The Holy Spirit and the Bible
Key Passage: 2 Peter 1:19-21
Date: June 7, 2024
If you will turn your Bible over to 2nd Peter, chapter number one, while you are turning over there, I missed one announcement.
Ladies’ Fellowship this Friday afternoon, meeting down at Colvers on South Rutherford. We have a couple that could not come; some that’s already paid. They had their spot reserved. If you know someone or you yourself are not signed up, there’s still an opening. Ladies, I would encourage you to jump in there. Or maybe you think of a lady in our church you think would be good for her to go. Call her, text her, coordinate with Miss Jody and say, “Hey, there’s still an opening. I want you to go to it.” Maybe say, “Hey, your ticket’s taken care of.” Coordinate all that with Miss Jody. Sometimes I’ll offer things that aren’t there, but I think we’ve got a couple that’s already paid. We do. If you know someone like that, we might as well fill those seats up; they’re paid for. If you know someone like that, call them or text them and say, “Hey, we’d love to have you come.” And I’d even say teenage girls in up. We’d love to have you come to that on Friday. That would be wonderful. And then the Cinderella play down in Woodbury, Center for the Arts, that would be great.
We’re just going to do a short series on how to study the Bible. Tonight is a little bit of an introduction to it. The title will be “The Holy Spirit and the Bible.” In the coming weeks, we will get into Bible commentaries, study Bibles, and Bible dictionaries. I will even talk about some computer programs, the one that I use and the one that a lot of people use. We will cover all those things in these next couple weeks. Pray God it helps to be a blessing to you. Maybe even if nothing else, it gives us a hunger to get in the Word. It’s an amazing book. It’s just mind-boggling. It’s incredible, but we’ve got to get into it. Really tonight, I say it’s the introduction, but really it’s the key to studying your Bible tonight. It really is. We’ll start out tonight with just a little bit—five truths about the Holy Spirit and the Bible. We’re in 2nd Peter chapter number one in God’s Word tonight, 2nd Peter chapter 1.
Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together? We’re going to start in verse number 19. He just said a few verses ago, “Look, we’ve not followed fables, Disney World stories. We’ve seen it with our own eyes when we were on the Mount.” He was talking about on the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember who was there? Peter, James, and John. And they heard the voice, and Jesus began to shine. Remember all that? He said, “I’m telling you, I’ve seen it with my eyes.” That’s kind of the context we’re at right here. Okay, that’s the context. Now let’s start in verse number 19, 2nd Peter 1 and verse number 19: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.”
I said, man, I was an eyewitness. I saw this thing, but we got something better: we got it in writing. Have you ever seen something, and the next day you say, “Did I really see what I think I saw?” Anybody ever get there? Was I dreaming that? Was it a mirage? I mean, was that right? That can happen. Our mind can play tricks on us, especially if people start saying, “Well, I didn’t see that.” You start second-guessing yourself. We got something better than that. We got it in writing. That’s what he’s teaching there. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” We got it; we got it in writing. That’s what it was talking about there.
If you look at the context, just keep going. Brother Josh back there, look at him. He’s giving me a hard time. I preached out a little bit here lately. I preached out last Friday at a church, Brother Josh, a couple of them were there, and the PA messed up. The pastor was sitting over here; he said, “That PA never messes up.” Then I preached last night in another church, and the PA was messing up there. So Brother Josh could give me a hard time: “You mess up our PA, you mess up all of it. What’s the deal? I’m going to have to go through a metal detector or something to see if something…” I don’t know what it is. Brother Patrick’s being challenged over here; he’s already thinking, “What’s going on?” So I don’t know. We’ll see here.
But anyway, he says that we have also more sure word of prophecy: “Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn.” I think we’ll get to this verse more specifically one of these later on Wednesday nights. “And the day star”—that’s Jesus—“arise in your hearts.” Great verse.
Knowing this first—very important to do Bible study—knowing this first: no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. When you start telling the truth from Scripture, you just can’t take one verse out privately from the rest of the Bible and build a whole doctrine. Now, you do that a lot of times preaching, but it must be able to fit in with the rest of the Bible. Knowing this first, no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.
Now look at verse number 21. This is really our text verse: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.” Now think about that. When Moses wrote or penned the first five books of the Bible, it wasn’t his will to do that. Peter didn’t say, “Well, I think I’ll write the Bible. I’ll write some Bible here. I just have a little desire to write the Bible.” No, it wasn’t their will to write this.
