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00:00 What's up family Pastor Darius here man and listen to me. This message is one of the toughest ones I've ever had to preach
00:06 Because it's it's me. Let me be honest. I'm preaching a message about something I struggle with
00:13 This is this is this is correct
00:16 And you know, I love growth, but there's some growth that comes from instruction and there's some growth that only comes through adversity
00:25 And I believe I'm not the only one but I believe this message which helped me is also gonna help you
00:30 It's called it takes what it takes now, please. I know I say this every time this one right here
00:36 I want you to send it to anybody that's going through any hard time
00:40 Cuz God's working it together for their good. Take care. What's up, Jersey?
00:45 Let's welcome the men with us today. So I want to talk from this subject in our time together family. It takes what it takes
00:54 It takes what it takes
00:56 Family recently one of if not the greatest coach in the history of college football
01:02 Nick Saban made an announcement that he was retiring from the career or dare
01:09 I say even calling of coaching
01:11 And although I wasn't a student athlete that played for him
01:17 I was a leader that learned from him as I watched from afar
01:22 his ability to
01:24 consistently
01:26 create a culture of greatness
01:28 You may not like the Alabama Crimson Tide
01:34 You may
01:37 You may not prefer the Alabama Crimson Tide
01:41 You may not even like or prefer Nick Saban, but anyone who is intellectually honest and objective
01:50 cannot deny
01:52 greatness
01:54 And
01:59 He has consistently
02:01 created a culture of greatness and
02:04 One day I had the opportunity not just to learn from him from afar, but to learn up close
02:11 I was invited to be a part of a cohort of pastors who actually had the opportunity
02:17 To go to the facility there in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
02:20 and be in a setting where we had the opportunity to hear him talk a bit about life and
02:27 At and leadership and during that session. He said something that was so
02:33 Impactful that it became unforgettable. He said this if you want to be great, you don't have many options
02:41 It takes
02:45 What it takes in other words greatness never goes on sale
02:50 It costs what it costs it takes what it takes and those who want to possess it
03:01 Must be willing to pay the price for it
03:05 Success is not owned. It's rented and the rent is due every day
03:14 And
03:16 This axiom not only applies to the game of football it applies to the game of life
03:22 Jesus says something similar to those of us who want to experience greatness in one of the most important and
03:30 Consequential areas of our life. He says this to those of us who are serious about
03:35 Spiritual greatness to whomsoever much is given
03:42 Much will be required. There's a price
03:45 He says this if anyone wants to experience elevation or evolution meaning they want to become my disciple
03:53 They must first of all deny themselves
03:56 Meaning you must suppress an
04:00 inferior want so you can possess a
04:04 superior won't
04:06 Did you hear what I said?
04:08 Self-denial doesn't mean you don't want that
04:12 Self-denial means you want this more
04:14 So you will tell an inferior desire that you got to stay in place
04:21 So that I can possess a superior desire. It's like I won't company but I won't piece more
04:28 Let me go to this side
04:30 Did you hear what I said? I
04:32 Won't success but I want my standards more it is a revelation
04:39 That all wants are not created equal and it becomes essential for us to suppress
04:46 inferior wants so we can possess superior wants
04:50 If any man will follow me let him first of all
04:55 Deny himself take up his cross and follow me
05:01 Jesus here is articulating something. Can I be vulnerable here?
05:09 Can I be vulnerable here
05:11 Jesus here is
05:13 articulating something about the reality of evolution and
05:17 Transformation that makes me very uncomfortable
05:19 I'm a pastor preaching this and I wrestled with this all week
05:27 Because honestly once I got this revelation, it was still over it is still a revelation that I wrestle with
05:36 Emotionally, I understand it
05:38 Theologically, but I wrestle with it
05:41 Emotionally because what the text teaches us is that some evolution and some transformation and some elevation
05:49 Only comes on the other side of adversity
05:53 You see I would respond the same way y'all responded to this
05:59 Did you hear what I just said it is it is family?
06:04 It is it is what is called in some circles
06:07 passive
06:09 spiritual growth
06:11 See all month we've been talking about spiritual growth, but we've been talking about active spiritual growth
06:18 What's that Darius that is the spiritual growth that is produced by my activity?
