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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000137S
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00:07 #S071 - Thank God You're Sheltered (Part 2)
00:19 Welcome to the Breath of life. 00:21 Television ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell.. 00:26 In today's episode, Pastor Snell will continue part 00:30 two of the powerful message. 00:33 “Thank God You're Sheltered.” Now 00:37 let's go deeper into the Word of God and see. 00:41 Can I suggest, friends, 00:42 that there are things that God has planned for you? 00:45 But sometimes blessings that are planned 00:49 become a curse when you try to get them ahead of schedule. 00:53 Okay, let me say it again. 00:54 That there are good things that God has planned, but 00:58 they become a curse when you try to get them ahead of schedule. 01:02 In other words, I need you to understand 01:03 that sex is a good thing. 01:05 Say amen. 01:07 But if you can't, you all can say amen. 01:10 But it becomes a curse if you get it too soon. 01:13 Having kids is a good thing, 01:17 but it's a stress if you get them ahead of schedule. 01:20 Getting an apartment off campus might be a blessing, 01:23 but it might be a stress if you get it too soon. 01:26 Getting married is a blessing. 01:28 But guess what? 01:29 It becomes a curse if you do it ahead of schedule 01:32 and say, I need you to get that. 01:33 Some of the greatest stresses are not the result of 01:37 sin is the result of rushing. 01:41 And see, 01:42 some of the greatest sin is simply because we try to get 01:46 what God had planned before he planned for us to have it. 01:49 And say 01:50 one of the things 01:50 I want to encourage you to know 01:52 is that your steps have been ordered by God. 01:55 I need you to know that what God has for you, it is for you. 01:59 And you don't need to look in your peripheral vision 02:02 trying to keep up with what they got 02:03 or to get it when they got it. 02:05 But just stay in the Court of Providence and let God lead 02:09 you and bless you in the time He's ordained. 02:14 See how many 02:15 of us know that the plans of the father for us 02:19 are bigger than the plans we have for ourselves. 02:22 Let let me say it this way. 02:23 I remember a while back 02:25 when my kids were small and we were getting ready 02:27 to take them down to Disney World for the first time. 02:30 And I remember we didn't tell them where we were going 02:32 because we knew 02:33 they would self-destruct all the way on the highway 02:36 if we told them where we were going. 02:38 And so all we told them 02:39 when we arrived 02:40 is that we were going to take them somewhere fine. 02:44 But because they grew up here in Huntsville, kind of the peak 02:47 for them at that point was Chuckie Cheese 02:51 and other words to them. 02:52 In their mind, there was nothing greater 02:54 than going to Chuckie Cheese because they grew up here. 02:57 But we were planning to take them to the Magic Kingdom 03:00 and see, the problem is, when we got ready to go, 03:03 we didn't tell them where they were going. 03:04 And what happened is we pass by Chucky Cheese and guess what? 03:09 Their countenance fell because they were sad. 03:11 They weren't getting to see Chucky. 03:13 They were mad because they weren't getting to see Chucky. 03:17 But when we pulled up 03:18 to the Magic Kingdom, their frown turned upside down 03:23 because they realized what we planned for 03:25 them was better than what they planned for themselves. 03:29 In other words, Chucky had a playhouse, 03:32 but Mickey had a kingdom. 03:37 And see, the problem is you want playhouse blessing 03:41 and God has kingdom blessings. 03:44 So you want to play education. 03:47 God wants to give you a kingdom education. 03:50 You want to play play, man. 03:52 God wants to give you a kingdom, man. 03:55 You just want to have a good time. 03:59 But God, once they give you the kingdom, can you say amen? 04:02 And so you don't just want to settle for a portion. 04:05 You want all that God has installed. 04:08 So if you get it too soon, you'll get half the joy, 04:10 half the peace. 