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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000057S
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00:06 Sermon #S030 - It's Hard Being Chosen - (Part 2)
00:19 Welcome to the Breath of Life Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell! 00:26 In today's episode, Pastor Snell will share Part Two of the dynamic message titled: “It's Hard Being Chosen.” 00:35 Now, let's go deeper into the Word of God. 00:40 Pastor Snell: And see, one of the things I need somebody to understand about the journey of faith is this, 00:45 is that God is wanting somebody to understand that it's okay if you don't know all the details. 00:54 And see, this is the principle that somebody's going to collapse on the journey of faith if you've got to operate with all 01:03 the details. 01:06 And it's funny because there are some of us that operate in a certain state of panic because man, 01:12 we need to be able to see how everything is going to work out. We are men logistically astute people. 01:17 We like to see how things are going to reach their conclusion. 01:21 And even though that may work well for you and create advantage for you on your job or in your profession, 01:27 sometimes it may actually work against you in the realm of faith. Because sometimes not only is God going to permit mystery, 01:39 sometimes, God is going to require mystery. Sometimes God is going to require some unknowns, 01:47 which require us to exercise full trust and dependence on him. 01:54 And see, this is why friends of mine, you've got to be able to live with some mystery 01:59 because living without mystery always leads to a certain consequence. Because when I'm unwilling to live with mystery, 02:10 what happens is, whenever there is a detailed gap, I'll fill it in with my own conclusion. 02:18 Whenever God allows there to be a gap in the details, if I'm unwilling to live with mystery, 02:24 I will begin to fill in the gaps with an ending of my own making. Are you're all hearing me today, friends? 02:31 And I need somebody to get that some of the greatest errors in your life are the result of you trying to fill in a gap 02:42 because you are unwilling to live with a season of not knowing. 02:48 In other words, I mean, look at this thing in the scripture. In other words, 02:51 Sarah had a detailed gap where it was not clear where she was going to have a baby. 02:58 And what she did is she filled in the gap and she sent Haggar over to Abraham's tent. 03:04 And what happens is she unleashes a civil war in her own house because she will not live with a season of mystery. 03:12 Remember that Jacob and his mother refused to live with a detailed gap. 03:17 It was not clear how God was going to give the birthright over to Jacob and they secured it through trickery. 03:24 And as a result, they didn't realize that when Jacob left home, he would never see his mother alive again. 03:31 Because it always ends up in failure when you feel in the blanks without God [Congregation: Yes]. 03:40 And see what I'm saying to somebody today is that there's somebody that's dealing, 03:43 that's facing some detailed gaps in the near future. There are some that are having some detailed gaps next semester. 03:51 You don't know how you're going to get in school or what the major is going to be. 03:55 There are some that have detailed gaps about a spouse because you don't see any real potential on the horizon. 04:04 There is somebody facing a detailed gap financially. You don't know how you're going to make it to the end of the year. 04:11 There is somebody facing a detailed gap medically, as you are dealing with a potential deadly medical prognosis. 04:19 There is somebody dealing with a detailed gap relationally 04:23 because you don't know who your friends are and who your ally enemies are. 04:27 But what I need somebody to know is don't feel the gap with the details of your own making. 04:34 You've got to stand still and let God be God over your life [Congregation: Amen]. 04:39 In other words, friends of mind, see, you'll always be uncomfortable with detailed gaps. 04:46 If you feel like you got to be responsible for yourself. Help me holy Spirit. See how many of us know, 04:58 that your well-being is not your responsibility? Let me preach to you're all on this side. 05:07 Do you realize that your well-being isn't your responsibility, it's actually God's responsibility. 05:14 [Congregation: Amen] 05:16 See, the reason we fret and worry so much is that we operate under the false narrative that I've got to make it happen. 05:22 That is all on me. That is my job, that if I don't do it, it won't get done. 05:28 But how many of us know that we are children of God and children are not responsible for themselves? 