God Can Use This Too

0:36 Welcome to our eFam online. Those that we can't see, but you're my favorite ones to preach to because I just picture you writing notes on everything I say. I just picture you sitting there really enjoying it. In my imagination, you are not distracted running around with kids spilling juice on the carpet. You are settled in, ready to hear a word from God. Let's give it up for our eFam around the world. Drop us a little comment, would you, in the chat? Just your way of saying, I'm here. Or maybe put a little prayer hand emoji in the chat. Something like that. That'll be amazing. God is good. Amen? I said God is good. Amen? God is good. God has been good to us. Well, thank you, worship team. Stay behind me for just a moment while I read the Scripture.

1:29 The reason we stand for the Word of God is so that nobody falls asleep. Thank you. and to show our respect for what God speaks. I'm thankful for the place where God speaks to me. I value it. I honor it. There are things that can only be said in the presence of God. You can't say them to other people, and you can't hear them from other people. God gives us moments like this, whether we're physically together in a building or whether we're connecting through technology, and he tells us things. He speaks things to us that our spirits understand, even if our minds don't understand them yet. The passage I want to share with you from today is in Acts chapter 28, verses 1 through 10. After I share this story with you, I'll give you my thought and break it down today, but it's really not just my thought. It is something the Lord wants to speak to you and it's going to help you with your perspective. So in Acts chapter 28, verse 1 through 10, the Bible says, once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.

2:44 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, and as he put it on the fire, a viper driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. Ouch. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, this man must be a murderer, for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. I thought y'all might be happy to hear that verse, to know that it bit him, but it didn't kill him, to know that it tried, but it didn't work, because I thought that might help you think about some of the stuff that the devil did to you, the weapons that he formed that didn't work.

3:47 But you don't have to shout about it. I'm just thankful that everything that bit me didn't kill me. Now, let's take it further. Verse six, the people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happened to him, they changed their mind and said he was a God. So they're kind of flipping real quick. Not that people ever flip their opinion or anything like that. But the Bible says something else that I want to read you before I give you the sermon title. It says there was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. And Paul went in to see him and after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways, and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed. That's right there where I want to stop.

4:58 Everything you need is on this island. God's not going to send you from this season of your life without what you need. If I need you to understand this fundamental truth and look at your neighbor and give him my title, say, God can use this too. That's it. That's the whole thing. You waiting on the next part? That's it. Look at him again and say, God can use this too. Father, I thank you that nothing comes to our lives that doesn't pass through your hand. Right now, would you speak a word in season to your people in Jesus' name? Amen. He can use this too. Be seated.

5:41 Now, LJ, I'm going to set this Bible story up with a little personal example. I don't have any real hobbies, so in my free time I like to listen to podcasts about people who do have hobbies. I like to listen also to podcasts about people's creative process. I really love to hear especially about songwriting. I know that's boring to some people, but I love to hear what happened, the story behind the song that was written. I kind of collect these little stories because it's almost like they're magical to me to just see behind the scenes. One songwriter that I like to listen to him tell the stories, his name is Clay Mills. He said that he went in to write with Darius Rucker for the first time. He went in to write with Darius, and he said he really wasn't feeling it. And Darius was fine, but Clay said he wasn't really feeling it. He said he just got broke up with the day before. About halfway through the session of getting to know each other, he looked at Darius and said, I just have to be honest with you, man. I'm not in a really good spot today. I just had my heart broken, and I'm second-guessing everything and all I could have done and all that. Darius was like, oh, I get it, man. We all have had our heart broken.

6:59 He said, I go back and think about a girl that broke up with me in fifth grade and wonder what would have happened if we'd stayed together. Clay said, really, fifth grade? Darius said, yeah, man, don't think I don't. Clay said when he said, don't think I don't, he kind of took his notebook and wrote that line down, don't think I don't. He went home that night and he started to write a song called Don't Think I Don't Think About It. He took it back to Darius the next day and they wrote the song. It was Darius' first number one country hit. That's cool, huh? and so he heard somebody say something, and he did something with it. Now, you've heard a lot of people say stuff. Did you make a hit with it? Here's another example I love. One pop star, she was writing with a Swedish producer named Max Martin, and it was her first time writing with him. She was so excited, and they were working on a song. Somebody walked in the studio that claimed they knew this pop star. They claimed to be a friend of this pop star's ex-boyfriend.

7:58 So they came to the studio, and they started talking, and it was kind of an interruption. The dude who had busted in the studio says, Yeah, I heard y'all are going to get back together. So they kind of got the guy to leave the studio because he was unwelcome. After he left, the pop star turned to Max Martin and said, Hey, trust me. We are never getting back together.

