Shake The Viper Into The Fire

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
I want to minister on faith and healing.
But here's something I havefound that every time you begin
to speak on a subject, the Lordwill bring something new.
He'll give you a newunderstanding, a new revelation.
And we want to be encouraged bythis.
God wants us to walk in health,not to accept what comes our

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way, but we've been equipped tofight.
We've been equipped towithstand.
We have been equipped by theHoly Spirit to not allow the
enemy to just cause us to beovertaken or to overtake us in
any way.
So we do that by standing strongin faith.

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And today's topic and subjectwe're going to be talking on,
it's based upon Paul theApostle.
They have been in a terriblestorm in the Mediterranean for
days.
They have lost their cargo.
Their ship has been wrecked bythe wind.

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And they finally find themselvesbeing beached in Malta.
And we're going to pick up thestory there.
Sometimes in life we'll findthat we're in storms.
We wonder how we ever getthrough it.
You know, some storms we can dopretty good, and some storms we
get quite bad, don't we?

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But the Lord brings us through.
Acts 28, verse 1.
When they had been broughtsafely through, then we found
out that the island was calledMalta.
The natives showed usextraordinary kindness, for

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because of the rain that had setin, and because of the cold,
they kindled a fire and receivedus all.
Verse 3.
But when Paul had gathered abundle of sticks and laid them
on the fire, a viper came outbecause of the heat and fastened
itself on his hand.

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And when the natives saw thecreature hanging from his hand,
they began saying to oneanother, Undoubtedly this man is
a murderer.
And though he has been savedfrom the sea, justice has not
allowed him to live.
However, he shook the creatureoff into the fire and suffered

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no harm.
But they were expecting that hewas about to swell up andor
suddenly fall down dead.
But after they had waited a longtime and had seen nothing
unusual happen to him, theychanged their minds and began to

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say that he was a God.
When we open up our story todayin verse 1 of Acts 28, what
caught my eye here was they hadbeen brought safely through.
And a lot of times we think thisis going to happen to us and

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that's going to happen.
But when we are children of God,when we live and walk by faith,
walk in his word, no matter thestorms that are around us, and
it seems to me there's always astorm brewing somewhere, I can
say all of these years that Ihave been a Christian, he safely

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brought me through.
Times you wonder, times youthink, am I going to come out of
this?
And you will.
Jesus will bring you safelythrough.
Jesus watches over you.
There are physical situationsthat we are in, and we look to

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God and we believe that we'regoing to come through.
Sometimes there's battles thatChristians do not come through.
There are some times thatChristians will be attacked and
it will cost them their lives.
No matter where you findyourself and what you face in
life, put your trust in the Lordand He will bring you through

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spiritually.
The devil will not take you out.
You will not lose yoursalvation.
You will not have your faithdestroyed.
He will bring you safelythrough.
And that I can say 100%.

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When I put my trust in the Lord,when I gave my heart to Jesus,
15 years of age, Jesus has keptme and he has brought me
through.
I have found that when Jesussaves the soul, all the benefits

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of living in Christ areactivated.
Amen.
And Paul was standing there onthat shore, and he was not
surprised, because he'd alreadytold them on the ship that if
they believed God, all will besaved.
And right down to the last man,everybody was standing on that

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shore.
And Jesus had physically savedevery one of them.
And now Paul is declaring untothem the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And the gospel of Jesus Christ,the work of salvation, what
Jesus did for us on the cross,the shedding of his blood, will
bring us safely through if wefaint not.

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And I have no intentions ofturning back.
And if they're standing there,it's in the rain, it's really
cold, and they built a fire tobe warm.
And so when they build this firein Acts 28, 2, it says, they
kindled a fire and received usall.

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When we kindle a physical fire,that's done to help the flesh
out, keep us warm, keep uscomfortable.
And all the natural provisionslook after our physical body.
Is there any reason to lookafter the physical body?
Now we know that if the physicalbody gets sick, that Jesus

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provided for that physical bodyto be healed.
There is a scripture, know yenot, that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost.
When you think about thatparticular passage, we've got a
work to do for God.

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And God wants to look after ourbodies.
I don't believe for one momentthat God wants us to walk in
disease as we grow older.
I know what the statistics are.
I know what medical sciencetells us, that the bodies, our
bodies become very open andsubject to, and they'll go down

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through the lists.
But I always think about Moses,he was a blessed man.
His breath was not abated, norhis eye dimmed.
And I think about Jesus hangingon the cross.
Thirty-three years walking inperfect health.

