How to stop grieving the Holy Spirit Part 2

Hey, this is Jim Graham from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explore a relationship instead of religion every week. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

And challenging men to take their God-assigned role. Here's our hosts, Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr., a black guy and a white guy. Welcome back to ManTalk Radio. This is Roy Jones, one of your co-hosts.

And I'm Will Hardy. We're welcoming back Pastor McBroom from Turner Chapel AME Church in High Point. Pastor, it's so good to have you back, week number two, and we're part two of a discussion about how to stop grieving the Holy Spirit. And most people probably don't think about grieving the Holy Spirit, but just a real quick opening here. Once you accept Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to reside in you. So everything that you're doing that's going against the will of God, you're doing right in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And hence, you are grieving the Holy Spirit as you are doing this and may, but hopefully you're not recognizing it. And we're here to help you understand why you are grieving the Holy Spirit and to get you to be aware of that.

Amen. And so when we left off on last time, Roy, we were talking about let him who stole still no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give in need. And we were saying on last time that when and as Pastor was saying that if when we become productive for the body of Christ and we are not going out doing things in a lawless fashion. When we come into the knowledge of the truth, then God gives us what we need and a person who I mean, a total stranger who we may not even know may come and all of a sudden start fulfilling a need that we have asked God for.

And the person who's presenting that don't even know the reason why they're doing so. We and see this distilling doesn't necessarily says that I steal material things. You could steal an individual's ideal. Yeah, you can steal ideologies. And when you do that, that is a form of theft.

So, Pastor, you talked a little bit about this verse, but elaborate some more on the meaning behind let him who stole still no more, but let him labor with his hands. Yes. Yes.

Thank you for having me. So so this idea about stealing and must work just under really understanding that this isn't this isn't for oneself. This is done for the community, because if I feel that I'm stealing from the community and I'm stealing from my brother or my sister, rather than being a part of the community to build the community and build up the community and build up the same.

I like what you said so early about, you know, that it's not just material things, it's ideas, it's ideologies, it's it's a number of immaterial things. You could possibly steal someone's joy, if they allow you. Right. Amen. And in doing that, do it by doing behaviors or having behaviors or having practices that really steal someone's joy.

You can do that. But this is not just for ourselves. Understanding that I think is key and what Paul is trying to get at is that, you know, you all and we, I mean, includes himself in that as well, that we are in community together as the body of Christ. And whatever skills, whatever gifts, whatever graces God has given you aren't just for yourself.

Those are for the body of Christ to not abuse and misuse, but therefore the body of Christ to edify and encourage and uplift and mature the body until Jesus is returned. And so just understanding that I think I think we've kind of gotten away from that and that we've gotten we've become so individualistic in our behaviors and in our practices that we have forgotten that if my brother or sister is not doing well, and I'm only looking out for myself, that means that the whole is not doing well. And if the whole is not doing well, that means I subsequently either directly or indirectly, I'm not doing as good as I think I am. Right. So, so, Roy, read that 29th verse, because I think that sort of goes into the working piece. Yeah. Let no word, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification building up that it may impart grace to the hearers. Wow. So, see, when I when I see that corrupt, a corrupt word going out of your mouth is something when I when I think of something that's corrupt, I think of in the natural, I think of like acid. Yeah. So, so, so harmful damage.

Yes. And it's it's corrodes whatever it touches. And so, so words can corrode, it can corrode a person's character, you know, it could it could start to break them down literally, just like that acid breaks down metal.

So when I think of something that's corrupt, it's it's corrosive, it's toxic in its, you know, in its sense. And so God is blessing through the Apostle Paul to say, don't don't let these toxic, these corrosive things come out of your mouth. But build people up and see when inside the church, when we start tearing people down.

Which is done mostly by the mouth. Exactly. So when we start tearing people down, then that means we're not building them up. We're not edifying. And that word edify could also mean to educate. So so what we need to do is if if we understand a portion of scripture, we educate them in that portion of scripture on what that scripture is saying. And in turn, the scripture itself will begin to lift them up. But when I think of edify, and you're great explanation, Will, and the other thing that speaks to my heart is when I think of edify, it's it's positive reinforcement, that's uplifting. And it's just that that's what what I think of edify. So we used to years ago was in a work environment where I was responsible for 100 plus people.