8:20 Ever. Ever. Ever. Max Martin turned to Taylor Swift and said, We have to write that song. How many of you in here have an X somewhere back in your past? How many of you made a hip-hop banger out of it, made millions of dollars out of it, and became a global pop superstar? Here's my point. You're like, wow, you've had too much time off. You've been by yourself too much. Creativity is not defined by how many ideas you have. is defined by how you implement the ideas you have so that a great songwriter, a creative songwriter, hears somebody say a phrase that maybe they've said hundreds of times before and go, that's a song. Let's write it. Or that a great songwriter goes through a heartbreak.

9:12 Maybe some people go through a heartbreak and become an alcoholic or a drug addict, but they make a hit out of something that happens. They make a hit out of something they hear. That's creativity. Now, I would suggest to you that as Christians, what distinguishes our Christian faith from those who do not have faith is not necessarily the things that happen to us. It's not necessarily the things that we even hear in church, but it is our ability to take those things that happen to us and do something with them that will be fruitful and productive. And the more painful the event is, well, the greater the opportunity for God to show his creative power. See, God is not creative. He is creator. Creative people can take something and make it into something. God is creator. He can take nothing and make it into something. Come on, get my rhythm so I don't have to work too hard today.

10:11 Tell your neighbor God can use it. I love how he spoke into the darkness, but the word that he spoke into darkness carried the potential energy for light. So it became kinetic because God called it light when it was darkness. God calls those things that be not as though they are. So if he calls you forgiven, it doesn't matter how many times shame calls your name. God can speak into nothing and create something. The Hebrew word for this is bara, when it talks about God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. There was nothing there, but it didn't stop God because he is creator, not just creative. If you ask a creative genius, where do you get your ideas from? They'll honestly tell you, Well, I get them from everyday life. I get them from something I hear someone say. I get them from something I live through. God didn't have to live through anything because he always was. God didn't have to respond to anything because when he spoke, the light was the response to his word. I'm trying to set this framework for this sermon around the idea that the creator God lives inside of you. And so if the God who can make something out of nothing lives inside of you, it stands to reason that the God with this kind of power, Barah is the Hebrew word, can also take something in your life that does not resemble what you prayed for, hoped for, or preferred, and turn it into exactly what you need at the moment you need it the most.

11:51 because he's God like that, because he's good at that. God doesn't have to hear anything to do something. God doesn't have to have anything to do something. In fact, God can take something so silly as a dumb decision you make and turn it into great wisdom for your future. God can use this too. I read in the Bible about a king called Solomon. He was the wisest king that ever lived. But what surprised me about Solomon's wisdom, church, was that his birth was actually the result of a bad decision that his father David made. If I teach you this, maybe it'll help you feel not so bad about your dumb decisions. Not that you made any in the last three years, but back when you were young and you used to do dumb stuff, back before you were so smart as you are now and you always get it right, just to let you know that God prefers that you use wisdom as you're living your life.

12:55 But if you don't use wisdom, God is so big and so good and so amazing that when you don't use wisdom, God will use stupid. That's a place to praise him right there. You missed it. I know you can't clap because you might be sitting next to him.

13:19 I talked to one woman. She said, I never should have married him. Well, they were married 32 years. They had three kids. She said, I was so stupid, stupid, stupid. She started hitting her head. I'm not going to do it up here for you. Just a little bit. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She smacked herself hard. I said, Stop. I grabbed her hand. I said, Are you glad you have those kids?

13:44 She said, Yeah, I wouldn't drink my kids or anything. I said, You had them with him? She said, Yeah, all three of them. I was just checking. I didn't pull out a Maury Povich paternity test or anything like that. Boy, that's a flashback. but she said yeah we've all had them all together i said huh isn't that crazy that god gave you what you just called your greatest gifts through your stupidest decision stupid stupid stupid so before you take your hand and hit yourself like i'm doing up here i'm not doing it any harder than that stop for a minute and think about the things that god gave you in spite of stupid i'll take it a step further and all the pharisees can just walk right out the church on this one not just in spite of stupid but through stupid god can do more through stupid than humans can do through wisdom without him this is how great god is well are you telling me to go out and do dumb stuff you're telling me to drive drunk? You're telling me to make bad decisions, marry the wrong people? I'm not saying any of that, but the fact of the matter is we start this sermon in Acts chapter 28 where Paul does a great miracle, but it started with something stupid that could have been avoided but wasn't. I believe that what keeps a lot of people from believing that God can use their life or use their situation is that you know necessarily some of the things that put you in the problem state to begin with, and it's hard for me to believe for God to get me out of what I got myself into. But I want to remind you from David's life that when you don't use wisdom, God will use stupid. Touch your neighbor again and say, he's going to use you. Pastor Stephen just said it.

