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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000099S
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00:07 #S051 - “When God's Goodness Becomes A Problem” (Part 2)
00:20 welcome to the Breath of life 00:21 television ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell 00:25 In today's episode, Pastor Debleaire Snell will continue 00:28 part two of the powerful message titled When God's Goodness 00:33 Becomes a Problem. 00:34 Now let's go deeper into the Word of God. 00:40 Friends, the word says that Nineveh is in 00:44 such bad shape that their wickedness 00:48 comes up before the Lord. 00:52 In other words, their transgressions are so great, 00:56 their iniquities are so gross that God puts a 40 day 01:01 clock on their existence. 01:05 And it's crazy because when God sends Jonah to 01:09 Nineveh, it is not just to bend Jonah's wheel to his wishes, 01:15 but because he knows there are folk 01:17 infinite power 01:22 that can be saved 01:24 if he gives them another chance. 01:27 Not a crazy thing is things that you would never know 01:30 that of would repent by looking at them. 01:34 Okay. 01:36 Do you 01:37 realize that none of those repentance 01:40 comes after the peak of their wickedness? 01:43 Okay, well, what a church said today. 01:45 Like their repentance literally falls 01:49 on the heels of the peak of their wickedness. 01:52 In other words, nevermore can't go no further. 01:55 Never, but can't get any worse. 01:58 Near the volcano, won't go down any more. 02:00 Morally noble, cannot get further from God. 02:05 But how many of us realize that sometimes the dawn comes 02:09 right after the darkness? 02:13 And it's crazy because, well, there's something 02:15 about the sinful nature 02:17 that sometimes you have to reach and exhort and point, 02:22 that sometimes the sinful nature has to go as far as it can go, 02:26 that sometimes that sinful nature has to bottom out. 02:29 It is an interesting that sometimes 02:30 sometimes you've got to go all the way out 02:34 before you can go all the way in. 02:37 Oh, this is crazy 02:38 in that interesting that sometimes the best members 02:41 used to be the worst sinners. 02:44 And the reason that's the case 02:46 is because you are fully persuaded in your own mind, 02:50 you know, this world ain't got nothing out there for you. 02:54 You all the way, Ed, because you used to be all the way out. 02:58 But the reason 02:59 some of us are not all the way here is cause 03:01 we ain't never went all the way out. 03:03 And we still think 03:04 there's something out there and our benefits. 03:09 And it's crazy because never but turns around 03:14 on the heels of its worst spiritual day. 03:17 Why am I saying that? 03:19 I'm saying this on behalf of some praying mother, 03:22 some praying grandmother, some praying auntie 03:26 who is praying for some child to turn around. 03:28 Some are husband to turn around. 03:30 Some wife to turn around. 03:31 And you're looking at where they are today. 03:35 And for somebody that looks like they can't get worse, 03:38 it seems like they'll never turn around. 03:40 It seems like they can never see the light. 03:43 But if you learn anything from NIN about that, 03:45 sometimes repentance is right there on the heel of wickedness. 03:51 And the word to somebody today is, don't turn up your position, 03:54 your petition, 03:55 don't cease your prayers, because God does a work 04:00 that you can't see with your eyes. 04:04 In other words, 04:05 when you look at John chapter three, 04:07 John Jesus compared the work of the Holy Spirit 04:10 to being like a nun to the work of the wind. 04:13 He says, You don't know where it's coming from. 04:15 You don't know where it's going. 04:16 In fact, 04:17 the only reason you know the wind is blowing 04:18 is because the leaves are rustling 04:21 and the limbs of the tree are shaking. 04:23 How many of us know 04:24 that the work of the spirit is an invisible work? 04:29 So what I would encourage us to do 04:31 is know you can't judge a book by its cover. 