Don't Push Me; I'm Close To The Edge // The Blueprint with Dr. Dharius Daniels

What's up Blueprint family? Hope you're doing absolutely amazing and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to connect with you via this tool of technology. ((music playing)) Listen, man, I'm excited about the season that we are currently in. If you're watching this live, we're in ((music playing)) the Easter resurrection season and as a result of that, we're taking some time one to lean into preparation for Easter and and the next week we're taking some time to recover from the marathon of Easter.

I think across all of our locations, we probably got around 10 services or so. I'm speaking at like six of those services live. So that takes a little preparation, but I wanted to make sure that you are properly fed during this Blueprint experience. So you are about to watch a message that I actually taught on Palm Sunday at our Ewing, New Jersey location and I am just incredibly excited.

The message is called don't push me. I'm close to the edge and so I believe you're about to get some third way teaching so that you don't blow up when people switch up. All right? Enjoy the message. I'll see you at the end. One more time everything that has breath >> ((music playing)) >> in every room in this building. >> ((music playing)) >> Come on, let the redeemed of the Lord >> ((music playing)) >> say so.

Whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Man, well, listen, you can be seated. What's up, Change, New Jersey? >> [cheering and music] >> We're so grateful to be in God's house on this Palm Sunday and I'm so grateful for the privilege of being able to worship with you on the first day of Holy Week 2026.

Grateful for God's goodness and I'm grateful I'm grateful for God's goodness and in the various way grateful for the various ways that goodness is demonstrated and it is demonstrated to me especially on today by the privilege of seeing you with my own eyes. And um >> ((applause)) ((music playing)) >> and so inspired by encouraged by your consistency your faithfulness your stability your rootedness and um it is nothing like it that I've seen >> ((music playing)) >> in my lifetime of pastoral ministry at least.

This is a special place and you are a special people and we give the Lord praise for that in this place for over 20 years of faithful ministry. ((music playing)) Um thank you for that. And so grateful to be here with you on the day. And of course, we got a philosophy here.

You don't go as far as your dream, you go as far as your team. And um I just want to honor the incredible team here that's providing leadership to this location. Pastor Will Pastor Alex >> ((music playing)) >> Pastor Lashay Tish and so many >> ((music playing)) >> that are part of this team are holding it down and uh we're we're just so so grateful for all that that God is is doing and um grateful to be here with you on the day.

((music playing)) Um I want to kind of get right to work. There's something on my heart and I want to share it and um it's Palm Sunday and so we got a Palm Sunday message. So I want to read a few verses of scripture uh found in Luke chapter number 19 beginning at verse number 36.

And while you are clicking there or waiting for it to come on the screen I want to remind you that each year our church adopts a theme. And that theme isn't just some cute quote, you know, come alive in '95. >> [laughter] >> No, it's um it's really our mission that our mission has never changed from day one.

The language we've used to describe the mission has changed. But our mission has never changed. Right now, so I I actually got a a message uh the other day and someone's asking me kind of about Third Way and etc. And I was like, no, this isn't a change.

This is kingdom. >> ((applause)) >> Third Way is Third Way is kingdom. It's the king's way. Um So but each year we adopt a theme and the theme isn't the mission, it's an area of emphasis. And for those that are part of this spiritual family it it is it is not just what God is saying to us as an institution it's what God is saying to us as a people.

It's an invitation. It's the father saying >> ((music playing)) >> there's something I want to do that's going to require something different from you this year. And if you will go all in on me I will go all in on you. So I want us to not just take that thing for granted and I say that because uh we got four areas of emphasis.

We're all in on God and that's not just um making God a pri- or priority verbally, it's making him a priority practically. But another one of the areas is all in on God, all in on growth, all in on goals and all in on generosity. But to help us grow, we created this this devotional, this 90-day devotional and um and the 90 days are about over.

And I was like all right. This it. And then I'm thinking can I be real? Y'all not judge me? That's not convincing, so I'm not about to be real. That was That's not I don't feel safe. This Like sometimes you put a lot of effort and work into things and you just even though it's spiritual um ((music playing)) and you do it for God, but you do it to serve people cuz God don't need my devotional.

