Date: March 18, 2018 ()

Bible Text: Acts 5:1-11 |

Series:

Acts 5:1-11
Ways to tempt the Holy Spirit
I. Letting the Devil fill your heart.
II. Lying to God.
III. Living life without faith.
IV. Developing a league of evil.

Pastor Steve Damron

We are looking at Acts chapter 5.  We are continuing with the idea of sins against the spirit.  Last week we looked at the concept of grieving the Holy Spirit.  This morning we are going to be looking at the idea of tempting the Holy Spirit.  Then this evening we are going to look at the last idea found in 1st Thessalonians 5, and that is quenching the Holy Spirit.

In the story of Ananias and Sapphira, there is some debate.  I consider this a sin against the spirit as far as a believer.  There are some folks in commentaries that debate whether Ananias and Sapphira were saved. I tend to believe that they were but that is not really the context that we are going to be dealing with.  We are looking at some different ideas with the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

We have been talking about, we started last week, the idea or concept of sins against the Holy Spirit.  What we are thinking about them through the month of April, maybe even through May. We will see as we go through it.  I am looking at even doing some messages on symbols. I think the symbols of the Holy Spirit are a very interesting study because that helps us as you look at that symbol to understand.  All pictures help us to look and see different things. There are probably about 8 or 10 different symbols in the Bible that are used to describe the Holy Spirit. You have wind, you have water, you have the Dove, you have fire, different things like that are pictures or symbols of the Holy Spirit.  So we are going to be looking at some of those things, but we are thinking about the Holy Spirit. One of the things that even the testimony kind of introduced this concept, the Holy Spirit has been given to us to lead and to guide us. He read some passages in John chapter 14, where the comforter is given to lead you or guide you into all truth.

One man in thinking about this concept of the Holy Spirit said, that the the Holy Spirit in essence can be the steering wheel of your life.  As he was thinking about it, he kind of tied it to the idea of driving to a destination. If we are going to a destination there are a couple of ways to get there.  You can get in a car and you can drive there or guess what else you can do, you can hire somebody to drive you. A human driver never follows all the way, but in essence a hired driver, the Holy Spirit, doesn't just want to be in the car he wants to guide us.  He is the steering wheel, he is the person driving, and because he's already been to the destination he already knows what's ahead. It is a person of the Godhead. So when we do not allow the Holy Spirit into our life to do that which he can do, we lose out. We lose out and the benefit of the ministry of the Holy Spirit that he has been left to do.  He has been left for us here on this earth.

We are looking at Acts chapter 5.  So let's pick up in verse 1. We are going to read Acts chapter 5 verses 1 through 11.  If possible let's read it responsively, so that means I start with 1, we all read verse 2, but follow my lead as we go down verses 1 through 11.  “But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.  And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.  But Peter said, Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?  Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?  thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.  And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.  And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?  behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.  And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many has heard these things. “

We have here a record of two, as one man called it, two abominable hypocrites.  I think most of us would agree that they are two rats. I mean these guys are just some horrible guys.  Crimes and punishments related accordingly but what's interesting is I think it can help us as we come to these scriptures.  I think one thing that is a nice takeaway as I was reading this and thinking about this passage because here's Acts chapter 5 most of us know. I would love to live during the time of Christ.  I would have loved to have walked with him and talked with him and then afterwards to be associated with the Apostles. To be in the upper room and then to be at that gathering in Jerusalem where the fire as the cloven tongues with fire came upon those brethern,  many of them apostles and they were filled with the Holy Ghost.