06:25 So I engage in the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting and solitude
06:33 the study of scripture the gathering for corporate worship biblical meditation
06:39 Biblical practicing of silence. These are all spiritual disciplines or exercises that Dallas Willard calls means of grace
06:47 Things that God uses to help grow us
06:51 Spiritually, but watch this. These are things we choose to do
06:55 These are things we do somebody say active
07:03 Passive spiritual growth. This is a term using contemplated spirituality
07:07 Passive spiritual growth is not the spiritual growth that comes from what you do
07:12 Are y'all okay? I don't know if you about to be after I say this
07:16 It is the spiritual growth that comes not from what you do. It's the spiritual growth that comes from what's done to you
07:24 Now I did think I was gonna get more eight man's than that
07:31 I
07:33 Choose
07:36 Active spiritual growth. I choose to pray. I choose to study scripture
07:41 I choose to come and worship corporately with God's people. I choose to practice biblical meditation. I choose to fast
07:48 That's active spiritual growth. I choose
07:51 But with passive spiritual growth it chooses you. I
07:55 Choose prayer I don't choose betrayal
07:59 I
08:01 Choose prayer I don't choose betrayal
08:05 I choose to study a scripture. I don't choose exploitation. I don't choose being disrespected
08:11 I don't choose a diagnosis. I don't choose the loss of a job. I don't choose the loss of a loved one
08:18 I don't choose the downturn in an economy. I choose to pray. I don't choose to suffer
08:26 And
08:28 The Bible is clear in
08:33 Communicating that this Avenue for our formation is not an optional Avenue see in my theological
08:41 Infancy what I thought was
08:45 Adversity was only a result of the absence of wisdom that if I made enough wise
08:52 Decisions then I would be able to avoid adversity and I'm not saying that's untrue
08:59 Because there is some wisdom that does serve as a wall that protects us from unnecessary
09:06 Adversity, but I am saying that there are some things that are chosen for you
09:12 That no matter what wall of wisdom you put up it'll scale the wall
09:17 You can eat the right things and work out and exercise y'all aren't talking to me and something will scale that wall
09:25 you can be good to people and generous to people and
09:29 Gracious to people and helpful for two people and Judah still betray you
09:35 Are y'all following me
09:38 Jesus got betrayed
09:42 He managed the relationship perfectly
09:47 perfectly
09:49 He always said to Judas what needed to be said he always said it when it needed to be said he always said it
09:57 How it needed to be said he always said it where it needed to be said he was generous to Judas
10:03 He gave a platform to Judas. We wouldn't even know Judas if it wasn't for Jesus
10:08 Come on his elevation was attached to his association with Jesus and Jesus
10:17 Did all of that and Judas still betrayed him?
10:21 So if that happens to Jesus what makes you think if you text enough call enough paid him enough
10:29 Show up enough give them enough that they're going to reciprocate in time
10:35 Because how people treat you is not just an indication of your character
10:40 How people treat you is an indication of their character and there is no amount of generosity
10:47 That will make bad character become good character
10:51 It's not the stuff we choose it's the stuff that chooses us
11:07 It's
11:09 When life is life
11:17 It's not all the stuff God does but it's all the stuff God uses
11:24 It's when you're looking at someone you love and you say why why is that happening to my baby
11:34 Not my child
11:36 Lord me not them
11:39 Not my mama
11:42 Not right now
11:45 Lord me not them Lord not the job
11:49 Not right now now, I don't really like it but now at the time
11:55 The way my life is set up right now
12:04 Just hold up
12:06 Calm down Jesus just come relax
12:14 You don't choose it
12:25 life choose you
12:27 Joe didn't choose his suffering
12:31 He didn't even have a say in it
12:33 God didn't even include him in the conversation
12:37 The Bible is clear how this experience comes about it says Satan and God
12:44 Were having a conversation and God said have you considered my servant Joe Joe didn't choose
12:51 any of that
12:54 He didn't choose to get sick
12:57 He didn't choose to lose his children. He didn't choose to lose his business
13:02 He didn't choose to have a wife who got caregiver fatigue and told him curse God and die
13:09 It's passive spiritual growth and this is what's hard for me to swallow
13:22 Because I assumed in my theological infancy that all growth came from instruction
13:29 so if I just read enough and
13:32 pray enough
13:34 and study enough
13:35 Then I'll grow
13:37 But God has shown me through scriptures and through experience. There's another way I
13:44 Use instruction, but I also use adversity
13:52 And Darius if you're honest your quantum leaps
13:58 Your greatest transformations
14:05 Has come on the other side of what you don't want to ever experience again
14:18 And
14:20 So I realized through my own experience as a pastor how ill-equipped I was to handle this part of life
14:31 Because I was taught binding, loosing, resisting
14:43 Now I realize I can rebuke the enemy I can't rebuke life
14:47 Did you hear what I just said and
14:53 so
14:55 Are y'all follow me?
