Participants:
Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000022S
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00:05 Sermon #S012 - (The Unrealistic Church - Part 2)
00:19 Pastor Snell: Hello, Hello I'm Pastor Deblearie Snell, Senior Pastor of the Oakwood University Church 00:25 and Speaker/Director of the Breath Of Life Televison Ministry. 00:29 I'm excited to be with you in the word once again. We're going to be continuing our series "Get Unrealistic" 00:36 It's based off my newest book, called "Get Unrealistic". And it talks about how the power of faith 00:42 releases you from life's limitations. You can get this book at our website breathoflife.tv 00:50 Listen this week I'm sharing with you part 2 of a message entitled "The Unrealistic Church" 00:56 about what happens when the collective faith of the church grows and the miracles that ensues. 01:03 So make sure you get settled, go ahead and get comfortable right now as we get ready to go in to the study 01:10 of the Word. 01:12 Pastor Snell: I remember I was at a very important business meeting with some men who are people of some means, 01:18 and it's crazy because after we had eaten our good meal, one of the men said, I want to call for the chef 01:25 because what he wanted to do was compliment the chef. Now, I need to know I've seen that on television, 01:31 but I've never seen it happen in real life. And so when the chef came out, 01:36 he affirmed the food that has been prepared 01:39 and he talked about what a great job had been done then he took a very generous gift financially 01:46 and put it in the chef's hands. 01:48 And it's amazing because, after a while, the server got all in their feelings 01:53 and the server says, "I'm the one that plated the food and I'm the one that delivered the food 01:59 but you gave the gift to the chef," and the man quite bluntly said, 02:04 "I'll never put the one that delivered the food on the same level as the one that created the food." 02:11 And I guess what I'm saying is that when you've been gifted by God, 02:15 you never give the same credit to the one that honed the gift as you do to the God that produced the gift 02:23 and gave you the gift and developed it inside of you. Are you hearing what I'm saying, church? 02:33 And, see, the one thing I need us to understand is one of the mistakes that we make is we make a distinction 02:38 between spiritual gifts and secular gifts. 02:43 See, the problem with that is that it connotes the idea that there are certain gifts that are given by the spirit 02:50 and then there are certain gifts that emerge out of my own natural ability. 02:56 But how many of us know that every gift you have is spiritual 03:00 because they're all assigned and authored by Jesus Christ. 03:06 In fact, the only thing that makes certain gifts secular is where you actually employ them. 03:15 You see the miracle here in Exodus chapter 36 is essentially where God is reclaiming his gifts. 03:23 He's saying to his people, you have used my gifts to build Egypt, now, I need you to use my gifts to build my work. 03:36 See, one of the problems with the church as we have emerged 03:39 from the pandemic is that we use our gifts to build Egypt but we withheld them from building up God's work. 03:54 Can I just say it like I feel it today? I'll be honest with you, as we've come from the pandemic, 04:00 the only thing COVID is keeping us from doing is serving God. Come on and say, Amen, today. 04:07 The truth is COVID is not keeping us off planes, it's not keeping us from going to work, 04:13 it's not keeping us from going out of the country, it's not keeping us from going to the game, 04:19 it's not keeping us out of stadiums. The only thing it's keeping us out of is the ministry 04:25 and the work of Jehovah. And, see, I need us to hear me on this, saints, 04:30 because how many of us have been on this journey of unrealistic faith? 04:34 Has anybody been blessed by God in an unrealistic way, 04:38 but what I want to caution us is to not make the journey selfish where we're only believing for my work. 04:46 I only believe for my dreams. I only believe for my brand and I do it at the expense of God's work. 04:55 See, how many of us know that God doesn't want you to have to choose between doing His work and doing your own? 05:03 But he wants as you grow his work, I need you to know that he's going to bless and grow your work. 05:11 See, I need you to get that this text is so critical because some of us are using our gifts to grow Egypt's work, 05:18 but we're withholding them from God's work. Do you realize that 1 Corinthians 12 literally says, saints, 05:25 that your gifts were given to you for the edification of the body, which is the Church of God and, see, 05:35 you will never be able to give your gifts until you understand why you have been given your gifts 05:41 and, see, the problem is that we give our gifts to Egypt but then we lease them to the church. 05:52 See, we're at a place where we're giving Egypt the first fruits and we're giving Jehovah the leftovers 05:59 or the remnants. And, see, this is why, friends, you to to understand the purpose and the reason for your gifts. 06:06 See, when I understand the purpose of my gifts and I understand who's given me my gifts, 06:13 I then understand who I'm under obligation to. Okay? Let me say it again. When I understand who gave me the gift, 06:26 it becomes clear who I'm under obligation to. 06:31 So, I need you to understand that you're not under obligation to the one who pays you for your gifts, 06:38 your under obligation to the one who supplied your gifts. 