15:43 David slept with Bathsheba. Stupid. Killed her husband who was fighting for him. Stupid. Tried to cover it all up. Stupid. Went in and repented before the Lord when the prophet Nathan confronted him. When he finished repenting, he went into his wife Bathsheba and made love to her again. She conceived and gave birth to a son. His name was Solomon. He was the wisest king that ever lived. How could God make something so splendid out of something so stupid? That's called grace. You want a definition of grace? All right, I got one for you. When you don't use wisdom, so God uses stupid. When you choose the wrong thing, but God uses it anyway. Now, we would like to eliminate the number of times in your life that God has to use stupid. We don't want to give God raw materials to work with unnecessarily. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound. God forbid, but yet I know that this storm we read about in Acts chapter 28… Now, there's nothing about the storm in Acts chapter 28, so I know you might be confused.

16:55 Acts chapter 28, verse 1. Put that on the screen again, please. I love this part. It says, Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. If you didn't have context for the Bible, you might think Paul was going on vacation. some much-needed R&R after being stoned in Lystra, like trying to get away from the crazy church at Corinth and turn off his phone for a few days. But in Acts chapter 27, in fact, he has just spent the last two weeks being blown by a hurricane-force wind, which is bad enough. But before the wind ever started blowing, Paul tried to warn the other people on board. He said, this is not the time for us to sail. Trust me. You know sailing, but I know the Savior. And I heard from God, and I can sense that this is bad, and they did it anyway. And Paul was on board with somebody else's bad decision.

17:52 I think this is one of the toughest places to be. It's one thing when you do stupid and to believe God can use it. But what about when they do stupid and they won't stop doing stupid? They wouldn't even come to church with you today. Now you're living in somebody else's stupid. This is not a parenting class. but one of the things that we have to learn in our lives when we find ourselves in situations that we didn't ask for or when somebody else's bad decision backfires and we catch some of it in our own circumstance is that when we don't use wisdom, God can still use stupid. I'll prove this to you in a couple of different ways from the text. Number one, the storm they went through was a stupid storm. Not every storm can be avoided. They could have easily avoided this storm. They didn't because of the advice they failed to heed. That's number one.

18:58 Number two, I don't know if you noticed this. After they crashed… I really do apologize that I can't do this story justice. I wish I could give you the prequel. Since we just picked up in chapter 28, verse 1, where they landed on an island called Malta. Isn't that crazy? They didn't even know what it was called until they got there. Isn't life kind of like that? You don't really know what to call it until you get there. You know what it looks like on other people's Instagram, but you don't really know what to call it until you get there. What I love about God is that on one hand, they crashed, but on another hand, they were called to help the people on that island, because we read about how Paul ended up healing every sick person on the island. How many believe that God was calling Paul to that island to help those sick people? Come on, clap your hands if you believe God was calling Paul to that island.

19:54 How many of you believe that Paul crashed because the sailors didn't take his advice? Clap your hands if you believe he crashed. How many of you are confused and you're just clapping to be polite to me because it's Pastor Appreciation Month? Say I'm confused. Is it a crash or a calling? I'm confused. Did he crash or was he called? Is it possible that sometimes God uses a crash as a cover for a calling? Is it possible that what you have called a crash in your life, a crash in your relationship, a crash in your finances… a crash. I'm so glad you're still here. I was watching a sermon from 2016 the other day, and I saw you when you used to sit down there. I was wondering if you were still around, and I'm so glad you made it. It's good to see you, brother. Seriously, I was watching you.

21:01 The reason I noticed in the video you were crying… You aren't going to believe this. I was preaching on Acts 28. I'm not making this up. Y'all are like, This sounds kind of staged. It's not staged. I literally just looked, and what a way to confirm a word. I was preaching the same passage. I bet since that day… I bet you've been through some crashes, and I bet you've been through some things, but what blesses me about some of you in the church is that you keep coming even after the crash. Come on. No, no, no, no, no. Don't try to trick me looking like you didn't. Some of y'all crashed out on the way to church in the car. Some of y'all were calling each other everything but child of God on the way to church in the car this morning, but you came.

