I Didn’t See That Coming! (Dharius Daniels)

Pastor Darius Daniels being with us this weekend. He is the lead pastor of Chase Church. He's been with us before and I believe God's given him a message for our Elevation family. So right now, put your hands together, put your praise hands up in the chat, put the hearts in the chat, put the prayer hands together, the

clap hands. Welcome Pastor Daniel. Well, come on better than that, and let's give a great God, great praise wherever you are, in your living room, in your kitchen, in your card let, it everything that has breath, praise the Lord. It doesn't matter what it is, It couldn't change who he is. Let's give a great God, great praise. Well, let's pray together. Father, we love you today. Our presence wherever we are is evidence of your faithfulness. Your faithfulness is great. You've kept us.

We recognize it, and our response is worship. It's appreciation, it's gratitude. Thank you that you love us enough not to leave us without direction, and that direction comes through your word. So we pray for that today. I pray for the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, your annoying to equip and empower me to teach not just the message from the Bible, but to release a word from the Lord. For you're the only one that can speak to all of us and say something different to each

of us at the same time. So may this message be your love letter to us. Let us know that you see us rite where we are, and that you love us enough to speak with specificity to give us strength to run on to see what the end would be. Thank you for this house, the spiritual weapon of mass destruction. Thank you for the assignment that you've given it to see people far from God raise to life in Christ. Thank You for the lives that will be raised to life today as a result of what you're doing through

this incredible spiritual family called Elevation Church. Knowing you like we know you, we already have what we've asked you for. So we thank you for these things in the name of the one who saved our life. That name is Jesus. If you agree, come on, put a man in the chat wherever you are. We're excited to be in the house today. Well listen, it is my extreme honor to

be here. First of all, I have just such great respect and admiration for one of the greatest leaders on the planet, one of the most incredible communicators on the planet, and one of the greatest men personally off stage that I know. And so the scriptures teach us that honor is a kingdom ethic. It is the way we manage relationships as followers of Jesus. So wherever we are in the chat, in the room, we're just gonna make some

major noise. And thank God for my friend, my brother passed the Stephen erdet so excited to be here with you, and listen. If you're at home, you're probably already sitting down. If you're in the room, you can have your seats. What matters is the Pasha of our heart. There's something on my heart I kind of want to share today, and so I want you to meet me in the second book of the Bible, the Book of Exodus. Y'all.

I'm dealing with some mixed emotions today. This morning. This morning, six thirty am, had to drop off my firstborn son for college. He's playing football at west Point University west Point Military Academy, and drop them off this morning. So I'm young but I feel old, and I'm old but I feel young. I don't know, but I got mixed emotions and excited about all that God's domed in the life of my family, and glad to be here with

this incredible spiritual family. EXETERU, Chapter thirteen, verse seventeen. I'm going to read a few verses here, one verse here, and then we're going to use as a launch and path to leap into our lesson today. This is what it says. It says when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through Philistine country, though that was shorter. See what he says. For God said if they faced war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led the people verse eighteen,

around by the desert road, toward the Red Sea. Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. I want to end the reading the God's word right there, and I want to tag a title to this text. I want us to think around this thought and our time together today. I didn't see that coming. I didn't see that coming the family. There are a number of interesting adjectives that can be used to describe the nature and

the character of God. For the purpose of our time together today, I want to lift up one that I think is extremely important and at the same time extremely unsettling, and that is God is unpredictable. Please don't read what I'm not writing. Please don't hear what I'm not saying. I am not saying in any way that there is any inconsistency in God's character. That's not what I'm saying. God is consistently consistent. He's reliably reliable. He is what

the writer of Hebrews calls it calls immutable. He is unchanging. He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. He was a waymaker, he is a waymaker. He will be a waymaker. He was a door opener, he is a door opener. He will be a door opener. He was a healer, he is a healer, he will be a healer. As a matter of fact, the only reason that many of us are saying in the membrane in the midst of a pandemic is because God's been consistent. Corona's been unpredictable, but

God's been consistent. The economy's been uncertain, but God's been consistent. The only reason we're here is because God is consistent. I'm not saying there's any inconsistency in his character, but I am saying there isdictability in his activity. In other words, we can predict who God will be, but we cannot

always accurately anticipate what God will do. We see instances in scripture in the New Testament, specifically where people found themselves in dilemmas and in situations and circumstances and Jesus responded immediately. And then we look in the same New Testament and we see examples of instances like John eleven with a dude named Lazarus. Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick, and instead of going immediately, he delays himself intentionally.

