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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000149S
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00:05 #S077 - “False Advertising” (Part 2)
00:19 Welcome to The Breath of Life 00:21 television miniseries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell. 00:26 in today's episode. 00:27 Pastor Snell will continue 00:29 part two of the powerful message “False Advertising”. 00:34 Now let's go deeper into the word of God. 00:37 You see, there is a difference, friends, 00:39 between the gifts of the spirit 00:42 and the fruit of the spirit. 00:45 And see, there is some in the body of Christ 00:48 that have great demonstration of the gifts of the Spirit. 00:51 There are some folk here 00:52 at Oakwood that can sing you underneath the table. 00:57 There are some that can treat you into a frenzy. 01:00 There are some that have theological knowledge 01:03 that would suggest that they know God. 01:05 There's some 01:06 that dress with a modesty that suggests true piety. 01:10 There are some 01:11 that can smile as if they got the Holy Ghost inside. 01:15 But where we get messed up is we sometimes confuse 01:19 the gifts of the spirit with the fruit of the Spirit. 01:23 And Jesus made it clear 01:25 that if you want to know the character of the tree, 01:29 don't necessarily look at what it says. 01:32 Don't look at what it demonstrates. 01:35 If you want to know what kind of tree it is, 01:37 you've got to look at the fruit that it bears. 01:40 And it's funny phrase, because there is an interesting 01:42 contradiction sometimes in church life, 01:46 because this is the crazy thing that Jesus does, is that Jesus 01:49 gives spiritual gifts sometimes to un spiritual people. 01:55 Okay, see, this is why you cannot always 01:58 access these and begin to assess it from a distance. 02:03 Because Paul literally 02:04 says, Mark, that he says, I've got to beat my body 02:08 and I've got to make it my slave. 02:11 Less after I've preached to others, 02:14 I myself become a cast away. 02:18 Because how many of us know that it is possible 02:21 for the Spirit of God to flow to you 02:24 and not live inside of you? 02:26 In other words, it is the same way 02:29 that the Bible says the Spirit of the Lord. 02:32 What come upon Sam said, and he would do great exploits 02:37 while he was still laying up with prostitutes 02:39 and being a bad buddy with Delilah. 02:42 Are you hearing me today? 02:43 The same way 02:45 that the Spirit was with David and he would still win wars 02:50 after he first began his adultery with Bathsheba? 02:53 Paul says that Satan is able 02:55 to transform himself into an angel of light, 03:01 even while Jesus calls him the prince of Darkness. 03:05 In other words, it's possible for the Spirit to flow through 03:07 you and not live in you. 03:09 In fact, let me say it this way. 03:11 For some of us, our bodies are not a spiritual house. 03:15 Our bodies are a spiritual hotel. 03:18 In other words, it 03:19 is not a place where the spirit lives. 03:22 It's just a place. 03:23 The spirit comes and it goes. 03:26 It visits while we minister, while we preach 03:29 or while we sing. 03:30 But as soon as the 03:31 benediction is gone, the Holy Ghost says goodbye. 03:36 I see friends of mine. 03:37 This is the crazy thing about Jesus. 03:39 Because Jesus doesn't repossess your gifts 03:44 when Satan possesses your character 03:47 so that everybody that can sing and saved 03:51 everybody that can preach ain't practicing it. 03:55 You can be modest and still be me. 03:59 And don't confuse the prosperity that your gifts 04:02 bring as an endorsement of the way that you are living. 04:06 Because just because it's going well doesn't 04:09 mean that it is well with your soul. 04:13 You are here in the past. So today I see. 04:14 This is what I need somebody to fundamentally embrace. 04:17 Is this is that God? 04:19 God says even when you don't serve me authentically, 04:24 I'll still let you hold on to your gifts. 04:26 And see, I'm trying to wrestle 04:28 with this thing for the Perry, cause 04:29 I'm trying to figure out how is it 04:30 that God will let us hold on to the gifts, 04:34 even when we don't use them as we should? 