14:57 And so what I learned from my personal experience is something that I need to be
15:05 responsible for as a pastor no matter how
15:09 Uncomfortable I am personally because it is not my preferred way of growth
15:13 But I realize that in religious spaces we've taught you how to sow
15:20 We've taught you how to serve
15:23 We've taught you how to shout
15:26 But we have not taught you how to suffer
15:34 So when life starts lifing we are ill-equipped we don't have the stamina to stand
15:42 See sometimes the strategy is to stand. I must say that one more time
15:48 Sometimes the strategy is to stand sometimes the strategy is to not die
15:53 Sometimes the strategy is to live where you get that from Darius Paul says
15:59 Having done all to stand when you don't know what to do when there's no blueprint when there's no strategy
16:05 You look up you look at yourself in the mirror and say I'll live and not die
16:10 To declare the works of the Lord you look the storm in the face
16:15 And you say one of us is gonna quit first and it's not gonna be me
16:19 I may cry, but I'm not quitting and I may fold but I'm not quitting I may bend but I'm not quitting
16:27 (applause)
16:29 We have not been taught to suffer
16:36 Well pastor, where's the gospel in this this doesn't feel like gospel. This doesn't gospel means good news
16:43 This doesn't sound like good news to me. Here's the good news
16:46 The good news about the gospel is this the Christians victory
16:53 Isn't tied to always avoiding
16:56 The Christians victory is also tied to overcoming
17:04 What I can't avoid
17:07 So sometimes I go in the lion's den
17:10 But God bring me out
17:13 Sometimes I go in the fiery furnace, but God bring me out
17:20 This for all my Baptist members here. Sometimes I go in the tomb and I stay there all day Friday
17:27 All night Saturday night
17:29 But early Sunday morning
17:32 So all we do is win
17:41 All we do is win
17:44 All we do is win we cry but we still win and we get sad but we still win and we get discouraged
17:52 But we still win and I may go in but don't you take your eye off me
17:57 But sooner or later the same God that let me go in it's gonna snatch me out
18:03 Some evolution
18:14 Is on the other side
18:16 And the text we read in Acts is an amazing example of what I'm trying to articulate in this particular passage
18:29 We get exposed here to some motive behind
18:33 The God's handling of some madness in our life this text in Acts 9
18:38 Exposes us to one of the most epic evolutions in Scripture
18:43 It exposes us to the transformation of a person named Saul who becomes the Apostle Paul
18:51 Who's responsible for two-thirds of the letters that are written in the New Testament?
18:56 So two-thirds of the letters the book of Romans is an epistle Paul writes to believers in Rome
19:03 First and second Corinthians are two letters Paul writes to believers in Corinth. Am I making sense?
19:10 Ephesians is a letter Paul writes to believers in Ephesus Colossians colossi
19:15 Thessalonians Thessalonica
19:18 Philippians Philippi am I making sense?
