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00:00:00 The book of Zechariah chapter 3 verse 1 through 7 I will be reading it out of the NIV when
00:00:16 you have it say Amen.
00:00:20 Then he showed me, then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel
00:00:29 of the Lord and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
00:00:40 The Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you Satan.
00:00:48 The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you.
00:00:56 Is not this a man, is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?
00:01:10 Remember that, is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?
00:01:18 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel and generally when
00:01:26 you see the angel is some theophonic reference to God.
00:01:31 The angel said to those who were standing before him take off his filthy clothes.
00:01:38 Then he said to Joshua, see, oh I have taken away your sin.
00:01:52 Oh, why are you still walking in guilt?
00:02:05 See I have taken away your sin and I will put fine garments on you.
00:02:12 Then I said put a clean turban on his head.
00:02:17 So they put a clean turban on his head and closed him while the angel of the Lord stood
00:02:24 by.
00:02:27 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua, this is what the Lord Almighty says,
00:02:32 if you will walk in obedience to me and to keep my requirements then you will govern
00:02:38 my house.
00:02:42 If you obey me I'll make you the boss.
00:02:46 Then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts and I will give you a place among
00:02:52 these standing here.
00:02:56 Your gift will get you there but your obedience will keep you there.
00:03:06 We are so focused on gifts and we want to be in the room where it happens.
00:03:13 But once you get in the room how do you stay in the room?
00:03:18 There's so much in this text I don't even know what to do with it.
00:03:24 I got pages of notes and then I got stuff in my head and it's just driving me crazy
00:03:31 because God keeps talking to me out of this text.
00:03:34 This text is so powerful.
00:03:37 I'm going to try to focus my attention on the assignment he gave me in the B clause
00:03:43 of the second verse.
00:03:45 Look at that.
00:03:46 The Lord said to Satan, that's A clause, the Lord rebuked Satan, the Lord who hath chosen
00:03:51 Jerusalem rebuketh, that's A. I want B. Is not this man a burning stick snatched?
00:04:04 Somebody holler, snatched.
00:04:12 Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?
00:04:19 My subject this morning is snatched.
00:04:24 Let's pray.
00:04:32 Some of us Lord are leisurely developing but some of us sense the urgency of this present
00:04:42 moment.
00:04:45 There is an urgency sometimes externally, there is an urgency sometimes internally.
00:04:52 There is a point that we sense because we are spiritual beings that if we don't move
00:04:57 now we're going to miss it.
00:05:01 As we go into the Word of God today, speak to us out of the volume of the book, O God,
00:05:07 feed us till we want no more.
00:05:11 Feed us Lord, in Jesus name, amen.
00:05:15 Relax, kick your shoes off.
00:05:19 I would take your stockings off but y'all don't wear them no more.
00:05:32 I'm a big believer in process because God processed me and it took me a long time.
00:05:39 God spent 20 years of my life in the hills of West Virginia just working some of the
00:05:46 kinks out, not that I don't have any left but you should have seen me when he started.
00:05:53 And I teach process because most people teach promise.
00:05:57 It's touted over our pulpit about promise and people get excited about promise and if
00:06:02 I want to get uproar in the church you start talking about the promises of God and everybody
00:06:07 starts shouting.
00:06:10 But the truth of the matter is especially in this generation where you are inundated
00:06:15 with so much instant stuff, things we had to work for, travel for, go to get, walk to
00:06:22 get, catch the bus to get, finally got a car to go get, you can snap a button and they'll
00:06:27 bring it to you.
00:06:29 And so it's natural, this is not a criticism, it's an observation, it's natural that you
00:06:34 would think that the things of God work that way, that you can just Uber it, that you can
00:06:43 just click a button and it happens.
00:06:46 And that creates a depression because you think you're behind when in fact you are not
00:06:51 behind.
00:06:53 Real greatness takes time.
00:06:57 It takes time.
00:06:59 It really does take time.
00:07:01 And you say no Tupac got it quick, so and so got it quick, this one got it quick, he
00:07:05 did but you get my point.
00:07:10 The people that are advertised to you are not the rule, they're the exception to the
00:07:18 rule.
00:07:21 There aren't going to be so many people that make it in the NFL.
00:07:25 There aren't going to be, if I had every guy in here who was practicing to be a rapper
00:07:31 stand, it would fill the choir stand twice.
00:07:36 He all in the mirror with the hairbrush.
00:07:47 Got demo tapes everywhere.
00:07:51 No job, no car, no transportation, but demo tapes everywhere.
00:07:55 And it's not your fault, you're not doulas, you're not lazy, you're responding to what's
00:07:59 been modeled in front of you.
00:08:03 And you don't understand that you're following the exception not the rule, you're following
00:08:07 the minority not the majority.
00:08:09 The likelihood of you making it in this industry and the industry that you are after may be
00:08:17 very difficult.
00:08:18 You need a backup plan but you don't want to take a backup plan because that requires
00:08:23 process, classes, learning, training, information and you think you're going to beat the odds
00:08:30 never noticing that you've lost an entire decade trying to beat the odds.
00:08:36 And so by the time you beat the odds, even if you do beat the odds, you've lost 10 years
00:08:46 trying to beat the odds.
00:08:47 And you're probably not going to beat them.
00:08:50 It's an important message then for me to talk about process.
