Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: All right, stay standing for just a moment. Those of
Speaker 2: you that sat down, get a little exercise, stand back up.
Speaker 1: If we do that enough, it can count a squats.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you, Ti.
Speaker 3: You been.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our EPAM online.
Speaker 2: Those that we can't see, but you're my favorite ones
Speaker 2: to preach too, because I just picture like you're writing
Speaker 2: notes on everything I say. I just picture you sitting
Speaker 2: there really enjoying it. So in my imagination, you are
Speaker 2: not distracted running around with kids spilling juice on the carpet.
Speaker 2: You are settled in ready to hear a word from God.
Speaker 2: Let's give it up for our EPAM around the world.
Speaker 2: Just drop us a little comment, would you in the chat,
Speaker 2: just your way of saying I'm here, or maybe put
Speaker 2: a little prayer hand emoji into chat something like that.
Speaker 1: That'll be amazing.
Speaker 2: God is good, Amen, I said, God is good. Amen,
Speaker 2: God is good. God has been good to us. Well,
Speaker 2: thank you, worship teams. Stay behind me for just a
Speaker 2: moment while I read the scripture. And the reason we
Speaker 2: stand for the word of God is so that nobody
Speaker 2: falls asleep and to show our respect for what God speaks.
Speaker 2: I'm thankful for the place where God speaks to me.
Speaker 2: I value it, I honor it. There are things that
Speaker 2: can only be said in the presence of God. You
Speaker 2: can't say them to other people, and you can't hear
Speaker 2: them from other people. And so God gives us moments
Speaker 2: like this, whether we're physically together in a building or
Speaker 2: whether we're connecting through technology, and He tells us things,
Speaker 2: speaks things to us that our spirits understand, even if
Speaker 2: our minds don't understand them yet.
Speaker 1: The passage that.
Speaker 2: I want to share with you from today is in
Speaker 2: Acts chapter twenty eight, verses one through ten, And after
Speaker 2: I shared this story with you, I'll give you my
Speaker 2: thought and break it down today.
Speaker 1: But it's really not just my thought.
Speaker 2: It is something that the Lord wants to speak to you,
Speaker 2: and it's going to help you with your perspective. So
Speaker 2: in Acts chapter twenty eight, verse one through ten, the
Speaker 2: Bible says, once safely on shore, we found out that
Speaker 2: the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness.
Speaker 2: They built a fire and welcomed us all. Because it
Speaker 2: was raining and cold, Paul gathered a pile of brushwood,
Speaker 2: and as he put it on the fire, a viper,
Speaker 2: driven out by the heat, fasten itself.
Speaker 1: On his hand.
Speaker 2: Out When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand,
Speaker 2: they said to each other, this man must be a murderer,
Speaker 2: for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice
Speaker 2: has not allowed him to live. But Paul shook the
Speaker 2: snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
Speaker 2: I thought y'all might be happy to hear that verse, to.
Speaker 1: Know that it bit him, but it didn't kill.
Speaker 2: Him, to know that it tried but it didn't work,
Speaker 2: because I thought that might help you think about some
Speaker 2: of the stuff that the devil did to you, the
Speaker 2: weapons that he formed that didn't work. But you don't
Speaker 2: have to shout about it. I'm just thankful that everything that.
Speaker 1: Bit me didn't kill me. Now let's take it further.
Speaker 1: Verse six.
Speaker 2: The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead,
Speaker 2: But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual
Speaker 2: happened to him, they changed their mind and said he
Speaker 2: was a god. So they're kind of flipping real quick.
Speaker 2: Not that people ever flipped their opinion or anything like that.
Speaker 2: But the Bible says something else that I want to
Speaker 2: read you before I give you the sermon title. It
Speaker 2: says there was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius,
Speaker 2: the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to
Speaker 2: his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days.
Speaker 2: His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery,
Speaker 2: and Paul went in to see him, and after prayer,
Speaker 2: placed his hands on him and healed him. When this
Speaker 2: had happened, the rest of the sick on the island
Speaker 2: came and were cured. They honored us in many ways,
Speaker 2: and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us
Speaker 2: with the supplies we needed. That's right there where I
Speaker 2: want to stop. Everything you need is on this island.
Speaker 2: God's not going to send you from this season of
Speaker 2: your life life without what you need. But I need
Speaker 2: you to understand this fundamental truth and look at your
Speaker 2: neighbor and give them my title.
Speaker 1: Say God can use this too. That's it. That's the whole,
Speaker 1: that's the whole thing.
Speaker 2: You ain't on the next part, I said, look at
Speaker 2: him again and say God can use this too. And Father,
Speaker 2: I thank you that nothing comes to our lives that
Speaker 2: doesn't pass through your hand. Right now, would you speak
Speaker 2: a word in season to your people in Jesus' name, Amen,
Speaker 2: he can use this too.
Speaker 1: Be seated Amen now, LJ.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna set this Bible story up with a little
Speaker 2: personal example. I don't have any real hobbies, so in
Speaker 2: my free time, I like to listen to podcasts about
Speaker 2: people who do have hobbies. I like to listen also
Speaker 2: to podcast about people's creatative process. And I really love
Speaker 2: to hear, especially about songwriting. And I know that's boring
Speaker 2: to some people, but I love to hear what happened
Speaker 2: the story behind the song that was written.
Speaker 1: And so I kind of collect these little.
Speaker 2: Stories because it's almost like they're magical to me to
Speaker 2: just see behind the scenes. One songwriter that I like
Speaker 2: to listen to him tell the stories. His name is
Speaker 2: Clay Mills, and he said that he went in to
Speaker 2: write with Darius Rucker for the first time, and he
Speaker 2: went in to write with Darius and he said he
Speaker 2: really wasn't feeling it. Darius was fine, but Clay said
Speaker 2: he wasn't really feeling it. He said he just got
Speaker 2: broke up with the day before. And so about halfway
Speaker 2: through the session of getting to know each other, he
Speaker 2: looked at Darius and said, I just got to be
Speaker 2: honest with you, man, I'm not in a really good
Speaker 2: spot today. I just had my heart broken and I'm
Speaker 2: second guests and everything and all I could have done
Speaker 2: and all that. And Darius was like, oh, I get it, man,
Speaker 2: we all have had a heartbroken. He said, I go
Speaker 2: back and think about a girl that broke up with
Speaker 2: me in fifth grade and wonder what would have happened
Speaker 2: if we'd stayed together. And Clay said really fifth grade
Speaker 2: and Darius said, yeah, man, don't think I don't. And
Speaker 2: Clay said when he said don't think I don't, he
Speaker 2: kind of took his notebook and wrote that line down,
Speaker 2: don't think I don't. And he went home that night
Speaker 2: and he started to write a song called don't think
Speaker 2: I don't think about it, and he took it back
Speaker 2: to Darius the next day and they wrote the song
Speaker 2: and it was Darius's first number one country hit. That's cool, huh.
