Protect The Vessel

0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.600 it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:18.640 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message now, 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.680 in all seriousness, welcome, We're glad you're here. What a 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:32.080 privilege it is to gather together and praise God. I 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.600 am going to I'm going to drive some of you crazy, 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.320 and I'm not giving you my sermon title until the 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:44.159 end of the sermon today. So if you have some 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.760 anxiety medication in your purse for your disorder that you 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.440 need to access at this point, that's just fine. But 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.000 go ahead and be seated. Thank you, team. I love 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.520 worshiping God with you. I love being the pastor of 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:02.200 Elevation Church. Is that bad? I wouldn't pastor another church 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:04.640 if I was going to say, if God told me to, 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:06.000 But I guess I would if he told me to, 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.640 but I'd argue with him. I would argue a lot. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:11.920 Such a great joy to be with you. You You know 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:18.400 the world needs these messages right now. We see mass 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.600 shootings and terror on every side that we turn, and 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.000 the world needs Jesus. As simple as that sounds, I 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.920 just want to remind you that everything we're doing here 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.800 as a church matters. People tell me about things that 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.000 were averted in their life because of this church and 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.319 this ministry, And to be honest with you, that's what 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.880 keeps me going, pushing through all the self doubt that 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.319 I experience, or even just the grind of like it's 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.040 my sixteenth year being a pastor, But as long as 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.560 God is changing lives, I think it's worth it. I 0:01:54.560 --> 0:02:01.680 think it's worth it. Today I'd like to give you 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:06.600 something from the scriptures that I think could come as 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:11.280 a real preventive measure for somebody. Go to Acts chapter 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.720 twenty eight right now. No time to waste Acts chapter 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:21.960 twenty eight. For the sake of context. Let me actually 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.919 get verse forty two through forty four in X twenty seven. 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.480 And the reason I wanted to have you be seated 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.240 is because this is a little lengthier scripture. But I 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.000 want to share everything that God gave me with you. 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:39.679 We have so much to talk about. The soldiers plan 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.040 to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.120 swimming away. And escaping, but the centurion wanted to spare 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:50.760 Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.960 That's really cool because they say that it's like cancel 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.920 culture these days, and you hear a lot about canceling, 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.400 But the only one who can really cancel something when 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.200 you want to get down to it, is the one 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:13.120 who created it. Therefore, Paul got to live, no matter 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.200 what the captain of the ship did, or no matter 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.040 what the prison guards decided. And it says in verse 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.960 forty four the rest of the prisoners were to get 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.840 there on planks or other pieces of the ship. In 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.280 this way, everyone reached land safely. Now let's go verse 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:33.000 one twenty eight. Once safely on shore, we found out 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:38.760 that the island was called Malta, which means honey. Putting 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.640 that in there, that's what it means literally or refuge, 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.880 but literal meaning is honey. Cool. The islanders showed us 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:50.400 unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.400 because it was raining and cold, And Paul gathered a 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.560 pile of brushwood, and as he put it on the fire, 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:00.560 a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.080 his hand. And when the islanders saw the snake hanging 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.680 from his hand. They said to each other, this man 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.480 must be a murderer, for though he escaped from the sea, 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.880 the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. But 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.920 Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.080 no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.719 or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:32.000 and seeing nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:37.520 mind and said he was a god. That's how quick 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:42.160 people can flip. By the way, there's no better time 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.719 for me to say this than Palm Sunday. Remember what 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:50.840 they were saying on Palm Sunday, Hoseena hosein. But they 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.640 put the palm branches down Friday, didn't they? When he 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:58.520 went to the cross crucified. That's how quick people can change. 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.760 The people on Malta did what people do. They changed 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:14.320 their mind because they're fickle, because they're finite. Didn't really 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:19.120 matter what they thought of Paul, though, because what's what 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:23.160 happens next in the story. There was an estate nearby 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:30.520 that belonged to Publius almost named you that Elijah, the 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:35.080 chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:40.680 home and showed us generous hospitality for three days in 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:47.120 this cool How God is taking care of Paul through strangers. Amazing. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.240 How God has favor for you everywhere that he takes you. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:55.920 What's really crazy about the passage, and what I want 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.320 us to talk about a little bit today, is that 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:03.599 God's favor on that island was not disqualified by the 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:08.520 mistake that the sailors made in the sea. And so 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.600 it's one thing to realize that God puts this favor 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.440 on you when you make good decisions and you're wives, 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.880 and you quote scriptures, and you had your time with 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.160 God Jesus in coffee this morning, and you were nice 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:24.240 to everybody. But this is a little different because God's 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.200 favor was waiting for them in a place where their 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:34.960 mistake landed them. And so Paul now gets invited to 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.279 this dinner with this important guy on the island that 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.279 they didn't even know the name of a couple days ago, 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:44.640 and then an opportunity comes up. Now I want to 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.400 try to convince you today to become a Christian opportunist, 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.960 a Christian opportunist, because it says that while Paul was 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.360 at this dinner, he discovered verse e that Publis's father 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.000 was se in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. God 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.280 was punishing this man for naming his son Publius. Is 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.440 what I think. Come on, laugh with me the joy 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.200 of the Lord. Okay, all right? And so Paul went 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:14.119 in to see him, and after prayer, placed his hands 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:15.640 on him and healed him. And when this had happened, 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.920 the rest of the sick on the island came and 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.640 were cured. They honored us in many ways, and when 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.960 we were ready to sail, when we were ready to sail, 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.800 when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.160 the supplies we needed. And after three months in a 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.840 place where we didn't plan to be, we put out 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:35.880 the sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.080 It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:44.760 twin gods Castor and Pollocks. I want to encourage you 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:52.000 today to protect the vessel. That's not my sermon title. 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.120 That's just something I want to say to you from 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:58.520 my heart to yours as a pastor. And I know 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:01.080 that seems like a strange thing to say. After reading 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.800 a Bible passage about a ship that fell to pieces 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.680 and landed on an island, because, as you saw in 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.120 the text, like the vessel, as we use that term 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:19.160 the ship, the vessel completely lost its former structure. However, 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.720 that's not really the vessel that God is most concerned about. 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.600 I think a lot of my problems in my own 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:37.160 psychology come from protecting the wrong thing too much, protecting 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:41.360 the right thing not enough. I don't mind admitting that 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.520 I'm defensive. I was telling a story the other day. 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.880 Somebody asked me, are you confrontational? I was like, let 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.480 me tell you. We were going to this one guy 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:53.880 who one time was telling me pastors ought to do this, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.400 and pastors ought to You were there, but I'm not 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:57.360 going to say his name. Obviously on camera, you co 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:58.880 can probably figure it out if you thought about it. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.079 He goes pastors out of this, and pastors out of that, 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:02.960 and pastors out of that. And the thing is he 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:04.880 wasn't doing anything that he said pastors ought to do. 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.320 So I said, hey, real quick, show me the scripture. 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:09.760 This is my Bible. Maybe you got a different one 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:11.640 where it says that there's a different standard for a 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.800 pastor than a regular person. Now, don't cheer for that. 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:16.720 That's the stuff that God needs to get out of 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:20.640 my heart. What's wrong with y'all? This is a confession, 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:27.719 not a testimony. But I'm defensive, right, I'm defensive. I 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:37.600 sometimes protect my opinion, my preference. Let me give you 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.840 a scripture that Paul said, and I just had this 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.120 one right before I got up on the stage. He says. 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.760 And remember Paul is writing this scripture in two Timothy too, 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.880 at pretty much the time where his ministry is about 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.120 to close. It's quite possibly right at the same time 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.280 after this shipwreck. But he's writing this letter to Timothy. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:01.760 This is why I told you to protect the vessel, 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.760 Paul says in two Timothy two twenty. Do you have 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:08.080 it in the King James? Yeah? Cool. I wanted to 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.760 use the King James because of one specific word, he says. 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.240 But in a great house there are not only vessels 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.200 of gold and of silver, but also of wood and 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.480 of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor listen 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:26.960 to this, If a man therefore purge himself from these 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:33.600 these things, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:38.320 and meet for the Master's use, prepared for every good word. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.960 If he purges himself from these, he shall be a 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:51.600 vessel that God can use. And I was excited. Now 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:57.240 don't worry about it, because, uh, I got a case 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:06.120 from my phone. So it's fine. It's fine, you got 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:11.240 a case for your phone. I think the cockiest people 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:16.080 in the world don't put a case on their phone. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:22.320 You mean you are that together, and that's sure of yourself. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:25.920 And did you hear how they gasped when my phone 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.840 flew out of my hand. I practiced that fifteen times 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.560 to try to make it believable because I wanted to 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:37.240 show you that we have cases to protect our phones. 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.880 How much was your phone? Five hundred dollars, seven hundred dollars, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:53.160 three hundred dollars. We have a case for our phone, 0:11:54.080 --> 0:12:00.120 which you can get another one off. But but, but, 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:07.560 but they don't make a case for your soul, for 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:12.120 your heart, for your faith, for your expectation. And you 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:18.840 can still use a phone with a cracked screen. It'll 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:23.800 still work. But when the lawyer started speaking to me 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.880 about this message, he said, tell them that they are 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:38.080 spending more time protecting things that can be replaced. I 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.280 want to use an example because Paul says, to Timothy, 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:47.600 these things. Protect yourself from these things. You know what 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.200 the things he mentions are, you can look it up. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.880 He's talking about false teaching. He said, it spreads like 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:57.760 gang green. That's disgusting. He said, you got to really 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.240 protect yourself from those things. You got to protect yourself. 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:06.559 One thing he calls it is godless chatter. And see 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.600 this is the thing about it. I didn't know Paul 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:14.560 had Twitter, so I read him say protect yourself from 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:20.440 godless chatter man, he said in one thing he said, avoid. 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:22.880 This is the same passage two, Timothy, to look it 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.679 up later and check check me out. See if I'm 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:31.000 telling you the truth. It says, avoid stupid arguments. Avoid 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:35.840 stupid arguments. And the reason that I chose to go 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.959 off of Acts twenty eight today talking about protect the 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:44.359 vessel is because even though the boat that was carrying 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:52.400 Paul broke into pieces, it really wasn't as important what 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:56.920 was carrying Paul as it was what Paul was carrying. 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.800 There's a couple ships in the passage. One of them 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:08.199 is nautical, one of them does what boats do. But 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.320 the other vessel in the passage, of course, is the 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:16.760 apostle Paul, who was going to Rome because he had 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:22.440 a case double meaning right to stand before Caesar for 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.040 the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so as he's on 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:27.840 his way to Rome, of course there's a shipwreck. I've 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.000 preached about this before us an amazing story. You don't 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.400 have time for it today, but there's something in this 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:38.680 passage for us to realize that there's something that happens 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.480 after Paul survives the crash that is even more important 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:47.960 than what caused the crash to begin with. I spend 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.040 a lot of my mental energy trying to figure out 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.680 why things are the way they are, and a lot 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.680 of times I can come to conclusions that aren't necessarily accurate. 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.240 I've noticed this about myself that a lot of times 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:05.400 I connect things, and I think that the reason this 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:11.400 happened is because that happened. Right now, I wouldn't consider 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:16.680 myself prone to self pity necessarily, but I do have 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.040 my moments, and even Paul did as a matter of fact, 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.160 when he was in the storm. Let me just bring 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.280 this up to refresh your memory. And it became apparent 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.840 that there was going to be a crash. He tells 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:30.600 all the people that are in charge of the ship 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:35.520 the other prisoners. In verse twenty one, Men, you should 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:40.120 have taken my advice not to sail from crete. Then 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:44.800 you would have spared yourself this damage and loss. But 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.520 now I urge you to keep up your courage, because 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.480 not one of you will be lost, only the ship 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:56.920 will be destroyed. Right which vessel is God interested in protecting? 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.920 Read the passage again. He says, you have got to 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:05.440 keep your courage even in the midst of really horrible conditions, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.680 because the important vessel isn't the one that carried you. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:17.280 The most important vessel or the most important container isn't 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.400 something that carries you. It is the heart that God 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.960 has given you, the calling, the assignment, the gift, the ability, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.560 the imagination that God has given you to carry something 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.800 to the world. Now we're not all Paul, so we're 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.960 not all carrying what he's carrying. But the significance of 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.120 this story would apply to anybody in the room. I 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.880 promise you there is something that you are carrying that 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:48.280 only you can carry. I don't know if you see 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.000 yourself this way or not, but it's like Paul knew 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:55.240 that whatever happens to the boat that I'm in, there 0:16:55.320 --> 0:17:02.760 is something in me. That is more significant to God. 