NCF Podcast

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Acts 16 Freedom in Christ
Pastor Paul M.Reinhard
October 11, 2009

Welcome: Do you drive to fast, to slow, or just right?

Worship: You are here to meet with God and one another. Spend some time entering the Fathers presence. Sing some songs. Read a Psalm. Play a song or a video on the TV or Stereo. Open in prayer, thanking the Lord for being in you, and with you! Expect the Holy Spirit to move in your midst! He is with you!

Word: This week we looked at Acts 16. The Holy Spirit led Christians. One was called to serve. God saved and delivered others. People were beaten and put in prison. God moved in mighty ways and delivered His children. God touched entire families with His saving power. One entire city was in an uproar! That is an amazing amount of activity to find in just 40 verses.

1. Have you ever played with dominos? Have you ever stood them end to end and then knocked them over? Describe this process.

2. Think about your Life Group, and the people you know who have accepted Christ recently. Can you think of any domino patterns in their stories?

3. In Acts 16 we see people being "led of the Holy Spirit." Can you think of a time? When you sensed the Holy Spirit leading you? Did you obey? What happened?

4. Read Acts 16:16-18. In this text, Paul casts out a pneuma puthon. This was a python spirit. This is a specific term in the Greek language, which refers to the spirit of divination that was located in the very famous Oracle of Delphi. [CO Peter Wagner, Blazing the Way, The Acts of the Holy Spirit] In Greek tradition, mentally challenged or gifted people were believed to have lost their minds to give room to the god's. When Paul cast out this powerful spirit of divination and the owners lost their profit, it stirred up the entire city!

Is their a spirit in your OIKOS? If it were cast out, would things be stirred up? What name would you give the spirit? Will you pray for it to leave? If you begin to pray in this manner, take it very seriously. This type of prayer takes us into the arena of spiritual warfare! [Ephesians 6:11-12 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5]

5. Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten, and put in jail for doing good and obeying God. Their response was to ...

A. Pray and Sing to God.
B. Do good to their jailer.
C. Share Christ with Him.
D. Baptize him.
E. Eat with him.

How would you respond to somebody who had locked you up in jail?

Witness: The jailer watched what Paul and Silas did. He saw how God moved on their behalf. Remember ... people are watching you. They listen to what you say and they watch how you respond to adversity! God through you is a powerful witness to those who are watching! It is not just about us, it is about the OIKOS we are called to serve and reach!

Close your time in prayer for those in your Life Group and OIKOS! There might be someone in your group right now who feels like their in a jail cell! They might need your prayers and encouragement to help set them free!