He's not reading it. Right? So you do it >> [laughter] >> He's not reading it, Donna. I knew it was you. I just heard you laugh. I knew you over here. Uh A1 from day one. Um so I I said um I'm like, man, I don't think this is fruitful.

Pastor Donna, good to see you. I'm like they they probably not reading this. So I know okay. And so I literally woke up this morning I got a text from one of our members and uh he's an athlete, so he doesn't get to doesn't come a lot on Sundays and lives in a different place in the off-season.

And he hit me and he's asking me a question about the scripture reading. And I was like, okay God, I didn't ask you for a sign. I think that's one. So the devotional is supposed to end on the 31st. I want you to know on April 1st, you'll have a brand new devotional for the next 90 days.

We're going all in on growth as a family and hopefully you're using the SOAP method to study the scriptures, right? So that you just so that you so that you don't just read the Bible, you let it read you. So that you don't just get in the word, you let the word get in you.

And so we hope you're doing that and we want to serve you well. We're excited about what God is >> ((music playing)) >> is doing. Uh Luke chapter number 19 beginning at verse number 36. Stewart Tucker. Good to see you, man. Clap your hands for Stewart, guys. >> ((music playing)) >> Been a long time.

We've been to war back but God gave us the victory in Jesus' name. Amen. Stuff happen, we just say call Stewart. He'll fix it. >> [laughter] >> Luke chapter number 19 verse 36 says, as he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. And when he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they'd seen.

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Uh I want to stop the reading of scripture today. I'm going to tag a title to this text. We're multi-generational congregation at every location. That's intentional. My life is multi-generational and so our church is multi-generational.

So uh only about only some of y'all going to feel this topic. 40 and over, you got me. The rest of y'all, you'll catch up in a minute. I want to talk from this subject in our time together. Don't push me. I'm close to the edge. Clap your hands if you're ready for God's word. >> ((music playing)) >> All right. 40 and under, just Google it and um don't push me.

I'm close to the edge. Today is dubbed and designated, it's actually celebrated by churches all over the world as Palm Sunday. On the Christian liturgical calendar, it is dubbed as the first day of what we affectionately call Holy Week. It describes a Sunday where Jesus makes his final triumphal entry into Jerusalem pre-crucifixion and resurrection.

I'm arguing today that this Palm Sunday story is more than a story that simply exposes us to information about what happened with Jesus. This Palm Sunday story, in some sense, is a prophetic picture of what will happen with you and us. I want to use this passage today as sort of a as a sort of professor to properly educate educate and equip you and I for a reality that Jesus faced in this passage that you and I have faced will face or some of you may be facing right now.

This Palm Sunday story shows us how not to blow up when you experience a switch up. >> ((applause)) >> This Palm Sunday story shows you and I how not to blow up when we experience a switch up. A switch up is when people's attitude and or actions toward you irrationally evolve from clapping for you to coming for you.

If I were to use the language in the text, it is when the same people who say "Hosanna" on Sunday are saying "Crucify him" on Friday. And these switch ups I'm describing are not just some relational mishaps. These are strategic satanic weapons of warfare used to scar your soul to make you and I such a cynic about people that we can't accomplish our purpose for people.

Therefore a switch up is not just a relational mishap. It is an act of spiritual warfare. But what I love about this text it it is not just a picture of what can happen to us. It also contains principles that we can put into practice when it happens to us.

BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL HAVE and will experience switch ups, but there are three ways to handle switch ups. First way to handle switch up is culture's way. And culture's way is to retaliate or retreat. See, retaliation is to act out, lash out, or crash out. It is matching their energy instead of setting a standard.

It's saying, "You don't like me? So I don't like you." It's being influenced by their practices more than your principles. It is responding based on our wounds and not God's word. IT IS ADOPTING an attitude that says, "If you go low, I'm going lower." And those that don't retaliate retreat, and retreat is to back up, to bottle up, or to give up.