19:20 Most of what you see in the New Testament
19:25 First Timothy his first letter to Timothy second Timothy his second letter to Timothy Titus his letter to Titus
19:32 Who's an elder he appoints to oversee the planning of churches in Crete. It's Paul
19:38 He didn't start out that way though
19:44 You wanna know how he started out
19:49 Yeah, he started in Acts chapter number 7 in verse number 58. You see something the Bible says that they cast
19:56 Him meaning Stephen out of the city and stoned him Stephen was a disciple of Jesus and as Stephen is being stoned
20:05 He is preaching and as he's preaching I'm not gonna bother this but I just get just a little bit as he's preaching
20:12 Oh my as he's preaching Marcus as he's preaching. He sees a vision as
20:17 he's being stoned and
20:20 Preaching he see a vision and the text says Marcus. He he sees Jesus
20:26 standing
20:28 On the right hand of the father
20:31 Here's why that's significant
20:33 All the times that Jesus is mentioned
20:36 post resurrection
20:39 He's not standing
20:41 He's seated at the right hand of the father
20:45 But when people started messing
20:48 with his child
20:51 He stood up I
20:56 Don't know who needs to hear this, but Jesus will stand up over you
21:02 Wait a minute. Take your mouth off of him. Don't make me stand up
21:06 Don't make him get out of his seat
21:13 But the text says as he's being stoned listen to what happens
21:21 the witnesses
21:25 Laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul
21:29 So
21:31 He's complicit he wasn't throwing them stones, but he wasn't stopping him
21:41 And so he goes from an observer in
21:53 chapter 7
21:56 to a participator in chapter 9
21:59 Because chapter 9 verse 1 says he's breathing murderous threats
22:03 Y'all missed it
22:07 Verse 1 said he's he's he's breathing out
22:10 murderous not just empty threats
22:13 threats of murder
22:15 Against the Lord's disciples
22:18 Because if you stay around it long enough you become it
22:23 Come on here. See I don't have time to deal with this
22:29 I
22:30 Don't have time to deal with this
22:32 Because in chapter 7 he's an observer in chapter 9. He's a participator
22:38 Because all growth isn't positive evolution
22:43 Y'all not this is why some of you have to give yourself a break
22:50 when you discover somebody you're with has become a different version of themselves and
22:57 You're wondering like what did I miss and how did this happen?
23:01 Sometimes your discernment wouldn't off their development was off
23:06 They became a worse version of themselves
23:09 We think time makes people better
23:15 Sometimes time makes people worse and you can't predict who somebody's gonna become you can choose based on who they are
23:24 But you can't predict who they gonna become
23:27 Life changes people in ways you can't predict
23:30 So he goes from observing it
23:41 to participating in and
23:44 The text says he starts asking the high priest
23:47 for letters for permission so that he ran into
23:53 Anybody that was a follower of the way
23:55 He might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem
24:00 This is vile
24:04 This is sinister
24:06 this is evil and
24:08 This is the man who wrote two-thirds
24:19 This is the man that says where the Spirit of the Lord is there's Liberty
24:23 This is a man that says if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature
24:26 But whole old things are passed away behold all things have become new
24:30 This is the man that said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
24:34 This is a man who said my God shall supply all of my needs. It was that man
24:39 How does this man?
24:42 Become that man
24:45 Wow
24:47 Text shows us how this man becomes that man
24:54 As he's on his way to Damascus
25:00 the Bible says
25:02 Watch this. He's on his way to Damascus and the Bible says all of a sudden there's this flash of light
25:09 He's knocked off of his horse and the flash of light
25:14 Makes him blind
25:16 So he's on his way to Damascus and
25:20 Then all of a sudden in a flash
25:25 Something happens that knocks him down
25:29 Have you ever
25:33 Been on your way to your Damascus
25:37 Damascus can represent wherever you trying to go. You just drinking your water and minding your business. That's it
25:44 I'm just trying to live my life. I'm just trying to trade chase my dreams. I'm trying to carry out my calling
25:50 I'm trying to accomplish my purpose. That's it. I'm trying to get to Damascus
25:53 Relationally Damascus professionally, that's my desire destination and all of a sudden there's this interruption
26:01 And it's an interruption of inconvenience
26:04 God don't you know I'm trying to get somewhere
26:08 Not this now
26:10 Not not this and not now
26:14 And God interrupts
26:19 Because he says you're going to the right place all
26:23 Cuz you're gonna make it to Damascus
26:26 But Saul not going
26:35 Did you hear what I just said he stopped him he said no, I gotta stop this no, no
26:40 No, you you want to go to the right place and somebody's going it's not Saul
26:45 This is as far as Saul can go
26:49 All this time you've been improving Saul you've been tweaking Saul you've been adjusting Saul
26:57 You've been elevating Saul, but now I need you to share Saul
27:04 You are not in tweaking season you are in shedding season
27:09 God saying that version of you is an inferior version of you that you must be willing to share
27:16 Because that version can't go there
27:19 Cuz if that version gets to Damascus, they're not gonna manage Damascus properly. I need Saul in Damascus
27:27 I don't I need Paul in Damascus not Saul. I
27:30 Need Paul there
27:34 Cuz Saul wants to go there for the wrong reasons
27:37 So he's knocked off his horse in a flash and that's how life can happen
27:48 flash
27:51 your normal
27:52 flow of life
27:54 text message flash
27:56 email flash phone call flash
28:02 Rush text and when he's on the ground the Bible says the Lord speaks to him and says
28:09 Saul Saul
28:12 Why do you persecute me?