Then we could stand there in Jerusalem and Acts chapter 2 and hear Peter preach, and just see the thousands of people come to Christ, just an amazing time.  You notice that in the book of Acts you just see amazing things. This is what I love about the Bible. I call it a transparent Bible. Why do I call it a transparent Bible, the Bible is transparent because it not only shows you the great things that can be accomplished, but it also it also shows you some bad things.  I mean think of the Old Testament some of the the bad things. I remember just recently we were reading through in our devotions on someone, I think it was through the book of Judges. We were reading through and there are some really bad stories in the book of Judges. Like wow, there are some bad people but that's the Bible.  The Bible does not present a fake picture of life. It is very transparent. So here we have Jesus, remember in the book of Matthew, he basically started or established the church. Then in the book of Acts you have the church getting up and gaining speed kind of like a locomotive starting to churn away and starting to move down the tracks.  Here in Acts chapter 5 you see a couple of really bad idiots. I think that is good for us to know, because sitting before us is a bunch of idiots. No, I'm all right you would say, no but you know in church setting bad things happen. I can't believe that happened at church. I thought you were christians. Yes, and we are sinners just like these guys, and you are.  Ananias and Sapphira got caught up and we're gonna talk about it who filled their heart remember.

Ephesians 5:18 says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess: but be filled with the Spirit.” It is interesting that in the Bible again, words count.  Words mean something. So Paul, in his epistle to the church of Ephesus says be filled with the spirit.  Specifically here, the historian Luke, chooses a word and says in the story of Ananias and Sapphira what happened.  They were not filled with the spirit, they were filled with Satan. We have to be careful but that's why I say there's instruction for us as we come to it and kind of a takeaway.  Right away people get all bent out of shape like, oh there is sin in the church. Well yeah there is. Hello you're here and I'm here and we are all sinners. The beauty is that if a church is right, we are coming to church because we know we are sinners.  We are coming to church because we know that God through the church and through the power of the Holy Spirit can change us, can convict me, can help me with my sin.

That is why the Bible is here, so I think that is one thing right away as we look at this passage I think it is a good instruction to us.  It is encouraging to me because here is the start of the church and right away they got a couple of hypocrites. What you saw is God has a way of taking care of his church.  Did you see that right away, man now I'm telling you I'm not necessarily praying for that, just so you know. If you are sitting here this morning and you are in bad sin I am not really planning that at the invitation you fall down dead.  Right now I would admit if it does happen when you come forward, all of us even myself, I'm pretty sure I'd be a little Wow, what do you want Lord. Yeah, that would kind of change the spirit God has a way of doing that in a church he cares for.

His church is very important to him and so is sin in a church. That is what you see here, the beginning of a church and you are seeing right away that that is why a pastor needs to be very vigilant against sin because God is.  He does not like it in a church setting. We are coming to church and you are saying sin can come in and it can creep into a church. One of the jobs of the pastors of the church is to be an overseer. He is supposed to be a watchman.  He is a shepherd that is one of the greatest terms in the Bible for a pastor. When you study the concept of a shepherd, this is what a shepherd does he's looking out for wolves. because Paul said that in Acts chapter 20 watchout writing to the elders that's the pastor's at Ephesus he said watch out guys I'm leaving but wolves may come in be careful and that's what God created I made the church but he also cares so much about the church that he he made it to where he's going to have people there that are watching out so that sin shouldn't have free reign in a church he wants to take care of it.

Then you notice something else, just kind of as introduction look at verse 3, but Peter said Ananias why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost.  All right so what did he tell him and that's in verse 3 look at verse 9 Peter says to Sapphira, “how is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord.”  So here are two different terms the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of the Lord.  We obviously know it's talking about the third person of the Trinity. We have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Many people kind of look at the Holy Spirit not as a person of the Godhead and so many times he's referenced as it or that. You know even the spirit, but the Holy Spirit is a person, we call it a person of the Godhead.  So look at verse 4 this is why I say it's a person of the Godhead, here Peter without even really thinking about, it throws down doctrine for you and I. Look what he says in verse 4, “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own?  and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?  Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto…” but now he changes it, here he teaches us doctrine.  Who is the Holy Spirit, he is... what is he saying…. “God.”  He is God, so when we are talking about the Holy Spirit we are not just talking about somebody that is relegated to a lower position.  Here Peter talking to Ananias references the Holy Spirit and then he says, you're not lying to me you are lying to God. The Holy Spirit is God.