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.880 So whatever is breaking apart in your life at any 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:09.560 given point in time is not as important as what 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:11.280 God has put on the inside of you. So protect 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:16.800 the vessel. Protect the vessel. Don't put a case on 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.480 your phone, but then use the same phone to expose 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:26.639 your heart. Do you want me to preach. I'm going 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.400 to read a poem and go home. I already got 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:35.359 the revelation. As a matter of fact, please do not 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.080 email me about this. I barely even open emails, so 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:42.360 it would be pointless. I heard one person one time 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.080 who talked about how they eat clean, eat clean, eat clean, 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.359 eat clean, and all of that. And granted, I have 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.280 my own certain way that I eat, and I am 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:53.080 very very picky, and I am very very I guess 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.639 disciplined in my own way. But the only thing is 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.320 I get to eat unlimited bacon on the eating lifestyle 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.240 that I have chosen that God has given me any 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.960 forward day through doctor Atkamps, don't email me. I'm not 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:07.960 going to read it. But the person that was eating clean, 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:10.600 they didn't eat this. They didn't need that. We went 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:14.120 to the thing they had bean sprouts and all that's 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.120 that's that's that's what I remember. It is they were 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.800 just eating. But what I remember is they were they 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.320 were saying all this stuff. They were like, because if 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.560 you eat this, you get killed with that, and then 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.199 if you eat fish then you have mercury poisoning, and 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.000 then if you don't eat fish. So I saw, I 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.320 sat there and I thought, huh, this is funny because 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.680 it was. It was. It was an example to me 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:39.440 of you are so careful about what you will put 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.800 in your body. And it's great, it's great study at all. 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.440 I know, I know you you know science. That's great. 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.040 But it wasn't coming from just a place of wisdom. 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:55.439 It was all fear based, right, And I read this 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:57.600 study and I saw this, and I googled this disease 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.159 and I YouTube that disease and all this stuff. And 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:05.000 I thought, it's funny because you eat clean, but you 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:10.760 think crap. This is what I thought. I didn't say this. 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:18.200 You eat clean, but you think crap. So you live long, 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:27.439 but you hate life. You are protecting the shed, but 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:35.440 you're not maintaining the equipment. You're managing your profile, your image, 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:41.000 your appearance. This physical body, it's gonna pray, take care 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.920 of it, but the real vessel has nothing to do 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.360 with anything that can be counted in calories or carbohydrates. 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:57.000 That's why Paul says, let go of the boat and 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:06.480 keep up your courage. It's okay, I got a case. 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:11.200 It's all right, It's all right. And then they get 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:14.520 to the island and Paul's like, I told you, I 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:18.440 told you God was good. This is my besting money, 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:24.399 singing worship songs and stuff. Roh. He had the pirate, 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:26.320 the bootleg YouTube version. He had learned it a long 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.200 time ago. But he said, uh, he said, here, let 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.720 me help, because these these islanders are being are being nice. 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:36.240 So he's like, I don't want to just sit over 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:37.960 here and not help. If you're nice enough to build 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.639 a fire, I'm nice enough to help, and just to 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.679 read the scripture again. You remember this, Mike, when I 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.760 preached at twenty seventeen, because this is so good, but 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:47.959 you remember it. But he said, uh, he said here, 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:52.440 let me help. And when he was put in the fire, 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:55.960 the wood on the fire verse threet a viper driven 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.440 out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. Everybody say, 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.080 on his hand, I vi professing stuff on his hand. 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:07.840 So Hey, you ever been trying to help somebody and 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:13.679 in the process of helping you got hurt. This is 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:15.679 one of the main things you've got to look out for, 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:19.800 because I've been in the process before where I thought 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:21.320 I was doing something good. I don't even see you there. 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.720 It's good to see you. It's awesome because he's like, 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:29.080 only trying to be useful, right, and he gets a 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.639 bit by snake. So at this point, when I was 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.280 reading the scripture, I had to stop and ask the question, 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:39.520 why did the snake bite Paul? I'm going to see 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:41.920 what you think about it. You're not gonna just sit 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.399 there and make me do all the work. Put it 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:48.400 in the chat? Why did the snake bite Paul? On three? One, 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:54.480 two three. I don't know what they're saying online, but 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.639 are y'all speaking in tongues? Is this the Tower of babble? 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:06.240 What happened in Elevation Church? It was the devil. That's 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.320 how the devil is. It's always taking on pull in 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.800 his weakest moment, wants to take him out so he 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:17.639 can't preach this the devil, right, the devil is the snake. 