Breath of Life

What to Do When Opportunity Knocks Part 2 of 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

Series Code: BOLS

Program Code: BOLS000125S


00:06 #S065_What To Do When Opportunity Knocks (Part 2)
00:19 Welcome to the Breath of Life
00:21 Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell..
00:27 In today's episode, Pastor Snell will continue part
00:30 two of the powerful message titled
00:34 What to Do When Opportunity Knock..
00:39 Now let's go deeper
00:41 into the Word of God.
00:45 And so the Bible says here in Nehemiah chapter
00:46 two and verse one, the Bible says,
00:48 and it came to pass in the month of Nisan in the 20th year.
00:52 King Artaxerxes explains when wine was before him
00:54 that I took the wine and gave it to the king.
00:56 Now, I had never been sat in his presence before.
01:00 Therefore, the king said to me,
01:01 Why is your face sad since you are not sick?
01:04 Since this, this is nothing but sorrow of the heart.
01:07 So I became dreadfully afraid
01:10 and said to the king, may the King live forever.
01:12 Why should my face not be sad when the city of my father's
01:16 tombs lies and waits and its gates are burned with fire?
01:21 Then the king said to me, What is it that you request?
01:27 Okay,
01:29 the second thing this teaches us church
01:31 is that sometimes things don't break differently
01:35 until you're at your breaking point.
01:38 Okay.
01:39 Nehemiah is so obsessed with this mission
01:43 that is on his heart, is on his mind.
01:47 And after a while, it begins driving his energy.
01:51 In fact, Nehemiah is so heavily burdened for his people that it
01:54 unwittingly begins to show up outwardly on his countenance.
02:00 Now, it's crazy because even near my notices
02:02 that the king has never seen him sad before.
02:06 Now there are some folk who believe
02:07 that Nehemiah pretends to be sad in order to get the attention
02:11 of the king.
02:13 But that's not necessary, really, how he's moving.
02:16 Sadness is not just his disposition.
02:19 At this point, sadness is his posture.
02:22 Because I need you to understand this kind of contextual thing.
02:25 Because if you sat before the King,
02:28 I needed to be clear that you could never show up
02:29 before the king like you didn't want to be there.
02:33 The only thing in the light makes clear that was permitted
02:36 before the king was this buoyant joyfulness.
02:40 It's expressiveness about having the opportunity
02:44 to serve in the presence of the King.
02:46 In fact,
02:48 if you came before the king with a sorrowful disposition,
02:52 it would be met with suspicion and treated as an act
02:55 of treason,
02:56 especially because of what Nehemiah does as his occupation.
03:00 He is the cup bearer for the king.
03:03 In other words, near
03:04 his job is not just to bring food and drink.
03:08 You realize what Nehemiah has to do.
03:09 It's because
03:10 there are so many assassination attempts against the king.
03:14 That vote would try to poison his food
03:17 and Nehemiah would have to sample it first
03:20 to make sure that if anything went down,
03:23 it would not hurt the king.
03:24 It would hurt Nehemiah.
03:25 But if Nehemiah
03:26 is somehow acting like he don't want to be there,
03:30 they're going to interpret it
03:31 as something being wrong with the food.
03:34 And Nehemiah suffer the consequences.
03:38 And it's crazy because man, this thing is so bad on Nehemiah
03:41 that it is showing up on his spirit.
03:44 And so the king tells me what's wrong with you,
03:46 seeing that you are not sick.
03:47 This is nothing but sorrow of heart.
03:50 And the Bible says that Nehemiah became even afraid
03:54 to say what was wrong with him,
03:57 because if he's serving the government of Persia,
04:01 he can announce to his boss that my heart is all the way
04:03 over in Jerusalem. That's right.
04:06 So he thinks about it and he kind of weighs and vacillates
04:10 about whether or not he should even say anything.
04:11 But what is happening, man,
04:12 is that Nehemiah so is so overwhelmed.
04:16 It is so burdened for the freedom
04:17 and the rebuilding of his city that eventually Nehemiah begins
04:21 to pour out his heart.
04:22 He says, How is it that I can be anything but sad,
04:26 knowing that my people are scattered,
04:27 that the city is in ruins,
04:29 and that the gates are burned with fire?