05:36 Children are the responsibility of the parents that bear them. Oh, are you're all hearing me today? 05:42 The reason you are uncomfortable with mystery is because you think that it's your job to figure it out. 05:48 But how many of us know that while you are trying to figure it out, God has already worked it out, 05:54 that God knows you are his responsibility. [Congregation: Amen] May I share a couple of weeks tonight. 06:01 I mean it's like when my family and I go to a restaurant. It's crazy man because like man, we'll go into a restaurant 06:07 and you know how your kids are sometimes man, they're not going to just man go cheap on the menu. 06:11 What they going to do is they going to order big on the menu. It's crazy. It's crazy. 06:16 Sometimes man they going to be ordering drinks and desserts. Sometimes I be like, man, 06:19 we going to order one drink and we going to pass that all around. Come on and say amen. 06:25 [Congregation: Amen] 06:26 And it's crazy because like when we go to a restaurant, man, they ordering big. 06:30 But I need you to know ain't nobody tripping about who's going to pay. 06:33 [Congregation: Laughing] 06:35 Ain't nobody looking for they wallet. Ain't nobody looking for a debit card 06:38 because children operate under the assumption that if daddy brought me here, 06:43 [Congregation: Amen] then daddy must got to pay the bill. 06:47 And what I'm saying to somebody is you need to know your God's responsibility. 06:52 I want to encourage somebody stop ordering small, [Congregation: Amen] start ordering big, 06:58 and stop looking at your wallet. Stop looking at your credit score. Stop looking at your bank account 07:05 and know that if God brought you, then God has got the bill paid for. And the tip, let the church say amen out there today. 07:16 [Congregation: Amen] 07:18 Are you all hearing this word? [Congregation: Amen] And see, watch this. I need somebody to get this. 07:24 God doesn't give details. God gives assurances. 07:35 In other words, he listens. He doesn't tell them how long they're going to be there. 07:38 He doesn't say, man, this is how much you're going to need to survive. 07:42 But what he tells them is just stay there till I call you back here. 07:47 In other words, he's giving them the assurance that even though I didn't give you the details for how long I'm giving you the 07:56 assurance, that's all going to make it back. In other words, I need somebody to get friends of mine. 08:01 That what God does is he doesn't give us all the details, 08:05 but he's given you some assurances that should remove some of the stress out of your life experience. 08:12 Are you all hearing me today? And let me just, you know, tell the truth man. I would always rather have the details. 08:19 But the more I'm living past the fail, I'm coming to the conclusion that details don't build faith assurances do. 08:27 See, even if God doesn't give me the when, the where, the how. And he certainly does not give the why. 08:33 I don't really need those particulars. All I need to know is that God is going to be with me. 08:40 Are you all hearing me today, friends? [Congregation: Amen] 08:42 And what I'm saying to somebody today is that we are getting all bogged down, all tied up in knots 08:48 because we are acting as if we're rutterless because we don't have details. You may not have the details, 08:55 but guess what? You've got some assurances in Christ. 08:58 See I need somebody to be reminded that you may not have all the details for 09:02 how you're going to make it through financially in 2023. 09:05 But I've got this assurance that my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory. 09:14 [Congregation: Amen] 09:15 You may not have all the details for how you're going to overcome the enemies, 09:18 but you've got the assurance that no weapon formed against you shall be permitted to prosper. 09:25 And every tone that rises in judgment shall be condemned. 09:28 You might not have all the details for how you're going to manage the stressful situation, 09:33 but I've got the assurance that he'll keep me in perfect peace as long as my mind stays upon him. 09:41 I don't have all the details for how I'll work through every conundrum, 09:45 but I've got the assurance that all things work together for them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. 09:52 You may not have all the details for how you'll make it through the difficulties 09:57 and but you've got the assurance that even you are going to grow weary and young men so utterly fall, 10:03 but they that way upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They'll mount up with wings as eagles. 10:09 They'll run and not be weary walking, not faint. I don't have the details about when Jesus is going to come, 10:16 but I've got an assurance that he that shall come, will come and he will not tarry, I don't need all the details 10:25 because I've got blessed assurance. Do I got seven folk that know you've got blessed assurance in Christ. 