Shake It Off!
Recap Resolutions:
1. Become a Better Christian
2. Spend more time in fellowship
3. Get in spiritual shape
Those 3 resolutions are fantastic!
Remember the BONUS resolution? It was to have a Fantastic 2018!
What does that mean?
Well – if you put the three resolutions into your reality then you will be able to have a fantastic 2018 – and 2019 – and on and on and on – because you will be able to have a fantastic life. Because those three resolutions are key to the bonus resolution.
I named the bonus resolution: Shake it off!
Why? Because if you put the 3 into your reality, then when this world BITES you – when it throws junk at you – it won’t phase you! It won’t slow you down –
To put it simply: It won’t be able to steal your joy!
Now real quick: show of hands – has life ever bit you? Of course it has. Some more than others. Usually because of bad decisions right. We pay for our foolishness. But then there are times when it is not through any fault of our own: its just LIFE. Its just living in a fallen world. Its part of the trials and tribulations that Jesus told us we would go through.
So since we already KNOW that this world is going to hate us, is going to persecute us, and we live in a fallen, sinful world – lets not add any more TEETH to the mouth that can bite us.
If you put these 3 resolutions into your life – you are performing a dental extraction on the world.
See because if you become a better Christian – then you are falling in love with God and you are trying to chase Him, so you are not spending time chasing foolish things. You are spending your time with HIM – and when you are with HIM you cannot be with them.
If you spend more time in FELLOWSHIP then you are surrounding yourself people who believe like you believe, and care about you – you build each other up and you go through life together – so when you may be heading the wrong way someone can reach over and go “HEY, you turned off the main road”! Brother we are supposed to be on the NARROW road and you looked like you are in the turning lane to join the HIGHWAY.
And if you get in spiritual shape then you put on the FULL ARMOR OF GOD and the tactics of the deceiver get deflected, not through! Instead of hitting you, the armor of the Lord blocks the blow. Instead of standing solo, you stand by the strength of the Lord and HIS vast strength.
The teeth of foolishness can’t bite you when you spend your time chasing Jesus! Because you remove the teeth of foolishness. AMEN!
NOW – this world we live in IS fallen – and Jesus did tell us that the world was going to bite us. We can’t stop that.
BUT we can do something about it. We CAN be prepared for it. And we have an example to look to, as to how to do it.
When I think of the Biblical example of someone to model when life BITES – it’s PAUL.
Now here is a little backstory on Paul – His BIRTH name was Saul – Saul of Tarsus. He was a Jewish man with Roman citizenship – which granted him special access to the world around him and certain privileges. He studied the LAW and took a position as Pharisee and chief persecutor of the blasphemous Christians.
It was highly likely that he was present at the trial of Stephen - who would be stoned to dead. The unsaved SAUL would destroy churches, and arrest Christian men and women. His name was infamous among believers –
And then something amazing happened. He was riding down the road when the Lord Jesus knocked him off his high horse and blinded him! He was on his way to Damascus to continue his reign of terror amongst the Christian believers when the Lord stepped in and Dramatically impacted his life. What would happen is one of the most dramatic conversions in church history.
I say all of that to say this: You are not to far gone to be saved by the POWER of Jesus!
Saul sought to destroy the church! He sought to SQUASH the Christians. And the LORD
Saved Saul!
Paul – he wanted to distance himself from the former life and took on a new name – wrote 14 of the 27 books that make up the NT.
But his life was NOT without trouble. His life as Apostle Paul would be painful. He would go form being loved by the Jewish world, enjoying fine dining and fine living – to hunger and cold, damp, prisons.
He would be stoned, drug out of a city, and left for dead!
When I say that Paul spent time in jail – I don’t want you to think that it was overnight stays!
We are talking YEARS!
And when he was being transported to Rome to appeal his case to Cesar –
He was shipwrecked.
Would you say that he knew what it was like for life to BITE him? - of course!
We are going to pick up with the shipwreck.
Let’s set the stage real quick: The voyage set out for Rome. It was COLD – Winter was fast approaching. We know this because in Acts 27:12 the crew were looking for a place appropriate to WINTER IN!
As they were sailing they were hit by a terrible storm – something like a NOREASTER – dangerous swells – massive waves – battering winds.
They began to throw cargo overboard to get above water!
The next day the storm continued and they threw GEAR overboard.
This storm lasted days! No sun, NO stars – just the RAGE of the storm.
Until finally – all hope of survival was gone.
Imagine being a part of that terrible voyage.
