Stay Salty // We Outside Part. 2 // Dr. Dharius Daniels

of you that are here. Would you help me? And I typically wouldn't do this because when you're on sabbatical, you kind of need to hide out. But we just need to honor two friends at this house. I'll just leave it at that. That's the kenny and pastor Tasha Cobb's that with us today, clap your hands with them. They're getting a much needed break and refreshing and refueling and we're glad to have them with us today. Daniel chapter 6 verse 1, "It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satrups to be throughout the whole kingdom and over them three high officials of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satrups should give an account for this reason so that the king was suffered no loss. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satrups because an excellent spirit was in him and the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the high officials in the satrups sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault because he was faithful and no era or fault was found in him." It's the word of the Lord, thanks be unto God. I want to talk from this subject and our time together family, stay salty. Clap your hands, 1230, stay salty. I want to start this sermon with a quote that is credited to Dr. Elton Trueblood, a Quaker theologian and thought leader who served as chaplain of both Harvard and Stanford University. He is credited with this controversial quote, here it is, "Intentional mediocrity is sin." And although this statement itself is not found explicitly in Scripture, the sentiment is supported by Scripture because he is simply suggesting that the deliberate decision to be less when you are called to and capable of being more is not just a performance issue, it's a moral issue. He is insinuating that you have an ethical responsibility to evolve into the greatest and highest version of yourself, that God intends not for the purpose of your own benefit,

but for the contribution that you are supposed to make to the common good. In other words, he's suggesting that mediocrity isn't always an expression of limited ability. His mediocrity is an indication of neglected responsibility. I'm arguing that mediocrity in and of itself isn't sinful, but at times, mediocrity can be the fruit that grows from the root of what's called the sin of negligence. The sin of negligence is the willful disregard of a God-given responsibility, and it's demonstrated by the failure to faithfully develop, deploy, or steward what God has entrusted into your care. It is a lack of action that is an expression of an attitude that says to God, "You could have took what you gave me and given it to somebody else who would have done more with it." It is saying to God, "You made a bad investment when you invested in me. Even though you are my sovereign savior who's a good steward who wastes nothing out of all the people, you could have given this ability and capability to. You gave it to me, and I choose my comfort over my own calling. I choose to please and appear. It suggests, ladies and gentlemen, something called a sin of omission. You see, there's a sin of commission, which is the wrongs I commit. It's the wrong that I do. Then there's the sin of omission, which speaks to the right that I don't do. It is inaction. It is in essence what the half-brother of Jesus, James, says when he is writing to believers who are scattered across the diaspora. He says these words in James 4, 17, if anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it. I'm in the book. It is sin for them. Are you hearing what I'm saying? This is personified in a parable Jesus' tales in Matthew 25 of a owner who distributed talents, five talents, two talents, and one talent to different individuals.

The Bible says that the one he gave five talents to multiplied those five talents and gave the owner back ten talents, and the one he gave two talents to multiply those two talents gave the owner back four talents, and the one he gave one talent to didn't lose it, but he didn't use it. He gave the owner back what the owner gave to him. The owner calls the other two good and faithful servants, but he calls the other one who wasted the one a wicked and lazy servant, because he says, are you hearing names? He says to him, you could have at least taken the talent, put it in the bank, and got some interest. In other words, I expected a return on the investment that I made in you. Y'all not talking to me, and I think we're having a lot of conversation in charismatic Christian circles about the investment God made, but we also need to be having conversation about the return he expects. Come on in here. You've been bought with a price. He expects something. He's redeemed your life from destruction. He expects something. He saved you. He expects something. He picked you up, turned you around, placed your feet on solid ground. He expects something. And if you don't believe he has an expectation, you must not have read the gospels. You must not have read Luke's account of when Jesus healed tin lepers. I feel the Holy Ghost here when he healed tin lepers and told them to go show themselves to the priest, and the tin went to show themselves to the priest and the text says as they went, they were made whole. One of the tin, somebody pointed to yourself and said, "That's me." One of the tin turned around, came back to Jesus, and said, "I don't know about the rest of them, but I hadn't forgot what it felt like to itch.