Speaker 2: And so he heard somebody say something and he did
Speaker 2: something with it. Now you've heard a lot of people
Speaker 2: say stuff. Did you make a hit with it? Here's
Speaker 2: another example. I love one pop star. She was writing
Speaker 2: with a Swedish producer named Max Martin and it was
Speaker 2: her first time writing with him, and she was so
Speaker 2: excited and they were working on a song and somebody
Speaker 2: walked in the studio that claimed they knew this pop
Speaker 2: star and so they claimed to be a friend.
Speaker 1: Of this pop star's ex boyfriend.
Speaker 2: And so they came to the studio and they started
Speaker 2: talking and it was kind of an interruption, and the
Speaker 2: dude who had busted into studio, he says, yeah, I
Speaker 2: heard y'all are going to get back together. And so
Speaker 2: they kind of got the guy to leave the studio
Speaker 2: because he was unwelcome. And after he left, the pop
Speaker 2: star turned to Max Martin and said, hey, trust me,
Speaker 2: we are.
Speaker 1: Never getting back together ever, ever, ever.
Speaker 2: And Max Martin turned to Taylor Swift and said, we
Speaker 2: got to write that song. So how many of you
Speaker 2: in here have an X somewhere back in your past?
Speaker 2: How many of you made a hip hoop banger out
Speaker 2: of it, made millions of dollars out of it, and
Speaker 2: became a global pop superstar.
Speaker 1: See here's my point. And you're like, wow, this is
Speaker 1: really you've had too much time off. You've been You've
Speaker 1: been by yourself too much.
Speaker 2: Creativity is not defined by how many ideas you have.
Speaker 2: Creativity is defined by how you implement the ideas you have.
Speaker 2: So that a great songwriter, a creative songwriter. Here's somebody
Speaker 2: say a phrase that may maybe they said hundreds of
Speaker 2: times before, and go, that's a song, let's write it.
Speaker 2: Or that a great songwriter goes through a heartbreak, and
Speaker 2: you know, maybe some people go through a heartbreak and
Speaker 2: become an alcoholic or a drug addict, but they make
Speaker 2: a hit out of something that happens. They make a
Speaker 2: hit out of something that they hear. That's creativity.
Speaker 4: Now, I would suggest to you that as Christians, what
Speaker 4: distinguishes our Christian faith from those who do not have
Speaker 4: faith is not necessarily the things that happen to us.
Speaker 4: It's not necessarily the things that we even hear in church,
Speaker 4: but it is our ability to take those things that
Speaker 4: happen to us and do something with them that will
Speaker 4: be fruitful and productive. And the more painful the event is, well,
Speaker 4: the greater the opportunity for God to show his creative power.
Speaker 2: See, God is not creative, He is creator. Creative people
Speaker 2: can take something and make it into something. God is creator.
Speaker 2: He can take nothing and make it into something. Come on,
Speaker 2: get my rhythm so I don't have to work too
Speaker 2: hard today.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor. God can use it.
Speaker 2: I love how he spoke into the darkness, but the
Speaker 2: word that he spoke into darkness carried the potential energy
Speaker 2: for light, so it became kinetic because God called it
Speaker 2: light when it was darkness. God calls those things that
Speaker 2: be not as though they are, so if he calls
Speaker 2: you forgiven, it doesn't matter how many times shame calls
Speaker 2: your name.
Speaker 1: God can speak into nothing and create something.
Speaker 2: The Hebrew word for this is burah when it talks
Speaker 2: about God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning,
Speaker 2: there was nothing there, but it didn't stop God because
Speaker 2: he is creator, not just creative. If you ask a
Speaker 2: creative genius where do you get your ideas from, they'll
Speaker 2: honestly tell you, well, I get them from every day.
Speaker 2: I get them from something. I hear someone say, I
Speaker 2: get them from something that I live through.
Speaker 1: God didn't have to live through anything because he always was.
Speaker 2: God didn't have to respond to anything, because when he spoke,
Speaker 2: the light was the response to his word. I'm trying
Speaker 2: to set this framework for this sermon around the idea
Speaker 2: that the creator God lives inside of you. And so
Speaker 2: if the God who can make something out of nothing
Speaker 2: lives inside of you, it stands the reason that the
Speaker 2: God with this kind of power Burrah is the Hebrew word,
Speaker 2: can also take something in your life that does not
Speaker 2: resemble what you prayed for, hope for, or preferred and
Speaker 2: turn it into exactly what you need at the moment
Speaker 2: you need it the most.
Speaker 1: Because he's God like that, because he's good at that.
Speaker 2: Because God doesn't have to hear anything to do something,
Speaker 2: God doesn't have to have anything to do something. In fact,
Speaker 2: God can take something so silly as a dumb decision
Speaker 2: that you make and turn it into great wisdom for
Speaker 2: your future. God can use this too. I read in
Speaker 2: the Bible about a king called Solomon. He was the
Speaker 2: wisest king that ever lived. But what surprised me about
Speaker 2: Solomon's Wisdom Church was that his birth was actually the
Speaker 2: result of a bad decision that his father, David made,
Speaker 2: And if I teach you this, maybe it'll help you
Speaker 2: feel not so bad about your dumb decisions.
Speaker 1: Not that you made any in the last three years.
Speaker 2: But you know, back when you were young and you
Speaker 2: used to do dumb stuff, back before you were so
Speaker 2: smart as you are now and you always get it right.
Speaker 1: Just to let you know that God.
Speaker 2: Prefers that you use wisdom as you're living your life.
Speaker 2: But if you don't use wisdom, God is so big
Speaker 2: and so good and so amazing that and you don't
Speaker 2: use wisdom, God will use stupid.
Speaker 1: That's a place to praise him. Right there, you missed it.
Speaker 1: I know you can't clap because you might be sitting
Speaker 1: next to him. I talked to one woman.
Speaker 2: She said I never should have married him. Well, they
Speaker 2: were married thirty two years, they had three kids.
Speaker 1: She said, I was so stupid, stupid, stupid. She started
Speaker 1: hitting her head.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to do it up here for you,
Speaker 2: just a little bit stupid, stupid, stupid.
Speaker 1: She smacked herself hard. I said stop. I grabbed her hand.
Speaker 1: I said, are you glad you have those kids. She said, yeah,
Speaker 1: what dream I guess or anything.
Speaker 2: I said, you had them with him?
Speaker 1: She said, yeah, all three of them.
Speaker 2: I was just checking, you know, I didn't pull out
Speaker 2: a Mariy Povich paternity test or anything like that.
Speaker 1: What that's a flashback? But she said, yeah, we've all
Speaker 1: had them all to God.
Speaker 2: I said, huh, in't that crazy that God gave you
Speaker 2: what you just called your greatest gifts through your stupidest decision?
Speaker 1: Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Speaker 2: So before you take your hand and hit yourself like
Speaker 2: I'm doing up here, I'm not doing it any harder
Speaker 2: than that, stop for a minute and think about the
Speaker 2: things that God gave you in spite of stupid. I'll
Speaker 2: take it a step further, and all the Pharisees can
Speaker 2: just walk right out the church on this one. Not
Speaker 2: just in spite of stupid, but through stupid. God can
Speaker 2: do more through stupid then humans can do through wisdom
Speaker 2: without him.
Speaker 1: This is how great God is. Why are you telling
Speaker 1: me to go out and do dumb stuff?