04:33 And as Nehemiah begins to talk, he begins to unload his soul.
04:36 He begins to relieve himself of this burden.
04:39 He begins to share all of the sorrows
04:41 that have showed up on his person.
04:43 And immediately after Nehemiah says that
04:47 there is a fear and a regret.
04:50 Maybe I've said too much.
04:53 There's a part of him that say, maybe
04:55 I should have kept it to myself.
04:57 There's a part of him that's thinking maybe
04:58 I should not have articulated
05:00 because he realizes
05:02 that it is wrong for somebody that is supposed to be
05:05 a Persian patriarch
05:06 to be talking about what's happening in Jerusalem.
05:10 But God is so good and he's given Nehemiah such favor
05:13 that when he pours out his heart
05:15 about what's wrong in Jerusalem,
05:17 the king does not act toward him with aggression and judgment.
05:21 But the King opens up
05:22 in his mouth and says, What can I do to assess?
05:27 Are you here? Me, friends?
05:29 And what I need you to get beloved,
05:31 is the juxtaposition of circumstances and sorrow.
05:36 I need you to know that at the moment
05:39 when Nehemiah is at his lowest
05:42 is when God gets ready to take things to their highest.
05:47 It is when Nehemiah is at his bottom
05:50 that God gets ready to take it to the top.
05:53 It is when Nehemiah is at his breaking point that the
05:56 opportunity finally begins to break in a different fashion.
06:01 And I simply want to say to somebody
06:03 who is at their breaking point today that you don't
06:07 you let your breaking point break you,
06:09 because sometimes the
06:11 opportunity does not break
06:14 until you are at your breaking point.
06:18 Oh, this is going to help somebody today
06:21 because there is somebody that's on the verge of giving up.
06:25 There is somebody on the verge of going back the way they came.
06:29 There is somebody that is nearing their breaking point.
06:33 But I need you to know that sometimes the breaking point is
06:35 just evidence that the breakthrough is on the way.
06:40 So, so so let's look back in the scripture.
06:44 Remember, there is a woman who is at her breaking point.
06:47 She has an issue of blood.
06:48 She has run out of money.
06:50 She has run out of medicine.
06:52 She has run out of physician.
06:54 But she's made it up in her mind that if I can just touch the
06:58 him of his garments, I know I can be made whole
07:02 and things begin to break.
07:03 When she was at her breaking point.
07:07 Remember, Hannah was at her breaking point.
07:10 She was so heavily burdened that Eli thought she was drunk.
07:14 But because she prayed at her breaking point,
07:17 Eli was able to prophesy
07:18 that this same time next year you are going to bear a son.
07:23 Because things break through
07:24 when you get to your breaking point.
07:27 I need you to see Elijah at his breaking point
07:31 where he defeated the prophets of Bel
07:33 and he thought the battle was over.
07:34 But Jezebel continued her pursuit
07:38 and he got under a juniper tree and just longed for death.
07:42 But that's when God showed up and gave him encouragement.
07:45 He got his breakthrough at his breaking point.
07:48 Remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane?
07:50 He was at his breaking point as he sweat great drops of blood.
07:56 And it was at his breaking point that the angel showed up to
07:58 strengthen harm.
08:02 See, sometimes friends you won't see the breakthrough
08:05 until you're willing to get to your breaking point.
08:08 Now, the reason some of us never experience
08:11 miracle, the reason we never see breakthrough is because
08:16 we start fidgeting before we get to the breaking point.
08:20 So I need you to realize there's a difference between
08:23 your perceived breaking point and your actual breaking point.
08:30 So your breaking point is much further down the line
08:32 than what your emotions are telling you right now.
08:36 And this is the word to somebody today when you're up the river
08:39 without a paddle, when you're right in that place
08:44 between a rock and a hard place, when you're out there
08:46 between the devil and the deep blue sea,
08:49 there is going to be something that has to break.
08:52 But it won't be a child of God.
08:54 I need you to know the circumstance
08:56 is going to break.
08:56 The situation is going to break.
09:00 But guess what? Is not going to break your resolve.
09:02 It's not going to break your faith
09:04 that God has already measured you and predetermined
09:07 that you're going to make it through to the other side.