04:12 You'll be walking around with half of a man. 04:14 You will not hear me today. 04:17 You want to wait? What God has in store for you? 04:21 Second thing I want to say quickly 04:24 is this 04:27 Don't complain about being sheltered 04:30 until you realize what God was sheltering 04:33 you from. 04:40 Listen, I won't take long. 04:41 But see, the five is love 04:45 is shown throughout the entirety of the story. 04:47 Most of us only see the father of his love 04:51 when the father allows him to come back home. 04:53 But I see the father's love 04:54 when the father allows him to walk out the door. 04:58 You see, I need you to understand that 05:00 the father does not try to course coerce him into staying. 05:04 The father does not try to force him into staying. 05:07 The father does not restrain him into staying. 05:10 What the father simply does is gives him the portion 05:13 that the law would permit. 05:14 And what he does is he respects the choice of this adult son. 05:20 Can I pass to say to the parents of adult children, 05:23 you've got to pray for them and guide them. 05:27 But don't always clean up all of their messes. 05:30 Don't cover for all their mistakes. 05:33 Don't cushion every one of their falls. 05:36 Don't try to clean it up in the name of the family name. 05:39 Sometimes, when they won't listen to instruction, 05:43 you've got to let experience become their teacher. 05:47 You'll hear what I'm saying. 05:49 And it's funny because this boy is free. 05:50 He's tired of living a sheltered life. 05:53 He is tired of growing up in a Christian home. 05:56 He's tired of church, school 05:58 and church services and church girls and church situations. 06:02 He's tired of a why. 06:03 And see, the problem with him is he's confused his protection 06:08 with restrictions 06:11 since he noticed something. 06:12 Because the character of God is seen in this moment. 06:16 Because notice what the father does. 06:17 The father says, I will let you choose. 06:22 The father says, I will allow you to make the decision 06:27 and see it shows 06:28 the purposes of God as opposed to the purposes of the enemy. 06:33 Because how many of us know 06:33 that the Lord will give you a choice? 06:37 What the Devil does is He confiscates your choice. 06:41 You notice how it's 06:42 easy to stop going to church, but it's hard to stop drinking. 06:48 It's easy to stop praying. 06:50 But it's hard to stop being petty almighty quiet today. 06:53 It's easy to stop studying, but it's hard to stop smoking. 06:59 It's easy for us to stop being spiritual, 07:03 but it's hard for us 07:04 to kind of walk away from the things of this world, 07:07 because one of the things that you'll see 07:08 is that the spirit will woo you. 07:10 The spirit will convict you. 07:12 But the spirit will never choose for you. 07:15 But understand 07:16 that the vices of the life will get so ingrained into your soul 07:20 that the power of choice is taken away. 07:23 And you will declare, like Paul and Roman seven. 07:26 When I want to do good, 07:28 I can't do it. 07:30 And the evil I hate doing, I keep on doing. 07:33 Now I need somebody to deliver me 07:37 from this body of death. 07:41 And I need you to understand that before the light. 07:45 Because even when you don't really grow up in church, 07:47 like you all have some of the stuff 07:48 you all complain about. 07:49 Sounds stupid to me 07:54 when you complain about, oh, I had to grow up in church 07:57 and I grew up in this. 07:58 My life has been so sheltered in it. 07:59 But see, don't complain about being sheltered. 08:04 So you can rejoice a little bit when you realize 08:07 what you've been sheltered from the 08:14 brothers. 08:16 Your folks have kept you sheltered 08:18 from a certain type of woman 08:23 because there is a woman 08:25 who is liberal with her body, but there is poison in her soul. 08:30 And you can't get what's in her body 08:32 without coming in conflict or contact with the toxicity. 08:37 In other words, there is no condom for 08:39 your spirit. Y'all might be quiet in here today. 08:43 No, no, no. 08:44 Because you can't touch one without the other. 