I hadn't forgot what leprosy felt like. Turn around and came back and said, "I'm going to say thank you." And Jesus asked the question, "Were there not ten of you?" "Where are the other nine?" Because God expects a return on his investment. "Therefore, if you will give me the pastoral privilege and permission, I want to boldly, I want to audaciously, I want to unapologetically proclaim you are too anointed to be average." Y'all not talking to me, you are too called to settle for comment, and your assignment is too major for you to meander through a maze of mediocrity. You've been created, you've been called, you've been commissioned to stand up, to stick out, and to set it off for the glory of God. Your purpose is to profound, your assignment is too imperative for you to haphazardly meander through life in a maze of mediocrity. I'm not saying you should think more highly of yourself than you ought, but I am saying you should view yourself through the lens of Scripture so that you can see yourself as you actually are. Did you hear what I just said? that is consistent with how you see yourself. Here's the way the writer put it, has a man thinketh. (congregation cheering) Where are my Bible readers? I said, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So your behavior is gonna be a reflection of what you think about you, not just what God thinks about you. See, God can think high of you. And you can think low of you, but your behavior, mmm, is gonna be reflective of not what he thinks of you, but what you think of yourself, which is why you cannot open this book without learning more,

not just about God, but you can't open this book without learning more about you. Y'all better come get me today. I said, when you open this book, it doesn't just tell you who God is. When you open this book, it'll tell you who you are. (congregation cheering) Head, not the tail, above only, not beneath, Linda, not the borrower. Blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed in my going in, blessed in my coming out, blessed when you come into my life, blessed when you leave. (congregation cheering) Blessed, royal, chosen, salt, light, anointed, selected, elected, protected. The apple of his eye, a royal priesthood, a chosen generation. (congregation cheering) He is telling you who you are. (congregation cheering) And I'm afraid second-way Christianity is only having one side of conversations. (congregation cheering) To try to keep you out of pride, they keep telling you who you not. (congregation cheering) Because they think the only thing the enemy weaponizes is pride. They think the only thing the enemy weaponizes is arrogance. But the same Bible that shows us

how the enemy weaponizes arrogance is the same Bible that shows us how the enemy weaponizes inadequacy. The same Bible that shows us the danger of thinking too highly of ourselves. It's the same Bible, number 13. We are like grasshoppers in our own eyes. It's the same Bible that warns you of the danger of thinking too low of yourself. And I rebuke this false pretense of humility that's got you incentivized, low self-esteem. Get free. I am who God says I am. I can do what God says I can do. I can have what God says I can have. (congregation cheering) I'm simply affirming what I believe the scriptures present to us is truth. To usher us into an understanding of a lesson I see nestled in the pages of this passage here in the Book of Daniel. I'm sharing this with you not to excite you but to equip you. To empower you to educate you with this truth. Here it is. You need to know what I'm saying because your assignment at times will feel like exile and surviving exile requires excellence. They didn't hear what I just said. I spent the first 13 minutes laying this foundation because your assignment at times will feel like exile

and you only survive exile with excellence. Yeah, this text is tailor made to teach us this truth. Yeah, it's the Book of Daniel, one of the most interesting books of the Bible. It is literally named after one of the most prominent and consequential spiritual leaders in the Hebrew Bible. And there's much conversation to be had about Daniel's contribution. We're gonna get there. But I think we need to start the conversation for the purpose of this series exploring Daniel's context 'cause this series is called "We Outside." (audience cheering) Okay, so with that in mind, in a secular space. Oh, I'm in the book. I said he's a spiritual giant who's doing sacred work in a secular space. He's a person with prophetic ministry who doesn't work in the temple. Which means the title. Don't make the ministry. I'll leave that alone. 'Cause he was one, but he didn't have to call himself one. And if you can't, I better leave that. If you really are one, you don't have to call yourself one. The fruit from your life will demonstrate it. We don't recognize it and we'll call it. We'll come to you like Nicodemus at night and say, "No man can do these things unless God be with him." He's a spiritual giant who's doing sacred work in a secular space. Are you here? Daniel 6 exposes us to this interesting phenomenon. Israel is under the authority of a Medo-Persian leader named Darius. That ain't me. That's not similar. Here's what's interesting now. Daniel is a Hebrew. Are you all here? Who is working for a pagan king? And just in case you think this is an isolated incident, this is not the only pagan king he worked for. If you go to the first three chapters of Daniel, you'll see he's working for a Babylonian leader named Nebuchadnezzar. He has three colleagues that we know a Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that go into the fire-referness as a consequence of their refusal to violate their kingdom values in a secular space. Are you here? Because Israel contextually is in what's called exile.