No, no, no. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” I often will use an ink pen to illustrate. If I write something down there, I’ll write down, “Miss Tammy sure is pretty.” I’m trying to score some points.
She says it’s working, amen. It’s a good night in the house of the Lord tonight. But if I do that, you say, “Well, Pastor Paul wrote that.” Well, technically, I didn’t write it; the pen wrote it. But that pen had no power over what I was moving it to write. I was moving it to write that. And those men—it wasn’t even their will. It wasn’t the will of men to write the Bible. God moved; the Holy Spirit moved them, and they spake.
That’s very important. It wasn’t just that sometimes people say, “Well, Paul said such and such.” And I understand it, and I don’t think that’s incorrect, but in some ways, it goes way beyond Paul. God used Paul; he is a mediator. There is a lot more authority when you realize that. God used the men; He moved those men. By the way, “Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.” God just made those men to fit what the text was, but He moved those men to give us the words of God.
Just for a little bit, by the way, notice he says, “but moved by the Holy Ghost.” Just a little bit tonight: the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, and the Bible.
The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. Yes, He used over 40 men to pen it. By the way, it’s amazing: over 40 different men, from over 1,000 years—some say up to 1,600 years. These men all varied, different places of the world, and all these different books of the Bible and all these different penmen of the Bible, but it never contradicts. Man, you get one book, one author, and he contradicts himself if you check it out real close. But this book, all these different men, and over a thousand years’ time from the beginning to the end of penning in different places, and it never contradicts—how does that happen? Because God, the Holy Spirit, is the author of the Bible. He’s the author.
Now you say, “How did that happen?” Well, we just read 2nd Peter 1:21. He moved them. They spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. David gives a little testimony of how that happened. God used David to pen some of the Bible, and towards the very end of his life, he gives a little testimony about how this happened, how God used him to pen some of the Bible. He gives a little testimony about it over here in 2nd Samuel chapter number 23. He said, “I’d like to know how that happens.” Well, David gives a little testimony about what it was like for the Lord to move him to give a scripture. He gives a little testimony about it over here in 2nd Samuel chapter number 23, 2 Samuel 23.
Look in verse number one of God’s Word. When you’re there, would you say amen? 2 Samuel 23, verse number one: “Now these be the last words of David the son of Jesse, saith the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel, saith, The Spirit—look at the author—the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue.”
Same thing as over there, 2 Peter 1:21. These holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Over here, David is giving testimony: How did that happen? He said, “Well, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me.” Watch what he says: “His word.” It wasn’t David’s word. “His word was in my tongue.”
Well, that’s what Paul said. I understand, you know, but no, that’s what God said. His word. His word was in my tongue. Look over in the book of Acts. The book of Acts kind of gives a little bit of a testimony, the same thing, Acts 1. Look in verse number 16: Just how did this thing happen? These men that God moved, the Holy Spirit moved, and they spake. How did this happen? We’ll look over in Acts 1. 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Samuel 23:1 and 2—they all line up together. Look at this, Acts 1, verse number 16: “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake.”
Now, who spake? The Holy Ghost. Whose mouth did He use? David’s. Same thing. Same thing. “Which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was a guide to them that took Jesus.” The Old Testament prophecy about Judas. So that’s how we got the Bible. It wasn’t the words of these men. No, it’s God’s Word. That’s why we call it God’s Word. He moved those men. They were a middleman, but it wasn’t those men; it was God’s words through those men. Just like that ink pen has no control over what I write, those men had no control. It wasn’t even their will to write it; God moved them to write it. Friend, it’s God’s book, and the Holy Spirit is the author.
Sometimes we say, “Well, when I get up to heaven, I’m going to ask David or I’m going to ask Solomon or I’m going to ask James what they meant when they wrote that right there.” They won’t know in and of themselves, no more than any other Christian, because it wasn’t their words. Now, they’ll be in heaven; they’ll know then, but as far as just mankind, they won’t know. It was God’s words. God moved them. And that’s how we got the Bible. If you want to get up to heaven and ask, “What does that mean?” if you don’t know by then, you go to the Holy Spirit. He’s the author of it. He’s so important to know when you study the Bible.
The wonderful thing about that, if you’re a born-again Christian, hey, the author is living in you.