09:11 So the King requests in verse number four,
09:14 he said to me, What do you requests?
09:19 13 Is teacher strength.
09:21 Is that the greatest gift you can ever receive?
09:24 Is not position but influence.
09:31 See for Nehemiah is probably one of several.
09:36 Cup bearers.
09:36 Are you all still in church?
09:38 In other words, I need to get that.
09:39 This is not the kind of job you want to apply for.
09:45 There is a short life expectancy
09:49 for those who operate in this particular occupation.
09:53 That's why there are several cup bearers, in fact, because
09:57 there are so many assassination attempts against the king,
09:59 those who want to create
10:00 political coups and insurrections,
10:02 they try to get at him through their food.
10:04 So there is an assumption that after a while Nehemiah
10:07 is going to be replaced anyway, just a matter of time
10:11 before Nehemiah is off the scene.
10:14 In other words,
10:15 Nehemiah should not have very much value to the king,
10:20 but God has given Nehemiah such favor with the King
10:24 that the relationship is not just functional.
10:27 It is not just transactional.
10:30 God has given him an influence with the King that allows him
10:34 in this providential moment to create a different outcome.
10:39 All the way back home in Jerusalem.
10:44 And this is the key.
10:45 Nehemiah didn't have the crown.
10:50 He didn't have the throne.
10:54 He didn't have the position.
10:56 But this is the blessing.
10:58 Nehemiah had the influence.
11:02 See, Nehemiah wasn't the head, but he was the net that turn
11:06 the head. You are not with me today.
11:08 Church and see, I need us to get.
11:11 Because there are some of us
11:11 that can be so small in our thinking
11:14 that we think God is only good when we get the position.
11:17 But how many of us know that the power
11:19 is not in the position?
11:20 The power is in having the influence.
11:24 Because people have position.
11:26 They've got a lead.
11:28 They've got a plateau.
11:29 So that when you have a position,
11:32 you've got to operate within a certain jurisdiction.
11:35 But how many of us know
11:36 that when you have influence, there is no lead?
11:38 You don't just operate within a certain jurisdiction.
11:41 You can influence any space at any time
11:44 with any group of people.
11:45 When God gives you the favor of influence
11:51 and see, sometimes we can be so busy
11:53 cursing our position
11:57 that we're blind to the fact
11:58 that God has positioned us to influence
12:02 people for His glory.
12:09 So that name means wife.
12:13 Servant girl didn't have the greatest position,
12:17 but when a name got leprosy,
12:21 she had been positioned by God to serve the man's wife
12:25 and God use her influence
12:28 so that no man would get introduced to the God of Elijah.
12:32 Y'all with me today? Church.
12:33 Remember when Joseph was in Egypt?
12:35 He never had the position, but God gave him influence
12:39 with part of her.
12:40 He gave him influence with the keeper of the jail.
12:44 He had influence of the butler and the baker.
12:47 So that by the time Joseph is in prison
12:50 and the king needs somebody to interpret the dream.
12:53 Joseph has influence that reaches all the way
12:55 from the prison
12:57 that when Daniel
12:58 and the three Hebrew
12:59 boys got to Babylon, they came in as position of slaves,
13:04 but God gave them influence with King Nebuchadnezzar
13:06 and with Darius.
13:08 And because they had influence, both kings introduced laws
13:12 that no one would worship any God except for Daniel
13:15 and the three Hebrews God,
13:17 because sometimes
13:18 God doesn't position you where you want to be,
13:22 but he positions you for your witness
13:24 so you can influence people in the direction of God.
13:27 There
13:29 are you hear me today
13:32 and see some of us make the mistake of assuming
13:33 that influence is the result of position.
13:37 I need you to understand that the greatest form of favor favor
13:40 it is not position, it is influence.
13:41 And what most of us fail to realize
13:43 is that the position or the title, it always finds
13:47 the person that has the influence
13:50 are you hear me today, friends?
13:53 That needs to be clear.
13:54 Like, you know, our senators and congressmen don't run
13:58 the country.
14:00 It's the lobbyists that have the influence
14:03 that determine all of our outcomes.
14:05 They are with me today.
14:05 Friends
14:07 like Donald Trump
14:07 hadn't been
14:08 president for three years, but he still has a young man.
