Dharius Daniels - I'm Not Going That Way (GOATED)

Well, we’re in a series, man, called «Goated.» I want to go right to the Word of God and read a couple of verses of scripture found in the Book of Matthew, chapter number 7, beginning at verse number 13. Do y’all still talk back to the preacher here? I just need to know. All right. Matthew chapter number 7, verse 13 says, «Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.» I want to stop the reading of scripture there and talk from this subject during our time together, family. Hopefully, this is your testimony after reading this text: «I’m not going that way.» Clap your hands, everybody, everywhere! I’m not going that way.

Family, I want to start this sermon with a statement that holds the potential to orchestrate an evolution—and dare I say, a revolution—in every area of our lives. This statement is simple yet significant, is regular yet revolutionary, and is short yet special. For my note-takers, the statement is as follows: «If you want to live like no one else, you must be willing to live like no one else.» This statement has its origins in the financial arena, attributed to one specific financial leader, but it has implications in the spiritual arena. Because family, if I want to arrive at a different destination, I must be willing to follow different directions. If I want to end up in a different place, I must be willing to walk a different path. If I want to live a different life, I must be willing to live my life a different way.

I’m simply suggesting that sometimes reaching your redemptive potential will require stepping away from the crowd and walking away from what we call «regular.» But I wonder, am I talking to anyone in this room and online and at our other location? I wonder, am I speaking to any individual who can say this, not because you’re arrogant, but because you have self-awareness that this is not your year for regular? I’m going to ask that one more time. Yeah, I want to know if I’m talking to anybody who has a biblically healthy view of humility and you’re not saying this arrogantly, but you’re saying this because you’ve got discernment regarding the season of life that you’re in, and this year is not the year where you want to label it regular. Come on here! Does anybody have the epiphany, through your experience in life, that regular doesn’t work? Yep. A regular marriage is toleration of each other and not a celebration of each other. A regular job is getting finances but not fulfillment. Regular friendships are surface level and not so deep. This is for my old-school crowd: smile in my face but trying to take my place—backstab. Yes, regular faith is believing for what’s safe and not for what’s supernatural. A regular mindset is settling and not stretching. A regular life is existing but not excelling, and regular isn’t working. Why would I strive for a regular life when I serve an irregular God?

If I’m examining the Scriptures correctly, my God is an expert in the irregular. There’s nothing regular about the Red Sea parting. There’s nothing regular about Jericho walls falling. There’s nothing regular about Daniel surviving the Lion’s Den, or about the Hebrew boys coming out of the fiery furnace and not even smelling like smoke. There’s nothing regular about a shepherd boy named David taking a stone and defeating a 9-foot-tall giant named Goliath, who’s been trained in military warfare. There’s nothing regular about Jesus going to a cross, staying there all day Friday, all night Saturday night, but early Sunday morning experiencing a resurrection. I don’t serve a regular God, and this is why I don’t come to church and give a regular praise. This praise is irregular, this praise is different, this praise is distinct. Because when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He’s done for me, my soul—

I need you to look back at your past. There’s nothing regular about it. There’s nothing regular about you bouncing back from that. There’s nothing regular about you recovering from that. There’s nothing regular about you surviving that. God is the God of the irregular. Is there anybody in a season where you say, «I’m not created for regular, I’m not called to regular, and I’m not craving regular»? The only thing I want to be regular is my gas; everything else I need to be irregular in my life!

Well, if you are authentically interested in irregular living, if you and I are authentically interested in irregular living, and if we are serious and not just curious about irregular living, we need to listen to the words of Jesus in this text. This text captures the closing section of a sermon of Jesus called «The Sermon on the Mount.» It’s called «The Sermon on the Mount» because it was a sermon that Jesus spoke in an elevated place in a city called Capernaum. Listen to this: He’s sitting higher. Are y’all here? He’s sitting higher so He can be seen better and heard clearer. He’s sitting higher so He can be seen better and heard clearer.

Okay, one more time: He’s sitting higher so He can be seen better and heard clearer. Here’s a revelation from this reality: Jesus is sitting higher so He can be seen better and heard clearer. And there are times when we have to go higher if we want to see Him better and hear Him clearer. Throughout Scripture, God has historically used mountains as meeting places for extraordinary encounters with…