How to Handle Snakes
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Last week we finished up Acts 27.
They saw a bay with a beach and made a plan to run the ship ashore.
They cut the anchors, raised the sail, and aimed for land.
But instead of a smooth landing, they struck a reef and the ship began to break apart.
Panic set in.
The soldiers were ready to kill the prisoners.
But God used a centurion to protect Paul.
And just like He promised, everyone made it safely to land.
Some swam.
Some floated on broken pieces.
But the word of the Lord stood.
The message was clear.
The ship may break. The method may fail. But the mission will not.
Even if all you have is one verse or one word to cling to, God will still bring you through.
And we ended by talking about anxiety.
How it shows up in the storm.
How it lies to us in the dark.
And how God tells us to cast it, not carry it.
That was last week.
This week, I’m excited to announce that after 64 Sundays, we have finally made it to the final chapter of Acts.
But don’t get too excited. We’ll be in chapter 28 for this week and the next two.
Acts 28 opens with a story that, honestly, makes me anxious.
And yes, I know I said last week we were casting out anxiety.
Apparently anxiety is trying to make a comeback in me.
Because Acts 28 starts with my greatest fear in life.
1 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
This morning I’ve titled my message, something I never ever…..ever……ever…….ever Thought I would teach on. This morning I want to talk about “How to Handle Snakes.”
Pray with me and for me.
Pray
This is the part of the message where I normally tell you a funny story.
Or I draw some crazy metaphor to get you to lean in.
But today, I don’t need to do that.
Because what I’m about to talk about isn’t a setup.
It’s not a metaphor.
It’s real.
And I mean this with my whole chest. I hate snakes.
I’m not talking about a casual dislike.
I hate snakes on a spiritual level.
Like, I believe they were a bad idea from the very beginning.
Even God cursed them in Genesis. Listen to me, that’s all the theology I need.
I don’t care if it’s a tiny garden snake or some “friendly” reptile at the zoo.
If it slithers, we’ve got a problem.
If I see one, I’m not rebuking it.
I’m not speaking in tongues.
I’m not reaching for the anointing oil.
I’m not calling the prayer team.
I’m running.
You can ask my wife, I told her when we got married, Baby, I will protect you from anything and everything, unless it’s a snake. if it’s a snake you better be faster than me.
People love to say, “They’re more afraid of you than you are of them.”
Shut up, That’s a lie.
Because I am very afraid. And I’m not convinced they are.
With there stupid ugly beady little eyes and there disgustingly demonic split tongues always going in and out of their mouths keeping there lips moist so they can bite your face off. NO THANK YOU.
Look, I’ll walk through fire.
I’ll pray through hurricanes.
I’ll preach with boldness in the middle of a demonic drum circle.
But if there’s a snake nearby?
The Holy Spirit and I are going to have to reevaluate some things.
I’m rapturing myself and dealing with the theological ramifications later.
No trumpet. No cloud. Just a Kyle-shaped blur headed for the exit.
So when I say that this passage gives me anxiety, I’m not being dramatic.
I’m being honest.
This is my nightmare.
And listen… I will never understand these so-called Christians who read this passage,
hear the words of Jesus, and think to themselves,
“You know what would really glorify God? Let’s go play with this disgusting, venomous, face-biting rope demon for fun.”
Like… what?
They read Mark 16:17–18, where Jesus says:
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
And instead of seeing that as protection in the middle of the mission,
they treat it like a challenge.
“Handle snakes,” they say.
“It’ll show your faith,” they say.
Next thing you know they’re laid out on a church pew foaming at the mouth, and somebody’s playing the tambourine like it’s normal.
No, sir. Not me.
I don’t need to prove my faith by holding a viper.
I’m proving my faith by not cussing when I see one.
Let me be clear.
That verse is about God’s covering when you are walking in obedience.
It is not an invitation to go looking for a snake to prove something.
Jesus was not telling us to start a snake-handling ministry.
He was saying, “If danger shows up while you are doing what I called you to do, I will take care of you.”
Big difference.
So no, I will not be handling snakes to prove I have faith.
You bring a snake into this church, and I am laying hands on the exit door.
Because again… I hate snakes.
So imagine my horror and shock as I’m reading through Acts 28.
The native people are being kind to Paul.
They’re taking care of him and the rest of the crew.
It’s cold, it’s raining, they build a fire, everyone’s just trying to recover.
Then Paul, trying to be helpful, gathers some sticks to throw on the fire…Bam.
A snake jumps out and bites him.
And I don’t mean a metaphorical snake.
I don’t mean some vague challenge.
I mean a real, fangs-out, venom-included, literal serpent.
And let’s just call it what it is.
The snake has always been Satan’s mascot.
From the Garden of Eden to this fire on the island,
the enemy has been showing up in snake form since the very beginning.
So when I read this, I thought, “Of course.
Of course the devil would try to strike right after the storm.
Right when Paul is finally on dry land.
Right when he’s just trying to help.”
Because that’s what the enemy does.