I know we talked about it but I think sometimes in our dealings with the Holy Spirit, because there is a Holy Spirit, I see some of it as a difference in role.  What is one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit, to lift up Jesus Christ because he is always pointing to Christ, pointing to Christ, pointing to Christ. In some sense he is in the background, but it does not make him less of a person of the Godhead.  It is a different role but his purpose is to move and convict that they trust in Christ. That is one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit, so understanding that helps us in our knowledge of the role of God, the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.

So we understand it, then let's get to the context here so we have this idea of tempting the Holy Spirit.  I think understanding what transpired may help us some. So go back earlier in chapter 4, look at verse 32, because this may help us an understanding what is going on here.  Look at verse 32, it tells us a little more of the story. “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:” and so I am saying that I love this concept of the church in the book of Acts.  “Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”  Now just so you know, we are not thinking of going this way, a little communal setting here, but this is the way the church operated.  They had all things common. Man, it just sounds like a blessed time, a blessed group of people. “And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: and I think that should be true in a church, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold.  And laid them down at the Apostles’ feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”  I don't know why but I think God instructed Luke to help us with chapter five because it says; “and Joses who by the Apostles was surnamed Barnabas which is being interpreted the son of consolation a Levite and of the country of Cyprus having land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles’ feet.”  

So now we have some of the context with Ananias and Sapphira.  Why in the world are they selling everything they have and wanting to throw it down at the Apostles’ feet, because earlier this is kind of the spirit of the church. It is hey you know what somebody has a need.  Hey we are all selling stuff, this is what we are going to do. Nowhere in this passage do you find that it was an Apostles’ doctrine. As I said, when we have come into stewardship time...I have really researched that, I have really dug into the Greek because I'd love to be able to say,  your house is my house literally. Get up, move it, now you need to sell it, let's drop it all down here. No but that's you never see that. In fact, you have instructions later on about giving in the book of Corinthians. There is a lot that gives instructions about giving. In the book of Timothy you have a lot about riches and understanding of it.  You can go to the teachings of Christ and there is a lot about materialism. So we are not supposed to go to this and the takeaway is that all of us are supposed to live in a commune. That is not what it said, but at that time this is what the church decided to do and this specifically is in Jerusalem. So they decided to do that and then we come to the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

So were Ananias and Sapphira supposed to sell all that they have and drop it at the Apostles’ feet?  No, you do not see that. It lists one man and it says that they had things common. But what you see is there was not any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, but it doesn't say that it was a requirement.  It was not in their constitution. It is what as a church they wanted to do. They were of one heart and one soul so we are not trying to go to scripture and make up some weird doctrine. That is the problem of just yanking a verse out, we go in the context and say so what is God trying to teach us.  What the teaching is, is to be careful of tempting the Holy Spirit. So what is tempting the Holy Spirit? Well tempting the Holy Spirit was this , they had a possession, that is in verse one. Verse two explains the lie. What was it, and they kept back part and they laid it all at the Apostles feet.  So wait a minute what was it, was it literally lying was it wrong for them to keep that part? No it wasn't wrong. What was wrong was coming and acting like Barnabas the son of consolation. Barnabas we see as later shown to us and used he is actually used greatly by God to help the Apostle Paul. He is one of those similar type of guys.  Remember I say different roles like the Holy Spirit has a different role, you don't see Barnabas out there in the front and the spotlight a lot but there would not be an apostle Paul without a Barnabas. There would not be. It's a different role.