00:08:53 It's important that we understand as it relates to our goals, whether they're personal life
00:08:59 goals or whether it's spiritual growth, time matters.
00:09:05 I just got through feeling the pulse to tell you time matters.
00:09:10 Experience and exposure often take time.
00:09:15 I asked the Lord, I said, "God, you got a sense of humor.
00:09:18 The doors you're opening up for me, why didn't you open them up for me when I was 30?"
00:09:24 You know, before my knees hurt.
00:09:30 And knees will make you know what time it is.
00:09:35 I carry a watch but I don't need one because I got steps.
00:09:40 And steps tell me.
00:09:42 I watched Pastor Michael running up and down them steps.
00:09:45 I could have hit him in the head with my Bible because he don't even know that that won't
00:09:50 last long.
00:09:51 In a few minutes, you'll be going down them steps like.
00:10:02 I like the steps going to bite me.
00:10:07 You have to understand that even though I thought that I knew when it ought to be, God
00:10:13 knew when I was ready for it.
00:10:17 And God does everything in its own time and in its own season.
00:10:22 And even education doesn't negate experience.
00:10:27 As important as it is to receive professional education and training, and I love it and
00:10:32 I believe in it, nothing prepares you like actually doing the work.
00:10:41 You can have a D-Min, a D-D, a D-A, a D-C, a D-B, but until you get up here and you
00:10:47 start pastoring people, until you sit in front of people who got problems for which there
00:10:51 is nothing in the manual to respond to, until you find the challenge of trying to build
00:10:57 buildings, negotiate with banks, solve problems, have insurance, deal with lawsuits, and preach
00:11:03 the gospel, you're not even beginning to understand the dynamics of what it costs to be a leader.
00:11:10 Until you've had a crisis in your family and still had to preach the gospel anyway, you
00:11:15 don't understand.
00:11:16 They don't teach you anything in school about the drama in your house while you're encouraging
00:11:20 somebody in their house, but that's the reality of it all.
00:11:25 Come on, somebody.
00:11:27 That takes time to develop that.
00:11:30 And you will understand that further down in the text we see that sanctification is
00:11:36 a matter of process.
00:11:37 So this text does have process in it.
00:11:40 Joshua is in a place of true sanctification, true sanctification.
00:11:48 It is that effort and process that makes us value the accomplishments that sanctification
00:11:53 brings.
00:11:54 If it came easy, you wouldn't appreciate it.
00:12:00 My wife and I have been married 42 years.
00:12:05 I was going to say almost everything that could happen has happened, but I'm scared.
00:12:15 There might be some things left.
00:12:17 So a lot has happened in 42 years other than pictures we put on Instagram.
00:12:25 We didn't put the pictures on Instagram of the hard times.
00:12:30 So if you're getting all your education by post, you have a false expectation of what
00:12:42 reality is like.
00:12:46 You have to go through things that are difficult so you appreciate them, so you value them,
00:12:51 so you hold on to them.
00:12:52 When things take time and you go through tests and you go through trials, the glue that holds
00:12:57 you together isn't just romanticism.
00:13:03 It isn't just about 36, 24, 36 and fat lips.
00:13:12 When did fat lips become such a thing?
00:13:14 And people get needles in their mouth.
00:13:18 I saw a lady the other day, her lips was big as a plate of chitlins.
00:13:26 They covered up her whole head.
00:13:33 Are you hearing what I'm saying?
00:13:38 But things take time in order to bring them to fruition.
00:13:43 Process, somebody shout process.
00:13:46 It is important that you understand that process is important and yet you have to realize it
00:13:53 is that effort and process that creates praise, that brings sanctification, that purifies
00:14:05 our hearts, that puts us in a place of humility and gratitude because if it's easily given,
00:14:16 it's easily tossed aside.
00:14:19 I often use this illustration, you see people go to preaching, they're preaching with great
00:14:24 power and the anointing comes and people start running up there and throwing money on the
00:14:28 altar, look at the money.
00:14:32 It's never big money.
00:14:35 You never toss $5,000, $10,000, $100,000 on the altar.
00:14:40 You throw $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, maybe even $100,000 but big stuff is never tossed.
00:14:56 And I'm not despising the $5,000 to $10,000, I'm not playing on you, I'm not hating on
00:15:00 you because sometimes you're just throwing it down and say, "Ain't that the truth?"
00:15:03 I get it.
00:15:06 But the reality is when you get ready to really make a sacrifice, it requires deliberation,
00:15:11 it requires submission, it requires contemplation and you handle it different because it costs
00:15:18 you more to get it.
00:15:21 Come on somebody.
00:15:22 Every now and then they say, "I want to put this in the bishop's hand."
00:15:27 It's never a dollar.
00:15:30 But when it costs you more to get it, you don't let go of it easily.
00:15:36 The problem in life is to figure out when am I in process and when am I in crisis that
00:15:47 requires a speedy, immediately, suddenly move from God.
00:15:54 We see it all over the Bible.
00:15:56 There were certain things that were processed, there were other things that were instantaneously.
00:16:04 And the Bible said He snatched him out.
00:16:10 The children of Israel walked out.
00:16:14 They walked for miles.
00:16:17 They walked across the desert.
00:16:20 They walked through battle.
00:16:22 They walked through drought.
00:16:24 They walked through isolation.
00:16:26 They walked through famine.
