We should shake it off sermon

Title: We should shake it off.

Theme: Even though we may be stuck at our Malta, God has put us there for a purpose.

Purpose: To show that God has a plan for our lives regardless of where we find ourselves.

The three aspects of this sermon is what do you do, when you get stuck at Malta. The three aspects are 1) You get shipwreck, 2) You swim, and 3) You get bitten by a snake.

Introduction- The Appeal.

First let us give a little context. Paul appealed to Caesar, and was about to go on a ship to Rome. Agrippa said that he could have been released, if he did not appeal to Caesar. Sometimes life is like that. We could avoid so much heartache and pain, if we are not fervent in our beliefs. It could be a simple as losing a job opportunity if we declare our love for Christ. But we must be steadfast in our faith and be willing to make the tough choice. We must be willing to sacrifice pleasure, for the work of God that is necessary.

I went to TOTS in the Bronx. I was wondering what had happened of the place since I left. I asked a friend about TOTS and she said, Your picture is up on the wall. You are an inspiration there. I was happy to hear that because I know that because of the blessing God has given to me, I can use it to bless other people. I can be a beacon to other people as can you.

          In this case, Paul was losing his freedom. He was going to appeal to Caesar but he would do so in chains, and with no certainty on what the outcome would be. Caesar could let him go, or sentence him to prison or even sentence him to death. Paul was facing two appeals. The appeal of being a free man or the appeal to Caesar. These appeals are in our lives as well. The appeal of staying in the world or the appeal to God. And the appeal to the world is enticing. It can be encouraging to be with people who think of worldly mindset. It can be relaxing. We don’t have to live such a tough life.

       But we must turn our back on these things and decide to follow Jesus. So it is with us. Certain decisions we make concerning following God, there is no turning back. Once we make the decision to follow Christ, there is no turning back. We must be willing to accept any punishment that would occur now that we are saved, up to and including our lives. But Paul was thinking that he could explain to Caesar his case and witness to him. Evangelism is important in this day and age. Caesar, for all of his prowess and power, had not heard the gospel yet. Paul was undoubtedly thinking of Jesus’ mandate to preach the gospel to all nations and people.

All nations and people means everyone, and everyone includes Caesar. We too ought to preach the gospel to everyone, including those whose status seems intimidating. But we were meant to preach to those in high places, and they can be receptive. Paul remembered that he was an evangelist, and that he was already free in Christ. Similarly, we should remember that the grip o the world cannot give us freedom, because we are free because we follow the Most High. The king that Paul argued in front of already knew that he was an innocent man.

Similarily, sometimes bad things happen to us even those we did nothing wrong. Just like Job, who woke up and one day everything was taken away from him. We don’t know why bad things happen to us but now is not the time to complain. Now is the time to appeal to God about our problem. Paul even almost convinced Agrippa to become a Christian.

Paul’s appeal to Caesar means that only Caesar could dispose of the case. It meant that regardless of what the Romans or other authorities thought, the case was now in Caesar’s hands. Caesar was in Rome, which meant that Paul had to go to Rome by ship and land to reach him.When we appeal to God, God will take up our case. The Most High, he who does not slumber or sleep, will work on our behalf. God hears us and he is a righteous judge. When we pray, we can rest assured that our prayers will reach God, and God is not a far off God. Only God is the solution to our problems. He is near to us, and quick to respond with his mercy.We will find a release, when we appeal to God. God will surely bind on earth, as is bound in heaven, and loose on Earth, as is loosed in heaven. When we appeal to God, sometimes he may give us an answer that we don’t like. Sometimes his answer may be wait, or not yet, or even a no. But we must still heed the voice of God when we appeal.

       A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists.” "Why do you say that?" asked the customer."Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."

       The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist." "How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

       "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside." "Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me.” "Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

God said that when you search for him you will find him if you search for him with all of your heart. Whenever we are in bad circumstances we must appeal to God and seek his face and he will answer us.

1)    The Shipwreck.

Paul prepared to set sail for Rome.

      Julius looked on Paul with favor. He treated him nicely in spite of the circumstances.  The ship set sail but it was rough going. They sailed slowly and the winds did not cooperate. So it is with us. God will put people in our path who will treat us well and help us in life’s journey even when we see setbacks. They will help us to get through life’s difficult portions. This passage is in the passive voice. I’m talking to those who feel that life has put them in the passive voice and things are just happening to them. Other people are making decisions in life, and other circumstances are arising that is out of our control. Even when people help us, we feel like we are not in control of our own lives. We feel like we are reacting, rather than being proactive.