So here you see that they lied before the church.  In other words what is that - - hypocrisy. What I just can't get away from, as I studied this and I have been reading it and studying it - - tempting or lying to the Holy Spirit.  As when you put on airs that you are something and you're not. You need to be open to the Holy Spirit. We need to be careful of being liars sitting here. We come here on Sunday morning, oh I have everything together, and you have not read your Bible in weeks.  There is something wrong with you. You are sitting here, and we talked about this last week, and you are grieving the Holy Spirit. How are you grieving the Holy Spirit because you can't even look at another fellow believer. I don't care what they have done it is on you to forgive.  It is on you to get rid of that bitterness and that anger and clamor. That is on you. What we are doing is coming into church everything is good. Here's my offering. Keep your offering you hypocrite. I don't know what God is gonna do. I'm not saying that God's gonna drop somebody dead, but in some sense this is what happens.  Your heart is basically dead, your spiritual life is basically dead. We need to be careful of living as a hypocrite before the Holy Spirit and that's what happens. I was thinking about this, you know there are other religions. I have met, good people that are part of other religions. I have knocked on their door and I have met them and, I'm sorry I'm not trying to offend you, but I talk about some of these other religions because they believe in a different Christ.  They do not believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven but there are good people there and they go to church on Sunday. I can drive by churches and you know what there's actually many people. I'll go out to eat, not a lot on Sunday, but if I have a guest. Many times I'll take them out and you know what I find at the restaurant there's a whole bunch of families dressed up from church. They look pretty good but then on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday they have foul language.  Maybe even Sunday night or Monday they are starting into watching some nasty stuff on the television. Maybe even you are listening to some wicked stuff, yet on Sunday. Oh you know what, that's the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. The sin is that, I want everybody to say, o thou righteous person and inside you are a liar let me be careful with that

Here in this passage I think we are given a couple of things that I think help us to understand what tempting the Holy Spirit is or how this occurs.  So let's look at a couple of things in this passage. I have been digging through it, and so I think there is about four things that we can look at to help us understand what it means to lie or to tempt the Holy Spirit. Look at number one and it is found in verse three.  “But Peter said, Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart…”   So the first thing that I see is when I'm heading towards lying to the Holy Spirit, or I'm heading towards tempting the Holy Spirit, what I have done is I have let the devil fill my heart.  You say now, how is that possible. Now it is similar, there's some takeaways again on this, and one of them is you probably aren't gonna see it did you see that in the passage did Ananias see it.  No. Who saw it? The man of God. Don't get mad at the man of God when he says, Hey something's off with you. I'm sorry that is some of what God does and I have scripture to back it up, a whole lot of it, to back it up.  Some of you have been mad at me, even right now. Just so you know I don't believe in the office of the pastor's wife, okay, but my wife as a mature woman in the church, the older woman and the older men teach the younger, that's the Bible.  Sorry, that is in the Bible and some of you younger men and younger women you get mad when an older woman comes to say something's wrong. Watch it Ananias, watch it Sapphira, because the man of God, a woman of God is coming to you and saying watch your heart the devil is getting in there. That is one of my jobs.  One of my jobs is to be before the throne of God calling out my members and saying God give me wisdom, lead and guide. When I come up and say hey the devil's got ahold of you, don't get mad because Ananias is in your bones and we're calling it out because the devil wants in here and the devil wants in your heart. What you see with this story is -- you may not always see it.  Who saw it, Peter did. Now I am not trying to take it out of context because Peter is an apostle, it is a different type of era but scripturally it is there.

The Bible says what a pastor does, he watches for your soul doesn't he.  Does it say that you should listen to him? Yes it does, it says that in Hebrews 13.  So I am not taking it out of context I believe you compare Scripture with Scripture. But what it is saying is when you are heading towards tempting or lying to the Holy Spirit you have somehow let the devil in your heart.  How do you let the devil in your heart, we are going to talk about that some tonight, about quenching. It is interesting in 1 Thessalonians 5, about quenching the Holy Spirit, I think that in the context it shows you there are some things that we allow into our heart.  It is worldly influences, that is how the devil gets in. You know how the devil gets in your heart. I'm already starting into it if you read in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 20, it says despise not prophesying. Now there is a big debate on despise not prophesying. Some people say, well the charismatic movement has taken that.  They say that it is all talking about tongues and all that. I do not believe that prophesying is enough. Another term for prophesying is preaching in the Bible. What it is saying is if you start disliking preaching there is a problem. When we dislike preaching, there is a problem! When we dislike church because what's gonna happen.  So what do you like? Oh your movies, your internet, your social media. Oh that is what you like, all right. You know there are some wicked, wicked things and when that becomes our diet the devil is filling your heart.