00:16:28 He had to send birds in the air to feed them and He let them walk for 40 years.
00:16:33 He did not snatch them out.
00:16:37 He did not snatch them out.
00:16:39 And there are certain things in your life and if you take all of our messages and put
00:16:43 them up against each other, they look contradictory because you're looking for an absolute truth.
00:16:49 But absolute truth is like going to a pharmacy asking them for one prescription.
00:16:55 It depends on the condition what message you need.
00:16:59 Does that make sense to you?
00:17:01 So for the person that's walking through a process that God is not snatching them out,
00:17:06 if you come next Sunday, I got something for you.
00:17:08 If you come next week, I got something for you.
00:17:10 You come in a month, I got something for you.
00:17:12 There are other times that things are so critical and so crisis-oriented that you don't have
00:17:19 time to worry about being nice.
00:17:26 You got to snatch them out.
00:17:29 You got to snatch them out.
00:17:31 I'm learning about this stuff they call soft parenting and it has pros and cons.
00:17:38 Sometimes you can be soft.
00:17:39 Gentle, gentle.
00:17:40 Is that what it is?
00:17:41 See, I can't even say it.
00:17:42 Because there was nothing gentle in my house except oatmeal.
00:17:56 Everything else was, you know.
00:17:58 Anyway, sometimes you, sometimes I don't have time to say, "Johnny, now you know better
00:18:06 than this."
00:18:08 Let's sit down and think this over and the consequences that will result from the actions
00:18:13 you're going through.
00:18:16 And talk to me, Johnny.
00:18:17 Now, how are you, how are you feeling at this moment?
00:18:21 Do you feel good about yourself?
00:18:24 Do you feel good about what you're going through?
00:18:28 Do you see mommy and daddy acting like this?
00:18:32 Now really, Johnny, come on here.
00:18:36 There are times you should do that.
00:18:37 There are times I should have done more of that.
00:18:39 I get that.
00:18:40 But there are other times.
00:18:50 I won't illustrate.
00:18:51 But there are other times, there are times for you to, to, to minister in such a way
00:19:00 that's ingratiating, that's comforting, that's encouraging, that's uplifting, that moves
00:19:06 you.
00:19:07 There are times you need to say, "If you don't stop, you're going to hell.
00:19:14 If you don't change your ways, you're going to wreck your marriage.
00:19:18 If you don't stop yelling, you're going to lose that boy.
00:19:20 If you don't so and so and so."
00:19:22 Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth?
00:19:25 Snatch, somebody holler snatch.
00:19:29 Read Jude 121 through 23.
00:19:31 I'm going to drive this home.
00:19:33 And keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously and looking forward to the mercy
00:19:39 of our Lord Jesus Christ, which will bring you to eternal life.
00:19:45 And have mercy on some who are doubting.
00:19:50 There are some people that are doubting that Jude says you should have mercy upon.
00:19:56 You should just have mercy.
00:19:57 They doubt, they don't believe, they, they, they're atheists, they're agnostic, they joined
00:20:02 another religion and they come to the family reunion and they, they burning sage in your
00:20:08 backyard, you know, and they weird and they got all kinds of signs on their head and stuff
00:20:15 and tattoos on their leg and stuff like that.
00:20:21 And they steal your cousin and, and, and, and some, some, some, some, some, not at my
00:20:27 house, but some, you can burn it at your house, but, but, but I know you burn it, but I'm
00:20:33 still going to feed you.
00:20:35 Save others, snatching them out of the fire.
00:20:44 So you can't handle every case the same way.
00:20:48 Not in your house, not in your ministry, not in your preaching, not in your church.
00:20:53 There's times to be gracious and kind and comforting.
00:20:57 There's times to look the other way because you know, the person hadn't developed in that
00:21:00 area and you don't put them out the church because they got a problem.
00:21:04 There are times you have to have the sensitivity to know when to, to endure some things and
00:21:10 have mercy on them.
00:21:11 Other times you got to snatch them out of the fire because if you don't snatch them,
00:21:15 you're going to bury them.
00:21:16 If you don't snatch them, you're going to lose them.
00:21:18 If you don't snatch them, they're going to commit suicide.
00:21:21 If you don't snatch them, they're going to lose their mind.
00:21:23 Somebody say snatch.
00:21:24 Of some make a difference, others say with fear, snatching them out of the fire and on
00:21:31 some have mercy, but with fear, loathing even the clothing spotted and polluted by their
00:21:39 shameless immoral freedom.
00:21:42 Having, having patience with them is not giving permission to them because you know that what
00:21:48 they are doing, wearing, acting out is loathsome because it's loathsome to God.
00:21:54 Not because it's loathsome to you.
00:21:56 If it's loathsome to you, you're in your flesh.
00:22:00 You're in your flesh.
00:22:01 How can you tolerate your sin and condemn mine?
00:22:11 So I'm no more loathsome than you are.
00:22:14 So, so anytime you start operating in your flesh, sometimes we have judgment on people
00:22:20 about their sins because it's not what we do, but we have mercy on our sins because
00:22:30 we are relating to our own experience.
00:22:33 See I can't have a God like that.
00:22:35 That's why I can't let you be God.
00:22:37 David said I'd rather fall into the hands of God than fall in the hands of man because
00:22:42 man is prejudice.
00:22:45 Man is bias.
