The Holy Spirit
Sunday Evening Bible Study
November 14, 1999
Introduction
I want to share the basis of a message that Jim Hesterly gave at the Men’s retreat.
Hindrances to the work of the Holy Spirit
1) Ignorance
(1 Cor 12:1 KJV) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Ignorance about who the Holy Spirit is or how He works.
There are a lots of misconceptions about the Holy Spirit. There are plenty of groups that abuse the work of the Holy Spirit and cause others to want to stay away.
But God’s gifts are good gifts. We shouldn’t be afraid of the Holy Spirit.
(James 1:17 KJV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
I’ve known people who have been told some pretty horrible things about the Holy Spirit, things that were swallowed in ignorance.
(Luke 11:11-13 KJV) If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? {12} Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? {13} If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
If you are asking God to work in your life through the Holy Spirit, is He going to deceive you? No.
2) Comparing ourselves to others
(1 Cor 12:14-18 KJV) For the body is not one member, but many. {15} If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? {16} And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? {17} If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? {18} But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
Sometimes we don’t exercise our gift because we don’t think that it’s as good as the gift of others.
Yet each gift can be done in different ways.
(1 Cor 12:4-6 KJV) Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. {5} And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. {6} And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
God works differently in each person’s life. Though you might have the same gift as another person, the gift working through you may look completely different than what it does in another person. Neither is wrong. Let God work.
Jim shared a story about a husband who had been encouraging his wife to receive the gift of tongues. They talked and prayed, but all she could do was sit there and make a clicking sound. They were discouraged and stopped trying, but shared it with Jim. Later Jim was watching a TV show where they were talking about the devastation of a famine in a distant place. They interviewed a tribal person through an interpreter, and when they person answered the questions, the language he spoke consisted of nothing but a variety of clicking noises.
Be careful about comparing yourself to others.
One of the dangers on Sunday nights as we’re beginning to learn about the Spirit’s work in us, is to latch on to how God works through a few people and think that He has to work the same way through us. Not so. Be flexible. Be open.
3) Neglect
(1 Tim 4:14 KJV) Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Sometimes things break down because of neglect.
If you don’t have your car serviced regularly, you’ll have problems.
If you don’t take care of working on your marriage, you’ll have problems.
If you neglect the gifts that God has given you, you’re not going to be growing at the rate God wants you to grow.
4) Fear
(2 Tim 1:6-7 KJV) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. {7} For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Sometimes we allow fear to keep us from using God’s gifts. We can be afraid that it might not be God at work. We can be afraid of what others will think.
Take a chance. If you’re not sure whether a thought or word is from the Lord, then it’s okay to express it by starting with something like, "I’m not sure if this is the Lord or not, but …"
Whatever you say, we still need to test and judge all things.
5) Quenching through Critical attitude
(1 Th 5:19-22 KJV) Quench not the Spirit. {20} Despise not prophesyings. {21} Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. {22} Abstain from all appearance of evil.
(2 Sam 6:12-23 KJV) And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness. {13} And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. {14} And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. {15} So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. {16} And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. {17} And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. {18} And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. {19} And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house. {20} Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! {21} And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. {22} And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. {23} Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.
David was serving the Lord. He was worshipping the Lord. But Michal had a critical heart toward him. As a result, she had no children by David.
When we become critical of others’ ministry, we too become barren and without fruit.
If the person is serving the Lord, there comes a point where we need to stop being critical and just their Lord deal with them. If it’s a problem, God will do something!
(Rom 14:4 NLT) Who are you to condemn God's servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him tell them whether they are right or wrong. The Lord's power will help them do as they should.
In the meantime, our critical heart quenches the work the Spirit wants to do through us.