08:48 Sister, you're about to praise God because your parents 08:52 have kept you from a certain type of man. 08:55 Because there is a man whose swag is not church, 08:59 but he's got a demonic spirit that will change you 09:02 into something you cannot see coming. 09:06 You ought to thank God that you've been sheltered 09:08 from thug life. 09:11 Listen, y'all can run around here 09:13 scowling in your yearbook picture, 09:16 but a none of you are about that life, are y'all? 09:18 Hear what I'm saying? 09:19 Like, listen, 09:21 there are some cats that are filled with a violence 09:26 and a rage that will kill you for the shoes on your feet. 09:33 You ought to thank God that your parents wouldn't 09:35 let you spend the night with everybody. 09:38 Oh, God, 09:40 you thought, Oh, they making my life so hard? 09:44 No. Mama and Daddy were shown that 09:46 something in the milk wasn't clean at that house 09:51 and they were keeping you from something 09:53 that was going to disrupt your purity in voluntarily. 09:58 You ought to thank God 09:59 that you don't know about certain things. 10:02 TLC said it this way. 10:04 Don't go chasing waterfalls. 10:08 Oh, I know who all the sinners are right now. 10:10 I can see you 10:11 stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to. 10:16 And in fact, there's going to come a time 10:19 where you're going to thank God for what you didn't know about. 10:22 You ought to say, Lord, I thank you that I don't know 10:23 nothing about baby mama drama. 10:26 You ought to say I 10:27 thank you that I don't know nothing about real addiction. 10:30 You ought to thank God that you don't know nothing 10:32 about growing up in a single parent house. 10:34 And you got both parents you ought to praise God. 10:37 And even if you grew up with a single parent 10:39 and they loved you, you ought to praise God. 10:42 Thank God that you don't know nothing about meth. 10:45 Thank God that you don't know nothing about crack. 10:47 Thank God that you don't know nothing about God. 10:50 Thank God that you don't know nothing about abandonment. 10:53 Thank God that you don't know nothing about that life. 10:55 It doesn't. 10:56 Complaining that you've been sheltered, 10:58 you want to open your mouth 10:59 and say, thank you, God, that's just sheltered me. 11:03 Thank you. 11:04 That's a covered me, thank you. 11:06 That I have no knowledge of certain things. 11:11 I praise God for the shelter. 11:15 All y'all hear me? They 11:19 third thing this teachers real quick 11:22 is that the far country in as far away as you think it is 11:28 she's crazy because like, yo, you're poor, man. 11:31 You got to see him. Your boy is on his own. 11:34 He got a little money in his pocket 11:36 as soon as he gets free, 11:37 he gets a tattoo on his wrist and on his neck. 11:41 He's got a gold chain. 11:42 He's got some fresh white Air Force Ones. 11:46 He's got a little light skin, honey on his right hand 11:49 and a little Latino honey on the left hand. 11:51 I mean, literally, 11:52 his life is like a moving real time rap video. 11:56 He is living his best life 12:00 for a short while. 12:04 And she is crazy because the Bible says 12:08 that he journeyed into a foreign country. 12:10 Now I need you to understand 24. 12:13 This is not what happened. 12:14 He doesn't just set out 12:15 with the intent of getting as far from his father as he can. 12:19 That's not what happens. 12:20 But that word journey does not mean to take a long trip. 12:25 The word journey means to drift. 12:28 Yeah. 12:32 In other words, it is not his goal to go far away. 12:35 In other words, 12:36 he sets up a little something over in five points. 12:40 Y'all hear what I'm saying? 12:41 He got he got him a little 12:42 crib over in Madison where he's trying to go. 12:46 But understand that in the in the Middle East, I saw this 12:48 where we in the Holy Land last year, 12:50 what they have is like these mobile caravanning parties 12:55 where they did not settle in one location, 12:57 but it is tent like living where they just go 12:59 wherever the party leads them until they run out of money. 13:05 In other words, man, he's just going to set up 13:07 a little something over here and Madison. 