14:11 When I talk about that today, he still has influence
14:15 over a lot of the things that are happening here.
14:17 What I'm saying, like real talk.
14:19 Michael Jordan has not played ball for 30 years,
14:23 but kids that have never seen
14:24 him play are still paying $300 for his shoes
14:29 because even though he doesn't
14:30 have the position, he has the influence.
14:34 Because you go never be set apart by your position.
14:38 What sets you apart is the influence that God gives you.
14:42 Oh, so you may
14:44 have the position as a teacher,
14:47 but it's not going to be your position that makes kids
14:49 learn
14:51 is going to be your influence with the kids
14:53 that help them learn.
14:55 In other words,
14:56 you may have the position of a parent
14:58 and that will make them honor
14:59 you while they are in your house.
15:01 But it's not unless you have influence with them
15:05 that keeps them honoring you when they no longer live
15:06 underneath your roof.
15:08 There are some of us that have position of husband
15:12 and head of the home, but because some of us have lost
15:14 influence, our wives listen to everybody but us.
15:19 There are some that have the position of head of the team,
15:23 but because you don't have influence,
15:25 the rest of the team takes their cues from somebody else.
15:28 You may have the position of a position
15:31 that allows you to diagnose and to prescribe,
15:35 but it is your influence with the patient that helps them
15:38 begin to change their habits and their ways.
15:41 And what I'm saying to somebody today
15:42 is that we need to change our prayer
15:45 instead of praying for our position.
15:46 Instead of praying for promotion,
15:48 we have to be praying, God, give me influence.
15:51 You have to be praying.
15:52 Give me influence with my kids.
15:54 Give me influence with my coworkers.
15:57 Give me influence in this community.
15:59 Give me influence in the church.
16:01 I don't need a title.
16:02 I don't need an office. I don't need a badge.
16:05 I don't need a degree.
16:06 God, just give me influence
16:11 to be able
16:12 to move people in your direction for your glory.
16:16 So I want to say this
16:18 because you get influence in very simple ways.
16:22 Do you realize that just being a caring person
16:26 gives you influence?
16:28 Are you hear what I'm saying?
16:31 I mean I mean, just when you're a caring person,
16:34 when you go the extra mile, when you take the time to care
16:36 and you take the time to dot the I's and cross the t's,
16:39 I don't hear what I'm saying to the church.
16:41 There are certain people that cook with ingredients.
16:44 There are some folks who cook with love.
16:45 Come on and say, man,
16:47 you ever heard of
16:48 so somebody they didn't put their foot in it.
16:50 They put their heart into that soufflé
16:53 because caring gives you influence.
16:56 I have some a couple guys, one that works on my car,
16:58 another one that does some work on my house.
17:00 And every now I'm their man, they're just checking in.
17:02 They go the extra mile to make sure things are done right.
17:06 They go beyond the scope of their responsibility
17:08 and guess what, man?
17:09 Whenever I know that somebody needs
17:11 some work done on their car or their house,
17:14 I'm gonna use my influence
17:14 to drive them in their direction. Why?
17:17 Because not.
17:18 They're just not just good at what they do,
17:19 but they care about what they're doing.
17:22 I mean, there is something about a nurse that cares.
17:26 Can I get a witness out there today?
17:27 I mean, that just has that touch and that bedside manner
17:32 that says, I'm concerned about your outcome.
17:35 I see.
17:36 Sometimes just caring gives you favor with people.
17:39 And that's what I want to say really quickly,
17:41 that in this church
17:42 where we have to deal
17:43 with young people in high school and college,
17:45 and let me just give you this bit of advice,
17:46 because sometimes we correct because we care.
17:51 But you got to show you care before you start correcting.
17:57 No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
17:58 See, see, I need you to do the correcting,
18:01 but never let your correcting be preceded by your caring
18:04 and your concern.
18:06 Do you realize that God gives you influence
18:07 when you're just good at what you do?
18:09 Come on and say mentions God gives you influence,
18:11 not because you know the right person.
18:13 You scratch their back so they scratch yours.
18:15 You've got to align up with the right friend.
18:17 Just be good at what you do
18:18 and people will imitate you and ask you for advice.