04:36 And the reason God lets you hold on to the gift 04:39 is because grace never gives up. 04:44 In other words, the grace of God 04:46 is able to see a day that you can't see. 04:50 The grace of God is able to see a shift coming 04:54 that we cannot perceive. 04:55 The grace of God is able to see a change 04:59 that your coworkers or friends cannot notarize. 05:02 In other words, Grace is able to see a day 05:05 when you turn your life toward him. 05:08 And so God doesn't say, I'll wait till you change 05:11 to start loading my gifts. 05:13 He says, I'm going to give you the gifts in anticipation 05:17 of the day that you turn your life around 05:21 and give your gifts to me and use them for my glory. 05:25 In other words, your gifts are a deposit. 05:28 Your gifts are the proof. 05:29 Your gifts are the evidence that he's not giving up on you. 05:34 He's leaving the light on you. 05:36 He's holding the door open for you. 05:39 And is there anybody grateful that the grace of God 05:42 is still extended to all his children? 05:46 Can anybody praise him that He has not turn the light off, 05:50 that he has not closed the door, that he has not repossessed 05:53 the gifts, 05:55 but he left them to you and said, hold on to them 05:59 until you turn them back over to me. 06:02 Are you here in the word today church? 06:04 Third thing this teaches us is that fruit 06:07 trees are not planted for decoration. 06:11 Their planet for sustenance. 06:15 Now, this is an anomaly of sorts 06:17 because notice that the Bible says 06:20 Jesus doesn't find this tree in a garden. 06:25 He finds this tree by the roadside 06:29 and understand, friends that fruit trees, 06:31 they have not random. They don't just pop 06:33 up, incidentally, fruit trees specifically. 06:37 They literally are planted with intentionality 06:40 and purpose and direction. 06:43 In fact, the Bible says that this tree is planted 06:46 by the roadside on the outskirts of the city. 06:50 And so what they would do 06:51 in ancient times is city leaders and alderman, 06:55 they would contract with the landscapers of the day. 06:58 And so when you came upon a city, 07:02 they would plant fruit trees on the entrance and on the exit. 07:06 And the reason they planted it was twofold. 07:09 They would feel the road with fruit trees on both sides, one, 07:13 because it provided a great esthetic 07:15 as you entered into the city. 07:17 But the main reason they planted trees 07:20 as you entered in is so when folk came from long journeys 07:25 and they were wearied by their travels, 07:27 or whether they were 07:28 beginning a long journey, there would be fruit or food 07:32 that would feed and replenish and nourish and strengthen 07:36 those that had come from a long journey. 07:40 In other words, friends, these trees 07:43 were not planted for decoration. 07:46 They were planted so they could feed somebody. 07:50 These trees were planted so they could help somebody. 07:56 These trees were planted so they could serve somebody. 08:00 And see, I need us to understand the reason 08:04 that Jesus is upset, that it does not bear fruit. 08:08 Is that because it has nothing to give? 08:11 Those who are supposed to be served are going to perish 08:16 because it's pretending but not putting out. 08:21 And see, one of the things I want to say to us, church. 08:24 And I want all of my students to hear me as I declare this. 08:27 I need you to be clear that you enter here to learn. 08:32 But you depart to what? 08:34 To serve. 08:35 And I need you to know that each and every one of us 08:38 was established by God to bear 08:41 fruit and say, I need us to get this truth 08:45 that God has not called us for declaration. 08:49 God has called us to serve and feed somebody else. 08:53 And see, 08:55 this is the principle that we've got to all completely embrace. 08:58 I need us to recognize this fact, friends of mine, 09:01 that your life is not just the result of biology, 09:05 but I need you to know that your life was established 09:08 by God to bring glory to Himself through a life of service. 09:14 In other words, friends, your life was supposed 09:16 to be lived as a solution to somebodies problem. 09:23 I see. The problem with too 09:24 many of us is we're focused exclusively on esthetics. 09:28 We're worried only about building an empire. 09:31 Our focus is only about getting rich. 09:34 The issue is that we are the center of our own orbit. 