04:36 What do you mean? 04:37 You'll remember that Luke Chapter 11, 04:38 when Jesus preached to the Pharisees, 04:41 he says that none of us 04:45 is going to stand up in judgment of this generation 04:50 because they heard the word and repent it. 04:54 In other words, if you saw the Pharisees 04:57 and they filled factories and priestly garments 05:00 and you saw those wretched folk 05:01 turning up and none of you would assume that these are 05:05 the ones that would repent, but those are the ones 05:09 that heart in themselves against Christ. 05:11 While those in 05:12 many of us are the ones that repented at the word. 05:15 And what I'm saying that somebody today, 05:16 as you can't tell who's going to repent 05:20 by looking at them, matter of fact, 05:23 spend less time looking at their appearance, 05:27 spend more time looking, gets old. 05:30 So stop trying to get the plank out of somebody else's eye 05:35 and get the beam out of your own eye. 05:37 The old sounds headed this way. 05:39 Sweep around your front door 05:43 before you try to sweep around mine. 05:46 You hear what I'm saying today? 05:48 Because I need to know the spirit works beneath 05:51 the surface. 05:54 It works in a way that your eyes can never detect. 05:56 You can never really see 05:57 what it is that the spirit is doing inside of a person. 06:00 It's crazy, man. 06:01 The spirit works even in our worst wickedness. 06:05 Have you ever noticed how when somebody gets drunk, 06:10 they always want to debate religion? 06:13 Oh, y'all quite. 06:14 Oh, yeah. Oh, that ain't never been you. Okay? 06:16 Oh, when somebody gets high, they want to talk about 06:18 the doctrine of the church. 06:20 Have you ever noticed that even when you own the club, 06:24 there is something that don't feel right about being? 06:26 Come on and say amen today. 06:27 I mean, the real truth is that I only ever get worried 06:30 when somebody is mad at the church. 06:33 Because when you're mad, it's because they're still love. 06:36 I don't get scared when they get mad. 06:37 I get scared when they get indifferent toward church. 06:41 And what I'm saying to somebody today is that the spirit does 06:44 its work underneath the surface. 06:48 And that's why sometimes you got to pray 06:51 and plant and let God do the rest. 06:56 See how many of us know that God had called us to convert? 06:59 Nobody. Am I preaching about today? 07:02 God has not called you to do the work of the Holy Spirit. 07:07 God has called you to sow a seed and God has got water. 07:11 And in due time, God is going to give it the increase. 07:15 Third thing I'm getting away from my time is going away. 07:18 Third thing, this teacher, friends of mine 07:19 is that sometimes people are more condemning, 07:23 think God 07:31 it's crazy church. 07:32 The more I read this story, 07:35 the more contempt I have for my man Jonah 07:40 Angle. 07:41 I have developed man this robust dislike for the man of God. 07:44 Jonah, after looking at this the last couple of weeks, 07:48 I realized that the most foolish character in Scripture. 07:51 Listen, it is not Cain. 07:52 It is not, man. It is not Cain. 07:55 It is not Jacob. It is not Esau. 07:59 It is not Jezebel, is not Ahab, is not Judas. 08:03 Do you realize the most ridiculous 08:06 character you are in the word we reading about him? 08:08 His name is Jonah. 08:11 Now, in other words, see, what Jonah shows us 08:15 is what happens when you have the truth, 08:18 but the truth doesn't have you. 08:22 It shows us what happens when you got the right beliefs 08:26 and the right doctrine may end the right day, 08:29 but you ain't got no Holy Spirit inside of you. 08:33 Amy I mean, come on, saints out here. 08:36 You are hearing this thing. 08:37 Jonah preaches repentance 08:41 and gets mad because the folk repent 08:46 and he thinks they are not worthy of it. 08:50 As if the problem with Jonah is that, like some of us, 08:53 we've yet to realize that all people 08:56 are God's people. 09:00 Are we clear on this fundamental truth 09:02 that God is not in the destroying business? 09:07 God is in the saving business? 