Snakes In The Church - the spirit of python

well I thank God for this church and I thank God this church is you by the way I thank God for what this church means to this community and I know there are a lot of things that go on in this community that are that are church related ministry related and I thank God for every ministry here that's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ as you know we pray for churches many times on Sunday morning pray for all the churches in this town we ask God to bless them and to bless the Ministry of the church bless the pastors and the leadership of the church and and ask God to fill them up with the Holy Spirit and fill them up with the people so that they don't have room enough to receive them and I thank God for all that's going on here and you may think you're in the wrong church when I tell you the name of my sermon but I'm going to preach on snakes in the church this morning now that it's not what you think we don't handle them here although there's been a couple come through here that I wondered about actually this sermon is about destroying the Python spirit so I want you to pay attention today because I think this could be good for all of us you see God created man to be ruler and have Dominion in the earth he designed us to have authority here when Adam was created he gave him authority but he also gave him great responsibility he created man in his own image he crowned us with glory and honor as men and women of God Psalm 86 says thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou has put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen yea the beasts of the field the fowl of the air the fish of the sea and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea and even the fall of man did not blot out God's placement of Dominion on humankind God created us to have dominion in this earth we were created to rule created in God's image after his likeness Genesis 1:26 and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea in the fowl of the air and the Catalin over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth so God created man in his own image the image of God created he him male and female created he them and God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth so it was settled forever this Dominion thing was settled forever God determined in his heart that we were to have dominion now the word Dominion is a greek word called kurios it means lordship it means inherited rulership it means sovereignty that's who we are when we refer to human Dominion after the fall of man it speaks to us immediately of struggle Dominion means to us that that if you're going to have a dominion over something and authority over you may have to struggle for it so it is an achievement it doesn't come always naturally because of sin we have to do some striving for the Dominion that God has already given us this is true of everybody from the from the cowboy who subdues a wild horse to the politician who's elected president boy are we in there right now as long as Adam was living in the spirit and his being was dominated by the Spirit of God which was in his spirit he had perfect fellowship and perfect environment and his wife was the same but when Satan told Eve to eat of the fruit she'd be like God it caused rebellion to come up in her and at that moment man instantly lost the the Dominion that God had purposed us to have now I grew up in Lubbock Texas Cheryl I did in a wonderful family mom and dad church family with a pastor Lubbock Texas provide a lot of interesting moments in growing up as a boy in Lubbock it was out in the plains of West Texas how many ever been out there you know where God was creating the world where he ran out of ideas that's his place nothing might have started in the ozarks book Tommy he went the wrong way he went all the way around he was tired I guess I don't know but we lived in a neighborhood we lived in a house neighborhood that was very close to some open fields and we played a lot in those open fields had to be careful walking through those fields though mesquite trees and cactus plants and you know different kinds of vegetation because in that in that field would be also the habitat of God's cutest one it cost cutest little creatures called the rattlesnake I remember chasing a few snakes in the fields I remember some of them chasing me too so some of my friends and I would some of the church guys and some school guys we'd go out on Saturdays and hunt rattlesnakes and try to find them and we'd chase them with sticks and shovels and hammers and hatchets and pellet guns and just try to go after them you know we try to go get them because we want to make sure that the ones we found would rattle no more that their rattler was gone in fact I had a jar one time that had a bunch of Rattlers in it you know you know cut them off and put them in the jar and it was kind of a I won't go there and with all due respect to animal rights activists one less snake today means one less mama or daddy to create little snakes tomorrow in John 10:10 Jesus said the devil the serpent only comes only comes there is their purpose for purpose for snakes I don't know only comes to steal kill and destroy so what about the work of the serpent in today's world now I'm not one to overemphasize the work of the devil you know that I mean I but there is a very real enemy out there there's some big old snakes out there they're there in our lives I mean they're in our neighborhoods they're in our homes there Johnny forty-four Jesus called the devil a murderer and the father of lies now revelation 12:9 he called him the old serpent who deceives many got a real enemy showed up first in the garden but he's still out there but why a snake what what's the connection between the serpent and human beings snakes differ in different ways they they hunt and they destroy their prey in different ways so different characteristics and some are more venomous than others so more powerful than others but there's one serpent one snake that destroys its prey in a different way unique way and I I started studying this