Brother Howes hopped on a plane and sat down in that seat, and the person beside him was reading one of the books he wrote. He didn’t recognize who it was sitting beside him. It was kind of like, “Hey, what are you reading over there?” “I can’t remember what book. I’m reading such and such.” “Do you like it?” Boy, wouldn’t it have been something if he had said, “Boy, no, it’s a sorry book”? Wouldn’t that have been good? And they said, “Well, it’s interesting, you know, but this part here, I’m just having a little…” And they said something along that line. “I don’t know what they meant by this right here.” And boy, don’t you know, he’d be glad to tell him, “Well, this is what it means.” He wrote the book.
When you go to Bible study, it’s very important that you realize the author of the Bible is inside of you. We’ll use all kinds of tools and we’ll talk about them, but the greatest tool you have is the author. He’s living inside of you. Some will go and get all these other tools to study the Bible, and they may learn some facts and some statistics and some numbers and all that, but they won’t learn life-changing truths.
This morning, I crossed the way a little bit. They were working on a subdivision, and they had some of these big old dump trucks, these Caterpillar trucks. You know what I’m talking about—huge, big old things. They can’t drive them on the regular road. They were dumping dirt, and these bulldozers were coming along, and someone was smoothing it up. You know how they build them up and all that stuff.
What about if you had all that big heavy equipment? That stuff is worth hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they had all those big—I don’t know what it was, a D-7 or D-8 or whatever—those bulldozers, the higher the number, the bigger they are. I don’t know what it was; it was across the field. But if they had all that, I know those things are expensive. And what if you had all that equipment and no diesel? That equipment is not going to get the job done.
If I get all the best software there is about studying the Bible, and I have the best intellect, the best memory, and I can remember all that stuff, and yet if I don’t have the Holy Spirit, if I don’t get Him involved in my Bible study, friend, it’s very much the same thing. The best thing you and I have going for us is going into God’s amazing, infinite Word with the author living inside of us. He just moved those men, and they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. He’s the author of it.
It’s paramount, at the beginning of this, when we’re talking about studying the Bible, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. Number one: the Holy Spirit is what? He’s the author of the Bible.
Let’s look over in John 16, if you would, please. John 16 and verse number 13. In studying your Bible, we would be amiss if we did not, first of all, cover this thing: the Holy Spirit. That’s so key. He’s the author. And then let’s look at this. John 16, verse 13, of God’s Word. Are you all there tonight? You’re looking down. You’ve got to jump start. That’s not fair. Look at that, if you would, please. John 16:13: “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth”—that’s the Holy Spirit—“is come, He will guide you into all…” Did you notice that: “into all”? By the way, that’s the absolute truth right there.
He will guide you into all truth. The Bible is so vast, it’s so amazing. It’s greater than Glacier National Park, and you’re like, “How do I get in? What road do I take to get there?” The Holy Spirit guides you into all truth. It’s very important that you say, “Hey, Lord, how would You like for me to get into the Bible?”
I often mention—and I try to keep it in front of us—there are great programs to read your Bible through every year. The Holy Spirit might say, “All right, I want you to do that.” I think every Christian should read through their Bible at least once. But you may go to the Holy Spirit and say, “Hey, what do I need right now in my life?” And the Holy Spirit says, “You know what? Sometimes you’ll just say right now, I think you need to go here and study this and get involved in this.” He’ll guide you into all truth.
On vacation, I changed a little bit of my Bible reading. I said, “What do You want to do for vacation?” One reason—I’ll be honest—I’m reading my Bible through chronologically with some other things, and I use this chronological Bible, and it’s pretty thick. Then I have my regular Bible. We were riding on a motorcycle; you can only have so much luggage on there. So I can’t bring them both. I felt like the Lord said, “Hey, you know what? Just lay off the chronological reading.” For the most part, instead of reading the proverb every day, I just read the book of Ecclesiastes, and then I read Psalm 19. I was never going to see some beautiful creation, and while that chapter is so much more than just creation, I never knew about it until vacation. And it’s what I needed. Both of those just spoke to me every morning. I’m so thankful for that.
But I asked Him, “How do You want me to get into Your Word on vacation?” And the Holy Spirit—He, the Spirit of Truth. By the way, it’s interesting; He uses that title of Spirit of Truth when He guides you into all truth. But it’s a wonderful book. Now, let me say this, though: He’ll guide you into all truth, but you’ve got to be willing to travel. A lot of people don’t get into their Bible because of one thing—it’s called being lazy.