09:11 See? See, He wanted God to see the Assyrians 09:15 the way he saw them, as in This is why, man, 09:19 I cannot get man with this this Christian nationalism 09:23 that is emerging here in the United States 09:25 that tries to pronounce judgment on everybody, 09:27 that doesn't look a certain way or believe a certain thing. 09:31 See, I'm just at a place 09:32 where I believe that all people are God's people. 09:35 See, some of us think that Jews are only God's people. 09:38 Remember the covenant that was made with Abraham? 09:40 He says, I'm going to make of you a great nation. 09:43 And in you so all the nations of the earth be blessed 09:47 and other words, there is no, no, no hierarchy in Christ. 09:52 See, we walk around talking about how we are God's remnant. 09:55 People know we are not. 09:56 We have God's remnant message. 10:00 Well, y'all offended? 10:01 No, no. 10:02 The remnant people have yet to be established. 10:06 See, the remnant means those who are left 10:09 so that after the earth is being done shaking, 10:12 we don't know who's going to still be standing. 10:19 And we'll not need somebody to know that God loves all people, 10:23 men. God loves gay people. 10:26 God loves smoking people. 10:29 He loves drinking people. 10:30 He loves white people. 10:32 He loves black people. 10:34 He loves Asian people. 10:35 He even loves Republicans. 10:37 Oh, y'all not hear me today 10:39 since y'all don't want to say man cause 10:41 I don't like Trump's people, but they are gonna 10:44 God loves all people are y'all. 10:49 I feel like I'm 10:51 about to get canceled on line y'all pray for the passing. 10:57 I mean church. 11:00 Oh, in the sermon. 11:02 But I need you to get 11:03 the absurdity of this man, Jonah, sitting there on the hill 11:07 underneath the plant, looking to see what happens 11:09 when he sees God showing mercy. 11:14 Your dollar gets big mad. 11:19 He was like me. 11:20 God. See, I told you this when I was still in Tarsus. 11:23 See, the reason I didn't want to go 11:25 was not because I was going to face persecution. 11:28 It's not because my preaching was going to be in vain. 11:30 The reason I didn't want to go 11:31 is not because, man, I was going to suffer 11:34 ridicule at the hands of those that did not believe. 11:37 But he says, The reason I did not want to go 11:40 is because you God are too merciful 11:43 and you are too gracious and you're abundant in love. 11:46 And you always relent from punishing people 11:49 like they deserve to be punished. 11:50 And it's crazy because Jonah's literally standing 11:54 in his second chance, standing in the grace of God, 12:00 every breath he breathes this mercy. 12:04 And yet 12:05 he is going to complain that some body else 12:09 is less deserving of the mercy 12:11 he is walking 12:15 and he's mad with God cause he's no good. 12:19 Oh, God. 12:23 Anybody mad that God is that good to his children? 12:28 Are you hear what I'm saying? 12:31 And he quickly see, Jonah shows us 12:34 why Jesus had to come. 12:38 This quote here, From Steps to Christ. 12:40 I want you to take a look at this quickly 12:42 here with me today in the book, Steps to Christ, the 12:45 the prophet of God literally says the enemy of good 12:48 blinded my blind blinded minds, the minds of men 12:52 so that they look upon God with what 12:55 they thought of him as severe and unforgiving. 12:59 Satan led men to conceive of God as their being, whose chief 13:03 attribute is stern justice, one who is a severe judge, 13:06 a harsh, exacting predator. 13:09 He pictured the Creator as a being who watches 13:12 with Jealous Eye 13:13 to discern the errors and mistakes of men 13:16 that he made visit judgments upon them. 13:19 It was to remove this dark shadow by revealing to the world 13:21 the infinite love of God that Jesus came to live among men. 13:28 See, we think Jesus just came to die. 13:30 That was his final work. 13:32 But his primary work was to say, 13:34 Man, listen, man, I sent prophets, 13:36 I sent apostles, I sent the Jewish nation, 13:39 I sent them to be ambassadors, 13:41 to show the world what I was like. 13:43 But they literally 13:44 brought discredit to my image and my character. 