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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000073S
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00:06 Sermon #S038 - Conncect The Dots - (Part 2)
00:19 Welcome to the Breath of Life Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell! 00:25 In today's episode, Pastor Snell will continue part two of the powerful Message entitled: “Connect the Dots.” 00:33 Now, let's go into the Word of God. 00:37 Pastor Snell: The second thing this story teaches us is that 00:41 sometimes you'll never know what's on the other side of God's no. 00:47 The Bible says to listen; they just want to go preach to Malcolm. They want to go preach the word. 00:55 And the Bible literally says that the Holy Spirit forbids them to go. Now, I need you to get that in Greek, 01:04 the word forbid is the word calientes, which literally means to prevent, it means to obstruct, means to get in the path of. 01:15 [Congregation: Amen]. 01:17 In other words, it literally paints the mental image of somebody going down a certain road, 01:21 somebody standing on the other side to oppose their journey. And it literally paints a picture of a loved one saying, 01:29 you are going the wrong way, but in order to go the wrong way, you going to have to get through me first. 01:35 Are you all hearing what I'm saying? Now, the reason for the blockade is not necessarily given in the scriptures, 01:41 but most scholars agree that there is some type of danger that they might not be able to survive, 01:49 which is why God forbids them to go. Some suggest that they will face persecution in Asia, 01:56 that they will not be able to live and tell the story. 02:00 And is there anybody that understands that sometimes God requires you to pivot, 02:05 where sometimes the path is obstructed by God? Sometimes God will close doors. 02:11 Sometimes God will cause your loved one's man to sound the alarm. Sometimes things will not work out as you hope them to be. 02:19 See, the thing I look about God is that he never takes away the power of choice, but he makes it hard to act on bad choices. 02:28 [Congregation: Amen]. 02:30 Anybody glad that every now and then God gets in your way, that he keeps you from a mistake that he says, man, 02:35 I'm not going to stop you from going the wrong way, but you going to have to fight me in order to have to get there. 02:43 Are you all hearing me today, friends? And can I just pause and just say this briefly, 02:47 but as seriously as I can, there's some of us man that need to make a pivot 02:52 because there's some danger on the road that you are on that you will not be able to recover from. 02:59 I need to speak a word of sabotage to somebody who thinks that because nothing happened last time or the time before that, 03:09 grace is a license to sin. But how many of us know that every now and then, God turns you around? 03:16 [Congregation: Amen]. 03:19 See, there are some of us that need to make a serious moral pivot because there are some of us that are on the path of smoking 03:27 and vaping, and you don't realize that there is no road to recovery on that path. 03:32 There are some that need to pivot from the path of sexual experimentation 03:36 and homosexuality because there is no recovery on that path. 03:41 There are some that need to pivot from a life of vengeance because there is no recovery on that path. 03:47 There are some that need to pivot from a life of cuffing in the winter because there is no recovery on that path. 03:55 There are some young people that need to pivot from thug life or imitating thug life because that is a road that leadeth to death. 04:02 You might not recover from that path. 04:06 And see, some of us have been ignoring God so adeptly that we are immune to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. 04:12 We are numb to win; God even tries to create roadblocks and obstacles to keep us on a safe path. 04:19 And I need somebody to know that for some, the road of a pivot is actually on the path of repentance. 04:27 Does anybody realize that the word repent means to turn away or to turn around? 04:34 And see the problem with the current church is that we are good at confession, but we are very bad at repentance. 04:42 You see, salvation is God's work on your behalf, but repentance is God's work in you to turn around from certain things. 04:51 [Congregation: Amen]. 04:53 See, I need you to know that not only do you have to be forgiven, there's got to be some forsaking of the evil way. 04:59 Are you all hearing what I'm saying today? 05:01 [Congregation: Yes]. 05:03 And let me just pause and say this, that there is this, what's the term? There is a praise that is too often omitted in the church. 05:13 There is a praise that is somewhat imbalanced. 05:16 You notice that you really have anybody preach this story that I'm talking about today. 