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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000036S
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00:07 Sermon #S020 - That Wasn't On The Program - Part 1)
00:19 Pastor Debleaire Snell: Luke Chapter 7, and we're going to begin together at verse number 11. 00:26 When you get there, just say, "Pastor, I'm here." 00:29 [Congregation: Pastor, I'm here.] 00:30 Pastor Snell: Luke 7:11. The word says, "Now it happened, the day after, 00:45 that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large..." What? 00:55 [Congregation: Crowd.] 00:57 Pastor Snell: "...a large crowd. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, 01:04 the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her." 01:11 So you have a large crowd going in, and then you have another very large crowd, a throng going out. 01:20 And the Bible says that, "When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, 'Do not weep.' 01:30 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, 'Young man, I say unto you..." What? 01:39 [Congregation: Arise.] 01:41 Pastor Snell: "'...Arise.' So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. 01:50 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, 'A great prophet has risen up amongst us'; 01:58 and, 'God has visited His people.' And the report about Him went out throughout Judea and all the surrounding region." 02:08 Today, saints, with just a little while, I want to talk to you under the subject That Wasn't on the Program. 02:15 That Wasn't on the Program. Let's pray together today. 02:19 Father, in this finite amount of time, would you please communicate some eternal truth? Father, 02:30 I'm praying that faith would be awakened to such a degree. Lord, that your people step forward with boldness before mountains, 02:40 commanding them to move and we expect it to take place. Father, 02:44 we pray that your spirit would become so dense in this space that it would suffocate all rivaling principalities. 02:55 Lord, would you settle our minds? Move us away from online activity. 03:00 Remove us away from who's across from us and help us to settle our attention upon you. 03:07 Lord, would you hide me in the shadows of the cross that Jesus alone might be seen, 03:11 that Christ alone would be heard? At the end of our time together, may Jesus alone be praised. 03:18 We ask this in the name of Him who is altogether lovely. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. 03:24 Let God's people say together, Amen. 03:26 [Congregation: Amen] 03:28 Pastor Snell: And Amen. You may be seated in the House of the Lord. 03:31 Again, talking to you today on the subject That Wasn't on the Program. 03:43 You know, friends, one of the reasons we struggle with belief is that sometimes, 03:50 we try to make faith formulaic. Some believe that there are certain rules that govern the movements of 04:00 God so much so that we think that if we believe X and if we do Y, that God is obligated to do Z. 04:12 We try to predict God's future movements, really, just based upon His past movements. 04:20 But what somebody needs to be aware of today is that God has no algorithm. God has no combination. 04:31 He has no password. Does anybody know that Jehovah cannot be hacked? 04:39 [Congregation: Clapping] 04:41 Pastor Snell: In other words, you cannot accurately predict what God is going to do unless he reveals it. 04:47 Even if God reveals what He's going to do, how He's going to do it will still remain a mystery. 04:56 It is why Job in Chapter 36 says that God is great and His ways are beyond understanding. 05:05 It is why Isaiah 55 says that His thoughts are just above our thoughts and His ways are above our ways. 05:14 I guess the overarching motif of this message is that you're going to frustrate yourself trying to discern all of God's movements. 05:24 But understand that my peace is not in His movements, my peace is in His character. 05:32 In other words, I don't need to know exactly what God is going to do. 05:37 I just need to be fully convinced that my God is faithful. Is there anybody that still believes that our God is a faithful God? 05:48 [Congregation: Clapping] 05:50 In other words, friends, you don't have to worry about God performing His word because in 1 Thessalonians 5, he says the God 05:57 that called you is faithful and He will do it. 06:02 I don't have to worry about God protecting me from enemies for in 2 Thessalonians 3:3, 06:11 the Bible says that God is faithful and He will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 06:18 I don't have to be worried about trials because Paul says He is faithful 06:23 and will not let you be tested above that which you're able to bear. 06:28 I need you to know I'm not even scared of condemnation because Bible says if I confess my sins, He is faithful 06:37 and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. 06:43 Is there anybody that knows you don't have to be afraid of bills are financially clearing because our God is faithful? 06:50 The prophet David says, "I have been young and now, I'm old and I have never seen the righteous forsaken 06:59 or His seed begging after bread." 07:01 The problem with some is that we've got our praise on pause waiting to see how things are going to work out. 07:10 But is there anybody that knows that God is so faithful that you can praise Him in advance 07:17 because you know it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when God shows up. Are you all not with me today? 07:24 [Congregation: Clapping] 07:27 Pastor Snell: It is funny. I remember a few years back, we were getting ready to take our kids on a camping trip for the weekend. 