Shake The Viper Into The Fire

Faith, Healing, And Storms

0:07 SPEAKER_00: I want to minister on faith and healing. But here's something I have found that every time you begin to speak on a subject, the Lord will bring something new. He'll give you a new understanding, a new revelation. And we want to be encouraged by this.

0:25 SPEAKER_00: God wants us to walk in health, not to accept what comes our way, but we've been equipped to fight. We've been equipped to withstand. We have been equipped by the Holy Spirit to not allow the enemy to just cause us to be overtaken or to overtake us in any way. So we do that by standing strong in faith. And today's topic and subject we're going to be talking on, it's based upon Paul the Apostle. They have been in a terrible storm in the Mediterranean for days.

1:08 SPEAKER_00: They have lost their cargo. Their ship has been wrecked by the wind. And they finally find themselves being beached in Malta. And we're going to pick up the story there. Sometimes in life we'll find that we're in storms. We wonder how we ever get through it. You know, some storms we can do pretty good, and some storms we get quite bad, don't we? But the Lord brings us through. Acts 28, verse 1. When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta. The natives showed us extraordinary kindness, for because of the rain that had set in, and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all.

2:06 SPEAKER_00: Verse 3. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. And when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, Undoubtedly this man is a murderer. And though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. But they were expecting that he was about to swell up andor suddenly fall down dead.

2:53 SPEAKER_00: But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a God.

Safely Through: God’s Protection

3:07 SPEAKER_00: When we open up our story today in verse 1 of Acts 28, what caught my eye here was they had been brought safely through. And a lot of times we think this is going to happen to us and that's going to happen. But when we are children of God, when we live and walk by faith, walk in his word, no matter the storms that are around us, and it seems to me there's always a storm brewing somewhere, I can say all of these years that I have been a Christian, he safely brought me through. Times you wonder, times you think, am I going to come out of this?

3:59 SPEAKER_00: And you will. Jesus will bring you safely through. Jesus watches over you. There are physical situations that we are in, and we look to God and we believe that we're going to come through. Sometimes there's battles that Christians do not come through. There are some times that Christians will be attacked and it will cost them their lives. No matter where you find yourself and what you face in life, put your trust in the Lord and He will bring you through spiritually. The devil will not take you out.

4:43 SPEAKER_00: You will not lose your salvation. You will not have your faith destroyed. He will bring you safely through. And that I can say 100%. When I put my trust in the Lord, when I gave my heart to Jesus, 15 years of age, Jesus has kept me and he has brought me through. I have found that when Jesus saves the soul, all the benefits of living in Christ are activated. Amen. And Paul was standing there on that shore, and he was not surprised, because he'd already told them on the ship that if they believed God, all will be saved.

5:38 SPEAKER_00: And right down to the last man, everybody was standing on that shore. And Jesus had physically saved every one of them. And now Paul is declaring unto them the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the gospel of Jesus Christ, the work of salvation, what Jesus did for us on the cross, the shedding of his blood, will bring us safely through if we faint not. And I have no intentions of turning back. And if they're standing there, it's in the rain, it's really cold, and they built a fire to be warm.

The Fire, The Viper, The Choice

6:20 SPEAKER_00: And so when they build this fire in Acts 28, 2, it says, they kindled a fire and received us all. When we kindle a physical fire, that's done to help the flesh out, keep us warm, keep us comfortable. And all the natural provisions look after our physical body. Is there any reason to look after the physical body? Now we know that if the physical body gets sick, that Jesus provided for that physical body to be healed. There is a scripture, know ye not, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

7:13 SPEAKER_00: When you think about that particular passage, we've got a work to do for God. And God wants to look after our bodies. I don't believe for one moment that God wants us to walk in disease as we grow older. I know what the statistics are. I know what medical science tells us, that the bodies, our bodies become very open and subject to, and they'll go down through the lists. But I always think about Moses, he was a blessed man. His breath was not abated, nor his eye dimmed. And I think about Jesus hanging on the cross.

7:56 SPEAKER_00: Thirty-three years walking in perfect health. And I suspect that when John wrote the passage that we were to prosper and be in health, I believe that John was walking in health. We know that he lived to be a very old age. My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and I understand that.