05:21 And the reason sometimes we don't preach about it or reference it is because there is no obvious miracle in the story. 05:27 We are not clear as to why God forbids them or he does not permit them to go into a perceived area of danger. 05:35 It's crazy because we love to shout about how God saved Daniel from the lion's den. 05:41 And we good over we're shouting about how God saved the 3 Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace. 05:47 And we know how to rejoice and how God rescued them from the Red Sea. 05:52 And we know how to rejoice when God allows David to defeat the Goliath. And the reason we rejoice in those stories is 06:00 because the danger is obvious, and the danger is more visible. And the problem is that some will only praise for divine rescue, 06:09 but we will not praise for divine redirection. 06:13 [Congregation: Amen]. 06:16 Okay. In other words, I need you to know that what Providence does is that Providence sees the trap down the line 06:22 and calls you to pivot way back so that the plague doesn't even come near until you are dwelling. 06:31 See, I serve the God that sits high, and he looks low. He sees through time as though it were invisible. 06:39 Can anybody praise God that looks around the corner? He sees past last month, he sees past next year, 06:46 he sees ten years from now, 06:48 and anybody can praise God that he intercepted you so far from the danger that you never even saw the danger. 06:56 In other words, I was telling the kids in worship two Friday nights ago, they say, Man, Daddy, we want to see more miracles. 07:03 I said, don't worry about seeing miracles; you've got to learn how to count your mercies. 07:09 [Congregation: Amen]. 07:11 In other words, I thank God for how he kept the Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace. 07:16 I thank God for how he kept Daniel in the lion's den. 07:20 But I believe if they were here to preach, they would say, I thank God that he kept us in the furnace. 07:25 I think he kept us from the lion's den. But I thank God when he keeps us from being in danger. 07:32 [Congregation: Amen]. 07:34 Okay. See, I need us to get to a place where we don't just praise God. See, I praise God because he's kept me in car accidents. 07:44 But I wake up and praise God when he keeps me from car accidents. I saw you all still not with me yet. 07:51 I praise God that he kept me in some fights. But now I praise him that he keeps me from having to fight. 07:57 [Congregation: Amen]. 07:59 I thank God that he's kept some in shootings. But can you praise him that he's kept you from mass shootings? 08:05 Can anybody praise him that he kept you in poverty? But now you can rejoice because he's keeping you from poverty. 08:12 And see, there is somebody that's waiting for a miracle. How many of us know that you'll only have 7 or 8 miracles, 08:19 but you'll have more mercies than you can ever count? It is what Jeremiah says it is 08:25 because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed by his compassions; they fail, not they are new every morning. 08:35 Can the church shout great is thy faithfulness? You don't realize you just inhaled the mercy. 08:44 You just exhaled the mercy when you waved; that was a mercy. When you stood, that was a mercy. 08:51 When you ate, that was a mercy. When the plane landed, it was a mercy. When you got to school, it was a mercy. 08:59 You may only have a few miracles, but can't we praise him for the mercies that are endless and constant, and unceasing? 09:11 Praise God for his mercies. 09:14 [Congregation: Amen]. 09:16 Are you all hearing the word today? 09:18 [Congregation: Clapping. Amen. Yes]. 09:24 Listen, the third thing this teaches us is that sometimes God changes your path, so your path doesn't change you. 09:35 So they sense that the Spirit is telling them not to preach. So he creates a blockade. I mean, I can't get over this. 09:44 He forbids them from going to preach. So then they say, okay, we are going to pivot. We not going to go over there Tasia, 09:51 we're going to pivot, we're going to go over it to Bithynia. 09:54 But then the Bible says that the Spirit would not... your version may say suffer them to go, another version says, 09:59 he won't permit them to go. So it's crazy 10:01 because that word in the Greek here is not as strong as the word forbid is the word [foreign], 10:06 which means that the Spirit would not leave them alone, says the Spirit will not leave them to their own devices. 10:14 So what the Spirit does is he constantly pricks them until they alter their course. 10:23 Now, this is an interesting thing about Bithynia. 10:26 See scholars believe that Bithynia is not dangerous. Bithynia was just going to be fruitless. Okay, all right. 