He says no I'm a wait until about four days before I get there, because the Sadducees had the teaching that the spirit of a man didn't leave until after three days, and so when he got there on the fourth day, they knew that it was undeniably inexplain a miracle. See you can predict who he'll be, but you can't always predict what he'll do. See See, there are some instances where he healed. Jesus healed people by touching them. Then there are instances like in Mark five, where someone

got healed by touching the hem of him. She didn't even touch him, she touched what was touching him. She said, if I could touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. There are times where he spoke the word and healed, and then there are instances where he spit in dirt, made mud, put mud on a person's

eyes and they got healed. And then there are instances where individuals like the apostle Paul said, because of the abundance of revelation given to me, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of saying to buffet me this thing. I saw the Lord three times that it might be removed from me. And on the third time, God say, nah, my great sufficient, it's God. You're not gonna change this. No, I'm not gonna change that. But God the devil Sinnate say yeah, the double sentate.

But I like it, so I'm gonna leave it. God, I've never been things have never been worse. Yeah, but spiritually they'd never been better. God, I've never been in this much pain. You've never been in this much prayer. So instead of altering this, I'm gonna give you grace to endure it. There's no inconsistency in his character, but there is unpredictability in his activity. Life then will be

full of surprises. So listen to me, family. This means that the course and the quality of our life is going to be determined by our ability to handle what you didn't see coming. Oh. And I know this is unnerving, and this is unsettling for those of us who are like me, who prefer the predictable. It's uncomfortable for those of us who do not like disruption. But if I want to be used by God, I must be willing

to be disrupted. If I want to be used by God, I must be willing to be disrupted, because God is the god of disruption. You'll be minding your business, tending to sheep, and then all of a sudden he'll start setting burning bushes on fire. And you thought you were out of Egypt for the rest of your life, Moses. And then he starts telling you to take your shoes off your own holy ground, and he says, I know you thought you were going to do one thing with

your life, but I'm getting ready to disrupt it. I don send you back to the place you said you'd never go back to get you in minding his business threshing weed in a wine press. Disruption. So the course in the quality of my life, it's going to be determined by my ability to handle what I did see coming, because God in life are full of surprises. This means the people who live well must be willing to relinquish what many in our culture are addicted to holding on to,

and that is control. Control. And what's weird is we need to relinquish what we really don't have. So we're relinquishing the illusion of something for peace's sake, because the idea that we have control is an illusion because we don't we have responsibility, but not control. We have influence, but not control. Control is an illusion. Control is reserved for the sovereign one. And when you attempt, you and I attempt to take on the responsibility and the weight

of control, we're taking on God weight. And then we're carrying weight we're not conditioned to carry. And then our mind and our body begins to respond in inappropriate ways to send you a message that you weren't designed to carry this. You've been designed to focus on today. You haven't been built to worry about tomorrow. Because while you're sleeping, I'm the God that never sleeps a sumberus. While you're trying to figure it out, I'm the God that's already

working it out. That's God weight. You get today, I got tomorrow control. It's an illusion. It's now try to take control. I'm taking God weight, and our bodies and our minds respond in a way letting us know that we have not been created to carry I have responsibility, now, I got influence, but I do not have control. So here's the question. Here's the question, especially for people who have already made the decision to become a follower of

the person and the principles of Jesus. Here's the question, do you only trust God with your past or do you trust him with your future? Because this means I must be willing. If I trust him with my future, I must be willing to wrap my head around and experience that we see here in this text. This text teaches us how to manage these surprise seasons. This text here in Exodus offers us some insight on how to

handle seasons and situations that we didn't see coming. It's interesting, right, this book of Exodus, which captures Israel's exodus out of Egypt, it shows us something really interesting to me. It shows us this. It shows us that we may be able to ladies and gentlemen look at God's promises and get a sense of where He's taking us. But the text teaches that we might be surprised when it comes to the way he takes us there. Right, because this text is God's fulfilling of a promise that he makes to