What does that mean? Exile is when one group or nation is conquered by another one and forcibly removed from their homeland to another land where that country places them. And if you don't understand, exile, you will miss out on some of the richness of some of the prophetic writings in the Old Testament. You remember Jeremiah 29 and 11? "For I know." I need my church talking back to me now. This the 1230. We're not dead in here. Come on. Well, I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and the future. That's what Jeremiah said. Do you want to know when Jeremiah said it? When they were in exile, they were in Babylonian captivity and in the midst of everything falling apart. In the midst of the worst, most confusing, conflicting season of their life. In the middle of a season where it feels like everything is falling apart. God taps Jeremiah on the shoulder and say, "Tell my people I got plans." I don't know who this is for today. He said, "But tell my people I got plans. Tell them why they're worrying. I'm working on something. I wish I had me an old-school church here. Work it out. How are you going to pay your rent? Work it out. All your money spent. Work it out. Telephone disconnect. Work it out. Waiting on the next paycheck. Tell you what y'all to do. Tell you what y'all to do. Tell you what y'all to do. Jesus will see you through." Didn't he? Didn't he? Didn't he? Work it out. Y'all all right, I'm almost done. Hear this? They're in exile. [BLANK_AUDIO] When we get to Daniel 6, obviously the Persians now have rule over Israel. So Daniel has served two pagan administrations. Now, remember, it's not a choice. He didn't put in his resume for this, because here was the custom of a lot of conquering countries during that day. They would take the best and the brightest from the countries that they conquered, and they would try to assimilate them into their culture and then deploy them for use in their kingdom, which is why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not their Hebrew names. It's their Babylonian names. Are you all here?

Okay. So Daniel, throughout the consistency of this book, is working as a spiritual giant during a sacred work in a secular space. He's only there because of persecution, but he's only there because he's been planted. It feels like persecution might just be planted, because remember, remember the world or culture society, according to regimented, it can be separated into seven sectors. We call these sectors, streets. There's a religion street. There's the family street. There's the education street. There's the wellness street. There's the arts and entertainment street. There's the government street. There's the business street. Daniel has been sprinkled like salt on the government street. So he is working in a context that does not share his belief system. For me, they don't believe in his God. They do not share his values. We're about to see that in a second. And he does not share their motives, because here's what the text says. Daniel is working for Darius, and because the empire has expanded, Darius needs to expand the infrastructure, because more growth requires more infrastructure. So he appoints 120 satryps. And over those satryps, let's call them middle managers, he puts three, what the Bible calls, high officials. Let's call that upper management. So you got 120 in middle management, three in upper management, which means three men are responsible for overseeing 40 managers. And here's what the text says, the text says, the king did this so he would suffer no loss. So he didn't put infrastructure in place to serve the citizens.

