I'm Surprised // Human-ology Part. 5 // Dr. Dharius Daniels

Let's go to the Word, family. Mark chapter 6, beginning at verse 1, says this, then Jesus left there and went to his hometown. He was accompanied by his disciples. And when Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. Where did this man get these things, they asked, and what's this wisdom that's been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he's performing? Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us? So they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his own relatives, and in his own home. Look at this. He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. I want to stop the reading of scripture there and talk from this subject in our time together, family. Very simply, I'm surprised. Clap your hands every location. I'm surprised. I want to start this sermon with a statement that may seem simple, but it is significant as it relates to what I'm going to attempt to share in our sermon today.

The statement for the note takers is on the screens. Missing something you think you should have caught isn't always a sign of deficiency. Sometimes it's a sign of humanity. In other words, spiritual development does not mean perfect discernment. Having discernment means you see more things. It does not mean you see all things. Being close to God makes you more like God, but it never makes you God. And therefore, you and I can be spiritual and still be surprised, discerning and still be duped, biblically literate and still end up blindsided. Ladies and gentlemen, let me be clear on my intention in this introduction. I am intentionally and assertively and aggressively attempting to expose and address a theological assumption that many people are unconsciously operating with that suggests being spirit-filled means you're surprise proof. It is this unconscious assumption that because you are godly, you get all of God's attributes. And I am arguing that the scriptures are clear that there are some attributes that are exclusively retained by God. And one of these attributes is an attribute we call omniscience. He sees all things, he knows all things, we don't. Therefore, come here, come here. Therefore, no matter how prayerful, prudent,

or perceptive you are, you will find yourself experiencing some predicaments that you couldn't predict. You're gonna look up one day and you'll be experiencing some life transitions you didn't predict, some career catastrophes you didn't predict, some financial realities you didn't predict, some business shifts you didn't predict, some relational dynamics you didn't predict. All of us will have to face something we didn't predict, fight something we didn't predict, carry something we didn't predict, bury something we didn't predict. And after you're praying and after you're fasting and after you're turning your plate down, you're still gonna step in a season where you look around and say, I'm surprised. And it is imperative and essential that every believer who is serious about their spiritual formation journey understand and embrace that no matter how evolved you become, you will never outgrow imperfect discernment. Why is it quiet in this church? While we may have effective discernment, we do not have infallible or inerrant discernment. And as a matter of fact, no matter how close we are to the master, there will be some things we will miss because the master has made it clear. I know all things, but I never promised I would tell you all things.

Deuteronomy 29, 29 says the secret things belong to God. Therefore, every disciple needs to be developed on how to win in seasons. you didn't see coming because if not we will end up being fragile, breakable, unproductive believers who can only prosper when things go the way you plan. But if I'm remembering Jeremiah right, he said in Jeremiah 29 11, I know the plans I have for you. He didn't say you know. I know the plans I have for you and I want to know am I talking to anybody even in this introduction that is objective enough and honest enough to admit, PD, I've lived through some surprise seasons. Okay, let me try it again. I want to know am I talking to anybody that's honest enough and objective enough to admit I'm sitting in one right now. I didn't know I would be fighting this in my body. I didn't know I would be fighting this in my marriage. I thought I would be married by now and I'm single and then I got married and I wish I was single and y'all not talking to me. There is this erroneous assumption that spiritual development gives you perfect discernment when omniscience is relegated to God. So I've got to learn how to handle seasons I didn't see coming. I need to be discipled on what to do when things don't go as planned because there's three ways to handle seasons and situations that don't go as planned. There's culture's way and culture's way is emotional reactivity. It is when an individual becomes overwhelmed and intoxicated emotionally to the degree that they begin to act unwisely. Okay, I'm gonna say it again. Emotional reactivity is when I step into a season or a situation that I didn't predict and I am so overwhelmed or intoxicated. So when the Bible talks about being sober-minded, it is not just talking about alcohol. It is referring to what is influencing your mind and your actions. And when we are overwhelmed or intoxicated emotionally, sometimes it provokes us and prompts us to act unwisely. It's being imprisoned with panic that is rooted in the assumption that just because things didn't go as planned, it doesn't mean that God can't fulfill his plan. So instead of responding with wisdom, we respond with emotion.