Moses in private. God tells Moses in private, I'm sending you back to Egypt, and you're going to tell Pharaoh to let my people go, and you're going to take my people to a land I promised them it's inhabited by the Canaan Knites. It's called Canaan Land. It's a promised land in the Old Testament. It's a New Testament picture of the life that's available to us in Christ. And God says to Moses, I'm gonna usual to take

Israel from e to the Promised Land. Those were the only two destinations in the conversation, Egypt and the Promised Land. Only two destinations in the conversation, Egypt and the Promised Land. Only two destinations in the conversation, Egypt and the Promised Land. So when Moses goes to Israel, he starts preaching God's promise, and God is gonna take us from Egypt and get us to the Promised Land. Somebody shout, promise, man, look at your neighbor and say promised land. Smell the heron,

say I smell Promised Land. And he's preaching, and the people are excited and they're screaming, and then finally at God is making good on the promise. The Bible says when Pharaoh lets the people go, God did not leave them on the road through Philistine country, though that was shorter. Wait a minute, now, Jesus, wait a minute. You said I was going from Egypt to the Promised Land. You ain't saying anything about this other route here. No, no, no no,

It's interesting. It says when Pharaoh let him go, God did not leave them through the Philistine country. Listen to me, family, though that was shorter. I'm gonna say that again. He didn't leave them through Philistine country, though that was shorter. Because the assumption is we're going to have a straight path to the promise. God said, no, no, no no, no, even though that's shorter, I can't lead you the short way. Watch this because if they face war, they might change

their minds and return to Egypt. Don't miss this, family. God knows what battles, right, we are not ready to fight. Did you hear what I just said? He says, Now, I could take you that way, but if I take you that way, you're going to be exposed to some adversity that you're not quite developed for us, and it's gonna set you back. It would have set them back physically, but sometimes it set us back spiritually, and it sets us back emotionally. And God knows what battles. We are

not ready to fight this way. Mark Batterson puts it, He says, that's a backside to every blessing. Did you hear what I just said? So here this They were ready to get out of Egypt and get into Canaan, but they were not ready to deal with the adversity that a short path required. Are y'all following me here? He says? He says, I know that's shorter, he says, but it's a backside to that. And you're ready for the front side, but you're not ready for the backside.

Because to whom so hother much is giving, much is required. And sometimes I'm not holding you up because you're not ready for the front side. I'm holding you up because you're not ready for the backside. Yes, I'm holding I'm not holding you up because I'm not going to give it to you. I'm holding you up because when I give it to you, I want you to be mature enough to handle it so that you can keep it. I don't know who this is far, but I want I want to talk to somebody who feels like you're

experiencing a divine delay. I want you to know it's just delay, it's not denial, because God knows how to put you in the right place at the right time. Maybe you ready for it, but you're not ready for it. Did you hear what I just said. Maybe you're ready for it, but you're not ready for it. You know, you can be ready for the promotion but not ready for pressure. You can be ready for elevation but not ready for haters. You can be ready for responsibility but

not be ready for being liked. God's like, I got to make sure that your heart is as good as your gift. I've got to make sure that your soul is as whole as your gift is, because if not, your gift will lead you and put you in places and spaces that your heart is not mature enough to handle. And a blessing will feel like a curse if you get it too early. I want somebody to just pause right now and just thank God for every time he

delayed something. Thank God not for every open door, but for the doors he closed that he knew I wasn't ready to walk in. God says, no, no, no no, they face war. They might change their mind and return to Egypt. So what was the text say? It says something. In verse eighteen, it says, so God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. Listen to this family. This, this is this is really interesting to me, at least it's interesting to me. It's it's interesting because

one version of the scripture translates this as desert. Some others translate this as the wilderness. So this is a destination God left out of the conversation because if you go back and you look at God's conversation with Moses and Moses's conversation with Israel, there's no mention of a desert or wilderness. This means, God, are you all ready for this? If you're ready to put, I'm ready in the chat. If you're ready, put I'm ready in the chat.

