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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000136S
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00:05 #S071 - Thank God You're Sheltered (Part 1)
00:20 A couple of places in the word quickly. 00:23 Deuteronomy chapter 21 and verse 18. 00:27 And if you don't mind, put your finger over in Luke 00:28 Chapter 15, Deuteronomy chapter 21 and verse 18. 00:34 But then just rest your finger over in Luke, chapter 15. 00:38 I promise you that I will not be before you long today. 00:41 Deuteronomy 21 and verse 18. 00:43 When you get there, let me say Amen. 00:46 Deuteronomy 21 00:48 And verse 18, the Bible says, 00:54 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son 00:58 who will not obey the voice of his father 01:01 or the voice of his mother, and who, 01:04 when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 01:08 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him 01:13 and bring him out to the elders of the city, 01:16 to the gate of the city. 01:18 And they say, I'll say to the elders of the city, 01:22 this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. 01:26 He will not obey our voice. 01:28 He is a glutton and a drunkard. 01:31 Then all the men of the city shall 01:36 stone him to death 01:39 with stones. 01:41 So you may put away the evil from among you 01:45 and all Israel shall here and fear. 01:48 Now, this is not parental advice today saying this is just 01:52 I'm just telling you what they used to do back in the day. 01:54 Amen. 01:56 Jesus does not counsel. I'm just. 01:59 This is information only. 02:00 Come on in statement quickly. 02:06 Luke, chapter 15 02:08 and verse 11, very familiar story to us. 02:12 Luke 15 In verse 11, when you get there, you say, 02:15 Pastor, I'm there. 02:17 Luke 15 and verse 11. 02:21 Then he said, 02:23 a certain man had two sons, 02:26 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, 02:29 give me the portion of goods that falls to me. 02:33 So he did what 02:36 divided to them, his livelihood. 02:40 And not many days after the younger son gathered 02:42 all together, journeyed to a far country, 02:47 and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 02:51 But when he had spent all 02:53 there arose a severe famine in the land. 02:56 And he began to be in want. 02:58 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. 03:03 And he sent him into the fields to feed swine. 03:06 And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods 03:09 that the swine ate and no one gave him anything. 03:15 But when he came to himself, 03:19 he said, How many of my fathers hired servants 03:22 have bread enough to spare, and I perished with hunger. 03:27 I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, 03:30 I have sinned against heaven and before you 03:34 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 03:37 Make me like one of your hired servants. 03:40 So he arose and came to his father. 03:42 But when he was still a great way off, 03:45 his father saw him and had compassion 03:50 and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 03:55 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against you 03:58 and Heaven and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 04:03 But the father said to his servant, Bring out the best robe 04:06 and put it on him 04:07 and put a ring on his hands and sandals on his feet 04:12 and bring the fatted calf here and kill it 04:15 and let us eat and be merry for this. 04:19 My son was dead and is alive again. 04:24 He was lost and is found. 04:28 And they began to be married today. 04:31 Saints, for just a few moments, I want to talk to 04:33 you under the subject. Sheltered. 04:37 Sheltered. 04:38 Matter of fact, I want to change the title 04:39 of that sermon in real time. 04:41 Title of this sermon is Thank God You Were Sheltered. 04:46 Let's pray together. 04:48 Father, 04:51 in this limited amount of time, 04:55 would you please communicate 04:57 an eternal truth? 05:00 Lord, as these high schoolers 05:05 listen to their final sermon, 05:08 while under the guise of parents, 05:11 would you cement something permanently in them? 05:16 So would you allow your spirit, Lord, 05:19 to do a sealing work in all who hear? 05:23 Lord, hide me in the shadows of the cross 05:26 that Jesus alone might be seen. 05:28 That Christ alone would be heard. 05:31 And at the end of our time together, let Jesus alone 05:33 be praised. 05:35 Let us do this. 05:36 And we pray in the wonderful name of Jesus, our Lord, 05:38 that those who believe, say together, amen. 05:40 And a man. 05:42 You may be seated in the House of the Lord today 05:46 again talking to you under the subject. 05:48 Thank God 05:50 you were sheltered. 05:53 Church by show of hands. 05:55 How many of us at some point played sports growing up? 06:00 Maybe you were on the school team. 06:01 Maybe you did church league. 06:03 Maybe you were in intramurals. 