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:24.840 Genesis three, the serpent, the symbolism revelations with us. That's all. Like, 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.080 maybe it was the devil snake bite I guess that's 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:34.440 the devil is No, it was God. It was God 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.800 that let the snake bite Paul. Because everything happens for 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:42.879 a reason. That's why you're you know, people will say it, 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:46.000 that's why you went through this. You're single because the 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:50.040 Lord is preparing your ship in the harbor, right, like, 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.200 shut off if I want somebody to watch Netflix with, 0:22:53.560 --> 0:23:01.440 shut up. It was God. God. It was God that 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:06.440 let that snake bite Paul, because well then Paul got 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:08.879 to show that that snake can't hurt me. God is 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:14.360 greater than the snake. You know, graves into gardens, you know, right, 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:18.120 And so it was God. But it's not that deep, y'all. 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:23.200 It says it in the text. It's crazy how many 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:25.320 somersaults we will do just to get around what the 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:30.880 text actually said. It says the viper was driven out 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:38.760 by the heat. It was nothing but a natural consequence 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:42.880 of the fire. But watch what everybody was so quick 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:45.560 to do. What is all that? I don't know what's 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:48.480 going on up there? WA's what God wanted me to 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:52.480 show you. While Paul has got a snake hanging from 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:56.040 his hand. This is unbelievable. I can't believe this. This 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.960 reminds me of church people. Everybody's standing around talking about 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:06.600 why he's got a snake on his hand? Did you 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:12.360 see it in the text? I hate I don't hate 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:14.520 these kind of people. These kind of people get on 0:24:14.560 --> 0:24:20.400 my nerves. Well, that's why you're going through that, because 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:22.399 you know, if you would have raised your kids on 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:25.560 the books that I read, then your kids wouldn't be 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.560 struggling with this. Well, when I raised my kids, we 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:31.800 had prayer times at eight thirty for Matthew eight thirty. 0:24:31.840 --> 0:24:33.560 I don't know what Matthew eight thirty says, and we 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:36.080 would sit around and if you would train them up, 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:41.800 that would have been. Now, it says that the islanders 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:45.320 were kind, they build a fire. These were not evil people, 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:48.959 even though they were strange people. But something in even 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:51.760 the nicest human heart has a tendency to want to 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:58.280 do this. In the scripture, it says that while a 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:01.960 snake was hanging from Paul's hand, while a snake was 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:04.480 hanging from the Man of God's hand while he was 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:12.200 this could have killed him Verse five. Now verse four, 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:18.720 because we will never get the verse five. If Paul 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:20.359 would have listened to what they said in verse four, 0:25:23.119 --> 0:25:30.879 this could have killed Paul. This this, this, When the 0:25:30.920 --> 0:25:36.960 Islanders saw the snake, they said, this man, yeah, must 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:42.200 be a murder. Now they are interpreting his identity through 0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:49.240 the lens of an event. If this is happening, then 0:25:49.280 --> 0:26:01.919 you must be this man. The pointer finger, the pointer finger. 0:26:03.520 --> 0:26:11.800 It's like the logo for a lot of Christianity, those 0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:22.479 people that lifestyle. This man, if he was a good man, 0:26:22.520 --> 0:26:29.159 he wouldn't be going through this. If you had not 0:26:29.240 --> 0:26:31.720 wasted that season of your life, then God could have 0:26:31.720 --> 0:26:34.080 blessed you like that, if you would have listened, if 0:26:34.080 --> 0:26:35.359 you would have been in church, if you would have 0:26:35.520 --> 0:26:41.920 da da da da. I never saw any power released 0:26:42.720 --> 0:26:54.360 through a pointing finger, personally, I never saw it. When 0:26:54.359 --> 0:26:57.160 you read in the Bible, you read a lot about 0:26:57.200 --> 0:27:05.520 the hand of God much more than the finger of God. 0:27:08.240 --> 0:27:23.720 This kills, this kills, this heals. So while we're talking 0:27:23.760 --> 0:27:26.720 about the devil, let me tell you what Satan means. Accuser. 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:37.480 That's Satan's logan, not God's. So if it's like this, 0:27:38.480 --> 0:27:42.200 that's probably not God. Don't get me wrong. There comes 0:27:42.200 --> 0:27:44.600 a time for strong teaching. I had somebody tell me 0:27:44.640 --> 0:27:46.800 the other day, I love you because you scream at me, 0:27:48.320 --> 0:27:53.000 said you're welcome. I think are doing that, they said 0:27:53.000 --> 0:27:54.760 when I was preaching. It wasn't like a personal thing 0:27:54.760 --> 0:27:56.360 they were saying, they preaching. I just want to clarify 0:27:56.400 --> 0:27:59.480 that it could be taken the wrong way. But but 0:27:59.480 --> 0:28:06.360 but God, God isn't really He certainly could have done 0:28:06.359 --> 0:28:10.120 that to Peter when he does this stupid get out 0:28:10.119 --> 0:28:15.440 of the boat trick. Right, Oh, coman Lord, not very far, 0:28:15.520 --> 0:28:21.240 you're not. But I didn't see Jesus do that to Peter. 0:28:26.160 --> 0:28:30.880 I saw him do that. What you have to decide 0:28:31.359 --> 0:28:34.880 in this moment of your life is between the pointing 0:28:34.920 --> 0:28:42.880 finger and the healing hand. That's my title, the pointing 0:28:42.920 --> 0:28:48.920 finger and the healing hand. If Paul believes what the 0:28:48.920 --> 0:28:52.280 people say about him in this moment, he dies, that's 0:28:52.320 --> 0:28:56.640 true of some of you. In fact, the problem with 0:28:56.680 --> 0:28:58.600 a ship comes not when it gets in the water, 0:28:58.680 --> 0:29:01.800 but when the water gets in it. So I had 0:29:01.840 --> 0:29:05.880 to realize that protecting the vessel in my life means 0:29:05.960 --> 0:29:11.360 not believing everything that everybody thinks about me, including me, 0:29:14.320 --> 0:29:19.880 including me. The most dangerous and sabotaging form of this 0:29:20.240 --> 0:29:23.120 does not come from other people's finger in your face. 0:29:23.960 --> 0:29:26.640 If the enemy has his way with you, he will 0:29:26.640 --> 0:29:31.600 have you in the mirror saying this is the problem. 