21:56 You came. You came. You came. You came. and they arrived safely on shore. Now say, unsure. You can be on shore but unsure, which means I'm not sure yet whether this thing that happened in my life is something that is going to turn out for my good or whether it's going to be my bitter end. I'm not sure yet whether this person leaving my life was a good thing or whether it was a bad thing. I'm not sure yet whether losing that job was opening another opportunity or if it's just draining my bank account. I'm not sure yet. I'm unsure, but I'm unsure. What I love about God is that no matter whether you call it a crash, whether you call it an accident, whether you call it a mistake, whatever you call it, God looks at it and says, don't think I don't know how to make something amazing and brilliant out of a broken heart. Now, how about somebody say he can do it?

23:13 He can do it. He can do it. They need to hear you say that. Because when we find ourselves crashed out on islands where people don't even speak our same language. The version I put up there was the politically correct version of the Bible, the NIV. It's more modern. So when it talks about these people, it calls them islanders. But in the original language, it called them barbarians. Because to Paul and the 276 prisoners… I'm not even telling you this part yet. The reason Paul is on the ship is because he's going to stand trial before Caesar in Rome. So, he is a preacher disguised as a prisoner headed toward a calling disguised as a crash. looking at some people who are building him a fire, but don't speak his same language. Can I work on this for a minute? I wonder, have you landed in a strange place today?

24:14 Strange place in your life, strange place in your emotions, strange place at your particular season. If you have, I believe you have every reason to expect that God will use a barbarian, which simply means something you're not familiar with. Everything in the text points in the same direction, that God can use this too. When they get there, they meet barbarians, people they're afraid of, but the barbarians are building them a fire. That's the favor of God. When God uses something you think is barbaric to build something to keep you alive, when God uses somebody you don't even like to tell you something you need to know, when God uses a process you resist, that is the strange grace of God.

25:10 Have you ever had God give you strange grace? I might should have called this message strange grace. It's not the grace that comes from people I counted on. It's the grace that comes from people I don't even know what to call them. It's the grace that comes from places I never chose to be. Just because you didn't choose it doesn't mean he won't use it. Paul wanted to go to Rome, but not as a prisoner.

25:43 God used chains to get him to the place. When they started out on the journey, they were on a ship. Look at Acts 27, verse 44. Right before they got to the island safely, look how they got there safely. I'm doing air quotes for a reason. The rest were to get there on planks or other pieces of the ship. In this way, everyone reached land safely. Ain't that crazy how sometimes you have to praise God for pieces?

26:17 Think about it. They started out on a boat. They floated in on a board. Would you rather ride in on a boat or paddle in on a board? But it doesn't matter what you would rather do. Because sometimes God will call you to grab hold of what you have and remember your swimming lessons and breaststroke your way to the shore with what you have. And I want you to learn how to praise God for pieces in your life. Because I know we would prefer the boat. I know we would prefer that the things stayed the same. None of us really like change. Right? None of us really like change at all. You were praying summer away, and it got cold for a day. but you were so hot. We don't even want the season to change because it's uncomfortable. Yet sometimes the only way to really have peace in your heart, P-E-A-C-E, over your situation is to take the peace that you have, P-I-E-C-E, and float in with what you have.

27:22 Because everybody knows a boat can get you to shore, but so can a board. I have to say that again. Everybody knows a boat can get you to shore. That doesn't take a miracle, but when you made it in on a board, a piece of the boat, a remnant of the former boat… Yes, I'm talking to people who are older. You can make it in on boards. Your body might not work like it used to work, but you can still do what you're called to do. Your mind might not work like it used to work, but you can still do what you're called to do. One missionary said, when I can't pray, when I can't read, when I can't even think, I can still trust. And the faith to know that if I can't make it in on a flotation device, I can make it in floating by the grace of God, that kind of faith is so necessary in this season of your life. When what you had was broken apart, when what you had was driven by the wind, don't you believe in your life that the same God who brought them safely to the shore on a board is bringing you where you're supposed to be right now on the thing that you have that is with you because God will never call you to somewhere he can't get you with what you still have I still got it I still got it maybe that's the message of this to tell you you still got it No, you don't have the ship how it looked.

28:52 No, you don't have the life that it used to be. No, you don't have the answers that you wanted to have, but somebody say, I still got it. The thing you got to realize is that the board they floated in on were part of the boat that they had been riding on. So it wasn't that the boat went away. It just changed forms. God is going to continue to provide in your life, but he will do it in many different ways and many different layers at many different levels. and the key to this is you believing God can use this too.

