I'm Looking For More -- Dr. Dharius Daniels
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00:00 Hey, Darius Daniels here, man, lead pastor of Change Church.
00:05 I hope you are about to be blessed.
00:08 I hope you are.
00:10 This is a message called "I'm Looking for More."
00:12 I want you to know that there are times when we're looking for more from God, but then
00:17 there are times where God knows there's more in us.
00:20 This message is going to help you wrestle with that tension.
00:23 I hope it blesses you, and I have one request.
00:25 I do have an ask, and that is if it blesses you, would you please just send it to somebody
00:31 else?
00:32 Take care.
00:33 Enjoy the message.
00:34 Well, man, God is good, amen?
00:37 Well, listen, we're in a series here called "I'm Looking for Something," and on today
00:46 there is a passage found in the Gospel of Luke.
00:50 Whenever you see the word "gospel," it just simply means "good news," and so the Gospel
00:54 of Luke is the good news about Jesus from Luke's perspective.
00:59 And so Luke says something here I think that's very significant.
01:03 In Luke 5, chapter number 5, verse number 1, it says this, "One day as Jesus was standing
01:10 by the lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him, listening to the word
01:15 of God.
01:17 He saw at the water's edge two boats that had been left there by the fishermen who were
01:22 washing their nets.
01:24 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little
01:28 from shore.
01:29 Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
01:33 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out in the deep water and let
01:37 down nets for a catch.'
01:39 Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but
01:47 because you say so, I will let down the nets.'
01:53 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish."
01:59 I want to see if you...
02:02 I hadn't said it, but I want to know, did you...
02:05 Are you hearing what I had said?
02:09 Because I don't know, this is my fourth time teaching this today, but I just saw something
02:14 I hadn't seen in all the other three services.
02:18 It says, "They caught such a large number of fish."
02:21 I pray this happens to you in 2024, that their nets begin to break.
02:27 115, you're not loud enough.
02:31 I said their nets begin to break.
02:34 I'm praying for net breaking blessing.
02:40 My God.
02:43 Their nets begin to break, so they signaled, not to anybody random, but to their partners
02:54 in the other boat to come and help them.
02:59 They came and filled both boats so full, they began to sink.
03:06 In part three of this series, I'm looking for something.
03:08 I want to talk from this subject.
03:09 I'm looking for more.
03:12 If that's you, clap your hands all over the building.
03:21 Ladies and gentlemen, one of the phrases that is used to describe our enemy and our adversary
03:31 is a phrase or a description called the Prince of Darkness.
03:39 One of the reasons Satan is depicted and described as the Prince of Darkness is not simply because
03:47 darkness is a metaphor for evil.
03:50 It is, but darkness is also a metaphor for ignorance.
03:57 If I am ignorant, I'm in the dark.
04:03 An ignorance family is not the absence of intellect.
04:08 It doesn't mean I don't have the capacity to know.
04:12 Ignorance is the absence of information.
04:17 It means I don't know.
04:23 So it is not just the absence of information is the absence of accurate information because
04:31 it is possible to be informed, but misinformed.
04:37 And so the enemy is an enemy that operates in the arena of ignorance.
04:45 He wants to keep us in the dark because when you're in the dark, you're more vulnerable
04:52 than you are in the light.
04:54 Come on, talk to me.
04:56 Most people who may stub their toe aren't stubbing their toe when it's light.
05:01 Many people who are stubbing their toe are stubbing their toe in the dark.
05:06 And what the enemy wants to do is to keep you and I in the dark.
05:11 He wants us uninformed or misinformed because he knows ignorance is expensive.
05:17 He knows whatever area I'm ignorant in, I suffer in.
05:22 He's aware of what was proclaimed by the prophet Hosea, that my people are destroyed for a
05:28 lack of knowledge.
05:32 And he wants us to be ignorant or uninformed or misinformed about a number of areas.
05:38 And one of the areas he wants us misinformed in is in our theology.
05:43 Somebody say theology, our study of God.
05:47 There are some things he didn't want you to know because if you're not informed, you can't
05:54 expect.
