Heavenly Father,
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O' Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
Amen.
How many of us have looked back at our life and realized that it is only the grace of God that we have lived this long?
Car wrecks, drugs, violence, gangs, drowning and so many other circumstances have taken the lives of those we have love or have been acquainted with..
Some of you here, right now you know that if it wasn’t for the grace of God you would have died in that car wreck, you would have been the one spending your life behind prison walls, or you would have been the one who died of a drug overdose.
How many know we don’t always listen to wise counsel, that we could have saved ourselves a lot of grief and pain had we just listened to those who tried to instruct us!
But they didn't know what they were talking about!
We were going to be different!
" Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” 5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god."
Acts 28:1-6
"Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul."
Acts 27:11
But they didn’t listen And they sailed directly into the storm of their lives.
"And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands."
Acts 27:18-19
They lightened the ship there’s nothing like a bad storm for realigning priorities, (You find out real quick what you need and what is unnecessary, or excess baggage).
The ship was destroyed but they made it to land on boards, and broken pieces of the ship:
Somebody ought to lift your hands right now and say
I’m going to make it!
I may be broken but I’m still coming,
Wounded but I’m still coming, bleeding but I’m still coming,
Crying but I’m still coming,
Confused but I’m still coming, rejected but I’m still coming.
I know I’m not everything I should be, I’m still struggling with some habits and hang-ups, I’m still wrestling with some anger and forgiveness issues, I still slip up every once and while and say something I shouldn’t say.
I know I’m not where I should be by now, but I know I’m moving in the right direction.
I know I’m chopping up the water all around me, but it’s just because I don’t want to drown.
"And the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land."
Acts 27:44
It should have killed you, but you made it.
Most of it was your own fault, through your decisions, brought it on yourself.. but God had mercy on you and you made it.
You shouldn’t have made it, You shouldn’t be here, you shouldn’t have made it through,
But just let's all tell the devil,
I’m still here!
Say it with me
I'm still here!
There are people that are watching you, who do not want you to make it, they are anxiously waiting and anticipating your downfall, they're waiting to rejoice when they see you going through hardships and trials.
Their watching, their waiting to celebrate your downfall celebrate your breakdown, your defeat.
A doctor says you should have died!
Every legal advisor says you should have died!
Every natural circumstance says you shouldn’t have made it
It should have killed you!
You should be in a mental institution or strung out on drugs, mad at God and mad at the whole world, but it should have killed you!
I here today to tell somebody that not only are you going to make this!
You are not even going to look like you have been through what you’ve been through!
Church, when the children of Israel went through the red sea, God didn’t just part the waters, he dried the ground that they walked on.
And when they reached the other side, there wasn’t even mud between their toes!!
For a little while, it looked like the enemy was closing in on them!
And it looked as though it was going to overtake them, but they just kept on walking.
And while they were walking God was taking care of their enemies, while they were walking their enemies were drowning!
But not them!
They kept on walking!
I want to tell somebody today, just keep walking!
Say that with me,
Just Keep Walking!
It don’t matter what they say about you, it only matters what God says about you!
And God says, "Just keep walking! This ain't over! I'm going to carry you through to the other side!"
It don’t matter what they try to do!
It doesn’t matter what the doctor says!
It doesn’t matter what the financial institution says!
Look, this is no place to sit and cry!
This is not the place to admit defeat!
Just keep walking and when God gets through blessing you, you won't even look like you’ve been through what you’ve been through.
And the only evidence of you going through what you went through will be a greater faith, a greater love, a greater confidence and a greater commitment, and a greater testimony.
Amen?
Somebody said; But you don’t understand, I’m going through hell with this relationship, this marriage, with this job, this sickness, this illness and disease, this financial struggle.
You ought to be shouting right there you just prophesied your victory!
David said:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."
Psalms 23:4
Let me remind you, you’re not the only one who has walked through the fire!
The Bible tells us about three young Hebrew boys who walked through the fire, and when they came out the other side the only evidence that they had been through the fire was they were liberated from their bondage, Bondage!
The things that the enemy put on them, got burned up in the fire!
They came out the other side with no hurt, their clothes were not burnt, their hair was not singed, and there was not even the smell of smoke on them
I came today to preach the Word of God!
