We've been, you know, in a series of, in the supernatural world, we've been talking about
the different gifts of the Spirit. That's kind of where we're in the middle of. And so now we're
going to be jumping in to the gift of the discerning of spirits. And this is the one gift,
this is the one gift that I think that everybody should be asking for, because it's a very important
gift, because it helps us sense what is going on in the spiritual world. And if you don't have that,
if you don't have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it can be kind of tough. And so I kind
of got this broken down to three parts. The first part is we're going to jump right into the purpose
of discernment. And so the purpose of discernment, the reason that we have this gift, is this. We're
going to jump right into 1 Corinthians. It says, in verse 4, it says, now they are different gifts,
but the same Spirit. And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are
different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each person, the
manifest of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. So this gift is for the benefit of all.
And jump to verse 10, it says, to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy,
and to another discernment of spirits. You see, this gift is in the context of all these other
gifts. It is for the purpose to protect the church and the people in the church. That is the number
one reason we have this gift. It's for protection. And the reason we need to have this is we need to
be able to determine what is from God and what is not. And so if someone wants to give a prophetic
word, someone needs to be there to decide, is this from God or is this from something else?
We had a beautiful prophetic word this morning, and I'm so glad it was shared because I think all of us
were very blessed by it. I think that we're all, we're feeling it. And I feel that this is the kind of
thing that discerning of spirits is so important. Because we need to know that these things come
from God. And I really truly believe that came from God. And so just, just for all of you who
don't know this, some, most of you do, if you have a word from the Lord, you believe you have a word
from the Lord, come up. Whoever's ever pastor or leader on duty, come let us know what it is. And if
we feel like it's an appropriate time, an appropriate word, we'll let you come up. And I can't tell you
how many times I've been blessed by the words that have been brought forth. This is why it's so
important. And I encourage that because it's such a blessing to others. It's a way to protect the
church. It's a way to encourage the church. Because here's what can happen. Second Peter says,
but false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false
teachers will infiltrate your midst and be destructive with heresies, even to the point of denying the
master who brought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction to them on themselves.
Now there are some people that are consciously aware that they are coming to destroy God's church.
They are coming into these small, smaller churches to, for the purpose of dividing and for the purpose
of destroying. Okay, let me give you an example. A colleague of mine was telling me about an incident
that happened at a worship night. Somebody had come in, and they were giving prophetic words
throughout, and everything was going great. It was going a certain direction. This guy came up to give
a word. Nobody was really kind of monitoring what was being said, and he completely derailed the whole
meeting and made it about himself, about his ministry, and why people should follow him.
That is not a good spirit. It's a false teacher. It is not coming from God. And that's why we need to
have those checks and balances. We need the inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Because in John 10, it says,
the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it
abundantly. You know, people are sent to divide. There is evil. In a church who is not rooted in
Christ can really succumb to those things. And I've heard stories, and I've actually been a part
of churches who were not really rooted in Christ. They were really not rooted in what was going on
with the Holy Spirit. There was a lot of pride. And guess what? The church got destroyed because
there was no discernment. And folks, this has happened here once. Before the church got going,
while we were still meeting as a core group, we had someone come into that group with the intention
to divide. And somebody brought it to my attention. They're just like, hey, Jesse, there's something
weird going on here. Since this person has been coming, something isn't right. And then I heard it
from a couple other people. Something isn't right. The atmosphere changed, and I can't put my finger
on it. So, and as soon as that happened, everything went crazy. Some of you guys remember it, that we're
there. Yeah, I'm seeing some nods. You were there. You guys were all there. It just, things went nuts.
And we had issues, and we were having spiritual issues, and it was just, it felt like it was a battle.
And so, here's what we did. We gathered together and prayed as a core group. I remember, we were
actually standing right here. Before this place was built up, we were standing right here, and we prayed
together as a group. We didn't divide. We came together. We didn't give in to our emotions. We sought
the Lord. We prayed over one another, and we encouraged one another. And that's why you need
Holy Spirit discernment to recognize the source. Because the source was not from God. It was from
something else. It was coming to destroy this church before it even started. And that's the
foundation that this church has been. We come together. We encourage. We bond. And that's what
the church is supposed to be doing. You know, maybe sometimes we have, I know of a case where
somebody came in who was hurt by the church, or was hurt by someone in the church. And so, they came in
with an agenda. They came in with maybe a little bit of a vendetta. First Peter 3 says, do not return
evil for evil, or insult for insult. But instead, bless others, because you were called to inherit a
blessing. I remember when I was studying in seminary, I was, my husband and I were one of
the older people in seminary, being in our late 30s at that time. But there was one gentleman
that kind of stood out. He was well into his retirement years. And I thought that was kind
of interesting to be pursuing a master's degree at that age. And so, I asked him, hey, you know,
why are you here? You know, this seems kind of atypical. And he says, well, my church is not doing
well. They are not very rooted in the Word, and I'm here to help correct that. And at first, you're
thinking, okay, that's a very noble cause. He wants to bring the Word. He wants to bring the truth back
into the church. But as the conversation went on, I realized very quickly that he wanted to learn
the Word so he could go back and do it his way, the way he thinks it should have been done.