8:25 SPEAKER_00: And God says to us, I have made a way for whenever you become ill, whenever you are sick, that body will be made strong and healthy. So there they are. And when they're standing by the fire, when they're getting their bodies warm, just when everything is good, they've come through a terrible storm, days and days, their ship has broken up, they've been cast on the beach, and now strangers gathered around quickly, showed them great hospitality, built a fire, all is going well, and the man of God, the mighty man of God, Paul, is standing there, and would you believe it?

9:14 SPEAKER_00: Of all the people standing around, that viper come out and latched onto him. Somebody else could have put a stick of wood in. Somebody else could have done it. But even then, when the fire is raging and the enemy thinks he's gonna take you out, don't get your attention on all the things going wrong. Look at all the things that you have done right. Look at how you are walking in God. Look at what's happening in your life. And that snake came out and it bit onto his hand and hung there, hung. It wasn't just a bite and let go.

9:50 SPEAKER_00: Paul could lift his hand up, and this viper, this deadly viper is hanging there. And Paul takes it and he shakes it into the fire. Verse 5, he shook the creature off into the fire. That's where you want to throw it. Let that thing be consumed, won't come back and attack you again. Just whatever that thing is that comes at you, this is your time to get victory over it. Throw it into the fire. The fire represents the power of God, it represents the Holy Spirit, it represents all the consuming abilities that God has to destroy your enemy.

10:29 SPEAKER_00: Just cast it into the fire. And I'll tell you, that thing was consumed. When it got into that fire, that was the end of it. And that's how we're to do it. In verse 4, it says that the natives saw.

Opinions, Gossip, And Discernment

10:47 SPEAKER_00: Now, what they were looking at, this is quite interesting here, in verse 4, the natives, some passages say barbarians, saw the creature hanging from his hand, and they began saying to one another, everybody's got opinions. Even 2,000 years ago, they had opinions.

11:11 SPEAKER_00: And everybody, what do they do? They base their opinions on what they know, what they've experienced, what they see with their natural eye, and that's how we all do it. That's how humans do it. But when we become a believer, we have extra abilities. We have insight into what's really going on. We have discernment. We have revelation. We see through the eyes of God. We have the mind of Christ to decipher and discern it all. But they begin to say, one another, oh, we know he is, he's a murderer. And though he'd been saved from the sea, he's not going to be allowed to live.

12:00 SPEAKER_00: And what they do is with their opinions, they talk in the neighborhoods, they talk at the coffee shops or wherever they gather, and they begin to spread and disseminate this kind of information into society. And they take it as, that's right, that's what's happened. And the problem with that is, it entertains the flesh. There's a name for it. Oh, gossip. But you know something? Isn't it strange that when we try to talk and say what really is going on, don't worry about that. That thing's not going to harm him whatsoever.

12:38 SPEAKER_00: The only ones that are going to understand that kind of talk are those who know the Lord and who know the power of God. So now we are faced. What are we going to listen to? Listen, I hear the same thing you hear. If you and I have the same friends, and if we walk in the same community, we hear the same things. But I have found that I cannot live the life of somebody who does not walk in the ways of the Lord. My life has to come from what the Lord says on the matter. How are you going to hear it?

13:14 SPEAKER_00: I'm going to listen to what other believers are saying. I'm going to listen to what men and women who have faith in God and know the word. I am going to listen to what they are saying.

13:30 SPEAKER_00: Because that is going to be the true analysis of the situation.

13:38 SPEAKER_00: The other will only lead from death. And if I have people who specialize in death and sowing discord and sowing fear, sowing that sort of thing, that is not going to help me. I may be standing there alone, and I have to rely upon what the word of the Lord says. And if the Lord has brought me through, he's brought me through for a purpose. And what he has brought me through, the tentacles of that thing, the fear and everything that was involved in that, is now cut away. God has cut that off, and I walk in strength.

14:14 SPEAKER_00: Isn't it interesting that a viper, the snake, would have killed any human being, and with Paul, it didn't even cause his hand to swell up. We need healing power spiritually, yes. But we also, as containers and vessels of the Holy Spirit, we need the healing of God in our bodies. So they made a judgment, but it was not a judgment made in the Spirit, it was made in the flesh.

New Creature Authority

14:47 SPEAKER_00: This thing fell away with the power of the Holy Spirit.