13:10 But then he finds out 13:11 that they sell 13:12 some good weed and Birmingham 13:14 and they go all the way down there 13:16 and then they realize they got some. 13:17 So nut freaks in Montgomery 13:19 and they go a little further down there 13:21 and then they realize they got real parties and mobile 13:25 and they go a little further down there 13:27 and the party is moving and progressing. 13:31 It is fluid and dynamic. 13:34 And somehow he winds up in Gulfport, Mississippi. 13:39 And notice the strange irony of saying 13:43 that as soon as he runs out of money, 13:48 the same time is when the famine comes 13:52 and notice this is where salvation arises 13:55 because the Bible says no one gave him 13:59 any pain. 14:02 I need you to understand 14:03 there are something good about family, 14:06 because famine doesn't just harm people. 14:09 It harms critters. 14:12 We all get that. 14:13 See, what famine does is it runs away the locusts 14:18 that destroy the harvests and see sometimes when you get 14:22 besides yourself, God is going to send a famine to run away. 14:28 Those that have just been leeching off of you 14:33 see, sometimes one of the greatest blessings of life 14:37 is when God shows you who your friends really are. 14:42 And can I say, because back then we'd be complaining 14:44 about being sheltered 14:45 and growing up in church and the hypocrites in church 14:47 and how people don't love you in the church. 14:48 What the story is teaching us is that 14:50 these Negroes in the world ain't got no love for you 14:53 at all. 14:57 Oh, they love you more in the world 14:58 than they love you in the church. 14:59 The devil is a liar. 15:01 Listen, I need you to know there ain't no concern in the world. 15:04 There is no joy in the love in the world. 15:07 There is no compassion for you in the why y'all here. 15:08 What I'm saying to you today, I mean, as soon as he stops 15:12 by rounds, they don't know him no more. 15:17 As soon 15:18 as he runs out of singles, the girls lose all they wiggle. 15:21 Are you all. Are y'all saying this? 15:23 The world says like they don't give him nothing 15:26 and say one of the things that God is going to do for you 15:29 in short order, because even some of your best is now 15:33 won't be your best, is there? 15:36 And that leaves, you know, God, God, God, see, God 15:40 works in everything and he hears the prayers 15:44 of praying parents. 15:45 Because I need you to know that some of us 15:47 will not get saved when it's pleasant. 15:53 We will only respond when it is so painful 15:57 that we cannot manage it anymore. 16:00 The Bible says nobody listen. 16:02 They won't even give him a Twinkie 16:06 like he can't get no change to go to the store 16:10 like they won't even point him to the homeless center. 16:13 So much so that he winds up living with a stranger 16:16 that raises kids. 16:18 And the stranger is so cold 16:20 that he doesn't let him eat in the house. 16:21 He makes them eat whatever the kids have to eat. 16:27 And the Bible says that 16:28 he gets so desperate, I don't catch on this. 16:31 The word says he gets so desperate like here, so hungry. 16:35 Listen, he had not known hunger before, but now he's so hungry 16:41 that the world says he would have gladly 16:45 got down in 16:46 the slop bucket with the pigs 16:50 and what they ate. 16:52 Understand, as a young Jewish boy, 16:55 a pig would have been off limits. 16:58 But he is below rock. 16:59 But he's below the rocks. 17:01 Because not only is he willing to eat 17:02 the pig, he's willing to eat with the pigs. 17:08 But the Bible says Class of 24, thank God he came to himself. 17:16 And the Bible says that he thought he 17:18 I mean, it expresses this train of thought. 17:20 He says, man, how many of the servants, 17:22 man, have food enough to spare? 17:24 And here I am, perishing with hunger. 17:26 He realizes that man, what he was that shelter 17:30 that he despised was actually keeping him from pains 17:34 and hurts and iniquities, that he had no appetite for. 17:39 And it's funny 17:40 because now he has drifted all the way into the far country 17:44 and he decides to kind of pick himself up 17:45 and clean himself off. 17:47 And that's why he decides to go back to his father's house. 