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And I suspect that when Johnwrote the passage that we were
to prosper and be in health, Ibelieve that John was walking in
health.
We know that he lived to be avery old age.
My body is the temple of theHoly Ghost, and I understand

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that.
And God says to us, I have madea way for whenever you become
ill, whenever you are sick, thatbody will be made strong and
healthy.
So there they are.
And when they're standing by thefire, when they're getting their

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bodies warm, just wheneverything is good, they've come
through a terrible storm, daysand days, their ship has broken
up, they've been cast on thebeach, and now strangers
gathered around quickly, showedthem great hospitality, built a
fire, all is going well, and theman of God, the mighty man of

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God, Paul, is standing there,and would you believe it?
Of all the people standingaround, that viper come out and
latched onto him.
Somebody else could have put astick of wood in.
Somebody else could have doneit.
But even then, when the fire israging and the enemy thinks he's

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gonna take you out, don't getyour attention on all the things
going wrong.
Look at all the things that youhave done right.
Look at how you are walking inGod.
Look at what's happening in yourlife.
And that snake came out and itbit onto his hand and hung
there, hung.
It wasn't just a bite and letgo.

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Paul could lift his hand up, andthis viper, this deadly viper is
hanging there.
And Paul takes it and he shakesit into the fire.
Verse 5, he shook the creatureoff into the fire.
That's where you want to throwit.
Let that thing be consumed,won't come back and attack you
again.

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Just whatever that thing is thatcomes at you, this is your time
to get victory over it.
Throw it into the fire.
The fire represents the power ofGod, it represents the Holy
Spirit, it represents all theconsuming abilities that God has
to destroy your enemy.
Just cast it into the fire.

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And I'll tell you, that thingwas consumed.
When it got into that fire, thatwas the end of it.
And that's how we're to do it.
In verse 4, it says that thenatives saw.
Now, what they were looking at,this is quite interesting here,
in verse 4, the natives, somepassages say barbarians, saw the

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creature hanging from his hand,and they began saying to one
another, everybody's gotopinions.
Even 2,000 years ago, they hadopinions.
And everybody, what do they do?
They base their opinions on whatthey know, what they've

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experienced, what they see withtheir natural eye, and that's
how we all do it.
That's how humans do it.
But when we become a believer,we have extra abilities.
We have insight into what'sreally going on.
We have discernment.

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We have revelation.
We see through the eyes of God.
We have the mind of Christ todecipher and discern it all.
But they begin to say, oneanother, oh, we know he is, he's
a murderer.
And though he'd been saved fromthe sea, he's not going to be
allowed to live.
And what they do is with theiropinions, they talk in the

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neighborhoods, they talk at thecoffee shops or wherever they
gather, and they begin to spreadand disseminate this kind of
information into society.
And they take it as, that'sright, that's what's happened.
And the problem with that is, itentertains the flesh.
There's a name for it.

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Oh, gossip.
But you know something?
Isn't it strange that when wetry to talk and say what really
is going on, don't worry aboutthat.
That thing's not going to harmhim whatsoever.
The only ones that are going tounderstand that kind of talk are
those who know the Lord and whoknow the power of God.
So now we are faced.

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What are we going to listen to?
Listen, I hear the same thingyou hear.
If you and I have the samefriends, and if we walk in the
same community, we hear the samethings.
But I have found that I cannotlive the life of somebody who
does not walk in the ways of theLord.
My life has to come from whatthe Lord says on the matter.

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How are you going to hear it?
I'm going to listen to whatother believers are saying.
I'm going to listen to what menand women who have faith in God
and know the word.
I am going to listen to whatthey are saying.
Because that is going to be thetrue analysis of the situation.

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The other will only lead fromdeath.
And if I have people whospecialize in death and sowing
discord and sowing fear, sowingthat sort of thing, that is not
going to help me.
I may be standing there alone,and I have to rely upon what the
word of the Lord says.
And if the Lord has brought methrough, he's brought me through

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for a purpose.
And what he has brought methrough, the tentacles of that
thing, the fear and everythingthat was involved in that, is
now cut away.
God has cut that off, and I walkin strength.
Isn't it interesting that aviper, the snake, would have
killed any human being, and withPaul, it didn't even cause his

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hand to swell up.
We need healing powerspiritually, yes.
But we also, as containers andvessels of the Holy Spirit, we
need the healing of God in ourbodies.
So they made a judgment, but itwas not a judgment made in the

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Spirit, it was made in theflesh.
This thing fell away with thepower of the Holy Spirit.
James chapter 3, verse 8.
But no one can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil and fullof deadly poison.

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That's the natural tongue.
That's the fleshly tongue.
That's the tongue of people whodo not know the Lord.
That is the tongue of people whodo not walk in the power of the
Holy Spirit.
That is the tongue that it'stalking about.
It's a deadly venom.