10:36 So there's a combination of things. The Spirit keeps them from going to Bithynia, 10:40 but then God gives Paul a vision and a dream of a man in Macedonia who is begging and pleading for you all to come 10:48 and bring the gospel over here. And so when I look at it in its Samothracia totality, 10:53 it's essentially what God is saying is that there is no fruitfulness in your work there. 10:57 So I'm going to aim you to somebody who wants what you have to offer. 11:01 [Congregation: Clapping. Amen]. 11:03 Pastor Snell: Okay? 11:04 [Congregation: Yes]. 11:05 So, hear me, they are not going to receive what Paul has to say in Bithynia. 11:10 It's going to fall on deaf ears in Bithynia. They are not going to be met with persecution; 11:16 they're just going to be met with indifference. 11:20 And see what God is trying to show the apostle Paul that if you go over into Bithynia, 11:24 you can sow, but you're not going to reap. You can invest, but you're not going to get a return. You can work hard, 11:35 but there'll be no wages. You can make all the deposits you want in Bithynia, 11:41 but you will be able to make not a single withdrawal from that area. 11:45 And see, the efforts are so fruitless, and the circumstance will be so discouraging that if Paul doesn't change the path, 11:53 the path may change him. See, I need you to know what Bithynia does. 11:58 It is that fruitless terrain of life that there is no success, 12:03 and there is no fruitfulness, and it is no improvement. No matter how hard you pray, no matter how hard you try, 12:11 no matter how hard you believe, because it is not God's plan, it is a fruitless terrain regardless of your effort. 12:19 And the danger of Bithynia is that it affects your faith. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. 12:26 It'll cause you to lose months and weeks, and years that you'll never get back. 12:34 You see, Bithynia is that stretch of life where the ground is fallow and hard. It represents those people, circumstances, 12:47 and situations that are not ready to receive what God has given you. Are you all listening to your boy today? 12:52 And see, Bithynia is not a bad place, but it's just not a ripe place. It's just not a fruitful circumstance. 13:03 Are you hearing me? It is a place of wasted time, labor, and effort; it is a place of wasted investment. 13:14 Bithynia is where you spent 20 years on that job only to still find yourself overworked and underappreciated. 13:24 And after 20 years, you find out that there was a lid there and there was never any room for you to grow. 13:30 Bithynia, young adult, is when you spend six years with the wrong person only to realize you are preparing them for the next man 13:38 or woman. Bithynia is when you start the business in the wrong season only to see it go belly up because it was ahead of schedule. 13:47 Bithynia, seniors, is when you spend three years in the wrong major only to come to graduation 13:52 and realize you spent $60,000 studying the wrong course. And see, the danger of Bithynia, church, is not that it kills you; 14:07 it just changes you. Bithynia takes something from you. Bithynia drains you. 14:17 It exhausts you because when you've given so much to the wrong job, 14:22 you show up jaded and unprofessional when God gives you the right job. 14:27 It is where you've been so hurt by the wrong person that now you are cautious 14:32 and rationing out love when God gives you the right kind of person. 14:36 It is that season because you started the business under presumption; 14:40 now you're scared to start it when God is calling you to act according to faith. 14:44 It is that place in life where you can recover in some ways, but what Bithynia does is it messes with you 14:51 and breaks you in areas that you never ever recover from. Oh, and can I just pause and say this, man? 14:57 What Bithynia does, and the most crushing thing about Bithynia, is that it causes you to waste weeks 15:02 and months and years and time that you never recover. See, I need somebody to get that. You can regain money, 15:10 you can recover things, you can rebuild friendships, but the one thing you never get back is the time you have wasted. 15:22 There is no reclaiming of the time. Are you all hearing what I'm saying? In all the miracles in scripture, 15:26 you have literally seen God open up the Red Sea. You've seen him cause the sun to be still. He's caused acts, heads to float. 15:32 He's called money to come out of Fisher's mouth. He has literally stopped storms. 15:36 He has caused the dead to rise from their graves. But the one miracle God has never done is allow somebody to go back in time 15:47 and get a do-over. 15:51 So I'm going to tell especially the young amongst us, don't waste your time. You are only going to be a teenager once in your life. 16:02 You are only going to be in your 20s once in your life. You are only going to be in your early 30s once in your life. 16:07 And you need to be careful how you invest some of those great years of your life because there is no recovery once they are gone. 16:15 And see folk who waste time; they want to tell the lie that 40 is the new 30. The arthritis in my knees says the devil is a lie. 16:22 [Congregation: Amen]. 