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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000144S
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00:05 #S075 - “Able & Willing” (Part 1)
00:20 Luke, chapter five and verse 12. 00:22 When you get there, just stay past the room there. 00:25 Luke Chapter five and verse number 12. 00:29 All right. 00:31 The Bible says, and it happened 00:34 when he was in a certain city 00:36 that behold a man who was full of what 00:41 a man who is full of leprosy 00:43 saw Jesus and fell on his face 00:47 and implored him, say, Lord, 00:50 if you are willing, 00:53 you can make me clean. 00:56 Then he put out his hand and touched him, saying, 01:01 I am willing be cleansed. 01:05 Immediate. 01:06 The leprosy left him and he charged him to tell no one 01:11 but go and show yourself to the priest 01:14 and make an offering for your cleansing 01:17 as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded. 01:21 However, the report went around concerning him all the more 01:26 and great multitudes came together to hear 01:28 and be healed by him of their infirmities. 01:31 So he himself often did what 01:34 withdrew into the wilderness, and he prayed again. 01:38 I'm going to read for emphasis, verse number 12. 01:42 And it happened when he entered into the city 01:44 that behold a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus 01:48 and he fell on his face and implored him, say, 01:51 Lord, if you are willing, 01:55 you can make me clean today's saints for just a little while. 01:59 I'm going to talk to you under the subject. 02:02 He's able and willing. 02:05 He's able and he's willing. 02:07 Let us pray together. 02:09 Father, 02:11 in this little while, 02:14 would you please say much? 02:18 Father, I pray that the same way 02:20 you multiply the fishes and the loaves and you feed 02:24 everyone so much, so that there was some left over. 02:29 Would you take the little that I am and the little that I have? 02:32 I put it in your hands 02:34 and I pray that you wouldn't multiply it and stretch it 02:38 so that the body would be sufficiently fed. 02:41 So, Lord, would you please hide me in the shadows of the cross 02:44 that Jesus alone might be seen, that Christ alone 02:48 would be heard? 02:49 And at the end of our time together, let Jesus alone 02:52 be Priest, bless us. 02:53 To this end, we ask, and the one to full name of Jesus. 02:58 Let those that believe say together. 03:00 Amen. 03:01 Any man you may be seated in the House of the Lord 03:06 again, talking to you 03:06 under the subject, able 03:11 and willing. 03:20 You know, friends, one of the more difficult things 03:24 to ascertain in any season 03:29 is God's willingness 03:31 to do a particular thing. 03:35 Most of us ask of God with the conviction 03:39 that God is able, but sometimes we're somewhat uncertain 03:45 as to whether or not God is willing 03:49 so that we know God is able to heal. 03:53 But we're not always sure that he's willing to heal. 03:57 We know God is able to open the door, 04:00 but we're not always certain 04:02 that it is His will for the door to be opened. 04:06 We know God is able to make certain things stop, 04:09 but we're not always 04:10 sure that it is His will for certain things to stop. 04:14 And one of the things I've come to know 04:17 is that certain outcomes are not determined 04:20 just by how much faith you have when you ask, 04:25 but whether or not what you ask for is in harmony with God's 04:29 perfect will. 04:30 In fact, that's why first John 514 says 04:34 this is the confidence that we have, that whatever 04:38 we ask, according to his will, we know that he here is us. 04:44 And the truth is, friends, that I prayed for some loved ones 04:48 and it was his will for them to get better and be healed. 04:51 And I prayed for other loved ones 04:53 and it was his will for them to take their rest. 04:57 I prayed at times for things to work out in a certain way, 05:01 and God did more than what I could have ever hoped. 05:05 But then there were times I prayed it would go that way 05:07 and it went in the opposite direction. 