09:37 But God has not called or raised us up 09:40 just to be decorators of a church pew. 09:43 God has actually called us and positioned us to bear fruit 09:47 so that we can replenish the the downcast, so that we can 09:50 nourish the weary, so that we can revive the weak. 09:55 In other words, friends, you have not been called to live 09:58 as a collector. 10:01 You've been called to live as a conduit 10:04 through which the blessings of God flow to all men are. 10:07 Y'all hear me today, church? 10:09 In other words, friends of mine. 10:10 I need you to stop saying even stuff about church. 10:15 Like saying I come to church to get fed. 10:19 No, no, no, no, no. 10:20 You should have been eating all week long. 10:24 Are you hear what I'm saying? 10:26 You don't come to get fed. 10:27 You come to be equipped 10:29 so that you can leave and go feed somebody else. 10:32 I hear what I'm saying. 10:33 In other words, you don't come to get fed 10:36 because the pastor is not a nanny. 10:38 The pastor is a shepherd. 10:40 And how many of us know that shepherd 10:43 don't spoon feed the sheep. 10:44 The shepherd just lead them to grassy tables 10:48 so that the sheep are able to feed themselves. 10:52 Are y'all here with the pastor saying today? 10:53 In other words, it doesn't matter how much you eat today. 10:57 If you don't eat again 10:58 the next Sabbath, you're going to be starving. 11:00 Now y'all hear what I'm saying? 11:02 You better pick up that Bible on Tuesday. 11:05 Pick up that word on Wednesday. 11:08 You better learn how to praise God when there ain't no 11:11 praise team. 11:13 You better 11:14 learn how to worship when there ain't no organ. 11:17 You better learn how to testify when there ain't no Amos. 11:21 See, I need you to know that some of us 11:23 just know how to perform. 11:24 But we've never learned how to worship. 11:28 Because worship takes place without an audience. 11:31 Worship takes place because God is good. 11:33 Worship is the result 11:34 of reflecting upon a God who does all things well. 11:39 In other words, when you know God has been good to you, 11:42 you don't need nobody to make you say, man, 11:45 ain't nobody got to force you to shout Hallelujah. 11:48 You don't need the organ to pump you up. 11:50 You just wake up and save from the rising of the sun 11:54 to the going down of the same that the name of the Lord 11:57 is to be praised. 11:58 You don't need nobody to preach you happy 12:02 or to preach to encourage. 12:03 Do I have anybody like Dave in that can say I'll encourage 12:09 my self in the Lord? 12:13 In other words, some of us say I came to praise the Lord. 12:17 No, I don't come to praise the Lord. 12:20 I come with praise for the Lord. 12:23 No praise didn't start out 11. 12:26 Praise just overflowed when I got here and see, 12:29 I can tell those 12:31 who are still warming up cause you ain't getting done at home. 12:35 But do I have some worshipers that started early 12:38 in the morning 12:39 and you can testify that God has already been good 12:46 and you're already in the overflow. 12:50 Y'all here in the pastor today. 12:54 And see, I need us to understand this principle. 12:57 I'm going to share this quote with you from desire ages. 12:58 I'm almost done. 13:00 So I need you to see this thing 13:01 because some of us walk around is that as we talk 13:03 about how we are commandment keeping people 13:07 but we miss the basic principles of service. 13:09 This eloquent desire of 8584 says 13:12 the running of the tree is for all time 13:15 Christ's act and cursing the tree 13:18 with its width with his own power has created. 13:21 It stands as a warning to all churches 13:24 and to all Christians. 13:25 No one can live the love of God 13:29 without ministering to others. 13:31 In other words, 13:32 stop talking about how you keep the commandments 13:34 if you don't serve nobody but yourself. 13:36 But there are many 13:38 who do not live out Christ's merciful and unselfish life. 13:42 Some who think themselves excellent Christians do not 13:45 understand what constitutes service for God. 13:48 They plan and study only 13:51 to please them selves. 13:57 They act only in reference to self. 14:00 Time is a value to them only as they can gather 14:03 for themselves and all of the affairs of life. 14:07 This is their object, not for others, but for themselves. 