05:56 And if you don't expect, you don't acquire.
05:58 I'm going to say it one more time.
06:01 If you are not informed, you can't expect.
06:04 And if you can't expect, you can't acquire.
06:07 And so one of the ways the enemy keeps us from acquiring is to keep us from being informed
06:13 about what we should expect.
06:16 But I came today to give the devil a black eye and to let the devil know this is a teaching
06:23 house.
06:24 This is an informed house.
06:26 We want more than inspiration and nursery rhymes in this house.
06:31 We came through traffic.
06:32 We stood in line because we need a word from the Lord.
06:37 I'm raising kids.
06:38 Don't play with me.
06:39 I'm playing bills.
06:40 Don't play with me.
06:41 I'm navigating decisions.
06:43 Don't play with me.
06:44 I need a word.
06:46 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word will stand forever.
06:51 His word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
06:56 I need a word.
07:02 He wants us misinformed or uninformed about certain aspects of God because the God you
07:12 see is the God you get.
07:18 Pastor, where'd you get that?
07:19 The Bible?
07:21 In Mark chapter number six, the Bible says Jesus goes to his hometown and he goes to
07:25 the temple, to the synagogue.
07:27 He begins to teach.
07:28 The Bible says as he's teaching, there are people there who say, "Is this not the carpenter's
07:33 son?"
07:35 The Bible says, I told you this a few weeks ago, the Bible says he could not do many mighty
07:39 miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them so a few people
07:46 got what was available for many.
07:51 Everybody saw him, but only a few saw him right.
07:56 And those that saw him right got what others didn't get.
08:00 If you can see him in a way that others can't see him, you can have what others don't get.
08:07 And I want to know, am I talking to anybody at the 115 that say, "I want it all.
08:13 I cried too much not to have it all.
08:16 I've been through too much not to have it all.
08:18 Let me go old school before old school Sunday."
08:21 Lord, I'm running, trying to make 100.
08:26 99 and a half just won't do.
08:30 If you want it all, give him a I want it all praise right here.
08:42 He wants us uninformed or misinformed about God because the God you see is the one you
08:51 get.
08:52 If the only thing he can do in your mind is give you a one-way ticket to heaven, then
09:00 all you will get from him is a one-way ticket from heaven to heaven.
09:06 This is why I don't insult anyone when they have an experience with God that's different
09:11 than mine.
09:13 What I don't let them do in my presence is insult my religion.
09:18 This religion thing don't work for you.
09:23 It's keeping me alive.
09:26 It's giving me joy and sorrow.
09:28 It's giving me hope for tomorrow.
09:31 It's not working for you.
09:32 It's working for me.
09:33 He wants us uninformed or misinformed about theology, about God.
09:58 There's something that I want to make sure that we understand and embrace in our time
10:04 together.
10:05 It's an attribute of God that's extremely important, but often overlooked.
10:09 I need you to understand this because this understanding will ease your anxiety when
10:17 it comes to God's timetable for doing certain things in your life.
10:25 God is a finisher.
10:34 Did you hear what I just said?
10:38 God is a finisher.
10:40 "Pastor, what are you saying?"
10:43 I'm saying in other words, he may from time to time work incrementally, but he never works
10:49 incompletely.
10:52 If he starts a thing, you better believe before the dust settles, he will finish it.
11:01 I can say this because the Bible says in Philippians 1, verse 6, "Being confident in this, he,"
11:14 y'all better come get me there, "my burden bearer, he, my heavy load sharer, he, my
11:22 way out of no way, he, Jehovah Jireh, he, Jehovah Shama, he who began a good work in
11:39 you will carry it in onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
11:50 If he started it, he will finish it because finishing isn't just an activity for him.
12:01 Finishing is an attribute of him.
12:04 It's not just something that he does.
12:07 It's who he is.
12:09 He said in Revelation 22, he says, "I am the alpha and the omega.
12:18 I'm the first and the last.
12:21 I'm the beginning and the end."
12:24 He said, "I'll start it," y'all better come get me, "and I'll finish it."