14:54 SPEAKER_00: James chapter 3, verse 8. But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. That's the natural tongue. That's the fleshly tongue. That's the tongue of people who do not know the Lord. That is the tongue of people who do not walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the tongue that it's talking about.

15:27 SPEAKER_00: It's a deadly venom. So therefore, I have to listen to what the Spirit is speaking and saying.

15:38 SPEAKER_00: In Acts 28, 5, however, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. He had no harm at all. He told that thing that attacked him. He not only told him, he took action against the attacker, and he knew exactly what he was going to do with the attacker, and he was going to throw the attacker into the fire. That was his choice. That's just like us as believers. We tell the attacker what's going to happen to it. We tell the attacker where he is going to go. We tell the attacker, do not attack me.

16:26 SPEAKER_00: You have no effect upon me. Such a simple thing. We've heard this, depending on how long you've served the Lord, maybe what churches you go to, but you've probably heard this said many times. And never get a revelation. Never get a full understanding of what it is that God says to us. See, when the tests come, who do in the world, the only people that receive a test are the people that were studying for the test. Plumbers don't write medical tests. Lawyers don't write engineers' tests. Christians write Christian tests.

17:07 SPEAKER_00: We we that's our test. And when it's there, we threw that thing off. Do you know that we're new creatures in Christ? We're not the old creature. The old creature would attack that which is good. The old creature would be feeling threatened, and then it's got to guard its way of life. The first life form of human beings on this earth were God-fearing and God-walking. Think about that for a moment. They were not the creatures of the flesh and the carnal and the evil and deathly. They were not, that was not what the first man had.

17:51 SPEAKER_00: The first man, Adam, walked in the ways of God, and he walked as God upon the earth. He walked in power and authority, and all was his. And man gave it away, disobeyed. And the old creature, the devil, comes in. And the devil says, Look, I've always been here. No, you have not. That is another lie. Satan is not the original. Jesus Christ, hallelujah. The same yesterday, today, and forever. His word does not change. And it says here that he shook the creature off. I can't blame him. We don't want that old thing coming back on us.

18:37 SPEAKER_00: We don't want that old nature trying to grab and fasten onto us and to lead us back and kill us. We're a new creature in Christ. We're a different creature. We don't walk as that old creature. We don't think like that old carnal man anymore. We the new creature cannot be deceived. Can't be figured out by people of the world.

19:05 SPEAKER_00: We're not flesh-driven. Think about that. We are not flesh-driven. We chose, it's our choosing. It's always our choosing.

Gifts Set In The Church

19:20 SPEAKER_00: Paul could have said, Oh, I'm going to die. Help me, I'm going to die. Somebody help me. And everybody'd be running if you were trying to help them to get it off. No, I see this lesson. Paul made the decision, and he shook off the viper. And that's what you've got to do. You've got to shake that thing off. Are you going to be attacked? Absolutely. Is it going to fasten on to you? Probably. What do I do? Jesus help me. No, no. You shake it off. He's given you the power. You shake it off.

20:03 SPEAKER_00: I'm a new creature. That thing is not going to come and fasten onto me. Hallelujah.

20:12 SPEAKER_00: This creature that came at him couldn't kill him. No matter what you're being attacked with, just stop and think for a moment. That is not going to kill you spiritually. So you're going to move on. A deadly, in Mark 16, 18, it says, No deadly thing, a deadly thing shall not hurt you. Now I was talking about if you drink any deadly thing. But I'm going to take that to another level. Drinking it, it just doesn't necessarily mean you're grabbing something and you're drinking from it. Drinking means you take it all in.

20:48 SPEAKER_00: You drink it, you absorb it. You take it all on you. And you're thinking, oh what, this is going to happen to me, and I'm going to die here. Keep your eyes on Jesus. I hear of groups, I haven't come across them, I don't live in those areas, but where they play with snakes, and maybe some of you are listening today, or you have friends like this, but they'll play with snakes and they'll prove their faith and get to be bitten by a snake and whatever, that is out of order. And that is not right. One thing I will tell you is if you do get bitten by a snake and it wasn't planned for whatever, I'm believing that you will come through that.

21:32 SPEAKER_00: And if you drink poison and maybe you should have killed somebody else, maybe you've had something happen to you, and the doctor says, I don't know how you came through this. This should have killed you. Believers, you've got that kind of power. Deadly, but it's not going to kill us. Now, I would like to take you to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So if you got your Bible there or whatever it is, and if you don't have it, listen closely. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 27. 12, 27. This was written by Paul.