16:24 No, 40 is 40. Come on now; you can get all the byzantine in your beard; the grey is going to still show up. 40 is the new 30. 16:37 Yeah. All right, keep telling yourself that. Brothers, hear me, don't waste your time because everything that glitters ain't gold. 16:59 Young brother, if God shows you a woman who is the one, don't do that stupid thing where you try to put her on ice; 17:09 go live your best life, and assume she's going to be waiting for you when you decide to come back home. 17:16 No man, if she is the one, you better do what Beyonce said, "If you like it, you better, 17:21 oh, you all spiritual, you all love the Lord. 17:23 Okay. I can see who ain't saved. Hey, man, if you like it, then you better put a ring. Are you all hear what I'm saying today? 17:30 In other words, ma'am, the one regret even of a man who marries somebody later on, 17:36 it doesn't matter how many women he has had in his youth, he never forgets the one that got away. 17:42 [Congregation: Amen. Clapping]. 17:44 And it's crazy because it doesn't proverb; Solomon says it. He says, who can find a virtuous woman? 17:52 Because her value is high above rubies. No, I don't know if you all are getting this. He's saying when you find the one, 17:58 I need you to know the one doesn't grow on trees; she is like a precious stone that you only come upon once or twice in a lifetime. 18:07 Are you hearing what I'm saying? And see, you got to take this from Solomon, who had all these wives and all these combines, 18:13 and all these tenths of women 18:15 because Solomon teaches us that the love of many women still falls short of the love of the right woman. 18:23 Are you all hearing what I'm saying? See, we are stupid in our youth because many women make you the man, 18:29 but the right woman makes you the man God intended you to become. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 18:35 [Congregation: Amen. Yes. Clapping]. 18:43 All right. Ladies, don't waste your 20s and 30s waiting on his potential. If he's 37, that ain't potential, you are all quiet. 19:04 That's who he is, see, man. 19:10 [Congregation: Background chatting]. 19:13 This is not in the sermon, but can I say this, young sisters? And I hate to go young; 19:19 black women pay a high toll for wasting their 20s with the wrong guy 19:27 because the inequity of life is sometimes men can fool around in their 20s and 30s and come back in their 40s and 50s 19:33 and still find a good woman in the church. But how many 45-50-year-old single men in this church love God, are successful, 19:51 and spiritual, and even if it's 1, you're going to have to fight 17 women to get next to him? Are you all hearing what I'm saying? 19:58 [Congregation: Clapping]. 20:06 And seeing this is why you cannot waste your time in Bithynia 20:12 because if you don't change your path, the path is going to change you. 20:15 Because what Bithynia does is it takes away your faith, it takes away your optimism, it takes away your hopefulness, 20:23 it takes away your creativity. It makes you settle in a place where God never ever intended you to be. 20:29 So you've got to stop short of Bithynia. The last thing I'm going to say 20:35 before I'm done is that sometimes a pivot requires patience. 20:42 Now, the reason I had you read a whole lot at the beginning is so that you get some context for the sequence of events. 20:47 I promise you I'm almost done. Okay. I'm going to take my time. Amen. Hey, I was counting on somebody saying that. 20:55 [Congregation: Laughing]. 20:59 If we get out late, blame this front row right here in the church. 21:03 [Congregation: Laughing]. 21:08 A pivot requires patience. Remember, so God keeps them from going to Asia, keeps them from going over to Bithynia. 21:16 But then God shows up in a vision or a dream to Paul, and what he sees in the vision is a man who is pleading with him to come 21:26 and help us over here in Macedonia. In other words, God is saying, listen, they don't want it where you're trying to go. 21:32 So I want you to take it to those who are going to receive it. 21:36 Now, I'm not exactly sure exactly how Paul is going to interpret this thing. 21:40 I don't know. When he goes to Macedonia, he is literally going to look for the man in his dreams that is begging for him to come 21:49 and help. Now remember when he goes into Macedonia, he first enters the city of Philippi, 21:55 and there he meets a woman named Lydia who is a seller of purple in the land of Thyatira. 22:01 Now, understand that Paul goes there looking for a man, 22:05 but the first thing he finds is a woman who is hungry for the gospel of Jesus Christ. 