Summary: We need to do what Paul did

And felt no harm. Acts 28:5

7000 to 8000 people are bitten by snakes each year.

I. Recognize the source. The beast

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no

good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to

perform that which is good I find not.

Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil

thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,22 Thefts,

covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil

eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil

things come from within, and defile the man.

Thirty-one-year-old Daniel Brandon loved to pose for Instagram

with his pet African rock python, Tiny, around his shoulders and neck

1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth

from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was

manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

It’s in a snake’s nature to bite. You can’t change that.

I never ask, Will that dog bite. I already know the answer.

II. Remove the serpent. Shake it off.

Why play with it?

Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and

evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

1 Cor 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is

common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer

you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the

temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able

to bear it.

The best way to deal with temptation is to get away from it.

Eph 4: 21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him,

as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the

former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according

to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your

mind;

III. Return to Sender. Send it back to where it came from.

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and

cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is

no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Every good thing comes from God, so every evil, sinful destructive

thing comes from satan.

Matt 22:20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and

superscription? 21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith

he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which

are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

We need to learn to send it back to where it came from.