07:31 We had told them that we were going to go after they got out of school. 07:36 Now, I have this thing where I will not allow my kids to pin me down and just agree to doing certain things. 07:43 I'll only say it if I know I have the bandwidth in order to perform it. 07:49 About Wednesday of that week, my daughter came to me and says, "Daddy, thank you for taking us camping." 07:57 I said, "Baby, have I forgotten something? We're not going to this weekend? Why are you giving thanks already?" 08:03 She looked at me as to say, "Well, you said we are going. If you say we are going, it just must mean it's going to happen." 08:14 She says, "I don't want to forget to say thank you after, so I'm going to go ahead and get it out of the way." 08:20 [Congregation: Clapping] 08:22 Pastor Snell: Is there anybody that knows that God is faithful and you don't have to wait for him to do it? 08:28 Go ahead and praise Him in Advance because you know it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when. 08:36 Are you hearing me today? Go back with me, if you don't mind, to Luke 7 and let's look at verse number 14. 08:44 The Bible says, "Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. 08:52 And He said, 'Young man, I say unto you, arise.'” 08:59 Now, friends of mine, I need you to understand that there are a number of lessons that emerge from this story today. 09:07 The first thing it teaches is that the devil won't wait for you to get old to send pressure. You all are with me today. 09:18 The Bible says that Jesus is entering into the city of Nain and there, he intercepts a funeral that is already in progress. 09:29 Understand that we don't know much details about the dead man, 09:35 but the one thing that we know is that Jesus refers to him as a young man. 09:41 This boy's youth is what adds grief and weightiness to this scenario. 09:48 In fact, there seems to be a lack of justice because parents are not supposed to bury their kids, 09:56 but kids are designed to bury their parents. 10:00 Friends, we don't really know what is the cause of the young man's death. Maybe he is killed in a tragic farming accident. 10:09 Maybe he is smitten down by an enemy who means him harm. 10:15 Most likely, he has contracted a childhood disease that seizes upon his mortality when he gets old. 10:24 The greater truth, young people, is that Satan put some sorrows 10:30 and stresses upon a young man that are outside of the season of his age. 10:38 In other words, friends, when his peers are on Instagram, he is on an incubator. 10:45 When everybody else is in the DM, this brother is going to dialysis. 10:51 There are some things that are latching on to his youth that are threatening his very wellbeing. 10:58 Understand, friends, that the devil upsets his youth by giving him some sorrows that are beyond his season. 11:07 There is somebody that needs to be clear that the devil doesn't fight fair. 11:14 In other words, he won't send a trial that's congruent with your maturity. 11:20 Understand, the enemy of our souls will send trials that are greater than the season of your maturity. 11:28 The truth is that like the young man, there are some of our students that are dealing with sorrows that are beyond your season. 11:38 You have not had a childhood that was filled with bliss and carefree living. Like the man in the story, 11:46 you've been carrying some grown folk issues even from the time you were a child. 11:53 In fact, there are some of us that have had adult family pressures as you've tried to process 11:59 why some families have two parents when you only have one. 12:04 Some of us have been afflicted involuntarily as her innocence has been taken away 12:11 because someone in authority put their hands where they did not belong. 12:17 There are some like the man in the story that have had a thorn in their flesh, 12:23 a sickness that has kept you on edge. There are some of us that come out of toxic family situations and neighborhood pathologies, 12:32 and you've seen them from the time you were a child. As quiet as it's kept, 12:38 your church self has been dealing with thoughts of suicide since you were a teenager in school. 12:45 Isn't it crazy how you got to be 16 to drive a car, you've got to be 18 to enlist in the Army, 12:53 you've got to be 25 in order to get a rental vehicle, 12:57 but you come with hell attached to you as soon as you come from the birth canal? 13:04 The reason I'm saying this is that there are some young people today that have looked at how your young life has unfolded 13:12 and you thought that your life lacks significance. You thought that your life was cursed. 13:18 You thought you were the only one that went through these types of things and somehow, it just seemed unfair. 13:26 Can I make an announcement to you today? I need you to know that life has not been unfair 13:32 because what makes life fair is that it's unfair to everybody. Let me say it again. 13:38 What makes life fair is that everybody's been touched by something and we're all going through something. 13:45 Are you all hearing me today? The reason you feel like they're not going through it, 13:50 is because they don't look like what they've been through. Okay. 13:56 [Congregation: Clapping] 13:57 Friends of mine, I need somebody to get this larger and more imperative truth 14:04 because the stuff that you went through made you feel like your life is not significant. 14:09 But understand that your significance is not seen in the privileges you've received, 14:16 but it's seen in the attacks that have been allowed. In other words, friends, 14:22 I need you to know that the devil is great at attacking or identifying special children. 