And and I came up with what was called the UUP principle, EUP. If it's not edifying, uplifting or positively reinforcing, then don't say it. And if we if we as believers in Christ and followers of Christ would use that rule, we would nix so much of the gossip, so much of the ill will, so much of the damage that's being done within the body of Christ. How does that verse speak to you, Pastor?

Absolutely. So to me, it says not only just with not only with with words or with and I know we oftentimes like to think as the church, I don't know if we're still there or not, but I know the church will say, oh, you know, with cuss words or words, cuss words and things of that nature. I don't think it's just talking about those. I think it's talking about any words and any language that does not benefit the uplift of the believer and not even just the believer, but even someone who's outside of the body of Christ does not uplift them. And if it's a word that is tearing them down, we shouldn't speak it. Because if anything, those are the people that we need to be speaking words of encouragement over, knowing that they are outside of the realm of of the body of Christ and that it speaks to their needs.

Right. I think that it that it's according to their needs. Paul says, so these words are specific. There's scripture that discusses having a word in season and out of season. And I think oftentimes I know that when people people have from this life, you know, we'll say people will say certain things that are completely out of context. And so knowing the needs of the people that we're speaking to, I think is key, is very key in uplifting the saints. I've got a couple of scriptures here that I looked up real quick while we're talking Proverbs 15 four says the soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

So, yeah, that kind of goes hand in hand and what we're talking about here, you know, about the communication. And then it leads into our central verse, verse 30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. So by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So if I if I do any of the things from the previous verse, if I'm lying, if I'm letting the sun go down on my anger, if I'm which gives place to the devil as it speaks here, if I'm stealing. So if you know, if I'm not working with my hands to do what is good, if I am letting corrupt communication or word proceed out of my mouth. So if I'm doing any of those things leading up to verse number 30, it says do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

So this is this is how we grieve him. So we have to come to a realization that we are doing some of the things that verses 25 through 29 talks about. And once we realize we're doing those things, then we need we need to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that these things can be removed, because they can't be removed as fast for everyone as they do for this person over here, this person.

Some people, it takes a little time. Some people, God can remove it just like that. So, Pastor, what do you think about that verse?

Yeah. And and and, you know, he gives these outlines and Paul is very, very insistent, because right after that, right after he goes to verse 30, he says, get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. And so when we talk about and do not grieve the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed on the day of redemption, I think that's really a part, a significant part of that. Don't blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Don't lie on the Holy Spirit saying that that God has told you something that, you know, God did not tell you.

Exactly. Oh, I've heard that a number of times. God told me I was supposed to leave my wife. OK, yeah, that that lines up with scripture. So just understanding that we grieve the Holy Spirit by the following things, by not telling the truth and not speaking truthfully to our neighbor and remembering that relationship by not allowing some compromise, some level of peace, some level of understanding between us and those or those things that we're angry with. And then by by by feeling we grieve the Holy Spirit. So when we think about this in context to where we are today, I would say that we we have grieved the Holy Spirit because for so long and maybe we're coming to a reckoning, I believe, in a way. We're coming to a reckoning that we're having to tell the truth and be truthful about our history, be truthful about our experiences and be truthful about the ways in which Christianity at times has been used to cover up that. Pastor, hold that thought.

We'll be right back after the break. TAWCMM would love to have you join their community of men for breakfast every first and third Friday of every month. They have Bible discussions and fellowship after the best breakfast in town. The meeting location is at their gracious host church, First Christian Church in Kernersville, 1130 North Main Street in Kernersville.

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Call 336-885-1987. Welcome back to the show. We just want to give a shout out to Dr. Fricke in High Point, North Carolina. You just heard about his practice.

So real quick, if you're having any kind of back problems, neck problems, numbness, tingling, go see Dr. Fricke. I've known him for years, does a fantastic job and great supporter of the ministry. So just want to give a shout out to Dr. Fricke here as we get leading back into Pastor McBroom.

