Don’t Grieve the Holy Spirit

Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast.

You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.

We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the

cross. Now let's join the service.

Going to be in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25 and going to preach

Ephesians 4:25

on a little verse in here that's mysterious to a lot of people

can mean different things, but yet it means one thing.

But I spend a lot of my days and late nights wee morning hours

whenever the Holy Spirit wakes me up and I guess for 16 going

on 17 years now trying to keep the world out of the church.

That's my goal and trying to keep the church to being the

church. I heard a pastor one time preach

a message and he said let the church be the church.

But can I tell you church is much different?

When I was growing up, churches were much different that I

attended than they are today. We have so many functions, we

have so many different things going on and I've just, I've

been on the church has been on my heart lately.

The the body of Christ, not just this church, but the things that

go on in the church. And I believe as Christians, we

all long for a move of God. There's a lot of people that

haven't seen someone get up out of a wheelchair and walk.

There's a lot of people that haven't experienced someone with

stage 4 mesothelioma, cancer instantly healed instantly.

There's lots of people that I've seen broken bones and I've seen

those things healed instantly in the arena.

And there's one common denominator that has always been

present. It's always been the Spirit of

the Lord, the Holy Spirit that moves upon his people.

But today I fear that it's absent in a lot of churches.

It's absent here a lot of times. And with new people and new

growth, there's, you know, there's, there's things that

that we have to adapt and change here.

But I heard this message years ago and it spurred me to this

tonight. It said let the church be the

church. But there's so many in the

church today that don't know anything about church and what

the church was for. Many people today go to church

and they seek to think about what the church can do for them,

never thinking of what they could do to for the church.

They don't know anything about a fivefold ministry.

And the church was designed to equip those that attend, to

equip us, right? Not always meet the problems and

meet the needs, but to equip us. And we're to go out and work as

we have a lot of people here that do.

And I'm so thankful for that. But it's also to produce

spiritual growth within the church, right?

I got lots of spiritual sons. I got some that, you know, I

look back 16 years ago here and, and some of these old messages

was probably hard for Tony to swallow when he first started

coming, right? But we just kept spurring.

We kept kicking people. We kept spurring them on.

And now he's the state president of a ministry got brother

Charlie and him going out and preaching.

I'm so proud of those things. Amen.

Because it I watch people grow and it's a great thing to to

watch people grow. But we can never become

complacent. And when I first started this

church, I asked my my grandma, when she spoke memo, she was she

was like EF Hutton. Everybody listened and I asked

her, I said back in those days they, they didn't have any

salaries at the church. People showed up and they and

they worked. And I asked her, I said back in

those days, y'all worked a lot harder during the day than we

do. And I look around tonight, it's

not a full house, but how many could say it's way better than

Wednesday nights? Used to be a man, yes.

But I said, I know y'all worked a lot harder with the mules and

doing those things and then you showed up at church and and I

said she always had a simple answer to everything.

And I said how did y'all do it? She said we just knew what we

had to do and we showed up and did it.

It was much simpler back then. We knew what we had to do.

We showed up and did it. But today it seems a little

lopsided when we look at the church and beyond the church.

The what is the church? It's the body of Christ.

It's not a building. It's not about the functions at

the church. It's the body of Christ and what

they are doing and how they're rolling.

And today I see the body of Christ a little bit lopsided.

It's only what can the church do for me.

But see, when it's lopsided, it doesn't roll.

Very good things don't work very good, right?

But I'm so proud of these things that are going on here and the

things that are happening. But we can never become

complacent because the devil's not going to stop sticking his

head up. Amen.

So stand with me in the reading of the Word.

Want to talk about the church tonight?

And I believe this passage of Scripture, it can hit home to us

in a lot of ways in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 25 here in

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

about 7 verses, it can change your life.

But the apostle Paul, he titled this, this starting at verse 25.

It's, it's about not grieving, say grieving the Spirit,

grieving the Spirit. A lot of people I've been asked,

what does it mean to grieve the Spirit?

I'm going to explain that tonight.

But in Ephesians 4 and 25, he says, therefore put away lying.

Wow. That'll happen in the church.

I've confessed many times as a pastor.

I've done lots of business, still have my own business.

I've done been retired twice from two different things and I

have been lied to more at that back door than I ever have in

the world by people coming by and saying I'll see you next

week pastor. Best church ever been to.

It's so good here. I feel the Spirit.

I've never felt that life and never to see him again.

But that's not truth right? Either they were lying to me or

they were lying to their self. I just I'm an honest guy.

Y'all have learned that but put away lying.

Whatever it is we lie about, put it away right.

Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor for we are

members of one another makes it different.