when I read over in acts 16 we'll get there in a minute the Python is a serpent that waits patiently for its prey and then at the opportune moment strikes now I want you to see this in relationship to what's happening in our world today and in your life on a daily basis what happens is this snake doesn't kill with venom this snake grabs hold and sinks its teeth deep in to that victim but the bites not fatal it's what happens now that destroys the prey Python is after one thing your breath just your breath he just wants to take away your breath slowly calling himself around doesn't do it in a hurry very predictable very careful he chokes down and suffocates the prey until all the airs expunged from the lungs and you just die a lot of different species of pythons too I read all about them the Burmese python is born at 18 to 20 inches long you hold him in your hand cute little thing but then he grows to 18 to 20 feet long and he'll kill you 150 200 pounds that little snake one captive Burmese Burmese python is at serpent Safari Park when you love to go there and spend some time I did that one time it stinks to high heaven I'm telling you 27 feet long this snake 400 pounds could do some damage he swatted a gator one time I don't want to be anywhere around a snake that swallowed a gator and now look why am I talking about this today because this is significant this is important in your life I want you to understand how the devil works because he subtle he's sneaky he's crafty he's careful he's patient he'll wait to the right moment to get the thing that he wants which is your breath now in Scripture breath air and wind are symbols of the holy spirit they symbolize all that God is symbolize what God has done John 20:22 said when he had said this he breathed on them this is Jesus and said to them receive the Holy Spirit in acts 2 - the Holy Spirit came as a mighty rushing wind suddenly there came a sound from heaven a rushing mighty wind and filled the whole house where they were sitting in Genesis 2:7 the Bible says God breathed the breath of life and and became a living soul say this after one thing in your life to extract all the breath of God from your life to squeeze it out of you slowly carefully sometimes where you don't even realize you're under that attack he wants to destroy the breath of life that comes only from the knowledge and the experience of the Holy Spirit of God and without the power and that anointing of the Holy Spirit we can't do anything with lasting effect because the breath squeezed out of us there's some folks right now who've lost some of their breath and they don't even realize what's happened to them they grow cold and distant from God they've gone into things of the world and it's a sapped them it's it's sapped mo all the energy Zechariah 4:6 says not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord and that's where we must live thank you John for challenging us to move into the things of the Spirit to pray in the Holy Spirit to challenge ourselves to say God I want more of your breath I want more of the wind of the Holy Spirit act 16:16 here's what it says and I'm going to read from Young's literal translation you can read it in your King James or new king or NIV but here's what it says and this is the description because in most translations it doesn't say Python or spirit of Python it talks about a special spirit or an evil spirit and it came to pass in our going to prayer this Paul talking a certain made having a spirit of python did meet us who brought much employment to her master's by soothsaying so this spirit has something to do with telling about the future and then there's a translation called the expanded Bible it says it like this once while we were going to the place for prayer see the devil doesn't want you to pray that's why I say thank you John for bringing this up if the devil can keep you from praying he will do everything he can to keep you from there he will bring any kind of person or situation or trouble or circumstance into your life to keep you from getting on your knees and calling out to God to keep you from that place of Prayer that's why the Bible says I always pray always so I got to work got a cook I got a you know do what I do but if you're in the attitude of prayer during that can't you do it in your heart and spirit all the time absolutely you can and we make that choice so while we were going to the place for prayer a servant slave girl met us she had a special spirit demon of divination prediction it was a Python spirit Python was the serpent God that guarded the Delphic Oracle and I'll let you read that because I don't have time and provided the ability to predict the future just Google Delphic Oracle you'll find out all about it and she earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes this is the only time in the book of Acts where an unclean spirit was given a name God wants us to understand I've preached on different spirits or preached on Leviathan and preached on the spirit of Absalom I preached on the period of Jezebel a lot of spirits that we've gone through over the last year or two but this is an interesting one to me because this one simply wants to subtly squeeze the life out of every Christian notice put his fangs in you which would hurt a little bit but mostly very subtle in wrapping you up in the things of the world wrapping you up in the things of the family wrapping you up in the things of your financial wrapping you up in the things of health problems wrapping you up and squeezing every bit of spiritual breath out of you so that you're simply relying on the things that are in this earth we can't do that folks not as believers not as people of God we've got to stand strong and tall and when you feel like you're losing your passion for the Lord look in acts 16 they were going to the place of prayer where the spirit of Python interrupted them there will always be interruptions when you're going to the place of prayer when you're moving toward a spiritual existence when you're moving into the things of God that's why I say to you revival will never start with doughnuts in