 The Holy Spirit is a personal being. He has feelings so it's possible that you can hurt Him. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Before I begin, if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to subscribe to EncounterTV and click that notification bell when you subscribe. You can also follow us wherever you're watching us. It's important that we remain sensitive to the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can be hurt by the actions that you and I choose. Ephesians 4.30 says, And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, He has identified you as His own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. The Scripture also says, No ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your physical being is the dwelling place of the presence and the glory of the Holy Spirit. Your hands are His hands, your eyes are His eyes, your ears His ears, your mouth His mouth, your being is His being. So let me ask you, what are you doing with the Holy Spirit's hands? What are you speaking with the Holy Spirit's mouth? What are you looking at with the Holy Spirit's eyes? What are you listening to with the Holy Spirit's ears? It's important that you and I consider the fact that when we do something, the Holy Spirit is present. When we think something, the Holy Spirit knows what we're thinking. Are you putting things before yourself that remind the Holy Spirit of things that break His heart? Are you living in such a way as to glorify Him, as to please Him, or do your actions deeply grieve Him? You know, the Holy Spirit is jealous over you. I know that word jealousy has a negative connotation attached to it, but consider that there is such a thing as holy jealousy, ungodly jealousy, demands out of fear what doesn't belong to it. But holy jealousy demands out of love what rightfully belongs to it. James chapter four verses three through five say this, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your own pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a true friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God, or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously. The Holy Spirit yearns for you jealously. And when you do those things that you ought not to do, He burns with holy jealousy. When you take Him to places that He doesn't want to go, and yes, He goes with you wherever you go, He burns with jealousy, holy, holy jealousy. You carry the presence of the Holy Ghost. That means wherever you step, He steps. What are you doing with His being? What are you doing with His body? What are you doing with His purchased possession? Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. You know, if I'm being honest with you, when I first began in ministry, I was very attentive to the opinions of man, and people's criticisms got to my heart, and their compliments got to my head. But as the Lord has helped me, and only by His grace, have I been able to overcome this mentality of people pleasing. So I no longer fear, really, the opinions of man. I don't fear their criticisms. I don't fear cancel culture. I'm not afraid of what people think of me, so long as I know that I'm obeying the will of God. Of course, this doesn't mean that I don't let anyone have an opinion in my life. Of course, I listen to those who love me, and those who care for me, and those who speak with wisdom. But ultimately, I'm living for the glory of God. So the opinions of people don't scare me. What man can do to me does not scare me. People do not intimidate me, nor am I afraid of demonic powers. Admittedly, again, when I first began in ministry, I was somewhat intimidated by demonic beings. It was kind of frightening watching when people would manifest with their demons being revealed, until I learned how to cast out demons, until I learned that I had the authority by the Holy Spirit to drive out demonic forces. So I'm not afraid of what man can do to me. I'm not afraid of what the devil can do to me. You've heard the phrase, new level, new devil. I say there's no devil that can walk on your level when you walk in the glory of God, when you live in the presence of the Holy Spirit. But I do have a fear, and I believe it's a healthy fear. It's a reverence. I don't fear the opinions of man, and I'm not afraid of demonic beings. What I do fear is grieving the Holy Spirit and diminishing his influence on my life. I don't want to hurt him. My desire to please him. My desire to not hurt him. That's the inspiration for holiness. That's the inspiration for commitment to ministry. That's the inspiration to love my neighbor. I don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit. Now the scripture says something quite interesting in Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 15. Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love for the great vines are blossoming. Now in the Song of Solomon, the vineyard here represents relationship or your love for God and his love for you. So when the scripture here is talking about all of those little foxes that spoil the vineyard, it's a prophetic parallel, if you will, of our lives, our love for God, and the sin that destroys our relationship with God. Those little things that we allow in our lives ultimately end up destroying everything that God has given to us, and they ruin the vineyard. They pollute our work. They damage the soul. So I say to you, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, catch all the little foxes, grieve not the Holy Spirit. Those little things that you think won't do much damage, those little things for which you think you'll never get caught, those little things that you don't think matter, those little things done in secret places, those are the things that can ruin the vineyard. And I'm not just talking about secret sin done in the shadows. I'm also talking about your secret thought life. I'm talking about what's in your heart. I'm talking about your perspectives, your mindsets, your attitudes. Do you have an attitude that grieves the Holy Spirit? Do you have a mindset that grieves the Holy Spirit? Do you have a perspective that grieves the Holy Spirit? How are you living? What are you thinking? What's inside of you and what are you doing in secret? Does it grieve the Holy Spirit? Furthermore, those things that we do that are more obvious, that are more apparent. Do those things grieve the Holy Spirit? How you treat your spouse? Does that grieve the Holy Spirit? The example you're setting for your children, does that grieve the Holy Spirit? The way you treat fellow brothers and sisters in the church, does that grieve the Holy Spirit? The way you dishonor your pastor, does that grieve the Holy Spirit? You see, I'm not talking about living a life of paranoia, constantly wondering if God is going to strike me down. I'm talking about living with an attentiveness, an awareness, a consideration of the Holy Spirit and how he feels. I don't want