05:10 There were times where I prayed that things would happen 05:13 in a certain timeframe 05:14 and God moved even faster than my schedule. 05:19 And then there are things I prayed for that I am waiting 05:21 for to this day to come to pass. 05:25 And friends, what I've come to believe is that your faith 05:28 cannot be tethered to a particular outcome. 05:32 In other words, I'm at a point 05:34 where I'm no longer saying, I'm trusting God for a car. 05:38 I'm not trusting God for a house. 05:41 I'm not trusting God for a job. 05:44 I'm not trusting God for promotion. 05:46 I'm gone done 05:47 trusting God for things and I'm just trusting God. 05:51 Y'all now hear me today. 05:53 In other words, I'm not just trusting God for a thing. 05:56 I'm just trusting God no matter the outcome. 05:59 And see how many of us understand 06:01 that faith is absolute trust in the belief 06:05 that God does all things well 06:09 and He makes all things beautiful in his own time. 06:12 And see, the truth is that real faith does not choose 06:15 a particular path. 06:17 Real faith does not regress that path. 06:20 Real faith 06:21 comes to God and says, In all my ways, I'll acknowledge 06:24 you and I'll trust you to direct my path. 06:28 Let me say it this way. 06:29 Often times I travel, 06:31 and often times I am dependent on my G.P.S. 06:36 But how many of us know that when you put in the destination, 06:39 I never tell the G.P.S. 06:41 which way I want to go. 06:43 I never suggest a route to the GPS. 06:47 I just put in the address, 06:48 and it gives me all the possible routes I should take. 06:52 And guess what? 06:54 I simply choose the one that comes most highly recommend it 06:59 because I trust that the GPS looks from on high seas 07:02 down West Low and it knows which route is best for me 07:07 and how many of us know that if you can trust a G.P.S., 07:10 then you should be able to 07:11 trust the g0d because he sits up high, 07:16 he looks down low, 07:18 he knows the end from the beginning, and he knows 07:21 which way you should take nature and say, man. 07:25 And so if you don't mind, go with me. 07:27 Back to Luke, chapter five and verse 16. 07:30 We will be in the good book today. 07:32 Is that all right, Blue? 07:33 Chapter five and verse 16. 07:35 I just want to just put a quick bug in your ear 07:38 before I get back to the meat of the word Luke. 07:40 Five In verse 16, when you get to a limit, you say, man, 07:43 so the Bible says so he himself often 07:47 withdrew into the wilderness and he watched. 07:52 The more people withdraw from you, 07:55 the more you've got to withdraw from people 07:58 so that you can be refueled and read the by the maker. 08:01 Are you hear me today? 08:03 Now remember Church, you got to be mindful 08:07 that the life of Jesus was one of constant 08:10 giving from the time he was first spotted in the day 08:15 his body vessel would be tilted like a liquid pitcher 08:20 where Jesus was constantly 08:21 pouring into everybody he came in contact with 08:27 so that Jesus would be pouring into His disciples. 08:30 He would be pouring into the masses. 08:33 He would be pouring into the afflicted. 08:36 And even when Jesus walked through a crowd, 08:40 people would pour and grope on him 08:42 because they were constantly making withdrawals 08:45 from the Savior and understand friends that even 08:48 though Jesus was God, 08:52 the Incarnation created a hybrid, 08:56 and that even though He was 100% God, 08:59 how many of us realized that he was 100% man 09:04 and because he was man, the man that Jesus would get tired 09:09 and the man Jesus would get hungry 09:12 and the man Jesus could be overwhelmed. 09:15 And the man Jesus could have enough. 09:18 And if Jesus did not withdraw in order to get fueled by God, 09:24 He would not have enough to make it to the end of each day. 09:28 And the thing I think is not worthy to document. 09:31 Has anybody noticed that the man Jesus 09:34 had no advance over us so that the same place 09:38 Jesus went to get fuel is the same place 09:41 we got to go to get fuel the same way Jesus got 09:45 shrimp is the same place we go to get shrimp 09:49 and see what allow Jesus to thrive in public space 09:54 was because he was connected to God in private space 09:58 as he. 10:00 Friends, I need you to be clear that while here on Earth, 10:03 Jesus modeled two very critical disciplines. 