You got to travel. We wanted to go to Glacier National Park, and it took time, and it took energy, and it took money. It took all that. And when we got there, man, it was awesome. It was worth it. A lot of people say, “I want to know the Bible.” You just have to take some time. It’s going to take some patience. It’s going to take some reading, some studying. You’re going to have to travel. He’ll guide you into all truth. You’re not going to get a grasp on the Bible in a year. It’s going to take some time. Sometimes people get impatient, wanting all the knowledge. You have a special guide that will guide you into the park, but it’s going to take time. It is going to take some work.
But here’s a wonderful thing: You have a guide, the Spirit of Truth, that will guide you into all truth. So, number one, we said the Holy Spirit is what? He’s the author of the Bible. Number two, He is the guide; He’ll guide you into all truth.
Now let’s look at another verse. If you look over in John 14—John 14, John 16; a lot are about the Holy Spirit, good chapters about the Holy Spirit and the Bible—but John 14, verse number 26 of God’s Word. Here He says, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance.” He will do that, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Here’s the thing: He will teach you all things. When it comes to spiritual things, He may use a lot of different people, a lot of different tools, a lot of different things for you to learn, but you won’t learn those spiritual things apart from the Holy Ghost. He will teach you all.
That’s why it’s so important when we teach the Word of God—all the teachers and preachers here—it is so important that we have the Holy Spirit flowing through us, because they won’t learn spiritual things apart from the Holy Spirit, because He will teach you all. That’s pretty strong. If I’m going to be learning, if I’m going to get into the Word of God, I’m going to learn the Word of God through Him. He is my teacher. You have a personal tutor. He’ll guide you into all truth, and as you get there, He’ll teach you all things. That’s amazing. The Holy Spirit wants you to know His words. He longs for people to get in the Bible. It will give you strength, energy, direction, peace—so much, if you are in the Bible and the Holy Spirit is giving it to you. By the way, you don’t have to have a certain IQ.
I’m going to tell on myself here. Ms. Tammy already knows what I’m going to tell. Me and Sarah met a little bit today, and we’re going over parent orientation tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night, and all that. I was writing down some things, and I’m being honest with you, I’d be right over there and say, “Sarah, how do you spell such and such?” It wasn’t hard words for the most part, typically. And a little bit later on I said, “Sarah, how do you spell this word?” Pretty soon I kind of chuckled a little bit and said, “Isn’t that funny? I’m the principal of this school and I don’t have the right words.” I told Ms. Tammy later on, “You don’t have to have a certain IQ and all that. I don’t have all that. God looks at the heart, and He wants somebody just humble and honest who wants to do something for God.” That’s what God looks at. And I’m saying we’ve got a Teacher that would teach you all things.
I can’t remember Brother Patterson. My wife always says he’s got a photographic memory. He’s got a memory, I know that for sure. He’ll tell you something that happened back in 1953, and he’ll remember all the details. You’ll be like, “Well, I can’t know the Bible like Brother Patterson. I don’t have a memory like that.” Praise the Lord, God’s gifted him with that. But, friend, you don’t have to have all that. You’ve got the Holy Spirit; He’ll teach you all things. Use your strengths and your weaknesses, but it’s the Holy Spirit. He’ll teach you all things. If you’re going to have life-changing truths that come alive to you and help you through life from the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is the one that teaches that. He’ll use preachers and books and tools and all that.
But, friend, let me say this along this line: Commentaries are good. We’ll talk about those. Books are good. We’ll talk about those. But don’t you go by that commentary; you go by the Bible. If you think, “Well, that commentary is kind of leaning this way, but the Bible seems to say this,” you go to the Bible every single time. I don’t know of a commentary that I’ll put all my faith in. I use several different ones. But look at that Bible. I wouldn’t have a problem—now let me finish this statement—I wouldn’t have a problem with these new versions if they would call themselves commentaries. By the way, that’s what they are. That’s all they are, especially when you get to the NASB, the NIV, and all the rest of them. They are a thought-for-thought translation, so you’re getting what somebody else thinks God said. I don’t want what somebody thinks God said; I want what God said. And they just call themselves a commentary. I’ll use whatever they think God said; I might toss it out the window.