to do anything that grieves him. And that's a healthy fear, not necessarily a fear of punishment, though there is consequence to sin. But I don't want to do anything that breaks his heart. I don't want to do anything that hurts him. I don't want to do anything that grieves the person of the Holy Spirit. Now, in Judges chapter 16, verses 4 through 20, we see a terrifying reality in Scripture. In Judges 16, 4 through 5, we see that Samson, a judge called by God, someone given supernatural strength, falls in love with a woman named Delilah. In verses 6 through 9, we see that Samson lies to Delilah when she tries to get him to give her his secret to his strength. She asks him, what gives you your strength? And he tells her a lie. He doesn't give her the actual truth. And so when her plot to overthrow him or her plot to overpower him doesn't work out, the Philistines are tossed off of Samson, he gets up, he throws them off like their children, then she becomes angry because she realizes she's been lied to. In verses 10 through 13, we see that Samson comes closer and closer to giving away the secret of his strength, little bit of compromise at a time. One moment at a time, one step at a time, verses 14 through 17, we see that Samson gives his secret away finally to this woman Delilah who was begging to know what the secret of his strength was. And then the scripture says something frightening. Now, as New Testament believers, we do not lose the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I'll send you a helper and he will never leave you. But look at what the scripture says here. In Judges chapter 16, I'm going to read verses 18 through 20. Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth. So she sent for the Philistine rulers come back one more time, she said, for he has finally told me his secret. So the Philistine rulers return with the money in their hands. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. And then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. That was a secret to his strength, his hair. In this way, she began to bring him down and his strength left him. Then she cried out Samson, the Philistines have come to capture you when he woke up. He thought, I will do as before and shake myself free, but he didn't realize the Lord had left him. Now here I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit leaving you and abandoning you. Here I'm talking about your actions diminishing the influence of the Holy Spirit in your life. And the scary thing is this, when the influence of the Holy Spirit has been weakened in our lives, we often don't even know it. He comes like a mighty rushing wind, but he leaves as a whisper. His arrival is announced. His departure is quiet. Now again, I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit literally will leave you, but you will lose his influence in your life. If you continue to grieve him, it will become more and more difficult for you to hear his voice. It will become more and more difficult for you to grab hold of the sin in your life and submit it to God. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Catch all those little foxes before they spoil the vineyard. Father, in the name of Jesus, reveal it to us, Lord, those ways in which we grieve the Holy Spirit. Help us to know your word, your ways, your nature, your likes and your dislikes, that we might be more like Jesus, that we might not grieve the Holy Spirit. But Lord, let our lives bring joy to the Holy Spirit. Say that to him, say, Holy Spirit, say it aloud, say, Holy Spirit, I want my life to bring you joy. Father, I lift them to you in the name of Jesus. I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. Here now is a question for conversation. In what ways can we please the Holy Spirit and bring joy to the Holy Spirit with our lives? Let me know in the comment section right now. Now, one more time, if you're not subscribed to this channel yet, make sure that you don't want to miss any of the content or the live streams that will help you to draw closer to the Holy Spirit. Make sure you're subscribed and click that notification bell. When you do subscribe, you can also follow us wherever you're watching us. I want to share a verse with you found in Hebrews chapter 13. It's going to be verse 16, and it says, and don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. Whenever you and I make a sacrifice, a sacrifice that costs us something, whenever we do that, it's pleasing to our Heavenly Father. It brings joy to the Holy Spirit, especially when we give toward the gospel. God is pleased with our giving. You look at the production here, these videos that we create, the live streams that we do, the events, the in-person events that we host all around the world, and the Holy Spirit School online. Think about the fact that we don't charge for any of it, and we don't have to charge for any of it because of generous supporters like you who say, I want to please God with my giving. You give through this ministry, not to this ministry. You give to Jesus, but through this ministry. So help us continue to do what we do. We can't do it without God speaking to His people to support the ministry. Help us today by giving a one-time donation, and consider also becoming a monthly ministry partner. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a one-time gift. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to sign up as a partner and check out all of the monthly partner benefits over there at the website when you do. Now here are some comments from a previous video titled, How to Be Free from Bitterness and Unforgiveness. This was the live teaching that I did. Here's the response. The first commenter writes, powerful teaching. May God bless this ministry. Keep the fire of love for Christ's burning. May God bless you and your ministry. Love from the Fiji Islands. Jack, seven on rights. This is the best online community. I love you guys. God bless you and the ministry. Our online community, that is you, we affectionately refer to as the spirit family. Charisma Bakatan writes, I was battling bitterness a few days ago. I asked God to help me. And then here comes this teaching from you, pastor. I thank God for your life. All glory belongs to Jesus Christ. Amen. That's right. This is the Holy Spirit channel. And so often people find divine appointments here. Martha Rooster writes, this is a really needed message and an excellent topic. Thank you so much for sharing wisdom from the word of God. God bless you and your team. And the final comment I'll read comes from Kerry Adams who writes, I love this message. It came at just the right time and I know God has led me to your teaching. Thank you and thank our great and awesome God. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching Encounter TV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also, help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.