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The Atmosphere of Breakthrough
Transforming your atmosphere into a climate of praise.
Scripture:
Acts 16:23-26
“And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”
Ephesians 2:1-6
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
INTRODUCTION
God has really impressed this on my spirit this week as we are continuing our mini series on the Spirit of Python.
I want you to be aware that atmosphere is everything. We are in such a crucial moment and timeframe and we cannot afford to allow the atmosphere of the room to be contaminated with anything but praise and prayer.
The atmosphere in the natural is important because it is providing us air to breath, shielding us from harmful radiation, and it regulates temperature.
In the spiritual the atmosphere is important because God responds to it.
He is omnipresent which means he is Everywhere.
Just because he is everywhere, does not mean that he manifest his presence the same everywhere.
The atmosphere determines the encounter you have with God. Hold on, let me teach just a minute.
Bananas grow in Jamaica but they can’t grow in Alaska. Because the atmosphere is right in Jamaica but it isn’t in Alaska. Restaurants may not win you over with their food, but if you like the atmosphere, you will go back. Bars and Nightclubs will set the “mood” by playing music that makes people dive deeper into their emotions, lights, dancing, and alcohol to numb the pain. It creates an environment for sin.
Atmosphere creates a climate, and climate creates culture.
Let me teach for just a minute…
If the atmosphere of the room is consistent, it creates a climate. Climate is a long term average of patterns from the atmosphere. Once you get used to the climate, it becomes culture.
This is why people who live on the beach freeze if they get in weather that is in the 60s because their body is used to a hot climate and it has become their culture.
In a spiritual sense, we have developed a culture that has settled for an absence of the miraculous because we no longer value the supernatural.
This is why some of you in the room have never seen a miracle in your life. Because you have never seen one, it is hard for you to believe that Miracle really happen but listen to the preacher today…
You will never see a miracle if your atmosphere is not an atmosphere that supports the miraculous.
God responds to atmosphere. He loves praise. He loves worship. The Bible says in psalms 22:3 that God inhabits the praises of his people. That word inhabits is “yaw-shav” which means to sit , to remain, or to dwell.
You praise provides a seat for him in the service.
If you are not praising, he has not found a place to inhabit. If you want to see the miraculous you have got to develop a pattern that in return creates a climate. We don’t need an atmosphere of praise, we need a climate of praise so that in return; it becomes who we are!
Lord, let our culture be praise. Let our culture be prayer. Let our culture be victor. Let our culture be miracles signs and wonders. Let us not be comfortable in an atmosphere that is not filled with praise. Let us not be comfortable in an atmosphere that is not filled with worship and deliverance.
God SHIFT our Atmosphere, that our climate may be the miraculous.
Pollution Kills Atmosphere
In Ephesians 2 we see where Satan is referred to as the prince of the power of the air.
The Greek word that is used for air in Ephesians is aēr (ah-ayr) which means the atmospheric region.
The word prince in this text means commander or leader. Paul is saying that Satan is the commander of the atmosphere in regards to the course of the world and our former walk.
When you bar hopped every weekend before you got saved, it was Satan who knew the atmosphere you were attracted to and he used it to entice you with sin.
This is why some of you who have been delivered from alcohol addiction cannot go back into places that you used to go into because the atmosphere attracts the flesh.
But the atmosphere is an earthly setting. For those of us who have surrendered our life to Christ, we are not dead in our trespasses because he made us alive together with Christ (by Grace we have been saved.)
Because we have been saved by Grace, Paul said in Ephesians, we are not controlled by the atmosphere that the enemy creates, we are called to sit in Heavenly places with Christ.
I don’t have to wait until I get there to experience heaven when Heaven is where I am seated right now.
My atmosphere is not a worldly, secular atmosphere. My atmosphere is a heavenly atmosphere. If you are tired of dead church. Tired of nothing happening. Tired of the same three songs and the same sermonette from the preacher driving a corvette on the way to the dinette, smoking a cigarette…then CHANGE YOUR SEAT!
As long as you are residing in an atmosphere of sin, you will never experience a heavenly climate.
Some of us have polluted our atmosphere with so much garbage that it is effecting the climate of our lives. Listen to me…you create your own culture by living in a climate of your choosing. But certain fruits don't grow in certain climates.
The fruits of the spirit will never grow in a climate that is polluted by the flesh.
I want to tell you a true story that is found in an article form Los Angelas, California years ago. They were having such a. Great problem with pollution and smog that it looked like a dark cloud that covered the entire city. You would look up and you couldn’t hardly see the sun shine because of the smog.
They called a special committee of environmental experts to help relieve the pollution of toxic clouds and gasses. Upon studying, the committee called a press conference. The Mayor was there alongside of the city officials and when the gentleman who was handling the research stood up at the press conference this is what he told them. “There is no solution for your pollution.”