Speaker 2: You telling me to drive drunk, You're you're telling me
Speaker 2: to make bad decisions, marry the wrong people. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying any of that, but the fact of the matter
Speaker 2: is we start this sermon in Acts chapter twenty eight,
Speaker 2: where Paul does a great miracle, but it's started with
Speaker 2: something stupid that could have been avoided but wasn't. And
Speaker 2: I believe that what keeps a lot of people from
Speaker 2: believing that God can use their life or use their
Speaker 2: situation is that you know necessarily some of the things
Speaker 2: that put you in the problem state to begin with.
Speaker 2: And it's hard for me to believe for God to
Speaker 2: get me out of what I got myself into. But
Speaker 2: I want to remind you from David's life that when
Speaker 2: you don't use wisdom, God will use stupid. Touch your
Speaker 2: neighbor again and say He's going to use you. Pastor
Speaker 2: Stephen just said it. David slept with Bathsheba. Stupid killed
Speaker 2: her husband who was fighting for him.
Speaker 1: Stupid tried to cover it all up.
Speaker 2: Stupid went in and repented before the Lord when the
Speaker 2: prophet Nathan confronted him. When he finished repenting, he went
Speaker 2: into his wife, Bathshid and made love to her again.
Speaker 2: She conceived and gave birth to a son.
Speaker 1: His name was Solomon. He was the wisest king that
Speaker 1: ever lived.
Speaker 2: How could God make something so splendid out of something
Speaker 2: so stupid. That's called grace. You want a definition of grace,
Speaker 2: all right, I got one for you. When you don't
Speaker 2: use wisdom, so God uses stupid when you choose the
Speaker 2: wrong thing. But God uses it anyway. Now, we would
Speaker 2: like to eliminate the number of times in your life
Speaker 2: that God has to use stupid. We don't want to
Speaker 2: give God raw materials to work with unnecessarily. Shall we
Speaker 2: continue and send that grace may abound? God forbid? But yet,
Speaker 2: I know that this storm we read about in Acts
Speaker 2: chapter twenty eight, now there's nothing about the storm in
Speaker 2: Acts chapter twenty eight. So I know you might be
Speaker 2: confused because Acts chapter twenty eight, verse one put that
Speaker 2: on the screen again.
Speaker 1: Please well, I love this part.
Speaker 2: It says, once safely on shore, we found out out
Speaker 2: that the island was called in Malta. If you didn't
Speaker 2: have context for the Bible, you might think Paul was
Speaker 2: going on vacation so much needed R and R after
Speaker 2: being stoned in Listra, you know, like trying to get
Speaker 2: away from the crazy church at Corinth and turn off
Speaker 2: his phone for a few days. But in Acts chapter
Speaker 2: twenty seven, in fact, he has just spent the last
Speaker 2: two weeks being blown by a hurricane force wind, which
Speaker 2: is bad enough. But before the wind ever started blowing,
Speaker 2: Paul tried to warn the other.
Speaker 1: People on board. He said, this is not the time
Speaker 1: for us to sail.
Speaker 2: Trust me, you know sailing, But I know the Savior,
Speaker 2: and I heard from God and I can sense that
Speaker 2: this is bad. And they did it anyway, and Paul
Speaker 2: was on board with somebody else's bad decision.
Speaker 1: Now, I think this one of the toughest places to be.
Speaker 2: It's one thing when you do stupid and to believe
Speaker 2: God can use it, But what about when they do
Speaker 2: stupid and they won't stop doing stupid and they wouldn't
Speaker 2: even come to church with you today, and now you're
Speaker 2: living in somebody else's stupid. Now, this is not a
Speaker 2: parenting class, but one of the things that we have
Speaker 2: to learn in our lives when we find ourselves in
Speaker 2: situations that we didn't ask for, or when somebody else's
Speaker 2: bad decision backfires and we catch some of it in
Speaker 2: our own circumstance, is that when we don't use wisdom,
Speaker 2: God can still use stupid.
Speaker 1: I'll prove this to you in a couple of different ways.
Speaker 1: From the text.
Speaker 2: Number one, the storm that they went through was a
Speaker 2: stupid storm. They could have easily Not every storm can
Speaker 2: be avoided. They could have easily avoided this storm. They
Speaker 2: didn't because of the advice that they failed to heat.
Speaker 2: So that's number one.
Speaker 1: The number two I don't know if you noticed this
Speaker 1: after they crashed.
Speaker 2: And I really do apologize that I can't do this
Speaker 2: story justice. I wish I could give you the prequel,
Speaker 2: but since we just picked up in chapter twenty eight,
Speaker 2: verse one, where they landed on an island called Malta,
Speaker 2: isn't that crazy They didn't even know what it was
Speaker 2: called till they got there. In life, kind of like that,
Speaker 2: you don't really know what to call it until you
Speaker 2: get there. You know what it looks like on other
Speaker 2: people's Instagram, but you don't really know what to call
Speaker 2: it until you get there. And what I love about
Speaker 2: God is that on one hand, they crashed, but on
Speaker 2: another hand, they were called to help the people on
Speaker 2: that island. Because we read about how Paul ended up
Speaker 2: healing every sick person on the island, how many believed
Speaker 2: that God was calling Paul.
Speaker 1: To that island to help those sick people.
Speaker 2: Come on clap your hands if you believe God was
Speaker 2: calling Paul to that island. How many of you believe
Speaker 2: that Paul crashed because the sailors didn't take his advice?
Speaker 2: Clap your hands you believe he crashed. How many of
Speaker 2: you are confused? And you're just clapping to be polite
Speaker 2: to me because it's past their appreciation.
Speaker 1: Money say, I'm confused. Is it a crash or a calling?
Speaker 1: I'm confused. Did he crash or was he called?
Speaker 2: And is it possible that sometimes God uses a crash
Speaker 2: as a cover for a calling.
Speaker 1: And is it possible that what you have called a.
Speaker 2: Crash in your life, a crash in your relationship, a
Speaker 2: crash in your finances, a crash.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you're still here.
Speaker 2: I was watching a sermon from twenty sixteen the other
Speaker 2: day and I saw you when you used to sit
Speaker 2: down there, and I was wondering if you were still around,
Speaker 2: And I'm so glad you made it.
Speaker 1: It is good to see you, brother.
Speaker 2: Seriously, I was watching you, and the reason I noticed
Speaker 2: in the video you were crying. You were crying and
Speaker 2: you aren't gonna believe this. I was preaching on X twenty.
Speaker 1: Eight I'm not making this up. Y'all are like this
Speaker 1: sounds kind of stage. It's not stage.
Speaker 2: I literally just looked, and what a way to confirm
Speaker 2: a word, huh. I was preaching the same passage. And
Speaker 2: I bet since that day, I bet you've been through
Speaker 2: some crashes, and I bet you've been through some things.
Speaker 2: But what blesses me about some of you in the
Speaker 2: church is that you keep coming even after the crash.
Speaker 2: Come on, come on, no, no, no, no, no, don't try
Speaker 2: to trick me looking like you didn't. Some of y'all
Speaker 2: crashed out on the way to church in the car.