28:14 Now I'm wondering why the Lord didn't say this when he's on the horse
28:19 Because it's hard to hear when you're on a high horse
28:32 So you don't listen the same
28:34 When you're on a high horse
28:37 You're not open
28:39 When you're on a high horse and God's like I would have had this conversation
28:44 With you on the horse if you've been willing to hear this conversation on the horse
28:50 But it seems like the only time you're open to hearing hard truths
28:56 You can hear no weapon formed against you shall prosper on the horse
29:00 You'll hear you're more than a conqueror on the horse, but it's hard to hear why you persecute me
29:06 And Saul says in verse 5 who are you Lord?
29:18 Who are you he don't even know what he's doing
29:25 Because
29:27 Sometimes it takes being knocked off the horse
29:30 To see what you didn't see you were doing
29:36 Did you hear what I just said see this this is see this this is so important and this is what this is what it's
29:46 Perturbing to me. I'm just being vulnerable. It's a peter. It's perturbing to me
29:51 But it's true because what happens here is God is
29:55 forcing a kind of growth
29:58 That Saul doesn't think he need
30:00 Because when you look at his socio-economic status
30:08 He doing way better than most
30:10 If you study Paul's background spoke between 7 and 14 languages. He was trained under one of the most
30:18 Famous rabbis during this particular era in history a rabbi named Gamaliel. He's a Hebrew, but he was a Roman citizen
30:25 trained at the University of Tarsus
30:28 he was such an intellectual asset that when
30:32 When two apostles Peter and him got ready to go on missionary journeys, they sent Peter to the Jews
30:38 But they sent Paul to the Gentiles so he goes to places
30:41 To the Agoria he goes to the marketplace in Greece. He goes up on Mars Hill
30:46 Well the philosophers come on and and and and the aristocrats are just talking and pontificating
30:52 About life and the Bible says he's quoting their poets
30:56 So he's doing better than most
31:04 So in his mind, he's probably thinking how much growing you want how much more growing you want me to do. I
31:09 Know you want me to be humble, but how much more humility you want me to have?
31:15 I mean God, I guess Paul's the only one have you ever felt like okay now how much more broken you want me to be I?