10:06 First, he modeled the discipline of prayer full 10:09 and complete dependance on his father. 10:13 And the other thing Jesus modeled was the discipline 10:15 of ceasing his labors and getting necessary rest. 10:19 Are you with me today? 10:20 Church As he sometimes what we do is we invert 10:24 the order in terms of importance because what we sometimes do 10:30 is we treat rest as a reward for a job or a task complete it. 10:36 In other words, we operate with the belief 10:39 that I can't rest or settle down until the job gets done. 10:44 But how many of us know that if you don't rest, the job 10:46 won't ever get done or be completed? 10:49 There are times when we say, Man, I'm going to pray 10:52 as soon as things start settling down. 10:55 But the truth is, things 10:56 won't start settling down until you begin to pray. 11:01 And what I'm learning church and tell me if I'm lying is 11:04 that life never really slows down, life never eases up, 11:10 things never just fall into place 11:14 if you're still in work season, the truth is you're going to go 11:16 from tension to tension and stress to stress 11:21 and trial to trial and heavy to heavier 11:25 and sometimes the temptation is to complain about the load 11:29 we have to carry. 11:30 Sometimes we complain about how much is on our plate. 11:34 Sometimes we're 11:36 tempted to complain about how much we have to do and see. 11:39 The problem is not that God has given you too much. 11:44 The problem is that because we don't have 11:47 good rhythms, we don't have enough to give. 11:50 In other words, friends, I need somebody to know 11:53 is that God doesn't need to decrease your load. 11:57 You just need to let God increase your capacity. 12:01 In other words, through prayer, fullness 12:04 and consistent rest, what God will do is 12:07 give you the fuel and the capacity 12:11 to handle the load that has been assigned to you. 12:15 And how many of us know that your load ain't going nowhere? 12:19 And I preach. 12:20 Anybody that knows that your load 12:21 ain't going to get smaller, 12:23 your life is probably not going to get easier, 12:27 your situations are not going to get less complex, 12:30 but you just need to say, Lord, 12:31 I need you to enlarge my capacity 12:36 to handle what's in front of me. 12:39 And this is why your load isn't going to get smaller. 12:43 Because how many of us know that the size of your load 12:46 is commensurate with the answers to your prayers 12:50 and other words? 12:51 The size of your load 12:53 is because of the things that you prayed for. 12:55 All your acting brand new today. All right. 12:57 Do you realize that when you prayed for a spouse, 13:02 you were praying for more responsibility and work? 13:05 Y'all didn't know that today 13:06 when you prayed for God to give you kids, 13:10 you were praying for more stress and financial sorrow. 13:14 When you asked the Lord for all that house you need 13:18 ask asking for more house that need to be clean. 13:21 When you ask God to make you your own boss, 13:24 all you asked for was a whole lot of stress and overhead 13:28 that you had to take care of. 13:30 When you pray, Lord, make me like Jesus. 13:34 You are asking for a weight 13:38 that was bigger than when you were unlike Him. 13:40 Are you hear me today and see the thing I love about 13:44 Jesus is that Jesus did not let life stresses 13:49 interrupt his rhythms of prayer and his rhythms for rest. 13:53 So it didn't matter what was happening in Jesus life. 13:56 The Bible says that while it was before day that Jesus 14:00 would find a solitary place, and there He would pray. 14:05 In fact, Hebrews says the reason he was ready in the morning 14:08 is that he spent entire nights in prayer 14:11 so that he never allowed the stress to disrupt his rhythm. 14:16 Do you realize that Jesus was so consistent in his rest 14:19 that even when it was storming on the ship, 14:22 Jesus still decided to take a nap? 14:24 Y'all missed out on SAP. 14:26 In other words, never let stress disrupt your rhythm. 