Speaker 2: Some of y'all were calling each other everything but child
Speaker 2: of God on the way to church in the car
Speaker 2: this morning. But you came, you came, you came, you came,
Speaker 2: you came, you came, and.
Speaker 1: They arrived safely. Everybody says faith on sure, Now say unsure.
Speaker 1: Now say on shore.
Speaker 2: You can be on shore, but unsure, which means that
Speaker 2: I'm not sure yet whether this thing that happened in
Speaker 2: my life is something that is going to turn out
Speaker 2: for my good or whether it's going to be my
Speaker 2: bitter end. I'm not sure yet whether this person leaving
Speaker 2: my life was a good thing or whether it was
Speaker 2: a bad thing. I'm not sure yet whether losing that
Speaker 2: job was opening another opportunity or if it's just draining
Speaker 2: my bank account.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure yet. I'm on sure, but I'm unsure.
Speaker 2: And what I love about God is that no matter
Speaker 2: whether you call it a crash, whether you call it
Speaker 2: an accident, whether you call it a mistake, whatever you
Speaker 2: call it, God looks at it and says, don't think
Speaker 2: I don't know how to make something amazing and brilliant
Speaker 2: out of a broken heart. Now, how about for somebody saying he.
Speaker 1: Can do it, he can do it, He can do it,
Speaker 1: he can do it.
Speaker 2: They need to hear you say that, because when we
Speaker 2: find ourselves crashed out on islands where people don't even
Speaker 2: speak our same language. The version I put up there
Speaker 2: was the politically correct version of the Bible.
Speaker 1: The NIV.
Speaker 2: It's more modern, so when it talks about these people,
Speaker 2: it calls them islanders, but in the original language it
Speaker 2: called them barbarians. Because to Paul and the two hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy six prisoners don't even tell you this part yet.
Speaker 2: The reason Paul is on the ship is because he's
Speaker 2: going to stand trial before Caesar in Rome. So he
Speaker 2: is a preacher, disguised as a prisoner, headed toward a calling,
Speaker 2: disguised as a crash, looking at some people who are
Speaker 2: building him a fire, but don't speak his same language.
Speaker 1: Can I work on this for a minute.
Speaker 2: I wonder, have you landed in a strange place today,
Speaker 2: strange place in your life, strange place in your emotions,
Speaker 2: strange place at your particular season. If you have, I
Speaker 2: believe you have every reason to expect that God will
Speaker 2: use a barbarian, which simply means something you're not familiar with.
Speaker 2: Everything in the text points in the same direction that
Speaker 2: God can.
Speaker 1: Use this too.
Speaker 2: Okay, when they get there, they meet barbarians, people that
Speaker 2: they're afraid of. But the barbarians are building them a fire.
Speaker 2: That's the favor of God. When God uses something that
Speaker 2: you think is barbaric to build something to keep you alive.
Speaker 1: When God uses.
Speaker 2: Somebody you don't even like to tell you it's something
Speaker 2: that you need to know.
Speaker 1: When God uses a process that you resist, that is
Speaker 1: the strange grace of God.
Speaker 2: Have you ever had God give you strange grace? I
Speaker 2: might should have called this message strange grace It's not
Speaker 2: the grace that comes from people that I counted on.
Speaker 2: It's the grace that comes from people that I don't
Speaker 2: even know what to call them. It's the grace that
Speaker 2: comes from places that I never chose to be.
Speaker 1: And listen to this.
Speaker 2: Just because you didn't choose it doesn't mean he won't
Speaker 2: use it. Paul wanted to go to Rome, but not
Speaker 2: as a prisoner. God used chains to get him to
Speaker 2: the place. When they started out on the journey, they
Speaker 2: were on a ship. Look at Acts twenty seven, verse
Speaker 2: forty four, right before they got to the island safely.
Speaker 2: Look how they got there safely. I'm doing air quotes
Speaker 2: for a reason. The rest were to get there on
Speaker 2: planks or other pieces of the ship. In this way,
Speaker 2: everyone reached land safely. Ain't that crazy? How sometimes you
Speaker 2: got to praise God for pieces? Think about it. They
Speaker 2: started out on a boat, They floated in on a board.
Speaker 2: Would you rather ride in on a boat or paddle
Speaker 2: in on a board. But it doesn't matter what you
Speaker 2: would rather do, because sometimes God will call you to
Speaker 2: grab hold of what you have and remember your swimming
Speaker 2: lessons and breast stroke your way to the shore with
Speaker 2: what you have, And I want you to learn how
Speaker 2: to praise God for pieces in your life, because I
Speaker 2: know we would prefer the boat.
Speaker 1: I know we would prefer that the things stayed the same.
Speaker 2: None of us really like change, right, none of us
Speaker 2: really liked change at all. You were praying summer away,
Speaker 2: and they got cold for a day, but.
Speaker 1: You were so hot.
Speaker 2: We don't even want the season to change because it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: And yet sometimes the only way to really have peace
Speaker 2: in your heart, peace over your situation, is to take
Speaker 2: the piece that you have, piece and float in with
Speaker 2: what you have. Because everybody knows a boat can get
Speaker 2: you to shore, but so can a board. I got
Speaker 2: to say that again. Everybody knows a boat can get
Speaker 2: you to shore. That doesn't take a miracle. But when
Speaker 2: you made it in on a board, a piece of
Speaker 2: the boat, a remnant of the former boat. Yes, I'm
Speaker 2: talking to people who are older. You can make it
Speaker 2: in on boards. Your body might not work like it
Speaker 2: used to work, but you can still do what you're
Speaker 2: called to do. Your mind might not work like it
Speaker 2: used to work, but you can still do what you're
Speaker 2: called to do. One missionary said, when I can't pray,
Speaker 2: when I can't read, when I can't even think, I
Speaker 2: can still trust and the faith to know that if
Speaker 2: I can't make it in on a flotation device, I
Speaker 2: can make it in floating by the grace of God.
Speaker 1: That kind of faith is so.
Speaker 2: Necessary in this season of your life, when what you
Speaker 2: had was broken apart, when what you had was driven
Speaker 2: by the wind. Don't you believe in your life that
Speaker 2: the same God who brought them safely to the shore
Speaker 2: on a board is bringing you where you're supposed to
Speaker 2: be right now on the thing that you have that
Speaker 2: is with you. Because God will never call you to
Speaker 2: somewhere he can't get you with what.
Speaker 1: You still have. I still got it. I still got it.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's the message of this, to tell you you
Speaker 2: still got it. No, you don't have the ship how
Speaker 2: it looked. No you don't have the life that it
Speaker 2: used to be. No, you don't have the answers that
Speaker 2: you wanted to have. But somebody say, I still got it.
Speaker 2: The thing you got to realize is that the board
Speaker 2: they floated in on were of the boat that they
Speaker 2: had been riding on. So it wasn't that the boat
Speaker 2: went away, It just changed forms.
Speaker 1: God is going to continue to provide in your life.
Speaker 2: But He will do it in many different ways and
Speaker 2: many different layers, at many different levels. And the key
Speaker 2: to this is you believing God can use this too.