29:25 If he can bring me in on a boat, he can bring me in on a board. If he can bless me with a lot, he can keep me with a little. Paul said in another scripture, I have learned whatever state I'm in to be content. I know how to have plenty, boat. I know how to have not much, boards. Whether I got a boat or aboard, my song is the same. God can use this too. Let's clap our hands and praise him for the times he brought us to shore on a board. Now, here's where it gets interesting, church. When you arrive on the shore and you got there on a board and you see people building you a fire, you automatically assume that the fire is a blessing. And it is. But I don't know if Paul made a bad decision here or not. It's really up for debate. I know the storm wasn't his fault. I know the chains weren't his fault. This part is is up for review. You can see what you think about it. It says in verse 2, the islanders showed us unusual kindness, and they built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Here's the part I want to ask you about. See what you think.

30:37 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, and as he put it on the fire, a viper driven out by the heat fastened itself on his hand. Here's what I want to ask you. Should Paul have just stuck to preaching and not messed with fire building? It looks like in his effort to help, he got hurt. I know Paul. Not personally, but I've studied about him a lot. I spent a lot of time thinking about him. I know Paul. What he really wanted to do in this situation, when he meets a group of barbarians, people that he's never seen before, what he really wanted to do was tell them about Jesus. That's all Paul ever wanted to do, it sounds like. If it was Jews who were circumcised, if it was Gentiles who had been ostracized, Paul wanted you to know about Jesus. So he shows up on the island. He doesn't know what it's called, and worse of all, he doesn't speak their language. Remember, Paul is good with words.

31:41 If there had ever been a Kendrick and Drake but with Paul and Peter, Paul would have beat Peter senseless. Nobody did words like Paul. All the foundational doctrines that we quote by heart today came either from the pen or the tongue of Paul. Even the posters we hang in the weight room of our public high schools, I can do all things. That's something Paul said. He said, Through Christ who strengthens me, but we don't have to finish it. We just take the first part. I can do all things. No, you can't, unless Christ strengthens you. But Paul was not only brilliant in his ability to say pithy statements that would help motivate us. Paul actually could make a legal defense from the gospel. He could show you how Abraham, the progenitor of the Jewish faith, Abraham, Father Abraham, was actually justified by faith, not works. Then he could take you line by line by line. You do not want to get in a debate with Paul.

32:40 Now, he is too good with his words, and God used his words everywhere he went to preach. Even if he showed up in a city like Athens, where they worshiped all kinds of idols, he would start with their idolatry instead of starting with his belief, and he could quote their poets but bring them to his point of view. He would get them to Jesus from whatever starting place they had because he was so good with his words. Not just one language. One city he got in, he wasn't able to speak Koine Greek, which was the language of the day because they had a different dialect. So, Paul started speaking in Aramaic, and when he spoke in Aramaic, which was the local dialect, they all shut up, and they were able to hear because Paul was able to speak the word of God. God really used Paul's words. As a matter of fact, he used Paul's words to the point that something like 30% of our New Testament that we read today came from the pen of a man who spent much of his life in a prison. While he was in prison, some thought rotting, he was writing.

33:48 I'm trying to get you a vision today for the seasons of your life that you think are wasted, the seasons of your life that you think are waiting. God can use waiting seasons, not as wasted seasons, but those seasons can actually become if you choose to take the instrument that you have, Paul proves it, I can take a pen in a prison. What he wrote with a pen in a prison is so powerful that we quote it from our pulpits today. Isn't that amazing? I hadn't looked at y'all in the back very much this sermon. Isn't that amazing? that all the way from a prison cell, Paul could write something so powerful that we would understand our faith in Jesus through his words today. God used his words. But now Paul is in a situation where his words will not work, but he wants to preach Jesus. I know he does because that's his mission. That's his purpose. That's his calling. That's what he's good at. But how do you preach Jesus to people who don't speak your same language? Nobody on the ship spoke this language.

35:04 That's why they called them barbarians. So while Paul is waiting to try to figure out, why would God let me crash here? Of all the islands, why would God put me here? Now, this is where some of us are not like Paul. We never stop and ask the question, God, why do you really have me here? We just settled for the surface story. I'm here because I'm stupid.

35:28 But if you'd ever get past how stupid you were to get there, maybe you could see how God wants to use your stupid to keep somebody else from stupid in the future. Look, you are the solution to somebody else's future stupid. I like my own preaching sometimes. I like what I just said. That helped me. I ran into somebody's car last week. They were parked, and I couldn't find them. I don't want to tell you this part, but I have to be completely honest. I looked at Holly and I was like, should we stay? Listen to what she said back. Listen to how sanctimonious she sounds. Listen to how self-righteous she sounds. She said, I would. What a gentle rebuke, right? Not, yes, you're a man of God. I didn't know what to do, so I couldn't find him.