When you think like that be angry.

We're going to get mad, but do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, verse 27 nor give

place to the devil. Let him move stole still no

longer, but rather let him labor working with his hands what is

good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good

for necessary and for the edification that it may impart

grace to the hearers. It's what you say.

What comes out of your mouth. Does it impart grace?

Does it edify? I hear a lot of things just in

the passing by here coming out of some mouths.

Hello. That doesn't edify.

It doesn't edify. We must edify.

We must build up, right? But in verse 30 here he says

this. And this is what I want to

preach to you tonight. And do not grieve the Holy

Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of

redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath,

anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with all

malice, and be kind to one another, tender hearted,

forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.

Father, we thank you for Your Word tonight.

Father, I pray this message is not a easy one for me to preach.

It's it's kind of a, a hard one, God, but I know you're going to

give me the grace, you're going to give me the strength, you're

going to give me the anointing to relay that to this church.

What you've given to me tonight. I pray you'd use it to change

our lives. I pray you'd use it to help us

to never become complacent with that what you've blessed us with

never to be satisfied, but always reaching and pressing on

toward the upward call of Christ Jesus realizing that the

adversary the devil is a roaring lion.

He's he's going to and fro seeking whom he may devour.

Help us to be aware of those things in Jesus name.

We pray you may be seated the utterance or the Speaking of

evil or even worthless or idle words can grieve.

The Holy Spirit doesn't necessarily have to be a bad

word a bad thing. He says that a idle word can

grieve. In Matthew 1236 and and seven,

Jesus spoke of this, he says, but I say to you that for every

idle word that a man speaks, they will give an account in the

day of judgment. And that's powerful, isn't it?

We'll give an account for an idle word, a word that's not

edifying, a word that's not lifting up.

And you know all those words really do that spew out of our

mouth many times about someone else is they pull us down when

we met. Ain't it cool how that God put

this together tonight we talked about throwing stones in the

song service, but them idle words, you know, after we and

sometimes it feels really good to spill them.

It feels really good to get it off your chest and talk about

how somebody else is. But it would accomplish more if

you would just go to them right. But the utterance of the

Speaking of evil, even worthless idle words.

He says that we will be judged and in verse 37 he says for by

your words, think about this by my words, not your words, but by

my words, I will be justified and by my words I can be

condemned. What does this mean?

Because see, this means that the the way that you become born

again, the way that you become in Christ, the way that you

become part of the body of Christ is how the confession we

have to confess that Jesus is Christ and the price that he

paid upon the cross of Calvary justifies any person.

So by our words we shall be justified or by our words we

shall be condemned, right? There's going to be a lot of

people that simply go to hell because they could not believe

that Jesus came to planet earth and he died on a cross.

And many can believe that he died, but then they have trouble

thinking that he rose again, right?

And then if they believe He, I hear the stuff all the time, and

then they believe He hung on the cross and he died and He rose

again. They can believe that, but they

can't believe that He was getting that a virgin gave

birthright. So by their words they will be

condemned. But he says, he says, let know

we go back to the verse 29 of Ephesians.

He says let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but

what is good for necessary edification, and that means

instruction or improvement. And do not grieve the Holy

Spirit. So see if my unkind words can

grieve the Holy Spirit. I got a question.

How much more can my actions right?

Sometimes we act some ways, but we don't say it and we get

justified through that. But people are watching your

actions really more than they're watching your words because we

become a society that's so good at saying, I'll call you back

later, never to call. All right, let me, I, I get in a

bad habit of that, say I'll holler at you later and I never

call them back. So is it true that I'm going to

call later? I mean, a day or two, we get in

these little deals, but if you're not careful, the enemy

will use it as a foothold. So how much more are my actions

held accountable? I'm going to preach to you a

little bit Now you got your steel toes on.

You know I love you before I go here, but I'm going to go here,

especially in the House of God. What about our actions in the

House of God? What about the way we act in the

House of God? If we believe this is a place

that we come, that that the Spirit of the Lord abounds, that

we can experience the presence of God, but yet when we step in

here, we're doing everything contrary to invite His presence.

Amen because as we preach about the Holy Spirit, see we can

short circuit or stop the flow of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Not saying you're not saved, not saying you're not going to

heaven, but saying that what you experienced in the here and now

can be stopped. It can be short circuited.

The Holy Spirit in a church service or a setting.

Y'all ready for this? I see this a lot.

A lot. You know when I grew up there,

you know there's some churches that don't talk at all.

They don't holler, they don't shout, they don't praise.

You know I think there's a happy medium there.