And tell him you heard him on ManTalk radio. Please. Amen. All right, Pastor. So we we were leading into verse number thirty one. We finished up with verse where we talked about grieving the Holy Spirit. Now, in verse number thirty one, it says, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor. And of course, clamor, I looked that up.

Clamor is loud speaking or over talking. And we'll before, Pastor, if you don't mind, if I may jump in here real quick. Folks, if you're listening, I just want to encourage you to say a prayer. Just take take a moment and ask the Lord to reveal to you if you are indeed grieving the Holy Spirit with either your behavior, a man, anger that you're carrying or something that's not right with somebody that you know that God would not be happy about. And just ask him to reveal it to you.

It could be that you've got such a numbness towards it that you may not even recognize it. We just want you to pray. Are you listening that God would reveal that person or that situation to you so that you can deal with it? Amen. And be truthful to yourself. Amen.

Don't don't don't, you know, kind of slug it off. Just be truthful and let the Holy Spirit deal with you in this area, because all of us get angry. All of us may have some clamor. We over talk people, we loud talk them. So, Pastor, these things that it says, let these things just be put away from us. How would you speak to those things? Yeah, so I think that get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice. I think that it's not talking it's not talking about what Paul is.

What I don't think Paul or God would have for us to do is to cover up those feelings. But I think when he says get rid of them, it's essentially saying deal with them, right? Notice them in yourself, recognize them in yourself and realize the root of where they're coming from and then go and address the actual problem.

Go address the actual issue. Because these are all these are are all symptoms of something deeper. Exactly, exactly. So in understanding that, I think Paul is not saying don't feel any of these, but it's saying once you feel it, understand where it's coming from and then go address it in love. That's when you go back up twenty five.

I feel as though from here you go back up twenty five and then practice practice those things. Amen. And not and again, see, it's in verse twenty six. It talks about specifically anger. Don't let anger go down on you. But I believe also we can incorporate don't let bitterness. Don't let wrath, don't let clamor, don't let loud talking, don't let evil speaking go down.

The sun go down on all of those things at will. So as Pastor stated, you know, it is a deeper thing that's happening and we have to get to the root of what's causing us to be anger. What's causing us to have this wrath, what's causing us to have this clamor and malice one toward another, because what Satan would love for the church to do is implode on itself. You know, just just sit back and say, you know, let let them fight amongst themselves. And then we'll just come in here with our demonic activity and we'll just clean them up.

You know, we'll just continue to let that bitterness, let that malice, let that clamor just fester and fester and let it spread like the root of bitterness. So if we have a desire to allow these things to be put away from us, that in and of itself is the first step. And when you recognize and realize that some of these things are existing in your life and you want to put them away, because that's the key, what you said, stated earlier, Roy, that's the key. You want to put them away.

Yes. Then that means that you are a stronger man in recognizing that something is dwelling with me that I need to put off. And I'm not going to throw this off on anybody else. I'm going to deal with whatever it is that's bothering me and I'm going to look for the root.

And I'm not going to say, well, it's it's all Roy's fault. Right. What you do quite often. Oh, you got you just you just keep just kidding. OK, take me seriously. OK. All my fan base will be coming to see what are you what are you doing?

I'm telling you. OK, so verse thirty two. And we're going to wrap this thing up here, Pastor. But it says and be kind. So after we recognize, we realize that we have bitterness, we have wrath, and we're trying to look for the root of why this is happening to me, then I think and only then can we be kind one to another. We can be tenderhearted one to another. We can forgive one another, even as God in Christ have forgave us.

So what is what does that say to you, Pastor? Yeah, that's I think that's key, especially that compassionate piece. So having that empathy, having that love, having that that that. That will to go above and beyond for your brother or your sister. Just as Christ, just as Christ gave us, just as Christ, Jesus forgave us. So I think that's really that's really key in that in that sense that be kind and that kindness is not just a a shallow level of kindness, but I think it's more so a level of deep, a level of deep love for my brother or my sister.