12:30 I speak this over somebody's life prophetically.
12:34 He's getting ready to finish.
12:37 You didn't hear what I just said.
12:40 I said, "I know there was progress and it looked like it stalled.
12:45 It looked like it stopped.
12:46 It seemed like momentum was heading in the right direction.
12:50 Now all of a sudden, it seems as if things are not progressing the same way."
12:55 I came to tell you God's getting ready to finish it.
13:02 Somebody don't wait until he finish it to give him praise.
13:07 Somebody give him a finishing praise right now.
13:11 It's not finished, but he's a finisher.
13:15 It's not finished.
13:23 He's getting ready to do it.
13:25 He's getting ready to do it.
13:27 He's getting ready to do it.
13:29 He's getting ready to do it.
13:30 I don't see it yet, but he's getting ready to do it.
13:31 I don't feel it yet, but he's getting ready to do it.
13:32 Since he's getting ready to do it, I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:33 When I see it, I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:34 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:35 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:36 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:37 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:38 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:39 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:40 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:41 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:42 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:43 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:44 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:45 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:46 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:47 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:48 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:49 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:50 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:51 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:52 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:53 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:54 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:55 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:56 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:57 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:58 I'm getting ready to praise him.
13:59 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:00 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:01 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:02 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:03 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:04 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:05 I'm getting ready to praise him.
14:07 He's a finisher.
14:08 Let me say that.
14:09 Let me say that.
14:10 Let me say that.
14:11 I got 16 minutes.
14:12 Let me say that.
14:13 Let me say that.
14:14 Let me say that.
14:15 He's a finisher.
14:16 And see, this truth should provide hope for hard times.
14:25 This is why the enemy wants us ignorant of this truth.
14:29 Because if I'm unaware of the truth that he is a finisher, I'll have anxiety about what's
14:35 unfinished.
14:42 See Paul says in Corinthians, he says, "Lest Satan get an advantage of you, for we are
14:46 not ignorant of his devices."
14:48 So my ignorance, watch this, is the place where Satan has the advantage.
14:54 So when God addresses the ignorance, he removes the advantage.
15:00 Am I making sense?
15:04 So this is something the enemy, he doesn't want us to know God's a finisher.
15:08 Because some of our anxiety is about stuff that started headed in the right direction.
15:17 And then it stopped.
15:20 But you need to know he's a finisher.
15:26 Now watch this.
15:27 If he's a finisher, and we are made in his image, and in his likeness, then it means
15:39 that we should be finishers also.
15:44 I don't have time to bother this.
15:48 No other service got this.
15:51 But you are a finisher, because the finisher is in you.
16:00 So when you say, "I can't finish," you're right.
16:06 But greater is he that is in me than he ... I know that's NIV, but King John said, "In a
16:30 well do it."
16:32 For NIV says proper time.
16:34 KJV says, "In due season."
16:38 Now outside the kingdom, there are four seasons.
16:44 Winter, spring, summer, fall.
16:49 But inside the kingdom, it's five.
16:52 Winter, spring, summer, fall, and due season.
17:00 Some people are in winter.
17:03 The rest of us, we in due season.
17:09 I'm due for my season.
17:15 You will reap if you faint not.
17:28 I don't have time.
17:33 Satan is counting on you fainting.
17:38 Jesus is praying you don't.
17:42 Simon, Satan desires to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith
17:54 fail not.
18:03 He counting on you not finishing.
18:07 See because here's the quandary.
18:10 The complexity is this.
18:13 We know we need to finish, but sometimes our definition or our understanding of when we
18:22 finish and God's perspective on when we finish not the same.
18:32 Sometimes I'm like, "I'm not finished."
18:36 And God's like, "Yes, you are."
18:43 And then there are times where I'm like, "I'm finished."
18:53 And God's like, "No, you're not."
19:02 And managing this tension is key and critical for every believer.
19:07 I see an example of this in this particular passage.
19:10 The Bible says something incredibly unique.
19:13 Jesus is standing by this particular lake.
19:17 I want you to see something.
19:19 He's journeying through the plains of a place called Gennesaret and he decides as was his
19:24 nature to teach.