Speaker 2: If he can bring me in on a boat, he
Speaker 2: can bring me in on a board. If he can
Speaker 2: bless me with a lot, he can keep me with
Speaker 2: a little. Paul said in another scripture, I have learned
Speaker 2: whatever state I'm in, to be content. I know how
Speaker 2: to have plenty boat. I know how to have not
Speaker 2: much boards. Whether I got a boat or a board, my.
Speaker 1: Song is the same. God can use this too. Let's
Speaker 1: clap our hands and praise him for the times that
Speaker 1: he brought us to shore on a board. Now here's
Speaker 1: where it gets interesting, church, because when.
Speaker 2: You arrive on the shore and you got there on
Speaker 2: a board, and you see people building you a fire,
Speaker 2: you automatically assumed that the fire is a blessing.
Speaker 1: And it is.
Speaker 2: But but I don't know if I don't know if
Speaker 2: Paul made a bad decision here or not. It's really
Speaker 2: up for debate. I know that the storm was in
Speaker 2: his fault. I know that the chains were in his fault.
Speaker 1: This part is up for review. You can see what
Speaker 1: you think about it.
Speaker 2: It says in verse two, the islanders showed us unusual kindness,
Speaker 2: and they built a fire and welcomed us all because
Speaker 2: it was raining and coal.
Speaker 1: And here's the part I want to ask you about.
Speaker 1: See what you think.
Speaker 2: Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, and as he put
Speaker 2: it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat,
Speaker 2: fastened itself on his hand.
Speaker 1: So here's why I want to ask you.
Speaker 2: Should Paul have just stuck the preaching and not mess
Speaker 2: with fire building, because it looks like in his effort.
Speaker 1: To help, he got hurt.
Speaker 2: And I know Paul, like not personally, but I studied
Speaker 2: at him a lot. I spent a lot of time
Speaker 2: thinking about him. And I know Paul what he really
Speaker 2: wanted to do in this situation when he meets a
Speaker 2: group of barbarians, people that he's never seen before, what
Speaker 2: he really wanted to do was tell them about Jesus.
Speaker 1: That's all Paul ever wanted to do. Sounds like if
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 2: Jews who were circumcised, if it was Gentiles who had
Speaker 2: been ostracized, Paul wanted you to know about Jesus. So
Speaker 2: he shows up on the island, he doesn't know what
Speaker 2: it's called. And worse of all, he doesn't speak their language. Now, remember,
Speaker 2: Paul is good with words. If there had ever been
Speaker 2: a you know, a Kendrick and Drake, but with like
Speaker 2: Paul and Peter, Paul would have beat Peter senseless.
Speaker 1: Nobody did words like Paul. All the Foundational all.
Speaker 2: The Foundational doctrines that we quote by heart today came
Speaker 2: either from the pen or the tongue of Paul.
Speaker 1: Even the posters we hang in the weight room of
Speaker 1: our high schools, public high schools.
Speaker 2: I can do all things, That's something Paul said. He said,
Speaker 2: through Christ's strengthens me. But we don't have to finish it.
Speaker 2: We're just gonna take the first part.
Speaker 1: I can do all things. No, you can't unless Christ
Speaker 1: strengthens you.
Speaker 2: But Paul was not only brilliant in his ability to
Speaker 2: say pithy statements that would help motivate us.
Speaker 1: Paul actually could.
Speaker 2: Paul actually could make a legal defense from the Gospel.
Speaker 1: He could show you how.
Speaker 2: That Abraham, the progenitor of the Jewish faith, Abraham, Father Abraham,
Speaker 2: was actually justified by faith, not works. And then he
Speaker 2: could take you line by line by line, you do
Speaker 2: not want to get into.
Speaker 1: Debate with Paul. He is too good with his words.
Speaker 1: And God used his words everywhere he went to preach.
Speaker 2: Even if he showed up in a city like Athens,
Speaker 2: where they worshiped all kinds of idols, he would start
Speaker 2: with their idolatry instead of starting with his belief, and
Speaker 2: he could quote their poets but bring them to his
Speaker 2: point of view, so he would get them to Jesus
Speaker 2: from whatever starting place that they had, because he was
Speaker 2: so good with his words. Not just one language. Paul
Speaker 2: could speak Greek. One city he got in, he wasn't
Speaker 2: able to speak Greek coin a Greek, which was the
Speaker 2: language of the day, because they had a different dialect.
Speaker 2: So Paul started speaking in Arabic. And when he spoke
Speaker 2: in Aramaic, which was a local dialect, they all shut
Speaker 2: up and they were able to hear because Paul was
Speaker 2: able to speak the word of God.
Speaker 1: God really used Paul's words.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, he used Paul's words to
Speaker 2: the point that something like thirty percent of our New
Speaker 2: Testament that we read today came from the pen of
Speaker 2: a man who spent much of his life in a prison.
Speaker 2: While he was in prison, some thought rotting. He was writing,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get you a vision today for the
Speaker 2: seasons of your life that you think are wasted, the
Speaker 2: seasons of your life that you think are waiting. God
Speaker 2: can use waiting seasons, not as wasted seasons, but those
Speaker 2: seasons can actually become if you choose. They choose, if
Speaker 2: you choose to take the instrument that you have. Paul
Speaker 2: proves that I can take a pin in a prison.
Speaker 2: And what he wrote with a pin in a prison
Speaker 2: is so powerful that we quote it from our pulpits today.
Speaker 2: Isn't that amazing? I had looked at y'all in the
Speaker 2: back very much, discermon.
Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing.
Speaker 2: That all the way from a prison cell, Paul could
Speaker 2: write something so powerful that we would understand our faith
Speaker 2: in Jesus through his words today his words, God used
Speaker 2: his words. But now Paul is in a situation where
Speaker 2: his words will not work.
Speaker 1: But he wants to preach Jesus.
Speaker 2: I know he does, because that's his mission, that's his purpose.
Speaker 1: That's his calling, that's what he's good at. But how
Speaker 1: do you preach.
Speaker 2: Jesus to people who don't speak your same language. Nobody
Speaker 2: on the ship's this language. That's why they called them barbarians.
Speaker 1: So while Paul is.
Speaker 2: Waiting to try to figure out why would God let
Speaker 2: me crash here? Of all the islands, why would God
Speaker 2: put me here? Now, this is where some of us
Speaker 2: are not like Paul. We never stop and ask the
Speaker 2: question God, why do you really have me here? We
Speaker 2: just settled for the surface story. I'm here because I'm stupid.
Speaker 2: But if you'd ever get past how stupid you were
Speaker 2: to get there, maybe you could see how God wants
Speaker 2: to use your stupid to keep somebody else from stupid
Speaker 2: in the future. Look, you are the solution to somebody
Speaker 2: else this future stupid.
Speaker 1: I like my own preaching sometimes. I like what I
Speaker 1: just said that helped me. I ran into somebody's car
Speaker 1: last week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I ran right into it and they were parked
Speaker 2: and I couldn't find them. And I don't want to
Speaker 2: tell you this part, but I gotta be completely honest.
Speaker 2: I looked at Holly, I was like, should we stay?
Speaker 1: And this is what she said. Back.
Speaker 2: Listen how sanctimonious she sounds. Listen how self right she said.
Speaker 1: I would want a gentle review right now. Yes, you're
Speaker 1: a man of God.