06:44 See, and that's why friends of mine when you come to serve in the church, 06:48 this is why you don't come in here like a volunteer who's doing God or doing the church or doing the pastor a favor. 06:58 When you come, you serve no matter whether or not you like the pastor. 07:02 You serve whether or not the folk get on your nerves. You serve even if nobody else comes. 07:07 Why? Because your obligation is not to the team, it's not to the people, 07:13 your obligation is to the one who gave you the gifts. 07:18 And I'm going to just say something because I'm feeling controversial today. 07:21 This is why we need to eliminate the whole concept of ministry volunteers. 07:30 See, I need us to understand the reason we've embraced the idea of being a ministry volunteer. 07:37 Why? Because what that means is that I'm not under any real obligation. 07:42 You see real volunteers show up when they feel like it, they go home when they feel like it. 07:48 They serve when it's convenient and then they quit when it's not convenient 07:52 and see they act as if they are making a donation to something that is optional for them. 07:58 But how many of us know that if your gifts have been given to you by God that you're not, 08:03 a volunteer at the church, you are under an obligation to the God who actually gave you the gifts. 08:10 Let me say it how I feel it. You are volunteer at the YMCA. You volunteer at The Parks and Recreation. 08:18 You volunteer at the Community Reading Club, but when you come to the house of God, 08:24 you are a soldier that has enlisted in the army of Christ. You realize that he is your commanding officer 08:32 and because he gave you the gifts, you've got an obligation to give them back to him 08:40 and you feel like this is just your reasonable act of worship. 08:47 See, friends of mine, when you understand that your gifts come from God, when you're asked to serve, 08:53 the first question is not how much does it pay? Oh, God. 08:59 And let me be clear that I don't have a problem paying 09:01 or blessing those who serve in the church but how many of us understand that when your gifts come from God, 09:08 there is a different currency that you seek. 09:12 You seek a currency that is unto the God who gave where you live to hear him say 09:18 because you've been a good steward of your gifts. You just want to hear him say, "Well done, good 09:25 and faithful servants." 09:31 Do you understand, friends of mine, that the word Minister doesn't mean Pastor? 09:40 See, a pastor is just one of many types of ministers that actually help to grow the body of Christ. 09:48 Are you with me? But see the problem is because we have outsourced all of the ministry responsibilities, 09:55 when we say Minister, you only look for somebody that's been to Oakwood or the Seminary. 10:04 And see what we got to do, friends of mine, is we've got to reinstitute the formula for success. 10:19 See, I need somebody to understand this principle. The reason why your work isn't blessed as it should be is 10:29 because you've done it at the expense of his work. 10:34 See, God never designed you to have to choose between the growth of His kingdom and the growth of your work, 10:41 but see the issue is that we've got to prioritize it the correct way. 10:46 See, remember, go home and read Matthew chapter 6. There's some things Jesus told us not to even worry about. 10:55 Jesus says, stop worrying about pagan things. He says, don't worry about what you're going to eat 11:02 and what you're going to wear and where you're going to live. While Pagans chase after that kind of stuff, 11:08 your heavenly father knows what things you have need of 11:11 and he summarizes the whole thing in Matthew 6:33 when he says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God 11:19 and its righteousness." Watch this, "All other things will be added unto you." Do y'all hear me today, saints? 11:27 Do I have at least seven saints in the room that can testify that when you put God first that you will not go 11:34 lacking in any good thing. I need you to know that when you put God first, God will bless you in an unrealistic way. 11:45 When you put his work first, he'll bless you in a way where the math doesn't even add up. 11:51 That's why God said if you give, it'll be given back to you. Press down, shaken together, and running over. 12:00 It's why the word says, "If you give a faithful tithe and offering, 12:04 he'll bless you in a way that you don't have room enough to be able to receive it." 12:10 That's why the Bible in Deuteronomy 28 says that if you obey the Commandments of the Lord, 12:15 he says I'll make you the head and not the tail. I'll put you above and not beneath. 12:23 I'll make you a lender and not a borrower. Is there anybody that knows that when you put God first, 12:31 you'll be blessed in the city, you'll be blessed in the field, you'll be blessed when you go in, 12:38 you'll be blessed when you come out? Your body is going to be blessed. Your children are going to be blessed. 12:46 Your enemies may come in a fist, but they don't run out like some fingers. 12:52 I need you to know that God will take care of those that prioritize his business. 13:06 See, friends of mine, this is why the church is called the body. And you notice, friends of mine, 13:13 that there is an interesting relationship between the body and the heart. So that when the body is inactive, 13:25 it causes fatty substances to create blockages in the heart. Because the body's inactive. 13:35 Oh, let me preach to y'all on this side. 13:37 In other words, when the body is inactive, it creates a build up that causes a blockage in the heart. 