However, most people don’t understand that, if you want to understand the Bible, God is enough, but Sundays are not. I want to help you understand: I want to help you interpret and apply the Bible better. This is why I’m inviting you to be a part of my tribe called Bible. Maybe some of you are on schedule, and maybe some of you have never made mistakes, but there are some of us in this room who have mismanaged certain seasons, missed opportunities, and we don’t have time to catch up step by step. The only way we’re going to catch up is by leaps, and I’m telling you, God is getting ready to push you into your leap year. Redeeming time does not mean that God gives you more time—that’s not what redeem means. Redeem means to buy back. So, when God redeems your time, He isn’t going to give you more time; He will take the time you have left and do so much with it that…