Taffi Dollar - How to Sort Out The Drama Life Brings
I’m going to continue on to some things that I believe the Lord wants me to share with you, and I just pray and trust that it’ll be something that will really resonate and just put you in a place where you can begin to walk in victory like never before. We’ve been hearing a lot about how God’s ways are different from our ways, and, of course, we know that. We know that we’re learning how to follow him so that we can begin to walk in his ways. And so for a few weeks now Creflo has been talking about his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways.
And so I want to continue along the line this morning and I want to deal with something that I believe will really be a blessing to your life. Want to look at some of the family systems in the Bible and begin to look at how things have gotten us to where we are to a point where we must begin to examine this area of our lives so that we can begin to see more of his ways and his thoughts and his plans being manifested. So we’re going to look at some situations as it relates to some things that I believe are very, very common in our life in this day in time. So I guess if we were to begin, the Bible talks about how many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord, what? Delivers them out of them all.
There’s a scripture that talks about how, you know, we’re going to endure and encounter persecution. Amen? And there are going to be obstacles that are going to be against us in our lives and in our families, particularly in the area of drama. And that’s what I want to spend a little bit talking about this morning because I don’t know about you, but many of us are exhausted by the never-ending drama in our lives and in the lives of other people. Never-ending drama. We going to look at some examples of that. We don’t really have to look far because I don’t stand here today as one who is drama-free, never known anything about drama, never known drama. I’m not talking from a textbook about drama. I know drama. And it will confirm and affirm some things today because we’ll see that families in the Bible went through the same thing.
And so many of us are exhausted by the never-ending drama in life and in the lives of others. While some of us try to escape drama, some people dive headfirst. Drama is part of life. Yet what about continual drama? Could this be a sign that drama keeps finding us, oh, I want to ask you this morning, World Changers, or are you finding it? You stay real still. Won’t nobody know we talking about you and your family. So there are two kinds of drama. The drama, number one, that life brings… how many of you know life will bring drama? It will. COVID brought what? A lot of drama. People together more than what they ever imagine brought drama, death like none other, people transitioning, loss, loss of jobs, loss of family, loss of people.
So drama can come from what life brings. The second kind of drama is the drama that we create through our response to life, through how we react, through our reaction to things that occur in our life. You know, God allows things in our lives. And in many instances it’s how we respond to what he allows in our lives that has a lot to do with maybe our upbringing, maybe our belief, maybe what we value, our expectations. These are things that can in many instances create a response that comes out of nowhere. Drama. Creflo is very punctual. Sometimes when I’m running late, we can have a little drama on the way to church. But you know what?
Now, see, he believes on being on time. That’s important. That’s valuable. And so sometimes when we have expectations and people may not know what our expectations are, we can many instances respond in a way that can bring about drama. So we want to sort out the drama this morning, the drama that life brings because not all drama is because we bring it on ourselves. So our upbringing, our personality, baggage from past wounds can trigger dramatic reactions to different degrees. How many of you know we can be near someone who erupts? Y’all are real quiet. I’m just saying ain’t going to erupt today. We can be near someone who erupts or the target of slander or the victim of passive aggressiveness, a person who wants to take out their frustrations on someone else.
Sometimes we are blindsided with disappointment or events that has a scrambling to keep sanity. Some may say this morning, «Pastor Taffi, I don’t do drama». Is drama something that we do like you do dishes, like we do laundry? But I’m just saying definitively what that means. «I don’t do life because life in many instances brings drama». What they mean is, «I’m tired of the drama. I don’t put up with the drama. I’m going to avoid the discomfort and no longer going to be around people who bring it». So when we say, «I don’t do drama,» does that mean, «Take this because I don’t receive it»? So we have to ask ourselves, as much as we would like to shut down the chaos, the confusion of our lives and say we don’t do it or, «I’m done with it,» somehow it has a way of creeping into our lives.
Drama, as you and I both know, it has a way of coming unexpectedly out of nowhere suddenly without any notice, without any regard. It just happens. You know why? Because it’s part of life. Drama happens everywhere because life is happening where? Everywhere. Seasons come, seasons go. And it happens because what? Our emotions are real. Amen. Petty. There’s petty drama and then there’s painful drama. Drama happens when unexpected circumstances hit and we are unprepared to handle them. Some of you came this morning and left drama at home, but in Jesus’s name that drama will not be waiting for you when you leave here today. God will have dealt with that. We’ve declared in Jesus’s name.
