Praise the Lord! You know, I can call all of you by that title, �Beloved of God�. If you�re a Christian, you are the Beloved of God. If you are lost in sin, having never known God, or if you are backslidden or deceived, you are still the beloved of God! God loves every soul, but hates the sin � He just won�t tolerate sin that isn�t under the Blood of Jesus. In Acts 4, Peter spoke of repenting and being converted, but a lot of people wearing the name of Christ have a problem with that. As I prayed about this and read Acts 28, I saw where so many hindrances of the church lie. Please pray before reading this message � pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes and ears. Listen to the Holy Spirit and just forget the vessel that He is speaking through here. The title of this message is �Shake It Off�.
I was raised in the country and there was nothing unusual about seeing a snake around the barn or in some place that was their habitat. At a very young age my Pa Shepherd taught me that they would bite, and the traits of a poisonous snake. Reading in Acts 28, I began to think about that viper that came out of the pile of wood and FASTENED itself to Paul�s hand. The Word there says that this was a venomous beast and it hung on to his hand. By that we know that this old viper had dug its fangs in deep, and was pumping that venom into Paul. That viper�s nature was to kill in that manner. Paul, being the man of God, in God�s perfect will! Not to the right or to the left of God�s path! Not in front or behind, but right where God wanted him to be! Paul could shake that viper off and not be touched by the venom! You see, his hand and arm should have started to swell and him lose the use of it. Remember that! As the venom passed through his blood stream, Paul�s brain wasn�t supposed to function properly. Can I say his thinking should have been clouded? Remember that! Then in a very short while the venom should have shut down his lungs and heart, killing him. Remember that! I better clear the air before some accuse me of being a snake handler� :) You see, most everyone knows the habitat of vipers � where not to walk, where not to enter, where not to stick your hand. You know that a viper has the ability to kill you and at the least cost you the use of a limb or lose your sight. The vipers this message is about are the worldly vipers (works of the flesh) � evil spirits that attach themselves to you. They attach themselves because you don�t spiritually discern them. Some people may even walk into their habitat: bars, honky-tonks, �carn-evils� (carnivals), to name a few. Some might even pick them up � magazines with naked or half-naked men and women in them, love stories with explicit language, movies that hint at sex, violence and show nudity. I want to cover as many vipers as we can. The importance of this message is that you get in a place to recognize the vipers around you and in your life and that you �SHAKE THEM OFF� and stay away from them. You do that by staying on God�s path. (Psalm 91:7)
By now I think you�ve got the idea where the Holy Spirit is taking us. Let me use my own life as example� Years ago I started slipping away from God. I got too busy to spend time with God in prayer or His Word � lost that intimate relationship with Him. I knew that lust, fornication, adultery and violence were all literally and spiritually dangerous areas for me. In my heart I knew the honky-tonks were places I didn�t belong and that spirits, �vipers�, lurked there. Worldly music, country music, was always a downward drag on me, and I got bit. The viper bit, hung on, and I didn�t shake it off. Away from God, I no longer had the ability or desire to use my spiritual weapons to fight back. You could say that I lost the use of my limbs when that venom started into my body. Why? I wasn�t in a place with God to SHAKE IT OFF! My brain began to cloud and nothing was hardly sacred anymore. I was caught up in adultery and not caring who knew or who a woman belonged to! I no longer feared any man � violence, murder, brawling had entered into my heart with the venom. That bite almost killed me. I�m convinced that if I hadn�t � by the grace of God � been locked up in jail with no bond, I would have died, violently. God extended tender mercies to me � He sent men full of God�s love to see me. They extended God�s Word to this prodigal son and that viper finally had to shrivel and fall off. It couldn�t hang on when Doctor Jesus came on the scene to heal and restore, to set free. That viper had to fall off. My strength was renewed and my feet set back on the right path by a God of grace and mercy. Let me tell you though, I had to make that choice to accept, to yield to God. No one could do that for me. I had to be willing to �Shake It Off!�
There are so many vipers out there, and I can�t possibly cover them all in this short newsletter. Let me list a few: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, laciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, busy bodies, back biters, habits, etc� You know, any work of the flesh is a viper to a Christian. If you have a �habit viper� like the use of tobacco attached to you, it will eventually kill, and WILL make you sick and hinder you from all that God has for you. It�ll hinder you from answering the fullness of authority in God�s call. �Shake It Off!�
Let�s cover one more viper as this message comes to an end� That viper is envy and jealousy. I lived a terrible life, wicked away from God, and if I could talk to Paul today we might disagree on who was the chief of sinners. My past is shameful and in no way a glory except how God brought me out. So many times people will SIT in church for years, decades, and yet another viper, maybe the most dangerous of all, will fasten itself to them. That viper is �being religious� and it keeps company with envy and jealousy. Those people with this viper attached to them think they are holier than anyone else. They sit in scorn as a backslider comes back to God. They can�t let the past alone, and dig it up over and over. Now, these people are sick and miserable � you can tell by the look on their face. They have no joy and look like a stern old judge. The churches are full of them. I experienced some of those when I came back to God. Sad to say, some are in a pulpit somewhere� A white shirt, a tie, a suit or a degree doesn�t make someone a man of God! These people will sit back and try to spread that poison which has drained them. Paul spoke about it in Galatians 5:15. In Luke 15:25-32, an example of it was given when the elder son got mad at the love the father gave to the repentant prodigal son. Many of you know this happens today. Many pastors see it happen. These vipers have been carried into the church, and its time for men and women of God to stand up in discernment and the authority of the Blood of Jesus and shake them off. If one is attached to you today, SHAKE IT OFF! Pastor, if one is attached to someone in your congregation, SHAKE IT OFF! It will kill, it will steal and it will destroy all that it can, and eventually kill the one it�s fastened to and possibly others as well. Why? Because it is of that evil one (John 10:10a), its nature is sin and destruction and no good can come of it! �SHAKE
IT OFF!�
Every fruit that comes from these vipers is directly opposite from the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). You can�t enjoy the gifts of the Spirit while these vipers are attached. Some of you have been given �ministry gifts of the Church�. You�ve been placed as overseers. It�s time to examine yourselves and shake off any hindrances. It�s time to seek discernment through spiritual eyes so you can recognize every viper hanging on in a congregation you�re in. In Ephesians 4:11 those ministry gifts are listed. Are you free right now to represent and take the call of God? Can you say, �Here I am Lord, send me?� If you can�t, �Shake It Off!�
We are truly in perilous times as spoken of in II Timothy 3:1-5. The Word speaks in verse 13, �But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.� Today you can hear any lie you want out of those calling themselves messengers of God. They claim a new revelation and most can speak real pretty and educated. Some will tell you that those going to hell will burn up quickly. Some will tell you that there will have to be 7 years of tribulation before Jesus comes. Some will tell you the Bible was for �back then� and it has changed to �Good News� for a modern society. It IS good news to the saved, repentant and converted man or woman, boy or girl! So many lies, con-forming, compromising of the Word is going on today. The devil and his servants are much about their business� That is to take you to hell. Many of you won�t like me or this word. I have no apologies for it. I don�t come to you with some other preacher�s message. I don�t come with any organization�s sermon outline. I come in the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the Holy Spirit! If you ever see me in person and preaching the Word of God, if the Holy Spirit is using this vessel then you won�t see a sermon outline. I need only the unction of the Holy Spirit and I won�t attempt to preach any other way. Most every sermon that�s been given through me by the Holy Spirit, I�ve lived it. I�ve been there. I can relate with you and to you and not just read it from a book. I�ve said all that to say this � come all ye who are heavy laden, He will give you rest � He has a calling for you today! SHAKE THE VIPERS OFF!
In Christ, Bro. Don George