He put infrastructure in place to protect his treasure. So you got this man that's in an environment that doesn't share his value system, that doesn't share his belief system, and have different motives than his. So Daniel's probably like God, why am I here? They don't share my value system. They don't share my belief system. And we don't have the same motives. And God's like, they don't have your value system, they don't have your belief system, and they don't share your motives. Daniel's like, no, why am I here? These people don't share my belief system, they don't have my value system, and we don't have the same motives. And God's like, they don't have your belief system, they don't have your value system, and you don't have the same motives. The reason you're asking me why you're there is the reason I put you there, because there's nobody like you there, and that street needs some salt, and I can trust you to stay salty when I put you on the street. Did you hear what I just said? But we cannot have a... without about our responsibility to stay salty because he is looking for people like Daniel who will get on the street and not become like the street. Come on here. This is a personification of what Jesus says in the beatitudes. You are the salt of the earth in the light of the world. Now I don't know if you've ever noticed this. I like macaroni and cheese. Come on here. All right. Here it is. You have never tasted salt that tastes like macaroni. But you have tasted macaroni that tastes like salt because whatever salt get in, salt dominates. It becomes the dominating influence. And God looks at the seven sectors of society and say, you know what? That religion street, it needs some salt. And that family street, it needs some salt. And that wellness street, it needs some salt. And that arts and entertainment street, it needs some salt. And you feel like exile. You're like, why am I here? I'll put you there because it needs some salt. I don't have time. But if I had time, I would tell you that salt

during this day was a preserving agent. They didn't have freezers to preserve. Oh my salt to preserve things that would decay. They were packing in salt. And where decay was spread rapidly and rampantly, the salt slowed down the decay. I'm not saying you're going to change everything on your street. But I'm saying that street would have fell apart if God had not put some salt on the street to preserve the decay. And if I could build a bridge from the historicity of this context, a build a bridge of contemporization to ours, I would say that salt is also used to dissolve ice. And there were some things you would be crashing into. There would be some accidents on the road that do not exist because there was some salt on the street. There are some people that would have crashed out by now. They would have destroyed their life by now. But God put you on their streets and say, oh, come in here, close your mouth, be quiet. It ain't a lot of us in here. Anyway, don't you mess this up, be quiet. Do I have anybody that will thank God for some salty friends? Because they take that post down. Get off alive now. Don't you mess this up. He's on the street. So here's what the text says. Y'all okay? Y'all not bored, are you? I'm almost done. Here's the text says. The text says, Daniel's one of the three. But I want you to see what the text says. It says, but he distinguished himself. So much so that the king planned, say, I'm going to put you over everything. You were one of many. Then you became one of three. I'm going to have to make you one of one. Are y'all going to help your bishop today? I said, you are one of many. Then you are one of three. But I'm about to make you one of one. Are y'all going to help the preacher today? You are one of many. Then Daniel, I'm making you one of three. But I'm getting ready to make you one of one. All right. That's what the text says. But the text also shows us why the king said it. Now, second way, don't get mad at me here now. Here it is. Look at verse three. Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satrups. I'm going to tell you what the text don't say. It doesn't say that the king distinguished him because he was anointed. He was anointed. We're going to talk about anointing next week, but that's not what the king saw. [BLANK_AUDIO] He was sincere. That's not what the king saw. Uh-oh, I'm about to lose you.

Here it is. The text doesn't say, it was because he was prayerful. Now prayer is important and he was a man of prayer. But that's not what the king saw. The text says, the king looked at him, let's make this loop here now, and he didn't see mediocrity. Look at the text. An excellent spirit was in him. He didn't see mediocrity. He saw distinction. He saw a man making full use of what the Lord had given him. Are y'all going to talk back to me today? I said, are you going to talk back to me today? Here's what's interesting family. Here's what's interesting. Here's what's interesting. Excellent refers to superior in quality. I'm getting ready to say something. Oil isn't a replacement for excellence, excellence is the way you should deliver your oil. Did you hear what I just said? When I say oil, that's a metaphor for anointing, and then charismatic Christian circles, very often we exploit our anointing, and because we have a stronger learning, we put forth weak effort because the more gifted you are, the easier it is for you to coast, and you never have to correct something that's getting in the way of you maximizing your potential because it's not getting in the way of you being better than most people. So because you can be better than most people, without ever correcting that, you never corrected that because your 50% is better than a lot of people's 100%. So you satisfied we're going to the playoffs, but it takes excellence to get a ring. So we're talking about God putting us on the street. What kind of witness are we going to bear?