13:45 And so the heart is saying I've got blood to send but because you won't move you cutting off your own circulation. 13:54 When the body doesn't move you cut off your own flow. Is there anybody that knows God said, 14:02 I got blessings to give the body but because the body's inactive, they creating a build-up? 14:10 You create your own blockage, but if you want the blessing to flow, you got to start moving. 14:18 You got to start grooving. You got to get active. And when you start moving, guess what? 14:26 The blessing starts flowing. The overflow gets poured out, but you've got to move in order for it to come to pass, 14:36 are y'all hearing the word today, saints? 14:39 [Congregation: Yeah. Amen.] 14:43 Second thing, friends of mine, about an unrealistic church. See, I need you to get that unrealistic, saints, 14:50 give without a lid. You see, friends of mine, the reason there is no lid in this story on their giving is 15:06 because there's no lid temporarily in their gratitude. You see, Pastor Williams, I'm baffled by this story. 15:17 Like, these folks are so incentivised to give that Moses has to be like, oh, just don't bring no more. 15:28 What you brought is more than enough, saints. I'm looking for this Moses moment where we get so unrealistic 15:38 and we're so aligned with God that I have to just say, listen, we don't need no more. 15:45 Y'all are going to give me this, saints, come on. 15:50 See, I want to know what this formula is so I can invoke it at the church, go and say, Amen. 15:56 But did you notice something? 15:58 Did you notice that the Bible says that they gave free will offerings so nobody had to give them a percentage of 16:06 what to give? They are just so thankful that they don't have a lid or threshold. 16:19 They say, we just go give until the work is completed. Now, let me just say this so that you have some context 16:29 because I think there's something that we have in common with these in this story. 16:35 So, I need to get that this miracle of unrealistic giving happens on the heel of one of the most infamous acts of 16:44 treachery in Israelite history. 16:47 When you get home, go home and read Exodus 32 through 36, so you can understand the context. 16:53 When you go back to Exodus chapter 32, 16:56 what happens is you find an impatient people while Moses is up in the mountain top that begins to pressure 17:08 Aaron to begin fashioning a visible representation of God. 17:14 And so what they do, the Bible says, is they take all of the earrings and their necklaces, 17:19 they're gold and they cast it into the fire, and Aaron fashions a golden calf, 17:26 and the treachery isn't just that they do it. 17:29 But once it's done, Aaron announces that these are the gods that brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 17:37 And so you got to read Exodus 32 in verse 9. Listen, I need you to understand what was about to go down. 17:46 The Bible says, in Exodus 32:9, the Bible says, 17:50 "God told Moses leave me alone so that my anger will burn so hot that it consumes every last one of the people." 18:03 But notice that Moses who begins to intercede, at that moment, 18:08 begins to act as a type of Jesus as he intercedes for the people. 18:14 He says, "God, if you do this, please remember the promise you made with Abraham, 18:20 Isaac, and Jacob." He says, "Lord, if you do this, it's going to give fodder to the enemies of God, 18:26 because the Egyptians are going to say, 18:28 you brought us all the way out here into the wilderness, to kill them and Moses intercedes for the people. 18:36 Are y'all still with me? 18:38 But then Moses goes down from the mountain and sees it for himself. 18:44 And Moses gets so mad that he breaks the commandments in half. And then when he goes back up, 18:50 he gives partial intersection. So, when he goes up again, he says, Lord, if you're going to block them out, 18:57 remember my name. Moses begins to dissociate himself. He's like, Lord, if you kill them, remember, 19:07 I was up here with you. Don't put my name in that right there, Lord. I was up here with you when it happened. 19:15 I found out the same time. I found out the same time you found out. Are y'all hear what I'm saying? 19:30 But I need you to understand how the story should have ended so you won't get why they gave the way they gave until 19:40 you understood what they understood. 19:44 See, I need you to understand, friends of mine, that they are not responding to some law-based compulsion. 19:51 They literally begin to respond to the mercy and the long-suffering and the grace of the Almighty God. 20:02 So that by the time you get to verse 34, God says to Moses, "Go ahead 20:07 and lead the people to the land that I told you about ahead of time." When you get to verse 9, 20:14 the Bible literally says that the Lord relented from the thing which he was going to do to the children of Israel. 20:25 By the time you get to Chapter 33, he gives Moses the assurance that my presence is going to continue to go with you. 20:33 By the time you get to Chapter 34, He reissues the broken commandments 20:39 and he renews the Covenant that he made with them before they left Egypt. 20:43 And guess what? They are so happy that the story does not end the way that it should. 20:49 See, Moses told them, y'all better pray because something is about to bust out on all of y'all 20:55 but understand that they are holding their breath, they are fasting and praying. 