       The voyage got worse and worse. First, they came with difficulty, Next, there was even more difficulty, and then the voyage became dangerous. The storm is increasing in difficulty.The trouble was the wind and the storms.So it is with us. On our Christian journey life seems to get progressively harder. Life gets more difficult but we do not get closer to our destination. We move slowly if we could move at all. First one obstacle comes, then a different problem and then another adversity.

We wonder where is God in all of this. We appealed to him in the beginning, but now He is nowhere to be found. When the storms of life hit us, we feel closer to those who God has given us than to God himself. We wonder why are we suffering even though we made the decision to follow God. What is happening to us is different than what we intended.

The winds were against them. And it was taking a long time. Sometimes it feels like life is against us too. That no matter what life will not cooperate with the goals that we have. It could be that we are laid off of our job when it was so hard to get this job. Or that we have to leave a college that was our dream because we can’t afford it. And it seems to be taking a while to go to our destination in life. We cant see the end location but we know that we are not there yet. But be rest assured that God is watching over us and that he will not allow us to have a downfall. God will surely bring us to where we need to get to for our final location in him.

Paul tried to tell them that the voyage was dangerous, but they would not listen to him. Sometimes we tell people about Christ, but they will not listen to us. We tell people of the goodness of God and of the dangers of not following him, but people refused to take heed. They started to throw things away. Sometimes when life gets really dangerous, we can throw our faith in God away. We can throw away the anchor of Christ in our lives. We figured that since the badness in our life is attracted to our faith in Christ, then our faith in Christ must go.

Sometimes those who throw away the good in their lives after the storm hits are precisely those who we tried to talk about Christ with. We should stop! Keep our faith with us and everything will be ok. Paul was given a prophetic word. Same thing with us. We have been given a prophetic word by God that we will arrive at our destination safely, that we should hold steadfast to our faith. When we hold onto our faith, we can influence others. We can be the light that other people see and follow. God has told us not to be afraid and to take courage. Although it seems like over here it is chaos and turmoil, up above where God sits it is part of God’s plan.

Paul told them that they had to let the ship go. Sometimes God will tell us to let stuff go. Things that we like, that God said are hindering us in our journey towards him. Or attitudes we have that are not conducive for where we are going in Christ. We must have the strength to let it go. Sometimes it takes more strength to let it go than it does to hold on. So just as we were getting comfortable with where we were going in Christ, Christ redirects us.

              Former NBA star Bill Bradley served as a U. S. Senator from New Jersey for many years. In that position, he had to take some unpopular stands and his constituents were not always happy with him. One irate voter wrote him, "Bradley, I am coming over to you house and I'm going to kill your dog." Bradley noticed the fellow had actually put his return address on the envelope, so he wrote back, "I don't have a dog." A few days later, the UPS truck dropped off a big crate. Inside was a mutt and a note: "Bradley, don't get too attached to this dog."

We should not get too attached to things to the exclusion of Christ. Look at Paul. He was in Jerusalem, then he had to go to Greece for evangelism, then he had to go to Rome because of his appeal to Caesar. But all of this does not compare to when Paul has to swim.

2)You have to swim.

After Paul and the people got close to the shore they got ready to swim. The soldiers wanted to kill them so no one could swim away and escape. This is what life feels like. The prophetic word said that Paul must stand before Caesar. The soldiers wanted to kill him. This is divergent viewpoints. The soldiers heard from Paul that he said that he would stand before Caesar, but they did not believe him or they would not be trying to kill him. So it is with us. Sometimes when we let go of our worldly self Satan tries to destroy us, since we are no longer in his camp.  We have to contend with Satan who says you are a nobody.

Christ said that you shall be the head and not the tail. We must believe the report of the Lord and stand on the promises of God. We must believe the prophetic dictates that we will stand before God because we have appealed to him. We must know that we are called, and God will not fail us or forsake us. We must see that there is someone on the other end who needs our help. God called Paul to appeal to Caesar. God has called us because we have appealed to him. God wants us to swim, not to escape our destiny but to move towards our destiny. God will raise up righteous people who will tap into our vision and help us achieve our Godly purpose.