It means God, God intentionally withheld information from Israel until they were out of Egypt. I want to make sure you heard what I just said. It means stay with me. It means that He intentionally withheld information from them until they were too far into it. They thought about going back, they talked about going back, but they were too far into it to go back. And I want to see if we can relate to Israel's experience, because I believe

that sometimes God intentionally withhold's information from us. He says, because if you knew everything you were saying yes to, I don't know if you would give me a yes. So I'm gonna wait until you too far away from Egypt, until you recognize everything that you got yourself into, because if I let you know in the beginning, you would have never left your starting point. Yeah, it takes them through this this place wilderness. Now, when I first saw that,

I'm saying to myself, like, Yo, that's that's negative. I don't want the wilderness. I don't want that. That's negative. Then some said to me, it's necessary, and I'm saying no. So sometimes I get in my head, I'm like, no, it's it's negative. No, it's it's necessary. It's negative. It's necessary. It's negative, it's necessary. And then this thought came to my mind. There's the wilderness is only negative when you stay there longer than you have to. Okay, it's it's

it's the wilderness represents surprise seasons. It represents what you didn't see coming. It represents what you cannot predict and what you cannot prefer. And God says, this is interesting, that wilderness seasons are not necessarily negative and then necessary. Listen to this because these seasons, although we don't prefer them,

are seasons of preparation. And it's weird because it is preparation that God keeps you uninformed about, because God's the only one that will take you to school, and you not even know you in class. You didn't even know

you went to school until it was over. Is there anybody that can look back over your life and say, I didn't understand while I went through certain things when I was in the middle of it, But then once I got on the other side of it and I look back, I realized and recognize God was teaching me something. And if I didn't learn what I needed to learn back then, if I wasn't developed in the ways I needed to be developed back then, I wouldn't be in

the position to handle where I am right now. I want to pause for the cause and tell somebody that God is not just your savior, He's your teacher and he's got you in school right now teaching you some things you need to learn. So just sit back, dig the scene with the student, lean whoop, whoop, and get the lessons so that you can receive the blessing somebody praise them on your couch praise them in your living room.

It's it's it's it's it's interesting here. He sets them in this, this wilderness, this desert, says, Yeah, this is a place of preparation. And wherever listen to me, family, Wherever there's preparation, there pruning. Wherever that's preparation, that's pruning. Meaning forward movement is not just attached to what we start doing. It is attached to what we stop doing. It's pruning. Jesus puts it this way in John fifteen. He says, every branch that bears fruit, God prunes so

that it can produce more fruit. And when I look at Israel's experience in the wilderness, I see there's a lot of pruning going on. Like, first of all, there's pruning of issues. The wildness becomes like an airport hub where certain things get dropped off that can't go to the final destination. Because sometimes the enemy is not the enemy, it's the enemy. And sometimes God drops us in these surprise seasons, he says, because I want to give you an opportunity to deal with some of the things that

can't go with you where you're going. Because old new seasons, we keep feeling like old seasons if we don't deal with old issues. This might be one of the reasons why when David defeated Goliath, he went up to him and cut off his head. Because sometimes we knock the giant down and we think it's dead, and then we turn our back on it and try to move forward in a new season, and then an old problem rears itself, rears its head back up and follows us into a

new one. Pruning issues. This is really really uncomfortable. People get uncomfortable when I talk about this one. But it's also a time where there's pruning of individuals. It is so important. See Prover thirteen and twenty says walk walk with wise men and become wise. But a companion of fool suffers harm. Listen to this family. It didn't say a fool suffers harm. It says a companion of foolslfs home, which means I don't have to be a fool to be hurt. I just got to hang out with them.

The scriptures for doing this don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts, good character issues individuals. It's a time where God purgaes us of attitudes. Notice the text says they might see war and go back to Egypt. Why because for hundreds of years they've been slaves, their minds had not been conditioned to think like soldiers. So they were out of Egypt, but Egypt was not out of them. So God needed to adjust their attitude so that they could see themselves properly.