0:29:32.720 --> 0:29:36.240 It's me now. The next thing, you know, you don't 0:29:36.280 --> 0:29:39.960 even see a way forward anymore. And what got me 0:29:40.000 --> 0:29:43.400 about the passage is it is not guaranteed that Paul 0:29:43.520 --> 0:29:47.480 is going to survive if he holds on to what 0:29:47.600 --> 0:29:51.760 is hurting him. Now, I want you to imagine this 0:29:51.920 --> 0:29:55.920 against the context of Exodus four. Exodus four is God 0:29:56.000 --> 0:29:59.800 calling Moses another great man of God, another man of God, 0:30:00.360 --> 0:30:03.840 even in spite of his own proclimities, like he was 0:30:03.880 --> 0:30:09.000 a murderer. They're pointing their finger at Paul. This man's 0:30:09.000 --> 0:30:12.760 a murderer. He's not, He's a messenger. Moses was a murderer, 0:30:12.800 --> 0:30:16.000 he killed an Egyptian trying to do God's will his way. 0:30:17.280 --> 0:30:20.479 But God didn't come to Moses' pointing. He asked him 0:30:20.480 --> 0:30:25.120 a question in Exodus, for what is that in your hand? 0:30:26.360 --> 0:30:28.400 And Moses said, what I have in my hand is 0:30:28.440 --> 0:30:32.320 a staff, and it's a very common object. Now here's 0:30:32.360 --> 0:30:38.160 the contrast. For Moses to see God's power, he had 0:30:38.200 --> 0:30:40.840 to throw down the stick and it became a snake, 0:30:42.120 --> 0:30:46.920 got it, got the picture. For Paul to see God's power, 0:30:47.800 --> 0:30:51.760 he had to throw down the snake. What I have 0:30:51.880 --> 0:30:55.280 done to myself in some seasons of my life is 0:30:55.360 --> 0:31:05.080 I have held on to what was hurting me. How 0:31:05.200 --> 0:31:10.720 long are you gonna let a snake have free rent 0:31:11.640 --> 0:31:16.720 on your hand? It's just a question. Because I get 0:31:16.720 --> 0:31:19.920 disappointed too, I get offended too. I get bitter too. 0:31:19.960 --> 0:31:21.920 One of my titles that I thought I shouldn't call 0:31:21.960 --> 0:31:26.440 this sermon was bit, not bitter, because here's the way 0:31:26.480 --> 0:31:28.840 I was thinking about it. It can't kill you if 0:31:28.840 --> 0:31:33.000 it only penetrates the skin. It can't kill you. If 0:31:33.040 --> 0:31:36.640 all it does is break the skin, it only kills you. 0:31:36.720 --> 0:31:41.320 The snake only kills Paul if he allows the venom 0:31:41.320 --> 0:31:45.520 to get in the vessel. That's the only way it 0:31:45.640 --> 0:31:49.000 stops you. That's the only way. It's a surface wound 0:31:49.360 --> 0:31:53.920 if you do this. No no, but but we make 0:31:54.000 --> 0:31:56.320 trophies out of our trials, and we hold on to 0:31:56.400 --> 0:31:59.040 them so tightly, and we overidentify with the events ourselves 0:31:59.120 --> 0:32:04.000 so that we become identified by our experiences. When we 0:32:04.080 --> 0:32:07.000 start saying to ourselves what the islanders were saying about Paul, 0:32:07.120 --> 0:32:10.240 you must be a bad woman, You must be a 0:32:10.280 --> 0:32:14.080 screw up, You must be trash, you must be worthless, 0:32:14.200 --> 0:32:18.560 you must be slow. What's wrong with me? You have 0:32:18.640 --> 0:32:20.720 you said that a lot lately? What's wrong with me 0:32:21.720 --> 0:32:26.000 that nobody wants to be with me? Why doesn't anybody 0:32:26.080 --> 0:32:28.640 stay in my life? Why doesn't anybody want to be 0:32:28.800 --> 0:32:31.000 around me? Why don't the things that happen for other 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:33.320 people so easily happen to me? Why can't I be 0:32:33.400 --> 0:32:38.680 happy like they're just over there so happy? That's not God, 0:32:40.600 --> 0:32:54.000 that's not God, that's not God. This is why is 0:32:54.160 --> 0:33:01.480 the enemy's primary strategy, accusation, because if he can keep 0:33:01.480 --> 0:33:11.760 you doing this, you never do this. So here's how 0:33:11.840 --> 0:33:15.320 resentment works. Paul, in this moment, this is so stupid 0:33:15.360 --> 0:33:17.400 that I'm on this island. This is so stupid that 0:33:17.520 --> 0:33:20.000 you know the fire. Nobody else got bit by a snake. 0:33:21.440 --> 0:33:23.400 I mean, think about what Paul could have said in 0:33:23.400 --> 0:33:30.720 his heart, all these other prisoners. I must God must 0:33:30.720 --> 0:33:34.280 be punishing me. And that's what everybody else is saying. 0:33:34.280 --> 0:33:38.320 Maybe they're right. I went through a season in ministry 0:33:38.440 --> 0:33:41.120 where so many people were saying a certain thing about me. 0:33:42.080 --> 0:33:44.320 I started to act like I had to prove them wrong. 0:33:46.320 --> 0:33:48.000 And so a lot of my ministry, if I look 0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:50.640 back through a certain season, was me here being like 0:33:50.760 --> 0:33:54.720 I do study my Bible in the Greek, in the Hebrew, 0:33:54.920 --> 0:33:57.960 in the big Latin. I'm busting out every language I 0:33:58.040 --> 0:34:01.520 ever learned, hieroglyphics, just to get you to see I'm 0:34:01.560 --> 0:34:03.960 not what you think I am. Because I said, yeah, 0:34:04.000 --> 0:34:13.960 he's an entertainer, he's a thing. But when I look deeper, 0:34:14.840 --> 0:34:18.120 it wasn't what they were saying that had the power 0:34:18.160 --> 0:34:20.720 to contain me, control me, or limit me in my ministry, 0:34:20.719 --> 0:34:29.640 effectiveness or humanity. It wasn't. It was will you do well, Paul? 0:34:29.680 --> 0:34:36.120 Did we do this? Because when you do this, now 0:34:36.160 --> 0:34:44.120 you can do this? Yeah, pointing fingers or healing hands. 0:34:45.160 --> 0:34:48.879 They're watching him so close. They're going, let's see if 0:34:48.920 --> 0:34:52.239 he gets better. Let's see if they and I don't. 0:34:52.280 --> 0:34:54.480 I don't think Paul really cared much about the audience 0:34:54.520 --> 0:34:58.400 at this point because he knew he had an appointment 0:34:58.400 --> 0:35:02.920 in Rome. So his security and his purpose made him 0:35:02.920 --> 0:35:07.359 impervious to the opinions of others. Did you catch what 0:35:07.640 --> 0:35:12.160 God just said to you? There is a sense in 0:35:12.200 --> 0:35:15.560 which when you know God's hand is on you. When 0:35:15.600 --> 0:35:18.360 you know that it's God's hand even in the mistakes, 0:35:18.600 --> 0:35:20.719 even in the decisions of others. This is what takes 0:35:20.800 --> 0:35:24.160 us some time to believe that God is sovereign, even 0:35:24.440 --> 0:35:30.360 over the screw ups of others. All right, let me 0:35:30.400 --> 0:35:31.840 get to the good part. I appreciate about that a 0:35:31.840 --> 0:35:34.080 few weeks ago, So let me get to the good part. 0:35:34.440 --> 0:35:36.840 So the people thought he was gonna die. He didn't. 0:35:37.040 --> 0:35:39.400 Nothing unusual happened to him. They changed their minds and 0:35:39.440 --> 0:35:41.280 said he was a god. Now Paul knew he was neither. 0:35:42.600 --> 0:35:44.239 I'm not a murderer, I'm not a god. I wrote 0:35:44.239 --> 0:35:46.359 a song lyric the other day. I'm no beggar, I'm 0:35:46.400 --> 0:35:49.480 no king. Guess I'm something in between. I want to 0:35:49.480 --> 0:35:51.120 put that in a song one day, and maybe I will. 0:35:51.400 --> 0:35:53.960 But I was reading how they're like, he's a god, 0:35:54.200 --> 0:35:57.839 he's a murderer. He's like, I'm neither. I know who 0:35:57.880 --> 0:35:59.960 I am. I know I am. Look, God told me 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:01.680 who I was. God told me who I was Act 0:36:01.719 --> 0:36:03.680 twenty seven, before I even went through the storm. God 0:36:03.680 --> 0:36:05.680 told me who I was. So I'm not looking to 0:36:05.760 --> 0:36:07.959 you to define me. Now that I'm on this shore 0:36:08.040 --> 0:36:10.600 called Malta. I don't even know you'd like that. Watch 0:36:10.680 --> 0:36:13.279 this in verse twenty three x twenty seven, this is 0:36:13.320 --> 0:36:17.240 annointed last night, an angel of the God to whom 0:36:17.239 --> 0:36:19.800 I belong. There it is and whom I serf stood 0:36:19.840 --> 0:36:22.680 beside me and said, don't be afraid, Paul, you must 0:36:22.719 --> 0:36:26.000 stand trial before Caesar. You've got a case in Wrome. 0:36:26.360 --> 0:36:29.000 So God has graciously given you the lives of all 0:36:29.000 --> 0:36:32.480 who sail with you. But Paul wasn't busy doing this 0:36:32.920 --> 0:36:36.879 because if he blamed those who were responsible for shipwrecking 0:36:36.960 --> 0:36:39.880 him on this island, he would never see what God 0:36:39.920 --> 0:36:44.839 wanted to do on the island while he was there. Nah, 0:36:44.840 --> 0:36:50.359 it's set me free. There's no power in this. When 0:36:50.400 --> 0:36:58.960 you place blame, you give power. If they put you 0:36:59.040 --> 0:37:05.000 in the situation, have to get you out. So when 0:37:05.040 --> 0:37:11.279 Paul does this, it's his way of saying, it's not 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:14.360 whose fault it was. That that matters. Some of you 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:17.720 think about me. That matters. The only thing that matters 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:24.759 in this moment, in this season of my life is this. 0:37:27.320 --> 0:37:29.120 Get that fellow over here, man, the one that the 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:35.040 snake bit and he didn't die. I want to meet him. 0:37:35.120 --> 0:37:40.280 Publius didn't ask for any other prisoners, just the one 0:37:40.680 --> 0:37:45.920 who got bit and didn't get bitter. I'm not just 0:37:45.960 --> 0:37:50.080 being cute. I would have been bitter. I would have 0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:56.399 been like this. You told me to preach, you told 0:37:56.400 --> 0:37:59.120 me to share the gospel, you said you would protect me, 0:37:59.280 --> 0:38:04.480 and I'm the only one who got bid. But this 0:38:04.520 --> 0:38:08.240 won't get you healed either. You can do it. God's 0:38:08.280 --> 0:38:10.200 not scared of it. You can do it. It's fine. 0:38:11.120 --> 0:38:14.960 But when you get done with that, are you ever 0:38:15.000 --> 0:38:20.520 going to get to this? Yeh? In a marriage? Come here, Hall, 0:38:20.800 --> 0:38:25.359 in a marriage. I promise you one thing I know well, 0:38:25.400 --> 0:38:30.920 I'll come to you because I'm just faster. This heels. 