And when this happens, we turn what should have been disruptions into disasters. An example of emotional reactivity is seen in 1 Samuel, chapter number 13, when there's this king named Saul who's under the leadership or the influence or the mentorship, yes, use this word, of a judge named Samuel. And Samuel says to Saul in 1 Samuel 13 verse 11, what have you done? And Saul replied, he said, when I saw the men were scattering and that you didn't come down at the set time and that the Philistines were assembling, I thought the Philistines are going to come down against me at Gilgal. So I have not sought the Lord's favor. So I felt compelled. Now notice this, he said, I felt compelled because what can happen is we can feel compelled and confuse compelled with being led. And so a lot of times, we're saying, I feel in my spirit. When what's actually happening, what you're feeling is in your soul. I got Bible now. Give me Hebrews chapter 4, verse number 12. Hebrews 4 verse 12. For the word of God is alive and quick, sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates even to the dividing of the what? And the what? Okay. Joints and what? So the writer of Hebrews is saying your soul and your spirit are intertwined like joints and marrow. And sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between the two. So I need the word to actually divide and differentiate, is this God or me? Some of us trust our feelings too much. Sometimes it takes the word for us to see if what I'm feeling is actually me in my soul or God in the spirit. I don't care how strong our feelings are, here's what the Bible says, the heart is deceitful. It'll have you feeling strong about something wrong.

And I know this might not be for this service, but it might be for 33 of y'all in Gwinnett and 73 of y'all in Jersey and 8 of y'all here in DeKalb and 19 of y'all online. If you look back at your relational track record, you should be able to admit you can feel strong about who was wrong. Tell the truth and shame the devil. And when you don't understand this, you'll call every outer body prompting God. You will call every red light discernment. When some of what you would call a discernment is paranoia, you traumatized. And the reason I know your discernment has been hijacked by trauma is you can only discern threats. Why is it quiet? You can discern a threat, but you can't discern an opportunity. You can discern, you can discern who's not supposed to be in your life, but you can't discern who is supposed to be in your life and who you need to treat right when they in your life because if they step out of your life, there's no guarantee you'll get anybody like that back in your life. Saul said, I felt compelled. This is emotional reactivity. I see a threat in the Philistines. I want divine favor that comes through this spiritual discipline of offering a burnt offering. Samuel, you told me you would be back at a certain time and you're not back at a certain time. And I feel compelled because this is not happening according to my timeframe. And then I see a threat coming now instead of acting in wisdom and waiting on somebody who's authorized to offer the burnt offering, to offer the burnt offering, I feel compelled to step out of my lane of authority and responsibility because I am in fear over a threat and I am anxious because you not meet my timeline. Now let me tell you something here for my Bible readers. Look what the Bible says in verse 13, you have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command of the Lord that he gave you.

If you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time, but now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people because you have not kept the Lord's commands. Now for all my Bible study students and Sunday school class attendees and those who grew up in. Vacation Bible School of your Baptist like me Baptist Training Union. Listen to me We just read 1st Samuel 15 and we thought 1st Samuel 15 is what disqualified him from being king when when he was when he was instructed to annihilate the Amalekites and He partially obeyed and Samuel corrected him by saying obedience is better than sacrifice But when you read the text all 15 was was a pattern that that started in 13 He lost the kingdom in 13 not over immorality over impulsiveness He said I cannot afford to have a man on the throne with this much power who disemotional Okay I Can I cannot I Cannot have a man seated in a position of power who is this emotionally immature It's emotional reactivity and emotional reactivity Cost you opportunities you have the ability to take advantage of It's cultures way Then there's churches way we've been talking about this all year spiritual bypassing This Is spiritual bypassing here, let's make sure we're on the same page here this this is the tendency to use spiritual language to avoid emotional processing and Take personal responsibility This leads to rehearsing religious rhetoric like God's in control without Without reflecting on what they feel It's it's religious sharing religious platitudes without properly processing their pain so they actually underestimate their pain

Using spiritual language see spiritual bypassing shows up all in Scripture Actually God used Jeremiah to correct spiritual leaders Who are contributing to spiritual bypassing in Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 14? He says they dress the wound of my people as though it was not serious Peace peace they say when there is no peace That's spiritual bypassing Are y'all here I said are y'all here So so and when this happens people have failed to properly process their pain or disappointment and as a result They called their passivity trust in God when it's really paralyzed faith That's church's way of handling surprise seasons your whole life plan Disrupted and you acting like you all right because we taught you to say God's in control You don't like a thing that's going on right now But now you got to sit and look Christians in the faith and lie and call it faith talk How you doing? I'm good. No, you're not you're mad. You're frustrated. You're disappointed. You're confused You're angry you're wounded you feel betrayed You feel like you should be further along at this point in your life And we have curated a caricature of God that cannot handle your emotional honesty As opposed to saying how you doing mad Confused That's church's way Then there's the Kings way And one of the things I love about our church is the diversity of spiritual heritages. It's really a third way of Kingdom Church Because we reject tribalism So we got a little bit of everything in here and I just need my Pentecostals at every location. Do not tear the carpet up Don't you tear this carpet up? When I give you this point Cuz cultures way is emotional reactivity Churches way is spiritual bypassing come here

the Kings way is a sanctified pivot I didn't see it coming but watch me pivot and I didn't know I was gonna be here but watch me pivot I got tears in my eyes but watch me watch me pivot we don't do this a lot here and that's on purpose but every now and then we can do certain things with moderation and the Bible says in Hebrews 313 encourage one another daily I want you to encourage somebody and give them a high-five and tell them pivot you think this the only way God can do it you think this the only way God can get you there you think this the only door he can use you think that's the only people he can use to bless you watch me pivot watch me pivot he's still going to do it still going to make the way still going to get me there still going to open the door still gonna fulfill my calling watch me a sanctified pivot all right this only for my Pentecostals or my Baptist because that was a word for some people it was a part of the teaching for others it was a prophetic word or was a word of knowledge so I want 18 seconds somebody just thanking for the pivot you get ready to make a sanctified pivot is the ability to acknowledge the dilemma adjust your direction without abandoning your devotion you got the pivot and an example of a sanctified pivot you see here in this text in Mark 6 I'll have time to unpack what I want to unpack here but the text says Mark Jesus had what was called an itinerant ministry so he went from place to place various cities and regions engaging in ministry so Mark captures him going back to his hometown he's going back to a hometown of Nazareth and so he goes back to his hometown and he takes his disciples with him we're gonna go where I'm from and he goes into the synagogue and the Bible says he begins

to teach and as he is teaching watch what the text says in verse number two it says many who heard him were amazed they said what did this man get these things what's this wisdom that has been given to him what are these remarkable miracles he's performing. Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son? Isn't this the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. I'm confused. Go back to verse 2. It says they were amazed. How do you go from amazed in verse 2 to offended in verse 3? Y'all see that? They went from amazed in one verse to offended in another, which is why it's irresponsible to have your sense of self tied into the opinions of people, because they'll shift in a verse. Now notice what happens. The questions they ask tell us the source of the offense, because they had no problem with what he said. They said, where did he get this wisdom? And they were impressed by what he did, because they said, how's he performing these miracles? But their offense was tied into who he was. Now I'm not going to bother this, but even their assessment of him was based off facts that's inaccurate. Give me verse 3. They said, isn't this the brother of James? That's right. Joseph, no, that's my stepdad. Judas, no, that's my disciple, and he's not even my friend. Simon, Peter, that's my disciple. Isn't that something? If people are going to draw an opinion of you, then at least get your facts right. You don't have to like me, just dislike me for the right reason. And they took offense. And I did a lot of thinking with this. And when you are drawing meaning out of Scripture, the word is exegete. When you're drawing meaning out of Scripture, the number of factors you have to take into place, right? And one of the factors you need to take into place is like historical factors. He goes back to Nazareth. Why does Mark tell us that? Now I'm not going to throw shade on Nazareth, but Nazareth was not known to be a city that produced high-functioning, highly productive people. As a matter of fact, I told you two weeks ago when Jesus called one of his first disciples, the reputation of Nazareth was so complicated. Nathaniel

said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? So I've been working with this concept, Miss Sissy, of environmental discipleship. How where you are, if you're not intentional, can unconsciously shape the way you think. So there are some areas, there are some areas that all disciple us in different ways. And if we aren't intentional in identifying where do I need to resist, I can end up unconsciously adopting mindsets and attitudes that are inconsistent with God's best, but they normal for people where I'm from. Y'all ready for this? This is not the only but one expression of what the Apostle Paul calls in Ephesians a principality. I don't know what your favorite whoever told you that word mean, but a word can never mean what it never meant. Right? Come on. So before they start giving you a revelation, what's the definition? And if your revelation don't line up with the definition, that's an idea, but it's not a revelation. And so principalities can show up in areas or regions or people groups because it has been syncretized, synchronized with cultural norms. So it's normal in the culture, so you don't even know I'm being discipled by the demonic. Did you hear what I just said? So their response to Jesus suggests to me that the small nature of Nazareth was producing small mindedness in the people there. So you so petty, you'll reject the miracle you need because it comes from somebody who from where you from. And because they no longer like who you are, you no longer like them. I know him, he's the carpenter's son. And we know there's a degree of disdain there because Jesus' response is a prophet's not without honor, except for in his own home and among his own people. Are y'all okay? So their issue wasn't what was said, it was who said it. Because people, watch this, people will take offense, listen to this, people will take offense at you when they refuse to update their understanding of who you are. He's more than the carpenter.