00:22:47 Man has a point of view.
00:22:48 Man has a perspective.
00:22:49 Throw me in the hands of God, at least it's going to be fair.
00:22:53 Whatever happens is going to be fair.
00:22:55 You going to judge me and kill me to cover up your mess because sometimes killing me
00:23:02 makes you feel better about you.
00:23:06 But when you are in sin and God hates sin, I cannot love what God hates and then hate
00:23:14 what God loves.
00:23:16 You have to understand that I have to reflect the mind of God and when it comes to certain
00:23:21 things, God said you got to snatch them out of the fire.
00:23:26 It often appears as a double standard.
00:23:28 I know it's hard to understand.
00:23:30 It's a spiritually discerned thing, which time is which even for me.
00:23:34 Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it wrong.
00:23:36 But it's spiritually discernment when to do one thing and when to do the other, to understand
00:23:42 in that moment what to do.
00:23:45 Now when you're looking at it later on Facebook, you can have an opinion, but in that moment
00:23:50 you got to split second to make a decision how to handle this situation.
00:23:55 Are they screaming because they lost their mother?
00:23:57 Are they screaming because they lost their mind?
00:24:00 Are they screaming because they're possessed with the devil?
00:24:02 Are they screaming because they're getting ready to kill half of the church?
00:24:04 Are they screaming?
00:24:05 You got to second to make a decision.
00:24:07 If you get it wrong, somebody's going to die.
00:24:15 There are people with whom God exercises more patience.
00:24:20 Raise your hand if he's been patient with you.
00:24:24 He's extended mercy towards you, allowed you to gradually evolve.
00:24:30 It's the mercy of the Lord.
00:24:31 But others, Jude says, require an urgency.
00:24:35 There comes a point that you cannot expect God to continually to be patient about your
00:24:41 weaknesses, your peculiarities, your idiosyncrasies, and your sin.
00:24:46 Shall we continue in sin?
00:24:48 Romans 6 said that grace may abound, God forbid.
00:24:52 How can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
00:24:56 I'm talking about a lifestyle.
00:24:58 I'm talking about laying in and I'm talking about wallowing in the mud like a pig and
00:25:03 you don't want to get out.
00:25:05 Still coming to church, singing in the choir, still ushering, still deaconing, still doing
00:25:09 whatever you want to do.
00:25:11 Your Sunday face don't look nothing like your Friday night face.
00:25:14 They're two different things.
00:25:16 And God has winked at it in times past.
00:25:19 But there comes a point that God stops winking and he doesn't always announce when he's going
00:25:24 to stop winking.
00:25:25 There comes a point that God gets tired of you acting like you can't walk when you know
00:25:31 you can walk.
00:25:32 When you act like you can't get over it, when you know you can get over it.
00:25:36 And you've got all of these therapeutic words that give you permission to stop getting better.
00:25:42 But there's going to be a timeout moment where God says enough is enough and he's going to
00:25:48 snatch you.
00:25:49 He's going to snatch you.
00:25:51 He's going to snatch you.
00:25:53 They must be snatched out of the fire.
00:25:56 He's not snatching you because he hates you.
00:25:58 He's snatching you because you put yourself in an environment that's going to get you
00:26:02 killed.
00:26:03 He's snatching you because you put yourself in an environment that's going to cause you
00:26:07 to die.
00:26:08 He's snatching you because you put yourself in a place that you're going to get destroyed.
00:26:13 He's snatching you because you're in love with a killer.
00:26:16 He's snatching you because you went to bed with a murderer.
00:26:20 He's snatching you because you're on fire.
00:26:23 You don't even know it, but you're on fire.
00:26:25 You're playing with fire.
00:26:26 My mother said, "Hot things will burn you."
00:26:28 You're playing with fire and you wouldn't listen at nobody.
00:26:31 You wouldn't respond to nobody.
00:26:33 You're hard-headed and stubborn and the therapist can give a better name to it, but your head
00:26:39 is hard as a rock.
00:26:40 And sometimes God has to snatch your attention and that's why you're in the hospital.
00:26:45 That's why you're going through a test because sometimes God has to slow you down because
00:26:49 once you get your role on, you won't listen at nobody.
00:26:53 And God said, "Sometimes I got to snatch you out of the fire, hating even the garment that
00:26:58 was spotted by the flesh."
00:27:00 The sin, the carnality, the lust, the adultery.
00:27:05 You're sitting in the room and your lover's in the room and you got a boyfriend in the
00:27:09 back and you're sitting by your husband.
00:27:11 And God said, "I got to deal with it.
00:27:13 I got to deal with it.
00:27:14 I got to deal with it."
00:27:16 You're a deacon, but you're a player.
00:27:18 You got your game on.
00:27:19 You're sitting up there trying to look cool, trying to look hot, trying to look sexy.
00:27:20 You come in the church and work the church like you were in a strip club because you
00:27:21 have no respect for the house of God.
00:27:22 And God said, "I got to snatch you out of the fire because pretty soon you're going
00:27:23 to destroy yourself.
00:27:24 You're going to implode yourself.
00:27:25 You're going to end up in a place that you can't get out of."
00:27:26 Look at somebody say, "Enough is enough."