22:11 And the Bible says he's already prepared the woman and opened her heart to receive the things that the apostle has to say so that 22:19 by the time they get there, they are hungry and waiting for the word. 22:24 And the Bible says that she and her entire household get baptized. 22:29 Now, this is the point, I'm sure he is rejoicing in their salvation, but perhaps there is a dissonance, a disconnect. 22:37 Why? Because that's not the person, he saw in his dreams. 22:44 But don't get so caught up on what you saw in your dreams that you pivot out of the Providence that God is leading you into. 22:55 And see, what I'm saying to somebody is that sometimes you got to wait and allow all of the dots to be connected. 23:01 Because, see, there is somebody who is literally frustrated because you made a pivot in faith, and you stepped out, 23:07 and things have not worked out like you wanted them to. You still don't have the job of your dreams. 23:12 You don't live in the house of your dreams; you don't have the person of your dreams. 23:17 You're not in the ministry of your dreams. 23:19 And what I'm saying to somebody is that when you don't see with your eyes what God showed you in your dreams, 23:27 you've just got to be still and allow God to connect the dot. Are you all hear what I'm saying? 23:36 Okay, stay with your boy for a second. So, God goes into the Philippi and sees Lydia, who is the seller of purple in Thyatira. 23:47 And the Bible says she and her whole household get baptized, and one dot is connected. 23:53 But then the Bible says that they go down into the house of prayer, 23:57 but then they find a little servant girl who's got an evil spirit that would annoy Paul each and every day. 24:05 And your boy Paul gets so mad that the authority of God erupts, and he just calls the evil Spirit out of that girl. 24:12 And then the girl shows up with cloth in her right mind. He didn't come for the girl. That's not who he saw in his dreams, 24:20 but when he meets the girl, another dot is connected. Now, when all the men of Macedonia show up, Paul thinks, okay, 24:28 here come the men in my dreams. But guess what? They don't come to congratulate Paul. 24:33 They are mad because the money is going to get cut short beca- use he has called the evil Spirit out of that girl, 24:40 and they begin to beat Paul with rods, and they throw him into jail. 24:45 And for a minute, I think your boy Paul May be tripping Steve because Paul is like, "You wouldn't forbid me to go there 24:53 because of the danger there, but you let me get beaten here and jailed here." 25:02 [Congregation: Yes]. 25:04 But the thing I like about Paul is that he does not allow his faith to get overwhelmed by circumstance. 25:09 So the Bible says that they throw him bloody and beaten into a prison. 25:14 But the Bible says that at midnight he wasn't up complaining and whining. At midnight, the Bible says that Paul 25:25 and Silas were praying and singing praises unto God. And the Bible says that the prisoners heard them, 25:34 and because they were praising at midnight, the Bible says that the earth began to quake, the ground began to shake, 25:44 the prison doors got open, and suddenly all their bands were loose, and all the men were there listening to the gospel. 25:55 And it's crazy now because Paul still hadn't seen the man in his dreams, but then there is a guard of the prison who has a sword 26:04 and is about to off himself. And Paul says, do yourself no harm because we are already here. 26:12 And then the Bible says that then this man that Paul saw in his dreams comes to Paul begging 26:21 and asking what must I do in order to be saved? 26:28 [Congregation: Amen]. 26:30 We didn't want it over before, but guess what? I want it right now, Paul. They didn't want it in Asia, 26:35 they didn't want it in Bithynia, 26:37 but me and these prisoners are sitting here ready to receive everything you have in store for me. 26:47 For the past 49 years, Breath of life has been presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 26:54 From a contemporary urban perspective, in 2023, we plan to grow our reach. 27:01 And your donations are what help make that possible. 27:04 This year, our major goal is to launch our Breath of Life weekly broadcast into five new cities. 27:12 In addition, we're excited to introduce our new Breath of Life Kids platform with original content created with your 27:20 little ones in mind. We'll continue with innovative programming, dynamic preaching, 27:26 and sharing the gospel through evangelistic campaigns. Here are the five ways that you can give. 27:32 You can give online at Breath of Life.tv. By mail. P.O. Box 5960. Huntsville, Alabama. 35814. 27:43 By phone at area code 256-929-6460. 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Revised 2023-06-13