14:09 Do they, Minister? 14:10 God created them to live in a world 14:12 where unselfish service must be performed. 14:15 He designed them to help their fellow man 14:18 in every possible way. 14:19 But self is so large 14:24 that they 14:24 cannot see anything else. 14:28 The reason some of us can't even see 14:30 Christ is that our ego is blocking the way. 14:34 And what I'm saying to somebody today 14:36 is that you've got to stop thinking that you've done 14:41 your due diligence by sitting on the front row of service. 14:45 You have not done your reasonable act of worship 14:48 until there is some Sabbath, after the sun sets 14:52 and some service in between the weekends 14:54 and some service unto your fellow man. 14:58 I don't hear in the word today church. 15:00 This is crazy day. 15:02 Because one of the things about a tree, it is a great 15:05 demonstration of nature, because every thing in a tree 15:09 is designed to bless somebody else 15:11 from the top of the tree to the roots, 15:13 so that even the leaves of the tree help cleanse the air 15:18 and provide oxygen that the fruit of the tree 15:21 literally feeds those who are hungry 15:23 and are in need of replenishment. 15:24 And even the roots of a tree give back. 15:27 Do you realize that the roots of a tree 15:29 don't just sit there and consume the nutrients from the soil. 15:33 But when the roots of a tree get strong 15:36 and they begin to grow, what the roots begin to do 15:39 is they begin to nourish the soil. 15:41 It begins to break up hard soil. 15:44 It begins to a rate the soil. 15:47 In other words, even the roots don't just take it gives back. 15:50 And if you are a good tree, 15:53 you won't live as the center of your own orbit. 15:57 You live is a blessing to a larger world and community. 16:03 I argued with the pastor saying today 16:04 and it's funny because it's a lot of the things 16:06 I'm tripping about as I'm looking at this story, 16:08 I'm trying to figure out, 16:10 all right, how is it that a tree can develop strong roots? 16:13 How is it that it can grow tall? 16:16 How is it that it can have sturdy limbs? 16:20 How is it that it can have a whole bunch of leaves 16:24 and still have no fruit? 16:27 And so as I looked at this thing, 16:28 there were just a couple of things 16:29 that were actually like seven and ten, 16:30 but I'm only going to announce a couple of them. 16:32 You see, one of the reasons a tree is able to develop leaves 16:36 and no fruit 16:37 is it can do that if that tree has never been pruned. 16:43 In other words, one of the things that can happen 16:45 sometimes is a tree can experience what they call 16:48 overgrowth, where there is such an abundance of foils 16:53 and tree limbs that can actually blockade 16:58 and begin to be a hindrance to the fruitfulness of that tree. 17:02 Sometimes a tree can have such an abundance of limbs 17:06 that sometimes the limbs can become a rotted by termites, 17:11 and they can be stricken with pestilence and disease. 17:14 And see, sometimes the husband has to come through with pruning 17:18 shears and has got to cut away the access. 17:23 Okay, you are not looking at me. 17:25 Sometimes it's got to cut away some attachments. 17:29 Sometimes it's got to separate some connections. 17:34 Because sometimes the foliage can get so aggressive 17:38 that it will steal the sap 17:42 that's designed to breed for the fruit. 17:45 And see, there are some of us 17:46 that have some connections that need to be pruned away. 17:51 There are some of us that have some friendships 17:54 that need to be cut out. 17:56 There are some of us that have some entanglements 18:02 that are 18:02 literally destroying the harvest 18:06 that God has put inside of us and ordained for us to bear. 18:11 But when I need somebody to understand today is that 18:13 though pruning is not comfortable 18:16 and the pruning is not preferred, 18:20 and the prune is not something we would request. 18:25 The only thing that can preserve the growth 18:29 and the harvest of the tree is for the good farmer 18:33 to go through and cut away every attachment 18:37 that is going to destroy the fruitfulness of that tree. 18:41 And I need to know that there are some people here. 18:44 I need you to understand that 18:46 this is not a people, a room of average people. 