The Oil of the Spirit

Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

What's up, everybody?

You in a good mood?

Okay.

I'm I'm in a good mood, even though since the last time I saw you, my sons got beaten by the Bucks.

And let me just say, I made it one of the rules that if I was gonna speak this weekend, anybody wearing a Milwaukee Bucks jersey, shirt, or hat at any of our campuses would be immediately removed from the premises.

Holla at your boy.

I'm just playing, I I'm still kind of just if they were playing the Mavs, trust me, I would have been rooting for the Mavs, but since they were playing Giannis and the Bucks, I was rooting for the Suns and my heart was broken.

So just just pray.

Well, it's great to be back with you this week.

We're continuing our series entitled Saturated, and we've been talking about for the last couple of weeks what Jesus used to distinguish the wise virgins from the foolish virgins.

He said the wise virgins had an abundance of oil and they were ready to use it.

In week number one, we talked about the oil of gladness and the pleasure of God and what an incredible thing it is that the God of the universe would choose to find pleasure in you.

Then in week two, a little bit of tougher subject matter, we talked about setting ourselves apart and that we were all called to be kings and priests in this kingdom of priests.

This weekend, we're talking about what I like to call the ultimate advantage: the oil of the Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

If you got a Bible, I want you to turn to Psalm 23 and put a marker in Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

We'll start in Psalm 23 and then we're gonna quickly get to Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

But while you're turning there, I just want to ask a question.

How many of you love to lose?

At all of our campuses, everywhere, would you just put your hand up?

Okay, let's just look around.

Oh, well, good.

I thought there might be a few.

That's good.

Nobody likes to lose.

Well, me, I don't just not like losing, I despise losing.

And unfortunately, when you spend 20 years in relationship at a place like I have at Gateway, uh, and you start here when you're young, 21, sometimes there's some infamous stories about you when you're intensely competitive.

For instance, the first couple months of the church's history here at Gateway, uh, there weren't probably 75 people in the church at the time.

And we decided, you know what, we're gonna put together a basketball team that comprises of church members, and we're gonna play in the Grapevine Collyville City League.

And there just weren't that many options in the church for players, and so it was basically about half of the deacons at the time, a couple of volunteers, and me.

And I just come out of college.

And we had Gateway Church on our jersey, and Pastor Robert used to come to many of the games.

And one particular game, we were playing the best team in the league, and at halftime we were down over 20 points.

And I wish I could say that I was godly.

I was heated.

And at halftime, I was just kind of thinking to myself, I wasn't even talking to my teammates, because remember, I was 22 and an impetuous child at the time, but I was thinking, we're not going out like this.

I have Gateway Church on my jersey, and my boss is in the stands.

We are not losing this game.

I don't care if I shoot and don't pass the rest of the game, we're gonna win.

Well, we kind of caught fire in the second half with about 10 seconds left.

We were down two, and I have the ball and I'm dribbling up the court, and I'm thinking to myself, I'm not going for the tie.

I'm shooting a three, it's going in, and we're going to win.

And my boss is going to give me a raise in the parking lot.

Like these are my this was my thought pattern at 22.

Okay, what a moron.

I wait till about two seconds on the clock, and I jack up a three and get fouled.

I go to the free throw line, I make the first one, make the second one, it's a tie ball game, and I'm going, I might, this race might get doubled.

Like I'm gonna make this free throw, it's over.

I got he's gonna promote me after this.

I release the third free throw, the ball's in the air, and one of the deacons crosses the line illegally.

The ball goes in, the ref calls it off, we go into overtime and lose by seven.

And after the game, I lost it.

I reamed this deacon out in front of, I mean, basically at the time, about 20% of Gateway Church.

And a bunch of the members of the community, not to mention my boss, Pastor Robert Morris.

Needless to say, several minutes later in the parking lot, said senior pastor of Gateway Church came up to me and said, Preston, let's make sure and talk about this in the morning.

Why didn't he just talk about it right then?

He made me sleep on it.

I go in the office the next day and he said, I have two questions.

First, do you understand what you did last night?

I said, Do you mean reaming out one of our deacons in front of 20% of Gateway Church and members of our community?

He said, Good, you understand exactly what you did.

He said, Second question, do you think you can keep that from happening ever again?

To my credit, I could have lied in that moment, but I chose to tell the truth.

And I said, No, sir, I don't think I can.

I can't turn it off.

Like, I'm sorry.

And I didn't play basketball with church members for a decade after that.

I'm a man of my word.

I hate to lose, but I don't play basketball anymore, but I still hate to lose.

And you know the area of life where I least like to lose?

Spiritually.

