Leaning On The Anointing

Praise God.

Let's just get our Bibles out and get right into the Word tonight and pick your Bibles up and wave them around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad, and say this with me say, heavenly Father, it's Wednesday night and I am ready for the Word of God and I thank God for the God breathed Word.

The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life, and I have a Word that's especially for me tonight.

I'm not listening for someone else, I'm listening for me and I believe I've received the strength and encouragement that the Word gives in Jesus' name, and that's exactly what it does.

Let's look at a couple of verses here tonight.

The first one I want to look at is Zechariah, chapter four, and he's known as a minor prophet.

I would not, when I meet him in heaven, I'm not going to call him a minor prophet, though.

Zechariah four, in the last part of the verse.

In verse six, it says not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, not by might.

That word might, in my margin, says army, not by big army, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.

I mean that under underscores the importance of the anointing, doesn't it?

And then in Isaiah 10, 27,.

It says the yoke.

The last part of that verse.

It says the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

What does it mean by a yoke?

Well, I said what you do with a farm animal when you put a yoke around them and you put a burden upon a farm animal and that's how they pull a load.

In the context of this verse it's talking about the enemy putting a yoke of bondage around someone and the yoke shall, the yoke of bondage shall be destroyed, not just broken.

Some people quote that verse wrong there.

So the yoke shall be broken.

No, the yoke shall be destroyed.

That means it can't be put back together.

The yoke shall be destroyed.

Why?

Because of the anointing.

And then in 1st John, chapter two, we're told here in 1st John, verse 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and his truth.

That is no lie.

And even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in it or in the anointing.

So we have all received the anointing, and so that's what I wanted to talk to you tonight, about the value of the anointing or, more specifically, leaning leaning on the anointing I've just learned.

You know when I'm, you know when I'm faced with situations that seem huge or difficult.

It's good to remember that the anointing dwells not only in us but it dwells upon us.

And to lean on the anointing.

How do we face needs that are so great that it seems overwhelming in the natural you know I think about?

There have been times when I was traveling.

I was in the Philippines one time and I was on my way to a meeting in a neighborhood in a place called Elo City, a city of about a million and a half people and most people have never heard of it.

Here's a city of a million and a half, you know, and I like to go to cities nobody has heard of, but they have a lot of people and you know, because I'm not there for very long, I'm there for a few days and I want to make a difference.

In this case, we had 40 churches cooperating with our meeting.

We're going to have three gospel crusades, healing crusades, three different locations, poor neighborhoods in that city, and 40 churches had signed up to sponsor the event.

I'm not talking about financially, but they were there to receive the harvest that we would get.

I mean, what good does it do to get people saved?

And they don't have a local church to go to once I leave.

So we were excited.

But you know, on the way to the meeting I saw these people out protesting the meeting.

Most of them were nuns and they didn't like this American coming in and preaching in their neighborhoods.

You know, most of the Philippines is Catholic and you know, at the time it's been about 15 years ago, but at the time I was aware that over 2 million Catholics pray in tongues there.

They're baptized in the Holy Ghost and they pray in tongues to Mary.

So obviously they need some teaching.

But anyway, I was there and I felt the weight of this meeting, I felt the pressure.

I felt, you know, I started getting nervous and I started thinking about God, lee, what if?

You know, what if, what if, what if?

And then I just had to stir myself up and realize it's not me, it's the anointing upon me and we had three fantastic meetings and people got saved and people got healed and local churches were blessed with the increase.

So you know, what do you do when you come up against something that's bigger than you and that happens a lot, you know.

Do you just cry, do you get nervous, and all of that?

No, just stir up the anointing upon you.

We have that anointing, it belongs to us.

You know, paul told Timothy, and Second Timothy, 1-6.

Second Timothy, 1-6.

He said to Timothy wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

And so, yes, we have an inward anointing that we all have.

And then we have an outward anointing.

You know, first Acts 1-8, you shall receive power.

After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me.

And so anytime you've received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you have the anointing upon you.

We like to say it this way the anointing within you is for you, it's for your personal devotion and worship toward God, and the anointing upon you, or the baptism, is for others, it's for service.

And so how do we overcome these feelings of inadequacy?

We just have to stir up the anointing that's on the inside, rekindle the embers and fan the flames and keep burning the gracious gift of God, that's what the Amplified says.

Isn't that good?

And so sometimes, you know, especially right now there is such an opposing tide.

Whenever you turn on the television, if you turn on the television long enough just to catch up on the news, you're going to hear something that is going to be attacking your faith, it's going to be attacking your stand, and so you've got to just be aware that the anointing upon you and the anointing within you are enough to counteract the forces of this world, and so stir up the gift that's been given you.

Amen.