Because you're always behave in a way that is consistent with the way you see yourself. And God' say, I gotta get you to see you the way I see you. And this is why I spend so much time telling you who you are in scripture, because I want you to see yourself the way I see you, so that you can behave in a way that's consistent with who you've been born to be, not who you think you really are. So I want to do all of this

in some of these surprise seasons. And I think when you look at Israel's experience, we can see a connection to some of ours. And I think it really answers the quintessential question when it comes to dealing with surprise seasons, y'all passadaris, what do I do with these seasons? Here? It is what do I do what I can't with what I can't control? And what I didn't predict and what I don't prefer. What do I do? You manage them? What do I do when I can't control it? I

manage it? And what does this mean for us? It means for us, what it meant for Israel? Practically, when seasons cannot be avoided, they must be managed, it managed, and how it is managed determines whether or not it is prolonged or made permanent. And I want to give a few ways to manage seasons like this because I feel like it's really important. Okay, this is really important because the season itself listen to me, The season itself

is a surprise. But then once you get in the season, you're going to experience some things that are surprised also. And this is exactly what happened to Israel. So they get in this in this wilderness season and they start getting hungry. They like, we want some bread, we want something to eat. And then all of a sudden, the Bible says and Nexitus, chapter sixteen, verse number thirty one. It says that the people of Israel called watch this

called the bread manna. It was like white coarameter seed, and taste it like wafers made with honey. Don't miss this, y'all. So they are in the middle of this surprise season. They're asking their savior for provision, and they wake up one morning and they see this coorander seed spread on the ground like do and they called it manna because mana means what is it? So they ask God for bread? And they wake up and they see this frost like carander seed substance spread out like do and they say

mana because mana means what is it? God? I ask you for bread? What is this? I ask you for wisdom? What is this? I ask you for strength? What is this? I ask you for a blessing? What is this? I ask you for more? What is this? Here it is family because here manna represents three things. I'm get all your waye Manter represents first of all the times when

God's performance doesn't match your expectation. Listen to this. They asked for bread, and I guess they thought they were gonna get I'm originally from Mississippi, some kind of country. I guess they thought they were gonna get some jiffy corn bread, some hot water corn bread, right, some wonderbread. But here it is the Bible says they saw something on the ground that looked so different from what they anticipated in their head. They didn't even recognize that God

had answered their prayer. He just answered their prayer in a form that was different than what they expected. So this is what some biblical historians say. They say that Israel took that seed, and when they took that seed, they grinded it. And when they grinded it, grinded the seed, the seed became green and they were able to take the and make bread. Don't miss this. It means that God's provision came in the form of a project. Did

you hear what I just said? And you got to be willing to grind to turn it into what you know it could be. I don't know who I'm preaching to and here today, but I want you to know it's grinding season for you. When God gets you a seed, you've got to be willing to grind and if you're grind you can turn it into what you know it's been created to be. It's when God's performance the match your expectations. Okay, here it is number two number two manna. What is it? It represents? Uh oh? Times when God

supernaturally suffocates your supply. This is what was interesting about their experience with manna. The manna would only last twenty four hours except for the day before the Sabbath. It will spoil, which means that every day they woke up

they had to depend on God to provide. It wouldn't be like that always, but for that season for them, God says, yep, and everybody's going to hit a season where in some area of your life, you will hit a season where God supernaturally suffocates your supply and say, every day you're going to have to look to me for this, because watch this. There are things you're having to ask me for in the wilderness that you're going to have an overflow of in Canaan. Canaan is a

land that was agriculturally rich. He was flowing with milk and honey. And God says, before you get to Canaan, I want to make sure you are crystal clear on who your source is. That I condition you properly so that when you get to Canaan you don't get the grapes and forget about God. I want to know, is there anybody watching me right now, anybody that's willing to admit that I will not get the grapes and forget about God, because God was there holding me in the

midnight hour. God was there coaching and counseling and consoling me. God was there teaching and training me that He's my sores and I've got to depend and rely on him. Is when He supernaturally suffocates your supply. He says, no in this area right now, in this season, I'm going to teach you a different type of dependence. And finally, manner represents listen to this. It represents seasonal supply here. It is. This is one of my favorite scriptures in

the Old Testament. It says, and the manner ceased it was temporary. They probably were getting all up in arms, experienced and extreme anxiety, and God's like, this is just temporary. This is just what I'm doing right now to hold you over until I get you to where I'm taking you. This is just temporary provision that I'm making until I provide in a way that is more permanent. It is

