Dharius Daniels - I'm Moving Different

Well, um, we’re in a series here called «Faith Moves.» Our theme for this year is «Upgrade,» and we’re closing out the year by upgrading our faith. Here’s what the Bible says: God has given every person a measure of faith—the capacity to believe. God deposits it, you develop it. He determines if you have it at all, but you determine how much of it you have. Does that make sense? He makes the deposits, and we have to do the development. This series is intended to help us upgrade by exploring the scriptures and seeing how they can serve as case studies for us. So, we’re going to read a couple of verses found in Matthew, chapter 2, beginning at verse 13. I’m reading from the English Standard Version. Here’s what it says: «Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.' And he rose, took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Out of Egypt, I have called my son.'»

I want to stop the reading of scripture there and tag a title to this text. I hope this title is your testimony in advance for 2025. Here it is: «I’m Moving Different.» You should do better than that at every location—I’m moving different! Family, we’re in our annual Advent series that we’ve affectionately entitled «Faith Moves.» Let the church say, «Faith Moves.» Faith moves! In this series, I’m arguing that faith should not just be a response to a crisis. Listen to this: faith should be a way of life. In other words, faith shouldn’t just be an umbrella we reach for when it’s raining; faith should be the shades we wear when the sun is shining. We don’t just respond to crisis in faith; we live by faith. This is clearly what the scriptures describe when the writer says, «And the just shall live by faith.» Faith, family, is an often-overlooked essential asset in the arsenal of the believer. Nothing works if faith doesn’t. The Bible is clear: salvation can’t be experienced without faith because we are saved by grace through faith. The Bible is clear that prayer can’t be answered without faith, because James says when we pray, we should pray without doubting, without wavering, because praying and doubting is being double-minded. James says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways; let not that man expect to receive anything from the Lord. So, salvation can’t be experienced without it, prayer won’t be answered without it, Jesus said mountains will not be moved without it, and the writer of Hebrews says that God can’t even be pleased without it. For without faith, come on—it is impossible to please God.

I know this shakes some of our theological trees because if you were to ask the average Christian, «Above all else, what does God want from His people?» someone might say God wants to be loved, and someone else might say God wants to be obeyed, and another might say God wants to be served. I would argue that’s not incorrect, but you’ve got to put it in the right order; if not, it’s incomplete. Because in order for God to be loved, in order for God to be served, in order for God to be obeyed, He must be believed. It’s in the text because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. I’m talking about faith. It’s not optional; it’s essential. It’s not optional; it’s imperative. It’s not optional; it’s important because nothing works if faith doesn’t.

And maybe if something is this important to my spiritual development, I can’t afford to be passive when it comes to possessing it, increasing it, and upgrading it. If something is this consequential to my well-being, I cannot afford to not be assertive, intentional, aggressive, strategic, and resilient about moving my faith. Because if I can move my faith, I can move my life. Nothing works if faith doesn’t. And for those of us who take this responsibility seriously, this particular passage is going to offer us some insight on how to move our faith so our faith can move our life.

This scripture we just read here, family, exposes us to a case study on faith moves. This part of the passage—please don’t miss this—exposes us to an experience that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have. After, somebody say after! Come on, church, say after! After the three wise men leave them, we know the story: they follow the star, and the Magi get to Jesus. After they leave them, something happens. Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, gets a dream, and God sends a message to Joseph through that dream, revealing something incredibly significant. He tells him, «Now Joseph, you’re not going to be able to stay here.» The reason you’re not going to be able to stay here is that there is a civil authority named Herod, and he’s under the authority of the Roman Emperor, but he’s responsible for ruling Judea, which is the place where the Jews are. He’s called Herod, King of the Jews, not because he’s the final authority—he’s under authority, and he’s held accountable by the emperor in Rome to ensure that everything is cool, calm, and copacetic in Judea among the Jews. So if the Jews start…