The article said that the man paused and he said these words…”what we really need is a wind from elsewhere to sweep through the city and blow the pollution out to the sea.”
This spirit of Python is trying to choke the wind out of the church because it is the wind that is described in Acts Chapter 2 as a mighty rushing wind that blows away the pollution in the hearts and lives of mankind. Giving them a new future and a brand new start.
The enemy would love for you to believe that once you are an addict you will always be an addict. He would love for you to believe that once you have tasted alcohol, you will never be anything but an alcoholic.
He would love for you to believe that your life has no value and your life has no purpose. He would love for you to stay bound up in the shackles of your failures…pumping you full of lies, telling you there is no solution for your pollution…but I came to tell someone at Renovation Church…
We need a wind from elsewhere….
We need a Mighty rushing wind to sweep through this house again, removing the pollution in the atmosphere, allowing the sun to shine through the clouds again….giving us a fresh air and a new breath.
We need a wind from elsewhere that will blow away attitudes, offenses, and mindsets. We need a. Wind that will blow away trauma, addiction, and lifestyles.
There is a solution to your pollution and he is Jesus! The alpha and omega. The beginning and the end. Our refuge and strong tower. The bright and morning star. The Lion in the tribe of Judah who was and is and is to come.
Don’t believe the lie of the enemy when he tells you that your life will always be the same….Jesus is a grave robber and he is calling from from an atmosphere of death to sit in Heavenly places with him.
Somebody release a shout of praise in this house today if you are thankful that he didn’t leave in the jacked up state that he found you in. but he sobered you up, saved your soul, and put you on a solid foundation.
Pollution kills the atmosphere but the wind is the solution to the pollution.
2. Prayer and Praise Promotes the Miraculous
Let me get to my main text now. Last week we left off where Paul and Silas was headed to a place of prayer. There were met by a girl who had a spirit of Python.
After Paul casted it out of her, they were severely beaten and thrown into the inner prison. Wednesday night, Logan talked about the inner wall falling. The inner prison was a holding place for high-profile prisoners awaiting execution or other severe punishments.
It is the most secure part in the prison, highly patrolled.
Paul and Silas were originally going to a place of prayer but to them prayer was not just a place or an environment. It was the culture. They had gotten so consistent in their prayer and their praise, that the place they were in did not matter.
Beaten, bloody, and hurting…Paul still had a praise. Bruised, swollen, and broken….Silas still had a prayer!
They didn’t have to go to a place of prayer to be a people of prayer.
I am not supporting the theology that you can stay home and still remain saved. I believe you need to be in God’s house with his people, but what I am telling you is this…
No matter the atmosphere of your circumstance…prayer and worship has become your culture.
I don't believe that Paul and Silas waited until Midnight to sing and pray. I don’t believe they ever stopped. Because it wasn’t something that they did, it was who they were.
Worship should never be something we do but a reflection of who we are.
They stripped them in the streets of their earthly garment, but they still had a garment of praise!
Many people in today’s society has developed a circumstantial praise.
They worship based on their current circumstance and they view the goodness of God based on their current goodness of life in the moment.
But listen to the preacher…
When you can worship in the midst of pain and tragedy. When you can worship in the midst of grief. Worship in the midst of uncertainty…it creates and atmosphere for breakthrough.
When you worship when you don't feel like. Trust him when it doesn’t make sense. Shout when you feel like you are going under. Pray when it seems like you don't have a prayer…you better expect a midnight miracle.
Midnight is in the third watch off the night. It is a time of spiritual warfare and also known as the witching hour and potential demonic activity making it a crucial time for prayer and intercession.
When Paul and Silas got in that prison cell they made a declaration.
We will not let our surroundings determine our praise.
We will not allow our circumstances to give us a new identity. We were worshippers before and we are still worshippers now. We were men of prayer before and that’s what we are now. We were battling spiritually before and that’s what we are doing now.
In the midst of their prayer and their worshipping there was a great earthquake.
Remember what I told you that psalms 22:3 said? That God inhabits the praises of his people.
That Earthquake was just God taking his seat in the midst of that prison.
Your prison cell is not big enough for his glory.
His presence is still breaking open prison doors. His presence is still busting you out of situations that you thought would be fatal. He is still delivering his people from the hands of the enemy.
3. The Atmosphere for Snakes
We know that Paul and Silas are in an inner prison cell because he casted out a Spirit of Divination which means A Spirit of Python from a slave girl.
Pythons cannot thrive just anywhere. They can only survive in specific environments. Grasslands, woodlands, and swamps…
Proverbs 25:26 says “A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well.”
Ezekiel had a vision in Ezekiel chapter 47 and he refers to swamps in verse 11 and says that they will be given over to salt because it was stagnant. The waters that were moving produced healing.
I find it interesting that one of the largest snake species in the world living in a place of stagnancy, where nothing moves.