14:32 You got to let your rhythm disrupt your stress 14:36 so that if you've got a rhythm to your prayer life 14:40 and a rhythm to your rest life, it gives you the capacity 14:45 to disrupt the stresses that are overwhelming you. 14:48 And see, the thing I want to just say to somebody, 14:51 as we move into this mental health space, 14:54 I need somebody to know the most righteous thing 14:56 you can do, the most spiritual thing you can do. 15:01 The most holy thing some of us can do is commit 15:04 to 8 hours of sleep every day. 15:08 Oh, see? 15:09 See, the problem is, you don't see rest as righteous. 15:12 The truth is, you ought to do yourself a favor 15:14 and do us a favor 15:18 by getting enough rest to handle what you need to do. 15:23 I hear me today. 15:24 And if you can't, if you're like me 15:25 and you can't get 8 hours sleep straight, give you a 15 minute 15:30 power nap and it won't revive your soul. 15:34 And what I'm saying is, we've got to commit to certain 15:36 rhythms. You've got to get enough sleep. 15:38 Can you say, man, you've got to develop a hobby? 15:41 Can you say, man, 15:42 you've got to take a Sabbath from your device? 15:45 Oh, you all go get married, you hear me today? 15:48 Take a Sabbath from your devices and you've got to take a 15:52 Sabbath day to refuel. 15:53 And the thing I need somebody to see today is that rest is not 15:57 lazy, rest is righteous, 16:01 rest is spiritual, rest is holy. 16:05 Rest is how God designed us to complete our task. 16:08 Are you are hearing me today? 16:10 I see one of the things I need to kind of pause 16:12 and say is because, man, 16:14 I've kind of spoken Aaron Lee already, 16:16 because what I've done is I've talked about rest and prayer 16:21 as if there are two separate activities 16:26 since I talked about it, 16:27 as if you got rest on one hand and prayer on another hand. 16:32 But how many of us know 16:33 that rest and prayer are not two separate things? 16:37 Rest and prayer are the exact same thing. 16:41 See what some of us have failed to realize? 16:43 That prayer is how Christians find rest. 16:48 Oh, Lord. 16:49 Oh, God, 16:51 I can't hear what I'm saying today. 16:52 Friends in other words, 16:53 I need you to kind of look at it. 16:55 And I've always seen this as a bad thing, 16:58 because the truth is that I can't rest 17:01 as long as I'm looking at my phone. 17:03 I can't rest as long as I'm looking at TV. 17:06 I can't rest as long as I'm on a device. 17:09 But as soon as I get ready to pray, 17:12 all the 17:14 oh, I automatically fall asleep. 17:17 And I always saw it as a negative thing. 17:20 But the truth is that as long as your mind is fixed on 17:23 other things, you will never be able to find rest. 17:27 But when you get your mind state on Jesus, it's 17:31 when you're finally able to settle and find your solace 17:35 in the Lord Jesus. 17:36 I hear me today, friends, 17:37 and that's why you've got to take a look 17:39 at how it is that God introduces himself in the Scripture. 17:44 In Psalm 46, He says, God is our refuge 17:47 and our strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. 17:51 And first, Peter, five eight 17:52 he says, cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. 17:58 Jesus has come ye all who labor and our heavy laden 18:02 and I will give you rest. 18:06 In other words, 18:07 God is saying saints that I want to be your rest. 18:12 I want to be your retreat, I want to be your solace. 18:16 I want to be your peace. 18:19 And the way to get that peace 18:21 is through the portal of prayer, fullness. 18:24 And see, one of the things that we've got to do, 18:26 Francis, is we got to move away from counterfeit rest. 18:30 See, there are some things I've learned this this week, Dr. 18:33 Tyner, Nixon laid it out that there are some things 18:35 that we do to wine down that actually wind us up, 18:40 see how many of us know friends of mine 18:42 it's got some will say man I risk using social media 18:46 social media don't help you rest. 18:48 In fact, studies 18:49 show that when you scroll, it actually increases 18:52 the rate of your heartbeat and it inflames your jealousy. 