00:27:27 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:28 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:29 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:30 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:31 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:32 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:33 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:27:54 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:28:18 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:28:44 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:13 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:14 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:15 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:16 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:17 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:18 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:19 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:20 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:21 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:22 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:23 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:24 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:25 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:26 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:27 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:28 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:29 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:29:53 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:00 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:09 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:15 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:21 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:28 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:35 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:41 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:47 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:30:54 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:01 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:07 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:13 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:23 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:33 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:41 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:31:51 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:01 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:09 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:15 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:23 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:31 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:37 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:43 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:49 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:32:55 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:01 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:07 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:13 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:19 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:25 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:31 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:37 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:43 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:49 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:33:55 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:01 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:07 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:13 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:19 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:25 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:31 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:37 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:43 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:49 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:34:55 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:01 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:07 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:13 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:19 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:25 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:31 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:37 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:43 You're going to be a victim of the devil.
00:35:49 Have you ever gone to your high school reunion?
00:35:55 And what you remembered, and somebody walks up,
00:36:01 "Hey, I'm Phillip."
00:36:11 And if it wasn't for them eyes, you wouldn't even know
00:36:15 who they were, and you had to stand and look at them
00:36:19 a few minutes.
00:36:21 When they got back to Jerusalem, there was no smell
00:36:25 of bread baking.
00:36:29 The cobblers' building had been torn down.
00:36:33 The cobblestone streets of Jerusalem had been hacked
00:36:37 and full of holes.
00:36:39 The temple had been shattered to pieces.
00:36:43 The epitome of their religious conviction had been
00:36:47 completely annihilated.
00:36:49 The place where Shekinah Glory had sat down had been
00:36:52 disrupted.
00:36:54 All of their memories, their culture, their food,
00:36:56 the landscape of their ideas had been completely rearranged.
00:37:02 That's why it's not safe to live in your head.
00:37:08 Because in your head, you can imagine things to be a way
00:37:12 that they really were not.
00:37:16 Yeah, yeah.
00:37:18 In death, everybody was a hero, and everybody remembers
00:37:23 all the good stuff.
00:37:25 But when they came back, it wasn't all good.
00:37:29 It was a mess.
00:37:31 It was the ruins of Jerusalem.
00:37:37 The text occurs after the exile has ended.
00:37:43 Jerusalem has greatly declined, a mere shadow of what
00:37:48 it once was.
00:37:51 They have come to a point that they return, what they
00:37:56 return to in no way resembles what they left or even what
00:38:03 they had in mind.
00:38:11 It almost looks like a community after a tornado has
00:38:15 hit it.
00:38:17 I'm on the right street, but it doesn't look like it.
00:38:21 I'm not really certain, but I think I used to live over
00:38:24 there.
00:38:26 Fragments and debris has filled the streets.
00:38:30 Everything that would remind them of home has been
00:38:33 completely annihilated.
00:38:35 They have to clear back the rubbish that is left behind
00:38:40 and try to rebuild the fragments of what used to be.
00:38:44 It is a disaster area.
00:38:47 Yet God is worthy to be praised.
00:38:53 Come on with me.
00:39:00 Although I admit Jerusalem is a mess, it's in ruins, it's
00:39:09 been desecrated, it's almost destroyed, it is still far
00:39:14 better than to have stayed in captivity.
00:39:18 You see, Joshua's dad, Jehoshadad, was murdered by
00:39:26 Nebuchadnezzar.
00:39:28 And had he stayed where he was, he was next.
00:39:34 When you know that you were next to be destroyed, you will
00:39:42 stop complaining about what the church hidden, what the
00:39:47 saints didn't do, who didn't speak to you when you came in
00:39:51 the lobby.
00:39:52 All of those are luxury items for people who have not been
00:39:55 snatched.
00:39:57 When you've been snatched out of fire, you don't care what
00:40:00 seat you sit in.
00:40:02 You don't care whether they put you on the front row or the
00:40:05 back row.
00:40:06 When you've been snatched out of the fire, you don't care
00:40:09 how nobody looks at you.
00:40:11 You don't care what nobody says to you, because you've been
00:40:14 through a hell so bad behind you that you say, "This is
00:40:17 better than that."
00:40:19 When you really get saved, you can come into an environment,
00:40:22 the church don't have to be perfect, but it's better than
00:40:25 the crack house.
00:40:28 The church don't have to be perfect, but ain't nobody
00:40:31 hitting me in the head with a bat anymore.
00:40:33 The church don't have to be perfect.
00:40:35 You think rolling your eyes at me gonna run me out of here?
00:40:38 Honey, I've been hit in the head with a bat.
00:40:40 This is better than that.
00:40:42 Somebody shout, "This is better than that."
00:40:45 When you've been through hell and you come back, you praise
00:40:48 God over stuff that other people complain about.
00:40:51 You don't care about what parking space you get in, you're
00:40:54 just glad to be saved, glad to be washed in the blood, glad to
00:40:59 be a child of the king.
00:41:00 Turn me up in this mic.
00:41:02 Glad to give God the glory.
00:41:04 You don't understand.
00:41:05 The church folk don't understand your praise, because they're
00:41:08 sitting up there with their cute self, five generations, a
00:41:11 Holy Ghost feel people.
00:41:13 But when you were the wino and a whore monger, when you were the
00:41:16 dope dealer, when you was HIV positive, when you saw all your
00:41:21 friends die of AIDS, you don't have time to be worried about no
00:41:25 foolishness fooling with these church folk.