18:22 So I need you to know that, folks,
18:23 that's always giving advice without being asked for it.
18:26 Are people that don't do nothing.
18:27 Well.
18:30 But when you do something well, you ain't got to dish out
18:32 unsolicited advice.
18:34 People going to seek out your counsel and your direction.
18:37 They're going to
18:38 imitate the things that you do on a routine and regular basis.
18:40 Are Hear what I'm saying today, friends
18:42 and what you want to pray for friends is not just
18:44 that God gives you title and position.
18:46 You want to pray that God gives you influence.
18:49 So the word say is here in verse number four.
18:52 Then the King said to me, What do you request?
18:56 So he says, So I prayed to the God of heaven.
19:02 Did your kids at church.
19:04 All right.
19:06 So don't just pray for God to open the door.
19:11 You got to pray when God opens the door.
19:14 See, I need to revisit something that we talked about for
19:16 just a second last week.
19:18 Remember, we said that
19:19 that prayer ought to always precede your actions.
19:24 But the fourth thing today is that prayer needs
19:26 to accompany your actions.
19:30 Okay, you see, this
19:31 opportunity comes without announcement.
19:35 The opportunity does not RSVP.
19:38 The opportunity does not call ahead.
19:41 The opportunity does not announce that it is coming.
19:45 It comes upon Nehemiah with a certain degree of surprise
19:49 and understand he is already anxious
19:50 and there is some trepidation
19:52 about how it is that he has to report but
19:54 plan or answer the king in this manner.
19:58 And so what Nehemiah takes the time to do is
20:01 to pray before he responds,
20:06 because if he asks
20:07 too little, then the job will not be completed.
20:13 If he asks to stay too long or too much,
20:16 that he may incur the wrath of the king.
20:19 So before Nehemiah starts jabbering,
20:24 he starts petitioning
20:26 the Lord as to what He is to say,
20:30 and I need somebody to get me friends.
20:31 That demeanor in this moment
20:33 does not make a spectacle of himself.
20:36 He is not there in the King's Court.
20:37 He doesn't fall on his face and start praying
20:41 when he's a king is waiting on a reply.
20:44 What's happening is that while there is an outward conversation
20:47 with the king,
20:48 there is an inward conversation with the King of Kings.
20:53 So I need you to understand that prayer should not
20:56 just be your practice. It ought to be your posture.
21:01 See, friends, let me say it this way.
21:03 There are times where I have my private prayer with God.
21:06 But how many of us understand, Joe, that your whole day
21:11 ought to be an atmosphere of heaven, where
21:13 there is an ongoing conversation with you and the most high.
21:18 I am a preacher in a church today.
21:20 That's what the Bible says,
21:21 that we ought to pray without ceasing.
21:25 And one of the things I'm realizing
21:26 is that the older I get,
21:27 the more I need to be praying in all things
21:30 and throughout all things.
21:32 I'm just at a place where, when I'm in a counseling
21:35 session, I'm praying as I'm processing.
21:40 There are times where, as I'm preaching this sermon, I'm
21:41 praying for strength, for God to make things clear.
21:45 There are times
21:46 when I'm in board meetings and business meetings,
21:48 I've got to be asking the Lord for help
21:51 before I have hard conversations with my spouse.
21:54 I've got to pray for God to guide my tongue.
21:57 When kids ask me questions about what they should do, I'm
22:00 praying while I'm still processing
22:03 and what I'm saying to the Church of the Living God
22:06 is that there ought not ever be a time
22:08 where you're just operating in your own strength.
22:11 Remember, there is a way
22:12 that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death.
22:17 So you ought to be praying while you give the lecture.
22:20 You ought to pray while you're taking the exam.
22:23 You ought to pray while you're having the hard conversation.
22:26 You ought to pray while they're not paying attention.
22:29 You don't just pray before it happens.
22:32 You ought to pray while it happens
22:34 and while you're here.
22:35 You ought to pray after
22:38 it happens.
22:40 And this is really what I want to say.
22:42 Friends of mine, we got to get to a place
22:45 where prayer is not this sporadic activity.
22:49 Prayer ought to be your atmosphere.
22:56 So you pray before you move.
22:59 You're praying while you're move.
23:02 And you prayed after you move.