13:48 So I've got to show up 13:51 so the world knows what God is like. 13:54 And my question for the church is, as ambassadors 13:59 do we give glory to God in our characters 14:04 or do we discredit him? 14:07 And I need church you to realize 14:09 do you realize, friends, that Satan's greatest deception 14:12 was not the change of the Sabbath? 14:13 It's not the mystery of the state of the dead. 14:15 It is not to get people to eat the wrong food. 14:18 His greatest mystery was to get people to look at God 14:21 that way, to get them 14:24 to have a fear based relationship with God. 14:28 And the reason he wants us operating out of fear 14:30 is you realize that fear and love can never coexist 14:34 because perfect love 14:35 casts out all fear. 14:38 And it's crazy 14:39 because he has been so powerful in this particular deception 14:44 that we literally in our minds and in our flawed theology, 14:47 you realize what we do. 14:48 We actually make a distinction 14:49 between the God of the Old Testament 14:54 and Jesus. 14:55 In the New Testament. 14:57 We literally walk around like God is bipolar, like 15:01 like he was one way in the old Testament 15:02 and he's a different way in the New Testament. 15:05 Some of us literally believe that God that that Jesus 15:09 had to come to save us from the Father. 15:12 But how many of us know that Jesus was sent to us 15:17 by the Father? 15:18 In other words, the son is not my loving. 15:22 Then the father, he says, I am the father one. 15:26 That's why he told the disciples, 15:28 If you say me, you've seen the father. 15:33 I see friends of mine. 15:35 I need us to understand the truth about God's character. 15:37 Because sometimes men, 15:39 we are so exacting, so harsh, so men judgmental, so stringent. 15:43 And the way we communicate truth 15:45 that we have literally done harm to the character of God. 15:49 So I need us to see some things in the world. 15:51 Can I take you to work for just a moment? 15:52 And I'm done, Malachi chapter three and verse six. 15:55 See, I need you to know that we begin. 15:56 We make this distinction 15:57 between the God of the Old Testament 15:59 and the God of the New Testament. 16:00 But I need you to make sure you see God in the right light. 16:03 Malachi, chapter three and verse six. 16:05 When you get to them, you say, Man, 16:07 Malachi, chapter three and verse six, 16:09 last book in the Old Testament, open up those Bibles today, 16:14 Malachi three and verse six, when you get there 16:16 and say, Pastor, I'm here, 16:19 Malachi three and six, 16:22 he says, For I am the Lord, I do not change. 16:27 Therefore you are not consumed. 16:30 All sons of Jacob did all cuts at church. 16:33 Say when we say that the Lord He does not change. 16:36 We may make matters of liturgy and worship. 16:39 May we say, man, 16:40 just why we ought not be singing nothing but hands? 16:41 And this is why Sabbath school has to start a certain time. 16:44 What? 16:45 When God says I don't change, what he is talking about 16:48 is his love and his long suffering. 16:51 He says, If I ever changed, Jacob, 16:55 I would have destroyed you a long time ago. 16:58 So there is no difference between 16:59 the God of the old covenant and the God of the New Covenant. 17:03 The God of the New Covenant just ratified. 17:07 Do you realize that the New Covenant 17:11 is an outgrowth of the fulfillment of the first? 17:12 Are y'all hear me today? 17:14 All right. 17:14 I see. Y'all still don't believe so. 17:16 We can go a little bit further in the word this afternoon. 17:19 Go to Exodus 34 and verse six, 17:21 Exodus second book of the Bible, chapter 34 and verse six. 17:25 Because truth is that most of us 17:27 only believe what people say about God, 17:31 but we don't even know how God describes himself. 17:33 Exodus 34 and verse number six, when you did, 17:37 I mean, you say, man, 17:38 Exodus 34 and verse six. 17:42 Matter of fact, look at verse five. 17:43 The Bible says Now the Lord descended in the cloud with him 17:46 and there proclaim the name of the Lord 17:48 and the Lord pass before Him and proclaim the Lord 17:52 the Lord What merciful and gracious, long suffering 17:59 and abundant and goodness and truth, keeping mercy 18:03 for thousands, forgiving iniquity, 18:06 transgression and sin. 18:10 Are you all catching this 18:12 so you realize that 18:13 the Bible say He literally says about himself 18:15 that I'm slow to anger. 