10:34 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, one of the fortes of glory, divine air of salvation, purchase of God, 10:45 born of his spirit and washed of his blood. This is my story. This is my song praising my Savior all the day long. 10:58 I don't need the details because he's giving me assurance. [Congregation: Amen] Are you hearing me today, friends? 11:07 Now notice church what I said and what I did not say. Notice I said he doesn't give you the details. 11:18 I didn't say he wasn't detailed. Okay. Notice I said he doesn't give you the details. I didn't say that God is not detailed. 11:33 How many of us know God is not some random emotional-like being that's responding to life as it unfolds? 11:45 Do you realize that God doesn't wake up today and make up his mind about what he's going to? 11:51 God made up his mind one time in eternity. [Congregation: Amen] Oh God no. No. God only made up his mind one time 12:01 and everything that has played out is the unfolding of the one time God made up his mind. Because God doesn't need backup plans. 12:11 He doesn't need contingency plans. He doesn't need a plan B if it doesn't work out 12:16 because everything God says is going to cause us to triumph. 12:21 [Congregation: Amen] 12:22 So what are you talking about, Pastor? 12:24 So, I need to know, he doesn't give them the details about how they're going to make it in Egypt because God is detailed. 12:31 So he's already supplied it. He didn't give them the details that they were going to go to Egypt, 12:38 but he didn't give them the detail that the wise men were going to come. Oh, God. 12:44 He didn't give them the detail that these cats was going to come from the east 12:48 and notice that when they come they don't come empty-handed. [Congregation: Amen] They come in with gifts of frankincense, 12:56 myrrh and bars of gold where you at church. Do you realize that the way they survived in Egypt was 13:05 because God saw the decree before it happened. [Congregation: Amen] God sent the provision before they knew they needed it. 13:13 God put it under their disposal so that the problem had been supplied before the problem even arose 13:22 because God is a God that is detailed [Congregation: Amen] so that there is no problem you face that catches God by surprise. 13:35 See, the problem is we think the need hasn't been supplied. Sometimes the need just hadn't been revealed. 13:44 See, we say, man, God seen the provision as if somehow God is late. Oh, God. Do you realize that God ain't got to send nothing? 13:55 It's already sent. [Congregation: Amen] You just need to say, Lord, show me where is at. Somebody needs to go home 14:01 and look under a tree in a closet in the trunk. Check the mailbox because God is an on-time God. 14:09 [Congregation: Amen] 14:11 He might not come when you want him, but he'll be there right on time. He's an on-time God. 14:17 [Congregation: Amen] 14:18 Yes he is. Are you're all hearing me today? [Congregation: Amen] 14:26 See I need somebody to understand this trait about the character of God. 14:33 You see, God is the first engineer God knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. 14:48 Oh, God. And every need you have is on his calendar. Okay, so you all don't believe it, can we go to the word no. 14:56 Let's go to the bottom of Matthew six in verse 25 and put our finger in Job 38. 15:02 Can we just spend a little minute in the book for a second? Matthew chapter six and verse 25. 15:05 When you get there, let me hear you say amen. Matthew chapter six and verse 25. 15:11 As I said, he doesn't give you the details, but that doesn't mean God is not detailed. 15:15 Matthew six and verse 25, when you get there, say, Pastor, I'm here. Matthew chapter six and verse 25, 15:23 notice what the word says. See it stand up on the screen. 15:26 You got to open up your Bibles. Matthew six and verse 25. So listen to Jesus speaking, look at what he says. 15:33 Therefore I say to you, do not worry about... Open the scripture saints, do not worry about your life, 15:47 what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body. What you will put on is not life more than food in the body, 15:54 more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither soul nor reap nor gather into Barnes. 16:01 In other words, they're saying the birds don't punch or clock [Congregation: Amen] yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 16:07 Are you not much more valuable than they and which of you by worrying can add a cubit to his stature? 16:15 So then why do you worry about clothing? Are you all hearing this church? Why are you worried about clothing? 