The Greatest Touch.
Acts 19:22-31NIV
Above Acts 16:16-19, the caption from—The Passion translation reads, The Python Spirit.
Acts 16:16-19TPT One day, as we were going to the house of prayer, we encountered a young slave girl who had an evil spirit of divination, the spirit of Python. She had earned great profits for her owners by being a fortune-teller. 17 She kept following us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Great High God, and they’re telling us how to be saved!”
18 Day after day she continued to do this, until Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit indwelling her, “I command you in the name of Jesus, the Anointed One, to come out of her, now!” At that very moment, the spirit came out of her! 19 When her owners realized that their potential of making profit had vanished, they forcefully seized Paul and Silas and dragged them off to the city square to face the authorities.
Paul and Silas were going about the county preaching the gospel—God’s eternal word.
Results became their fruit. Souls saved, life’s changed—reconciliation on every side. Miracles, and deliverances bought new life!
There was a young lady who had a spirit on her; this spirit lived within, totally manipulating every decision she made.
It was the spirit of python. A python by nature is created to squeeze—little by little, a python spirit depletes, tries to control events, and even people living around them.
Key point: Any spirit other than the spirit of God, should be dealt with.
The surrounding areas made big portions of their livelihood by selling dolls and other paraphernalia from this young ladies bound-up demise.
Paul cries to Timothy and the young church in
2 Timothy 1:6-7TPT I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you. 7 For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.
1. Mighty power.
2. Love—God’s love.
3. Self-control—You don’t do your own thing anymore!
This young lady was controlled by a spirit of python. Again, this spirit sucks life, while allowing the devil to cash-in on your expense.
Acts 19:22-24NIV The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner-cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The spirit of python—
Steals, Kills and destroys.
Destroys vision, meaning your future ambition.
The spirit of python feeds on fear—Torment.
The spirit of python controls. Slowly strangling its prey.
The only remedy known to put python in its place is—God’s word mixed with praise and worship.
Jeremiah 23:29NKJV “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
The gospel of Jesus Christ is glorious—The gospel is God’s eternal view for humanity; The gospel is how God sees things.
Hebrews 4:12TLB For whatever God says to us is full of living power: it is sharper than the sharpest dagger, cutting swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires with all their parts, exposing us for what we really are.
The writer of the book of Acts is, physician— Luke, He was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. Luke writes, Acts 16:25NIV About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
The emotional and spiritual repercussion of prayer mixed with worship as the All-Eternal-One, are beyond human reason. P.H
Early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in private devotions.
Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers begin to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”
Paul and Silas’ motivation for prayer and worship was devotion—The sum of motivation was to worship the ‘One’ they would eventually die for, No more, no less.
Acts 16:26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.
Remember, Jesus is called the Chief Cornerstone—He offers a rock-solid-foundation.
Think for a moment, “God shock the earth.”
Throughout scripture it speak about mighty shakings on the earth, and to God’s people. Hebrews 12, Psalm 29:8, Haggai 2:6 Etc.
Remember this, “Nothing gets by Creator- God. Nothing.
This Corona Virus was allowed by God; Moreover, anything He allows, He reverses its effect.” P.H
Acts 16:27NIV The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
Notice, Praise—worship mixed with prayer devotion brought togetherness.
A word—This might not be the time to physically come together, but as we worship and mix it with prayers and praise, great things can, and will transpire.
Acts 16:28NIV But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
In this time, 22nd day of 2020, we need to say and even shout it out—We are all here!
Again, why is this such a miracle? Bound-up prisoners marveled, evil men, instead of escaping were in awe.
We need to shout—We are together; We are His church!
Psalm 100:1-5TPT Lift up a great shout of joy to the Lord! Go ahead and do it—everyone, everywhere! 2 As you serve him, be glad and worship him. Sing your way into his presence with joy! 3 And realize what this really means—
we have the privilege of worshiping the Lord our God. For he is our Creator and we belong to him. We are the people of his pleasure, or “the sheep of His pasture.”4 You can pass through his open gates with the password of praise. Come right into his presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to him and affectionately bless his beautiful name! 5 For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you—so kind that it will astound you! And he is famous for his faithfulness toward all. Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for he keeps his promises to every generation!
Acts 16:29-30NIV The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The jailer ran to where Paul and Silas were. The bible says, “He fell trembling…”Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The Lord spoke this simple word to me,“Don’t miss out on any opportunity to tell others.”
Acts 16:31NIV They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
I want you to ponder for moment on household salvation. Household salvation destroys any spirit of stolen identity within the family, destruction itself is put on notice, generational curses destroyed, producing new available fruit and gifting within, and without, bringing full liberty and spiritual freedom to the family unit at large. P.H
Listen to me, The greatest touch of all comes when God’s people worship and serve the godhead.
Agreement:
* Corna Virus resolved.
Revival within.
Testimonies solidified.
Renewed Prayer and worship.
Renewed vision for the church.
Benediction.