So drama happens when we come up against family members or people with different personalities who carry with them their own set of emotional baggage, expectations, values, and beliefs. And like I said earlier, just being around people sometimes can elicit drama. Now, let’s look at this in Luke chapter 10, verse 38. Luke 10, verse 38. Let’s look at some petty drama first. Petty. Petty. I can relate to this. You know, we can be petty Betty sometimes, you know. It’s an illustration that we have talked about in many times past, and we’re going to look at it today because we’re talking about families and how God’s going to bring it all together in the end. Amen?
All right, verse 38, «As they entered their travel,» reading from the Message Translation, «Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen». So we see Mary was what? Hanging on every word. Martha on the other hand was pulled away by all that she had to do in the kitchen. We don’t know if the kitchen was dirty. Maybe she showed up and there were dishes all in the sink. Maybe this is all Mary’s idea Martha wasn’t doing what needed to be done. But the Scripture says that Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen.
«Later, she stepped in,» this is Martha, «interrupting them. 'Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.'» Somebody say drama. Petty drama, but nevertheless got a little drama brewing. Little drama because Mary got a little drama in the sound system this morning. But Martha was, you know, in the kitchen, and she was upset with Mary because Mary was hanging on Jesus’s word. It’s like, «Mary, you know what’s going on in this kitchen and you know that Jesus can wait or you can hang on the word later, but I need for you to recognize what’s going on». And so she feels a need to interrupt. And then Jesus says here in verse 40, «Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much…» Fussing far too much.
How many of you know that’s drama? «Far too much and getting yourself worked up over…» What? «Nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen, it’s the main course, and it won’t be taken from her». So I want us to understand that, you know, there can be situations such as this that are small, but nevertheless it is a part of life, and how we respond makes all the difference in the world. Mary was minding her business listening to Jesus, and then here comes Martha. Let’s look at a painful situation in the Bible of a family over in Genesis chapter 45.
This may be a story that many of you are familiar with because it is something that we often have heard about Joseph and how, you know, the things that he went through being sold in slavery by his brothers, his family, and it was a very hurtful thing. We can only begin to imagine the things that Joseph was feeling. And the Bible talks about that in chapter 42 through all the verses there into chapter 50. And so we understand some things because that is a lot. I can only begin to fathom the things that were taking place. But there’s such a thing as painful drama. Joseph went through rejection. His brothers sold him into slavery and they staged his death, then they suddenly reappear into his life.
Look at chapter 45 of the Book of Genesis, and let’s look at how drama can be painful stuff. And we’ll just choose these two. Just there are others I won’t look at for the sake of time, but they are there in the Bible. And I encourage you to even look at it and be able to relate with some of the ways in which they dealt with the situations in their families and then their lives. So this was Joseph who at that time had already been developed and had grown on, no longer a slave, but God began to put him in a position of authority. And so, again, I’m reading from the Message Translation. Verse 1, it says, «Joseph couldn’t hold himself in any longer, keeping a front before all the attendants. He cried out, 'Leave. Clear out. Everyone leave.' So there was no one with Joseph when he identified himself to his brothers».
This is him seeing his brothers for the very first time after he had been sold and things had transpired over years and times. He had told his attendants to leave. And then we see here what Joseph’s respond is. It says here in verse 2, «But his sobbing was so violent that the Egyptians couldn’t help but hear him. The news was soon reported to Pharaoh’s place». That Joseph’s brothers were here. And Joseph identified himself to his brothers. He had not seen his brothers. This was years that had passed, and all of a sudden they feel the need to go to a place to have their needs met, and Joseph was there in charge. And so Joseph, he tells everyone who’s there at the time to, «Give me a moment,» because he wanted to identify himself to his brothers.
And then it says, «Joseph spoke to his brothers: 'I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive? ' But his brothers couldn’t say a word. They were speechless. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing and seeing. 'Come closer to me, ' Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. 'I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt.'» Get your seatbelt on. Tighten it up real tight, I’m telling you. Look at what Joseph says. «But don’t feel badly. Don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it».
God was behind it. And this morning, I want you to think about the fact the drama you might be going through or that you’re seeing other people go through, God might be behind that thing. Debbie, I thought about all the women in human trafficking and we’ve had opportunity to serve and minister to. Because this is a perfect example of slavery, human slavery, and anti-trafficking, but look at the fact that might be where God is getting them away so that, even in Joseph’s situation where God was behind the whole thing and preserving them. And so, Joseph’s response if we could get a hold of this. He says don’t feel badly. He says, «Don’t blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it».