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So therefore, I have to listento what the Spirit is speaking
and saying.
In Acts 28, 5, however, he shookthe creature off into the fire
and suffered no harm.

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He had no harm at all.
He told that thing that attackedhim.
He not only told him, he tookaction against the attacker, and
he knew exactly what he wasgoing to do with the attacker,
and he was going to throw theattacker into the fire.
That was his choice.
That's just like us asbelievers.

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We tell the attacker what'sgoing to happen to it.
We tell the attacker where he isgoing to go.
We tell the attacker, do notattack me.
You have no effect upon me.
Such a simple thing.
We've heard this, depending onhow long you've served the Lord,

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maybe what churches you go to,but you've probably heard this
said many times.
And never get a revelation.
Never get a full understandingof what it is that God says to
us.
See, when the tests come, who doin the world, the only people
that receive a test are thepeople that were studying for

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the test.
Plumbers don't write medicaltests.
Lawyers don't write engineers'tests.
Christians write Christiantests.
We we that's our test.
And when it's there, we threwthat thing off.
Do you know that we're newcreatures in Christ?

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We're not the old creature.
The old creature would attackthat which is good.
The old creature would befeeling threatened, and then
it's got to guard its way oflife.
The first life form of humanbeings on this earth were
God-fearing and God-walking.

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Think about that for a moment.
They were not the creatures ofthe flesh and the carnal and the
evil and deathly.
They were not, that was not whatthe first man had.
The first man, Adam, walked inthe ways of God, and he walked
as God upon the earth.
He walked in power andauthority, and all was his.

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And man gave it away, disobeyed.
And the old creature, the devil,comes in.
And the devil says, Look, I'vealways been here.
No, you have not.
That is another lie.
Satan is not the original.

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Jesus Christ, hallelujah.
The same yesterday, today, andforever.
His word does not change.
And it says here that he shookthe creature off.
I can't blame him.
We don't want that old thingcoming back on us.
We don't want that old naturetrying to grab and fasten onto

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us and to lead us back and killus.
We're a new creature in Christ.
We're a different creature.
We don't walk as that oldcreature.
We don't think like that oldcarnal man anymore.
We the new creature cannot bedeceived.
Can't be figured out by peopleof the world.

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We're not flesh-driven.
Think about that.
We are not flesh-driven.
We chose, it's our choosing.
It's always our choosing.
Paul could have said, Oh, I'mgoing to die.
Help me, I'm going to die.
Somebody help me.
And everybody'd be running ifyou were trying to help them to

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get it off.
No, I see this lesson.
Paul made the decision, and heshook off the viper.
And that's what you've got todo.
You've got to shake that thingoff.
Are you going to be attacked?
Absolutely.
Is it going to fasten on to you?
Probably.

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What do I do?
Jesus help me.
No, no.
You shake it off.
He's given you the power.
You shake it off.
I'm a new creature.
That thing is not going to comeand fasten onto me.
Hallelujah.

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This creature that came at himcouldn't kill him.
No matter what you're beingattacked with, just stop and
think for a moment.
That is not going to kill youspiritually.
So you're going to move on.
A deadly, in Mark 16, 18, itsays, No deadly thing, a deadly
thing shall not hurt you.

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Now I was talking about if youdrink any deadly thing.
But I'm going to take that toanother level.
Drinking it, it just doesn'tnecessarily mean you're grabbing
something and you're drinkingfrom it.
Drinking means you take it allin.
You drink it, you absorb it.
You take it all on you.
And you're thinking, oh what,this is going to happen to me,

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and I'm going to die here.
Keep your eyes on Jesus.
I hear of groups, I haven't comeacross them, I don't live in
those areas, but where they playwith snakes, and maybe some of
you are listening today, or youhave friends like this, but
they'll play with snakes andthey'll prove their faith and

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get to be bitten by a snake andwhatever, that is out of order.
And that is not right.
One thing I will tell you is ifyou do get bitten by a snake and
it wasn't planned for whatever,I'm believing that you will come
through that.
And if you drink poison andmaybe you should have killed
somebody else, maybe you've hadsomething happen to you, and the

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doctor says, I don't know howyou came through this.
This should have killed you.
Believers, you've got that kindof power.
Deadly, but it's not going tokill us.
Now, I would like to take you to1 Corinthians chapter 12.

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So if you got your Bible thereor whatever it is, and if you
don't have it, listen closely.
1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse27.
12, 27.
This was written by Paul.
This was a church that heplanted in Corinth.

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He wrote them a letter, andhere's what he said.
Now you are Christ's body.
When you come to the Lord, youare Christ's body.
And he talked here about all theparts of the body.
Now you are Christ's body, andindividually members of it.
And God, listen to this.