So one thing that we see in verse 3 is a way that the devil comes in and tempts you, or the way you allow yourself to be tempted, or lying to the Holy Spirit as the devil fills your heart.  Then notice in verse 4 what happens now, you have not lied unto men but unto God. So the first thing is I let the devil fill my heart, but it does not stop there. So what do I start doing, I start lying to God.  So what does that mean. I'm fine. I'm all right. What do you mean you are alright? Even saying I'm good actually. We could discuss it, but you are not. Why is that, well you are not. I'm not either. So when you say I'm good, no you are not.  I know that we are kind of being funny here, but really if somebody comes up to me and says hey you know I would like you to think about this. Right away I need to say okay what do you got, why because I know I'm not good. I'm not good, no and neither are you.  So when somebody comes to help you spiritually what should be your attitude. Not automatically saying, no I am fine. No you're not! You start lying to God. Notice what else it says, it says “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own?  and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?  Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”  In this whole concept, remember earlier what were they doing.  They were selling what they had, all of it, and giving it to God. What was he doing, he was holding it back.  Why, because he thought he needed it.

That gives us a clue to another aspect of lying to the Holy Spirit.  What do you rely on? What was he relying on then? Oh, you got it didn't you.  He was relying on his riches. He was saying, hey I have faith in God. It is all here, but I got a stash for a rainy day.  Nope, then you are lying, actually you are not living by faith alone are you. So that helps us understand what is lying to God, what is tempting Him.  It is when I let the devil fill my heart and I may not always see it. I am also gonna start lying to God. Then I am gonna start living my life, not by faith.  This passage is talking about possessions, its riches. So what does that mean, you are gonna start living your life by your flesh. That is tempting the Holy Spirit.

We do not live by the flesh.  I walk by faith and I walk by the spirit.  So the spirit needs to come in and address these things when I am starting to be fleshly.  What is fleshly then, it is all the works of the flesh. It is hatred, emulations, all right there is all kinds of things, lasciviousness that means immoral flesh is just taken over.  You need to be careful, what happens when we start letting the devil fill our heart. We start lying to God. Then I am allowing the flesh to take over, you are going to open up a doorway that you do not want to open.  You know what, you are going to start having, hateful thoughts, even towards people sitting here. Oh yeah, some of you have been there and you are on the process of getting it right. Then you have times that there is just anger that wells up.  You just do not understand it. You know what happened, you let the devil get in your heart. You start lying to God and now the flesh is just taking off. Why are you doing it, it is the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

But notice if we continue down three hours later what happened in verse seven and eight.   “And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?  And she said, Yea, for so much.”  I see another clue to help us out; we see letting the devil fill my heart, I see lying to God, I see living a life without faith, but then I see developing a league of evil.  This is what I am warning you for, and this is my job to me as a pastor. When I start seeing a league develop, oh you are going to see the gloves come off, and then this is what I believe, and I believe God steps in and He will take that league down.  You need to be careful. I was just talking this past week, you know we had a basketball tournament, with pastors coming in. Then I think last week a couple of guys I was talking with, and I am so thankful as far as our church God seems to have really helped out as far as the the evil -- that it gets punched out.  I was with a pastor a couple weeks ago and we were talking about it, seems like every couple years he has an uprising in his church of just evil. What happens is this person gets with this person, like hey so what do you think. I was just recently talking with the guy and it was so petty. I mean it was something like the pastor was deciding to move Sunday night once a month in order to have a dinner.  They all got together and they voted on it and they said yeah, and the pastor said this is what we're gonna do. Then all of a sudden one guy did not like it and then he is calling this guy and calling that guy all over Sunday night dinner. It is a league of evil. You know what normally to those type of men, they end up out of the church and then a few years later they are dead. I can tell you about people that have developed a league against Fairhaven and they are dead today.  Their kids found them dead and in their 30s in their 40s - dead. Some of them walking down the road just fall over dead. You know why you better be careful of developing a league of evil. For Ananias and Sapphira it was not enough just for Ananias to be a part of this, they had to have a league and develop a league of evil. Guess what, God says you are tempting the Holy Spirit, you are lying to him. It is tempting and lying and what does it say people. People get irritated because it is an old-fashioned term called fear.  People get irritated today especially in the world because people say and this is one of the things that should not happen in a good home. It should not happen in a good home that the children fear mom and dad. Then they always know one scripture, that God has not given us the spirit of fear. Oh I don't know that that's the context there, because actually the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Oh wait a minute, maybe it is good to know the scripture a little more than just a random verse here and there.