19:26 His teaching is tactical.
19:28 Come on, whatever area I'm ignorant in, I suffer in.
19:32 I'm not even going to bother this.
19:36 But he did more teaching in the Bible than touching.
19:46 He did more teaching than touching.
19:48 He says, "Because some stuff, if you get the teaching, you don't need to touch."
19:55 He says, "Some miracles become unnecessary on the back end when you get the teaching
20:01 on the front end."
20:05 No pastor experience is the best teacher.
20:07 No, experience sometimes is the most effective teacher, but it's also the most expensive
20:12 teacher.
20:16 It costs too much to learn everything the hard way.
20:31 So as was his custom, he teaches.
20:34 And the text says this, he notices two boats that belonged to fishermen who were washing
20:42 their nets.
20:44 Somebody say, "Pastor."
20:47 Come on 115.
20:48 Say, "Pastor, why were they washing their nets?"
20:56 Here's why.
20:57 They thought they were finished.
21:03 They've been fishing.
21:05 So in their mind, I'm cleaning my nets because I'm done for the day.
21:14 "Pastor, why did they think they were done for the day?"
21:23 There are a few reasons they could have thought they were done for the day.
21:26 For one, they could have thought they were done for the day because of failure.
21:34 Because when we read the text, you'll see, you're about to see in a second, they had
21:38 been fishing all night and caught nothing.
21:42 And I know some of y'all or most of y'all can't relate to this because every time you
21:47 try anything at work, every conversation you have work, every initiative you launch work,
21:56 but if you've ever dealt with failure, you'll know the enemy uses failure as a weapon to
22:11 ruin your confidence.
22:15 I don't even have time.
22:17 Hebrews says, "Cast not away your confidence for it has a great reward."
22:25 And the enemy wants to use the failure in the past to erode and eradicate your confidence
22:33 in the future.
22:35 He wants you to be so, and me to be so focused on what didn't work that you're not focused
22:42 on what can work.
22:44 Y'all better come get me here.
22:48 And I came to tell somebody in here today that your failure can be a prison that imprisons
22:57 you or a school that educates you.
23:01 You get to choose.
23:03 You fail two directions.
23:05 You either fail backwards or you fail forward.
23:11 But they had dealt with failure, so they felt their failure was almost fatal to their faith.
23:18 I'm done.
23:22 I'm washing my nets.
23:23 I'm through with this.
23:27 This is not working.
23:28 I'm out of here.
23:36 But they not only dealt with failure.
23:38 Y'all know what else they dealt with?
23:40 They dealt with frustration.
23:43 See, it's one thing to work all night, miss sleep, inconvenience yourself, miss meals
23:57 if you catching something.
24:04 But it is frustrating to exert all that energy, to extend all that effort in an attempt to
24:14 catch something and come up with nothing.
24:18 Frustration will have you and I saying, I'm done with this.
24:26 See, they dealt with failure.
24:30 The failure impacted them practically.
24:32 Here's what's interesting.
24:34 But the frustration impacted them emotionally.
24:38 See, the enemy wants to use frustration to create agitation because a lot of people,
24:46 a lot of times the enemy uses agitation to cause people to abandon their assignment.
24:58 Did you hear what I just said?
24:59 Yeah.
25:00 It's like the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
25:02 He says, because of the abundance of revelation, because of the abundance of revelation I received,
25:06 that was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me concerning
25:08 this thing.
25:09 I thought the Lord, saw the Lord three times that it might be removed from me.
25:11 And on the third time he said, my grace is sufficient.
25:18 A thorn in the flesh, a messenger, Angelos of Satan to buffet me.
25:22 It means to strike repeatedly.
25:25 It's not killing me.
25:26 It's just agitating.
25:30 I'm not injured.
25:31 I'm not hurt.
25:32 And he says, okay, the enemy wants to use that agitation to cause me to abandon the
25:40 assignment because I don't have to take this.
25:43 I make tents.
25:48 Paul was a tent maker.
25:49 Come on.
25:50 Paul was in ministry and in the marketplace.
