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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000070S
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00:06 Sermon #S037 - Level Up- (Part 1)
00:19 Snell: Isaiah Chapter 40, and Verse 4. 00:23 When you get there, let me hear you say, Amen. Isaiah Chapter 40, and Verse 4. 00:30 What is being described here is the work of the Messiah and the influence of the Messiah. 00:37 Isaiah 14 Verse 4, when you get there, just say Amen. The Bible says that when he comes every valley shall be exalted 00:46 and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. 00:54 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. 01:03 I want you to go with me over to Luke Chapter 6. We'll look together at Verse 12. St. Luke Chapter 6. 01:12 We're going to look together at Verse 12. When you get there, let me hear you say Amen. 01:17 St. Luke Chapter 6, and Verse 12. over there in the New Testament. When you get there say, Pastor, I'm here. 01:32 The Bible says, now it came to pass in those days when he, referring to Jesus, went out to the mountain to pray. 01:42 And he continued, how long? All night in prayer to God. And when it was day he called his disciples to himself. 01:53 And from them, he chose 12 whom he also named Apostles, Simon whom he also named Peter, Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip 02:05 and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, 02:14 and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. And he came down with them 02:20 and stood on a level place with a crowd and all of his disciples and a great multitude of all people from Judea, Jerusalem, 02:32 and from the sea coasts of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and be healed of their diseases, 02:40 as well as those who are tormented with unclean spirits The Bible says, and they were what? 02:48 [Congregation: Healed] 02:50 And they were healed, and the whole multitude sought to touch him, 02:54 for power went out from him, and he healed most of them. He healed many of them. 03:03 Bible says he healed them all. But I just want to read for emphasis Verse 17. 03:10 The Bible says, And he came down with them and stood on a level place. 03:16 Today, saints, I want to talk to you for a little while under the subject, Level Up. Turn to your neighbor, say level up. 03:23 [Congregation: Level up] 03:24 Turn to the other neighbors and say, level up. 03:26 [Congregation: Level up.] 03:28 Some, you're looking like you already know what that means. It's okay. It just means you're saved. 03:31 Come on and save it. Let's look to the Lord together. Father, we pray for a rare visitation of your spirit. 03:44 Lord, don't just give anointing to preach the word. Lord, would you give us the anointing we need to receive and act on the word. 03:53 I'm praying once again that in the hearing of the word that Faith would just be multiplied in a supreme type of way. 04:01 Hide me In the shadows of the cross, that Jesus alone might be seen that Christ alone would be heard 04:07 and at the end of our time together, may Jesus alone be praised. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. 04:15 Let those who believe say together, Amen. 04:18 [Congregation: Amen] 04:19 You may be seated in the house of the Lord. You know, friends, 04:29 one of the prophesied works of the Messiah was to bring equity where there was inequity. 04:39 One of his jobs was to bring justice where there was injustice. This is what Isaiah prophesied in Chapter 40, 04:50 where he said, every mountain shall be brought low, and every valley shall be filled. That the crooked places will be made straight, 05:04 and the rough places will be made smooth. Essentially, that's a theologically deep way of saying that when the Messiah came, 05:14 he would change the moral and social topography of the culture to put everybody on the same level. 05:23 His influence would change society in such a way that no group was supposed to have advantage or superiority over the next. 05:32 No group was to have an economic advantage. None was to have an academic advantage. None was to have a religious advantage. 05:42 One of the goals of the Messiah was to make the ground all level. 05:47 Whenever friends you see your culture or a belief system operating with social caste, financial hierarchy 05:54 or uneven access it is a culture that is operating outside of the expressed will of Jesus Christ. 06:02 But the good news for us today, is that, in Jesus there is no caste system, there is no hierarchy. 06:10 Is there anybody grateful that Jesus is not a respecter of persons? There are no big I's and small U's, 06:17 there is no greater than or less than. But at the foot of the cross, the ground is all level. 06:23 I just need somebody to know that when it feels like certain privileges are benefits are outside of your reach, 06:30 when there are certain things that have been placed outside of your ability to receive it, 06:35 I need you to know that we serve a God that levels the playing field so that no blessing is outside of the reach of those who 06:43 love him. I need you to know that even if God has yet to level the playing field, 06:50 he'll be the ladder that elevates you to get what you stand in need of . You're not with me yet. 06:55 I know, there in my house we have a pantry and you got pantry in your house. The pantry has several levels or shelves. 07:04 Because my kids are different sizes and different ages, the heavy things are on the bottom but the snacks 07:11 and the sweets are on the top. The issue is that the younger two can't reach the things on the top, 07:12 and sometimes the older son will get it and won't care nothing about the younger two. 07:21 What we decided to do was to get a little stepladder in the pantry so that those who are on the bottom can reach all the way up to 07:30 the top. What I need somebody to know is that when certain privileges are outside of your reach, Jesus becomes Jacob's ladder. 