18:50 I believe with all of my heart 18:54 that the next great evangelist is sitting in this room. 18:58 I believe the one that will cure 19:00 cancer is sitting in this room. 19:04 I believe the next Kamala Harris 19:06 or Barack Obama is sitting in this room. 19:09 I believe the next great 19:11 software engineer and arbiter 19:14 of something like Facebook or Instagram is in this room. 19:18 I believe the next great titan of industry is in the room. 19:23 See some of your leaks out in cause 19:24 you don't realize I'm talking about you. 19:26 You don't realize 19:27 that you have great purpose, that you have great potential. 19:33 That God has an anointing on your life. 19:36 But God has to preserve it through private. 19:39 And He's got to cut away some things. 19:43 He's got to sever some ties. 19:44 See, the problem is, some of us, we've got too many social ties 19:51 and God has the play some of those things away. 19:55 Do you realize that the only person 19:56 you supposed to be permanently attached to is Jesus Christ? 20:00 Amen. Somebody. 20:02 Y'all. You a senior? 20:03 Y'all broke up freshman year, and you're still tethered 20:06 to that person and got to said, I got to play some things away 20:10 so that you can find 20:11 your freedom and your liberty in Jesus Christ. 20:14 Second reason that a tree can have leaves 20:18 but no fruit is that sometimes it can happen 20:20 when the tree is growing in the shade. 20:26 Okay, I missed it. 20:28 See, the reason some of 20:29 us can't grow is we got too much shade in our life. 20:33 Y'all made it out today in other words, 20:35 there are some of us that when we talk, we throw in shade. 20:41 Some of our friends are a little too shady. 20:42 Come on to say, man. 20:43 Some of our partners are a little bit too shady. 20:46 This stuff in your Internet 20:48 history is way to say to y'all, quiet in here today and see. 20:52 There are some of us that need to know that the shade 20:55 can't remove the sun. 20:59 But what it can do is it can block the presence of the sun 21:02 and say, 21:04 I need you to know that there is a limited amount of growth. 21:08 If you've got way too much shade in your life. 21:10 Now, let me just say this, 21:12 because there is some trees 21:13 in here that aren't living in somebody else's shade, 21:18 but some of us are so grave grimy that we causing 21:21 shade on everybody in our existence. 21:25 And got to say to somebody today 21:26 that until you cut back some of those things 21:30 that are adding shade to your life, 21:33 then you will never bear fruit until righteousness, repentance 21:38 or the purpose that God has put over your life. 21:41 And it's crazy because Jesus looks at the tree 21:45 and he says, Listen, he's so disappointed. 21:48 He's frustrated again. 21:50 It is not necessarily about the tree, 21:52 but it is a larger projection of where Israel of the day is 21:55 and where we would be here at the end of time. 21:59 And Jesus says, Let no fruit grow 22:02 on you ever again. 22:05 And it's crazy because we oftentimes say 22:08 and I said, even in this message 22:10 that we say, Jesus, curse the tree. 22:14 Did God curse the tree? 22:16 Or did he just reveal the tree? 22:21 In other words, what Jesus is doing is he is managing 22:24 any future disappointment that comes down the road. 22:29 He causes the whip, leaves to wither 22:32 so that it can no longer create a faulty expectation 22:36 or assumption that it can deliver something 22:40 that it does not have the content to be able to produce. 22:44 What he is doing is he is managing the reputation 22:48 of the farmer that planted him, because when trees 22:52 don't have fruit, 22:53 nobody begins to indict the character of the tree. 22:57 They indict the character of the one who planted it. 23:01 And when believers walk around without fruit, people 23:03 don't just indict you. 23:05 They say, Jesus ain't real because we ain't got no fruit. 23:09 And so God says that before 23:11 I come again, I'm not gonna curse my people, 23:16 but I'm going reveal those who don't. 23:20 Bad, no fruit. 23:22 And so all he did to the tree was make 23:24 the outside of the tree match what was on the inside. 23:28 In other words, what God is going 23:29 do a part of His purging or part of his preparing the church, 23:35 a part of him getting us ready 23:36 is he's going to separate the wheat from the tares. 