I was talking to a pastor yesterday, and he’s going to be teaching in the Bible Institute. He had some questions about it. I said, “I don’t know, go to Brother Anthony.” He said, “But he said this…” He has a relative going to this liberal university—it’s a Christian university, a liberal arts university—and this relative keeps coming to him saying, “Have you read this book? Have you read this author?” And he said, “I just want to say, ‘No, I’m reading the Bible.’” And I said, “Good for you, brother. Just keep reading the book.” Now, I’m not saying those books and things are bad, but they don’t compare to the Bible.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit will come along when you’re reading that commentary and they’re saying such and such, and the Holy Spirit says, “Uh-uh, uh-uh.” He’ll say, “Don’t you go with that.” You have the Teacher inside of you. Sometimes they’ll say, “Man, that commentary…” and it’ll just kind of come alive because of that commentary, but the Holy Spirit helps it come alive. He’s your Teacher.
It’s amazing, and I’ve done this so many times. I don’t know if you ever have, but I’ve studied the passion, looked up the Bible dictionary and the commentaries and cross-references and all that good stuff, and finally I’ll say, “Holy Spirit, help me here. What are You trying to say?” Sometimes it seems like the Holy Spirit smacks you on the side of the head and says, “What if you just asked?” Sometimes it really honestly is just, “Holy Spirit, this is Your book. What do You mean here? Help me out here a little bit.” He will. He’ll teach you all things.
As a pastor, he had a guest preacher in—I don’t know if he was a doctor or professor; he was a little bit higher-up type individual. They went to a widow lady’s house after church to eat. There were several preachers sitting around talking about the Bible. Every once in a while, they’d ask the widow later—she had a good meal, and if somebody cooks for you, you get their opinion—and she always had a vast amount of knowledge. Finally, these preachers were like, “Wow, where did you learn your Bible? Did you go to Bible college? Who did you learn this from?” And she said, “The Holy Ghost.”
He is the best teacher of the Bible. So help me out. The Holy Spirit, He’s the author of it. Not only that, but He is the guide—guides you into all truth—and He is your Teacher. He’s your personal tutor when it comes to the Bible.
Let’s get another thing. Look over in Matthew 4:4. I’ll tell you what, we’re running short on time. Let me just quote it for you. You’ll know it. Jesus was talking with the devil, and He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” That was something about the Bible. So Jesus is comparing the Bible to food, all right?
Have you ever heard this saying? Sometimes the body cannot absorb the nutrients of food. Your intestines, specifically your small intestines, are the part of the body that absorbs the nutrients, and then it goes out into your bloodstream. That’s very important, and some people get an infection in the lining of their intestines. Part of that bad part is they don’t get the nutrients supplied to their body.
Here’s what I’m getting at: If I’m reading the Bible, and somewhere along the line I have quenched the Spirit of God, or if I grieve the Spirit of God, I can be learning facts. I can be even memorizing, but my natural man cannot discern the spiritual things of God. So I’m not absorbing the nutrients of the Word of God.
Look over in Ephesians chapter number three, verse number 16. I’m not saying this is the only way the Holy Spirit does it, but one of the main ways He does it. Over here in Ephesians 3:16, He says that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. I mean, you get that nutrient, and it just strengthens your inner man—your heart, your spirit, your soul, the core of you.
If you’re reading the Bible and you never get any inner strength from that, you’ll go through seasons. But, friend, maybe somewhere along the line, you haven’t gotten the Holy Spirit involved in that, because He gives you the ability really to digest. This book is so rich. It’s beyond us; we’re finite, puny little beings, and it’s an infinite book from God. For those truths to digest where they’re really getting into my inner man and strengthening me and giving me some nutrients for the Christian life, the Holy Spirit has to be involved.
You can have the highest IQ there is. Friend, you’ve got to have the Holy Spirit to really mine those gems where they get into your heart. People that have those diseases and those issues can take the best vitamins the world has to offer, but if their intestines are messed up, they’re not absorbing them. That’s why you’ll get professors out there who know the facts of the Bible—the devil knows the Bible, by the way—or you’ll have a backslidden preacher who might be able to learn things and spit those things up, but they’re not getting into his very inner man because he has grieved and quenched the Spirit of God.
You say, “How can he know all that stuff and still be backslidden?” Because the Holy Spirit must be working to let you absorb those, so you get the strength, the nutrients. There’s so much from the Bible, you’ll never exhaust it, but the Holy Spirit is the one that allows you to absorb them.