What he proudly say that one might. Would our work, would our competence, would our character bear witness to the greatness of God? Now, here's what Jesus says, salt that is lost in saltiness is good for nothing. It doesn't mean that person doesn't have value. It means you don't add it. It means heaven didn't gain an asset when it got you. One game to citizen, but not an asset that you go in there, but you're not responsible for others. And here's the thing, the asset brings an attack, because the text says when the king gave thought to put Daniel over the whole thing, the 120 administrators and the other high officials conspired. Am I in the book now? They conspired to say we got to sabotage his success. Now I'm almost done, stay with me, and don't run out of here when I say this now. Somebody say sit in it. Come on, you got to sit on me this word now. of them have the same level of authority, then when he is going to be set over the whole realm, he's going to be in authority over those he used to walk with. But he walked in a way when he walked with him that they could still respect him when he was promoted over them, which is why I believe many people don't believe what they say they believe God's going to do in their future, because if they really believed, like they say they believe that God's going to do great things in their future, they wouldn't be fumbling their present the way that they are. Because the text says, when they tried to find something against Daniel, there was nothing to find. And if you really believe God's going to do what you say he's going to do in your future, it changes the way you manage your present. We move from, I don't want to mess up my present to, I can't give my enemies any ammunition in my future.

So these people, I want you to see this, conspire against them, concoct a plan that puts him in the lion's den. He literally ends up in the lion's den because he won't violate his values. But something happened. What am I, what am I, what am I, Pentecostal members that I need? I need to put y'all in sections, Baptist Pentecostal, Word of Faith, non-denomination. So I know, so I know where to go during certain times. Here's what's happening, excellence didn't protect him from persecution. It preserved him. He went in the lion's den. Now I'm not going to bother this, but I'm going to have to bother this next year. He went in the lion's den. But because he was an asset functioning under kingdom authority, then the den became a place that was reflective of God's kingdom. So the den functioned like the garden. And in the garden, the animals and the humans were in harmony with one another. Lions didn't eat Adam and Eve before sin. But because Daniel was functioning under kingdom authority, the den became a reflection of the kingdom, and lions had to behave the way God intended for lions to behave. And they had to watch what they couldn't eat. I don't know who this is for, but I don't know what den and lions you may end up in. But we serve a God that will make a den become the garden and function like the kingdom. You need excellence to survive exile because some of those streets are hostile to the kingdom. And if you give them something, they will use it. Excellence here isn't just a good job because the king noticed a spirit of excellence. There's the spirit of God empowered him to excel. So what Daniel is demonstrating and displaying here is three things. He's demonstrating what I call spiritual traits. These are personal character traits that the spirit of God forms in you because your assignment

requires that trait. This is not the fruit of the spirit. We're going to talk about this. This is a unique -- these are unique sets of traits that your assignment requires. And the spirit of God may shape these traits in you because your assignment requires it. So when you look at Daniel, you see traits. He's organized, he's strategic, he's disciplined, he's innovative, he's resourceful, he's resilient. You can't be weak. You can't be weak in survive, Daniel's dead. I mean, the lion's dead. He came out of the den without a grudge. So I still got the work for who tried to kill me. I'm not bothering that. You tried to kill me, but I'm still working for you. What traits is the spirit stirring in you? (congregation chattering) Saying, hey, this isn't a matter of sin. I'm not correcting anything, but your assignment's gonna require more of this. Will you submit to what I'm trying to build in you? So if you're tender and I'm trying to make you tough, it's because your future's gonna require toughness. If you're all over the place and your future requires order, will you allow me to prompt you to order your private world? Now here's what you can't do. Second way tries to project traits the spirit's trying to put in you on others. But the traits he develops are unique for your assignment.

What's he stirring in you? Is he saying, come on, let's work on that discipline? (congregation chattering) It's for a reason. It's not just so that you're running around and not trying to find your keys. It's not, it's deeper than that. Is there something in your future that's requiring it? So because he had spiritual traits, God was trying to develop in him, that's what made him excellent, salty. He also deployed spiritual gifts in the marketplace. He had the spiritual gift of what we call revelation or interpretation. Some people say they're the same thing. In Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, nobody could interpret it, Daniel did. In Daniel five, Nebuchadnezzar's son, Beltashazzar sees a hand writing things on the wall, nobody could interpret the message, Daniel could. See Paul tells Timothy, oh, I'm gonna talk about this in the next week, he says, stir up the gift or fan into flames. The gift of God will just end you through the laying on of my hands. This is not talent, this is not ability, this is special ability, special ability distributed to you by the Holy Spirit to make you uniquely effective at what God's calling you to do in this season.