18:57 As you look at everybody's life that's fake and perfect online. 19:00 Come on. And same in today. 19:02 And other words, you can't rest by watching television 19:07 because the TV puts thoughts in your mind 19:10 that you're still processing while you're still sleep. 19:13 Young people, you can't rest by playing video games 19:16 because the imaging and the stimulation 19:19 has your brain working at such a pace 19:21 that you've got to settle down even after you're done playing. 19:25 And what I'm saying 19:26 that somebody is that we've got to stop appraising 19:29 counterfeit rest 19:30 and realize that our real rest is in Jesus Christ. 19:36 And see, 19:36 we got to develop the rhythm of prayer 19:38 and we've got to develop the rhythm of rest. 19:41 And when you develop both rhythms, 19:43 God creates hybrid sources that enable you 19:46 to finish the race that God has given you to run. 19:50 But you got to be strong, not just in one or the other. 19:54 You got to be strong in the secret place 19:57 and you got to be strong in the rest place. 19:59 Are y'all hear me today? 20:01 It's just kind of like this. 20:01 I remember I was going to preach 20:05 as the Bible would put it, in a certain place, 20:07 and that's my host. 20:09 Pick me up, Malcolm, from the thing 20:12 we got inside of the car 20:13 and he told me we had about a 20:14 two and a half hour drive where we were trying to go. 20:18 And so as we were getting ready to go, we're 20:19 moving down this country road. 20:21 And I'm one of those brothers, has a bad habit. 20:23 I don't like it. 20:24 I just happened to look over at his gas gauge 20:27 and I noticed that we were almost out of gas 20:30 and we got two and a half hours left to go. 20:32 And then we passed by this one gas station 20:35 on this country road called Last Stop Gas Station. 20:39 In other words, they're saying that 20:41 you after you pass us a no gas, nowhere close by. 20:46 And so, man, my eyes are as big as plates 20:49 because he goes 20:50 past the gas station and his gas needle is already on E! 20:55 And so I'm trying to be cool and stay in my lane 20:58 because I don't want to be that guy that's a backseat driver. 21:00 I swore I would not be that guy, 21:02 but I'm peaking over and the gas tank 21:04 is getting lower and lower 21:06 and eventually he puts a big smile on his face 21:10 and he says, Pastor, I see that you're worried 21:11 about the gas detail. 21:12 But then he reminded me, he says, Pastor, this is a 21:16 hybrid automobile built in other words, it's a hybrid. 21:22 So it runs by gas and it runs by battery. 21:24 All y'all not hear me? 21:26 So he says, I had a full tank and I had a full battery, 21:31 so that even though the gas is going out, 21:34 I got enough battery to make it the rest of the way. 21:37 And how many of us know that we are hybrid vehicles? 21:41 You got to have a full tank and a full rest 21:44 tank so that you can run the race 21:49 that God has put in front of you. 21:50 Are you hearing me today, friends? 21:53 Second thing this text teaches us about love, 21:55 it is that you can't put your desire for privacy 22:00 above your desire for wholeness. 22:04 See, friends of all 22:08 the ancient diseases of the East, 22:12 leprosy was the worst one. 22:15 Leprosy was irreversible and curable. 22:19 In fact, they actually called it the stroke 22:22 or the finger of God, for they believe leprosy was God's 22:26 judgment upon the immoral of that particular time. 22:31 And once somebody was diagnosed with leprosy, they had to 22:34 maintain social distancing and they had to out themselves 22:38 to the community by declaring themselves to be unclean. 22:43 And see. 22:44 The thing about leprosy is it created a separation 22:47 from the community because once it reached a certain point, 22:52 you were sentenced to a lepers colony 22:55 where you would ultimately die without the support of company 22:58 and friends. 23:00 And see the thing I need you to get about leprosy is that 23:03 it had three very difficult stages to it seemed. 