Paul became so annoyed that he said, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her.

Acts 16, verse 18.

Welcome to this daily encouragement from our daily bread.

Unexpected interruption was written by Matt Lucas and read by West Ward.

Acts chapter 16 verses 16 through 24.

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit

by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of

money for her owners by fortune-telling. She 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. She kept us up

for many days. Finally, Paul became so annoyed 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. When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas

and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates

and said, These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs

unlawful for us Romans to accept

or practice.

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas and the magistrates ordered them

to be stripped and beaten with rods.

After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded

to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell,

and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Unexpected Interruption, written by Matt Lucas.

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