2)    You get bitten by a snake

When Paul took out the brushwood, a viper fastened itself to him. Sometimes it seems like when are on Christian journey, certain things fasten themselves to us. Failure, depression, those can be a few things that can fasten to us. Paul could have despaired that he was bitten by a poisonous snake, because there was no anti-venom. He could have said This is it. I was shipwrecked, put on a foreign island and bitten by a snake. But this is not what Paul did. To make matters worse, people who looked on him said that he deserved it because he was a murderer.

They said that it was justice. Have you ever been in a situation where bad things seem to happen all the time and seem to fasten to you. And to make matters worse, people murmur and complain that this is justice, that it is only fitting that you go through those times. Paul could have further lamented that these people are ruining his good name. We can be sad that people are talking about us or we can be like Paul and be silent. Paul did not speak when they were talking about him. Paul merely shook it off. So it is with us. We should shake off both adversity and people’s bad words. We should proceed as if nothing had happened.

A young woman brings home her fiance to meet her parents. After dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young man. The father invites the fiance to his study for a drink."So what are your plans?" the father asks the young man. "I am in Theology school" he replies."A theologian? Hmmm," the father says. "Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she's accustomed to?""I will study," the young man replies, "and God will provide for us."

         "And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?" asks the father."I will concentrate on my studies," the young man replies, "God will provide for us.""And children?" asks the father. "How will you support children?" "Don't worry, sir, God will provide," replies the fiance. The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father questions him, the young idealist insists that God will provide.Later, the mother asks, "How did it go, honey?"The father answers, "The bad news is, he has no job and no prospects, but the good news is he thinks I’m God!

Paul did not try to charm the snake, beg the snake, or worship the snake. He shook it off to die in the fire. Certain things in our life should be left to die. They should not be coddled, worshiped or held on to, because when they hold on to us, they slowly sap the life from us. God did not just use a snake he bruised it. God is not a snake charmer he is a conqueror. In Moses time the snake was lifted up to save, because the power was not in the snake but in God. But by Hezekiah’s time the snake had become an idol so it had to be broken.

There is this movie named Transformers which is my favorite franchise. Apart from the Avengers of course. In Transformer 4 Optimus Prime is left at a critical point in his life. He was in The War of his own, Earth was being overrun by Galvatron and Optimus Prime had run out of options. One of his generals asked, But what of these humans? Can I squish the bald guy? Optimus replied grimly, They are in trouble. Another one said, I’m done being an underdog. Optimus knew what he had to do so he went to get the Dinobots. There was a long fight and at the end Optimus put his sword to the Dinobot’s neck and said, You defend my family, or die! We must defend each other in Christ, or die getting picked off by the hands of evil forces. We are done being underdogs because we are called to be the head

I was reading in a magazine about the Kennedy assassination and it said that after he was shot and killed, the nation repented. It was days of mourning and prayer as the nation tried to turn back to God.

There was this thing called the Presidential curse which mandated that every twenty years, a president had to die in office. Roosevelt, who was the president in 1940, died of a stroke in 1944. So when Reagan, who was elected in 1980 was shot, the nation turned to God and lifted up holy hands to heaven. And he lived even though his wounds were so bad, he should have died. He was a praying man and we are a praying nation, so God answered his prayer with the words, Never Again.

Our faithfulness can make God break curses by saying, Never Again. God saw our faithfulness in our sacrifice and swore by himself he would give the ultimate sacrifice, which is his son. God put a rainbow in the sky to remind us that he would never flood the Earth again. He said never will end life on Earth with the flood waters again. And God sent his only son to perish so no one would ever have to perish, that whoever believes in him will live forever in Christ. That death may be turned to everlasting life. See presidents are just men but God loved us so much that God himself in the form of Jesus had to die.

God said that Jesus would bruise the head of the serpent. So while Paul threw the snake into the fire he was exercising authority. Paul was promised by God himself that he would go to Rome and speak in front of Caesar. Nothing could prevent Paul from speaking with Caesar.So it is with us. Toss your snake or whatever has fastened itself to you in the fire. Shake it off and walk in the anointing that Christ has given to us.

 Know that nothing can stop you, not a proverbial shipwreck, not Satan wanting to kill off your destiny, and not anything that could fasten itself to you. For God has said that he will break the yoke off of your shoulders because of the anointing. Because we appeal to God, he has heard our cries. Even when the storms of life come, we are safe in God’s hands. Even when Satan tries to kill off our testimony, God will fight on our behalf. We can be shipwrecked and God will put us in friendly hands. Whenever something fastens to us, we can be assures that it will detach, because we will let go. And we will see our God, because he is faithful.