Fear, and notice that this was a good thing.  Great fear came upon all the church and what you see afterwards as it's blossoming, it is growing, they are gaining strength as believers.  So that is a good fear. In our church we need to have a good fear of God. It is not that we quake but you know really there are some times that we should quake before God.  God is an amazing God, he should be awe inspiring. It should be that I love Him (I understand) there is a fear and there is a love that grow together. I need to have a righteous fear of God and our church needs to have a righteous fear.  What does that fear do it comes into me and it makes me understand what God meant. He is a consuming fire. God is mighty, He is a jealous God, He is not going to be on the throne with anybody else. It is only Him, it is all Him. So I need to be careful and I need the fear of allowing something else and the devil to fill my heart.  Then I lie to God, and then all of a sudden I'm not living by faith, and then all of a sudden I develop a league with others toward evil going against God. God says no-no-no-no-no-no I will stop you in your tracks and you see it is progressing and God stops it. Why, because God loves his church. Holiness is kind of what we are talking about.

You know in a hospital cleanliness is very important.  Wouldn’t you think so. If you were going in for a surgery and the doctor is standing there.  (I like Portillo's, alright.) So I'm sitting in there and the doctor calls me in. He's like, hey are you hungry? Yeah.  Hey I'll get you a double dip. Oh yeah. So we go in there and we're sitting down just chatting. Now, if you ever had a double dip you know they wrap them up about three times, because they put the beef in there and then dip it, and they dip it, and dip it.  Then maybe he is really hungry and so he not only gets a double dip but he gets the double dip with sausage. This is a big sausage piece in there. Then he gets done and he says you ready Mike? Okay just hop in there. I will be in there in just a minute, and I'm like uh-huh I mean there is beef juice dripping.  Aw it's alright don't worry about it. All right and then he's been using his scalpel to cut the beef and stuff and he just like shakes it off. Then all of a sudden he's ready to cut in there and I can see him. I'm like no no, I don't want a piece of raw beef in my incision here. Now guess what, cleanliness in the hospital is important, or you bet I want it so. What do you think where do you think cleanliness got an idea what do you think we got an idea of cleanliness from.  I think from God. So do you think that the Spirit of God wants dirtiness in his church, oh no no. If in a hospital we expect cleanliness, in a church and in a Christians life the Holy Spirit is gonna deal with you until you're clean. That's what he is going to do.

Do not ever get disappointed when the Holy Spirit nudges you.  If I sit in church long enough and the Holy Spirit never convicts me, I start questioning what's wrong with me.  Am I that cold and am I that hard-hearted good is the word of God is it is it all of a sudden have I arrived as a Christian that all of a sudden there's nothing. Nah. No God keep me tender, keep me clean. Oh, you would say wait a minute. Oh, in a hospital they only have to clean it once.  You know that is stupid don't you. Hey, so have you cleaned your scalp? Oh, you know that we cleaned it at the beginning of the day. Huh? How many surgeries have you done? Oh, this is just my tenth, but it is no big deal, no no. What if the dentist did that (I think he does actually) but what if he did that, oh I don't know, I mean come on we cleaned it last year. Yeah, you would be gone wouldn't you. So do not get mad when the Holy Spirit keeps cleaning you. Keep cleaning, keep cleaning God, and clean me up again and clean me up again.  That is one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. Don't get mad at the Holy Spirit and don't get mad at the spirits working through people as the Holy Spirit uses people to help convict us then. Humble yourself before God and say God I'm sorry. I think I have been lying to you. I have been hypocritical. Clean me like I should be. Heads bowed, eyes closed this morning ……...

How do we tempt the Holy Spirit?

  1. Letting the devil fill your heart

  2. Lying to the Holy Spirit/God

  3. Living without faith

  4. Developing a league of evil

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