These notes accompany the sermon found here.

Spiritual Foes

• The Spirit of Divination: πνεῦμα   πύθωνα , Acts 16:16.  A pythian spirit?  Legend says that a serpent or dragon guarded the famous oracle at Delphi, but had been slain by Apollo.  This creature was called a puthone after the region it was found in.  This comes into English as python.  In first-century Greek, individuals with a spirit of divination – telling of the future or unknown things, or exercising ventriloquism – were said to have a pythian spirit.  This is what we find in Acts 16:16.
• One of many spiritual forces aligned against the Gospel.
• See Ephesians 6:10-20; 1 Corinthians 9:25; Luke 10:17.

Human Foes 

• The owners, Acts 16:19-21; James 1:14-15.
• The magistrates, Acts 16:20-22, 35-39.
• The crowd, Acts 16:22; Luke 19:37-38, 23:21.

Human Friends

• Paul and Silas, Acts 16:25.
• The Jailer, Acts 16:33-34.

Spiritual Friends

• God
• See Acts 16:6-10, 14-15, 18, 25-26, 34; 1 John 4:4-6;

Conclusions

• Who are the winners and losers here? The slave girl?  The slave owners?  The crowd?  The magistrates? The Jailer?  Paul and Silas?  The church at Philippi?
• Believe that the Lord is making the best of every moment in His service. Romans 8:28; Genesis 50:20; Philippians 2:5-11.

“There was once a fiddler who played so beautifully that everybody danced. A deaf man who could not hear the music considered them all insane. Those who are with Jesus in suffering hear this music to which other men are deaf. They dance and do not care if they are considered insane.”

― Richard Wurmbrand, Victorious Faith