23:04 So that prayer and the spirit of praise
23:09 is not something that happens once a week,
23:13 but prayer is a portable atmosphere that follows me.
23:18 Wherever I go, I hear me today.
23:21 Church I'm going to date myself when I say this.
23:25 Anybody remember this old school Charlie Brown character
23:28 named Pig Pan?
23:30 Not now, y'all remember Pig Pen on the Charlie Brown character.
23:34 He was this dirty kid.
23:36 And whenever he went somewhere
23:38 that was just this spirit of dirt
23:41 that was in front of him, it was around him
23:45 and it was behind him because dirt was in his atmosphere.
23:50 And can I suggest that when you don't have a prayer
23:52 for atmosphere, you have a dirty atmosphere?
23:56 And when I'm saying that somebody today
23:58 is that your atmosphere ought to be one of prayer
24:02 where prayer precedes you, it accompanies you,
24:06 and it follows you wherever you go, because you pray
24:08 before all things, in all things and during all things.
24:12 And you praise God
24:16 once those things come to pass.
24:20 And it's crazy because God gives him such immense favor.
24:23 Friends, that God blesses Nehemiah
24:28 with three critical things.
24:29 He gives Nehemiah access.
24:32 He gives him letters of commendation
24:35 that allows him to
24:37 go into places where he wouldn't normally be able to go.
24:40 That need, you know, friends that when God blesses
24:42 you would favor.
24:43 One of the things he gives you is access.
24:45 Are you hearing the pastor today?
24:47 I need you to know that when God causes you
24:49 to rise on the high places of the Earth,
24:52 He'll put you in rooms with people that you never, ever
24:54 thought possible.
24:55 He'll put you in positions
24:57 that are beyond your highest goal or or ambition.
25:02 God will put you in rooms and places where you can
25:04 influence kings and people for His glory.
25:08 But not only does God give Him access, He gives him resources.
25:11 He says, I'm going to give you a letter
25:12 so that they give you enough timber. What's this?
25:15 Not just to build the house of God,
25:17 but to build the house
25:18 you live in while you're there doing the work.
25:23 So that does what Nehemiah doesn't have to go and beg
25:26 for the approval of the king keeper of the forest, though
25:30 he's already been
25:31 given resources by the king of the entire land.
25:35 And not only does God
25:36 give him resources and access, he gives him a security detail
25:41 so that nobody can mess
25:43 with Nehemiah even when he goes in enemy terrain.
25:48 I need somebody to know that not only will God give you access,
25:52 not only will He give you resources, he will give you
25:54 an invisible convoy of security detail.
26:00 The angelic host will accompany you no matter where you go.
26:04 And it doesn't matter
26:05 what weapons are formed against you and won't be
26:09 permitted to prosper because the Angel of the Lord
26:15 is encamped about you
26:17 at all times.
26:21 It's graduation season
26:23 and I want to say congrats to all of our recent graduates.
26:27 And though we're thankful for how God is blessing you,
26:29 the only problem is that we ask 18 or 19 year olds
26:34 to make decisions that affect the rest of their lives.
26:37 That's why I'm inviting you to join me for our
26:40 first ever Breath of life decision day.
26:43 It's a one day online conference on July the seventh.
26:47 I'm going to be joined by a number of individuals.
26:50 They're going to help
26:51 our young people make decisions about their future.
26:54 We're going to be discussing things like How to discover
26:57 your calling doesn't HBCU put me out of this advantage?
27:02 When do I need to pivot changing schools or majors
27:05 or how to dream big?
27:08 It's going to be held on July the seventh from 10 a.m.
27:11 to 2:00 pm.
27:12 It's a free conference,
27:14 but we don't just want the kids to come.
27:16 We want the parents to come so that we can make these decisions
27:20 with God's tutelage as a village.
27:24 So again, that's going to be July the seventh from 10 a.m.
27:26 to 2:00 pm.
27:27 I need you to know it's going to be a great time of learning.
27:30 You're going to be equipped.
27:31 You're going to be given some tools
27:33 to make sure
27:33 that you land at the right place
27:35 and that you make the right choice.
27:37 I look forward to seeing you soon on decision day.


Home

Revised 2024-06-20