16:21 Consider, watching this. The lilies of the field, how they grow. 16:28 They neither toil nor spin yet I say to you that even Solomon and all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 16:35 Now God so close the glad grass of the field, which is today and tomorrow is thrown into oven, 16:41 will he not so much more cloth you Oh ye of little faith. Are you all hearing this today? 16:47 [Congregation: Yes] 16:48 In other words, what he's saying to us is that I'm a God of detail. Some of us still haven't seen it. 16:51 Go over with me in your Bible to Job chapter 38, Job chapter 38. We'll rejoice in it in just a moment. 16:58 Job chapter 38. This is where then God listens to Job's complaint and then God eventually responds with these questions. 17:09 Job chapter 38 and verse number 34. When you get there, let me hear you say amen. Job chapter 38 17:17 and verse number four [Congregation: Amen] hear the word of the Lord. Job 8 38 and verse 34. 17:23 This is God speaking. These are the questions that he is asking to the unbelieving and distrusting amongst us. 17:29 He says, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you understand who determined its measurements. 17:42 In other words, God measured it before he established it. 17:48 Surely you know who stretched the line upon it or what were its foundations fastened to 17:54 or who laid the cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy 18:00 or who shut the sea with its doors when it bursts forth and issued from the womb. When I made the clouds, 18:08 it's garment and a thick darkness, its swaddling ban. When I fixed my limit for it and set the bars 18:15 and the doors when I said this far, you may come [Congregation: Amen] but no further. 18:21 And here your proud waves must stop. Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place? 18:31 Verse 19. He says, where is the way of the dwelling of light and darkness? 18:36 Where is its place that you may know to take its territory that you may know the path to its home? 18:42 Do you know it because you were born then or because the number of your days is great? 18:48 Have you entered the treasury of snow? Oh God, or have you seen the treasury of hail, 18:55 which if you have reserved for the time of trouble for the day of battling war, by what way is light diffused 19:03 or the east wind scattered over the earth and who has divided the channel for the overflowing water of the path for the thunder 19:10 bolt to cause a to rain on land where there is no one a wilderness in which there is no man. 19:16 In verse 29, he says, from whose womb comes the ice and the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? 19:22 The water's hardened like stone in the surface of the deepest frozen, can you bind the cluster of pleiades 19:29 or loose the belt of Orion? 19:31 Some of you're all still acting brand new. Verse 33, he says, do you know of the ordinances of heaven? 19:36 Can you set their dominions over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that an abundance of water may cover you? 19:43 Can you send out lightnings that they may go and say, here we are. 19:47 Or who has put wisdom in the mind or given understanding to the heart? 19:53 [Congregation: Yeah] 19:54 In other words, God is trying to teach us something, friends. 19:57 He's trying to help us understand that even though I don't give you the details, I'm still a God of detail. 20:10 In other words, he's saying the sea has boundaries because I'm a God of detail. The sparrows don't starve 20:19 because I'm a God of detail. That the lilies get clothed because I'm a God of detail that the sun is on a schedule 20:30 because I'm a God of detail. That the seasons are on a timer because I'm a God of detail. That gravity weighs us down, 20:40 but it doesn't crush us because I'm a God of detail. The sun doesn't burn because his lift has been measured 20:48 because he's a God of detail. 20:51 When the earthquakes, it doesn't collapse because it's been fastened on the cornerstone 20:56 because it was put there by a God of detail. Rivers flow because he's a God of detail. 21:03 Light travels because he's a God of detail. The rain is on schedule because he's a God of detail. 21:10 Dew falls on the plants because he's a God of detail. Ice freezes because he's a God of detail. 21:18 Darkness comes on time because he's a God of detail. Do you realize the functions of your brain reflect a God of detail, 21:29 that when a baby is born is because he's a God of detail, that every breathe comes from a God of detail. 21:39 Some of us still missed our shout. 21:41 God is saying that if I was detailed over the sky, if I'm detailed over the lilies, if I'm detailed over the cosmos, 21:50 won't I be detailed about supplying every need that you will ever have because I am the God of the details. 