We have to lean and learn to lean and remember to lean on the anointing.

What do you mean by leaning on it?

I mean depend on it.

I mean if you're depending on anything else, you're not depending on the right thing.

I mean if you're depending on your intellect or your experience or your anything to do with you personally, whether it's inadequate.

But though the anointing destroys the yoke, I mean it will blow up bondages on people, and it's so powerful.

It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord.

And so the greater, the greater you pressure you feel, the greater the need you face.

It's all about remembering and leaning upon that precious anointing that we have been given.

It's, he's in you, he's with you, he's for you.

He's upon you.

Praise God, praise God.

He's there anytime and every time that you need him to help you.

He's our helper, leaning on the anointing.

You know, jesus is our example, and so when we look here at Acts 10, 38, I wanted to read that verse to you how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

We have to remember that Jesus, everything Jesus did in the four gospels, he didn't do it as the Son of God.

He didn't do it because he was God.

He did it as a man anointed of God and so in that sense, he was just like we are.

He had the spirit of God upon him to help him and he didn't do it in and of itself.

He did it as a man anointed of God.

And, yes, it is true that he has the spirit without measure, and the Bible talks about the spirit without measure that he had, and that's true, he had the anointing without measure, which means that perhaps you and I have a measure of the anointing.

We don't have the whole measure, we have a measure, but regardless, we have enough to accomplish what God has for us to do.

So he went about, I want you to notice.

He went about, jesus went about.

And so one of the things about our lives, the way we're living them right now, is let's not withdraw from life.

Let's stay engaged every day, wherever you're going, when you go about going to work, when you go about taking the kids to school and interfacing with other parents, whenever you're in your neighborhood, wherever and whatever you're doing, talking to your family and friends, stay engaged and stay alive.

Stay and stay alert because there's opportunity.

It's good the Bible says to pray for boldness, that we can pray for boldness.

The apostles pray for boldness.

You know, lord, we ask you for boldness that with all boldness, we may speak thy word and that signs and wonders will be done in the name of your holy child, jesus.

So if the apostles had to pray for boldness, how much more do we?

And so I find that, if I like to start my day off letting the Lord know I'm available, lord, I pray for boldness.

Help me to be sensitive to the needs around me when people are in trouble.

Lord, bring people to me so that I can release the anointing over them.

I remember years ago I hadn't been saved very long and we were having kind of a family get together at my sister's house.

She lived in the same neighborhood, so just right down the street and around the corner, and so there was a group of us there and then my other sister came in from Conroe, so the only one missing was my brother.

He wasn't there, but three out of the four were there and their families and we were just talking about the Lord because we'd all been saved recently and we were just.

In fact we had a cassette tape playing and we were listening to a tape, a testimony tape, and my sister's two boys drove in separate from her.

They came in their little Camaro hot rod.

I heard it come up the driveway and it was loud.

I thought, well, I think sounds loud, but it was.

You know, the exhaust pipe had fallen off of it and so when they came up at the driveway it was dragging underneath and I didn't know that right then.

But then in a few minutes we were still listening to this tape and my nephew's about 14 at the time he came through the gate and he was holding his hand and he had tears running down his face and he was trying not to cry.

But he was hurting so bad and my sister, my oldest sister, mary, and she said, oh, he's burned his hand.

And I just, I wasn't thinking, I just bolted up out of my chair, went over to Dennis and I took him.

It was his right hand, so I just shook hands with him, I just grabbed his hand like I'm shaking hands with him, and I said, in the name of Jesus, I rebuked this burn, I commend all the pain to go right now in Jesus' name.

And then I released his hand and then his eyes got big and he started looking at his hand.

He had a perfect burn because what he had done is he had tried to force the exhaust pipe back up under the car and when he jammed his hand against that round pipe it was hot and burned him.

It made a brand right there.

It was just and uh, and he was blinking, he was looking at his hand, he was looking at me and he got tears running down his face.

So he's kind of halfway in bar.

You know, 14 year old boys they don't want to cry and they don't want to cry in front of a whole group of people, they're relatives, and but he was so amazed because all the pain left him that instant.

I mean that instant.

I mean we started shouting in the backyard.

I mean I'm sure the neighbors thought what in the world's going on over there?

But see, pray for both.

I didn't have time to think about it.

I didn't have time to think you know what's going to happen if not, or what's going to happen if nothing happens.

I mean, I just didn't.

I was just so full of zeal and full of boldness.

Let's not lose that.

Just when we get, you know, down the road piece with the Lord, I mean let's, let's.

Now is the time that people need a demonstration of the power of God.

And so everybody say stay in, I'm staying engaged.

And then a lot of akin to that is the next point about leaning on the anointing.

Five times in the gospels it says that Jesus moved with compassion and he healed their sick.

It always was connected to healing.

Jesus would have compassion, he looked on them as sheep having no shepherd, and he healed their sick.

One one version says and so the word compassion is really in many places in the Bible also is translated mercy.

So mercy is what you get when you don't deserve it.

I mean mercy, you get something you don't deserve.

So sinners do not deserve healing.

But when we move with compassion even towards sinners, when we have that compassion, many times a sinner can get healed, even though they don't have a right, even though they don't have a covenant.

They're alone and without God, without hope in the world.

They don't have a covenant, but because of God's mercy through us, they can get something that they don't really have a right to have.

And then what a witness, what a powerful witness it is when somebody gets healed and they know they're not right with God.

We ought to not be worried about whether they're right with God or not.

If there's a need, let's meet the need first and then we'll take care of the rest of it later, if we possibly have an opportunity.

So obey that nudge of love and concern that you have.

I mean again, it kind of is connected with the first point about staying engaged.

But the second point is be sensitive to when compassion and mercy and tenderheartedness rise up and you really are drawn to someone and you have true compassion for their situation.

That's usually the time when we need to ask can I pray for you?

Can I possibly pray for you?

And then, instead of praying.

Let's just lay hands on them.

We don't have to lay both hands on top, we can just touch them.

It just depends on the situation.

So if it's a woman, I just may I touch your shoulder, and I'll touch your shoulder with one finger.

I don't wanna be seen as being too aggressive.

All you need is contact.

All you need is contact, a little contact, and but the compassion.

Let compassion guide you to those who need what you've got.

Years ago, jay was going to part his kindergarten so he's a little guy in spring we were living in spring too and so he had brought home a slip of paper asking for canned goods, because they knew of someone connected to the school that needed a heart transplant, and the guy was a worker and husband and father and he couldn't work because of this weak heart and they needed help.

Please bring some canned goods to the school.

We're gonna help this person.

And so I had gotten up early one morning to go downstairs and pray and I walked by the kitchen island on my way to my prayer room and looked down at the counter and I picked that piece of paper up and read about it.

And while I'm reading about it, tears start running out my eyes and dropping on the page and I had such compassion for this person that I didn't know.

I didn't know who they were, I didn't know.

All I read was they needed a heart transplant and I just was weeping over it.

And then I kind of shook myself and got over it and went on in and started praying and finished my prayer time and in those days I'd pray hour and a half, two hours early in the morning before I'd go off to check on my houses.

And so I got through and came back in the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and I saw that piece of paper on the counter again and the Holy Spirit in those days would have to speak to me.

I didn't know enough about the witness, but he spoke down in my heart.

He said I want you to go by and pray for that man and take him a hundred dollar, take him a hundred dollars and pray for him.

And I said well, lord, I don't know who he is, I don't even know where he lives, nothing, I mean.

God expected me to use my brain, you know.

And so I figured out well, I could call the kindergarten, call partons kindergarten, and tell them that I wanted to do more than just Can goods.

Would you mind give me the guy's name?

Come to find out that gave me the guy's name and and that he lived next door to the, to the kindergarten right around the corner from the kindergarten at Old Town Spring.

And I'm just gonna go ahead and say his name.

His name was Billy Balama wits.

I had to get him to spell it for me.

It had a lot of CZs in it, but anyway, balama wits.

And so I said, all right, yeah, so I I wrote out a check for a hundred dollars felt like a hundred dollars, you know and I went by.

I had packed up my Bible.

I Went up the, up the walk and knocked on the door.

It's about 11 o'clock, 10, 30 maybe in the morning, and A lady answered.

I asked for her husband.

Well, he's not here.

He's at the hospital having tests.

I said, well, I read about it.

That's Kenneth garden.

And I said I just wanted to do more than can goods.

Here's, here's some money, and and let him know that we're praying for his healing.

We believe in healing.

Oh, thank you so much.

So I felt relieved.

Okay, at least he wasn't there.

I got the job done.

No, bright and early the next morning I get up, same thing happens.

I go by that piece of paper.

He said I want you to go by that place, I want you to give them a hundred dollars and I want you to pray for him.

This time I want you to pray for him.

I Said, right, yes, sir, I will do that because I want to make sure I will wait there as long as it takes for him to show up, because I don't want to keep going by there with a hundred dollar checks, lesson learned.

And so this time he was there and it was.

He was so touched.

Not only that I came, but I came the second time and I asked if I'd come in and talk to him a little bit.

And I found out he was a trim carpenter and I'm a home builder.

Found out that he, you know, here he has he's an independent contractor a sub, and most of the time they don't have insurance and so he doesn't work, he doesn't eat, and they were really hurting for money Can goods was one thing and money is another.

And I gave him my testimony, sat there in the kitchen, his kitchen, and I told him my testimony and then I offered to pray for him.

He said yeah.

So I laid my hand on top of his head, began to pray and I didn't know how to pray.

I just I asked God to heal him.

I mean, I don't, I didn't pray at all like I pray now because I was essentially a baby Christian.

But I prayed for him and I said well, I'm sorry I took so much time on, and he didn't say much.

He I couldn't tell, he was just being real.

He wouldn't say anything much.

He finally muttered thank you.

So I walked out, I picked up my checkbook in my Bible and I walked out to the driveway, got in my van and before I got in the got in, climbed in.

He was coming down the driveway and he didn't remember my name.

And so he said sir, sir.

And I could tell he was crying, he was weeping, sobbing, and so I put everything down and went toward him.

I said what's wrong?

He said.

He said I don't know, I feel weird, and he couldn't hardly talk.

And I said well, what's, what are you talking about?

He said well, when you put your hands on me, I felt something like electricity go all over my body.

What is that?

And before I could say, before I could think about it.

I said that's the healing power of God.

You're not gonna need a new heart, god just gave you a brand new heart.

And I thought, why did I say that?

I don't know, that?

I don't know that, I mean, I just spoke it out.

And so I'm talking about compassion, how powerful, because that was the Holy Spirit stirring.

I've had people say, oh, pastor, that's because you're called a preach.

You were called as a pastor.

Well, I might've been called, but I wasn't that, I was a baby Christian.

And I'm saying this is available to every believer.

And there are people out there that need what we have.

They need for us to release the anointing over them, to break the yolks of bondage, of sickness and pain and confusion and all kinds of things the devil is trying to spread nowadays fear, torment.

So, number one, let's stay engaged.

Number two, let's let compassion guide us to the people who are the most needy.

And then, last, I find in Luke, chapter two, about Jesus, and I'm talking about leaning on the anointing, and I'm just, I think you know, just, let's, let's remind ourselves we are anointed.

And then let's not, let's not just think the preachers are anointed, let's not just think I, you know, sister so and so is anointed, or brother so and so no, we're.

Every believer has an anointing, and when you've received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you have the anointing upon you as well as within you.

And Luke, chapter two, talks about Jesus in verse 40.

It says and the child grew and waxed or increased in strength in spirit.

He waxed strong in spirit.

Let's talk about Jesus.

He grew physically, he grew spiritually and got stronger.

He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

That word upon see.

The grace of God, the power of God, god's enabling power, was upon him.

And then, verse 52, jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

So the point is Jesus learned and Jesus increased, and so we have to learn and we have to increase the anointing upon you, the anointing within you.

Both of them can grow and will grow If you'll learn to lean on them, learn to remember that the greater one is in you, lean on it and exercise it.

And the more you do, the more you'll use it for someone else's benefit.

And every time you do you learn something.

For instance, with Billy, I learned to be more sensitive about people.

I should have observed that he was already being touched by the power of God.

I could have said you feel the power of God there, don't you, brother?

He could have said he wouldn't have had to chase me down the sidewalk.

I just think about what if he hadn't chased me down the sidewalk or the driveway, what if he hadn't come out the back door looking for me?

See, what if he'd have just squelched it?

And I'm so glad he did, because he gave me a chance to speak something into him that I believe came to pass.

Do you know what he got a new?

Well, I just know what I said and what.

I believe we didn't follow up in those days.

I didn't go back over there and ask him how things were going, and one of these days I'll see him again.

But Jesus learned and Jesus increased, and I look back on the ministry God has given me.

It's been a learning process.

Every time I've exercised myself to overcome timidity and be bold, to speak up for Jesus, to be bold to offer myself, to pray for someone.

I learned something from it and I grow in it.

And you can do the same thing.

So each encounter, you know, I would suggest to you when you have an encounter like that, as soon as you can write it down in a journal and write it down in a central place where you can look back and start looking at all the times God has used you, and then you can use that to encourage yourself when you need somebody to pray for you.

Sometimes we're looking for somebody to pray for us, you know if we're honest, and but when we see how God has used us, see you're so in a seed For possibly, a future need.

Maybe one of these times you're the one that needs the encouragement.

Well, because you've sown that, you're gonna reap that.

So write it down and then and rejoice over it and thank God for the results that have been reaped.

So lean on the anointing.

Let's just lift our hands.

Father, we thank you.

In these days that we're living in More and more, the anointing is so important, we're so honored to be anointed, to be among those that have an anointing, and we won't lock it up, we won't hide it under a bushel or under a basket, but we will be bold in Jesus' name, amen, and I trust that encouraged you tonight.