the fellowship hall there's nothing wrong with that but revivals start on our knees in prayer revival start in a place where we're connected to God I don't mind you eating doughnut but I sure would like to see a lot of the folks who are stuffing their face with doughnuts and cake in the prayer room first or after before they fill themselves with the things of the earth we need to be filled with the things of the Spirit I'm not downing anybody here please understand I'm not telling you we're going to quit having cake I'm simply telling you there are priorities that we must be about if revival is going to be real in our lives if our attitudes in our spirits and our functioning in the spirit is going to be what God has called us to be we got to spend time with him now if you're prayed up and you've been praying all morning before you get here and you didn't have what's normal which is I can't find my sock I don't know what tied aware I don't know where my my hair's for years I don't know what shoes to put on if you're not fighting all those battles and you're all prayed up then go ahead and eat cake but if you haven't prayed in a week the last time you prayed was Wednesday night or last Sunday morning the last time you heard a prayer who thought about a prayer or got in touch with God or felt the touch of God was last week you need to pray you need to get on your knees you need to get in contact with God what I'm looking for is a church that prayed up and fired up before they ever come into this room glory to God we don't have to crank it up that it's already there that spirit of python is very interesting very subtle this attack think of the enemy this spirit if Satan can stop you from if he can't stop you from receiving Christ as your Savior he'll kick in Plan B so how many of you are saved and you know without a doubt that the Holy Spirit is in your life today and you're connected glory to God by Andy he'll try to make you be a miserable tormented Christian so he knows you already received Christ he knows you accepted the Lord he knows that you're headed for heaven he knows that you've done what you're supposed to do and you're a believer but now he just wants to make your life Oh full of misery so that that spiritual breath goes out of you doesn't mean you're not going to heaven I'm just saying about that connectivity that place in you a lot of Christians are just blindsided by spiritual attacks because in that attack they weren't ready for it but it's crucial to recognize the warning signs let me give you some the first one I believe is a loss spiritual desire I call it spiritual fatigue or apathy where we used to be fired up for God or not anymore we just go we go because we've always gone or we go because mamma wanted us to go and we don't want to dishonor her memory or we go because husband or wife goes and so we're just going to go but we're not excited about it spiritual desire is evidenced by a heart on fire for God see this happens slowly losing your spiritual desire rarely happens deliberately it just doesn't take place overnight it just kind of fades away it just kind of slips away as the serpent python begins to methodically wrap himself around you and the cares of this world and of life itself begin to SAP all your strength and energy for the things of God change it in your heart or subtle at first I mean it's not like it doesn't come like a lightning bolt like the devil doesn't try to just grab it and jerk it out of your life no life issues begin to cut into your time with God things begin to get in the way trouble beget begins to get in the way then you find reasons and excuses not to come to church any longer or not to be as regular as you were because you're too busy or things got in the way and you don't pray as much as you did you don't go to the word as much as you did theirs and I've listened I mean they're there the pursuit of life has to happen I know that you got to be about life but in the middle of that you got to keep God at the center of everything now I think you should have some things outside the church that you enjoy I mean hobby skills sports activities travel all that but I've watched a lot of Christians through the years who've at one time been passionate for the things of God because they begin they lose their passion because they begin finding things outside the things of God that change them and they're slowly without realising when all of your enjoyment begins to be outside the things of God when everything you really love is outside the things of God you're being squeezed by Python he's squeezing the spiritual breath out of you look I know that that warning signs are hard to see sometimes when they're so subtle and so slow I mean know how to boil a frog you don't put a frog in a pan of hot water you put a frog in a pan of cold water and then you turn on the fire and slowly it heats up and you ball that frog because he won't jump out because he doesn't recognize it while it's happening you know I think that's the way it is a spiritual life sometimes the second thing I notice is physical 40 fatigue and that's very true of all of us we get tired we get weary I know that doesn't sound very spiritual because we're supposed to be filled with joy the Lord but we're created being spirit soul and body and the body is weak it allows things to get in my mind my soul that a that negatively affect my spirit and if I if I'm not sleeping at night if I'm not having a healthy lifestyle then if I'm not waking up refreshed in the morning I probably won't want to go to the word I probably won't want to go to prayer I probably won't want to read my scriptures and the words of Jesus like we reading this year a good example of this is Elijah in his run it with Jezebel know that story I mean he had fire fall from heaven a great miracle of God 815 the prophets of Bayeux were destroyed God showed himself visibly in a miraculous manner and after all that I don't know if you've ever prayed like John talking about praying but you can become physically exhausted praying into the heavenlies I mean it will wear you down physically you have to get some good