25:53 So he had a way and making tents during those days was equivalent of being in the development
25:57 business is equivalent of building houses.
26:01 So he like, I don't have to take this.
26:03 Y'all not paying me this much.
26:12 The enemy wants to use agitation to abandon assignment.
26:15 That's what frustration will do.
26:19 Frustration make you say, this too agitated.
26:24 I'm done.
26:28 So failure made them want to quit.
26:33 Frustration made them want to quit.
26:35 Let me see if I can get an amen on this one.
26:42 Fatigue.
26:47 Texas they fish all night.
26:53 It's morning, they sleepy.
26:59 And here comes Jesus giving them a word when they tired.
27:09 Jesus did y'all hear what I just said?
27:13 Here they are tired.
27:17 The fatigue had them ready to rest, but Jesus gives them a word in the midst of their fatigue.
27:27 They out of energy, but they get instruction.
27:35 Cause when you're followed in, it's not the reverse.
27:39 God's like, I gave you instruction cause I don't need energy.
27:44 You're trying to get up the energy to carry out the instruction.
27:48 When the energy you need is on the other side of your obedience.
27:52 When you step into obedience, you step into energy.
27:56 Y'all missed it.
27:58 Y'all missed it.
27:59 Y'all missed it.
28:00 Y'all missed it.
28:01 See, see, I don't know what's happened in this service because I had an incredibly arduous
28:08 week, unbelievably long week.
28:11 I ran a coaching event this weekend all day Friday, dream team banquet all Friday night.
28:18 Saturday ran the same program here and I'm in the back saying, Lord, you got to give
28:23 me strength.
28:24 Y'all missed it.
28:25 This fourth service, hey Lord, you got to give me strength.
28:33 I asked these people to come to this service.
28:36 They need the same kind of focus and delivery and anointing.
28:42 They don't need to be shortchanged, but I don't have the energy.
28:49 But when I stepped on the stage, I stepped into something.
28:57 I stepped into energy.
28:59 I feel my help.
29:10 The energy is in the obedience.
29:17 It's in obedience.
29:29 So the text says when they're tired, Jesus said, Hey, stop what you're doing.
29:36 That's see, that's a whole, that's a, they wash their nets and Jesus tell them, stop,
29:43 I need to use your boat.
29:47 So Peter stop, pushes out a little bit.
29:49 Jesus sit down in a boat.
29:50 He teach.
29:51 He said, you got to sit and wait till he done.
30:04 Then when Jesus is done teaching, he says, all right, push out deeper and let down your
30:10 nest for a catch.
30:15 You say I've been doing this.
30:22 Okay.
30:23 You telling me to do what I've already done and it didn't work.
30:32 You told me the effectual fervent prayers of the righteous.
30:36 I've been doing that.
30:37 And now you're telling me to do it again.
30:44 So you're telling me something I already have been doing and it didn't work and I did it
30:53 and it didn't work when I had more energy.
31:01 I did it when I had more faith.
31:09 Now you're telling me to do it.
31:11 I'm out of energy and I'm out of faith.
31:23 And I spent all this time washing these nets and you want me to get them dirty again for
31:33 nothing.
31:34 It doesn't make sense.
31:38 But nevertheless, I want to know, does anybody have a nevertheless in you?
31:50 I want to walk out past and never come back.
31:53 Nevertheless, I want to give them a piece of my whole mind, but nevertheless, nevertheless,
32:02 add your word.
32:07 Y'all let down the nets.
32:09 They let down the net.
32:11 And here's what the Bible says.
32:13 It says, I'm going to see who catches this prophetically that that did you hear what
32:19 I just said?
32:21 Prophetic teaching.
32:22 There's a timeless truth that's delivered in a timely manner.
32:30 So the truth is timeless.
32:33 But when it's delivered, it's timely.
32:35 That makes it prophetic.
32:39 Listen to me.
32:40 Text says when he throws down the net and brings it up is so much fish.
32:46 The net begin to break.
32:49 Their infrastructure was unable to handle the overflow that came into their life.