23:41 He's going to separate the goats from the sheep. 23:44 How many of us know there's going to be a shaking 23:46 in the house of Israel? 23:48 And are some of us that say, I don't go to church 23:51 because all of the hypocrites in the church 23:54 and all the faith, folk and the church 23:56 just hang in there a little while longer. 23:58 And God says, I'm going curse all the fake trees. 24:03 I'm going to make them reveal their true character 24:06 and those who are by to the end the same 24:10 well have the character of Jesus Christ 24:15 out here in the world today. 24:16 Friends and standing us. 24:18 No friends of mine that we are in a place 24:20 come on to get ready saying something 24:21 that that God says that I love my church. 24:26 And he says, man, he loved his church 24:27 and he gave his son for it. 24:28 And the Bible says 24:29 that he's going to cleanse his church 24:31 through the washing of the water, through work, 24:33 through the word. 24:35 So God says that before I come, 24:38 I'm gonna perfect my church. 24:41 But the only way I can prevent my church is 24:44 I've got to expose all the imposters. 24:48 Cause 24:50 I'm going make sure it's clear 24:51 who the weak are and who the tears are. 24:55 That's why 24:56 he makes it very clear that when by the time he comes 24:59 that the church is going to be without spot 25:02 and without blemish and without stain. Why? 25:04 Because he's going to cleanse it and he's going to purge it. 25:09 And everybody who's sitting up in here 25:11 like we got it all together, like we ain't never done 25:16 red in a row. And again, you ain't got to be perfect. 25:19 You just need to be progressive. 25:22 You ain't got to have it all together. 25:23 You just need to be authentic, 25:28 see your witness and have to be perfect. 25:29 It just needs to be authentic. 25:31 And God is looking for those who are going to bear fruit, 25:36 who are not just going to take them earth, 25:37 but those who are literally 25:38 this is crazy, this crazy church. 25:41 You know who 25:43 the saddest, most pitiful person 25:47 in hell is going to be 25:53 is going to be like us 25:56 who have been given every possible advantage 26:00 to bear fruit, who have been raised 26:04 in Christian home, reared in church school. 26:07 Literally worship is a requirement 26:09 as a part of your curriculum to 26:14 where you sit there, appeal on top of appeal 26:16 and message on top of message. 26:18 And you sit there tweeting and texting it, 26:21 doing all other kind of things. 26:23 And it doesn't come a day where there is going to be a famine 26:27 for the Word of God. 26:27 And that's going to look a time 26:29 where you're going to be 26:30 wanting somebody to give you answers 26:32 that have been given time and time and time again. 26:35 But that opportunity will be there no longer 26:38 is going to be some 26:40 day young person 26:44 that was given every possible 26:46 opportunity and advantage to bear fruit. 26:50 And what I'm saying to somebody today 26:52 is that while the Lord is still pruning 26:57 and while the Lord is still watering, 27:00 while the Lord is still providing sunshine, 27:03 while the Lord is still providing nurturing to the soil, 27:06 we've got to allow Jesus to do a new work in us. 27:10 Are you are hearing me today? Friends? 27:13 And it's funny 27:14 because one of the things that God does is he reveals the tree 27:17 and see what he's doing is he's essentially 27:20 giving the farmer a cue 27:23 to say this one may need to be uprooted 27:28 so that the spot is not left 27:31 occupied with something that cannot bear fruit. 27:34 So he's saying, I'm going to give this spot another chance. 27:38 He's saying, I'm going to plant something else in its place. 27:40 I'm going to make this spot all over again with something 27:43 that is going to bear fruit. 27:45 And I need somebody to know that God who is longsuffering 27:48 and merciful, 27:49 that he is still wanting to produce fruit 27:52 a righteousness, fruit of repentance, 27:54 spiritual fruit in the lives of all of his children. 27:58 But we've got to let him do his work. 27:59 We've got to let him make us over. 28:01 We've got to let him start over. 28:03 How many of us need a spiritual reset in Jesus Christ? |
Revised 2024-12-03