He waits until you let your guard down.
He shows up when you’re cold, tired, vulnerable, and just trying to serve.
And let’s be honest.
Many of us have been attacked by the enemy not because we were weak… but because we weren’t looking.
We weren’t expecting it.
We were building the fire. We were serving. We were trying to help.
And while our hands were full of good intentions, the enemy struck.
You weren’t doing anything wrong.
You were doing what was right.
And that’s what makes it sting.
That’s what makes it confusing.
Because sometimes the snake shows up in the middle of your service.
In the middle of your obedience.
In the middle of your faithfulness.
And suddenly you’re standing there, snake hanging off your hand, thinking, “God, I was just trying to help.”
Because deep down, a lot of us believe that if we’re doing the right thing,
if we’re serving, if we’re being faithful, the snake won’t bite.
But that’s just not true.
We were never promised a bite-free life.
We were promised that the bite wouldn’t win.
God didn’t say the snake wouldn’t strike.
He said it wouldn’t succeed.
He never promised we wouldn’t get bit.
He promised it wouldn’t bring us down.
But let’s be honest. Just because it won’t bring us down
doesn’t mean we don’t act like it already has.
Because for a lot of us, the moment we feel the bite, we slip into a victim mindset.
We shut down.
We assume the worst.
We start talking like it’s already over.
“I knew it was too good to be true.”
“I should’ve never said yes.”
“I was just trying to help, and now look what it got me.”
We go from faithful servant to emotional casualty in about three seconds.
The snake bites, and instead of fighting back, we fold. We play dead and believe we actually are.
We start calling people to tell them what almost killed us, like we’re already planning the funeral.
and of course it doesn’t help when we people are doing this:
4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
Ain’t that just like people?
Especially church People.
Christians can be the worst about this.
They see you get bit and assume you had it coming.
“Oh, there must be secret sin.”
“God must be dealing with them.”
And my personal favorite:
“Well, you know… they watched Harry Potter when they were a kid.”
Like somehow a movie about wizards opened the door for the devil to bite you thirty years later.
We laugh, but that’s how wild some of the gossip sounds.
We treat every bite like a backstory.
Like pain only shows up where you messed up.
But that’s not Bible.
That’s just people trying to sound spiritual when they’re really just spreading speculation.
They’ll say, “I’m discerning.”
No, you’re just assuming.
They’ll claim they’re operating in the prophetic
when really… they’re just being pathetic.
You don’t need revelation to run your mouth. You need wisdom to know when to keep it shut.
And the saddest part is, many Christians will believe the gossip about themselves instead of the truth that God already put in them.
They’ll let a lie spoken in a moment drown out the truth that was written in eternity.
The problem for a lot of us isn’t just that we got bit.
It’s that we let the snake stay latched on.
We let the enemy keep his grip.
We make peace with the poison.
Some of us have been walking around with a snake hanging from our soul for years because somewhere along the way, we started believing we deserved the bite.
We think, “Well, maybe I did mess up. Maybe this is just my consequence. Maybe this is who I am now.”
No. That’s not who you are.
That’s what bit you, not what built you.
But instead of rejecting the attack,
we start forming an identity around it.
We let the bite label us.
We let the pain name us.
And before we know it, we’re managing the wound instead of walking in healing.
We even start protecting the thing that’s poisoning us.
We defend it.
We accommodate it.
We say things like, “Well, that’s just how I am.”
No. That’s how you’ve learned to live with a snake hanging from your hand.
But just because you’ve adapted to the pain doesn’t mean God wants you to keep carrying it.
How do you handle snakes?
Let me show you:
5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.
He didn’t scream.
He didn’t beg.
He didn’t freeze.
He shook it off.
Stop letting what you’re supposed to shake off stay latched on.
Stop letting that sin stay in your life.
Stop letting that lie lead your thoughts.
Stop letting that fear run your faith.
Stop letting that opinion outrank God’s Word.
Stop letting that memory have more power than the cross.
Some of us have allowed the pain to become our god.
We don’t worship with raised hands anymore.
We worship by rehearsing our wounds.
We don’t bow before the Lord.
We bow before our heartbreak.
We let pain tell us who we are.
We let it define our value.
We let it direct our decisions.
Pain becomes the voice we trust most.
Pain becomes the altar we keep returning to.
Pain becomes the idol we don’t want to admit we’re serving.
But pain makes a terrible god.
It can remind you of what hurt you, but it can’t heal you.
It can hold you in the past, but it can’t lead you into purpose.
We’ve let anxiety call the shots.
We’ve let bitterness make the decisions.
We’ve let shame write the script.
We’ve let rejection become our identity.
We’ve let gossip be our guide.
We’ve let comparison dictate our worth.
We’ve let our past get more worship than our Savior.
We say we serve Jesus, but we keep bowing to fear.
We keep obeying our insecurities.
We keep offering sacrifices to approval, to control, to comfort.
We’ve let the thing that bit us start acting like it owns us.
And if you’re not careful, you’ll start worshiping the bite more than you worship the Healer.