Speaker 2: So I know what to do, so I couldn't find him.
Speaker 2: So I put a note on the thing and some
Speaker 2: money on the thing, and I put our number on
Speaker 2: the thing, and we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna have pay for it.
Speaker 2: They A week went by and we didn't hear from him.
Speaker 2: I'm like, prey, thank you Jesus rah.
Speaker 1: I was singing. I was singing, the Lord would for vide.
Speaker 1: But then they called and we got paid for it.
Speaker 2: But but listen to this in this funny, I was
Speaker 2: telling my brother in law we had dinner that night.
Speaker 2: I said, I ran into a car today, and you
Speaker 2: know he said, he said, huh, He said, how long
Speaker 2: before you put it in a sermon?
Speaker 1: I said, I hadn't even thought of that yet.
Speaker 2: If I gotta pay for it, I might as well
Speaker 2: preach it, because I know God can use when I.
Speaker 1: Do it right.
Speaker 2: But here I am looking at a stupid thing I did, realizing, huh.
Speaker 2: I can use an example of a time that I
Speaker 2: prayed for my kids. I can use an example of
Speaker 2: a time that I drove safely but I just hit
Speaker 2: somebody's fender. God can use this too. And I'm trying
Speaker 2: to get you to see about that thing in your
Speaker 2: life today bigger than a fender.
Speaker 1: I get it. Some failures are bigger than fenders. I
Speaker 1: get it.
Speaker 2: But it is just an illustration to let you know
Speaker 2: that the God that can make something out of nothing
Speaker 2: ex Nilo, the God who can Barrah can also asah.
Speaker 1: A sah is the Hebrew word in Genesis one sixteen.
Speaker 2: And when it says that God created in Genesis one sixteen,
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean to create something out of nothing.
Speaker 1: It means to take.
Speaker 2: Already existing things and make something that has ever been
Speaker 2: seen out of something that already exists. So it's when
Speaker 2: somebody says, don't think I don't and you say, think
Speaker 2: about it, and you put their words with your melody,
Speaker 2: with your chords and make a hit song. It's when
Speaker 2: somebody walks in the studio that you don't even want
Speaker 2: to see, and you say ever ever ever, and eventually
Speaker 2: you have a stadium of people saying ever ever ever See.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you don't get to.
Speaker 2: The thing that God wants to do because you do
Speaker 2: not recognize what has been brought into your life.
Speaker 1: As a gift. Yeah, gifts.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Paul got warmed by the fire and
Speaker 2: then check this out, Hally, the same thing that.
Speaker 1: Warmed him wounded him.
Speaker 2: You have been warmed by a thing one minute and
Speaker 2: wounded by it the next. The more warmth the relationship
Speaker 2: gives you, the greater the potential it can wound you.
Speaker 2: The more passion you have, the more susceptible to certain
Speaker 2: temptations you will be, The more creative you are, the
Speaker 2: more constrictions will try to keep you from creating. Because
Speaker 2: that was a powerful thought for me, Chris. He's standing
Speaker 2: by the fire and it's warming him. And then the
Speaker 2: same fire that one moment was bringing him warmth brought
Speaker 2: him a wound. Now let's read about the wound for
Speaker 2: a moment, because we may never know. We may never
Speaker 2: know if Paul was like doing too much by putting
Speaker 2: wood on the fire. It sounds like the islanders had
Speaker 2: it pretty well taken care of. And Paul's like, I'm
Speaker 2: not just standing around.
Speaker 1: This is ridiculous. I make this fire higher.
Speaker 2: And see he's not native to the island, so he's
Speaker 2: doing something that he doesn't naturally do.
Speaker 1: Remember, he's good with words, not wood.
Speaker 2: And sometimes when you step out of your comfort zone
Speaker 2: and try to do something that you're not naturally good
Speaker 2: at doing.
Speaker 1: Look what happens in verse four, out.
Speaker 2: Of the heat came a viper a snake, And the
Speaker 2: Bible says that I fastened itself on his hand. And
Speaker 2: verse four is the one that I really want you
Speaker 2: to look at. When the islanders saw the snake hanging
Speaker 2: from his hand, they said to each other, who said
Speaker 2: They said to each other, this.
Speaker 1: Man must be a murderer.
Speaker 2: Now what we know, because we've already read to the
Speaker 2: end of this story, is that the one they're calling
Speaker 2: a murderer is actually going to heal all of their sicknesses.
Speaker 2: So the man they're calling a murderer is actually carrying
Speaker 2: their medicine. Did my mic cut out? I thought, you
Speaker 2: say amen to that. The one that they were calling
Speaker 2: a murderer, the one that they were saying this is
Speaker 2: a proof of divine dissavor, the one that they saw
Speaker 2: the snake. Because track with me. He crashes on an
Speaker 2: island that God has called him to, but nobody knows
Speaker 2: that yet. He's building a fire, and out of the
Speaker 2: fire as he's building it, he gets bit. By the
Speaker 2: way bonus point, you can't build anything without getting bit.
Speaker 1: Anything.
Speaker 2: So if you ever want to start a church and
Speaker 2: you want to build a church, you're gonna get bit.
Speaker 1: Sheep bite, not y'all.
Speaker 2: You want to build a business, you're gonna get bit.
Speaker 2: You wanna build a family, you're gonna get bit. You
Speaker 2: ever heard the phrase bite the hand.
Speaker 1: That feeds you.
Speaker 2: That's what it means that whatever you try to build, Now,
Speaker 2: if you sit back and don't do anything for God,
Speaker 2: if Paul doesn't build a fire, he doesn't get bit.
Speaker 2: But if he doesn't get wounded, he doesn't get warmed.
Speaker 2: So what are you gonna do. Spend the rest of
Speaker 2: your life just trying to avoid being injured, trying to
Speaker 2: avoid being disappointed, try to avoid getting your heart broken.
Speaker 2: He's like, man, I wish I could preach to these people,
Speaker 2: I could lead them all to Jesus. I can't preach,
Speaker 2: So let me throw some fire on here. And then
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, because he is not native to
Speaker 2: this land, here comes a snake.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really know to look out for snakes.
Speaker 2: He's not from around these parts, and snake jumps up
Speaker 2: bites him on his hand. And now the Bible says
Speaker 2: they all started calling him a murderer for though he
Speaker 2: escaped from the sea, the.
Speaker 1: Godess Justice has not allowed him to live.
Speaker 2: Y'all, I need to slow down and tell you that
Speaker 2: anytime you try to interpret your identity through an event.
Speaker 1: You miss see it. The snake bit he must be
Speaker 1: a murderer.
Speaker 2: A bad thing happened. I must be a bad person. No,
Speaker 2: you made a stupid decision. God, can you stupid? And
Speaker 2: there is still time for you to take what you
Speaker 2: learned and throw another log on the fire and see
Speaker 2: God use your life. And in verse five, I think
Speaker 2: Paul preaches one of the most powerful sermons that he
Speaker 2: ever preached, and he didn't say a word.
Speaker 1: The one who changed the world.
Speaker 2: With his words preached a powerful sermon because see when
Speaker 2: they saw the snake on his hand, they saw it
Speaker 2: as a sign.
