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OPENING QUESTION: When you hear the word SLAVERY, what comes to your mind first? Today we’ll look at the life of a slave girl from the BIBLE.
Acts 16:16-19
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved."
18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.
Q: whom did Paul meet when he was going to the place of prayer?
A: He met a slave girl.
Q: What was her condition?
A: She was possessed by the evil spirits.
Q: How do people become possessed by the spirits?
A: By believing and worshipping Satan as God. By their own evil sins.
Q: How are slaves treated in the society?
A: They are denied their basic rights.
They are treated badly, as untouchables. / They are punished severely for their mistakes. / They are literally used as machines to work.
Q: What was the slave girl’s profession?
A: She was fortune telling and earning money for her masters.
Q: Describe the life style of the fortune-tellers?
A: They are full of lies.
They usually tell only good things to please the people who hear them.
Their appearance is strange and scary, wearing beads, bracelets. Etc.,
Q: Why did this girl follow Paul?
A: She wanted to be saved.
She wanted to know about God.
Q: Why was she interested in following Paul for many days?
A: She really wanted to change from her old life.
Q: Why was Paul so troubled looking at her?
A: Paul was troubled when he saw how the evil-spirits tortured the poor slave girl.
Q: Why Paul rebukes the evil spirit and not her?
A: Since the evil spirit stopped the slave girl from changing, Paul rebukes the evil spirit.
{Bible says the evil spirit left her once Paul rebuked it}
Q: How would she feel about her change?
A: Very happy. Probably sad for the fear of her masters.
Q: How the owner would have felt about the change?
A: Not happy. Since they lost their source of income.
Conclusion
We are also like the slave girl, wanting to change.
But the evil spirit inside us doesn’t let us change.
What are the evil spirits people have in them?
Evil spirits of Lust, Smoking, Drunkenness, Laziness etc,
Like the slave girl who followed Paul for changing her life.
We have to follow the Bible, to change our lives.
How can you follow the Bible?
- Let someone teach the bible to you.
- Make time to pray.
- Be willing to open up your life.
Then you can definitely get rid of the evil spirits in your life and be joyful.
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