It is withdrawing to protect yourself, but it ends up unintentionally isolating yourself. It is choosing distance over development, and it is choosing silence not because you're healed, but because you're hurt. IT IT'S AVOIDING CONFRONTATION NOT BECAUSE we're wise, but because we're weak. It's saying, "I'm through with people" when really I'm tired of pain.

And both retaliation and retreat seem like solutions, BUT THEY'RE ACTUALLY SETBACKS. Because retaliation keeps your eye on your enemy. Retreating keeps your eye on your wound. But neither one of them keeps your eye on the king. >> ((cheering)) >> But we're not going to handle it that way. There's another way and that's not culture's way, that's church's way.

And the church's way is to spiritualize or suppress the switch ups. SPIRIT WHEN I SAY SPIRITUALIZE, I MEAN SPIRITUAL BYPASSING. USING SPIRITUAL LANGUAGE to avoid emotional reality. It's hiding behind revelation. It's using spirituality as a mask to act like I'm better instead of a means to become better.

Am Are y'all okay today? Yeah, it's burying what we feel instead of bringing it to God. It's numbing what we should be naming because we feel like feeling nothing means I'm healed. It's convincing ourselves that time will fix what truth needs to confront. And so this spiritual bypassing avoids honesty but suppressing avoids healing.

And just like in point one, both of these seem like solutions but they're actually setbacks. Cuz I don't want to retaliate Well, I want to retaliate, but we shouldn't retaliate. >> [laughter] [applause and cheering] >> You give me 2 weeks. 2 weeks. The Sunday after Easter. I'm starting a series called Humanology.

Give me 2 weeks. We're about to be We're about to get free. You're about to get so free. >> ((cheering)) >> You're about to get so free. Give me 2 weeks. Humanology. Cuz Ray, there there's this there's this um term called Christology and it speaks to the makeup of Jesus.

So So, historic Christian belief is this. Jesus is not 50% human and 50% God. He's 100% human and 100% God. But in religious settings, we only talk about the divinity. We don't talk about the humanity. So you've got humans trying to be gods when God's trying to teach you how to be a human.

So Humanology is saying, "We're going to look at the humanity of Jesus BECAUSE GOD DOESN'T WANT ANOTHER GOD. God wants a human that lives godly. So I've got to look at the humanity of Jesus because the humanity of Jesus is going TO TEACH ME THE KIND OF HUMAN GOD WANTS ME TO BE."

AND AS A HUMAN, Jesus got stressed. In the Garden of Gethsemane he prayed until sweat came, Brother Brock, LIKE GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD. As a human, HE GOT FRUSTRATED. Y'ALL CAN'T CAN YOU HANDLE THIS? HE IS PRAYING IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, COMES OUT OF THE GARDEN, HE FINDS THE DISCIPLES WHO HE ASKED TO PRAY WITH HIM SLEEP, AND HE FRUSTRATED.

HE COMES OUT OF PRAYER AND GETS FRUSTRATED. Y'all missed it. He comes out the HE COMES OUT OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND WALKS immediately in the frustration. Somebody's going to catch this. I said he He CAME OUT OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND GOT FRUSTRATED AS SOON AS HE CAME OUT OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

CAN YOU WAIT. YOU IN CHURCH YOU LIKE, "OH MY GOD, God just moved. It just spoke to me." AND YOU GET A TEXT OR YOU GET A CALL OR YOU GO HOME. THAT DOESN'T MEAN you're weak, it means you're human. >> ((cheering)) >> You're called to crucify flesh, not humanity.

And Jesus the human Here's my point. Jesus the human in the text is trying to show you and I as a human how to handle satanic warfare that shows up in the form of switch ups. Cuz the king's way is to accept and elevate. And when I I accept it means, watch this, not to like, not to affirm, but to acknowledge reality without letting that reality form you.

It is to recognize what you are in without letting what you are in get in you. It is telling the truth about what happened without letting what happened tell you who you are. >> ((cheering)) >> IT'S SAYING THIS HURT ME WITHOUT letting it harden me. That's the way Jesus handled it.