07:39 He becomes your footstool that makes you able to reach anything that's outside of your reach, 07:46 so that you go lacking no good thing in the Lord. If you're with me, let me hear you say, Amen. 07:52 [Congregation: Amen.] 07:54 Go back with me in your Bibles to Luke Chapter 6. I'm going to read for emphasis Verses 12 and 19. Luke 6, and Verse 12, 08:01 and Verse 19. When you get back there, let me hear you say, Amen. The Bible says, 08:07 Now, it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain, to do what? To pray. 08:14 And he continued all night to prayer into God. 08:19 And Verse 19 says that the whole multitude sought to touch him for power went out from him 08:26 and he healed them all. You see friends, our text today has great spiritual value for the believer 08:34 because the first thing it teaches us is that our problem is not the size of our load. 08:41 The problem is that we don't have the capacity to be able to bear it. Let me see it again. 08:47 Your problem is not the size of your load, the issue is that you don't have the capacity to bear it. 08:54 The two verses that we read may seem detached in terms of sequence but they are married in terms of concept. 09:04 In fact, one verse is actually the cause, and the other verse 09:09 is ultimately the effect. We read in Verse 12 that Jesus spent all night in prayer, which was the cause, 09:20 and Verse 19 says the power went out of him and he healed them all which was the effect. 09:27 The mistake that we make about the ministry of Jesus is that we assume that Christ's power was genetic. 09:36 We make the mistake of assuming that Jesus was just born that way. 09:41 But I need somebody to know that Christ was as dependent upon the power of God as you and I are supposed to be. 09:51 In other words, he had no access to the father that you and I don't have access to. 09:59 In other words, if Christ does not receive it the night before, then he does not have the ability to give it the next day. 10:09 In other words, Christ can only give publicly what he has received from God privately. 10:16 Understand there is something powerful that happens when he spends the whole night in prayer, as he calls on the name of his father, 10:25 his burdens are lifted. His soul is replenished. His spirit is restored. Divine instructions become clearer 10:34 and he gets a fresh hold on divine omnipotence. 10:38 It's amazing friends that Jesus spends so much time in prayer that he literally reaches a spiritual saturation point. 10:48 In fact, man, Ellen White says that he was so filled with the Holy Ghost that his humanity could not contain his divinity. 10:58 I just need to know, do I have at least seven folks that want to be so filled with the Holy Ghost, 11:04 that you just reach a spiritual saturation point. In fact, Malcolm, 11:10 I want to be so filled with the Holy Ghost that if a mosquito bit my arm he be like, "Dog, there's power in the blood." 11:19 [Congregation: chanting] 11:20 Are you hearing what I'm saying today? I need you to get something friends, 11:24 because the reason that the issues were never greater than his capacity was 11:30 because he always got from God more than what his assignment was going to take from him. Are y'all with me today and see? 11:39 I need somebody to know that a powerful prayer life, what it does is it increases your personal capacity. The problem 11:48 is too often, we're intimidated as soon as we wake up. We are overwhelmed by what might happen in the day. 11:57 We're already stressed up about the things that might come to pass. The reason we're not ready for today is 12:05 because we've not replenished what yesterday took from us. Does anybody realize that the interactions of each day, 12:15 that it's subtract something from you. Each day it withdraws something from you. In other words, if you're a professor, 12:24 each lecture takes something from you. If you're a doctor, each surgery subtracts something from you. 12:32 If you're a mechanic, each job withdrawals something from you. If you're a counselor, each session withdrawal something from you. 12:42 If you're a mommy, by the time your children call your name 500 times, you have nothing left by the end of the day. 12:51 But again, the issue is not that we've got too much to do, he issue is that we don't have the capacity to bear it. 12:59 Friends, I need you to know that when you're in a living connection with Christ, 13:03 what he will do is he will enlarge your capacity with a church at today. 13:09 I need you to know friends, that you need to be refueled in all phases. Are y'all with me today, Church? 13:16 You need to get enough sleep for the refueling of the body. You need to take vacations for the renewing of the mind, 13:23 but in order to get your soul filled you got to call on the name of the Lord in the secret place. 13:31 I need somebody to know that there is no substitute for soul hunger. Are y'all with the Pastor today? 13:39 I'll need you to know that when your soul is tired that there is no agency outside of Christ that's able to revive it. 13:48 In other words, when your soul is tired, you can take 10 naps and you'll still wake up tired. 13:54 When your soul is tired, you can come back from vacation and the burden is still there. 14:00 You can go to yoga and as soon as it's done, the stress is right back on you. 14:05 You can get a massage and as soon as it's finished, guess what, you're still in the same place. 14:10 The problem is we're trying to refuel spiritually with earthly things 14:16 and there is nothing that can bring completeness outside of connection with Jehovah. 14:22 There is somebody hearing this and saying, Pastor, I got so much going on, I'm too busy to pray, my load is too large. 14:31 I need you to know the more busy you are the more you need to be calling on the name of God. In other words, the greater your load, 14:41 the more significant your prayer life ought to be. The problem with some of us today is that our problems are wireless, 14:51 but our prayer life is dial-up. 14:55 [Congregation: chanting] 14:57 In other words, you've got wireless stresses, but we've got a dial-up prayer life. Anybody old enough to remember dial-up internet? 15:05 It took a long time for you to get logged-on. 15:09 The issue is that if you've got wireless problems that travel with you wherever you go, 15:15 you can't be tied to a landline, you've got to have such a connection with God. 15:21 You've got to have a Google Fiber prayer life. 15:24 Do I have a witness with you today that you've some pipes that go beneath the surface that enlarge your bandwidth, 15:30 so that you're able to maintain your hold on Jehovah. 15:35 Are you with me today, friends? The word says here in Luke Chapter 6 and verse 17. The Bible says, 15:43 And he came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of disciples and the great multitude of people from Judea, 15:55 Jerusalem and from the sea coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 16:00 The second thing that our story teaches us today is that we serve a Christ who makes himself accessible. 16:12 Listen, the word says friends, that he comes down from the mountain where he was praying 16:18 and he brings his disciples and he joins the multitude, the scripture says, on a level place. 16:26 In other words, he tells his disciples we've spent enough time in the mountaintop. But when it's time to go to work, 16:35 we've got to go down to a level place. He said to his disciples, you can't stay on the mountaintop forever. 16:43 At some point we've got to go where the people are in a level place. Are you not with me? 16:48 He's saying we can't stay in Sabbath worship forever. 16:52 At some point you got to go down to a level place in order to get the work done. Are y'all with me? 16:59 I need you to know friends of mine, I'm at a place where men, I just don't love the works that Jesus does. 17:05 I'm at a place where I just like the way that Jesus moves. One of the things that Jesus does, 17:11 when he comes down to a level place is he is showing that there is no elitism in Christ. 17:20 In other words, you notice that the disciples always wanted to sequester Jesus away. 17:26 He wanted to keep him from everybody else, but Jesus says, we can't hang up here together. 17:33 We've got to go down to where the people actually are. 17:37 I need you to know that the act of going down to a level place is significant because if he stays in the mountaintop, 17:46 only the whole can reach him. 17:49 [Congregation: chanting] 17:51 In other words, if he stays in the mountaintop then broken folk can't access him. If he stays in the mountaintop, 17:58 if you've got problems with your leg, you can't get to him, if you're blind, you can't get to him in the mountaintop, 18:06 if you've got trouble breathing, you can't get to him in the mountaintop, 18:10 if you're carrying a crippled person you can't reach him in the mountaintop. 18:15 But the miracle of the story is that when crippled people couldn't reach, guess what, my Jesus came down to where they were. 18:25 I need you to get that coming down to the level place, is simply a living parable of the Incarnation of Jesus. 18:35 How many of us know that we serve a God that when we couldn't reach him, guess what, he says, 18:41 I'm going to come down to the level place where you are. He says you're too crippled to reach me in heaven. 18:48 You're too blind to reach me in heaven, you're too broken to reach me in heaven. 18:53 But can anybody rejoice that when we couldn't reach God, I'm thankful that God came down to meet us exactly where we were. 19:05 Are y'all hear me today, friends? 19:07 I need you to understand that the salvation narrative is never about a people that reaches up to God. 19:15 The Salvation narrative is about a God that came down to be 19:20 close to his people. In other words, I need us to know that it doesn't matter if you've been religious all your life, 19:26 you are not here today because you just had this natural affection for God. The Bible says that we love him 19:34 because he first loved us. Are y'all with me today? 19:38 One of the things that makes his priesthood superior to the old covenant priesthood is that the Bible in Hebrew says that we have a 19:48 priest that has been touched. 19:50 [Congregation: chanting] 19:52 With the feeling of our infirmities, he has been tempted in like points as we are and yet he was without sin. 19:59 What makes Christ a better priest is that there is no detachment between him and his people. 20:06 In other words, the thing I love about Christ is he doesn't minister down Christ ministers over. 20:13 [Congregation: chanting and clapping] 20:15 I need you to understand that there are certain things that don't mean a whole lot to us 20:20 but am I telling the truth that the Old Testament priesthood, the priests were somewhat detached from the people. 20:26 In other words, the priest lived over in Jericho, but the people live down in Jerusalem. 20:31 You can just roll up on the priest if you had sickness and disease because Levitical laws made you unclean 20:38 and you can have access to him dependent upon your particular condition. 20:43 But the good news about Jesus is that he done refute our condition. 