And so the spiritual gifts, watch what Paul tells Timothy. He says, when a fire's going out, you got to fan it back into flame. Paul tells Timothy, do that with your gift, just because God deposited it, doesn't mean you're not letting it go dormant. Then he tells him what to address that's contributing to the dormancy, timidity, for God didn't give us a spirit of fear. God makes the deposit, you determine whether or not you deploy it. You can have a prompting for a prophetic word, and if you tim it, you won't release it. Fan in the flames. God did not give us the spirit of fear. Now we're gonna have to deal with this 'cause second way uses the gift with cockiness instead of confidence. I know what the Lord told me. See, you need epistemological humility because that's an imperfect word coming up through an imperfect vessel. So just because you feel strong about it, doesn't mean you can't be wrong. So he says, fan in the flames again. And then you have this gift of revelation, it's what God just pulls off veils and it gives you supernatural sight. You can see things others can't see and then supernatural solutions.

It's just like, oh, you know how to fix it. And when you understand how that gift works, you'll see what Joseph and what Daniel, you're a problem solver. And they just like, how you know that? And you don't even know how you know. That's the gift being deployed. A spiritual gift being deployed on a secular street. Are y'all here? So he has spiritual traits. He has spiritual gifts. Then he has spiritual fruit. Now, spiritual traits are the unique way God forms and shapes you. Spiritual gifts is evidence, demonstrations, or displays of him. This is godliness. This isn't you. This is God showing himself. Did you hear what I said? So when there's temperance, that's God displaying himself through you. And one of the traits Daniel had was the trait of faithfulness. The Bible says there was no error or fault for he was found faithful. I mean, that's a fruit of the spirit, excuse me. Different kings and different kingdoms, but I'm still here. God, I can't say I'll be perfect, but I'll say when my feet hit the floor, I'm going to show up.

Faithful. Until you stay salty, the spirit of excellence is seen in the spiritual traits, the deploying of the spiritual gifts, and the display of spiritual fruit. Now, we're going to have a time of reflection. I want you to take 30 seconds. I'm getting you out of here in two minutes, so I don't want to stampede, please, and I understand them shuttles and those buses. That's why we need a parking deck. Amen. Come through Jesus. So give me two minutes. I want you to take 30 seconds, because I'm your teacher, I'm not the Holy Spirit. So I teach to all of us, the Holy Spirit is the one that speaks to you. So just take 30 seconds, let's just sit with Him and ask Him, what are you saying to me? Is it a spiritual trait? You want me to work on? Am I operating in fear with my gifts? Is there some fruit you want to display through me, 30 seconds? I wrote this prayer this morning, just open your hands and receive this heavenly Father, we come before you today with humble hearts, acknowledging that you are the giver of every good and perfect gift, yet today we acknowledge that we have not always been faithful stewards of what you placed in our care. Forgive us for the sin of negligence. Forgive us for treating the sacred like it was insignificant. Forgive us for the responsibilities we avoided, the opportunities we squandered, the abilities we failed to develop, and the gifts that we've allowed to remain dormant. Forgive us for the times, we knew what was right, but failed to do so. Give us for using our anointing as an excuse for the lack of excellence, our gifts as a substitute for discipline and our good intentions as a replacement for faithful action. Father, we repent, we turn away from carelessness, complacency, and mediocrity, Holy Spirit.

Change my heart, expose every area where I become comfortable with being unfaithful, develop in me the spirit of excellence, and may my life bring you glory, may my work bear witness to your goodness, may my faithfulness make a difference in this world, so that when my earthly assignment is completed, I will hear it said of me, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant, you've been faithful over a few things, I now make your rule over many in Jesus' name."