06:05 If you played sports, raise your hand. 06:08 And so if you played sports, 06:10 you know that before the start of the game, 06:14 there's usually a 20 minute period called warm ups. 06:19 And during warm ups you practice 06:21 lay ups and free throws and jump shots. 06:25 During the warm ups, you practice your sets or 06:29 striking the ball or your game playing during the day. 06:34 And it is during the warm ups that your body 06:37 prepares itself for the actual game. 06:40 And one of the things 06:41 you will notice 06:43 is that they never keep record of what you do in warm ups. 06:47 Nobody counts how many shots you make in warm ups. 06:52 Nobody records how well you are sharp. 06:55 You are in warm ups. 06:57 Warm ups never make the paper or the news reel. 07:02 In fact, warm ups are necessary for the game, 07:06 but they don't start keeping count until the game begins. 07:10 So it doesn't matter if you make all the shots in warm ups 07:13 if you miss them once the game starts. 07:16 It doesn't matter how sharp you are in warm ups 07:19 if you are sloppy. 07:20 Once the game begins because once the game starts, 07:26 what you did in warmups is immediately forgotten 07:30 and last of 24, let me announce 07:33 that we are excited about where God has brought you. 07:36 We are grateful that God has brought you 07:40 to this place in your life. 07:41 But can I announce to you today that your high school 07:45 career hadn't been nothing but warm ups 07:49 in other words, this has just been a dress 07:52 rehearsal for the remainder of your life. 07:56 And it's crazy because this week folks 07:58 been talking 07:59 about what you've accomplished and what you've done 08:02 to this point. 08:03 But the truth is that all you've done thus far is warm up. 08:08 Are y'all hearing me today? 08:10 In fact, tomorrow afternoon, you ought to take that 08:13 diploma and hand it to your mama and your daddy. 08:16 Because 08:17 graduating from high school is not about what you have done. 08:22 It is about what they have required. 08:24 Y'all hear me today? 08:25 And see, I need you to get this friends 08:27 because it doesn't matter what you've done in warm ups. 08:31 What matters is what you do from this point over. 08:36 See, it doesn't matter if you're a valedictorian in this level. 08:40 If you lose focus on the next level, 08:43 it doesn't matter if you're a spiritual leader. 08:44 Now, if you're about to turn up as an adult, 08:49 it doesn't matter if you're on top in this season 08:52 if you lose 08:53 hold of what you're supposed to be in the next season. 08:56 It doesn't matter if you're a star athlete now 09:00 because in 40 years nobody's talking about what they did 09:03 in high school 09:05 except those that peaked when they're in high school 09:09 and see, I need you to know that this is the point 09:12 where the records are about to be kept. 09:15 In other words, a potential grad school 09:19 is not going to look at your high school transcript. 09:22 They're going to look at your college transcripts. 09:24 A potential employer is not going to 09:27 look at your high schools social media polls, 09:31 but they'll look at your adult social media post. 09:34 In other words, your juvenile record 09:36 will be sealed at around 16, but the stuff you do as 09:40 an adult is going to follow you for the rest of your life. 09:44 And the good news for somebody today 09:47 is that they don't keep record during warm ups. 09:49 Now, y'all, he missed that. 09:51 You see, some of us have been kind of sloppy in warm ups. 09:55 Some of us have had a slow start in warm ups. 09:58 Some of us have not developed identity or found our boys 10:01 or develop our work ethic. 10:03 But the good news 10:04 is that we don't keep record of who you are in warm ups. 10:09 You still got time to develop a strong work ethic 10:12 and to develop your purpose. 10:14 And so even if you're only a 2.0 now, 10:18 there is still room for you 10:19 to become who God has ordained you to become. 10:23 Because what you're going to find out soon 10:25 is that those that lead in high 10:27 school are not always the one that lead as adults. 10:31 Sometimes those who are spiritual in high school 10:35 get turned out as soon as they get older. 10:38 Sometimes those that are the ones at this 10:40 stage are not the ones at the next stage. 10:44 And I just want to announce that somebody that maybe 10:47 has not found their schools yet, I need you to know that 10:49 the next level can be better than this level. 10:53 I love what Ecclesiastes says, that the end of a thing 10:56 is better than the start of a thing. 10:59 And so even if you started slow, how many of us know 11:02 it's not about how you start? 11:05 It's about how you finish. 11:08 And so quickly, friends, I want to go back to Luke, 11:10 chapter 15, 11:12 because I want to just show you a little bit of a story 11:16 about a young man who started out good in warm ups. 11:20 In other words, his life started out well, 11:23 but it went left at the same point of life. 11:27 You are in now once he reached the age of accountability 11:31 and see the first thing this story teaches 11:33 us, number one, is that impatience 11:36 leads to incomplete favor. 