I came to tell you that God doesn’t always take the heat out of the fire, but He will walk through it with you.I shouldn’t be here right now, if the devil had his way I’d be strung out on drugs, or in a mental institution or laying in some hospital room on life support, or prison.
If the devil had his way, I would be dead!
And I'm not even kidding!
But listen up, instead, I’m here today, so that I can tell you:
If you’ll just keep walking, holding onto your faith in God, and trust Him.
God is going to bring you out of this!
Look at the person next to you and let 'em know:
I’m working on my testimony!
Look, you may be in the middle of your test,right now, but that only means you are half way through to a testimony!
Now back to the Bible..
The Bible says, that Paul shook off the beast.
That viper had attached itself to Paul: He had to become violent and aggressive against it!
Listen, there are some things that you can just pray about and ask God to take away and there are some things that you must become violent and aggressive against. Now I don't mean to literally become violent.. I'm speaking about an aggressive attitude.
And you must shake it loose, You gotta shake it like your life depends on it, because it does!
Shake that fear loose, shake that depression loose, shake that addiction loose,
shake that spirit of hopelessness and those thoughts of suicide loose,
Shake that spirit of poverty and lack loose;
shake that spirit of sickness loose.
Shake that dead powerless religion loose.
Shake for your abusive relationship loose!
Shake for your health!
Shake for your mind!
Shake for your finances!
Shake for your LIFE!
Now Samson said: I will go out as at other times and shake myself (this leads us to believe that there was some Physical action on Samson’s part that was a signal for the anointing, the anointing would come upon him as he shook.
Believe me, there’s something about shaking that activates the anointing of the Holy Spirit!
But shaking is not all there is to it.
You need to be close to the fire.
There are a lot of people who shake, they go through the motions of being a Christian, but not that many really have that fire.
In fact, we seem to have reached the age, where we're considered old fashioned and out dated, if we talk about the Holy Spirit and fire.
But I still believe that the only thing that can destroy the devils power is the fire of God.
I've got news for you, we still serve a God that answers by Fire!
God is the same God, as He was yesterday, is today and tomorrow!
Paul shook that viper off into the Fire.
You need to ask yourself, are you living close enough to the fire?
Is there fire in your church?
Is there fire in your home?
It should have killed me, but I shook it off!
It should have killed me, but I got close to the fire and the fire delivered me.
It should killed me, but God wasn't having it!
It should have killed me but...
God had a plan, God had purpose for my life!
I didn't know it! I couldn't see it!
But God knew it all along!
And now you and I do too!
It should have killed Paul, they fully expected him to die, but he shook it off into the fire.
It was the fire that destroyed the thing that was trying to kill Paul.
Exodus 3:2 says
"And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed."
Church, let me make it plain!
Somebody listening to me, the devil has sent something out to try and destroy you, but it’s not going to kill you!
You know why? Because God is turning up the fire to destroy the very thing the enemy sent!
So don't you dare complain about the heat!
Some of you might want to move to the other side of the room!
Because I’m getting ready to praise my God like I’ve never praised before!
I’m getting ready to stand up and shout, I’m getting ready to worship.
I haven’t got time to try and be cute, I haven’t got time to try and fit in with the "in crowd."
I’m here praising for my life! I’m praising for my eternal destiny!
I’m praising for my ministry! I’m praising for my children's future! I’m praising for my health!
I'm praising for my parents! I'm praising to for my sister and her children!
Turn and tell somebody,
"I know it should have killed me, but I’m still here!"
I'm still here!
I know I don’t deserve it but I’m still here.
I know the devil meant it for evil, but God turned it around for His plans and purposes, and for my good.
And I'm grateful to Almighty God!
I know what it feels like to be ship wrecked and I know what it feels like to be bitten by the serpent, but I'm here to tell you that I also know what it feels like to shake that snake off into the fire.
In closing...
Somebody listening to this message right now needs to hear this:
You know it should have killed you, you know if the devil had his way you’d be dead!
But guess what?
YOU'RE NOT DEAD!
God WANTS you here!
You know if some people had been able to carry out their intentions you’d be dead, you are still here.
You are here because God wants you here!
God has a plan for your life, and a destiny!
It should have killed me, but I’m still here!
Because God had a plan for my life!
And I'm still here to help you fulfill it.
And now may the the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries