Rick Warren - Living an Anointed Life—Part One

Hello, everybody.

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm

really glad you're here.

Today.

We're continuing our series from Psalm twenty three called Living

in the Goodness of God. It's all about how God's

goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope

even in difficult seasons. Okay, so let's jump in for

part one of a message called living an Anointed Life.

If you take out your message notes, we're going to

continue in the series we've been in. Now it's a

twelve part series, Living in the Goodness of God. We're

looking at the most important or famous chapter in the Bible,

Psalm twenty three, The Lord is My Shepherd. It's only

six verses, but it's taking as twelve sessions to get

through it because there's so many rich twelve different metaphors,

twelve different pictures of the way God is good to us.

And today we come to the fifth verse. So I'm

twenty three verse five, and we're just looking at one

phrase where he says, talking about the goodness of God,

you anoint my head with oil. Now, what in the

world does that mean? You anoint my head with oil?

This was written three thousand years ago. How in the

world could it possibly have any relevance to my life

today and the goodness of God. Well, you've got to

understand what anointing is. What does it mean to be anointed? Well,

that depends on who's doing the anointing. If you had

your next door neighbor come over to you tomorrow, to

your house and walk in and they had some oil

and they anointed you and they said, I now proclaim

you the king of the universe, would that change your life? No?

Why because they don't have any authority to do anything

about it. They could say you're the king of rock

and roll or whatever, and it wouldn't make any difference

because it depends on who's doing the anointing. Now I'm

putting down a definition here, and there's anointed by God,

which is internal, and there's anointed by people, which is external.

Explain this so we can unwrap it and see all

the benefits to your life. Anointed by God is something

that happens internally, and I've written here when God's Holy

Spirit gives you insight or ability, this is a supernatural insight, ability,

or stamina, or authority or protection that you don't normally

have in order to do a job that he God

has chosen you to do. That's anointing. When you are

anointed by God, God gives you supernaturally ability that you

don't have, or insight wisdom you don't have stamina to

hold up under something, you don't have, authority or even

protection that you don't normally have, in order to do

a job that God has chosen you to do. That's

called anointing in the Bible. Now, anointing by people is

something different. It's an outward symbol of the inward thing

we just talked about. It's the external symbol. And anointing

by people means when somebody prayerfully applies some oil to

your skin as an outward sign of what God is

doing inside you. Now, God often does this. He gives

us an external symbol of an internal process. The Lord's

Supper communion is an external symbol of the death and

crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This is my body and this

is my blood, using you know, bread and wine, crackers

and juice, using symbols that say this is an outward

sign of an inward spiritual truth. Baptism is an outward

sign of an inward truth. It says I have died

to my old way of living. We put them under

the water, we bring them back up, and I'm beginning

a brand new life. It's a new life. I've been

born again, not turn over a new leaf. I got

a new life. All my sins have been forgiven, washed away.

That's an outward symbol baptism of an inward commitment. Now,

neither communion nor baptism save you. It's like I call

them the wedding ring of the Christian life. This ring

was given to me many years ago, forty two years specifically,

when I said two words at a ceremony that changed

my life. Two words I do. When I said those

two words, I had no idea what I was doing

when I said I do. And the rest of my

life I'm working out the implications of two words I do.

And Kay will often tell me this is in the

fine print. If I do and I go, oh, that's

included too. Yeah, Okay, I did, and I still do.

She gave me this ring. Now I could lose this

ring and I'd still be married. Kay would be upset,

and I would actually too. But this doesn't make me married.

It's just a symbol. When someone anoints you with oil.

There's nothing mystical or magical properties in the oil. It's

simply like the water in baptism is not a special

kind of water. It's just water and an oil and

anointing is just olive oil. But it is the symbol

of something far more significant and the faith in the

fact that God has anointed you on the inside. Now,

in the Bible, olive oil specifically is used as a

symbol of a lot of things. It's a symbol of

God's spirit, the Holy Spirit. It's a symbol of God's presence.

It's a symbol of God's blessing on your life. When

someone is anointed with oil, it's a symbol that God

approves of you. It's a symbol of God's presence, of

God's protection, of God's promises. It's a symbol of prosperity.

There are a lot of different meanings to being anointed

with oil. It's comfort, it's healing, it's joy. The Bible

talks about the oil of joy, the oil of gladness,

the oil of salvation, the oil of deliverance, and so

it's a symbol of many different things. Now in the Bible.

In the Old Testament, the old part of the Bible,

only three kinds of people got anointed with oil. You

had to be a priest, you had to be a prophet,

or you had to be king. And even today, kings

are still anointed with oil, even thousands of years later,

as a symbol of God's blessing, God approval, God's giving

them authority and things like that. And the only people

who could actually do it were the priest. Nobody else

was allowed to anoint in the Old Testament. In fact,

you weren't even allowed to have anointing oil in your home.

It was supposed to be that sacred. But when Jesus

Christ came and died on the cross, he broke up

the old system, and the Bible says the veil in

the temple was torn in half, which means you can

go directly to God. Now you don't need a priest.

In the Old Testament, you had to go through a

priest to get to God. You had to pray through

a priest. You had to have him confess your sins

for you. You confess to the priest, they confessed to God.

You don't have to go to a priest anymore. You

don't have to confess to a priest. You can confess

correctly to God. You don't have to pray through a

priest anymore. You can pray directly to God. That's what

Jesus did on the cross. In fact, the Bible says

this may shock you. If you're a follower of Jesus,

you're a priest. It says it over and over and over.

It's called the priesthood of the believer. It'sattle we use

the phrase every member is a minister. It's the same

thing that you don't need somebody between you and God.

You now, because of what Jesus did, have direct access

and because you you may have never thought about this,

or a priest, whether you're a man or a woman,

old or young, if you're a follower of Christ, you

have the authority to anoint people with oil. You have

the authority to pray for people's healing. You have the

authority to do all the things that the priest used

to do in the Old Testament. Now to understand what

it means to live an anointed life, and that's what

we want to look at you. You anoint my head

with oil. What is the meaning of that what is

the blessing of being anointed by God? We need to

go back to the very basic. You're not an accident.

You were made by God and for God. Till you

understand that, life won't make sense. We've talked about this

many times. God has a plan for your life, a

purpose for your life, and the significance and meaning of

your life comes from figuring out God's plan on your life.

God has a purpose, and the Bible says before you

even born, God planned what he wanted to do with

your life. It's called your calling, your calling. And the

word in Latin is or a Greek is caleo means

to call out and we get our vote, say in Latin,

which is we get vocal vocalize voice. It is God

calling you. Did you know that you're called by God

to do something with your life. You may be called

to be a marine biologist, but it's a calling. You

may be called to be a taxi driver or a banker,

or an investor, or a homemaker or a teacher or

a nurse, or an artist or a musician. Everybody who's

alive has a calling by God on their life. Now

many people miss that calling and they go off and

do their own thing, and that's why they're unhappy. That's

why they're unsatisfied. That's why they're unfulfilled. Because you'll never

be fulfilled doing your plan. You're only going to be

fulfilled if you figure out what is God calling me

to do. Some people think that God only calls missionaries

and priests and you know, nuns and pastors and people

who do church work. No, no, no, no, no. Everybody

has a calling on their life. You could be called

to be a businessman. You could be called to be

a politician. You could be called to be a salesperson.

And what God calls you to do? Listen, He wants

to anoint you to do. Let me show you some verses. First,

look up here on the screen. The Bible says this

in the Book of Ephesians, that God made us what

we are. He wired yous. You like sales, you like math,

you like music, you like instrumentation, you like organizing. Your administrator,

God made you what you are, and in Christ Jesus,

God created us, each of us to do good works,

which He planned in advance for us to live our

lives doing. Do you realize that before you're even born,

God planned the calling on your life. He planned the

purpose on your life. Now that's very very important, and

this is where fulfillment and meaning and purpose come from.

But here's the catch. You cannot fulfill your calling the

way God wants you to on your own power. You

need what is called God's anointing. And anointing is the

power and the insight and the energy and all those

things that I mentioned earlier that allow you to do

what God wants you to do. If God has a job,

He's going to give you the ability to do it.

And so what I want to do real quickly is

summarize the entire Bible and what it has to say

about anointing an anointed life in about six statements. Can

you write fast? This is a cliff notes on the

Bible on anointing, So take your notes down. This is

very important because until you understand your calling and until

you get your anointing, you're not going to be fulfilled

in life. Okay, Number one, here are six things I've

learned about God's anointing on my life. Number one, when

God appoints me, he anoints me. That's the first thing

we learn. When God appoints me, he anoints me. God

never asked you to do something without providing what you

need to do it. When he gives you assignment, he's

going to give you the empowerment. When he gives you

a plan, he's going to give you the power to

do it. When he gives you a strategy, he's going

to give you his spirit. God's anointing comes with God's

appointing and the anointing that God wants to give you

in your life. New power, new energy, new insight only

happen when you start doing using it for what He

wants to give it to you. For God has promised

to help you out. If God calls you to do

something and you're scared to death, you feel incompetent or

incapable or inadequate, God says, that's okay. Look at these

verses first, Thessalonians five twenty four. The one who calls you,

that's God is faithful. God is faithful, and he will

do it. What does that verse mean? Whatever God calls

you to do, He's going to give you the ability

to do. He's going to help you do it. He's

going to put his spirit in you. And if God

says to do it, you can count on his anointing. Faithful,

the one who calls you, he's going to do it.

A good example of this would be when God gave

the very first assignment to his very first followers, the

first twelve Disciples. Look up here on the screen Acts

Chapter one, verse eight says this, you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes on you. That's anointing, and

you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Now that when Jesus gave that assignment to disciples was

an impossible assignment. There was no way they could possibly

go to the end of the earth. There were no planes, trains, automobiles,

no ocean bearing vessels. How now were they going to

get to Australia from the Middle East. How are they

going to get to South America or North America. It

was physically impossible. God will often give you an assignment

that physically looks impossible, but he says, I'm gonna make

it possible, and We're going to figure out a way

to do this, and I'm going to empower you. So

God says, my appointment comes, or my assignment comes with

an anointing that goes right along with it. Okay, Number two.

Here's the second thing we learned. God's anointing makes me

a better person. If you think you're good now, it's

nothing compared to what you could be with God's anointing

on your life. God's anointing transforms you. It changes you

from the inside out. It gives you abilities you did

not have on your own. Now again, there are many,

many examples of this when somebody is anointed as a

king or prophet or whatever that all of a sudden

they got new abilities and their life was turned around

and changed because of the anointing. Here's a good example.

In First Samuel, chapter ten, Samuel is a prophet and

the first king of Israel is a guy named Saul.

Saul felt very inadequate. He thought I could never be

a king, and in verse one, it is chapter ten,

it says this. Then Samuel took oil and poured it

on Saul's head, and he said, God has anointed you

this outward symbol of an inward commitment. God has anointed

you to be the leader of his people. Now Saul

is annointed, but he still doesn't believe it. He's still insecure.

And so Samuel goes, I'm going to give you several signs,

and over the next several verses, says this is gonna happen,

and this is gonna happen, and this is gonna happen.

And then down in verse six he says, here's the

thing that's going to confirm your calling. Verse six of

Fir Samuel tin God's spirit will come on you in power,

and you're going to speak like a prophet. He said,

you're actually going to be walking with some prophets when

this happened, So spiritual men, and he says you will

be changed into a different person. Circle that you're going

to be changed into a different person. And after this happens,

you whatever you do, whatever you think is best, Do

whatever you think is best, because God will be with you. Well,

what is this first teaching us that when God actually

anoints your life, when you receive God's anointing on your life,

it changes you. You See, how does it change me? You're

going to be more competent, You're going to be more confident,

and you're going to be more calm. You're going to

be more confident about what God's called you to do.

You're going to be more competent about what God's called

you to do, and you're going to be more calm

about it. When you are worried, when you're nervous about

your job, about your calling, about your vocation. Then guess what.

You don't have the anointing of God on your life

at that moment. You don't feel competent, you don't feel confident,

and you don't feel calm. When God comes into your life,

it changes you, and all of a sudden, you've got

a whole lot more confidence about what you know you're

supposed to do with your life. Okay. Number three. Third

thing we learn in the Bible is that God's anointing

makes difficult tasks easier. This is a good one. It

makes the difficult tasks in your life easier because now

you're not just doing it on your own power, You're

doing it on God's power. And the difference between serving

God and your power versus serving God and His power

is night and day. Let me show you the difference

between an anointed life and an unanointed life. Look up

here on the screen. Ephesians chapter three, verse sixteen says

this from his unlimited resources, God will give you mighty

inner strength through his Holy Spirit circle mighty inner strength. Now,

my resources are limited, my energy is limited, my knowledge

is limited, my wisdom is limited, my talent is limited,

and so is yours. But God is not. And when

you have God's anoying on your life, he puts mighty

strength in you that you didn't know you had. You

can handle things better, you can last longer, you can

go farther because you have God's annoying on your life.

How do you know when you don't have God's annoying

on your life. You're tired all the time. You're tired

all the time. Why Because you're trying to solve your problems.

You're trying to live your life. You're trying to fulfill

your purpose on your own power. Now, he says, God

will give you mighty strength through his Holy Spirit. One

of the Holy Spirit's job is to anoint you. That's

his job to give you the power and the energy

and the wisdom and the resources and all the stuff

you need to get it done, to get done what

God puts you on this planet to get done. Philippians

four thirteen is one of the moost famous verses in

the Bible. You could probably quote it. I can do

everything with the help of Christ. Who gives me the

strength I need now. If you don't have, if you're

not depending on Christ, you depending on yourself, and you're

gonna end up fadig. Let me ask you a very

personal question. Are you trying to do everything you need

to do in life based on adrenaline or based on

anointing HM? Because you're adrenaline runs out and you get tired,

and you get fatigued, and you get worn out and

you want to give up. When you're walking in the anointing,

when God's powers going through, it's limitless. It is limitless.

It gives you supernatural energy. I can do everything with

the help of Christ. I wonder what you're filling in

that blank. I can do everything with the help of

my medication. I can do everything with the help of

my team. I can do everything with the help of

my bank, passport and my savings account. No, no, there's

only one thing that doesn't run dry. Every other well

in your life is gonna run dry. If you ask

or expect other people to meet needs in your life

that only God can meet, You're gonna be disappointed, They're

gonna be frustrated, and you're gonna have conflict because nobody

could possibly meet all the needs in your life. Your

wife can't, your husband can't, your best friend can't, your

boyfriend can't. Nobody can meet all your emotional, physical, spiritual needs.

Only God can. And if you look to him, he says,

then I will give you my anointing. I can do

everything with the help of Christ, who gives me the

strength I need. By the way, do you know what

Christ means? That word Christ? Some people think Christ is

Jesus last name, Jesus' first name, Christ's last name. No, no,

do you even know? You may have been a Christian

thirty years. Do you don't even know what Christ means.

It's the Greek word for anointed one. That's what Christ

means anointed one. It is the anointed one who gives

you your anointing that gives you the power to do

all the things God wants you to do with your life.

Christ means anointed one. By the way, do you know

what the word anointed one is in Hebrew, the other

language in the Bible. It's the word Messiah. Messiah means

anointed one. So Christ and Messiah are the exact same

wordy just in Hebrew or in Greek and he says,

it is the Messiah, It is the anointed one who's

gonna give you the anointing to get done everything you

need to get done in life that God wants you

to do. Now, God doesn't give you his anointing to

do things you want to do. He gives you the

things He puts you on. He gives you the ability

to do what He wants you to do. Okay, number four,

and now let's review. When God appoints me. He anoints me.

God's anointing makes me a better person, and it makes

difficult tasks easier. Number four. God's anointing makes the impossible

possible because God can do stuff you would never would

be able to do, and now I would never be

able to do. This is a big deal because in

your business you're gonna come up against insurmountable problems. You're

gonna need the anointing of God. When you're gonna have

problems in your marriage that seem insurmountable. You're gonna have

problems with your health that seem insurmountable. What do you

depend on there? Not your own power, You depend on

God's anointing. Look at these verses Luke eighteen twenty seven.

Jesus says, what is impossible for men is possible with God.

I can't do everything, but God can Ephesians three twenty

God's power at work within us is able to accomplish

infinitely more than we could ever dare to ask for

or even imagine. Now. I don't know about you. I'm

a pretty big dreamer. Nobody's ever accused me of being

a small thinker or a small dreamer. And yet this

verse says, God says to me, hey, Rick, think of

the greatest thing I could do in your life. Just

blow the top off. What are you afraid to even ask?

What are you afraid to even imagine? What's the greatest

thing you could imagine happening in your life? And God says,

I can top that. I can top that. I'm better,

I'm bigger. My annointing can do more than you even think.

What's the greatest thing you'd like to see done in

your life? You go, man, I'm even afraid even imagine.

I'm afraid evening think of it. It would might be

too over. Think of the biggest thing God could do

in your life. And God says, with my anointing, I

can do bigger than that. He says, God's power at

work within us is able to accomplish infinitely more than

we could ever dare to ask or even imagine, for

our families, for your business, for your career, for your education,

for your dream. God's annoying makes the impossible possible.

Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's show. Rick

wants to encourage you with a closing thought.

God has five purposes for your life. He wants you

to know and love him. That's called worship. He wants

you to belong to his family that's called fellowship. He

wants you to grow in him. That's called discipleship. He

wants you to serve Him with your gifts and talents.

That's your ministry. And he wants you to share the

good news with other people. That's your mission. Now Today,

as we close, I want to talk to you about

the third purpose, discipleship or personal growth. How do we

grow well? We grow through the nourishment of God's Word.

It's how we get to know God. To know God's

word is to know God's will. God's word is the

source of God's will. And God's ultimate goal for your

life is for you to become like Jesus Christ. To

do that, you have to fill your life with the

word of Jesus Christ. Two Timothy three seventeen says through

the Word, we're put together and shaped for the tasks

that God asked for us. I remember in the Old Testament,

the Bible says that joe Zbe treasured God's Word more

than his daily bread. That's how I want you to

treat God's Word. That's how you grow in discipleship. Get

into his word every day, study it, memorize it, and

meditate on it. Apply it. Never take it for granted.

God's word is as essential to your soul as food

is to your body. So get into the Word today.

God bless you.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is

sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.