Y'all ready for this? You want the Holy Spirit to

move? Talking to your neighbor

excessively. Lord just laid this on my heart

today. Some of these things talking to

your neighbor excessively while someone that God has laid a song

on for that week, they've been singing it all week and we can't

reverence enough to zip it and listen.

Or while someone's preaching we say oh I'm still listening.

Oh really? Y'all ready for this?

A phone goes off automatically. What happens?

Anybody agree with that when the phone goes off?

So I know people use if I'm not saying don't use it for

scripture, but figure out a way to turn it off because when the

phone goes off, it's much more than just a phone going off.

It quenches the spirit automatically.

People's attention go to you, right?

Phone's a great thing, but know how to use it.

Turn it off. If yours just went off, I'm

preaching to you because they go from listening to a sermon to

the phone. Then the mind begins to spin.

I wonder what they were on. I want they they miss about 5

verses right there or five sentences of what the pastor had

preached because of mine. I wonder what they're doing.

What are they looking at? They can't be looking at the

scripture because it's going on. I wonder how that happened.

What are they looking at? So therefore what has really

happened? It's way deeper than the phone.

What the enemy's doing through the phone is way deeper than

what you and I can see. So therefore, have I grieved,

have I quenched the Holy Spirit of God?

Have I even stopped it? Not only for you, but for

someone else too #2 I don't see this a lot in the church, and it

could be why we don't see the healings and miracles that we've

once seen. It's called reverence.

What is reverence? It's the deepest respect, deep

respect for someone or something.

This is a House of holiness. The Bible speaks of your earthly

temple. You're a House of holiness

because the Holy Spirit dwells and is within you, right?

But we grieve the Holy Spirit when we act unreverently in the

House of God. We know this, but yet many

choose the opposite. See, Paul lived when he was

writing to the church at Ephesus.

He lived and ministered to the to the people of Ephesus for two

years and his ministry had a powerful impact on the entire

city. But as you read the book of

Ephesians, you will find that many times he had to go and

remind the Christians right to do the things that are common.

They had to remind them to do the things I thank God for the

discipline that my father give me from the time I was 13 until

my, my, my stepfather, he raised me in a in a strict fashion.

I mean, I had freedom, but I knew my boundaries.

I had freedom, but I knew what I knew what respect was because if

I didn't, it was it wasn't time out.

It was knock you out. It was with a belt.

And when I was 14 or 15, he said, you're big enough and it

ain't going to be a belt no more.

And I knew what he was talking about.

I never thought about challenging.

I never called my dad my old man because until he was probably

75, I still could not whoop him. Probably that's the kind of man

he was. I never thought about it.

I hear people say I got my old man.

I could take him now. I never thought that I had seen

him before. I, I didn't want none of that.

He was very, very strong man. But see, that's the problem

today. We don't know our place in the

Kingdom because there's many, many among non Christians that

that don't know about the House of God and we just let things

happen. But Paul had to remind

Christians not to do things common among non Christians.

We shouldn't be common. The House of God should be

different as if we had to go back to square 1.

The apostle Paul did too. When those that know better than

that than to break some of the obvious things of God's

commandments that causes sorrow, it causes the Holy Spirit to

grieve and in effect with ungodly behavior breaks the

heart of God. Think about that.

You know how you grieve when anybody ever had a teenager that

got their driver's license and got that car and you knew how

they took care of things around the house.

And man, when they was pulling out that driveway, I walked

over, laid hands on my John's truck because he couldn't drive

a four Wheeler without flipping it or doing something.

I laid hands on it. I knew what he was going to do

when he got around the corner. And you know that you know how

that feels. Or you get that call and they

done, done something crazy and you know how and the next time

they go out, that hurt, that grieving that's with inside.

You see, that's how our heavenly Father feels when we begin to do

things and and they're like he grieves us.

We grieve the Holy Spirit of God, but it's so important not

to grieve the spirit. John 424 Why is this?

We must get this verse. It says God is a spirit.

God is a spirit and his worshippers must worship him in

spirit and in truth. So what does that mean if I got

to worship God in spirit and in truth, that means that true

worship comes from the inside. You know, there's a lot of

people think it comes from here. They, they worship with one hand

up, one eye open. That's not true worship.

Hey, man, I've seen it. And we've got so complacent with

it in the house. We, we can wave our hands and we

can shout and we can do those things.

But if it's not from the heart, it grieves the Spirit of God.

It grieves him. It's so true that worship, what

it means is it comes from the inside with a genuine heartfelt

reverence, right? Because we know that God is in

the house and we know that His presence is passing by.

True worship is a spiritual connection with God and not

worrying about anything else around you that transcends your

physical location. I like that.

It doesn't have to happen in the House of God.