Now listen to the words of Paul – in the MIDST of the chaos!
Acts 27:20-25
What words of FAITH – THE GOD I BELIVE IN SAID AND I BELIEVE!
V26 – BUT WE MUST RUN AGROUND!
The thing that sailors want to avoid was the thing that God said must happen in order to survive.
The insanity of God – if we run aground we will be shipwrecked and WE WILL DIE – but God says – you must run aground to be saved!
Not all listened to Paul and his divine warning – some sailors attempted to save themselves by getting away in a skiff – to their own demise.
But those that stayed listened to Paul – 276 people – and at the right time they ate food and then ran aground at the right place.
Now listen to the DIVINE INTERVENTION
Acts 27:42-44
Divine intervention by turning the heart of the Centurion!
Guys when you are doing a mighty work for the Lord – the Lord does mighty works to make sure that it happens.
But there was never a doubt in Paul’s mind because of what the angel of the Lord told Paul in the first place: Verse 24 – you MUST stand before Caesar!
When the Lord tells you something is going to happen, you fear nothing because nothing is going to stop it! The World may try to stand in the way, but the battering ram of the Lord can move the immovable!
When you trust in the Lord and you serve the Lord, and you are Chasing Jesus, and you have the Full armor of God on – then you know without a shadow of doubt that when the Lord speaks you OBEY and you have nothing to fear! You know that the moment of trouble is a moment or trial and the only outcome is the outcome that GLORIFIES GOD!
When the ship is going down and the WORLD says panic you can take courage and stand faithful because to LIVE IS CHRIST TO DIE IS GAIN!
Because if you live – you serve and show the Lord to others
And if your physical body shall perish your soul is with the Lord and YOU will be with the LORD in heaven!
WHY FEAR!
When you are in love with God you fear nothing! It’s a mentality change. When you stop looking at this world as everything and start realizing that this is not HOME – that this is the journey HOME – everything changes.
Paul’s journey didn’t end there.
Acts 28:1-3
After ALL OF THAT – the man can’t catch a break. Prison, Stoned, hungry, storms, shipwreck – After ALL of that – now he has been literally BIT by a snake.
You know they say “the straw that broke the camel’s back” – it means that sometimes ENOUGH has happened - FINALLY you have been wore down enough. – enough is enough!
That’s what happens when you are on your own strength!
You see but Paul – he is not on His own strength! You see Paul learned a long time ago that his strength was not enough – that his strength was failing and limited –
Paul lived every day in physical pain and he prayed no less than 3 times that the Lord would remove the pain in his life – but God said plainly: My GRACE is sufficient – and Paul knew that God’s GRACE was sufficient and that by God’s GRACE came God’s STRENGTH!
2 Corinthians 12:9 – Paul knew that His power shined when he, himself, had none!
And he knew that by the strength of God ANYTHING was accomplishable.
Philippians 4:13
See when you trust in God – you need to trust in God fully – don’t pick and choose when and for what to trust in God – and PAUL knew – like you SHOULD know – that God is FAITHFUL and ABLE!
So when this snake latches itself to Paul – he doesn’t crumble – he doesn’t fall –
Acts 28:4
Even when everyone else thinks something is the case it doesn’t get into Paul’s mind!
Acts 28:5
HE SHAKES IT OFF! He doesn’t have to say anything = he doesn’t try to convince anyone – he doesn’t go to FB and start complaining – He does what you have to learn to do by doing it time and time again – he just SHAKES IT OFF!
You learn a lot about the THEOLOGY of Paul right here!
When the soldiers were worried about what the WIND was doing to the Boat – Paul knew that GOD was controlling the WIND!
PAUL knew that God did not let him live through the shipwreck to DIE BY A SNAKEBITE!
So when the snake fell off and died in the fire – Paul was not surprised – he knew it had to happen! He already knew the plan of God – so he didn’t worry about the pain of the bite!
When LIFE BITES YOU – SHAKE IT OFF!
There are snakes that will attack your thinking
There are snakes that will attack your faith
When you start building the fire – snakes will come out
When Byromville Baptist Church really gets the fire going – some snakes are going to come out and try to bite – SHAKE THEM OFF
You can be BIT and still not be STOPPED – That’s when people who witness it will know that THERE IS A GOD!
Faith does not stop you from getting bit – you can remove the teeth of foolishness – but you can’t remove the teeth of the world – but you CAN overcome it!
It can become so engrained in you, the POWER of God – that it becomes second nature and muscle memory and you just DO what you always do!