Speaker 1: Ooh, this is a bad guy.
Speaker 2: God lets bad things happen to bad people. When Paul
Speaker 2: saw the snake on his hand, he could have thought this,
Speaker 2: of all of the two hundred and seventy five prisoners
Speaker 2: on this ship who actually did something bad, You're gonna
Speaker 2: let all these bumps that aren't even help him build
Speaker 2: the fire, and you're gonna let the snake. Have you
Speaker 2: ever had a moment like really, God, really, they get
Speaker 2: to get married before I do them, I can understand them.
Speaker 2: But then the snake bites and Paul could go this,
Speaker 2: this is how you reward me for surviving the shipwreck.
Speaker 2: This is how you affirmed me for preaching the gospel.
Speaker 2: This is how you want to use me. See, I
Speaker 2: think the reason Paul got bit by a snake. I'm
Speaker 2: a little controversial on this. I don't think God made
Speaker 2: the snake bite Paul.
Speaker 1: I don't think the devil did either.
Speaker 2: I think the snake bit Paul because snakes bite.
Speaker 1: Okay, I know that's real deep.
Speaker 2: But what you got to remember while we're so busy
Speaker 2: trying to figure out why me? And why this? And
Speaker 2: when are you gonna get me off this island? God,
Speaker 2: I don't believe, and I think you could substantiate it
Speaker 2: from the New Testament. I don't believe that Paul was
Speaker 2: just waiting to get off the island. I believe he
Speaker 2: showed up with the question, why am I really here?
Speaker 2: Why am I really on this job? Why am I
Speaker 2: really in this season? Why am I really having this conflict?
Speaker 2: And not only why, but God, how do you want
Speaker 2: to use this?
Speaker 1: Say this? Now?
Speaker 2: It's one thing to want God to use your words
Speaker 2: Paul was used to that. This was different because when
Speaker 2: the snake bit him, he shook it off into the
Speaker 2: fire and suffered no ill effects. Isn't that amazing that
Speaker 2: Paul wanted a way to show them how great God was.
Speaker 1: And he knew.
Speaker 2: God knew that Paul couldn't speak their language, but he
Speaker 2: knew that everybody on that island could speak snake, because
Speaker 2: everybody on the island. I'm about to help you understand
Speaker 2: how some of the stuff you're going through it's not
Speaker 2: something that God did, but is something that He wants
Speaker 2: to use. And the sooner you decide God can use
Speaker 2: this too, say it. God can use this too. That's
Speaker 2: the whole lesson today. If I've confused you talking about
Speaker 2: barbarians and boards and winds, and if I've confused you
Speaker 2: talking about snakes and prison cells and pins and pulpits,
Speaker 2: if all of this rhetoric has done nothing but to
Speaker 2: confuse you, I want you to realize at the time
Speaker 2: when Paul could not use words to preach, God gave
Speaker 2: him something that speaks louder than words, and his wounds
Speaker 2: spoke louder than his words.
Speaker 1: Because when they saw him get bit.
Speaker 2: And he shook the snake off, and something bad happened.
Speaker 2: But after something bad happened, Paul did not debate with
Speaker 2: the snake. He learned that from Genesis chapter three, you
Speaker 2: don't talk to snakes.
Speaker 1: I said, you don't talk to snakes.
Speaker 2: You don't speak the stuff that's beneath you.
Speaker 3: You don't argue with.
Speaker 1: Stuff that's trying to kill you. You don't reason your.
Speaker 2: Way out of shame and condemnation. You shake that stuff off.
Speaker 2: So sometimes Paul would use his words and he would speak,
Speaker 2: and people would be saved, and he would speak and
Speaker 2: people would be healed, and he would speak and people
Speaker 2: would understand. And it's wonderful that God used Paul's words
Speaker 2: in such an unusual way, with such an unusual gift.
Speaker 2: But now he is in a situation where his words
Speaker 2: will not work.
Speaker 1: So if you have faith to believe it, here's what
Speaker 1: I think. The text proves that God knew that of all.
Speaker 2: The other prisoners on that island, there was only one
Speaker 2: out of two hundred and seventy six who still had
Speaker 2: enough faith after the shipwreck that if I let this.
Speaker 1: Snake bite him, I'm not going to send a snake him.
Speaker 2: Life just happens I'm not saying God is punishing you
Speaker 2: or God caused it. It doesn't matter, because even if
Speaker 2: God didn't do.
Speaker 1: It, he can use it. He can use it. He
Speaker 1: can use this too. High five three people say he
Speaker 1: can use this too.
Speaker 2: Come on, take your left hand in high five of
Speaker 2: them say he can use this too.
Speaker 1: I read so many of Paul's words. Oh, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: that was sloppy. I can't go out like that. I
Speaker 1: have a nightmare about that.
Speaker 3: We gotta get at least three more to make up
Speaker 3: for that bad one. You ever have a bad DAP
Speaker 3: and it just haunts the rest of your life three
Speaker 3: years later, having flashbacks thinking about it.
Speaker 1: Don't think I don't think about it.
Speaker 2: And Paul took that snake and he said, Oh, this, this, this, this.
Speaker 2: I've been asking God for a way to reach these
Speaker 2: people since we got on this island. I've been asking
Speaker 2: God why he put me here. I've been asking God
Speaker 2: to use me in this season of my life. I've
Speaker 2: been asking God to show me a purpose. I've been
Speaker 2: asking God to turn it around. I've been asking God
Speaker 2: to make this situation new. I've been asking God to
Speaker 2: reveal to me why it's been so hard.
Speaker 1: So this must not be a snake.
Speaker 2: This must be a microphone, because I'm about to preach
Speaker 2: this gospel of the power of God. Oh yeah, I'm happy. Now,
Speaker 2: high five your neighbors say this too. I know you
Speaker 2: want God to use you in a certain way. I
Speaker 2: know you want him to get you there on the ship.
Speaker 2: I know you don't want the business to fail. I
Speaker 2: know you don't want your kid to flunk the class.
Speaker 2: I know you don't want to carry the illness in
Speaker 2: your body. I'm just saying that snakes bite because snake's bike.
Speaker 1: But God knows how to turn a snake into a sign.
Speaker 2: Oh God, blah blah blah. Now a few days later,
Speaker 2: Paul gets a dinner invitation after he shook that snake
Speaker 2: into the fire. Everybody you walk past, it's coming in
Speaker 2: for the eleven thirty today.
Speaker 1: When they walk past you, just do that, give him
Speaker 1: a little preview. And when they look at you kind
Speaker 1: of funny or they want to fight you, just look
Speaker 1: at him. Keep walking. Come on, you got some stuff
Speaker 1: you need to shake today. You got some stuff you
Speaker 1: need to shake today, and when you do, it's going
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 2: The loudest sermon that your life ever preached, and you
Speaker 2: will begin to discover.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you right now.
Speaker 2: If Paul would have started using his speaking gift in
Speaker 2: this moment to argue with the people who were saying
Speaker 2: he was a murderer, he would have died in that
Speaker 2: crazy off. He would have used his primary gift, it
Speaker 2: would have gotten him killed. His primary gift was words.