11:40 You see, the story of the prodigal son 11:43 is not so much just a referendum on seeing. 11:47 It is actually young people a referendum on impatience. 11:51 In fact, friends, when you read the story, 11:54 we have the text that describes a young man who audaciously 11:57 goes into his father's living room and demands 12:01 a portion of the moneys that belong to him. 12:05 And understand that what he is demanding 12:08 is the inheritance money 12:09 that which was reserved by a father 12:13 for the time of the father's death. 12:15 And I need you to get the arrogance of this request, 12:19 because essentially claiming now that was reserved for 12:22 the father's death 12:24 was him saying to the father, You are dead to me 12:28 that we have no more business with one another, 12:32 so that when a rebellious son took the inheritance early, 12:35 he was never supposed to come back to his daddy's 12:38 house and say, This is the crazy thing. 12:43 He wants the father's presence, but he don't want the father's 12:46 presence, okay? 12:48 He wants 12:49 what the father can give him, but he doesn't want the father. 12:53 And see, this is the problem with the contemporary church. 12:56 We want the blessings of the father, 13:00 but we're indifferent to the presence of the father. 13:03 And what I need somebody to understand saying 13:06 is that the blessed best thing about a relationship with God 13:09 is not what God gives. 13:11 The best thing is God did not hear me today, not know. 13:14 The best thing about serving God is not what He gives. 13:19 It is the ability to walk with him and talk with him 13:22 and know him for yourself. 13:24 I need you to not seek 13:26 what is in the hand of God, but to seek the hand of God. 13:30 Because what's in His hand is temporary. 13:33 But His hand itself is eternal. 13:36 I would rather have him on his hand than. 13:40 Than what is in his hand. 13:41 Because what is in his hand is go lot rest or be replaced. 13:46 But if you hold on to his unchanging hand, 13:50 his hand is never going to fail. 13:52 You are you hear me today 13:53 and say, 13:54 I need you to understand something foolish about him 13:57 demanding this portion of the inheritance. 14:00 Notice what the Bible says. 14:01 The Bible says that when he demands his portion, 14:05 the Bible says that the father divides to him. 14:09 His portion. 14:11 You see what rabbinical law actually required 14:15 is that if a son tried to get the inheritance 14:18 while the father was still living, 14:21 he could never get the whole inherit pittance. 14:24 In some cultures, he only got a third 14:27 or a half of the portion that the father had laid aside. 14:31 In other words, because he tried to get it 14:34 early, he couldn't get all of it 14:38 because he was in a rush to get it. 14:41 He could only get a portion. 14:42 In other words, he had what they would declare a curse 14:45 inheritance because he was in a hurry. 14:49 He couldn't get all that the father had planned. 14:52 He could only get a portion of what the father had planned. 14:56 And so can I suggest, friends, 14:58 that there are things that God has planned for you. 15:01 But sometimes blessings that are planned 15:06 become a curse when you try to get them ahead of schedule. 15:09 Okay, let me say it again. 15:11 That there are good things that God has planned, but 15:14 they become a curse when you try to get them ahead of schedule. 15:19 In other words, I need you to understand 15:20 that sex is a good thing. 15:21 Say, man, but it becomes say man, 15:26 but it becomes a curse if you get it too soon. 15:30 Having kids is a good thing, 15:33 but it's a stress if you get them ahead of schedule. 15:36 Getting an apartment off campus might be a blessing, 15:40 but it might be a stress if you get it too soon. 15:43 Getting married is a blessing. 15:45 But guess what? 15:46 It becomes a curse if you do it ahead of schedule 15:49 and say, I need you to get that some of the greatest stresses 15:53 are not the result of sin is the result of rushing 15:57 and see. 15:58 Some of the greatest sin is simply because we try to get 16:02 what God had planned before He planned for us to have it 16:05 and see. 16:06 One of the things 16:07 I want to encourage you to know 16:08 is that your steps have been ordered by God. 16:12 I need you to know that what God has for you, it is for you. 16:16 And you don't need to look in your peripheral vision 16:18 trying to keep up with what they got 16:19 or to get it when they got it. 16:21 But just stay in the cut of Providence and let God lead 16:25 you and bless you in the time he's ordained. 16:30 So how many of us know that the plans of the father 16:34 for us are bigger than the plans we have for ourselves? 16:39 Let me say it this way. 16:40 I remember a while back 16:41 when my kids were small and we were getting ready 16:43 to take them down to Disney World for the first time. 16:47 And I remember we didn't tell them where we were going 16:49 because we knew 16:50 they would self destruct all the way on the highway 16:53 if we told them where we were going. 16:54 And so all we told them 16:56 when we arrived 16:57 is that we were going to take them somewhere fine. 17:00 But because they grew up here in Huntsville, 17:03 kind of the peak for them at that point was 17:06 Chuckie Cheese and other words to them. 17:09 In their mind, there was nothing greater 17:10 than going to Chuckie Cheese because they grew up here. 17:14 But we were planning to take them to the Magic Kingdom 17:16 and see. 17:17 The problem is, when we got ready to go, 17:18 we didn't tell them where they were going. 17:20 And what happened is we passed by Chuckie Cheese 17:24 and guess what? 17:25 Their countenance fell because they were sad. 17:28 They weren't getting to see Chuckie. 17:30 They were mad because they weren't getting to see Chuckie. 17:33 But when we pulled up 17:34 to the Magic Kingdom, their frown turned upside down 17:39 because they realized what we planned for 17:42 them was better than what they planned for themselves. 17:46 In other words, Chuckie had a play house, 17:49 but Mickey had a kingdom. 17:53 And see, the problem is you want play house blessings 17:58 and God has kingdom blessings. 18:01 See, you want to play education. 18:04 God wants to give you a kingdom education. 18:07 You want to play play man. 18:09 God wants to give you a kingdom man. 18:12 You just want to have a good time. 18:15 But God wants to give you the kingdom. 18:16 Can you say amen? 18:18 And so you don't just want to settle for a portion. 18:21 You want all that God has in store. 18:24 So if you get it too soon, you'll get half the joy, 18:27 half the peace. 18:28 You'll be walking around with half of a man. 18:30 You will not hear me today. 18:34 You want to wait? What God has in store for you? 18:38 Second thing I want to say quickly 18:41 is this 18:43 Don't complain about being sheltered 18:47 until you realize what God was sheltering 18:49 you from. 18:56 Listen, 18:57 I won't take long, but see, the five is love 19:02 is shown throughout the entirety of the story. 19:04 Most of us only see the five as love 19:07 when the father allows him to come back home. 19:09 But I see the father's love 19:11 when the father allows him to walk out the door. 19:15 You see, 19:15 I need you to understand that 19:16 the father does not try to coerce course him into staying. 19:19 The father does not try to force him into staying. 19:22 The father does not restrain him into staying. 19:26 What the father simply does is gives him the portion 19:29 that the law would permit. 19:31 And what he does is he respects the choice of this adult son. 19:36 Can I pass to say to the parents of adult children, 19:39 you've got to pray for them and guide them, 19:43 but don't always clean up all of their messes, 19:47 don't cover for all their mistakes, don't cushion 19:50 every one of their falls. 19:52 Don't try to clean it up in the name of the family name. 19:56 Sometimes, when they won't listen to instruction, 19:59 you've got to let experience become their teacher. 20:04 Are you? Hear what I'm saying? 20:05 And it's funny because this boy is free. 20:07 He is tired of living a sheltered life. 20:09 He is tired of growing up in a Christian home. 20:13 He's tired of church, school 20:14 and church services and church girls and church situations. 20:19 He's tired of a why and see the problem with him is he's 20:21 confused his protection with restriction. 20:27 See, see, notice something because the character of God 20:31 is seen in this moment because notice what the father does. 20:34 The father says, I will let you choose. 20:39 The father says, I will allow you to make the decision 20:43 and see it shows 20:44 the purposes of God as opposed to the purposes of the enemy. 20:49 Because how many of us know 20:50 that the Lord will give you a choice? 20:53 What the Devil does is He confiscates your choice. 20:58 You notice how it's easy to stop going to church, 21:01 but it's hard to stop drinking. 21:04 It's easy to stop praying. 21:06 But it's hard to stop being petty. 21:08 The Almighty quiet today is easy 21:12 to stop studying, but it's hard to stop smoking. 21:15 It's easy for us to stop being spiritual, but it's hard 21:19 for us to kind of walk away from the things of this world. 21:24 Because one of the things that you'll see 21:25 is that the spirit will rule you, 21:27 the spirit will convict you, 21:28 but the spirit will never choose for you. 21:31 But understand 21:32 that the vices of the life will get so ingrained into your soul 21:37 that the power of choice is taken away. 21:40 And you will declare, like Paul and Roman seven. 21:42 When I want to do good, 21:44 I can't do it. 21:46 And the evil I hate doing, I keep on doing. 21:50 Now I need somebody to deliver me 21:54 from this body of death. 21:57 And I need you to understand that before see I a lot. 22:01 Because even when you don't 22:02 really grow up in church, like you all 22:03 have some of the stuff that I'll complain about. 22:06 Sounds stupid to me 22:11 when you complain about, oh, 22:12 I had to grow up in church and I grew up in this 22:14 and my life has been so sheltered now. 22:16 But they don't complain about being sheltered. 22:21 So you don't rejoice in a little bit when you realize 22:23 what you've been sheltered from 22:30 brothers. 22:32 Your folks have kept you sheltered 22:35 from a certain type of woman 22:40 because there is a woman 22:41 who is liberal with her body, but there is poison in her soul. 22:46 And you can't get what's in her body 22:48 without coming in conflict or contact with the toxicity. 22:53 In other words, there is no condom for 22:55 your spirit. Y'all might be quiet in here today. 22:59 No, no, no. 23:00 Because you can't touch one without the other 23:04 sister. 23:05 You better praise God, because your parents 23:08 have kept you from a certain type of man, 23:11 because there is a man whose swag is not church, 23:15 but he's got a demonic spirit that will change you 23:18 into something you cannot see coming. 23:22 You are to thank God that you've been sheltered from thug life. 23:27 Listen, y'all can run around here 23:29 scowling in your yearbook picture, 23:33 but a none of you are about that life, are you are here? 23:34 What I'm saying, like, listen, there are some cats 23:40 that are filled with a violence and a rage 23:45 that will kill you for the shoes on your feet. 23:49 You want to thank God, that's all. 23:51 Parents will let you spend the night with everybody. 23:54 Oh, God. 23:57 You thought. 23:57 Oh, they making my life so hard? 24:01 No. Mama and Daddy were shown that something 24:04 in the milk wine clean at that house 24:07 and they weren't keeping you from something 24:10 that was going to disrupt your purity in voluntarily. 24:14 You ought to thank God 24:16 that you don't know about certain things. 24:18 TLC said it this way. 24:20 Don't go chasing waterfalls. 24:24 Oh, I know who all the sinners are right now. 24:26 I can see you 24:27 stick to the rivers and the lakes 24:30 that you're used to. 24:33 In fact, there's going to come a time 24:35 where you're going to thank God for what you didn't know about. 24:38 You ought to say, Lord, I sent you that. 24:39 I don't know nothing about baby mama drama. 24:43 You ought to say I thank you, but I don't know 24:44 nothing about real addiction. 24:46 You ought to thank God that you don't know nothing 24:49 about growing up in a single parent house. 24:51 If you got both parents, you ought to praise God. 24:53 And even if you grew up with a single parent 24:56 and they loved you, you ought to praise God. 24:58 Thank God that you don't know nothing about meth. 25:01 Thank God that you don't know nothing about crack. 25:04 Thank God that you don't know nothing about God. 25:06 Thank God that you don't know nothing about abandonment. 25:09 Thank God that you don't know nothing about that life. 25:11 Is that a complete 25:12 you got to find shelter if you want to open your mouth 25:17 and say thank you, God, that's a sheltered me. 25:20 Thank you. That's a covered me. 25:22 Thank you. 25:23 That I have no knowledge of certain things. 25:27 I praise God for the shelter 25:32 I got here today. 25:36 Third thing this teachers real quick 25:38 is that the far country in this far away as you think 25:41 it is, 25:44 she's crazy because I tell you, boy, man, you got to see him. 25:48 Your boy is on his own. 25:49 He got a little money in his pocket 25:53 as soon as he gets free, 25:54 he gets a tattoo on his wrist and on his neck. 25:57 He's got a gold chain. 25:59 He's got some fresh white Air Force Ones. 26:03 He's got a little light skin, honey on his right hand 26:05 and a little Latino honey on the left hand. 26:08 I mean, literally, 26:09 his life is like a moving real time rap video. 26:13 He is living his best life 26:17 for a short while. 26:20 Thank you for joining us for The Breath 26:22 of Life Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire 26:27 Snell. 26:28 We hope and pray 26:30 that you have been blessed by this powerful message. 26:34 Join us next week for part two of “Thank God 26:39 You're Sheltered” You won't want to miss it. 26:43 What's good, everybody? 26:44 The ExcuseLess revolution is underway 26:48 and lives are being radically changed. 26:52 There are some of you that have the hard copy of the book. 26:54 There's some that have the e-book 26:57 that I want you to know. 26:58 We've heard the call 26:59 and the audio book is now available on Audible. 27:04 There are some of us that need to see the work. 27:05 Some of us need to hear it. 27:07 But however you receive it, God be praised. 27:10 I want to encourage you to go on to Audible, get your version 27:14 and continue the journey of becoming ExcuseLess |
Revised 2024-09-05