It was a pride issue. It wasn't from God. It wasn't that he was going to go and help the church
grow and mend and heal. No, he was going to go back and show them how to do it. That was a spirit
of pride. I'll tell you, he didn't last very long. He didn't last very long. And it was sad. But that
wasn't from the Holy Spirit. You've got to recognize the source. Well, sometimes it could be from a
demonic influence. Acts 16, Paul and his disciples are going out and they are preaching,
and this slave girl comes up. This is what she says. Verse 7, she says, she followed behind Paul
and us and kept crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you the
way of salvation. She continued to do this for many days, but Paul became greatly annoyed and turned and
said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out
of her at once. Now, this is an interesting story because you notice what the girl was saying wasn't
bad. She was absolutely saying the truth because that's what Paul and his disciples were doing.
They and the other apostles, they were going out and proclaiming the truth of Jesus. But isn't it funny
how Satan has a way to turning things, true things to evil? He was able to kind of twist it.
And it took this Holy Spirit discernment in Paul to understand what the source was, what was really
going on. And you notice how Paul didn't talk to the girl, he talked to the spirit. He talked to the
spirit. And immediately that spirit left. Paul recognized the source.
Well, maybe there's some good and well-meaning people. And they really have good in their heart
and they really want to help. But sometimes they may act out on our own selfishness and pride.
Our friend Peter, one of the 12 apostles, was one example of this. In Matthew 16, he had just
declared Jesus as the Messiah. He finally did something smart for once. And then a paragraph later,
this is what happens. Jesus announces, hey, I'm going to die. I am going to be murdered.
And this is what Peter said. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
God forbid, Lord, this must not happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me,
Satan. You are a stumbling block to me because you are not setting your mind on God's interest,
but on man's. See, Peter was acting out of his own selfishness. He didn't want Jesus to go away.
And to be honest, if I was in Peter's shoes, I probably would have done the same thing. Of
course I'm going to protect you. I got my, you know, my little thing thing back here. I'm going
to protect you. Yeah, I'm not going to let them come get you. See, Peter wasn't trying to be harmful.
He wasn't trying to be mean. And he certainly wasn't under demonic influence. He was just under
his own. But Jesus recognized the source. It was Peter's will and not the will of the Father. And
that is discernment. So we have the purpose of discernment. So I like to get into the practical.
What does it look like to walk out the practice of discernment? What do we do to actually practice
the gift of discernment? Well, there's three sources. First off, it's from the Holy Spirit.
That's the source that will always be correct. When you're from the Holy Spirit, he will always
be correct. Next is that human spirit. It's our will. It's our emotions. It's our mind. It's our flesh.
And finally, we have the demonic. Something that's evil that comes from a spiritual force.
Now, don't think any of us operate in the Holy Spirit 100% of the time. We don't. None
of us do. I don't. You don't. Nobody does. We can't. We're not fully redeemed yet. And that's
not going to happen until a new heaven and new earth comes down. Amen? But, because this
is really, truly a gift. Because I know people who lack this gift. They don't have the ability
to recognize the source. Okay? Let me give you some examples here. I know that there's
some people, they don't go to the church, they don't even live in the state, who sense
these demonic spirits and they confuse them with heavenly spirits. Okay? For example, I
know, I'm thinking of an individual who says that their dead father visits them. Here's
the thing. They are so convinced that it's him. Guess what? That is not your father's
spirit. That is a demon. Because your father's spirit can't be here on earth. It can't be.
It's maybe a familiar spirit, a spirit that's like your father, that maybe was in your father,
that was not of God, but it's not him. That's necromancy. That's summoning the dead. In Leviticus
19.31, it says, do not turn to the spirits of the dead and seek familiar spirits to become
unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. And I like the way the ESV says it. It says, do
not turn to mediums or necromancers. Don't seek them out. Okay? We are not called to seek
the dead. Because once we die, our spirit leaves our body instantly. It's gone. It is
not here on earth. And guys, I want you to understand, I'm not trying to cause discomfort
for those who have lost loved ones. I have lost loved ones who I truly care about. But
the real comfort is knowing that a loved one who accepted Christ in their life is with Jesus.