I said that's the way Jesus handled it. Pastor, how do you know? Because the Palm Sunday narrative begins on Sunday, but he accepts reality on Thursday. Because at the last supper Brother Brock, he looks at the disciple that would betray him. Judas. And he says whatever you're going to do, do it quickly.

I realize that if you're not convinced I'm not worth betraying after all this time, then there is nothing else I can do to convince you. He accepted it. That's Thursday, but he elevated on Sunday. Y'all know I grew up Baptist. All night Friday night, I need my Baptist members now.

He stayed in the grave. Maurice, you Baptist, I need to hear you. All day Saturday, he stayed in THE GRAVE. ALL NIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT, HE STAYED IN THE GRAVE. But early, >> ((cheering)) ((music playing)) >> early Sunday morning, he got up. He accepted, so he elevated. It means, here's what it means family.

Here's my question, here's my question, okay? My question isn't did we go through a switch up? My question is did we grow through one? >> [applause and cheering] >> Can I push you a little further here? The Christian should not just settle for surviving. The promise for the Christian is thriving.

Here's the claim of Romans 8:28. All things work together for the good that God somehow is at work redeeming my suffering, redeeming my struggle, redeeming my pain, AND SOMEHOW REDIRECTING ALL OF THAT CHAOS AND CALAMITY and using that adversity IN SUCH A WAY WHERE I GET TO A POINT IN MY LIFE IN SOME WAY WHERE ALL THAT ADVERSITY BECOMES AN ASSET. >> ((cheering)) >> I DON'T JUST SURVIVE, I THRIVE.

I DON'T JUST GET THROUGH IT, I GET BETTER. I DON'T JUST COME OUT, I GO UP. >> ((cheering)) >> AND A LOT OF TIMES WE'RE just settling for the survival. Jesus here models for us how not just to go through a switch up, but grow through a switch up.

And we see three practices right here in this text. Right in this text. This text is this is the scene of this story takes place during what is known as Passover. Somebody say Passover. Now this is one of the most significant seasons in the Jewish calendar because God in the Old Testament arranged and orchestrated several feast.

And Passover was one of them, feast or festivals. And in doing so, watch this, he strategically placed them on the calendar to create a rhythm of remembrance for his people. Because he knows our default posture is to forget. So present problems make us prone to forget past victories.

Here's the danger of that. When you forget what God has done, THEN YOU FORGET WHAT GOD CAN DO. SO HE PUTS THESE FEASTS ON THE CALENDAR AS A RHYTHM OF REMEN- of remembrance. A feast like the feast of Pentecost or Purim to say I need you to pause.

I want you to pause once a year and remember what I did for you through Esther. >> ((cheering)) >> Are you hearing what I'M SAYING? AND PASSOVER WAS ONE OF THOSE FEASTS. HE SAID ONCE a year I want y'all to pause. Not just for a meal, I want to use the meal to provoke a memory of when you were oppressed in Egypt under the tyranny of Pharaoh for over 400 years and YOU CRIED OUT TO ME FOR deliverance and I started speaking to your deliverer.

Y'all missed it. You started TALKING TO ME ABOUT THE PROBLEM, I STARTED TALKING TO YOUR SOLUTION. You started TALKING TO ME ABOUT THE ISSUE, I STARTED TALKING TO your answer. And I took A MAN FROM THE BACKSIDE OF THE DESERT NAMED Moses and I SENT HIM TO PHARAOH WITH A SIMPLE YET SIGNIFICANT MESSAGE, let my people go. >> [applause and cheering] >> AND PHARAOH'S HEART BECAME HARDENED AND HE WOULD NOT ACQUIESCE TO MOSES' REQUEST, SO I SENT 10 PLAGUES TO DISMANTLE THE ECONOMY OF EGYPT, TO TO UNDERMINE EGYPT'S INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE 10TH PLAGUE was going to impact the FIRSTBORN OF ALL THE BABIES.

AND I TOLD YOU, MOSES, tell my people to get a lamb. >> ((cheering)) >> Take the blood from the lamb. Put the blood on the doorpost. And when that angel of death comes in Egypt, when he sees the blood, he's got to pass over that house. Now I thought somebody >> ((cheering)) >> would have reflected on your own Passover experience cuz there've been some things in our life.