That's what I've been called to have. Amen. You know, and see, if we really never recognize that we have any of the things that verse thirty one says, then we can never go to verse thirty two. We can never be kind. We can never be tenderhearted and we can never be forgiving because we will simply be holding on to the things that this brother or this sister may have said to me three months ago, four months ago. And I'm letting that those things continually entertain my mind and permeate through my heart. Well, you know, the thing keeps coming back to mind as we're going through this is just. The forgiveness piece has got to be there is dealing with somebody else, but the other pieces is forgetting. I was listening to a pastor the other day, Adrian Rogers, you know, listen to his podcast regularly, and he brought that up about the forgetting. I think the forgiving one another and what Paul doesn't say here, I slash forget it, let it go.

And I think that's where Satan uses that to jump back in here and impede this relationship causes a roadblock to the Holy Spirit and getting your full blessing. So I just want to add that in when you guys were going through the forgiving piece that we really need to forget as well. See, and again, it's the human nature part of us that don't want to forget, right? You know, the human nature part of us want to hold on because, you know, the human nature, it it wants revenge. It wants to lash out.

It wants to feel like it's been vindicated in some form or fashion. So by us not yielding to those things, then I think we can just not let it be entertaining to our mind, you know, because because that's what we do when we entertain these thoughts. I think that's when the enemy we give the enemy that foothold, as we talked about on last week, giving him that foothold and we're giving place to him.

So then he can come in and, of course, create more chaos and confusion. So, Pastor, we got a few minutes left. What do you want to say in reference to closing out all these verses in summary? I just would say that it's going to take us being conscious.

It's going to take us being convicted. It's going to take us being challenged to know whenever those moments are, those spots in our lives, those times in our lives. Even those seasons in our lives when we are grieving the Holy Spirit. And so to be prayerful about that, to the listeners, to be prayerful, to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, to know whenever those moments are happening and then ask for forgiveness and turn about faith to go in the direction of of our Lord and Savior. Amen. Amen.

Praise God. Well, we certainly thank you for being on the show, Pastor, and you are wise beyond your years as far as how God is blessing you. And I know that your ministry, by the grace of God, is going to flourish. You know, you have demonstrated your love for God and your understanding of the truth and wanting to know the truth and impart that truth to the young audience out there that's listening.

Because young people, you are the future. You are the ones who will be taking up the banner for truth in the word of God. And there are people who are not going to like you as a result of this. But if you say that I am standing for the truth and I'm standing on God's word, regardless of what happened, regardless of what people say, because the things that they did to Jesus, Roy, they're going to do to us and they have been doing to us.

They have been, yes. And if he can forgive, then we have to be able to forgive. Absolutely. And forgive. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So praise God and we appreciate, again, you being here. And so, Roy, thank you again for the invitation. Yeah, Pastor. Thank you so much for joining us. And Pastor, if you want to tell them real quick where your church is at, in case somebody's in the High Point area, doesn't have a church home, they'd like to invite them.

Good thing. Turner's Chapel is located at 7615 Lawrence School Drive, High Point, North Carolina. We're on Facebook at Turner's Chapel AME First, as well as YouTube, Turner's Chapel AME First. And we're doing virtual worship services and you're more than welcome to join us online. Amen. Well, thank you so much, Pastor. And remember, folks, we never want to close the show without giving you a chance to come home. If you have not accepted Christ as your personal savior, just admit being a sinner, recognize that he died for your sins, the blood covered you.

He rose on the third day and lives again and get into a body of fellowship, become a believer. So we'll see you on the other side. Amen. We thank you for joining us and come back. As we wrap up today's show, be assured that TAWCMM, Talking and Walking Christian Men's Ministry, is building a community of men that are Christ followers with the desire to be servant leaders in their homes, communities, churches and work environments. Check out our website for upcoming events and regularly scheduled meetings. Drop us a note for topics that you would like to have us visit in the future. Thank you for joining us on Man Talk today. Visit us at www.tawcmm.com. Men walking the talk. This is the Truth Network.