You know, we just recently, this year, lost one of our team members. And as sad and as heartbreaking
as it is, it's so comforting to know that he is with Jesus. And that's the comfort we
have. Because once you experience heaven, I will tell you, you do not want to come back
to earth. Yeah? You don't. Okay, here's another example. There are some people who like to rely
on their own discernment, either by fleshly, which is sin nature, or human, which is our own
will. 1 Corinthians 2 says, the unbeliever does not receive the things of the spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they are
spiritually discerned. The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood
by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to advise him? But we have the mind
of Christ. I have a business colleague. He's not a Christian. He doesn't really believe
in Jesus. He's a very smart man. He is very brilliant. And I've seen him build multiple
businesses. He is very good at what he does. But the problem is, this man is so wise in
his own eyes that he makes a lot of bonehead decisions. To the point where, like, legal issues
have come up, fines have come up, fines have come up. You can't tell him anything. He makes
his own decisions. He makes his own discernments from his own will. See, discernment will always
glorify God, if it's from the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit discernment will always glorify God.
And that's how you know. So if you're a born-again believer, and you've accepted Christ, and you're
walking a repentant life, not a perfect life, I'm not saying perfection, a repentant life, a life
towards Christ, you have the mind of Christ. You have it. So let me ask you, are you listening
to it? Because there's so many of us that live our life like we don't. You know, why aren't
we not giving encouraging words to the single mom at the grocery store? Why are we judging
other people when they just really need help? You know, why don't, why are we acting like
Christians on Sunday but act like the world the rest of the week? We are called for a purpose.
We have a mind like Christ. We need to recognize the source and walk the way of Christ.
Small crowd, but man, I'm feeling your energy. I love it. You all need to sit up front more
often. I like this. Woo! Yeah, preach it, preach it. I love you guys. So with that mind,
with that in mind, what we just talked about, in a practical sense, what does this look like?
What does it look like practically? So how are we to determine what the Holy Spirit is and what
isn't? Well, for one, the Holy Spirit will never lead you contrary to Scripture. Never. It will
always, always follow the Word. Every time. It will never be contrary. There was this, I was reading,
as I was researching this, and I was reading a commentary, this thing came up. There was this
Pentecostal sect back in the 70s, 80s, and they were doing this thing called soul marriages. This
couple started it. Some of you guys know what this is. And they believed that if you had a desire for
someone, that you should be with someone. What could possibly go wrong? Well, it wasn't long between
the fact there was divorces everywhere, to the point where even the couple that started it got a
divorce, and the whole ministry and the whole church was destroyed. Okay, I think the Bible's
pretty clear about adultery. See, the confused desire with discernment. It didn't follow the Word
of God. Number two, the Holy Spirit will never manipulate you. It will never bring pressure. It
will never bring anxiety. It will never bring fear. And it will never force you. Never.
Now, see, there's a story in the Gospels where Jesus had just gotten baptized. He had just been,
had the Holy Spirit come upon him. He just heard from the Father. First time we saw the Trinity.
And then he had to go into the wilderness for 40 days. Now, 40 days is a long time to fast and not eat.
I mean, if you, I mean, Wednesday, I didn't, I missed a couple meals. And if you guys are here at the
prayer on Wednesday, you all know, I was kind of bent out of shape. That was just two meals. So, I can
imagine 40 days with no food. And so, what happened? Did God show up after that 40 days? No. Satan showed
up. And he took scripture and he twisted it. And he tempted Jesus to, to follow him, to kill himself,
and lay his glory for Satan and not his father. And Jesus said, no. I will not be tempted. I will not
be pushed. I will not be caused to fear because I have a great heavenly father. So, how do you hear
from the Holy Spirit? John 10 says, my sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me.
See, God's voice comes to us in many ways. You know, thoughts that are righteous, that are holy,
that are selfless. Or feelings when you enter a space or you're near certain people. Maybe it's a
positive feeling. Maybe it's a not positive feeling. Maybe it's emptiness. Maybe it's through
scripture. Oftentimes, I get a lot of discernment, a lot of words through when I read the Bible.