sleep after that because if you're really doing battle with demon warfare it's going to tell on your body as well as your spirit and you have to stay in the Word of God you got to stay built up so here he is Elisha exhausted seeing his weariness you know the devil is quick to see your weariness seeing his weariness Jezebel attacked him right there she went right after him she sent her messenger to Elisha to tell him I'm gonna kill you you better run for your life what should happen he should have stood up and said you don't know who you're dealing with I serve the Living God you've just seen a miracle and he's got another one right behind that one so you better get off your throne and get out of here but he didn't do that he was tired tired warning signs of the Python spirit at work is physically tired keeping you away from the things of God third thing is the lackattack this is when you feel you don't have enough when your life is kind of coming to a point where you say I just don't know how I'm going to do this and all your energy and your resources dry up and then your your mind is constantly with that I'm not trying to imply that MasterCard and Visa are demons I'm not a demon chaser in that respect I'm simply saying you know you simply you can't just simply rebuke your debt you got to pay for it I'm if you incurred it you got to pay it you can't pray the bills away they got to be paid but you can certainly invoke the power of God to help you in Lac so here's Elijah he's already worn down adrenaline wore off so here he goes in first Kings 19 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elisha saying so let the gods do to me and more also if I don't make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time but she's talking about those who were killed when he saw that he arose and ran for his life it's the word of god it says the the prophet of god ran for his life went to Beersheba which belongs to judah and left his servant there he himself went on a day's journey into the wilderness sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die he said it's enough now Lord take my life it's the man of God he was tired and pythons grabbing hold of him and squeezing the very spiritual breath out of him he had seen the miracle of God just after a great victory listen probably many times we're going to face our greatest attacks either just before a great promotion or just after a great victory it's the way it works talk among yourselves from when everything everything in your life starts breaking down all the same time you nobody ever had that happen I mean business dries up layoffs are announced you lose your job the car breaks down the appliances are on the fritz kids are sick everything in your life see you're under a lackattack that's what you're that's what you're under the devil's coming at you full bore he's trying to strip everything away so that you will no longer trust God that you be so worried about the things of life that you will not give yourself over to the Lord he can get you worrying rather than worshiping he can win a battle I'm gonna say it again because I want you to hear it if he can get you to worrying instead of worshiping you'll start making decisions based on circumstances not on God's leadership and if you do that I'm going to tell you something you'll be led by your need and not led by your seed and say that again when you're led by your need and not led by your seed the devil's kind of got you where he wants you and you're making decisions based on your need rather than saying god I'm going to trust you I'm planting seed I'm planting seed in the good soil of the kingdom of God I'm not going to be led by my need because I know what the word says and I know who you are and I know your resources and I know that you'll supply all my needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus not according to my own not according to this earth I've seen people who are fully committed to God growing spiritually and then they get hit by lackattack they get their eyes off god they get their eyes on money in the needs they have in situations and then they jump into an opportunity that wasn't a god opportunity you know Satan brings opportunities to you need to have such discernment in your spiritual life that you understand that not every opportunity is a god opportunity including Amway well not every nothing wrong with that way but not every good offers from God the devil can make you some very tempting offers as well you need to be led by the Spirit of God to know what decisions to make in situations where breath spiritual breath is being squeezed out of you sometimes people jump at things that they shouldn't have jumped at see Satan even tried to do this to Jesus you remember over in Matthew 4 9 devil says all these things I'll give to you if you'll just fall down worship Me and that's what he's after he's after your worship he wants you to agree with him always remember there's two times in your life when you're especially vulnerable vulnerable to temptation when you have everything and when you have nothing I said two times in your life where you're especially especially vulnerable those are too hard words to say especially vulnerable to the attempts and the offers of Satan and that's when you have everything and when you have nothing be careful in those two situations that lackattack will drag you down if you're going through a lack attack you've got more month and you have money than look you got to focus your mind on God's promises not just scrambling and saying oh what am I going to do what am I going to do because the devil will bring an opportunity to you and it probably won't be the right one remember what the word says psalm 37:25 i've been young and now I'm old I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread and then in Joshua 1:8 and here's the way we combat the lackattack and the things of the devil who would come against us this book of the law this word of God shall not depart from your mouth in other words speak the Word of God speak it into the devil's ears devil you're a liar what you're offering me