18:20 In other words, God is not some temperamental ticking time bomb 18:25 waiting to explode, but God literally man, 18:28 the only thing God is slow to do is get mad. 18:31 Oh God, I don't catch him this today. 18:35 He is not slow to hear your prayers. 18:38 He is not slow to supply your needs. 18:40 He is not slow to fight your battles. 18:41 The only thing 18:42 God takes His time doing is giving you what you deserve. 18:47 You are hearing me today, friends. 18:49 And see, I need you to know that when you change the way 18:52 you see God, it affects the way you see His law. 18:57 Deuteronomy six In verse 24th Deuteronomy 19:00 there in the Old Testament six and verse 24. 19:04 When you get there, let me hear you say, man, 19:07 do around 19:07 me, chapter six and verse 24. 19:11 Now again, 19:11 if I begin to change the way I see God, 19:13 it begins to change the way I relate to Him. 19:16 And it changes the way I relate to his law. 19:18 Deuteronomy six 19:19 And verse 24 When you get there, say, Pastor, I'm here 19:23 and the Bible says, and the Lord commanded us 19:26 to observe all these statutes, to fear 19:29 the Lord for our good all ways 19:34 that He might preserve us alive 19:37 as it is this day. 19:41 Okay. 19:43 Do we get the purpose of the law? 19:44 Friends? 19:48 The law of friends of mine is not for my salvation. 19:54 The law is for my prosperity. 19:58 In other words, I don't keep the Lord to be I'm saved. 20:02 But keeping the commandments of the Lord 20:05 are simply a script to health 20:08 and prosperity and long life. 20:11 In other words, 20:12 let me say it this way obedience is not salvation. 20:15 Obedience is self care. 20:19 See, self care is not just getting your nails done. 20:23 It's not just going to the spa. 20:25 It's not just getting the massage and hands installed. 20:28 I need you to know self-care is obeying everything 20:32 that God put in His Word because you understand 20:36 that God has great plans for you plants to prosper. 20:38 You plants 20:39 not to harm you, plants to give you a future and a hope. 20:44 It is his love that sustains and preserves 20:48 and it keeps us 20:50 from all harm and all wickedness. 20:53 I hear me today, friends, 20:56 so that 20:57 even when you look at a story like Sodom and Gomorrah, 21:00 or even when you look at Noah's flood, 21:02 I need to know, we look at these little moments of destruction 21:06 and we paint these broad strokes of the character of God. 21:08 I need you to know, whenever somebody gets destroyed, 21:12 what it actually is proof of is that there was nothing else 21:14 God could do to save them 21:20 this crazy 21:22 you boy. 21:22 Jonah, man, he is mad because God 21:26 chose mercy to the disobedient. 21:30 I mean, are we seeing the absurdity of this 21:35 that a sinner gets mad 21:39 when God shows grace to other sinners 21:43 and I'm just out of place? 21:44 Friends of mine. 21:45 Well, even if I don't like you 21:49 and God still shows long suffering to you, 21:52 I ain't getting in my feelings about that. 21:55 Because, man, 21:56 if I think you don't deserve grace, it just means God 22:00 is still giving grace to the undeserving. 22:04 But see, the problem is 22:05 you don't see yourself as undeserving, 22:09 but do I have at least seven undeserving saints in the room 22:11 today that can say, Man, I'm not here because I'm worthy. 22:16 I'm not here because I deserve good. 22:18 I am still standing because God is slow to get angry. 22:22 He is abundant in mercy. 22:24 He is full of grace and he is abounding in truth. 22:28 And so guess what? 22:29 I don't get mad when I see Grace, 22:32 I celebrate every time I see the grace of God. 22:36 Listen, I'm doing that story this. 22:38 I remember what time I was in in Newark Airport. 22:41 And this was the day, man, where there was all types of stuff 22:44 going on, thunderstorms in the area and and 22:47 and as a result, 22:49 many flights were delayed all over the country. 