32:58 It was a net breaking blessing.
33:02 Listen, they would have been satisfied with a few fish because they had caught nothing.
33:14 They would have been satisfied with a net half full of fish, but Jesus will do exceedingly
33:20 and abundantly above all you ask or think.
33:36 And text says they signaled, watch the text, to their partners.
33:45 Luke made sure we knew who they signaled to.
33:51 They didn't just signal to anybody.
33:57 Now that my boat is full, I'm not signaling to people who weren't around when my boat
34:04 was empty.
34:09 Because if you are not willing to be around when my boat was empty, I don't want you to
34:16 hang around when my boat is full.
34:24 And that's some people's problem.
34:32 They've been dealing with you based on the current condition of your boat.
34:50 They don't understand the power or the principle of providential partnerships.
34:55 Providence, God's providence, pro video, God's ability to see before how he orchestrates
35:00 everything according to the counsel of his own will.
35:03 Because God sees before.
35:06 He will connect you with people before.
35:11 You see what he sees.
35:15 So sometimes God connect you with somebody not for where they are, but he connects you
35:22 with someone for where they're going.
35:26 And some people are living with the attitude of an opportunist and not assignments.
35:33 So they missing divine connections and they chasing after people whose boats are full
35:39 now, not realizing God's about to give somebody a net breaking blessing.
35:54 And so much, I'm not tired so much.
35:58 Both of the boats begin to sink.
36:04 And none of this would have happened if he would let Jesus have the final word on when
36:13 he's finished.
36:14 I want you to see the catalytic nature of this.
36:17 I want you to see, I want you to see the implications of their obedience beyond them.
36:24 Because if Peter, the Bible says it's Pete, it's everything hinges on Peter.
36:32 So James and John boats full, right?
36:36 Because Peter obeyed.
36:46 Because when you quit, you're not just quitting on you.
36:57 There are implications for your quitting beyond you, which is why God is so invested in you
37:07 finishing because whose boats stay empty.
37:15 Because because you allow or I allowed failure, frustration or fatigue to cause us to say
37:27 we finish failure, frustration and fatigue.
37:31 It's a real thing, but it's not permission.
37:41 It's real, but it's not permission.
37:46 It's not permission to quit.
37:53 They miss all the fish.
37:58 If they finish when they say they, if they let failure say when they finish, if they
38:02 let frustration say when they finish, if they let fatigue say when they finish, they miss
38:07 out on fish.
38:08 And the fish represent number one favor.
38:13 That's not the only boat Jesus could have used.
38:20 Jesus getting in that boat didn't benefit Jesus.
38:23 He didn't need the boat for water.
38:24 He chose the boat for water.
38:26 He walk on water.
38:27 He could have walked on the lake and talk.
38:34 That's favor and favor felt like a burden.
38:45 Fever God on me.
38:46 It feel like a burden sometimes.
38:50 But if they, if he let failure, frustration or fatigue have the final say, what happens?
38:59 He misses out on some favor that's waiting on him on the other side of the desire to
39:07 quit.
39:10 There's some favor that hovers like a cloud and you get to a certain place.
39:16 See there's a series I was going to do.
39:18 I'm trying to figure out where to put it back in.
39:20 I was going to do, I had to switch up.
39:21 It was going to be called unlocked.
39:23 And I was going to talk about seven keys that unlock access.
39:27 And I was going to talk about doors.
39:29 And there are certain doors that only require all you got to do for it to open is to get
39:34 close.
39:39 You don't have to turn a handle.
39:41 You don't have to turn a knob.
39:43 You just have to get in proximity and the sensors on the door will make some stuff open.
39:51 And there are some stuff that are open for you if you just get close.
40:00 But if you stop walking before you get close to the door, then a door that could open won't
40:07 open because you miss favor.
40:13 When you quit, you miss fulfillment.
40:22 Here's the thing.
40:24 Quitting prematurely eases one set of agitation, but it creates another.
40:40 Because you were working for something that you didn't get and that's why you quit.
40:44 But when you quit, you still don't have it and you further away from it because you're
40:52 no longer working toward it.