00:41:27 You got a God to be praised.
00:41:30 Is there anybody in the church today?
00:41:33 Hallelujah.
00:41:34 You used to be captive.
00:41:36 You used to be in exile.
00:41:38 You used to didn't have freedom, and you're glad for the glorious
00:41:42 liberty that you have down in your soul.
00:41:46 And even if the singers can't sing, you'll still shout, because
00:41:50 it's not their riff that's making you shout.
00:41:54 It's how God brought you out of bondage.
00:41:57 It's how God delivered you.
00:41:59 It's how God set you free.
00:42:01 It's how God opened doors for you.
00:42:03 Is there anybody left in the church that's just grateful to
00:42:08 be a child of the king?
00:42:10 I don't care where you sit me.
00:42:13 I don't care how you walk past me.
00:42:15 If you saw the hell I came from, baby, this stuff ain't nothing.
00:42:20 You think you're going to roll your eyes at me and run me out
00:42:24 of the church?
00:42:25 You don't know what kind of man I am.
00:42:27 I can take a licking and keep on kicking, because I know who I
00:42:32 am.
00:42:33 I know what God has done in my life.
00:42:35 I know where God brought me from.
00:42:37 Somebody who understands the words that are coming out of my
00:42:42 mouth, give him 30 seconds of crazy praise.
00:42:46 [Cheers]
00:42:56 I mean crazy praise.
00:42:58 I mean crazy praise.
00:43:00 I mean ridiculous praise.
00:43:02 I mean a radical--I mean a revolutionary praise.
00:43:08 I mean a praise out of the depths of your belly.
00:43:11 I want you to look back out of your shoulder and see where God
00:43:15 brought you from and open your mouth and praise him like a mad
00:43:19 man, because you know if it wasn't for God, you'd still be
00:43:23 in jail.
00:43:24 If it wasn't for God, you'd have died with an overdose.
00:43:28 If it wasn't for God, you would have blew your brains out.
00:43:32 I want to talk to the people who tried suicide, wanted to get
00:43:37 out of this world, and God snatched you out.
00:43:40 To God be the glory for the things he has done.
00:43:45 I feel something about to break loose in this place.
00:43:48 This is not a saint's praise.
00:43:51 This is a snatch praise.
00:43:53 This is for somebody that has been snatched.
00:43:56 Hallelujah to God.
00:43:59 Hallelujah.
00:44:01 Tell your neighbor on the right and the left, "He snatched me.
00:44:05 He snatched me.
00:44:08 I don't have time for no church foolishness.
00:44:11 He snatched me.
00:44:13 It was an emergency.
00:44:15 It was a crisis.
00:44:17 It was a generational curse, but God snatched me.
00:44:21 He brought me from a mighty long way.
00:44:24 He brought me up out of the pits.
00:44:27 A day in his courts is better than a thousand years anywhere
00:44:33 else.
00:44:34 I'd rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold of the
00:44:38 house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
00:44:43 I'll do anything.
00:44:45 I'm glad to be a child of the king.
00:44:48 I'm glad to be a child of God.
00:44:51 Has God not snatched Joshua out?
00:44:54 He might not have survived the tyranny of the heathens that
00:44:58 surrounded him.
00:44:59 If God hadn't snatched him out, he would have died like his
00:45:03 daddy died.
00:45:05 If God hadn't snatched you out, you'd be somewhere eating
00:45:09 cotton, lost your mind, laying in the gutter, laying on the
00:45:14 floor.
00:45:15 You couldn't get out gradually.
00:45:17 He had to snatch you out.
00:45:19 Turn around and tell your neighbor, "He snatched me."
00:45:23 It was radical.
00:45:25 It wasn't cute.
00:45:27 It wasn't soft.
00:45:29 It wasn't gentle.
00:45:30 He snatched me.
00:45:32 He snatched me to my senses.
00:45:34 He snatched me to my right mind.
00:45:37 He snatched me until I got myself together.
00:45:40 I feel a praise about to break loose in this place.
00:45:45 I feel a breakthrough about to break loose in this place.
00:45:49 He snatched me out.
00:45:51 Touch seven people and tell them, "He snatched me."
00:45:56 When you hit the eighth one, give God a 30-second crazy
00:46:00 praise.
00:46:01 "He snatched me.
00:46:07 He snatched me out of my sin.
00:46:11 He snatched me out of the bed.
00:46:15 He snatched me out of the hotel room.
00:46:17 He snatched me out of the whole house.
00:46:20 He snatched me out of the streets.
00:46:22 He snatched me out of jumping from bed to bed, woman to
00:46:26 woman, man to man.
00:46:28 I've been snatched, and I tell every devil in hell, "I'm not
00:46:33 going back to where I came from."
00:46:36 I dare you to praise him like you know who he is.
00:46:42 Praise him in the balcony.
00:46:44 Praise him on the back row.
00:46:46 Praise him in the choir stand.
00:46:49 Praise him in the pulpit.
00:46:51 Everybody who's ever been snatched, open your mouth.
00:46:56 Stop being incognito.
00:46:59 Stop trying to be cute.
00:47:01 Stop trying to be impressive.
00:47:03 But open your mouth and give your God a praise.
00:47:08 Thank you for snatching me.
00:47:11 Thank you for pulling on me.
00:47:14 Thank you for your conviction.