20:48 He takes on our condition and he steps down into our mess and the reason he knows how to judge is 20:56 because he's been where you already are. Listen, real talk. I remember when I was in grad school at Andrews 21:05 and I was there in Michigan. What happened is, for a couple years I had got about three tickets in about a year span 21:13 and on that third ticket I could not afford to get another one. All's going to lose points from my license. 21:20 Even though I was guilty, I was speeding, I decided let me go to court and let's just see what happens. 21:26 I go to court and I wait to see what's going to happen. The judge asked me what happens and why am I contesting. 21:34 I say listen, I didn't intend to speed, but when I was driving down such and such street, I was going down a hill 21:41 and it was the incline that calls me to accelerate. She stopped me in mid-sentence, and she began to finish my story. 21:50 She said, yeah, and when you got to such a such street, guess what, the police was there waiting for you. 21:55 I say, Yes, ma'am. How do you know? She says, I've been down that same street. She says, I start accelerating at that same hill, 22:04 and I got a ticket when the cop was waiting there for me. She says that they shouldn't even do that 22:10 because it's the hill that makes you speed up. She says, I'm going to go ahead and throw out your citation 22:16 [Congregation: chanting and clapping] 22:18 Because I've already been there and had it happen to me or you'll miss your palette today. 22:22 In other words, the reason you don't have to face the judgment with fear is 22:27 because you serve a judge that's been there and done that. 22:31 [Congregation: clapping] 22:33 He says, man I can be merciful when you want to slap those folks because I've been there too. 22:37 He says, I can be kind when you get discouraged because I've been there too. 22:43 Is there anybody grateful that you serve a savior that can relate, that's been there 22:48 and done that and can guide you through where you already are. 22:55 Friends of mine, I love the beauty of Christ, is that He makes himself accessible. 23:02 I love that Jesus makes himself reachable. I love that Jesus puts himself on a level place. 23:12 Can I just say this to the body of Christ, not just here, but throughout, Jesus has put himself on a level place and 23:21 because he's put himself on a level place, stop try and put him back on a hill. 23:27 [Congregation: chanting] 23:29 The problem with some of us is we teach the gospel in such a way that we add all of these regulations to what God has already said. 23:39 In so doing, we make salvation hard to reach and we make it exclusive specifically to the elite of our time. In other words, 23:50 the beauty of the Gospel is its simplicity, but the problem with religion is its complexity. 23:58 I need you to know that in good Adventism our Salvation is simple but in bad Adventism salvation gets too hard. 24:06 Are y'all hear me today? For many of us sitting here today we talk about salvation. 24:11 It's just a list of do's and don'ts that make the salvation exclusive for the elite and it cannot be accessed by all. 24:20 But one of the things I believe is that we've got to put certain words even out of our spiritual vernacular 24:27 because what it does is it puts Jesus back on a hill and makes it hard for the common man to reach him. 24:35 What do you mean Pastor? There are certain things we ought to stop saying, you ought to stop saying that in order to get saved, 24:41 you've got to get right with God. 24:46 How many of us have heard that growing up in church it seemed like it was on you to get it done, 24:53 but how many of us know that you don't have to get right with God in order to get saved. 24:58 That it is God that saves you apart from any deed or any doing or any work. It is the work of God in us. 25:07 Are y'all hear me today, fiends? In fact, the problem is that when most of us talk to an unbeliever about salvation, 25:15 we start with a list of things that need to be done instead of beliefs that need to be claimed. 25:22 In other words, if an unbeliever asked you what it means to be saved, you would tell them, you got to stop eating this, 25:28 and you got to stop going there, and you've got to stop wearing this. 25:32 What we actually in theology say is that we are saved by grace. But in practice, we actually believe we're saved by our works. 25:41 What I'm saying to somebody today is that Jesus put salvation on a level place. Don't try to put him back on a hill. 25:49 Y'all, not with me? In other words because he went to the hill, salvation is on a level place, and because it's on a level place, 25:58 don't try to put him back on a hill. Y'all not with me? Because he's already going to the hill. The work is already done. 26:06 Remember on a hill, far away, lead an ole' rugged cross the emblem of suffering and shame, so that friends, I'm not saved by what I do, 26:17 I am saved by what I believe. 26:21 Thank you so much for joining us for the Breath of Life Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell! 26:28 We hope and pray that you have been blessed by this sixth message in the sermon series entitled “On The Verge of Something.” 26:38 Join us next week for Part Two of the message entitled “Level Up.” You don't want to miss it! 26:45 For the past 49 years, Breath of life has been presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 26:52 From a contemporary urban perspective, in 2023, we plan to grow our reach. 26:58 And your donations are what help make that possible. 27:02 This year, our major goal is to launch our Breath of Life weekly broadcast into five new cities. 27:09 In addition, we're excited to introduce our new Breath of Life Kids platform with original content created with your 27:17 little ones in mind. 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Revised 2023-05-24