14:31 Do you all remember the child Moses, 14:34 that his life would be so significant that the devil sent a genocide against all the firstborn males just to limit the prosperity 14:44 or development of one young man? In Esther's time, 14:49 the entire Jewish people we're about to be taken out just to keep her life from realizing it's potential. 14:57 How many of us understand that if your life pose no threats, then there would be no such attacks? 15:06 But the pressures you've gone through have hardened you. 15:09 They have developed you. They have helped define who you are. 15:15 Your pains literally aim you in the direction of the community that you will one day serve. 15:22 Let me point your praise in this way. Instead of complaining about what you had to come out of, 15:31 maybe you ought to thank God that you're one of the few that actually made it out. 15:38 Is there anybody that came from a less than perfect circumstance? 15:42 I know you send up here in a degree, but you came from that part of the neighborhood 15:48 and you came from the other side of the tracks and there are a lot of folk that didn't make it. 15:54 Can you give God a praise that He's sheltered you and kept you, and that you are here by the grace of God. 16:03 I need somebody to get it because you look at what's happening and you felt like something has always been resisting you. 16:13 You feel like something has been holding you back. You feel like something has been keeping you back. 16:20 I need you to know that when you thought the devil was holding you back, you didn't realize that God was just winding you up. 16:29 [Congregation: Laughing and clapping] 16:31 Oh, God. I need you to think about this in the context of an archer. 16:35 Has anybody ever seen somebody shoot a bow and arrow? In other words, 16:41 if you only wanted to go a short distance, you only pull it back or short distance. 16:47 If it's only going to go to our midpoint, you only pull it back to a midpoint. 16:52 If you wanted to go really far, the further you have to pull it back. 16:59 The further you pull it back, the further it is going to go forward. 17:04 Do I have at least seven or eight folk that are being pulled all the way back? 17:09 You thought the devil was holding you , but God was just winding you. The further back you've been pulled, 17:18 the further you're going to go. Are you hearing the word today? 17:26 Friends of mine, there is a spiritual truth I need you to get. Satan didn't wait till you grew up to send pain. 17:36 He didn't wait till you got 47 to send the attack. He didn't wait till you got rooted in the word to send pressure. 17:43 He didn't wait until you got settled in truth to come for you. 17:47 The reason he doesn't want you to get settled is he wants to come while you're still exposed. 17:53 He wants to show up while you're still vulnerable. He wants to make sure he attacks while you're not covered. 18:01 This is why, young folks, the devil rejoices whenever you're in the hallway during worship. 18:08 It is why he gets excited when you don't take spiritual things seriously. 18:13 It is why he is glad when you act like prayer is an activity for the old folk. 18:19 Because he wants to send a pressure that is greater than your spiritual infrastructure. You all are mighty quiet today. 18:28 I need you to know that this applies whether you're a young person or an older person. 18:33 Never let your attacks be more mature than your foundation. 18:38 There's somebody that needs to make it up in their mind 18:43 because you've only made mistake to say that, 18:46 "I'm going to get serious about spiritual things when I get 25." "I'm going to go deep in the word after I get married." 18:52 "I'm going to start over when I have kids." I need you to know that if you're old enough to go through pain, 19:00 if you're old enough to come under attack, if you're old enough to have the devil come for you, then guess what? 19:07 You're old enough to pray. You're old enough to get a foundation. You're old enough to know what you believe. 19:14 You are old enough to get settled in the word of God. 19:18 I guess you need to remember what Paul says in Ephesians 6. He says, "Put on the whole armor of God, 19:30 that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Are you all with me today, church? 19:36 He says you got to put on the whole armor of God. Now, I need you to get this, friends, 19:43 that no soldier puts on the armor after the fight starts. No, no, no. 19:49 They don't go out into the battlefield with an enemy charging toward them talking about, 19:56 "Where is my helmet and where is my shield?" Before the battle shows up, they put their armor on. 20:04 Are you all hearing me today? 20:05 [Congregation: Yes.] 20:07 Pastor Snell: Let me say it this way. Anybody ever see the movie Black Panther? I know you saved. Come on. 20:12 Anybody ever seen Black Panther? I know you know the lion of the tribe of Judah, but you've seen Black Panther, right? 20:18 It's crazy. Do you remember when Shuri began to upgrade the Kings armor? 20:24 What she did was she put the armor in the necklace around his neck. 20:30 The reason she put it around his neck, she said you can't go looking for a helmet once the bullets start flying. 20:38 She made it a part of his outfit, so that whenever their attack came, all he had to do is activate the armor. 20:46 Is there anybody that wants to be armed with the helmet of salvation and when the attack comes, you ain't got to look for it. 20:56 All you got to do is activate it because you're covered by God. Are you all hearing the word today? 