He's a Christ. And out of all places, you wouldn't expect this at your hometown. And the text says he was amazed. Jesus was amazed. You know what that word amazed means? Astonished, marveled, he was surprised. Out of all places, now here's your question, I know, Tarrio, this is all they can take. Here it is, they tired of me already, I'm getting, I'm getting mean mugs, but I mean everything I said, here it is, here it is, listen, listen, this is interesting, he, he was surprised. The question is, if Jesus is fully God and fully man, if he's fully God, he's omniscient, he knows all things. So if you know all things, how can you be surprised? How do these two truths exist in one person? But Philippians 2 tells us that Christ being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his advantage, so he made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. So the word for this is a Greek word called kenosis, it is the self-emptying of Christ. He didn't surrender his divinity, he surrendered the independent use of it in order to live a fully human life. So he chose to live within the limitations of humanity while remaining fully God. Gods don't die, but he chose to limit an aspect of his Godness, and for three days, stay in the grave, and then reclaim it, and early Sunday morning, resurrect himself. So when, when the text says he's surprised, it's not saying he lacked information, it's saying he chose to experience that moment as a human. And I said all that just to tell you this. If he was surprised, what makes you think you're not going to step into seasons where you are? And we live in an age and an era of vision boards and strategic planning. I'm not anti any of that.

I'm just telling you after you get through cutting all those pictures out the magazines and putting it on that cardboard, your ability to win is going to be tied to your ability to handle seasons with people, that's in the text, with problems, that's in the text, and with possibilities, that's in the text, that you didn't see coming. What if I told you it's probably not going according to plan? For most of you, it's not going according to plan. Look at me, I'm done, look at me. But what if I told you everything doesn't have to go right for it to be all right? Ooh, I need more time, I've been late all day, I don't. But the heart of this series is this, or the heart of this message, excuse me, is this. Some of us have unbiblical expectations of the way our discernment is supposed to work. And as a result of that, you set a standard for yourself God hadn't. And so instead of living joyfully in the present season you're in, you keep retelling a narrative of what life would have been like if you'd done something different. So you're blinded to the beauty of the season you're in because you are imagining what it could have been if you'd done stuff differently, when the truth of the matter is it took not doing stuff right to learn how to do it right. Look at me. So if you come from Nazareth and they didn't teach you money management, how do you expect to know how to? So you're killing yourself because you blew it. But how would you know what to do with it? Because they didn't teach me that in Nazareth. Some of you are like, man, this happened with this person, I hired this person, I let this person back into my life and I did this and I did that and I should have saw the signs and I missed the signs. Signs don't always mean what you think they mean. Because you don't know if it's Judas or Peter until after. Because some people betray you and they recover and they change and they give up and some people don't.

See, every symptom don't mean the same thing. If somebody starts coughing by you right now, you're like, well, did you go on a cruise recently? They could have literally had something in their throat. So when you say I missed the sign, every sign don't mean what you think it means. And sometimes you missed it, not because you're naive, you're generous. You refuse to reduce people to the worst version of them. You're human. So sometimes you're gonna pick wrong, you're gonna hire wrong, you're gonna invest wrong. Because you never outgrow imperfect discernment. God as He maps out His plan for your life, includes in His calculations your missteps and releases and dispenses grace to make up the gaps between what you didn't know and what you wish you would have done. And He knows how according to the counsel of His own will, make everything all right even when everything didn't go right. So I have long since relieved myself from the pressure to be anything but a human submitted to the Father. I want to be wise, I want to learn from my mistakes, but I do not carry God weight to make perfect decisions, to always discern motives, to always do things perfectly. As a human, I'm gonna be surprised. But just because I am surprised doesn't mean God is. We gotta go. I want you to sit with this though. I want you to sit with this idea, Lord Jesus, it's a nightmare out there, I can sense it. But I want you to sit with this idea, Holy Spirit, help me to live joyfully in the season that I'm in without imagining what it could have been. Because it couldn't be what I wanted to be, because it took that to make me who I am now. I wasn't the kind of person then that I am now, but it took my missteps to actually make me. So somebody's in a... prior season.

Here's been my prayer all week, cause I'm in one. And I've been asking, I think I got surrender. Deshawn, I've been asking the Lord, Father, help me to joyfully surrender to a season I don't want to be in. Help me to do it, cause you want nothing grudgingly. You don't just want to, you don't just reject a grudging offering, you reject a grudging yes. And I don't like this, and I'm surprised, but help me to live joyfully. In a season that's a part of your plan for me, even if it's not a part of mine. I want you to sit, come Holy Spirit, help your people to joyfully surrender to this surprise season. In Jesus name. Father, would you miraculously bless Change Church with bigger buildings, so I never have to rush when I sense you moving. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.