It can transcend your physical location or formality to worship

in spirit and truth. What is it?

This is a call to go or to move beyond the external actions.

It's an inward thing, like just singing songs or reciting

prayers to a deeper inner worship.

That is a sincere devotion, not one hand up and one eye open.

And I'm preaching this because I feel a lot of quenching today.

I feel a lot of quenching of the Spirit of the Lord.

And I want the Spirit to move in our lives.

Our worship effects others greatly.

Sunday morning, man, I was up here and there was some, I think

it was about seven or eight people standing and Brother Gene

was over there, new guy coming on that backseat.

I was over there. I just happened to catch him.

I usually don't notice things but man when the when that song

started he got up and he took his hoodie off.

All right, he took his hoodie off, he pulled the sleeves off

and he laid it down. He like he's rolling his sleeves

up, Man, he went to worship and I thought, man, he's ready to

worship. I saw him.

It got me pumped. I was like he's expecting God to

do something. But as I close Sunday, I begin

to state these healings of cancer, these crippled people

walking that many of us have have witnessed here.

The list goes on and on that on beyond my my memory.

And I begin to think it seemed in the early days that crossed

power, there was more healings. It seemed in the early days

there was more miracles of God. And I began to look at those

things. You know, we got a lot more

coming. We got a lot more people every

week than we've had. But with more people comes more

grieving, with more quenching, and without the Holy Ghost

present, without the Holy Spirit present.

I've said many times I cannot preach at a place like that.

But it's easy to get complacent and worship.

It's easy. But see, without the anointing,

guess what? You really ain't got a preacher.

You've just got empty words. Because I can't do it without

the anointing. Because he's my helper.

Did you hear me tonight? I said he's my helper.

He's my God. He's the way, the truth and the

light. And in John 16 and 13, Jesus

repeatedly referred to the Holy Spirit as what?

As the spirit of truth. Let's read that John 16 and and

13. It says, however, when he can

you Can you imagine Jesus being there after that, knowing he was

going to the cross, knowing what he was fixing to lay down,

knowing that he was going to rise again, knowing that he was

going to send to the right hand of the Father and be in heaven.

But yet he's looking at them people and he's saying, I've

been here, but there's something that's even greater than me

that's coming to you because I can't be here no more.

You know, they were scratching their head, man.

Look at all the things Jesus, he messed.

He messed up all the rules at the pool when he told the guy he

was healed to get up and quit wearing him out the pool.

Hey, man, he when he stooped down and wrote on the dirt,

whatever it was that made everybody just shut up and walk

off. He did some cool things.

But he said, however, when he the spirit of truth has come, he

will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own

authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will

let he will tell you things to come.

Isn't that neat? That's what the Holy Spirit

does. He's the Spirit of truth.

Let's go to that next verse. He will glorify me.

He'll bring glory to to Christ, for he will take of what is mine

and he will declare it to you. He will guide you into all

truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever

He speaks, He will speak and He will tell you things to come.

The Holy Spirit, an inner compass in our lives, always

pointing us to the cross, always pointing us to the Father,

always point us to the things we could say or do.

In Acts 10 and 19, Peter had had a vision and he was trying to

figure it out, and it says the Spirit spoke to him.

The Spirit speaks. We got to fight, we got to

contend, because if not, we just become an empty, we just become

a church full of people, but yet empty of the Spirit, right?

Empty of the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

And I fight this all the time for the move of the Holy Ghost,

the move of the Spirit. It tends to not move when it's

grieved or when it's unwanted. Do you want it?

Do you want it? Will you help me?

Because there's a whole world out there that they were called

to make disciples of, and they don't want it.

They don't want no change. They want the cross, they want

the forgiveness, they want the fire insurance, but they really

don't want God meddling in their personal lives.

I long to see people healed. I long to see people set free.

That doesn't. But that doesn't happen without

the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit doesn't do

it, guess what? The addiction comes back.

If the Holy Spirit doesn't do it, the anger is not kindled.

I want people to feel the Spirit as they walk in this place.

I want people just to feel Jesus as we reach out to shake a hand.

It's possible, but not without the Holy Spirit, not without

love, not without the Holy Spirit.

How many got How many got their taxes in the last few days?

Anybody get taxes? Nobody already got mine.

How many is going to pay them taxes?

We're going to give them to a government, right?

Because it's required. Praise is required.

Praise and worship and accepting the Holy Spirit.

But what gets me is, man, we can't wait to get a mail because

if we don't pay it, what happens?

It goes up. It goes up, it goes up here at

this church. All I had to do is sign a little

paper and turn some authority over to the government.