40:54 So there's not fulfillment.
40:55 It's the highest form of compensation.
41:00 Until you have this, no matter what you have, you will always feel poor.
41:08 If you are not rich here, you can have a high standard of living, but you will not have
41:15 a high quality of life.
41:23 Godliness with contentment is great gain.
41:34 Your fulfillment is so frustrating.
41:37 I know it.
41:39 I know it's frustrating, but it's on the other side.
41:43 I'm done.
41:44 Fish represent favor.
41:46 They can represent fulfillment.
41:48 Fish can also represent finances.
41:52 See it was an agrarian society.
41:55 They would exchange like goats and animals as a form of currency.
41:59 They'd exchange crops as currency.
42:01 So fish, Peter, they didn't eat all of that fish.
42:05 They were fishermen by trade.
42:06 They would exchange it.
42:09 And there's some tangible financial blessing.
42:13 It's not the only way God blesses, but it is a way God blesses.
42:18 Does that make sense?
42:20 It's not the only way.
42:21 It's one of the ways.
42:24 Now I want you to catch this.
42:27 Income or it's not about income.
42:30 Why do I need, why do I need fish?
42:33 I need fish because fish give me options.
42:39 Not cars, clothes, cribs, if you want, whatever.
42:42 As long as you're not putting it before God, God don't mind you having things if things
42:44 don't have you.
42:45 That's fine, right?
42:46 As long as you don't have to violate kingdom values to get it, whatever.
42:50 As long as it's not greed, which is idolatry, whatever.
42:53 And say, well, greed's relative.
42:59 Just because somebody has more doesn't mean they're more greedy.
43:03 I'm not going to bother that.
43:06 Anyway, anyway, here's the point.
43:07 It's options and I'm done.
43:13 We were on a recruiting visit with my son from one of his schools.
43:16 One of the schools that's recruiting him.
43:18 We're sitting with the head coach in his office and my son's like 20 scholarship offers or
43:22 whatever.
43:23 But when I was 26 years old, yeah, he's like 20.
43:32 But when I was 26 years old, I think it was even before he was born, we sat with a guy
43:41 named Saul Higgs and we started devising a plan to put stuff away even for our kids,
43:46 college, whatever.
43:47 So here's the point that I'm making.
43:51 The coach is asking, he's talking to Gabe and I'm sitting there.
43:56 I'm like, when are you going to talk to me?
44:00 And he was like, not really talking to me.
44:02 So I inserted myself in the conversation.
44:04 I want to talk about three things I need to see for me to feel comfortable releasing one
44:11 of the most important things on earth to me, to you.
44:16 I say, because if it all go bad, it's on me.
44:19 God forbid he blow out his knee.
44:21 I got him.
44:22 I know coach and I bring him to his house.
44:27 I know if, come on, am I making sense?
44:29 That's my, that's my assignment.
44:32 So I say, Hey, here are three things that I would need to see for me to feel comfortable
44:38 giving over to you.
44:39 One of the most important things on earth to me.
44:41 And I say, and they have nothing to do with football.
44:44 And then I said, I have to have these things because by God's grace, I told the coach this
44:49 by God's grace, wherever he wants to go to school, even if football's not involved, he
44:58 can go, you got me.
45:04 I wanted him to know, I know your intentions of prayer.
45:07 Praise God.
45:08 This is one kid.
45:09 You're not rescuing.
45:10 You're not saving his life.
45:14 He's good.
45:15 He's good.
45:16 If he don't even go to college, he's good.
45:22 And I almost got emotional heading back to the airport.
45:29 Cause sometimes I wrestle with the tension.
45:30 I traveled a lot and things of that nature worked really hard, writing books, building
45:35 businesses work really, really hard and I traveled a lot.
45:38 And sometimes it's like, you know, as a dad, it's like, okay, you gotta, I gotta be there.
45:44 Then I gotta provide.
45:45 It's, it was like, it was a lot in a certain season.
45:48 And I got emotional, almost got emotional in the car.
45:53 And I said to myself, Lord, this is why.