a temporary supply here. It is. So instead of feeling anxiety with the manner listen to this, they should have expressed appreciation for the manner because they didn't reckonize that the manner was a miracle. Sometimes we can be so busy looking for a miracle that we miss the one we're experiencing. And God's greatest critique of Israel was their

unappreciation for his benevolence and generosity to their life. He's like, I've done all of these miracles, and they're still infected with entitlement, and they don't know how to properly respond to what I've already done in life, in their life? What more do I have to do to prove I got them now? Passadarius? What's the proper response to miracles? It's appreciation. What's the word that we use for that in Christian context? It's praise. Praise it just noise. Praise

is good manners. Praise is a recognition of God's divine provision in my life, and it is my organic and automatic response. It is an expression of gratitude, and gratitude is the seed for more. The more you so praise God,

God starts sowing back into you. And I feel like, in the midst of a pandemic, yes we've lost a lot, Yes we're going through a lot, but I think we need to pause for a minute and reflect on the manner we've experienced, the miracles he's already performed and refused to be infected with entitlement and say, I've got to praise God for what he has done, and I'm gonna praise God in expectation for what he's getting ready to do. I want somebody to praise him right now. Yes, I'm done. Listen.

Israel mismanaged this season, so what was intended to be temporary turned out to be forty years. Forty years they wandered in the wilderness. They didn't have to because they mismanaged, but they didn't see coming. Listen to me, this is the word that's on my heart. Just because you're surprised doesn't mean you're not prepared. You may not feel prepared. But just because you've been surprised by what is coming your way, does it mean that God has not been

preparing you for it? And your management of it is tied to your recognition and your revelation. God has prepared me for this. I didn't see it coming, but I'm ready. I was caught off guard, but I'm ready. I don't prefer this, and I wouldn't have picked it. But if God allowed me to experience it, I'm ready for it. You know what happened when those plagues hit Egypt. God was getting them ready. You know what happened when he split that red sea and they walked through on the

right ground. God was getting them ready. And there's some red seas he's split in your life? What was he doing getting you ready? Cat you prepared? Taking you through school, not even letting you know you've been in class. Now, here's the question in a season like this, are you going to apply what your teacher has taught you? This is what I learned, this is this is hard. It's

hard for me. I struggle with it practically, but when I think about it cognitively, it helps me at least a bit that when I look at God's track record in my past, doubting him in my present is actually illogical. So when it seems it would seemed like faith would be illogical, But like when you look at how faithful God has been, it's like, no, doubt is actually illogical because there hasn't been a time He hadn't come through. Now he doesn't always sometimes he comes through, and I'm like, man,

what is it? What is this, but there has not been a time He has come through. And if He didn't give me what I thought I needed, he taught me how to live without it. Yes, you didn't see it coming, but God got you ready for it. And today I'm getting ready to close out Today, I just want to pray for some people who feel like you've been knocked off of your feet and caught off God. I want to pray for some people who like pass it there as I didn't see this coming. I'm so thrown.

I don't know what to do. I don't I don't know where to turn. I'm telling you just because you're surprised doesn't mean you aren't prepared. Your God it's been getting you ready. If you're willing to manage this manner, he will show you that what's on the other side of this wilderness experience is a canalin that flows with milky honey, where God makes good on his promises. So I don't think we necessarily need another revelation now, but we do need resilience, and some of us need a

divine deposit of that. I'm going to pray that God will give it to you wherever you are. So Father, right now, I thank you that your word says it is you who works in us to will and to do your good pleasure. And I pray right now that you would grant and bless your people with divine will of power. I pray for supernatural resilience. I pray for strength beyond our own. I pray for a set fastness that is beyond our own human capability. I pray that you would strengthen us, that we might be strong in

the Lord. And I give you praise right now that the weak are being made strong, that bowed down heads are being lifted up, and people who were about to throw in the towel are receiving a second wind, the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing and breathing on them. I thank you for strength to the weak and resilience to the weary. We receive it in the name of the one who saved our life. That name is Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen, thank you for joining us special thanks to those of you who give

generously to this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch dot org. Slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.