We wouldn't have to pay them, but we paid them for 16 years

because I don't want the government messing with the

church. Hey, man, I don't believe the

government's qualified to run the church.

I don't believe the government's qualified to tell us in this

continuation of this Church of what what it could be and where

it could go and what it could do.

And if you're a 501-C3, that's what it does a man.

So we choose to pay property tag.

Well, what if we don't have the money?

I don't have it anyway. God's got it.

It's all his, right? But it amazes me.

We're going to pay them taxes and we pay them taxes.

We have faith. If we pay them taxes and we send

it to the government, we have faith that we're going to drive

on a smooth Rd. Hello.

You see that lie every day? We have faith, right?

But we'll go send it to the government and we'll lay down at

night. We voted somebody in and we have

peace with that. We have peace with giving that

to the government, right? I don't because I don't we, they

prove they can't run things up there, right?

We have a government that's doing what right now?

What is it another word for that failing?

Could it be failing because they can't agree, because they can't

come across lines because of little, little issues?

I don't know. I don't get into all that.

But what I do know is, is we we don't have a problem just

sending. Ain't nobody got to come by your

house and tell you to pay the government, right?

But you let a preacher, I don't know how many agrees I'm not a

preacher. You have never heard me preach

on money and and say I need money, right?

I've never done that 16 years. We'll never do it because God

supplies all of my needs according to his riches and

glory. But the Bible requires us to

give a 10th holy. But yet we can't do that because

see, we put so much faith in the government, right?

We get on United Airlines, and now during the holidays, they

can't pay their traffic controllers, if I understand it

right. But they still people smart

enough in this world that's going to get on the plane and

trust that somehow it's just going to work out.

We put our faith in them. We put our faith in taxes.

But yeah, come on, get me, Holy Ghost.

We have trouble giving any of our time, our talents or our

treasures to God. And I got news for you.

He's never failed. He's never shut down.

Amen. I've never known the sun to not

come up in the morning. Amen.

I've never know my heart, as long as I live to not keep

beating and supplying the air of my lungs.

So I have no trouble believing in a God that's never failed.

Hey, man, the oceans have never run dry.

I'm telling you can trust in God.

Hey, man, if you can even think about trusting in the

government, you can trust in God.

He's never made a promise that he couldn't keep, and he's not

going to fail now. But the question is, do you want

it? Do you want it, man?

I, I, you know, I like to tell stories and I like to preach and

be funny and do all those things, but I'm not seeing much

growth out of that. You'll see people come in the

doors, but that's not growth. Hey, man, growth is a state

president attending the church that you know, the first time

you when you come over here and I was painting, you couldn't

have been a state president then, right?

If they'd asked you, you probably wouldn't have done it.

But as it begin to grow, he heard the voice who'll go as

Isaiah said, he said send me, I'll go.

Do you want it? You got to help me.

You got to help me keep it out because so many people had

rather just not do anything. Come to church and be patted on

the back and tell him how God's going to bless him this week.

I've never found the blessing is in the breaking when God begins

to break you down of this world and begin to break your to break

your wants and the things of your mind and the purpose and

your plans and he begins to move in your life.

He will guide you into all truth.

I challenge you keep your faith in God.

Don't grieve the Holy Spirit by not obeying the the promptings

and the voice of the Holy Spirit and we must walk in love and

verse 5, chapter 5 of Ephesians, let's stand and we'll close.

Therefore be imitators of God, his dear children and walk in

love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us as an

offering and a sacrifice to God. A sweet smelling aroma.

You know, there's things sometimes as I, as I read

earlier that that come out of our mouth that's not so sweet to

God. There's some actions in our life

that's not so sweet to God. So don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Don't grieve him. What I say, y'all heard me say

it. Just receive him.

Father. We receive your spirit tonight.

Father, we realize that the place we're standing tonight,

see the thing about the church, it should be a it should be holy

ground. You know what old boy named

Moses? One time God was taking him

through the wringer to bring him to be a great leader, and he was

standing out there. Where was it?

At the burning Bush. He was standing there and the

Can you imagine God speaking to him?

What did he say? He said take your shoes off.

Take your shoes off. He said you're standing.

We're standing on holy ground. See where the presence of the

Lord is as holy, But it's my responsibility and your

responsibility as a church to reverence that He's here

tonight. We all grieve the Holy Spirit of

Godfather. Forgive us when we grieve the

Holy Spirit of God. We receive it tonight.

Thanks for listening to the Cross Power Church podcast.

May you know that true hope, peace, and salvation can only be

found in Jesus. If you're near Campbell, TX, we

would love for you to join us in person.

You can find service times at crosspowerchurch.com.