Maybe it's your mind's eye. Maybe when you see pictures in your head. Whether it's literal or
whether it's interpretive. It could be temporary pain when you're around someone. I know somebody
at our supporting church, Two Rivers. His name is Paul Shubring. And I can tell you about this. His
son-in-law was here preaching a few weeks ago. He's a very interesting gift. If he senses somebody else
has pain, he will feel in his own body. And he's able to know, hey, you have a knee that's bothering
you. Can I pray for that knee? And that's how he knows. And it's an amazing, beautiful gift. And
then once he prays, that pain is gone. And it's very consistent. You know, maybe you get a minor
headache when you feel something is chaotic. There's a lot of different ways. Sometimes it's through
sights. Maybe you see something. I think it was Michelle. You were saying you saw a woman in white and
you're just like, wow, there's righteousness closed over you. Maybe it's through something
you see. Maybe it's a gut feeling. I remember when we owned our business, before we got into
ministry, we owned an e-commerce store, an online store. And there was a company, an owner-operator
that wanted to sell off his business, his small business, to us. And it made sense because what
he sold completely fit in with our catalog. And we had the right audience for it. And we could
have done very well with it. The numbers looked good. The product looked good. Everything looked
great. But something was off. And I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And I remember I was
in the car with Tim. And we're driving down. And I'm like, Tim, something feels off about this deal.
Something isn't right. I know everything looks good. Something isn't right.
You know what's amazing about my husband? Is he agreed, even though he didn't feel it,
he says, okay, we're not going to do it. And guess what I found out about six, eight months later?
That guy had taken a bunch of money from his customers and never gave him a product.
We would have been out a lot of money. Tens and tens of thousands of dollars had we taken that deal
because he manipulated his customers, stole money, and left. And that's why he was trying to get rid
of the business. Gut feeling. Couldn't quite put my finger on it.
You know, maybe you see some odd behaviors or patterns over time. All these things. This is
not an exhaustive list. But these are all, yeah, you guys are all laughing. What are you two doing?
Do I need to come over there? Like, what is going on?
It's all done.
What is going on over there? Oh my gosh.
Well, I can't take you guys anywhere.
Wow.
All right.
Okay, where was I? You guys all got me derailed now.
Ladies and gentlemen, second row.
I should have left you guys in the back.
Oh boy. This will be fun to edit.
I might leave that one in.
So, there are many types of spirits that we could be facing, that we could be sensing.
And I'm not going to, the Bible does not give us an exhaustive list.
They don't have like an index of all these different spirits.
But what we do is we kind of call them by their names or their behavior.
So I'm just going to give you some quick spirits.
So as you are walking in this gift, as you are asking God for this gift,
you can start seeing these things.
Number one, like the Jezebel spirit.
That's that spirit that was based on Jezebel when she had a spirit of this pride
and this manipulation and control.
There's a spirit of mammon, those who love money and who are obsessed with money.
Or a spirit of lust who, it's a spirit who engages in unholy sexual thoughts and acts.
Maybe a spirit of religion that was based on the spiritual condition of the Pharisees.
The spirit of Leviathan, that's a chaotic spirit based on the serpent in the Bible.
You can see that throughout from the beginning to the end.
Or the spirit of narcissism, one who are very selfish and internal.
There is one spirit I do want to kind of talk about a little bit here.
The spirit of false humility.
And this one, this one is, you got to be careful with.
Because folks, our sin stinks.
It stinks.
And false humility starts sentences like,
I always do these good things.
Or I'm always in the word.
Or I always give.
Or I, I, I.
Someone who lacks true humility, they also won't accept a compliment.
Because what they're really doing is they're trying to fish for more.
That's a spirit of false humility.
And false humility is a mask for pride.
It's a mask for pride.
And they use that to kind of hide their, their, their true self.
And so, even though they have this appearance of, of wisdom and godliness.
It is not from God.
You've got to recognize the source.
Colossians 2 says,
Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship
and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body.
A wisdom with no true value.
In reality, result in fleshly indulgence.
True humility aligns with God's will.
You've got to recognize the source.
And then, you have people who have strongholds.
And strongholds are very important to see because that is a type of spirit.
It is a type of spiritual condition.
And what is a stronghold?
It is a pattern that is deeply established in our thinking and our behaviors.
And they oppose God.
Imagine building a room and you continue to build up those walls to the point where you can't get out.
That there is a barrier between you and the truth.
2 Corinthians says,
Because that tension we feel is spiritual.
And we talked about the state pre-service prayer.
There is some tension.
And that is broken by the blood of our Christ.
It is broken by the cross.
And when we encounter someone who has strongholds,
they are going through a spiritual battle.
It is not flesh and blood.
It is spiritual.
And folks, we all have our own strongholds.
We do.
And this is something what they may look like.
Here are some examples.
They are not always demonic.
It could just be years of believing lies.
It could be,
I have never been loved.
I am broken and I can never be repaired.
I need to control everything.
I can't let it go.
Or,
I am always depressed.
I am useless.
I will never change.