36:20 So I put a note on the thing and some money on the thing, and I put our number on the thing, and we're going to have to pay for it. A week went by, and we didn't hear from them. I'm like, thank you, Jesus. Sarah!" I was singing, and the Lord would provide, but then they called, and we got paid for it. Listen to this. Isn't this funny? I was telling my brother-in-law… We had dinner that night. I said, I ran into a car today. He said, Huh? He said, How long before you put it in a sermon? I said, I hadn't even thought of that yet. If I got to pay for it, I might as well preach it. I know God can use when I do it right, but here I am looking at a stupid thing I did, realizing, huh, I can use an example of a time I prayed for my kids. I can use an example of a time I drove safely, but I just hit somebody's fender. God can use this too. I'm trying to get you to see about that thing in your life today. Bigger than a fender. I get it. Some failures are bigger than fenders. I get it. But it is just an illustration to let you know that the God that can make something out of nothing, ex nilo, the God who can barah can also asah. Asah is the Hebrew word in genesis 1 16 and when it says that god created in genesis 1 16 it doesn't mean to create something out of nothing it means to take already existing things and make something that has never been seen out of something that already exists so it's when somebody says don't think i don't and you say think about it and you put their words with your melody with your chords and make a hit song. It's when somebody walks in the studio that you don't even want to see, and you say, Ever, ever, ever, and eventually you have a stadium of people saying, Ever, ever, ever.

38:31 See, sometimes you don't get to the thing that God wants to do because you do not recognize what has been brought into your life as a gift. Yeah, a gift. Wait a minute. Paul got warmed by the fire.

38:54 And then, check this out, Holly. the same thing that warmed him, wounded him. You ever been warmed by a thing one minute and wounded by it the next? The more warmth the relationship gives you, the greater the potential it can wound you. The more passion you have, the more susceptible to certain temptations you will be.

39:25 The more creative you are, the more constrictions will try to keep you from creating. Because that was a powerful thought for me, Chris. He's standing by the fire, and it's warming him. And then the same fire that one moment was bringing him warmth brought him a wound. Now, let's read about the wound for a moment, because we may never know if Paul was doing too much by putting wood on the fire. It sounds like the islanders had it pretty well taken care of, and Paul's like, I'm not just standing around. This is ridiculous. I'll make this fire higher. See, he's not native to the island, so he's doing something he doesn't naturally do. Remember, he's good with words, not wood. Sometimes when you step out of your comfort zone and try to do something you're not naturally good at doing. Look what happens in verse 4. Out of the heat came a viper, a snake. The Bible says it fastened itself on his hand. Verse 4 is the one I really want you to look at. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, this man must be a murderer. What we know, because we've already read to the end, of this story is that the one they're calling a murderer is actually going to heal all of their sicknesses. So the man they're calling a murderer is actually carrying their medicine.

40:53 Did my mic cut out? I thought you'd say amen to that. The one they were calling a murderer, the one they were saying this is a proof of divine disfavor, the one they saw the snake… Because track with me. He crashes on an island that God has called him to, but nobody knows that yet. He's building a fire, and out of the fire as he's building it, he gets bit. By the way, Bonus point. You can't build anything without getting bit.

41:26 Anything. If you ever want to start a church and you want to build a church, you're going to get bit. Sheep bite. Not y'all. You want to build a business? You're going to get bit. You want to build a family? You're going to get bit. You ever heard the phrase, bite the hand that feeds you? That's what it means. That whatever you try to build… If you sit back and don't do anything for God… If Paul doesn't build a fire, he doesn't get bit. But if he doesn't get wounded, he doesn't get warmed. So what are you going to do? spend the rest of your life just trying to avoid being injured, trying to avoid being disappointed, trying to avoid getting your heart broken? He's like, man, I wish I could preach to these people. I could lead them all to Jesus.