17:51 But I need you to understand that. Guess what? 17:53 All the dirt he did along the way to the far country, 17:57 guess what? He's got to take that same road 18:00 back to his father's house. 18:03 He's got to pass by all those folk 18:04 he did dirty on the way. 18:06 He's got to pass by all those folk 18:07 that he thumbed his nose at. 18:09 He's got to pass by all those folk 18:11 that he looked down upon 18:12 while he had plenty of money, friends, and success. 18:15 And can I suggest this? 18:16 Be careful how you handle success, 18:18 because those same people you step on on the way up, 18:24 you're going to have to see 18:25 those same folk when life chops you back down to size 18:29 and might tell them 18:30 the truth, that success has a cyclical nature to it. 18:33 You will always be on top. 18:35 You will always be the man. 18:37 You better show kindness and respect 18:40 and courtesy to folk you think you don't need 18:44 because they're truth and you never know who you go. Need 18:48 are you hear what I'm saying? 18:51 You never know who you're going to need. 18:53 And it's funny because man, I need you to know 18:55 it is providential 18:56 that the word 18:57 says that as he comes there upon the edge of the city 19:01 and he comes 19:02 upon the edge of the house, how many of us know that it is 19:04 no coincidence that the father just happened 19:08 to be out there at the time that the sun 19:11 happened to be coming and see friends? 19:12 I don't believe that this is an accident. 19:15 I just believe that the Father which represents 19:17 our God, goes out to the ends of the gates 19:21 and spends a little time looking every day 19:24 just with the hope and prayer 19:26 that one day the son might come back home. 19:30 And do you see the strange intertwining of fears? 19:32 The father's fear is that the son won't come back home. 19:36 The son's fear is that the father won't accept him. 19:39 But the. See, I need you to know this. 19:41 There's a nature of saying it's not only the saying. 19:43 Get you caught up saying Well, then try to convince you 19:46 that you've done too much to go back to the father. 19:49 But I need you to know that even when you stray, 19:51 when you mess up, 19:52 I need you to know that 19:53 the father is there at the edge of the gate, 19:57 like Motel six. 19:58 He'll leave the light on for you 20:00 so that whenever you get ready to come home. 20:03 Oh, God, whenever you turn around, 20:06 the door is still open and notice. 20:10 Friends, that when he comes, he is stinky and he is smelly. 20:15 And I can see the boy in my mind's eye 20:16 as he tries to knock the dust off his shoulder 20:19 and he tries to shine his shoes and he tries to fix himself up. 20:23 See, I need you to know that he cannot clean himself up. 20:26 He cannot fix himself. 20:28 He cannot wash himself. 20:30 I deserve to know. 20:31 The father has a robe 20:34 that can cover his filth 20:36 so he cannot clean himself up 20:40 to go to the father. 20:44 He can't make himself right before he gets home. 20:48 He's just got to go like he is 20:51 and let the father wash him and make him clean. 20:55 Can I say to somebody who's so busy trying to get right 20:59 before you go to the one who gets you right. 21:02 You've just got to go as you are and let the Lord clean you up. 21:08 Now watch this. 21:09 There is a detail that we often run past 21:14 and we treat it like it's no big deal when the father sees him 21:16 a way off, the father sees him a way off. 21:23 And did you notice that the father doesn't 21:26 wait for the son? 21:30 The daddy doesn't wait for the son to come to him. 21:35 But the Bible says that the daddy breaks stride 21:39 and starts running toward his little son. 21:43 Anybody? 21:45 Faith, hope that God can wait for you to get to him. 21:49 But I can praise him that wow we were yet centers. 21:55 Christ died for the ungodly. 