So so so so he's saying once a year I want you to pause. I want you to celebrate how I caused some things to pass over. Got me? Okay. But this wasn't just a feast of celebration, it was a feast of anticipation. Because Israel's understanding of their Messiah was that God was going to send somebody to do for them with Rome.

Are y'all following me? What Moses did with Egypt. To literally set them free from Roman oppression. Moses led them OUT OF EGYPT. THE MESSIAH IN THEIR MIND WAS SUPPOSED TO LEAD THEM OUT OF ROME. SO THEY ARE EXPECTING a military leader to come and rescue them from Roman oppression.

Got me? So this is why when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on his colt, they're waving and laying down those palm branches saying Hosanna. What does that mean? Save us now. They weren't asking for spiritual salvation cuz they saw no issue with their current religious system. Are y'all okay? >> ((cheering)) >> He's So they weren't saying save us spiritually.

They they weren't saying save Are you I'M MAKING SENSE? THEY WERE SAYING SAVE US SOCIALLY. And Jesus rides in and does not GO TO CONFRONT CAESAR. He goes into the temple and starts turning over tables saying you think your problem one thing, but your PROBLEM IS ACTUALLY SOMETHING ELSE.

OKAY? So are y'all following me? So, now it makes sense as to why they go from Sunday saying "Hosanna." to Friday saying "Crucify." Because the switch-up was them getting a revelation that Jesus refused to be what they wanted him to be. >> ((cheering)) >> The switch-up came when they realized Jesus would not bow his knee to their expectations.

The switch-up came when they realized you could control all your other leaders, BUT YOU CAN'T CONTROL HIM. THE SWITCH-UP CAME WHEN THEY CAME TO TERMS WITH HE'S NOT GOING TO BE WHO WE WANT HIM TO BE. AND OH, [screaming] I WISH I HAD SOME HONEST PEOPLE AT CHANGE Church today who were ready to re- to receive this revelation because everybody assumes that everybody else will be happy when you walk in your authenticity. >> ((cheering)) >> But sometimes pleasing God means disappointing people.

And it's going to require you HAVING THE SPIRITUAL SPINE TO SAY I KNOW THAT'S WHO YOU WANT ME TO BE, BUT THAT IS NOT WHO HE CALLED ME TO BE. AND EVEN IF YOU PUT ME IN THE GRAVE ON FRIDAY, HE'S GOING TO RAISE ME UP ON SUNDAY. >> ((music playing)) >> SO, THE switch-up wasn't about his lack of contribution.

The switch-up was about control. >> [sighs] >> But he didn't let their switch-up trip him up. He didn't let their switch-up scar his soul. Did you hit Did you catch that? He didn't let his cynicism cloud his calling. Because if he did when he's hanging on that cross he wouldn't have stayed on for me if he was scarred by them. >> ((cheering)) >> Did you catch that?

So, the question that we need to ask and try to answer is is how What is it that Jesus did that we can adopt and and learn from that the human Jesus. What What did he do so that so that I as a human empowered by God's spirit can can do the same.

I see three things here. I'm going to share with you in the text and then then I'm done. Here it is. Number one, the first thing is this. He predetermined his path. I want you to look at uh verse 28. It says, "After Jesus has said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem."

Everybody say Jerusalem. Come on. Say it again. Say Jerusalem. Jesus was going to Jerusalem. So, Jesus had already decided I'm going to Jerusalem. Jesus was deliberate. I'm going to Jerusalem. Jesus made his decision before the crowd made theirs. Y'all missed it. He didn't go there because the crowd was there.

The crowd came because he was going there. He was anchored in his assignment before the atmosphere turned. His direction was not determined by people's devotion. IT WAS DETERMINED BY GOD'S DESIGN. And that has to be TRUE FOR YOU AND I BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T DECIDE WHERE YOU'RE GOING BEFORE PEOPLE SWITCH UP ON YOU then their betrayal WILL BECOME YOUR GPS.