00:47:17 Thank you for how you challenge me.
00:47:21 Thank you for cleaning me up.
00:47:24 Thank you for setting me free.
00:47:27 [music]
00:47:35 [applause]
00:48:01 Touch a neighbor and tell him he's getting ready to
00:48:03 snatch you again.
00:48:06 You got out of the environment.
00:48:14 But you need to change your clothes.
00:48:17 You got out of the situation, but Joshua needed to change
00:48:21 his raiment.
00:48:23 The Bible said, "My cup from Zion, honey, I feel like
00:48:30 preaching."
00:48:31 The anointing of God is in this place.
00:48:34 The Bible said, "Hallelujah."
00:48:40 Joshua had made it into the presence of God, snatched out of
00:48:46 Babylon, snatched out of the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, but he
00:48:51 was still dressed in filthy raiment.
00:48:55 The Bible teaches us in the original Hebrew that he was
00:49:00 covered with dung.
00:49:02 He didn't look good.
00:49:04 He didn't smell good.
00:49:06 All of the senses around him testified to the fact that he
00:49:12 was a wretch undone, and still he stood in the presence of God,
00:49:20 stinky like he was, dirty like he was, messed up like he was,
00:49:26 but he made it to the presence of God.
00:49:29 Somebody holler, "I made it!"
00:49:32 I might not be quite right, but I made it!
00:49:37 I might have some work to do, but I made it!
00:49:41 I might have some problems to solve, but I made it!
00:49:45 I made it!
00:49:56 Now, dung-covered Joshua is standing in the presence of God,
00:50:03 and it almost looks like a trial because on one hand, the angel
00:50:09 is the defense attorney.
00:50:12 On the other hand, Satan is the prosecuting attorney, and God
00:50:18 himself is the judge.
00:50:22 The defendant is covered with filth.
00:50:26 He smells bad.
00:50:28 He doesn't look good, but he's standing in the presence of God,
00:50:33 and Satan is accusing him because Satan is the accuser of the
00:50:40 brethren.
00:50:41 My God, whew!
00:50:44 I feel like preaching up in here.
00:50:47 Have you ever had hell accuse you?
00:50:50 Get up in your face.
00:50:52 Bring up your mess.
00:50:54 Point out your weaknesses.
00:50:57 Show you your indiscrepancies.
00:50:59 Show you your insufficiencies.
00:51:02 Satan was an accuser of the brethren, and the Bible said it
00:51:08 was not Joshua that rebuked the accuser, but God himself rebuked
00:51:16 the accuser.
00:51:17 I feel like giving him a praise because when hell had me dead to
00:51:22 rise, the Lord fought my battle for me.
00:51:27 Is there anybody in here that God spoke up for you in the
00:51:32 middle of your mess?
00:51:34 And if it had not been for the Lord that was on your side, you
00:51:40 would have been swallowed up.
00:51:42 That's why you can't be cute.
00:51:45 That's why you run the house.
00:51:47 That's why you leave the pews because God stood up for you with
00:51:53 your stinky self, with your smelly self, with your wretched self.
00:51:59 Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
00:52:12 I once was lost, but now I'm found.
00:52:19 Was blind, but now I see through many dangers, toils and snares.
00:52:27 I have already come, 'twas grace that brought me safe thus far,
00:52:35 and grace will lead me on.
00:52:38 Can I get a witness?
00:52:40 Can I get a witness?
00:52:42 Can I buy me a witness?
00:52:44 Can I borrow a witness?
00:52:46 Somebody loan me a witness.
00:52:49 Somebody give God a praise.
00:52:51 Didn't he do it?
00:52:53 Didn't he stick up for you?
00:52:55 Didn't he do it?
00:52:57 Didn't he make a way for you?
00:52:59 Didn't he do it?
00:53:01 Didn't he snatch you out?
00:53:03 Didn't he do it?
00:53:04 Didn't he defend you?
00:53:06 Didn't he do it?
00:53:07 Didn't he help you out?
00:53:09 Shout yeah!
00:53:11 What you really mean is shout yeah!
00:53:14 [cheers and applause]
00:53:28 So here Joshua is, standing before the righteous judge.
00:53:36 The prosecuting attorney is standing off to the side.
00:53:42 The defense attorney is standing off to the other side.
00:53:47 But where is his defense?
00:53:50 What Satan is accusing him of, he is guilty of.
00:53:55 He is wearing his shame.
00:53:59 He is carrying his guilt.
00:54:02 We can see it.
00:54:04 We can smell it.
00:54:07 And yet the defense spoke up and said,
00:54:12 "The Lord rebuked you, Satan."
00:54:17 Is not this a brand that I snatched?
00:54:27 Is not this a brand that I snatched?
00:54:32 Is not this a brand that I snatched?
00:54:37 Somebody throw your hands up and holler, "He snatched me!"
00:54:43 I may be dirty, but he snatched me.
00:54:46 I may be stinking, but he snatched me.
00:54:49 I may be weak, but he snatched me.
00:54:52 I may be broke, but he snatched me.
00:54:55 My credit might be whack, but he snatched me.
00:54:58 My credit might be wrong, but he snatched me.
00:55:07 This is justification.
00:55:13 Handling you just as if you didn't stink.
00:55:21 This is justification.
00:55:25 Guilty.