42:19 I can't preach, so let me throw some fire on here. Then all of a sudden, because he is not native to this land… Here comes a snake. He doesn't really know to look out for snakes. He's not from around these parts. A snake jumps up, bites him on his hand, and now the Bible says they all started calling him a murderer, for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live. Y'all, I need to slow down and tell you that any time you try to interpret your identity through an event, you miss. See it? The snake bit. He must be a murderer. A bad thing happened. I must be a bad person. No. You made a stupid decision. God can use stupid, and there is still time for you to take what you learned and throw another log on the fire and see God use your life. In verse 5, I think Paul preaches one of the most powerful sermons he ever preached,

43:21 and he didn't say a word. The one who changed the world with his words preached a powerful sermon. When they saw the snake on his hand, they saw it as a sign. Ooh, this is a bad guy. God lets bad things happen to bad people. When Paul saw the snake on his hand, he could have thought this. Of all of the 275 prisoners on this ship who actually did something bad,

43:50 you're going to let all these bums that aren't even helping build the fire… Have you ever had a moment like, really, God? Really? They get to get married before I do. I can understand them. But then the snake bites… Paul could go, this is how you reward me for surviving the shipwreck? This is how you affirm me for preaching the gospel? This is how you want to use me? But see, I think the reason Paul got bit by a snake… I'm a little controversial on this. I don't think God made the snake bite Paul. I don't think the Devil did either. I think the snake bit Paul because snakes bite.

44:48 I know that's real deep. But what you have to remember while we're so busy trying to figure out, why me and why this and when are you going to get me off this island? God, I don't believe it. I think you could substantiate it from the New Testament. I don't believe that Paul was just waiting to get off the island. I believe he showed up with the question, why am I really here? Why am I really on this job? Why am I really in this season? why am I really having this conflict? And not only why, but God, how do you want to use this? Say this. Now, it's one thing to want God to use your words. Paul was used to that, but this was different. Because when the snake bit him, he shook it off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. Isn't that amazing? Paul wanted a way to show them how great God was,

45:49 and God knew that Paul couldn't speak their language, but he knew that everybody on that island could speak snake. I'm about to help you understand how some of the stuff you're going through. It's not something God did, but it's something he wants to use. The sooner you decide God can use this too. That's the whole lesson today. If I've confused you talking about barbarians and boards and winds, if I've confused you talking about snakes and prison cells and pens and pulpits, If all of this rhetoric has done nothing but to confuse you, I want you to realize at the time when Paul could not use words to preach, God gave him something that speaks louder than words, and his wounds spoke louder than his words. Because when they saw him get bit, and he shook the snake off, and something bad happened… But after something bad happened, Paul did not debate with the snake. He learned that from Genesis chapter 3. You don't talk to snakes. I said you don't talk to snakes. You don't speak to stuff that's beneath you. You don't argue with stuff that's trying to kill you. You don't reason your way out of shame and condemnation.

47:20 You shake that stuff off. Sometimes Paul would use his words, and he would speak, and people would be saved, and he would speak, and people would be healed, and he would speak, and people would understand. It's wonderful that God used Paul's words in such an unusual way, with such an unusual gift, but now he is in a situation where his words will not work. So if you have faith to believe it, here's what I think the text proves. God knew that of all the other prisoners on that island, there was only one out of 276 who still had enough faith after the shipwreck that if I let this snake bite him, I'm not going to send the snake to bite him. Life just happens. I'm not saying God is punishing you or God caused it. It doesn't matter, because even if God didn't do it, he can use it. He can use it. He can use this too. High five three people. Say he can use this too.

48:21 Come on, take your left hand and high-five him. Say, he can use this too. I read so many of Paul's words. Oh, I'm sorry. That was sloppy. I can't go out like that. I have a nightmare about that. We have to get at least three more to make up for that bad one. You ever have a bad, bad dap and it just haunts the rest of your life? Three years later, having flashbacks, thinking about it. Don't think I don't think about it. Paul took that snake and he said, Oh, this, this, this, this. I've been asking God for a way to reach these people since we got on this island. I've been asking God why he put me here. I've been asking God to use me in this season of my life. I've been asking God to show me a purpose. I've been asking God to turn it around. I've been asking God to make this situation new. I've been asking God to reveal to me why it's been so hard.

49:19 So this must not be a snake. This must be a microphone, because I'm about to preach this gospel of the power of God. Oh, yeah. I'm happy now. High five your neighbor. Say this, too. I know you want God to use you in a certain way. I know you want him to get you there on the ship. I know you don't want the business to fail. I know you don't want your kid to flunk the class. I know you don't want to carry the illness in your body. I'm just saying that snakes fight because snakes fight. But God knows how to turn a snake into a sign. A few days later, Paul gets a dinner invitation. After he shook that snake into the fire, everybody you walk past that's coming in for the 1130 today, when they walk past you, just do that.

50:22 Give them a little preview. When they look at you kind of funny or they want to fight you, Just look at him. Keep walking. Come on. You've got some stuff you need to shake today. You've got some stuff you need to shake today. When you do, it's going to be the loudest sermon that your life ever preached. You will begin to discover… I'm telling you right now, if Paul would have started using his speaking gift in this moment to argue with the people who were saying he was a murderer, he would have died. Isn't that crazy? If he would have used his primary gift, it would have gotten him killed. His primary gift was words, but God said, your words won't work in this situation. so I need to trust you enough to give you a wound.