31:21 Didn't even know you could be this broken now. I feel like you're taking me through something and I'm becoming more broken than this
31:29 He says cuz you don't get to set your spiritual growth goals
31:37 You can set your other ones I said this one
31:43 And
31:45 I send what I need to send and I allow what needs to be allowed or I use what I need to use
31:54 To get you to a growth goal because your growth goal isn't about your life. It's about your purpose
32:01 You know how much you need to grow to be happy I know how much you need to grow to be used
32:10 I'm done
32:12 He says so this is why what I'm doing in your life don't make sense
32:27 Is because I'm doing what I'm doing because I know who you need to be
32:35 To be used the way I'm about to use you in this next chapter of my story for your life
32:41 Paul heard Stephen preached the word he heard instruction and
32:56 It didn't change
32:59 He said and watched a man be stoned while he was preaching it didn't change him, but when God knocked him off that horse
33:05 He
33:07 Became a version of himself
33:11 That he wouldn't come any other way
33:14 Here's why I am I think integrity is authenticity not perfection. Here's why I am
33:20 I'm not where David was but I understand what David meant
33:24 When he said it was good
33:27 That I was afflicted
33:34 I want
33:36 But when I look at my life my greatest growth
33:40 Came on the other side of my greatest pain
33:44 Now here's what's interesting the pain doesn't produce the growth
33:49 So all when Paul was blind he got instruction I
33:55 don't know that
33:58 He got us because there was a man in Damascus named Ananias
34:01 God speaks to Ananias in a dream. He says I want you to go pray and help this man Paul
34:05 Remember now when Paul's blind God tells him get up go to Damascus then I'm gonna tell you what to do
34:10 So Paul's got to obey he's got to submit in suffering
34:15 To act to extract the asset from adversity
34:19 If if he doesn't obey he doesn't avoid suffering he just suffer for nothing
34:29 And because I hate suffering I
34:32 refuse
34:34 to suffer for nothing if I'm going to
34:37 sow in tears I
34:39 Will reap in joy. Pastor how do I extract the asset here it is number one I
34:49 Got to address we have to address our anger
34:57 Because anger is our response to injustice and
34:59 When life throws us something we don't deserve the human response is anger
35:06 That doesn't mean you're weak. It means you're human
35:09 But the scriptures teach us how to manage anger be angry
35:14 But sin not don't let the anger push you to behave in a way that complicates your suffering
35:20 So I'm already suffering in one area
35:23 Now I'm hurting angry and I go out and do something in my anger. So now I got two sets of problems. I
35:29 Got the problem I was dealing with that made me angry now. I got a problem. I created because I was angry
35:35 So if you hate what you have refuse to make it worse
35:50 Number two, we got to arrest our words
35:53 Because whatever area I'm suffering in is an area
35:57 Where I'm suffering in but how I speak about what I'm going through determines whether or not I start suffering mentally
36:05 So I can be going through something financially
36:08 But my words can cause me to start going through something emotionally
36:13 So now I'm compounding my problems not just by what I do in anger, but what I say with my words
36:19 I
36:21 Got to adjust my perspective
36:23 And I've got to I got to stop looking at so will not stop
36:29 I've got to refuse to only look at the inconvenience. I'm experiencing and say now God
36:36 Obviously you and me see where I am differently. I
36:41 Thought I was doing great
36:48 Obviously we not on the same page
36:50 So that I don't have to repeat this
36:54 Show me what you want to fix
36:58 Just go ahead and show me and then last but not least except Ananias his assistance
37:08 Ananias was a man that would have been the man that Paul took as a prisoner
37:18 I
37:20 Remember he was looking for people to he would have been that man
37:23 Ananias represents the help you wouldn't be open to receiving unless you were in crisis
37:30 He represents the person or the people God uses to break your false sense of hyper independence
37:43 Cuz Paul never needed anybody
37:45 Until now and there's a crisis that hits your life that you cannot survive without community
37:53 You need an Ananias
37:57 And you got to accept and Ananias as hell
38:02 I'm gonna pray for some people who are going through right now
38:06 I'll pray for some people who are trying to make sense out of what you went through
38:12 There are some things I went through I still don't know what God did in them
38:17 There's some stuff I can point to and say I grew from that and then it's other stuff. I said, I guess I grew
38:22 I don't know
38:24 I'm sure I grew I just God just didn't let me in on
38:28 God commits to do a thing. He never he didn't commit to let me in on everything he's doing
38:37 So I'm gonna pray for some people
38:39 But life is life right now
38:42 And you thinking if I wouldn't have did that at prom in high school
38:46 This would have never happened to me you're going all back through in your life because you're trying to find a reason
38:53 God is just life is not fair
39:06 Life's not fair
39:08 So father I pray for people right now
39:11 Who are in this room?
39:15 Right now who are watching online
39:17 every location
39:20 Who in a season of suffering that doesn't make sense
39:27 I pray that you give us the wisdom and the resilience to extract from seasons of adversity
39:36 assets
39:38 That will lead us to the life we actually want
39:43 Give us the grace
39:49 To handle seasons that we did not choose but seasons that chose us
39:57 And we declare if we so in tears
40:01 We refuse not to reap in joy
40:06 In Jesus name, amen
40:08 It takes what it takes
40:11 Listen to me
40:17 [APPLAUSE]