00:55:28 Romans 7, 7, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
00:55:35 Come here, Demarcus.
00:55:39 Come here.
00:55:40 Put your hands on my shoulder.
00:55:42 In Rome, when you killed a man, they would tie the corpse to you
00:55:48 so that everywhere you went, the corpse had to go with you.
00:55:53 So that as the body was decomposing, the infection that
00:55:57 was on the corpse would penetrate into the murderer.
00:56:01 "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
00:56:05 I can't shake it.
00:56:07 I can't get it off me.
00:56:09 But thanks be unto God, who gives us victory through Jesus
00:56:14 Christ our Lord."
00:56:16 There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in
00:56:22 Christ Jesus.
00:56:23 "Get off of me."
00:56:25 Somebody shake yourself and say, "Get off of me."
00:56:29 "Get off of me."
00:56:31 "Who walk no longer after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
00:56:37 That is justification.
00:56:40 But watch this, and this is where I'm going to close.
00:56:45 Here comes sanctification.
00:56:49 The accuser has been rebuked.
00:56:53 The case has been dismissed.
00:56:57 The judge has thrown it out of court.
00:57:01 But still there is a requirement.
00:57:05 The judge says, "Take off your filthy garments."
00:57:18 I, no, no, don't clap, listen.
00:57:21 I will not allow you to stay in my presence, smelling like you're
00:57:28 smelling.
00:57:34 Looking like you're looking.
00:57:38 Doing like you're doing.
00:57:44 You have to understand, when I snatched you, it wasn't that you
00:57:48 were near fire, you were on fire.
00:57:55 So get the picture.
00:57:57 The brand he snatched was burning when he snatched it.
00:58:03 If I'd have left you in there any longer.
00:58:14 If I would have left you in there any longer, you would have
00:58:20 burned up.
00:58:23 I snatched you just in time.
00:58:29 But I've been too good to you to let you stand here stinking.
00:58:39 And smelling.
00:58:43 And doing your thing.
00:58:47 I'm going to give you new raiment.
00:58:51 But you're going to take off that smelly garment.
00:58:57 I'm going to give you a new cap covering for your head.
00:59:03 I've got one that says, "Holiness unto the Lord."
00:59:09 I'm going to make you a real priest.
00:59:12 You're going to be a real worshiper because of what you
00:59:16 and I know that I did in your life.
00:59:23 You ain't going to be no phony praiser.
00:59:25 Praising because you got a cute dance.
00:59:28 You're going to praise me the rest of your life because you
00:59:32 was on fire when I got you.
00:59:35 You was on fire when I snatched you.
00:59:38 You should have been a statistic.
00:59:41 You should have burned up in the fire.
00:59:44 I snatched you out.
00:59:46 Now you owe me something.
00:59:49 You owe me to do better.
00:59:51 You owe me to climb higher.
00:59:54 You owe me to get right.
00:59:56 You owe me not to fake the funk.
00:59:59 I didn't snatch you out for you to be what you was.
01:00:02 I snatched you out.
01:00:08 Now I got a warrant for you.
01:00:14 Take off your filthy garment.
01:00:21 And I'm going to give you a robe of pure white.
01:00:27 I'm going to bring about a massive change in your life.
01:00:34 Snatched.
01:00:36 S-N-A-T-C-H-E-D.
01:00:41 Eight letters.
01:00:45 Snatch me.
01:00:48 Snatch me this morning.
01:00:51 Don't just encourage me.
01:00:53 Snatch me.
01:00:56 Eight simple letters.
01:00:58 Snatched.
01:01:01 Snatched literally means to take something or someone away by
01:01:06 force.
01:01:08 In this case, eight letters represents a new beginning.
01:01:16 It is like the eighth day in the creation.
01:01:20 It is like the eight souls that were saved in Noah's ark.
01:01:25 It is like David being the eighth son of Jesse and he becomes
01:01:29 the king.
01:01:31 It is like the eighth note on an octave.
01:01:35 It is like the eighth day starts a new week.
01:01:39 It is like the eighth day when Jesus was circumcised.
01:01:44 It is all eight days.
01:01:46 It is like the eight days when Thomas comes into the temple and
01:01:51 sees Jesus after he had been there eight days ago.
01:01:55 It is like Philippians chapter 4, verse 8.
01:02:00 Finally, brethren.
01:02:02 Somebody say finally, brethren.
01:02:05 Whatever things are true.
01:02:07 Whatever things are honest.
01:02:11 Whatever things are just.
01:02:14 Whatever things are pure.
01:02:16 Whatever things are lovely.
01:02:18 Whatever things are of good report.
01:02:21 Number seven, if there be any virtue.
01:02:24 Number eight, if there be any praise.
01:02:27 Think on these things.
01:02:29 Snatched is like Genesis 8.22.
01:02:32 While the earth remaineth.
01:02:34 Number one, it will be seed time.
01:02:37 Number two, it will be harvest.
01:02:39 Number three, it will be cold.
01:02:41 Number four, it will be heat.
01:02:44 Number five, it will be summer.
01:02:46 Number six, it will be winter.
01:02:48 Number seven, it will be day.
01:02:51 Number eight, it will be night.
01:02:53 And it shall not cease.
01:02:56 Snatched says I am ready for change.
01:03:08 I am ready.
01:03:13 I am ready for change.
01:03:19 [ Music ]