Sermon Central
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From Satan’s Slave To God’s Servant: Series
Contributed by James Lee on Dec 4, 2015 (message contributor)
Summary: I would like to thank Pastor Jerry Shirley for sharing this series on Acts. It has been a blessing as well as a great help. I have used these for our church, as I spend my days caring for my dying father.
From Satan’s Slave to God’s Servant: Acts 16:16-24.
Last time, we saw that Paul heard God and because of his obedience, the gospel entered Europe.
We looked at Lydia, the first person to be saved because she was searching.
Today, we’ll look at the salvation of the slave girl and the tricks Satan will use to gain access to the church.
The first thing I want you to see is that this slave girl had:
1. A Controlling Spirit. Verse 16.
This girl had supernatural powers that she could use to predict a person’s future.
She was controlled by a demonic spirit, and her masters were using her to make a profit. Today we might call her a psychic or a palm reader.
But we need to understand that not all supernatural power comes from God.
Her power was from the devil THEN and ladies & gentlemen it’s STILL of the devil today!
[Deut. 18:10-12a NLT] “10 …never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead.
LISTEN. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD…” (Revolting, sickening to God)
The Bible is clear that we are to have NOTHING to do with these things.
Yet every morning Christians will wake up and the first thing they pick up is NOT their Bibles but their electronic devices or a newspaper to check their horoscope.
Ladies and gentlemen I want you to know that if you play around with the supernatural apart from God Almighty you are playing with fire!
You are inviting the spirits of the darkness of this world into your lives, your homes and into your families.
So many Christians can’t seem to get rid of the evil presence in their lives.
That reason is simply because they have invited evil to move in and make itself at home!
I read about a survey that was done of 1,700 high school students.
416 of those students surveyed admitted to having involvement with Ouija boards.
We need to understand that this is not some harmless board game like Chutes and Ladders. It is a game that can easily pull a person into the realm of the underworld!
Even the makers of the game know this, and in their instruction booklet they say:
“if you use the Ouija board in a frivolous spirit, asking ridiculous questions or laughing over it, you naturally will get unnatural influences around you.”
I’m here to tell you that these are so much more than just some “unnatural influences” THESE ARE DEMONIC FORCES!
Out of those 1,700 students surveyed, 321 admitted to having some involvement with astrology or horoscopes, which originated way back at the Tower of Babel.
And I’ll say it again, the Bible repeatedly forbids this kind of activity as demonic!
Pastor Jerry Shirley says; “It’s a counterfeit guidance system which makes a mockery of God’s Holy Spirit Who promises to lead and guide us in all things.”
192 of those students admitted some involvement with palm reading for the sole purpose of telling future events.
Sister Mary palm reader may have praying hands on her sign or a full size statue of Jesus out front, but she is nothing but a servant of the dark world, a fortune teller and this is the ultimate insult to our God Whom we are supposed to trust with our future.
And American Christians can’t understand why God is not moving around us!
[2Ki 1:2-3 NIV] “2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury."
3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’”
So let me ask you this today, if you’re involved in any of these practices.
Is it because there is no God in America that you consult that Ouija board?
Is it because there is no God that you check your Horoscope?
Is it because there is no God that you visit that Palm reader?
Is it because there are is no God that you call on the powers of darkness?
We need to teach our children to look to God, and that it matters not what tomorrow holds, as long as we know Who holds tomorrow!
You know what’s more upsetting about the numbers from this survey?