21:58 When I just made one step toward him, 22:01 the Spirit started racing toward me. 22:04 He didn't wait for you to get to him. 22:07 He made you right where you are. 22:09 And watch this. 22:10 The Bible says that that that according 22:13 to the Lord, you know what should have happened to the boy 22:17 when the other 22:18 servants see the rebellious son? 22:23 You know what the servant started doing? 22:25 They start getting rocks in. 22:27 They pockets and they start getting stones in their hands 22:31 so that as soon as the boy walks through the gates, 22:36 they go stark killing him and stoning him with stones. 22:41 But that's why the Bible says 22:43 that when the father sees him, 22:46 he falls on his neck. 22:52 He throws himself on the boy 22:56 so that if somebody cast the stone, 23:00 it would hit the boy. 23:02 But the punishment will land on the father. 23:05 Is there anybody time for the day 23:08 that when you should have been dead, 23:11 should have been killed, you should have been separated, 23:15 that your father, Jesus, 23:18 fell on your neck, 23:20 cover jail, took your punishment, 23:24 died so damn, so that 23:27 you and I might be saying 23:31 hallelujah, 23:34 hallelujah, 23:35 hallelujah. 23:38 So I need you to know that when you're saying I know this. 23:42 I didn't say if 23:44 I said when that the door is open 23:49 and you can quickly come back home 23:51 and notice that the daddy don't ask no questions. 23:54 You don't say where you been? 23:57 He don't say, Where's the money I gave you? 24:00 He didn't say why it took you so long to get home. 24:04 He just said, Let's party, let's do our celebration. 24:08 Because my son, which was dead, is now alive. 24:12 The watch was bound. 24:13 It's now set free. 24:15 I need you to know that he regrets the shelter 24:20 that the son left behind and say, 24:23 I just need somebody to know 24:25 that as you make this transition into life, 24:29 as you move into the adult experience, 24:32 I don't want you to feel like you've got to go 24:36 to the foreign country to see how good God is. 24:41 Just taste and see 24:44 that the Lord is good. 24:46 Blessed is the man who trusted him. 24:49 When your soul is satisfied in God, 24:53 you have no need to taste anything else. 24:57 So class of 2024, 24:59 you've been raised the right way. 25:03 Your Christian education 25:06 did not put you at a disadvantage. 25:09 You actually are a son or daughter of privilege, 25:12 but don't get so busy trying to imitate 25:16 what they have, 25:19 not realizing that they're on the other side, wishing 25:22 they had what you had. 25:26 And don't get so busy 25:30 trying to walk in copied steps 25:33 that you feel realized, fail to realize 25:35 you have ordered steps. 25:40 Don't get so busy 25:41 worried about the fact that you went to an HBCU. 25:44 Ah h b c h s 25:49 yeah. H s 25:52 No, no. 25:53 You've been in a cocoon where there is love 25:55 and compassion and care 25:59 and you will never meet teachers that love you. 26:00 Like the one sitting right here 26:02 on these rolls, right over here. 26:08 Listen, my time is up. 26:09 Instead of complaining that you've been sheltered, 26:13 I need you to thank God for your life's journey 26:16 and realize it's going to come a day 26:18 where you think God, you've been shot. 26:21 Hello, I'm Pastor Snell. 26:25 Speaker, Director for The Breath of Life Television Ministry. 26:28 This ministry was established to take the gospel of Jesus 26:30 Christ throughout North America and across the globe. 26:35 My goal is to make 26:36 Jesus Christ known through the preaching of the Word. 26:41 I need you to know that we need your financial partnership 26:45 in order to make sure that the Gospel can go into every hill, 26:50 into every rural county, and into every inner city. 26:54 And we can only take the gospel as far as the gifts 26:57 that you lend to us. 26:59 We thank you for your financial partnership in the past, 27:02 and I'm asking 27:03 that you will continue to be a financial partner 27:07 with this ministry going forward. 27:09 Here are some ways you can give 27:11 you can give online at our website 27:14 at www.breathoflife.tv 27:17 you can send your gift by mail to Breath of Life. 27:20 P.O. 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Revised 2024-09-11