has no validity Jesus said Jesus confronted the devil and beat him with the Word of God every time when he was tempted he spoke the word it goes on to say you shall meditate in it day and night it's in me all the time that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it so he says speak it think it pray it do it that's what he says here then you'll make your way prosperous then you'll have good success this is God's plan for you speak it think it pray it and do it that's what this says then you make your way prosperous then there's success in your life listen God wants you to be prosperous he doesn't want you to be materialistic he wants you to be prosperous he wants you to be filled with the good things of this life but he wants you to trust him and honor him with all of it first so let me ask you a question so you got this opportunity and you're in kind of a lackattack does it pull you away from God by doing what you're going to do how about from church does it keep you out of church does it take you away from your family you know it seems to me like and our young people in here today for communion thank you for being here it's good to see Austin back Austin a little while I want you to come up and say something but Austin's Austin's in training training for ministry in life God's blessing Austin it seems they're training a generation to take their life direction from money and opportunity rather than from God that's why I thank God for our youth leaders here who are saying to our young people be filled with the Holy Spirit listen to the voice of God be directed by his voice I think it's great when young people want to work I think they should but I also think it's not so great when their work takes them away from God never let your kids trade the things of God for minimum wage I said just don't do that if it requires them to work and keeps them out of church don't give in to that that's Python squeezing the spiritual breath from your children don't trade God's blessings for minimum wage for your children God will provide another way for your kids so that they can be in church don't don't put new jeans or a new phone or a better car before faithfulness and serving God with your kids listen we got to train them right remember when you have nothing great temptation when you have everything great temptation one thing before I move on let me strongly suggest that you teach your children and your teens about tithing make good decisions about tithing before there's a Lac attack because tithing is simply a long-term look at taking care of your business with God and letting God take care of your business here on earth I said tithing is a long-term decision to take care of business with God and letting God then take care of your business in earth this is what God wants to be holy means to be set apart I think that's what tithe is tithe is holy unto the Lord Bible is clear on that set aside for God holy thing set apart only for God and if you're if you don't believe that then thank God because you're under grace and grace always does more than the law if the tithe or the law then grace does more you won't give 10% you'll give a lot more than that because you're a person of grace that's the way it works let's listen don't allow the devil to dominate you don't allow him to squeeze in all these areas of your life the breath out of you you have the authority to dominate him in every way and most the time we don't realize that James shows us he said submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil he'll run away from you he won't want to hang around you when your word is your mind is totally saturated with the Word of God and there is life coming out of you and every word out of you is the life of Jesus he will submit to you he will run from you don't let Satan deceive you and squeeze you with a spirit of Python fight back do not sit still and you know that's the only way a Python can really win here's the key on Python I studied how they destroy their enemy they're their prey after the bite which is not poisonous the person can fend off the Python simply by start moving and fighting back and get a stick and poke it in its eye and and you know push and fight and beat on him it's only when you sit still and allow him to I thought that was quite a revelation if you're fighting back he'll give up I said thank you Lord for revealing that to me this spirit of python is trying to scream over every breath out of you spiritually all you've got to do is stand up and fight back and he'll let go and this is true in every spiritual light every spiritual life fight back poke out the devil's eyes I'm telling you when he presses you and tries to squeeze the spirit out of you don't allow him fight back don't sit still don't allow your disobedience in the spirit sinful attitudes loving the things of Earth to cause you to lose your Dominion that's what will happen what God wants from you is for you to fight back with the weapons he's given us and he's given us great weapon in fact Luke 10:19 says behold I give you authority to trample on serpents does that have a different meaning to you now you were thinking about you know some snake coming at you no we're talking about the serpent the devil and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you because you will fight back and when you do he'll let go you're designed for authority you're designed for a mint dominion over the power of the enemy and isaiah 54:17 no weapon including the serpent the spirit of python or any other spirit any demon attitude that comes at you has power over you because they cannot prosper because the Bible says so and every tongue which rises against you and judgment you shall condemn this is the heritage of the Lord glory is Right hallelujah glory to God fight back fight back fight back

Channel: Faith And Wisdom Church

Views: 22,068

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Keywords: Python spirit, python, spirit, snake, church, Faith And Wisdom Church, Branson, Missouri, 2016

Id: ftGNOw_QQXo

Length: 34min 0sec (2040 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 29 2016