21:00 They are anticipating the worst and when they get the word that the covenant has been renewed, 21:06 the next time they get a chance, the Bible says that they take all the earrings out of their ears, 21:12 and they take the necklaces off their necks, they take the scarlet that they got from linen 21:17 and they throw it at the feet of the temple and they keep giving until the work is done. 21:27 In other words, friends of mine, the reason they give with such unlimited ways is 21:33 because they have such unlimited gratitude. In other words, why are the people of God so thankful? 21:41 Because they know what the law demanded. Oh, God. See, they're just so thankful 21:50 because they know how it should have ended. They're thankful because they know how the story should have been told. 21:58 But they are just thankful that even though they should have been cut off, the power of God showed mercy. 22:06 See, I need you to understand, friends of mine, the reason there should be no limit in our giving is 22:13 because there should be no limit with our gratitude because there was no limit to the grace we received. 22:21 Is there anybody that's thankful that we had somebody interceding for us? 22:29 See, Moses was a partial interceder because Moses interceded but he got to a point where he says, 22:36 if you killed them save me. But we've got a better intercessor who said, don't kill them, 22:43 kill me so that they can live. Is there anybody today that's just thankful that when you should have been cut off, 22:52 God had mercy? Is there anybody grateful that he changed his mind? 22:59 Anybody thankful that you didn't get what you deserve? 23:03 Does anybody know that because of the way you lived when you was drinking and driving, 23:09 you should have been dead? But God blocked it. Because of how you lived, you should have had AIDS but God blocked it. 23:18 There are some of us that should have got shot at the club, 23:22 but God blocked it and you are here today, not because you're good, not because you deserve it, 23:30 but because mercy said no. 23:36 Do I have any folks that don't have to be guilty to give? Ain't never try to force you to give. 23:43 I'm just going to keep reminding you where your help comes from. 23:49 I want to keep reminding you that God opens up doors that no man can shut. 23:55 That God makes a way when there is no way that God comes through right in the nick of time. 24:03 I just want to remind you that we haven't been saved by works, haven't been saved by the law, 24:11 we've been saved by the amazing grace of the Almighty God. 24:20 Hallelujah to the lamb today. 24:24 See, friends of mine, the reason they don't give with the lid is because they understand that a lid works both ways. 24:36 Are y'all still with me, church? See, the reason they don't give a lid is 24:41 because the lid works two ways so that the same way there's water in this container, guess what? 24:48 The word that we lid keeps it from spilling out. Y'all didn't catch that. 24:54 The lid will help me hold on to what I have. The lid will help me keep what I already have. 25:03 But there's a problem with the lid. 25:06 The lid will help me keep what I have but it'll keep me-- y'all not hearing where the church at. 25:15 It'll keep me from being able to get anything else. 25:20 But do I have a few folks that are willing to remove the lid 25:26 because you don't want to just keep what you have? You want God to fill you into the overflow. 25:35 You're saying, "God, I'm going to remove the lid because I still got a little more room." 25:41 You're saying, "God, I'm going to take off the lid because I got some more to receive." 25:47 Can somebody say I'm ready for the overflow? But you can't be in the overflow as long as you've got a lid. 25:54 So, somebody, take off the lid and make some room for God to pour out such a 26:02 blessing that you don't even have the room to receive it. Remove the lid from your faith, 26:14 from your stewardship, from your hope, and make room for what God has in store for you. 26:24 See, friends of mine, 26:26 I just stopped by here today to let us know that the unrealistic church comes from a people of great gratitude 26:34 who realize that I got unrealistic grace. I've got unrealistic faith. 26:39 I've been saved by an unrealistic sacrifice because it was the blood of Jesus that did it. 26:49 It was the blood that secured my salvation. I'm willing to do what God has told me to do. 26:57 I'm willing to serve, Pastor, until you say I don't need no more people to serve. 27:03 I'm willing to give until the work is complete 27:08 because I've removed the lid and the reason I don't put a lid on it is I want to make room for the overflow 27:18 and everything that God wants to pour in my life. If you're thankful for the blood, give him a phrase today. 27:26 (Breath of Life Theme Music) 27:51 Pastor Snell: Breath of life is so excited to be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ this summer, 27:55 in the Queen city of Charlotte, North Carolina. 27:59 This revival entitled “All the Way In” will begin on July the 10 28:04 and run through July the 23 at the Trinity Worship Center, located at 5735 Dixie River Road. 28:13 Service starts each night at 7 p.m. except for Tuesday and Thursday nights. 28:18 Our special guest, musical artists will be Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers on Monday, 28:23 July the 11, and gospel recording artist Geoffrey Goldman on Monday, July the 18. 28:30 Dinner will be served each evening from 6 - 7 p.m. In addition, there will be special programs for kids ages 4-12 28:38 and teenagers as well, please plan to bring out the entire family. 28:47 For more information, please visit our website at breathoflife.tv |
Revised 2022-06-22