51:07 Because when God really wants to reveal who he is, he gives a wound. And then the decision comes, will you use the wound? the snake didn't shake Paul's faith Paul's faith shook that snake he knew which one could be bit and not be bitter. And I believe that. For some of the precious people that God has given me to preach to, the miracle isn't that you didn't get bit. It's that you didn't get bitter. Oh, so when you were worshiping today, you were lifting bit hands. I almost didn't notice. I almost didn't see your bite mark.

52:00 This dude named Publius, I almost named you that son. This dude Publius, the head man on the island, a few days later says, bring me a prisoner to have dinner with me. No. No, no, no. That's not what important people... You think Publius said, bring me a killer. Bring me a prisoner. No, no, no. Don't worry following me to the light, guys. It'll be distracting. Just let me walk." He said, "'Bring me a preacher.' No, no, no." He didn't know Paul was a preacher, because they couldn't understand his language, but he spoke snake.

52:52 He said, "'There was a guy who got bit and didn't die?' No, it was crazy. It was B.A. He just just shook. Be bold and assertive. He just shook that thing right off, and he just kept right on standing there. Publius said, I want to have dinner with him. Now, let me ask you a question. If Paul didn't survive that snake, you think he would have gotten that invitation? So, what is it you've been through that God gave you that your bite marks become a passport to your purpose? I have to stop in a minute. Can I give you a little more? Just a little more. If you have to leave, I understand, but this is for the ones who have been bit. You're not just in a hurry to get off the island, and you're not just in a hurry to get out of church, and you're not just in a hurry to get back to hell, and you're not just in a hurry to get back to fighting around your house about every little thing.

53:57 Don't you want to know why you're fighting at the house? Paul who was a great orator. Paul who was an expositor. Paul who was a prolific author. Paul who was a philosopher. All these things happened through his words. But you know what Luke, the medical doctor, said about Paul in Acts chapter 19, verse 11? I just remembered this scripture this week when I was studying, because I thought about how the snake bit Paul in his hand, and then he healed a man in a house with his hand that had been bit. And I thought that was so amazing, and I reflected on it, and I meditated on it, and I said, well, what do I tell them about that? And he took me to Acts 19, verse 11. Look at this verse. Luke says,

54:49 The Enemy always bites you where God has blessed you. The fire and the fangs came from the same place. The pain and the purpose came from the same place. The hand that God used… This is a healing hand. This is a hand that when Paul laid his hands on the believers, they received the Holy Spirit. God worked unusual miracles through the hands of Paul. What I am learning, the longer I spend time in this human body, is that wherever God has blessed you, you will be bitten.

55:39 But listen to me good. The biggest breakthroughs happen after the biggest bites. I've learned that. It took me a while to learn that, because I used to think this isn't fair. I used to think I want this to go away. I used to think this shouldn't have happened to me. I used to stand there and argue with snakes. I used to try to prove stuff to people. I used to try to think I needed to get to another place. I used to think I don't want to be on Malta. I'm supposed to be in Rome. I used to curse the boards because I missed the boat. I used to live in the nostalgia of the past because I couldn't embrace the uncertainty of the now. But then I learned that when I get bit, it is God marking that hand that he wants to use. So if your hand is going to be extraordinarily used by God, if it's going to be unusually used by God, the hand that has been unusually blessed will be unusually bitten. Paul shows us and serves us in this moment to help us understand what to do in those moments where it's not where you planned or what you prayed for. Look at the thing that is hanging on your hand and confess by faith. God can use this this too.

57:06 God can use this too. What the Enemy meant to kill you, God can use to develop you. What the Enemy meant to burn you, God can use to free you. the enemy meant to take you out, God can use to bring you in. God can use this. God can use this too. He has a history of doing it. God likes to use boards to bring people safely to shore. God likes to use barbarians to build fire. God likes to use snakes to heal islands. so I don't know what it is. You're this, but I know God can use this too.

58:06 The God who used Paul's words also used Paul's wounds. Don't be so quick to categorize the things in your life. You can never really understand what it is until you see how God uses it. And there are some snakes that need to go back in the fire today. There are some beliefs. There are some things that you have allowed to latch on to your life that we just need to let go of in the presence of God. Because if you stand there and fight about it, if you stand there and blame about it, if you stand there and hurt about it and just hurt about it and hurt about it, your hands were not made for hurting. They were made for healing.