I can't change.
Those are strongholds.
They are lies.
And discernment helps identify them.
And it helps you minister to others
so they can be set free.
So, if we're going to be operating in this gift,
there needs to be a posture of discernment.
There needs to be a way that we walk forward
into this place.
See, we can't be judgmental towards that other person.
They are beloved by Christ just like you are.
And you need to remember that there's a person behind that.
You need to have a position of compassion and love.
They may drive you nuts,
but guess what?
God loves them.
Because you drive God nuts.
I'm sure you drive.
I probably drive all you nuts.
We all drive each other nuts.
But,
we need to have that posture of compassion.
You know,
pray with that person,
with them.
Pray for that person
when you're alone
and in your prayer,
your secret place,
the place where you are with God.
Continually ask the Heavenly Father
for wisdom,
what to do with that information.
Sometimes when I get something
and I get a download,
I don't always act on it right away.
I often don't.
I sit on it.
I'll write it down.
I'll pray about it.
Lord,
you gave me this discernment.
What do I do with it?
Always remain humble
and don't elevate yourself.
Just because you've got something
does not make you any better.
My husband and I were discussing,
he brought up this proverb,
it says something along the lines of,
a poor man can save a village.
But they don't listen to the poor man
because he's poor.
Just because you feel inferior
doesn't mean that God
isn't going to talk to you.
He talks to everyone,
including the poor.
That means whether actually poor
or poor in spirit.
Okay?
And never use discernment,
and this is very important,
never, ever use discernment
to manipulate others.
That is not for you to manipulate.
It is not for you
to change circumstances.
It is for you to elevate the kingdom
and elevate your God.
Because Jesus,
Jesus had perfect discernment.
And he is the example.
See,
Jesus discerned Nathaniel's sincerity.
Jesus knew the widow's generosity was great.
Jesus saw Judas' greed.
Jesus saw Peter's fear.
Jesus saw the Pharisee's hypocrisy.
He saw the woman at the well
and saw her heart.
He knew the condition
of the rich young ruler.
But Jesus never stopped loving anyone.
He never stopped loving people.
And that's the model
that we need to follow, folks.
It is a posture of love and humility.
See,
discernment should increase compassion,
not criticism.
Because it's very easy to criticize
when you see something broken in someone.
Well, they are broken,
so they must be this.
They must be that.
The more discernment we become
and the less loving we become,
it is no longer the Holy Spirit.
It's something else.
See,
Jesus saw people more clearly
than anyone.
And no,
he loved people more deeply
than anyone.
So church,
in conclusion here,
don't pray merely
for more information.
This isn't about
an information download.
Pray for more discernment.
Because the days that we live in,
we are going to need
this discernment.
Amen?
We need this.
Sometimes it's going to look spiritual.
Sometimes it'll sound biblical.
Sometimes it won't even feel right.
And you need to decide,
and in those moments,
is it from the Holy Spirit
or is it something else?
You need to recognize the source.
Because evil can be tricky.
Evil likes to manipulate.
Evil likes to twist.
And we need believers
that know the voice of our shepherd.
We need men and women
who can distinguish the truth
from lies
and from conviction
from condemnation,
from humility to pride,
and the Holy Spirit
from counterfeit spirits.
We need this today
in this time
because we are seeing
all sorts of false things happening.
We're seeing words
that are spoken.
We're saying,
well,
this president's going to solve
this problem
and this organization's going to solve
this problem.
And no,
only our God
is going to solve
our problems.
And so remember this.
The goal of discernment
is to never make
suspicious people.
We are not to be
suspicious of people.
It is to make us
dependent on Christ.
It should almost
make you nervous
because you need to ask yourself,
God,
is this really from you?
The more clearly we see
and that we see
what's going on
in the Spirit,
the more faithfully
we can love,
protect the church,
and most importantly,
glorify our Lord Jesus.
Amen?
All right.
Let's close in prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
God,
Lord,
that we just,
we walk in you,
Lord.
We want to hear your voice.
We want to hear
the things that you want
to tell us,
Lord.
And we ask that
you give us
Holy Spirit discernment
right now.
And anybody here
that wants this gift
who does not have
this gift,
Lord,
I just ask that
that gift falls
on each and every person
that we can know
who you are,
hear your voice,
and walk in you,
Lord.
That the only way
that we can bless
others is through you.
You are the source.
Lord,
let us shed our pride,
let us lay ourselves
down at your feet,
and let us be
vessels for you.
I bless everyone
that is here,
Lord,
protect them,
guide them,
and let them be a blessing
to everyone they
encounter this week.
And all God's people said,
Amen.