Speaker 2: But God said, your words won't work in this situation.
Speaker 2: So I need to trust you enough to give you
Speaker 2: a wound. Because when God really wants to reveal who
Speaker 2: he is, he gives a wound, and then the decision comes,
Speaker 2: will you use the wound. The snake didn't shake Paul's faith.
Speaker 2: Paul's faith shook that snake. He knew which.
Speaker 1: One could be bit and not be bitter. And I
Speaker 1: believe that for some of the.
Speaker 2: Precious people that God has given me to preach to,
Speaker 2: the miracle isn't that you didn't get bit, It's that
Speaker 2: you didn't get bitter.
Speaker 1: Oh you've been bit.
Speaker 2: Oh so when you were worshiping today you were lifting
Speaker 2: bit hands. I almost didn't notice. I almost didn't see
Speaker 2: your bite.
Speaker 1: Mark.
Speaker 2: This dude named Publius almost named you that son. This
Speaker 2: dude Publius, the Headman on the island. The Headman on
Speaker 2: the Island a few days later says, bring me a
Speaker 2: prisoner to have dinner with me. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: that's not what important people you think. Publius said, bring
Speaker 2: me a bring me a killer, bring me a prisoner.
Speaker 2: No no, no, don't worry about following me the light guys,
Speaker 2: that'll be distracted.
Speaker 1: Just let me walk, he said, bring me bring me
Speaker 1: a preacher.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, he didn't know Paul was a preacher
Speaker 2: because they couldn't understand his language.
Speaker 1: But he spoke snake. He said, there was a guy
Speaker 1: who got bid and didn't die. No, it was crazy,
Speaker 1: it was be a.
Speaker 2: He just just shut be a bold and assertive. He
Speaker 2: just shook that thing right off, and he just kept
Speaker 2: right on standing there. And pooblic said, I want to
Speaker 2: have dinner with him. Now, let me ask a question.
Speaker 2: If Paul didn't survive that snake, you think he would
Speaker 2: have gotten that invitation.
Speaker 1: So what is it that you've been.
Speaker 2: Through that God gave you that your bike marks become
Speaker 2: a passport to your purpose?
Speaker 1: Because look, I got to stop in a minute.
Speaker 2: Can I give you a little more, just a little
Speaker 2: more if you've got to leave, I understand, But this
Speaker 2: is for the ones who have been bit. And you're
Speaker 2: not just in a hurry to get off the island,
Speaker 2: and you're not just in a hurry to get out
Speaker 2: of church, and you're not just in a hurry to
Speaker 2: get back to Hell, and you're not just in a
Speaker 2: hurry to get back to fighting around your house about
Speaker 2: every little thing.
Speaker 1: Don't you want to know why you're fighting at the house.
Speaker 2: Paul who was a great order, Paul who was an expositor,
Speaker 2: Paul who was a prolific author, Paul who was a philosopher.
Speaker 1: All these things happened through his words. But you know
Speaker 1: what Luke.
Speaker 2: The medical doctor said about Paul in Acts, chapter nineteen,
Speaker 2: verse eleven.
Speaker 1: I just remembered this scripture.
Speaker 2: This week when I was studying, because I thought about
Speaker 2: how the snake bit Paul in his hand, and then
Speaker 2: he healed a man in a house with his hand
Speaker 2: that had been bit, and I thought that was so amazing,
Speaker 2: and I reflected on it, and I meditated on it,
Speaker 2: and I said, well, what do I tell them about that?
Speaker 2: And he took me to Acts nineteen, verse eleven. Look
Speaker 2: at this verse, Luke says, now, God worked unusual miracles
Speaker 2: by the hands of Paul. By the what what did
Speaker 2: the snake bite?
Speaker 1: The enemy always bites you where God has blessed you.
Speaker 2: Too?
Speaker 1: You too, you too.
Speaker 2: The fire and the fangs came from the same place.
Speaker 2: The pain and the purpose came from the same place.
Speaker 2: The hand that God used this is a healing hand.
Speaker 2: This is a hand that when Paul laid his hands
Speaker 2: on the believers.
Speaker 1: They received the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: God worked unusual miracles through the hands of Paul. And
Speaker 2: what I am learning the longer that I spend time
Speaker 2: in this human body is that wherever God has blessed you,
Speaker 2: you will be bitten.
Speaker 1: But listen to me good.
Speaker 3: The biggest breakthroughs happen after the biggest bites.
Speaker 1: I've learned that.
Speaker 2: It took me a while to learn that because I
Speaker 2: used to think this isn't fair. I used to think
Speaker 2: I want this to go away. I used to think
Speaker 2: this shouldn't have happened to me. I used to stand
Speaker 2: there and argue with snakes. I used to try to
Speaker 2: prove stuff people. I used to try to think that
Speaker 2: I needed to get to another place. I used to
Speaker 2: think I don't want to be on Malta. I'm supposed
Speaker 2: to be in Rome. I used to curse the boards
Speaker 2: because I missed the boat. I used to live in
Speaker 2: the nostalgia of the past because I couldn't embrace the
Speaker 2: uncertainty of the now.
Speaker 1: But then I learned.
Speaker 2: That that when I get bit, it is God marking
Speaker 2: that hand that he wants to use. So if your
Speaker 2: hand is going to be extraordinarily used by God.
Speaker 1: If it's going to be unusually.
Speaker 2: Used by God, the hand that has been unusually blessed
Speaker 2: will be unusually bitten. And Paul shows us and serves
Speaker 2: us in this moment to help us understand what to
Speaker 2: do in those moments where it's not where you planned
Speaker 2: or what you prayed for. To look at the thing
Speaker 2: that is hanging on your hand and confessed by faith
Speaker 2: you ready.
Speaker 1: God can use this too. God put it in the chat.
Speaker 1: God can use this too.
Speaker 2: What the enemy meant to kill you, God can use
Speaker 2: to develop you. What the enemy meant to burn you.
Speaker 2: God can use to free you. What the enemy meant
Speaker 2: to take you out. God can use to bring you in.
Speaker 2: God can use this. God can use this too. He
Speaker 2: has a history of doing it. God likes to use
Speaker 2: boards to bring people safely to shore. God likes to
Speaker 2: use barbarians to build fire. God likes to use snakes
Speaker 2: to heal eyelids. So I don't know what it is
Speaker 2: you're this, but I know God can use this too.
Speaker 2: The God who used Paul's words also used Paul's wounds.
Speaker 2: Don't be so quick to categorize the things in your life.
Speaker 2: You can never really understand what it is until you
Speaker 2: see how God uses it. And there are some snakes
Speaker 2: that need to go back in the fire today. There
Speaker 2: are some beliefs, there are some things that you have
Speaker 2: allowed to latch onto your life.
Speaker 1: That we just need to let go of in the
Speaker 1: presence of God.
Speaker 2: Because if you stand there and fight about it, if
Speaker 2: you stand there and blame about it, if you stand
Speaker 2: there and hurt about it, and just hurt about it
Speaker 2: and heard about it, your hands were not made for hurting.
Speaker 1: They were made for healing. And there is a next
Speaker 1: thing that God is calling you to do. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org. Slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.