I also find it interesting that the waters that moved in Ezekiel produced healing or the miraculous.
Perhaps the reason we are not seeing the miraculous could be that we have gotten stagnant in the normality.
You are vulnerable to the spirit of Python when you get stagnant. When you get stagnant you are cohabitating with destruction because the Python Spirit gains it grip when you lose yours.
I don’t like all that shouting. I don’t like all them lights and music. I don’t like this and I don’t like that….but do you like the snake that is wrapped around your life?
This is why a lot of our churches are fading away. Because times are changing and they are stagnant and cannot adapt. So it allows this Python Spirit to slip in and strangle out what life is left and pretty soon it will be another building up for sale.
Listen to me…We cannot afford to get still. We must keep moving forward.
Pythons are cold blooded. They rely on the environment to regulate their body temperature. Since they are relying on the environment…I refuse to be a thermometer.
I spent a few years after high school trying to follow in my dads footsteps. I started working and trying to learn to be an HVAC technician. I learned something when I was working in that trade.
The entire house can be controlled by something as small as a thermostat.
It has the smallest wires. It does not cost as much as the rest of the system, yet it tells the system what to do.
They are not Thermometers. Thermometers are controlled but the atmosphere and the environment. Thermostats a control the atmosphere and the environment.
Many people in the church today are Thermometers. Their praise is dictated by what they are going through in the moment. Their worship is dependent on which ever what the wind is blowing.
You will never experience the miraculous being a thermometer.
The difference between a thermostat and a thermometer is communication. The thermostat communicates with the equipment that has the ability to change the atmosphere. When it is getting too hot, it sends a signal. When it is getting too cold, it sends a signal.
Worship is my signal, and when I send my signal, he pours out the miraculous!
Not only does the thermostat communicate but it also has power. There’s voltage running to this thermostat to keep it operating.
How many in the room today is thankful that
You have heavenly voltage running through your spirit!
The same spirit hat opened blinded eyes…lives in me!
That same spirit that raised Lazarus from the dead lives in me!
That same spirit that cleansed the lepers, lives in me!
The same spirit that empowered Jesus is empowering you and I.
He healed the sick, he said we would too.
He raised the dead, he said we would too.
He casted out spirits, he said that we would too.
“These works and greater shall you do.”
I am not settling for less when I was made for more.
Don’t you get stagnant when he said that living waters would flow out of your being. We are not a swampy wasteland. We are a stream that is giving healing to those who come.
We are not accommodating the spirit of python by the environment we produce. We are shifting from visitation to habitation because we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
We will cut the head off of that serpent and cast him in the fire. We are the Church of Jesus Christ and our Atmosphere will be an atmosphere of paise!
Come on somebody! Praise him in this place today!
In that prison cell, Paul and Silas refused to be dictated by their atmosphere. I am sure, being in the inner prison, and having been a person of the law; Paul knew exactly what was going to happen if God didn't move on their behalf.
But he wasn’t going to wait for God to move before he praised him.
Some of y'all need to just praise him in advance.
Don’t wait for him to heal your body, Praise him now!
Don’t wait for him to save your children, Praise him now!
Don’t wait for him to put your marriage back together, Praise him Now!
Praise him in advance!
When you respond to Gods presence with praise, He will respond to you with the miraculous.
God will never ignore your praise!
Lift a shout of praise in this house today because heaven is invading the atmosphere. This is shifting from a climate to a culture.
Shout to heaven in this house today!
Let everything that has breath praise ye the Lord!
Conclusion:
I’m done, stand with me.
The thermostat will never be without power…just as long as it has 2 AA batteries.
When the electricity goes out…the thermostat is still on.
When Paul and Silas were in that prison cell…they had a battery of prayer and a battery of praise.
If all I’ve got is a prayer and a praise, I have enough to be victorious over Hell.
My praise is a weapon. Praise brought Jericho down. Praise opened prison doors. Praise will shift my atmosphere.
When we endure a storm or a season of darkness, as long as we have a battery of praise, and a battery of prayer…the atmosphere cannot take the power we have to change the atmosphere.
Praise team come on and get ready.
You may be here this morning and this Python has almost got the breath squeezed out of your life.
Manipulating your mind to make you think you have no reason to praise the Lord. You have no reason to worship. You have No reason to pray.
You may be in a prison of emotions, a prison of decisions…your prison door will open when you learn to worship where you are. When you learn to pray where you are.
Your life may resemble a swampy wasteland. A breeding ground for these snakes…but as long as you have a praise, you are not defeated.
Prayer and Praise is the key to your freedom.
Flood this altar today and just begin to create and atmosphere of praise! When you praise, he will sit in this house!
When he sits in this house, the lost get found.
The cancer ridden bodies get healed.
The confused get untangled.
Miracles are attached to your praise!
Shift this atmosphere for the Glory of God!