21:07 The second thing this thing teaches us, friends of mine, is that God is the director of your delays. 21:20 Oh... What Luke is describing, friends, is a scene of congestion. He is wanting you to get a mental picture of a human traffic jam. 21:41 Understand that you've got hundreds of people who are there to mourn with the widow as they are exiting the city. 21:51 But then, the Bible says you don't just have the disciples. You got a whole crowd that is following Jesus into the city. 22:00 You've got two crowds on the verge of intervening while one has no knowledge of the other. 22:09 It's crazy because we don't really know whether or not the city of Nain is a walled city. 22:15 The one thing that we do know is that the city has a gate of entrance, 22:20 an access point by with some go in and while others come out. 22:26 Isn't it interesting, friends, that you've got a throng of people with the lady leaving, 22:32 but because some have run ahead of Jesus from Capernaum? 22:37 They have already began to post up at the gate and they begin to block the entrance, 22:44 so the funeral procession is held up.Oh yall still didn't get it yet? In other words, I need you to get that. 22:53 There is a wall of bodies that is blocking the exit, so the widow can't get out. In other words, 23:04 I need you to get, man, that the pallbearers are getting a little shaky 23:08 because they're having to hold this body longer than they planned to that. 23:12 The funeral deputies are trying to get folks out of the way so that they can show respect for the deceased 23:19 and the mourning mother, who is trying to get out. 23:22 Isn't it amazing that they were supposed to be at the grave site about 20 minutes ahead of when they actually get there? 23:32 But I need you to get friends that the Father is creating a divine intersection. You all are not hearing me yet. 23:42 In other words, understand that the woman is at a place where she is anxious because she's had on these shoes all day. 23:51 She is ready to finally get this nightmare over. She is frustrated because she is behind schedule. 23:58 The problem is the woman is right there at the entrance of the gate, but Jesus is still a little ways from the gate. 24:08 So the Father sends a crowd to hold up the lady just long enough, that by the time the dead man comes out, 24:18 the resurrection is right there waiting for him. In other words, God had to send somebody to hold her up. 24:27 Why? Because she was moving ahead of her miracle. Her schedule was ahead of the blessing. 24:35 Sometimes, God sends our delay to hold you up, so you don't miss your divine miracle. 24:44 Friends of mine, let me just be clear on this. There is never going to be a time where we're going to rejoice over delay. 24:54 Come on and say Amen today? The truth is because we are people, we want it to happen quick, fast, and in a hurry. 25:02 Let me pause to say to somebody that is in a season of delay, before you curse your delay, 25:10 let it unfold and play out because sometimes, you don't know what what is keeping you from 25:17 and you don't know what God is keeping you for. I need you to know, friends, that sometimes in delay, 25:27 God is keeping you from something. Sometimes, God is keeping you for something. 25:37 Now, I want to be clear that there is nothing wrong with having a schedule and having an agenda, 25:43 but how many of us have lived long enough to know that God is not bound by your plans? 25:52 Let us be clear that God's steps are not ordered by man. Man's steps have to be ordered... Oh, yall mighty quiet. 26:01 Your steps must be ordered by God. Are you all with me today. Sometimes, you are moving faster than your miracle. 26:10 Sometimes, you're going to schedule your way out of providence. Sometimes, you're going to rush your way out of your blessing, 26:20 so God sends some traffic to hold you up so you don't miss your miracle. 26:26 Because we're human, we're not going to celebrate delays. But I need somebody to understand, fundamentally, as the minister said, 26:35 how many of us know that there is nothing accidental about your life? There is nothing that is random. 26:42 My life is not the result of good luck or good fortune or serendipity. My steps have been ordered by the Almighty God. 26:52 We love to shout that God is in charge of our steps, but will you still shout when God is overseeing your stops* 27:00 荬metimes, God sends a delay to preserve you from some things. Sometimes, He's preserving you from a danger you can't see. 27:13 Sometimes, He's preserving you from a marriage that's going to bring you pain. Sometimes, 27:19 He's preserving you from a job that's going to compromise your values. Sometimes, 27:24 He is keeping you from circumstances that will bring our unrest. discord, and strife to your life. 27:31 Sometimes, He's preserving your from and sometimes He's preserving you for. 27:36 Sometimes, God blocks some avenues so he can preserve you for the right job. 27:43 He preserves you for the right house. He preserves you for the right spouse. 27:48 He preserves you for the right situation. Instead of complaining that is taking too long, just be still and wait on the Lord. 27:58 Let things begin to unfold and see what He's preserving you for and what He's preserving you from. 28:04 What a dynamic message by Pastor Debleaire Snell. Thank you so much for joining us for the Breath Of Life Television Ministires 28:13 Broadcast. We hope and pray that you have been blessed by today's message .And Remember God's holds the master plan for your life. 28:21 Join us next week for Part 2 of " That Wasn't On The Program". You don't want to miss it. 28:27 (Breath of Life Theme Music) 28:50 [END] |
Revised 2022-09-29