22:16 SPEAKER_00: This was a church that he planted in Corinth. He wrote them a letter, and here's what he said. Now you are Christ's body. When you come to the Lord, you are Christ's body. And he talked here about all the parts of the body. Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. And God, listen to this. God has appointed. God is making this so. In the church, God says, in the church, and that's why we gather, we are the body of Christ as the church. First, he's appointed apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues.

23:14 SPEAKER_00: And this various kinds of tongues doesn't mean English and Hindi and Chinese. It's talking about spiritual tongues. And if we are not careful, we have to understand that man, if he could control, he would take away everything that God has established in the church.

Do Not Drift From Truth

23:34 SPEAKER_00: Because that's what a venomous snake does. And when we are believers, when the flesh tries to get back in and tries to get us to think like a carnal man that we used to be, this is what will happen. They will start telling us that what we don't have anymore. So they'll say, there's no more apostles. That's dangerous. So what do we do? What have they done? They have raised up boards. Yeah, yeah, okay. Second prophets. Oh, we don't have prophets now, that's what they'll say. See what's going on? Teachers, yeah, we'll keep teachers because we've got a lot to teach.

24:15 SPEAKER_00: Then miracles. Oh, be careful on the miracle stuff. Do you understand? Gifts of healings, let's be careful about that. We can get fanatical. That's what they say. Helps, yeah, we need that. We'll keep that one. Administration, absolutely. How else can we rule them? Various kinds of tongues. Oh, maybe we can get rid of that. Do you understand what's going on? If we let the snake come in, the snake will start robbing us of all the benefits and the power of God that is ours today. That should concern you.

24:55 SPEAKER_00: The power of God is for us today. And every time that one of us practices, has faith, walks in the Word of God, comes through victoriously, we all rejoice because it encourages every one of us. Oh yeah, I'm quite encouraged by that. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have the gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.

25:42 SPEAKER_00: And I show you a still more excellent way, walking in love. That's the power of it. And it goes into that in the next chapter. But what I wanted to tell you is that God set these in the church. And I am not going to allow any viper to come and try to put his poison in me and take away what God wants me to do. In Hebrews, what I'm doing here is I'm establishing the fact that God wants to heal and that God is healing. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1. For this reason, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it.

26:36 SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take this bottle. This is the word of the Lord that stands true and is unmovable. Here we come through life, Christian life, and we meet up with truth. When we're at truth, we have to pay close attention to where we are and to make sure that we stay secure, because what can happen is things can come along in life and make us drift away. And when we get cold or we start to get further away and we don't have time to go to church anymore, we don't have time to read our Bible, we don't have time to try to find out what God wants for our life in prayer, and so on it goes.

Signs, Wonders, And Obedience

27:18 SPEAKER_00: That's called drifting. That is starting to drift. And if we start to drift, for if the word spoken through angels proves unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? If we forget the truth? If we're too lazy to walk in the word? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. God also testifying with them. Now listen to this. This is what God does. Testifying with them.

28:02 SPEAKER_00: How? By signs and wonders, by various miracles, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will. If it was left up, the people would try to cherry pick. They would try to pick and choose. Oh, I think I'll take that, and no, I don't want that one, and I'll take this. And they develop their own doctrines and etc. We have to understand that it's God's will for us to walk in this, and this is the will of God and how it's to operate. And in the will of God, I firmly see that healing is for us.

28:43 SPEAKER_00: I see that it's a good thing to believe in miracles. I see that it is a good thing to study and to know the word of the Lord. And that's what brought a lot of them through. Do you know the reason there was nobody killed in that shipwreck? Do you know why? That one of the most severe storms that we read about in all the Bible, do you know why not one person was lost? Because Paul had preached a sermon to them, and he says, if you will believe God, do what I tell you, believe God, not a one of you will die.

29:23 SPEAKER_00: You'll all come through this safely. And they believed it. They believed that Paul was a man of God, they believed his word, and they all were saved.

Believe God And Come Through

29:32 SPEAKER_00: That's why we have preachers. That's why they stand and expound to us the word of the Lord. That's why God uses apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. That's the word of the Lord today. I trust it spoke something to you.

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