45:57 And I said to myself, thank you for allowing me to be able to give my boy options.
46:18 My wife, I've never been more amazed at my wife than I am in this season.
46:24 Watching her take care of her mama.
46:29 I have never, we're 44.
46:34 I met her at like 19.
46:37 I have never been more amazed at what I've seen her do.
46:43 Go get her mama dressed before she come to church.
46:47 I've never been more amazed.
46:49 And so we're trying to figure out some things with our mom and she's looking at certain,
46:54 she's looking at certain places and things and then they just like, I can't do that.
47:01 We're not going to do that.
47:02 We're not going to do that.
47:03 And I'm like, God, thank you.
47:09 We got options.
47:10 We just have to take whatever somebody gives.
47:18 I'm done.
47:19 This is what this is about.
47:20 So the Holy Spirit spoke to me about something and I told Pastor Shemekah this.
47:23 He said, Darius, it's your job as a spiritual leader to do what you can, not just to make
47:31 sure that's happening with your family.
47:35 That needs to happen with spiritual family.
47:40 And in church, I'm not critiquing, this is not a critique.
47:43 This is love.
47:45 In church, all we talk to you about is giving fish.
47:53 But we don't talk to you about getting fish because that's what's going to take care of
47:58 your house.
48:05 And Jesus told Peter, said, Peter, I want you to use your, I don't even have time.
48:14 There's an instance where they need to pay taxes.
48:16 And Peter's like, we don't have it.
48:18 Jesus told the fishermen go fish.
48:21 And he caught a fish and opened the mouth of the fish and the coin was in the fish.
48:26 Say your options are in your expertise that you're not using.
48:33 If you fish, fish, if you cook, cook, if you lead, lead, if you consult, consult, if you
48:37 paint, paint, if you write, write, if you sing, sing.
48:42 Use your gift because that creates your options.
48:53 And so often in church, this is not a critique, this is love.
48:57 So often in church, all we talk about is fish for God's house.
49:03 When one day you don't need fish for yours, but it's some fish you won't get if you quit.
49:17 I got to go.
49:19 I want to pray a prayer real quick.
49:21 I feel this.
49:24 I want to pray a prayer specifically for people right now who are going through those three
49:32 Fs, either all three, two of the three, one out of the three, and you are about to quit.
49:44 And some of you have quit already.
49:47 You just hadn't quit.
49:53 You still in a relationship, but you quit.
49:55 You're not going nowhere, but you quit.
50:00 Pastor, there's been failure.
50:05 I'm frustrated and there's fatigue.
50:09 I tried the business.
50:10 It didn't work.
50:11 I tried this.
50:12 It didn't work.
50:13 I just want to quit.
50:14 I want to pray for you.
50:23 I'm not over spiritualizing this, but I want to pray that God breaks the pattern, the habits,
50:29 even the spirit of give up.
50:36 I'm not saying there's a spirit called give up.
50:39 I'm saying that the enemy will influence us to give up.
50:49 And some of you saying, Pastor, I'm so tired.
50:53 I'm tired.
50:58 I don't know if I got anything left.
51:02 That's okay.
51:05 I got a prayer list and I pray for our church every morning that I pray.
51:10 I use the AXE prayer model and I pray and I pray over faces.
51:15 I pray for names I know.
51:16 I pray even for like specific needs.
51:20 And as my wife's been caring for a mom, I've been way more sensitive to people who are
51:24 living with sickness and the mental toughness it takes to get up every day and say, I just
51:33 want to feel good.
51:36 I don't know how much we know feeling good is a blessing.
51:50 So I don't know what you're tired of, but I know you're tired.
51:52 And that's why God gave me this message.
51:57 But the scripture said, they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.
52:02 So father, I pray now for a renewed strength over every heart, every person that is wrestling
52:10 with failure, frustration, or fatigue.
52:15 Would you renew their strength?
52:18 Would you give them a second wind so that they can run on and see what the end will
52:23 be in Jesus name?
52:25 Amen.
52:26 I kept you late today.
52:28 I'm sorry.
52:28 [APPLAUSE]