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:38.400 This kills I'm just trying to help you see something. 0:38:41.400 --> 0:38:48.400 This kills. It kills communication, it kills empathy. This heels, 0:38:52.400 --> 0:38:54.560 I just saw it like a picture. That that's all 0:38:54.560 --> 0:38:58.400 I need you for me for now. That this is 0:38:58.440 --> 0:39:00.160 only going to get you to a certain place. And 0:39:00.200 --> 0:39:02.880 it's important, like all of us can point to something 0:39:03.280 --> 0:39:05.680 in our life right now that is making us weak. 0:39:05.800 --> 0:39:09.360 And that's fine. That's totally fine for the snake to 0:39:09.400 --> 0:39:15.920 fasten itself to your hand. It's not okay for you 0:39:15.960 --> 0:39:17.799 to hold on to it longer than you're supposed to. 0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:24.359 We can all point to something in our past that 0:39:24.440 --> 0:39:27.440 caused the way that we're struggling with a character defect today. 0:39:28.320 --> 0:39:33.719 And that's fine. Only guess you so far. The real 0:39:33.800 --> 0:39:38.560 question when Paul showed up and he got in pup 0:39:38.960 --> 0:39:42.040 what's his name, Publius? When he gets in his house 0:39:42.760 --> 0:39:46.960 and discovers that there's an opportunity, Remember, I said, a 0:39:47.040 --> 0:39:52.400 Christian opportunist, a worldly opportunist is when I see something 0:39:52.440 --> 0:39:55.120 that looks like a good opportunity, I give my all 0:39:55.200 --> 0:39:57.680 to it. When I see somebody that I think can 0:39:57.719 --> 0:40:00.880 give me an advantage, I'm nice to them. That's a 0:40:00.920 --> 0:40:06.640 worldly opportunist. A Christian opportunist realizes that the great strengths 0:40:06.719 --> 0:40:15.640 hide in weakness. So a whole island gets healed because 0:40:15.640 --> 0:40:19.799 of a sick man. The sick man only encountered the 0:40:19.800 --> 0:40:25.359 Great Apostle because of a snake bit hand. Let make 0:40:25.400 --> 0:40:28.640 sure you see the connection. Why did the snake bite 0:40:28.640 --> 0:40:32.840 Paul on the fire? It doesn't say God made the 0:40:32.840 --> 0:40:39.160 snake bite Paul. Paul determined after the fact that he 0:40:39.160 --> 0:40:43.920 would use this too. I want to say to somebody 0:40:44.960 --> 0:40:46.919 and I feel like it's not somebody who's in the room. 0:40:47.440 --> 0:40:54.000 God's going to use this too. We all know about 0:40:54.560 --> 0:40:57.520 the ship that carries us to God's purpose, the ship 0:40:57.560 --> 0:41:00.480 that gets us some places. But the snake took Paul 0:41:00.520 --> 0:41:10.200 to Pooblice's house. God's going to use this too. I 0:41:10.440 --> 0:41:12.439 say he cost it. Don't put the words in my mouth. 0:41:12.480 --> 0:41:16.080 I didn't say he cost it. God is going to 0:41:16.360 --> 0:41:21.520 use this too, And I want you to make the 0:41:21.560 --> 0:41:25.280 confession out of your mouth by faith. God is going 0:41:25.600 --> 0:41:31.279 to use this too. So Paul goes this cool boom, 0:41:32.320 --> 0:41:36.319 this cool poop. Not this, it was your fault. I'm 0:41:36.320 --> 0:41:39.160 on this island, you stupid. Would have you ever hit 0:41:39.200 --> 0:41:46.439 a wall. I've heard my knuckles hitting inanimate objects. Paul 0:41:46.480 --> 0:41:50.400 didn't punched the wood. A lot of us go around physically, 0:41:50.480 --> 0:41:54.560 speak of swinging and stuff that can't swing back. Oh 0:41:54.600 --> 0:41:57.880 it's the government. Oh it's this, it's that. This is 0:41:58.040 --> 0:42:02.560 only going to get me so far. I gotta do this. 0:42:03.200 --> 0:42:06.360 I gotta do this. I gotta go have dinner with 0:42:06.440 --> 0:42:10.320 Philblius and see why God put me on this island 0:42:10.560 --> 0:42:15.879 that wasn't on my itinerary. Now, I'm just telling you 0:42:16.160 --> 0:42:19.160 God said that some of you are going today from 0:42:19.200 --> 0:42:23.840 a posture of pain to a posture of power. But 0:42:23.920 --> 0:42:27.280 it's gonna be a different kind of power. It's gonna 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:31.720 be a Second Corinthians four kind of power. In Second 0:42:31.719 --> 0:42:36.280 Corinthians four, the great apostle Paul says, but we have 0:42:36.719 --> 0:42:42.799 this treasure in earthen vessels. We have this treasure in 0:42:42.920 --> 0:42:48.600 earthen vessels. We have this glory in messy situations. We 0:42:48.719 --> 0:42:53.600 have this hope in chopping waters. We have this certainty 0:42:53.880 --> 0:42:58.040 in a crazy, chaotic world. We have this treasure in 0:42:58.120 --> 0:43:02.919 human weakness. We have this confidence in great chaos. We 0:43:03.040 --> 0:43:08.440 have this treasure in earthen vessels. We have this healing 0:43:09.040 --> 0:43:19.320 in snake bitten hands. Yeah. Yeah. He went in to Publius, 0:43:19.400 --> 0:43:27.560 his father's bedroom, and in Acts twenty eight, he did 0:43:27.600 --> 0:43:33.080 something really important that I want you to do. Yeah, 0:43:33.120 --> 0:43:37.640 do you'll have the scripture? I got it. It's good. 0:43:37.680 --> 0:43:42.479 It's good. It's good, it's good. This is real good. 0:43:45.160 --> 0:43:48.040 This is how you protect the vessel. You're ready. He 0:43:48.120 --> 0:43:53.200 went in to see him verse eight, and after prayer, 0:43:56.120 --> 0:44:01.919 I want you to pray about it. I am praying 0:44:01.960 --> 0:44:08.560 about No, you're not you're ruminating. You're worrying about it. 0:44:11.160 --> 0:44:18.399 You're freaking out. I'm gonna do a sermon maybe after 0:44:18.480 --> 0:44:23.440 Easter call. You're underthinking it, says, I overthink things. No, 0:44:23.520 --> 0:44:27.080 you underthink things. You only process stuff at the level 0:44:27.080 --> 0:44:28.920 of your thought, never at the level of your spirit. 0:44:35.400 --> 0:44:40.600 He did something so simple. He prayed because he knew 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:42.600 he couldn't give any healing to Publius if he had 0:44:42.719 --> 0:44:52.719 venom in his own vessel. So as we pictured this, 0:44:52.760 --> 0:44:54.480 I want you to picture yourself in this season of 0:44:54.520 --> 0:44:58.120 your life. Here you are, I should be here, I 0:44:58.120 --> 0:45:01.919 should be there. Pointing at where you should be will 0:45:01.960 --> 0:45:06.560 not result in progress or peace. We could all do that. 0:45:07.239 --> 0:45:09.600 I thought i'd be should have been. If they wouldn't have, 0:45:09.640 --> 0:45:12.960 then I would have point with both hands. But watch this, 0:45:15.239 --> 0:45:19.960 after he prayed, I want you to see yourself doing this. 0:45:20.000 --> 0:45:24.880 When I say it, Paul went in and placed his 0:45:30.000 --> 0:45:39.879 not just the good hand, the hurd hand too. Does 0:45:39.920 --> 0:45:43.880 this give you a picture of what God wants to 0:45:43.920 --> 0:45:49.319 do through what you've been through? Because if it said 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:53.560 Paul put his hand on him, I think, well, that's nice. 0:45:53.760 --> 0:45:56.239 But when I realized that a snake had been on 0:45:56.280 --> 0:46:03.200 that hand just a few days ago, I think to myself, God, 0:46:03.280 --> 0:46:07.040 what do you want to do through the places where 0:46:07.040 --> 0:46:17.160 I've been hurt? Do you want this? Are you ready 0:46:17.160 --> 0:46:21.680 for this? Now? I see a hand opening up, But 0:46:21.719 --> 0:46:26.480 it's not God's hand. His hand has always been on 0:46:26.520 --> 0:46:30.879 you in every value you've walked in, and every dumb 0:46:30.880 --> 0:46:32.839 decision you've made, and every bad thing that you've ever 0:46:32.880 --> 0:46:35.200 believed about yourself, and every bad thing that anybody's ever 0:46:35.239 --> 0:46:37.080 done to his hand's always been there. It's never been 0:46:37.080 --> 0:46:44.239 the question about his hand, how about yours. You're going 0:46:44.320 --> 0:46:49.200 to walk around with that snake for another year, another five, 0:46:51.160 --> 0:46:55.000 another decade, You're going to be an old man running 0:46:55.000 --> 0:47:00.479 around to home snake stories. And with the same hand, 0:47:02.040 --> 0:47:07.160 the same hand that could have killed him, he became 0:47:07.200 --> 0:47:14.959 an instrument of revival. The reason that I didn't name 0:47:15.239 --> 0:47:19.240 my sermon when I started is because you don't always 0:47:19.280 --> 0:47:32.480 know what to call it until after it's over. Malta 0:47:32.640 --> 0:47:35.000 was called honey, but God brought Paul there for healing. 