22:02 Are you all hearing me today, friends? See, if God got his eye on the sparrow. If he knows when they have to eat. 22:14 Does he know when you have to eat? And see, somebody needs to know that just 22:19 because he hadn't given us all the details doesn't mean that he's not a God of detail. The third thing, man, I'm done is this, 22:28 I need somebody to get it. When you're chosen, you've got to handle closed doors with grace. 22:39 Now, I need you to kind of understand why there is no room for Joseph and Mary in the in. Like they go to Hotel Bobby after hotel, 22:54 after hotel and everywhere they go, the door is closed. But remember when you read Mark's Luke's version, 23:01 the Bible says that everybody has to come to be registered in their own city. Okay, you're not asking the right question. 23:12 The question you should be asking is if they're from Bethlehem, why are they even looking for hotels? 23:21 But because of the shame of how Mary gets pregnant, they have such shame connected to their wedding, 23:30 that the folk that are their flesh and blood relatives have already said, don't even come over here. 23:38 In other words, the doors are closed at the cousin's house. 23:41 The door is closed at their uncle's house. The door is closed at their parents' house. The door is closed at their grandma's house. 23:49 The door is closed when they go to the ramada, the door is closed at Motel six. The door is closed at the west end. 23:57 You know they're in trouble. The door is closed at Howard Johnson. 24:05 But I need you to understand that God even has purpose in close doors. 24:15 [Congregation: Amen] 24:16 See you're not going to rejoice. 24:19 But see, sometimes we think when we're chosen, every door is just supposed to open for us. But because you are chosen, 24:27 he closes doors that provide no benefit. See, as much as Joseph and Mary would want the doors to be open, 24:37 there is a reason those doors are closed. See, remember, God is a God of detail. He doesn't see what's happening as it's happening. 24:49 He sees what's going to happen before it happens. 24:53 So God knows that the announcement that the Savior is born is going to spook Herod. 25:00 That Herod is going to send forth a genocide, that he's going to send a manhunt throughout the whole city 25:08 and search to kill all the babies that are two years old and under. 25:13 But there is a reason that God would not let them go to their mother or to their grandmother or to a hotel. 25:20 He sends them inside of a manger. Why? Because when the soldiers go through town, they go to mama's house, 25:28 and they are going to go to daddy's house. They're going to go to grandma's house, they're going to go to the Western. 25:33 They're going to go to the Howard Johnson, they're going to go to the Motel six. They're going to go in every room. 25:39 They're going to go in every house. They're going to look under every rock. They're going to look everywhere. 25:45 But the manger [Congregation: Amen] In other words, they didn't realize that their rejection was for their protection. Oh, God. 25:56 [Congregation: Amen] And sometimes God closes doors. It's not for your rejection. It's because he saw what was behind the door. 26:05 He saw what was waiting for you [Congregation: Yes] and kept it closed. Are you all hearing me today? 26:12 [Congregation: Yes, sir] 26:15 See, sometimes the rejection is for your protection. [Congregation: Amen] So guess what? God closed all the doors. 26:20 Because guess what? When you checked into a hotel and you paid, guess what? You had to sign a book. 26:26 [Congregation: Yeah] 26:28 You had to sign a registry. So when they go check all the books, there ain't no record of Mary & Joseph. 26:35 [Congregation: Laughing] No record of a pregnant woman because God closed the right doors. 26:41 And see what I'm saying to somebody today is that sometimes God closed certain doors so that at the point there would be no record 26:50 of you. So he didn't let you join that job. He didn't let you marry that person. He didn't let you into that frat. 26:59 But he left one door open. 27:02 He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. If any man comes by me, I need you to know. He'll find the way in. 27:11 But because you went through the open door, that is Christ, and you got washed in his blood, saved by his grace, guess what? 27:20 When they look for your sins, they can't find it. There ain't no receipts. There ain't no record of you. 27:29 When the devil tries to accuse you, they can't even find a list of your transgressions because you, 27:36 when you went in through Christ, he expunges all the evidence and the proof of who you used to be. 27:46 [Congregation: Amen] 27:48 (Breath of Life Theme Music) 28:32 [END] |
Revised 2023-02-22