The Holy Spirit enables you to absorb the nutrients from the Bible. It’s such an important thing. It’s very important when I read the Bible and the Holy Spirit says, “Hey, that one right there is for you.” I can say, “Well, I’m going to go and do what I want to do. This is my philosophy. This is what I’ve been raised on. This is what I think.” Whatever it is, you can go on your own way, and you just quench Him. Then you keep breathing, but you’re just not getting the nutrients out of it because you have quenched, you have grieved, the one that enables you, the one that can strengthen your inner man. He’ll use the Bible to do it; it’s food. It’s the nutrients you need.
It is very critical: if I’m going to get things from the Bible that make a difference in my life, I must have the Holy Spirit involved. Look, you go to the doctor, and the doctor runs all those tests. They want to suck your blood, you know, and it hurts. And then they want to charge you money for all that. It doesn’t seem right. They run tests on all that and they say, “You’re deficient on this right here, and you need these nutrients.”
The Holy Spirit, He is the great Physician. It’s amazing when you are letting the Holy Spirit work and you’re reading through His Word and you’re absorbing—He knows, and the timing of it is amazing. It’s a living book. He knows exactly when you need a certain nutrient. Sometimes we don’t even know we need that, but He knows what we need. He’s a great Physician. If you have the Holy Spirit working and you are able to absorb the nutrients you need for that very moment, for that very day, for that very second sometimes, it strengthens your very core, the inner man. The Holy Spirit is so crucial.
Number one, we said the Holy Spirit is what? He’s the author. Second of all, He guides you into all truth. And then number three, I’ve got to look at myself: He’s your personal teacher, tutor, right? Yes. Number four, we said the Holy Spirit enables us to receive what? Nutrients.
And then this last thing, very quickly here. Look over in Luke chapter number six. We’ll get this thing here very quickly. Luke 6, verse number 38. You’ll know the verse, the vast majority of you know Luke 6:38. We often apply it to money, and that’s not wrong to do that, but actually the context is not necessarily money. It applies everywhere, but we’re going to apply it to the Bible here a little bit. Luke 6, verse number 38. If you’re there, would you say amen? Good deal. I know you are. We’re getting late. Some of you have been busy all day. We’re about there. But look at this verse here. Here’s the last thing: Luke 6, verse number 38. He says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give into your bosom.” For the same measure that ye meet with all, it shall be measured to you again.
Here’s the thing: Have you ever heard a preacher? Some preachers are just so busy; man, they’re preaching all the time. You think, “Where in the world does that guy get all this stuff from?” Now, hopefully, he’s getting it from the Lord. But can I tell you a little secret about that? That preacher is giving out what God gives to him. And when you give out what God gives to you, He is more apt to give you more. Remember there in 2 Corinthians 1? He talks about, “Hey, you have the God of all comfort.” He gives you the comfort. What are you supposed to do with that comfort? Go give it out to somebody else. And when you give that comfort out, what happens? He’s liable to give you more. He is the wisest Investor there ever has been.
If I just take all the truth that I get from the Bible and stick it in my pocket, never try to help somebody with it, God might say, “Well, I don’t know; they haven’t really helped anyone with it.” I’m not talking about going around trying to act like you know the Bible—knowledge puffs up. I’m not talking about that. But you take the truth, the strength, and the comfort you get out from the Bible, and you try to give it out to somebody else, and God is more happy to say, “Well, let me give them more.” There’s a verse over—I think it’s Proverbs or Psalms, maybe—“The lips of the righteous feed many.” If you’re just trying to feed many, God’s going to say, “Well, I’m going to give them a little bit more.”
Friend, in the Bible—and boy, I like to get from the Bible—we already talked about Brother Howells was on the plane and sat down beside the person who was reading this book. Just imagine this: Let’s say he sat down there, and this person says, “Yeah, I’ve been using this book in a study, and I’ve been teaching this book to somebody else.” Wouldn’t you think that would make the author of the book say, “Wow, let me tell you all about this book,” because you are telling others about my book? Same thing with the author, the Holy Spirit. He is just more apt to give you more. Oh, friend, you cannot separate the Bible from the Holy Spirit. You can’t do it.
The Holy Spirit is what? He’s the author. He’s the guide. He’s our personal teacher. He’ll help us absorb the nutrients. And you give out, He’s allowed me to give you more.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - - The Holy Spirit and The Bible - Wednesday PM 08172022