22:51 And so my flight got delayed 22:52 coming out of Newark a little bit. 22:54 And when I get there to my layover space, 22:57 what happens is, man, 22:58 we get there late, man, we're stuck at the gate. 23:02 And I'm afraid that I'm going to miss my connection. 23:04 And so, man, 23:05 when I 23:06 finally get off of the plane, I'm running as fast as I can. 23:10 And even though I know 23:11 it's not yet time for the plane to depart, 23:14 how many of us know that before the plane departs, 23:17 they actually close the door at the gate 23:20 about 20 minutes before the plane actually departs. 23:24 And so you don't have to get your departure time. 23:27 You got to get there before the door closes. 23:30 And guess what, man? 23:31 I'm running as fast as I can to get to my gate. 23:34 And when I get there 23:35 upon the time where I see the number of my gate 23:38 from a distance, 23:39 I can tell that there is nobody sitting in the concourse. 23:43 There is nobody sitting there. 23:44 And I'm afraid, because I think I miss my flight 23:47 when I turn around at the corner, 23:48 I see there's nobody at the counter. 23:51 And guess what? 23:52 The gate of the door is just about closed. 23:55 But when I get a little bit closer, 23:58 I can see a crack in the gate and there are four fingers 24:02 holding the gate 24:03 open, which meant I still had a little time. 24:07 And so when I get there to the gate, 24:10 they say, You must be Mr. Snell. 24:12 I said, How did you know my name? 24:15 They said, When you landed, somebody radioed ahead of you, 24:20 told us that you were coming. 24:23 So we decided. 24:24 To hold the door open until you had time in order to. 24:31 Make your flight. 24:33 And do I have seven folk who I think that the Holy Spirit 24:38 knew you were coming on my radio to the side. 24:43 And said, Hold back the wings, don't let it blow. 24:48 I've got some children. 24:51 That are still on their way to the gates. 24:55 Anybody grateful that the. 24:57 Door was left open, that the gate is still open, 25:01 that is left mercy for you and out to be safe. 25:05 So guess what? 25:06 So I get in and I get seated at my seat, 25:09 and then my seat next to me is empty. 25:12 And then after I come on about 4 minutes later, 25:15 somebody else comes home. 25:17 And then when the other 25:18 brother comes on, Dad, guess what he starts doing? 25:21 He starts apologizing. 25:24 He's like, Man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean 25:28 to hold everybody up, but I didn't get mad. 25:33 Oh, because we had to wait for him. 25:38 Guess what I say? 25:39 Praise God. 25:41 Because they waited for me. 25:45 I know we want Jesus to come quickly, 25:49 but before you get mad 25:52 that he's taken too long, 25:54 you ought to just say, Lord, I thank you. 25:57 That's who held it long enough 25:59 for me to get in the Ark of Satan. 26:02 And I'll wait a little longer so my kids can get in. 26:06 I'll wait a little longer so my spouse can come in. 26:10 Oh, wait a little longer. 26:12 So young kids can come here. 26:14 Don't get mad that the game has been left open 26:17 because God wants all men 26:20 to be saved and come to repentance. 26:24 Somebody glorify the God of grace, 26:28 the God of mercy, 26:30 the God of long suffering, the God 26:35 who wants all men and women 26:40 to be saved. 26:53 I'm so thankful 26:59 and this is why it's bad. 27:01 Even when I'm on a preach short, 27:04 I have to preach it with a certain 27:06 thoroughness 27:09 because I know where God has brought me from now. 27:13 So I don't want you to ever be impressed 27:15 with none of this ecclesiastical stuff you see up here 27:18 Ain't nothing but a sinner saved by grace 27:25 That's all it is 27:27 Don't be impressed by nobody in the pew 27:29 All we are sinners saved by grace 27:33 That somebody left the door open for. 27:42 And when I need somebody, somebody 27:45 to be clear on today 27:49 is that salvation is never about our merit 27:51 or our work or our worthiness. 27:56 It is about how God loves all people. 28:04 Breath Of Life Music |
Revised 2023-12-11