0:47:38.960 --> 0:47:42.160 Malta means refuge, but God brought Paul there for revival. 0:47:44.719 --> 0:47:47.680 And I want us to spend some time believing today 0:47:48.320 --> 0:47:51.160 that when we do this, see you can't do this 0:47:51.280 --> 0:47:54.880 and this so which one is it going to be. 0:47:57.440 --> 0:48:02.799 And until you do this, you do this somebody that 0:48:02.840 --> 0:48:05.000 I'm preaching to. If you can't do this for yourself, 0:48:05.520 --> 0:48:11.400 do it for your kids. If you can't do the 0:48:11.400 --> 0:48:19.000 whole island got healed because Paul didn't do this. When 0:48:19.040 --> 0:48:21.200 you do this to yourself, when you do it to 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:24.800 an event, when you allow your identity to be consumed 0:48:24.960 --> 0:48:29.560 by an experience, it will always limit the flow of 0:48:29.600 --> 0:48:35.480 God's power in your situation. So today God sent me 0:48:35.560 --> 0:48:40.279 with a word for somebody to just know that life 0:48:40.320 --> 0:48:49.960 begins when you do this, just this, just this. I 0:48:50.040 --> 0:48:51.960 want you to use botans. Stand to your feet in 0:48:52.000 --> 0:48:55.320 your living room, stand to your feet in the auditorium, 0:48:55.360 --> 0:49:03.680 and just do this. Now, look at me. This kills 0:49:05.360 --> 0:49:17.279 this heels. This is accusation, This is acceptance. Okay, I'm here, 0:49:17.360 --> 0:49:21.399 Paul said, I might as well go over to Publius's house. 0:49:23.040 --> 0:49:26.160 I don't know what they're serving for dinner. But maybe 0:49:26.200 --> 0:49:30.319 God wants to do something through me. You know how 0:49:30.320 --> 0:49:32.359 many times God wanted to give me something, but I 0:49:32.400 --> 0:49:38.000 was doing this. He wanted to give me a solution, 0:49:38.880 --> 0:49:43.200 but I was doing this. Then if you do this 0:49:43.239 --> 0:49:48.480 long enough, you start doing this but God said, just 0:49:50.080 --> 0:49:59.239 do this, just this, Father, I thank you for your 0:49:59.320 --> 0:50:05.400 spirit in moments like these. I know they're tender some people, 0:50:05.480 --> 0:50:08.480 even as they try to push you away in this moment, 0:50:08.600 --> 0:50:11.799 because it would frankly be easier to keep others at 0:50:11.840 --> 0:50:17.879 a distance. I thank you Lord that you know all 0:50:17.880 --> 0:50:21.960 things about me and everybody who's here, and if there 0:50:22.000 --> 0:50:25.000 has to be a translation. You're telling them what Malta is. 0:50:25.120 --> 0:50:27.319 You're telling them what the snake is, You're telling them 0:50:27.320 --> 0:50:30.440 what Publius's house. You do those things. I can't do 0:50:30.480 --> 0:50:36.239 them because you know them and love them. But we 0:50:36.360 --> 0:50:40.360 just wanted to take a moment, before we leave the building, 0:50:40.440 --> 0:50:44.040 or before we log off and go on to something else, 0:50:44.120 --> 0:50:52.960 to just do this. Because this heels. We release those 0:50:52.960 --> 0:50:58.319 who hurt us, not even because they deserve it, but 0:50:58.400 --> 0:50:59.960 because we don't want to spend the rest of our 0:50:59.880 --> 0:51:02.720 life attached to something that almost killed us but didn't. 0:51:04.040 --> 0:51:08.480 We don't want to be defined by that. So Lord, 0:51:08.520 --> 0:51:13.120 in the name of Jesus, right now we shake all 0:51:13.200 --> 0:51:18.480 shame off into the fire, all accusation and all condemnation. 0:51:18.600 --> 0:51:20.880 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are 0:51:20.880 --> 0:51:22.920 in Christ. Jesus us through Christ, Jesus law, spirit of life. 0:51:22.920 --> 0:51:24.959 I said you free from the law of sin and death. 0:51:24.960 --> 0:51:29.520 And we shake that right now like the dirt off 0:51:29.520 --> 0:51:31.560 of our feet, like the snake off of our hand. 0:51:33.320 --> 0:51:39.120 It couldn't kill us, It couldn't kill you. That's why 0:51:39.120 --> 0:51:47.920 you're still here. Now, you take that same hand that 0:51:48.040 --> 0:51:51.840 was hurt, that same place in you that was hurt, 0:51:54.560 --> 0:51:56.239 and you lay it on the next thing that God 0:51:56.280 --> 0:52:00.279 puts in your life. Because all of the whiz them 0:52:00.280 --> 0:52:02.920 that God gave you, and all the compassion that he 0:52:03.000 --> 0:52:05.480 gave you, and all of the healing that he gave you, 0:52:08.920 --> 0:52:14.480 just like the nail prints in his hand, this will 0:52:14.520 --> 0:52:19.400 be the place of the greatest relief, release of power 0:52:20.600 --> 0:52:24.239 in the history of your life. I declare it. I 0:52:24.320 --> 0:52:29.399 stand in agreement with you for it. I testify other 0:52:33.520 --> 0:52:38.120 We have this treasure in earth and vessels. Look at me, 0:52:38.200 --> 0:52:45.120 Look at me. Protect your vessel, Protect your heart. Don't 0:52:45.200 --> 0:52:48.960 let it just run around anytime it wants. Don't keep 0:52:49.000 --> 0:52:54.360 your car cleaner than you keep your heart. Protect your vessel. 0:52:54.440 --> 0:52:58.240 Because you've got to get there. You must stand trial 0:52:58.280 --> 0:53:01.560 before Caesar, must do it. Nobody's going to do this 0:53:01.719 --> 0:53:05.440 for you. What you're carrying is more important than what's carrying. 0:53:05.719 --> 0:53:08.279 So let the things fall away that have to fall away. 0:53:08.440 --> 0:53:12.799 That's all right. Now. What you need for where you're 0:53:12.840 --> 0:53:19.160 headed is in your hand. What's that in your hand? 0:53:20.480 --> 0:53:23.960 Should you be holding that? Or is it time for 0:53:24.040 --> 0:53:32.440 you to receive what God has next for you? I 0:53:32.480 --> 0:53:35.400 want to hear from you this week. I want to 0:53:35.440 --> 0:53:37.200 hear it in the comments. I want to hear it 0:53:37.239 --> 0:53:39.920 on social media. I want to hear what God is 0:53:41.120 --> 0:53:43.960 releasing in your life and what you are releasing to 0:53:44.040 --> 0:53:46.799 receive what God has next. I really do. There are 0:53:46.800 --> 0:53:49.080 teams that go through these comments just to pray for you, 0:53:49.400 --> 0:53:51.040 and we want to hear about it. We want to 0:53:51.040 --> 0:53:53.120 stand in agreement. We don't want to stand there and 0:53:53.200 --> 0:53:56.640 do this. Get your life together out of pen No, no, no, 0:53:57.239 --> 0:54:05.600 we're saying this. We're saying this. We're saying this. If 0:54:05.640 --> 0:54:09.800 we could hold hands, we would. It's controversial to hold hands. 0:54:10.520 --> 0:54:12.520 But right now I connect with you by faith, and 0:54:12.560 --> 0:54:14.680 the scripture says if any two of you would touch 0:54:14.719 --> 0:54:17.040 and agreed, if any two of you would touch and agreed, 0:54:17.880 --> 0:54:21.080 that's not a physical requirement. That is a spiritual position. 0:54:21.440 --> 0:54:24.520 So I come into agreement with you in your life, 0:54:25.280 --> 0:54:27.839 that you will have the power to shake into the 0:54:27.880 --> 0:54:31.800 passion of the fire of the spirit of God, whatever 0:54:31.840 --> 0:54:35.880 has attached itself to your life. Right now, Lord, I 0:54:35.920 --> 0:54:39.239 lift my hands to bless your people all over the 0:54:39.239 --> 0:54:42.640 world who will hear this message at different times. This 0:54:42.680 --> 0:54:46.680 will be a turning point, This will be a moment 0:54:46.760 --> 0:54:51.960 of revelation. We stand with open hands under an open heaven. 0:54:53.440 --> 0:54:56.879 We give you thanks for your purpose in Jesus' name. 0:54:59.200 --> 0:55:26.720 Put those hands in together. Thank you both. I hope 0:55:27.400 --> 0:55:30.040 you heard that. I hope you heard it with your heart, 0:55:30.120 --> 0:55:33.040 not just with your ears. I hope you receive it. 0:55:33.960 --> 0:55:37.000 Look this all you got to do. Receive this, Receive this, 0:55:37.160 --> 0:55:40.440 Receive God's grace, his mercy, his wisdom. He has so 0:55:40.520 --> 0:55:43.440 much for you. Hey, you hear how I preach myself 0:55:43.960 --> 0:55:47.920 no voice left. I'm sweating through this heavy sweater and 0:55:48.400 --> 0:55:50.720 I have not much voice left. But I just wanted 0:55:50.760 --> 0:55:54.560 to thank you. Thank you for giving, supporting, praying. We 0:55:54.719 --> 0:55:59.360 love you. It's amazing to be connected with you in ministry. Okay, 0:55:59.400 --> 0:56:01.919 I'm out of being to say subscribe blah blah blah 0:56:01.920 --> 0:56:03.759 blah blah. I see you next time. I love you 0:56:11.800 --> 0:56:12.160 mm hm