And then every time people turn on you, you'll turn directions. BUT WHEN YOU HAVE PREDETERMINED YOUR path and you know where you're going Are you hearing what I'm saying? You don't allow the pain of betrayal and you don't ALLOW THE REALITY OF THE SWITCH-UPS to derail or to detour you from the path THAT GOD HAS PREDETERMINED FOR YOU.

You got to go to Jerusalem. >> ((applause)) >> You got to go to Jerusalem. He pre- He predetermined his path. But that's not all. Number two, he processed his pain. Look at the text. As he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and he wept over it. Somebody say human.

He wept. Watch this. This is what he's teaching us. The presence of strength doesn't mean the absence of hurt. >> ((applause)) >> Just cuz I'm strong don't mean I'm not hurt. Strength It Watch this. Strength doesn't mean I don't have hurt. Strength means the hurt doesn't have me. Strength means that the hurt is not guiding my decisions, that the hurt is not GOVERNING MY BEHAVIOR, THAT THE HURT IS NOT DETERMINING my direction.

Here's why this is important. Are y'all okay? I think and this is not a critique. This is an observation, okay? I think in a lot of particularly charismatics and Pentecostal settings we confuse strength with denial. It's It's right I'm not It's It's unintentional. There's even language and and to a degree I'm okay with this language.

But I think the language can be misguided and misused at times, even though it's well-intended. We will say things like "I don't receive that." AND I GET THE HEART OF THAT STATEMENT. I I THINK IT I think I think what I think what we mean by that, hopefully what we mean by that is my present condition isn't the final conclusion. >> ((cheering)) ((applause)) >> Right?

Hopefully And And if that's where we're landing, I WOULD SAY THAT'S BIBLICAL. THAT'S HEALTHY. Versus denying reality. That's like David saying Goliath's not 9 ft. How big is your God really if you got to shrink your problem? >> ((cheering)) >> Who's going to help the bishop today? >> [screaming] >> NO, IT DOESN'T MATTER I DON'T HAVE TO SHRINK MY PROBLEM.

CUZ NO MATTER HOW BIG THE PROBLEM IS, MY GOD IS BIGGER THAN THE PROBLEM. NO MATTER HOW GREAT THE ISSUE IS, greater is he that IS IN ME THAN HE THAT'S IN THE WORLD. I DON'T HAVE TO DENY REALITY TO WIN. >> ((applause)) >> SO, I can say I don't RECEIVE THAT IN THE SENSE that this will not be my final outcome.

That you have a say, but God's got the last say. That you have a word, but God has the final word. But to say I don't receive that as a way of denying reality well-intended but what it means is your God's so weak that you've got to reduce the strength of your problem for him to win.

Pastor, why is this important? Cuz the text says Jesus wept. He wept over the city. Wept over the people in the city. He He wept over uh knowing I'm about to give a love that'll never be returned. I'm about to die for people that don't even appreciate it.

He wept because he was hurt. Why is this important? Because the denial can show up in the way you process personal pain. Particularly when it comes to pain that's been inflicted by people that we don't want to admit had the ability to impact me that way. See, just because it didn't stop you don't mean it didn't bother you.

Let me go to this side. Y'all helping me? Who's helping me? Come on here. Come on here. You can overcome and still be irritated about what you had to endure. I OVERCAME IT, BUT I'M STILL IRRITATED THAT I HAD TO OVERCOME WHAT I HAD TO OVERCOME BECAUSE YOU PUT ME THROUGH WHAT YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE PUT me through. >> ((applause)) ((cheering)) >> He processed the pain.

He wept. He'd been denied. He wept. He didn't suppress. He wept. Denise Boggs says, "Feelings buried alive don't die." They always show up. In some way. And if I don't process my pain, it's going to show up. Going to show up in my relationships. Going to show up in my mindset.

Watch this or even worse, show up in my body. The unaddressed emotional issues can show up in the form of physical symptoms in my own body. >> ((cheering)) ((applause)) >> TARIO, THEY TIRED OF ME ALREADY. I JUST GOT HERE. It's Tario's birthday, everybody. Today's Tario's birthday. >> ((cheering)) ((applause)) >> Tario's a real person.