23:07 Most people believe that leprosy was a skin disorder. 23:10 That's not what it was. 23:11 It was actually an attack 23:13 on the nerve trunks that showed up on the skin 23:17 and said, the thing about leprosy 23:19 is that the first dangerous phase was a phase of denial. 23:24 What do you mean when you say that, Pastor? 23:26 Because it showed up on the skin, 23:29 sometimes a leper would get into this delusional place 23:33 of denial 23:34 because the assumption was these early scales are rashes, 23:40 was maybe a form of psoriasis, or they hope that maybe it was a 23:44 rash, or some would assume that maybe it was shingles. 23:48 And even though it was clear they had the disease, 23:51 they operated 23:52 in a state of desire, hoping that it would get better. 23:57 But then number two, they would go into a phase of covering 24:01 because as it became more progressive, 24:04 a leper would wear longer sleeves and get more garments, 24:08 and they would keep people at a distance because at a point 24:12 you spent more time not fighting the disease, 24:15 but fighting other people's perceptions. 24:18 And then the third phase was this false phase of pretending 24:22 while your very life was falling apart. 24:25 So what happened is once you got full of leprosy 24:28 and the nerve tracks were damaged, 24:30 your extremities would literally fall out 24:35 without you knowing it. 24:37 So you would reach out to grab hold of an orange 24:40 and fingers would fall off. 24:41 Teeth would come out of your mouth 24:43 without you knowing toes when they got dragged 24:47 or be left behind, 24:48 sometimes the nose would literally fall off of your face. 24:53 And the crazy thing about a leper that was in covering 24:55 face is they would walk around trying to hold things together 25:01 while everything was literally falling apart 25:04 and see. 25:05 The most painful thing about leprosy, my friends, 25:09 is the stigma that was attached to it. 25:13 What made it worse was that folk perceived 25:14 you as under divine censure and judgment. 25:19 In other words, you had done something wrong 25:22 in order to incur this particular type of wrath. 25:26 And so if you had leprosy friends, you will not share 25:29 your pain with anybody because of the stigma. 25:33 You had to keep the issue to yourself. 25:36 Because of your stigma, you had to suffer in silence. 25:39 Because of the stigma. 25:41 In fact, one of the goals of a leper 25:44 would simply be to disappear and die with dignity 25:50 and see friends. 25:51 One of the things I'm come becoming to believe 25:54 is that sometimes in church community 25:58 that sometimes we create spiritual lepers in our time 26:03 because we apply stigmas to things 26:07 that are just the common course of human experience. 26:11 It's crazy. 26:12 I'm quite literally says that once 26:14 the man passes out in public and he shows up to Jesus, 26:19 the folk literally fall back in horror. 26:22 But the one thing I like about this man 26:25 is that he prioritized His Holiness 26:28 more than he prioritizes privacy. Hmm. 26:33 In other words, at least he was willing to say, I need help. 26:37 At least he was willing to admit something was wrong. 26:41 At least he was willing to go in public to the one 26:45 who was able to make his issue. 26:48 Well, are you hearing me today, friends? 26:50 And see what I'm saying today, beloved, 26:51 is that there are some among us that are like lepers, 26:55 because we have agreed to the lies of culture, 26:59 that there is a stigma attached to our particular struggle. 27:03 What we literally do is we suffer in silence. 27:06 We will literally try to die with dignity. 27:09 We will allow ourselves to displace, 27:11 be displaced from community 27:13 simply because we have so much pride 27:16 that we don't want folks to know 27:17 that we're struggling with something. 27:20 Thank you for joining us for The Breath of Life 27:24 Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell. 27:27 We hope and pray that you have been blessed 27:30 by this powerful message. 27:32 Join us next week for part two of “Able and Willing.” 27:37 You don't want to miss 27:38 it! |
Revised 2024-10-29