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God has appointed.
God is making this so.
In the church, God says, in thechurch, and that's why we
gather, we are the body ofChrist as the church.
First, he's appointed apostles,second, prophets, third,

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teachers, then miracles, thengifts of healings, helps,
administrations, and variouskinds of tongues.
And this various kinds oftongues doesn't mean English and
Hindi and Chinese.
It's talking about spiritualtongues.
And if we are not careful, wehave to understand that man, if

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he could control, he would takeaway everything that God has
established in the church.
Because that's what a venomoussnake does.
And when we are believers, whenthe flesh tries to get back in
and tries to get us to thinklike a carnal man that we used
to be, this is what will happen.

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They will start telling us thatwhat we don't have anymore.
So they'll say, there's no moreapostles.
That's dangerous.
So what do we do?
What have they done?
They have raised up boards.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Second prophets.
Oh, we don't have prophets now,that's what they'll say.

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See what's going on?
Teachers, yeah, we'll keepteachers because we've got a lot
to teach.
Then miracles.
Oh, be careful on the miraclestuff.
Do you understand?
Gifts of healings, let's becareful about that.
We can get fanatical.
That's what they say.
Helps, yeah, we need that.
We'll keep that one.

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Administration, absolutely.
How else can we rule them?
Various kinds of tongues.
Oh, maybe we can get rid ofthat.
Do you understand what's goingon?
If we let the snake come in, thesnake will start robbing us of
all the benefits and the powerof God that is ours today.

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That should concern you.
The power of God is for ustoday.
And every time that one of uspractices, has faith, walks in
the Word of God, comes throughvictoriously, we all rejoice
because it encourages every oneof us.

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Oh yeah, I'm quite encouraged bythat.
All are not apostles, are they?
All are not prophets, are they?
All are not teachers, are they?
All are not workers of miracles,are they?
All do not have the gifts ofhealing, do they?
All do not speak with tongues,do they?
All do not interpret, do they?

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But earnestly desire the greatergifts.
And I show you a still moreexcellent way, walking in love.
That's the power of it.
And it goes into that in thenext chapter.
But what I wanted to tell you isthat God set these in the
church.

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And I am not going to allow anyviper to come and try to put his
poison in me and take away whatGod wants me to do.
In Hebrews, what I'm doing hereis I'm establishing the fact
that God wants to heal and thatGod is healing.

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Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1.
For this reason, we must paycloser attention to what we have
heard so that we do not driftaway from it.
I'm going to take this bottle.
This is the word of the Lordthat stands true and is

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unmovable.
Here we come through life,Christian life, and we meet up
with truth.
When we're at truth, we have topay close attention to where we
are and to make sure that westay secure, because what can
happen is things can come alongin life and make us drift away.
And when we get cold or we startto get further away and we don't

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have time to go to churchanymore, we don't have time to
read our Bible, we don't havetime to try to find out what God
wants for our life in prayer,and so on it goes.
That's called drifting.
That is starting to drift.
And if we start to drift, for ifthe word spoken through angels

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proves unalterable, and everytransgression and disobedience
received a just penalty, howshall we escape if we neglect so
great a salvation?
If we forget the truth?
If we're too lazy to walk in theword?
After it was at the first spokenthrough the Lord, it was

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confirmed to us by those whoheard.
God also testifying with them.
Now listen to this.
This is what God does.
Testifying with them.
How?
By signs and wonders, by variousmiracles, by the gifts of the
Holy Spirit, according to hisown will.

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If it was left up, the peoplewould try to cherry pick.
They would try to pick andchoose.
Oh, I think I'll take that, andno, I don't want that one, and
I'll take this.
And they develop their owndoctrines and etc.
We have to understand that it'sGod's will for us to walk in
this, and this is the will ofGod and how it's to operate.

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And in the will of God, I firmlysee that healing is for us.
I see that it's a good thing tobelieve in miracles.
I see that it is a good thing tostudy and to know the word of
the Lord.
And that's what brought a lot ofthem through.

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Do you know the reason there wasnobody killed in that shipwreck?
Do you know why?
That one of the most severestorms that we read about in all
the Bible, do you know why notone person was lost?
Because Paul had preached asermon to them, and he says, if
you will believe God, do what Itell you, believe God, not a one

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of you will die.
You'll all come through thissafely.
And they believed it.
They believed that Paul was aman of God, they believed his
word, and they all were saved.
That's why we have preachers.
That's why they stand andexpound to us the word of the
Lord.
That's why God uses apostles,prophets, evangelists, pastors,

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and teachers.
That's the word of the Lordtoday.
I trust it spoke something toyou.

SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
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