Listen to me: It’s time to put that thing where it belongs in the fire.
and There may be people that are waiting around for your downfall look at verse 6
6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead….
They see the bite and start writing your obituary.
They see the pain and start assuming the worst.
“I knew they weren’t really different.”
“I knew they’d go right back to who they used to be.”
“It was only a matter of time.”
They are not watching for your healing. They are watching for your collapse.
But look how easily those same people can change their minds lets read the rest of verse 6
6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
First, Paul was a murderer.
“He must have messed up.”
“He deserved that bite.”
“He had it coming.”
Now?
“Oh wow, he must be a god!”
Ain’t that just like people?
They’ll tear you down when you’re hurting…Then try to lift you up when they realize you didn’t fall.
People are fickle.
They’ll flip on you in a heartbeat.
So stop building your identity on their opinions.
Because if you live for their approval, you’ll die from their assumptions.
Some of us are walking around spiritually dead,
Not because of what bit us,
But because of who didn’t clap for us.
Because of who didn’t say sorry.
Because of who didn’t affirm our calling.
But listen: their opinion is not your permission.
Their silence is not your signal to stop.
And their gossip is not God’s voice.
The bite didn’t kill you.
The gossip didn’t stop you.
So don’t let the lack of applause bury you.
God didn’t bring you this far to make you dependent on people He never assigned to your destiny.
Stop allowing “them” to be your God.
Their approval isn’t your source.
Their validation isn’t your fuel.
You don’t need their permission to walk in your purpose.
Now with that said. let me be clear: discipleship and spiritual leadership matter.
We don’t get to be rogue agents in the kingdom of God.
Being submitted to godly authority is not the same as being a slave to people’s opinions.
There’s a difference between being planted in a house and being chained to applause.
You need covering, not control.
You need accountability, not approval.
Let God place the right people in your life, But stop letting the wrong people determine your worth.
Let’s look at what happens next:
7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.
The same Paul who got bit is now laying hands on the sick.
The same hand the enemy tried to poison is being used by God to bring healing.
Because when God has anointed you, a bite cannot cancel the blessing.
Let that sink in.
What the enemy meant to infect you with, God is using to impact others.
This is what happens when you refuse to be defined by pain and start walking in purpose.
Paul did not stay stuck at the fire where he got bit.
He did not build an identity around the attack.
He kept moving forward.
Some of us have made a monument out of what should have been a moment.
You keep rehearsing the wound, instead of releasing the purpose.
You are still circling the place where it happened, but God is calling you to the place where healing is needed.
And I love this part.
Paul laid hands on the man.
He did not pray from across the room. He did not keep his distance out of fear.
He laid hands using the same part of his body the snake latched onto.
Because when God heals you, He does not just remove the venom.
He redeems the wound.
He turns what hurt you into a tool to help someone else.
Shake your snake off into the fire.
Handle your snake right into the fire and move on.
And be who God is calling you to be.
Not who you think you might be.
Not who you feel you are.
But who God is calling you to be.
Don’t look outward for your identity.
Don’t look inward for your identity.
Look upward — through the Word of God — for your identity.
Because the world didn’t create you.
Your feelings didn’t form you.
God did.
And only He gets to define you.
Honor doesn’t come to who we pretend to be.
Honor comes to who we actually are.
Not the filtered version. Not the fake version.
But the one who stood firm after the bite.
The one who shook it off, kept walking, and chose obedience anyway.
Look at verse 10:
10 They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
Honor came. Provision came.
But only after Paul walked in who he really was.
He wasn’t pretending.
He wasn’t posturing.
He wasn’t trying to explain the bite or spin the story.
He didn’t camp out by the fire to win sympathy.
He just kept walking in purpose. And God took care of the rest.
You don’t have to prove it. You just have to walk in it.
You don’t have to chase honor.
You just have to obey.
Paul wasn’t walking for validation. He was walking in vocation, the calling God placed on his life.
And everything he needed for what came next?
God put it on board.
That’s what Matthew 6:33 promises:
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
You don’t get what you need by chasing applause , You get it by walking in assignment.
This is Galatians 1:10 in action:
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul wasn’t living for people’s opinions, he was living from God’s instruction.
And because of that, Philippians 4:19 became his reality:
19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Hear me:
The same God who brought you through the storm, and protected you through the bite, is the same God who will provide for what’s next.
But you’ve got to walk in who He’s called you to be.
Not who you think you are.
Not who others say you are.
Not who your past tries to convince you you are.
Walk in who God says you are.
Honor will come.
Provision will come.
And everything you need for what’s next?
God will put it on board.
So How do you handle snakes?
You don’t.
You don’t try to explain them.
You don’t try to manage them.
You don’t negotiate with them.
You don’t let them stay latched on, pumping fear, shame, doubt, and confusion into your life.
You put them in the fire.
You keep walking.
You keep obeying.
And you trust that everything you need for what’s next, God will put it on board.
You shake them off into the fire.
Pray