That's a real person. He's >> ((cheering)) >> Are y'all okay? Let's wrap up. Let's wrap up. Here it is. I want to ask you something. Do you think if you'd have asked Jesus why he wept, he could have given you an answer? Yes. Here's my question. If I'm asking you, why are you, do you have one?

Have you unpacked the layers? Cuz very often it's layered. And what what what what many of us do by default is we only deal with the top layer. When it's it's the pain of not only what they did, but it's also the pain of disappointment because it it was a revelation that they not that they weren't who you thought they were.

The pain of knowing all of these years I was investing my heart into a stranger. The disappointment of knowing what people are actually capable of. Judas. Over 30 pieces of silver? You would do me like this? Over 30 pieces of silver. You already stealing from me and I knew it.

Cuz Judas represents the person in your life for whom no matter what you do, it's never enough. So sometimes there are things like Pharaohs that keep like showing up in new seasons because you processed the top layer, but that was it. Jesus wept. And here and I'm telling you, the human can't go to the cross without processing the pain.

Cuz that that unprocessed pain will pervert your perspective in such a way where your attitude will be, "You're not worth me dying for." Can you imagine him carrying that in the garden? Remember he This is Sunday. He didn't go to the garden until Thursday. Am I making sense?

But he processed that pain. And then number three, number three, he protected his purpose. Listen to this. When he entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. It is written, "My house will be a house of prayer, but you've made it into a den of robbers."

He didn't go to Caesar's castle. He went to the synagogue. And brother Brock, his actions here I think are so [snorts] telling of how purpose not only has to be properly perceived, but how purpose has to be protected. Here's what I mean. It's one thing to give him a yes.

It's another thing to keep it. And anyone that understands the pressure I mean that that has walked that that that experienced the reality of trying to walk in a purpose has dealt with the temptation to be pulled into Watch this. Come on. To be pulled into what you could be.

Cuz here's what's interesting. What they wanted him to be, he could be. You How do you know he could? Because when when when he is taken into custody on that Thursday and Peter tries to fight for him, he tells Peter, "Don't you know if I wanted to, is that what he says?

He said, "If I wanted to, he said, "I CALL MY HEAVENLY FATHER." HE SAID, "THERE'D BE LEGIONS OF ANGELS." So what they wanted him to be, he could be. But he wasn't assigned to be. >> ((music playing)) >> And protecting purpose is realizing and recognizing when I'm dealing with the tension >> ((music playing)) >> of what I'm supposed to be versus what I could be.

That what I that I'm wrestling with the tension between what I'm supposed to do and what I'm capable of doing. Let me wrap up cuz I know y'all ain't used to being in church this long. You like, "We We normally out by now, Bishop." Are y'all here? Protecting it is refusing ((music playing)) to submit to the pressure.

Watch this. That is being imposed on you from the outside. That's Jesus' reality. Our reality is going to be a little different. It's not just pressure imposed on us from the outside. For us, it is also refusing to acquiesce or bow the need to some of the unsubmitted aspirations we have on the inside.

Stuff I could do that he's not assigned to me to. Okay. Y'all ready for this? Jesus' yes meant agreement with a 33-year lifespan. That's all he was when he died. And all on your journey, there going to be these this tension outside and inside on what you could do and should do.

And the voices and people observing your potential, "You should be doing this." "And you should be doing that." "Why don't you have your own this?" "Why don't you have your own that?" But here's the way one writer puts it. He says, "Talent is what I can do. Passion is what I love to do.

Purpose is what I was born to do." >> ((applause)) ((music playing)) >> He predetermined his path. I'm going to Jerusalem. I can't let people turning on me turn me. He processed his pain. He doesn't have to shrink his problem or shrink his pain for it to be small enough for his God to handle it. >> ((music playing)) >> And he protected his purpose.

He doesn't allow adversity or ambition to derail him from his assignment. This is what Jesus models for us. And the same spirit that empowered him to put these practices into the orbit of his life is the same spirit that will empower you and I to do the very same thing.

I feel really strongly about my prayer target this morning as we close this message. I feel as strong about my prayer target as I did about this teaching today. When Jesus gives the disciples the model prayer, this is third way prayer. Third way prayer includes praying for things and against.

Against. The the part of the model prayer, what we call the Lord's Prayer, that says, "Deliver us from evil." Am I making sense? It's not just a prayer for, it's a prayer against. That God by spirit would push back darkness. Old Testament puts it this way, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against it."

The psalmist says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower. And the righteous can run therein into the tower and they're safe." I want to I want to pray very specifically about soul scarring today. And here's what's interesting about scars. Um I got some scars on my body.

I I grew up in the country. We just did weird stuff. We just did weird stuff. But I can see those scars. And I can point right to what happened cuz the scar triggers a memory. Are y'all okay? I can look at a scar on my knee and I say, "I know exactly what happened there."

Here's what's interesting about soul scars. You can't see those. And when I say scars, I'm not talking about scars as evidence of something that healed. I'm talking more specifically about scabs that have not. And I want to pray against two things. The further accumulation of that. And even more importantly, >> ((music playing)) >> infection from it.

This is a grown-up message today cuz it's it's really about purpose, right? It's ultimately that's what this is about. And your purpose, directly or indirectly, always has something to do with people. But if the enemy has you jaded ((music playing)) and cynical and guarded and upset at people, it's no way that your heart will be open to his direction when it comes to purpose.

So, I want to pray. Father, I thank you that your word is true. You heal the brokenhearted. You bind up their wounds. And we admit we are a room full of wounded humans. Like your son Jesus, we've experienced the switch-ups. Great God, >> ((music playing)) >> would you turn our mourning into dancing?

Would you give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness? We pray against the further accumulation of soul scabs. We pray, Father, in Jesus' name that you would, according to the book of Hebrews, uproot every bitter root in the soil of our soul. We pray, Father, that the pain that we've experienced from switch-ups will not pervert our perspective of people.

That we won't allow what others have done to us to stop us from doing what you called us to do to people. We pray also against the infections of the soul that show up in personality traits. That this pain will not form or shape us. That we will be exactly who you called us to be.

And we lay claim to the promise of scripture that he whom the son sets free is free indeed. In Jesus' name. Amen. You receive it? >> ((applause)) ((music playing)) >> Come on, clap your hands everybody everywhere. Really quick. Before there's a mass exodus really quick. Two two minutes. Paul says pray all types of prayers.

Benediction is final blessing. Hey, y'all know you know I still got that um that candy you where you took me off Starburst, took me off Starburst and put me on that candy. I've been delivered from Starburst ever since, but I've been I got delivered from Starburst. Amen. >> ((music playing)) >> Anyway, benediction.

Receive this final blessing. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he ((music playing)) cause his face of favor to shine upon you. May he be gracious to you. May he protect you. >> ((music playing)) >> May he provide for you and may he grant you peace. Now unto him who is able to keep us from falling, to present us faultless before the presence of his glory.

To the only wise God, unto him be glory, majesty, honor, dominion, and power ((music playing)) both now and forevermore. In Jesus' name. Amen. ((music playing)) God bless you. We love you. Happy Palm Sunday. ((music playing)) >> [music and singing] >> Well, family, listen. I hope you were stretched and challenged and encouraged by this message. Jesus models for you and I the third way to handle when people ((music playing)) mishandle and switch up on us.

And so, I just want to encourage you to take these principles, apply them into your life, and I'm excited about how God is going ((music playing)) to continue to grow, advance, and evolve us through his word. Listen, there are many of you who understand the biblical principle of generosity, and each week you sow into the field that you're harvesting from, this teaching ministry that God's given us where we are assigned to take biblical truth, turn it into practical wisdom so that people can apply to their day-to-day life.

We don't believe ((music playing)) you're deep if you quote it. You're deep if you do it. And so, that's our calling. And so, your sowing into this field helps us expand that message. And so, I want to encourage ((music playing)) you to do that today. Ways to give are on the screen.

And uh thank you in advance for your generosity. ((music playing)) I look forward to seeing you next week. Take care. God bless.