And going through COVID as a pastor, watching so many people losing in different areas of life, at times it was excruciating.

And I just felt compelled to remind all of us what the ultimate advantage is as a Christ follower.

It is the Holy Spirit, it is the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Now, I know some of you, when you hear the word, the name Holy Spirit, you might flinch a little bit because you're new to Gateway, you came from a different part of the evangelical world.

And let me let me just submit this to you to hopefully calibrate your heart.

If I were your enemy, if I were the devil, I would try and do everything I could to keep you away from Jesus before salvation.

But after salvation, I would try and do even more to keep you away from the Holy Spirit.

Because when a child of God steps into partnership with the Holy Spirit, impossible things immediately become possible.

And I want to read to you one verse in Psalm 23, and I told the story about my ugly competitive side, because I'm gonna show you a different perspective of Psalm 23, verse 5.

Psalms 23:5

I get that it's the sweet Psalm that starts out with, I'm a sheep, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Okay, remember, I'm the intensely competitive guy.

I get to verse 5, and I think God, through David, is rubbing it in the enemy's face.

Okay?

Let me just read this verse to you.

David says of God, God, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Can you get that picture in your mind?

It's as though David is saying, God is preparing a table for me, for the two of us to share a meal, and off in the very near distance are my enemies, and it's as though the God of the universe looks at my enemies and says, Sit there, don't open your mouth, do as I say.

I love it when he talks like that to our enemies.

I've taught that before over the years, but until this week I've never connected the next words David says to those words.

David says, God, you don't just prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, and my cup runs over.

The word anoint means to smear or rub all over.

And I really think this is a divine play on words that God is communicating two things.

Every time he rubs the oil all over us, the Pastor Jack calls it the oil of heaven.

Every time God rubs or smears the oil on us, he is rubbing it in the face of our enemies that he is partnering with us.

And this week, I felt like the Lord, as I was studying Psalm 23, just sweetly said this.

Preston, the meal annoys the enemy.

But my anointing terrifies your enemy.

The powers of hell shake Preston.

When the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes upon one of my children, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us.

Now, before we step into the four points of the message, I want to kind of make sure we're on the same page in regards to the word anointing, because you're gonna hear me use it a lot in this message.

There's a difference between gifting and anointing.

And some people get confused, so let me just kind of give you my working definitions for each.

Gift is an inherent ability to do something well.

You're good at it.

Okay?

But the anointing is divine enablement to do something beyond your natural ability.

So I have a question for you.

How many of us would like to be divinely enabled to do everything God has asked us to do beyond our natural ability?

Okay, we're on the same page then.

If we're going to experience more of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the oil of heaven, we need to understand a couple of things.

Here's the first one.

Point number one, the anointing of the Holy Spirit must be seen as essential.

Think about this.

The Hebrew word for Messiah is Mashiach, and the Greek word for Christ is Christos.

Both words mean the same thing.

The anointed one.

Again, I kind of think this is God rubbing it in the enemy's face.

Jesus, the anointed one.

Think about this.

Every reference to Jesus as Messiah or Christ is a reminder of the necessary association with and anointing from the Holy Spirit.

Now, Luke, in his gospel, if you put a marker in Luke 3, go ahead and flip there.

I want, we're gonna read a couple of different passages in Luke 3 and 4.

Luke does an incredible job of setting this foundation for us.

That Jesus had, remember, fully God, fully man.

Jesus had a necessary association with the Holy Spirit.

Watch.

Luke chapter 3, starting in verse 22.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

It says, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Jesus at his baptism.

Luke 4, verse 1.

Luke 4:1

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.

At the end of the temptation, Luke 4, verse 14, then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.

Luke 4:14

And then in verse 17, Jesus goes into the synagogue, they hand him the scroll of the writings of Isaiah, and watch the spot Jesus flips to to really start off verbally, publicly, this incredible ministry run he goes on for three years.

Luke chapter 4, verse 17.

Luke 4:17

And when Jesus opened the book, he found the place in Isaiah where it was written.

This is chapter 61, and Jesus says this in front of everyone at the synagogue: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

Okay, here's what Luke is helping us understand.

Jesus, fully God, but fully man, those 33 years.

Jesus was a man of the Spirit.

Here's another way to say it.

The key to the legendary life that Jesus lived on this earth was the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Now, here's the question.

If Jesus, the Son of God, needed to be anointed for his work, what makes us think we don't need to be anointed for our work?

What would ever make us think we could do this in the flesh?

Listen, before you start beating yourself up and saying, okay, Preston, I don't know if I see the anointing of the Holy Spirit as essential.

Before you start beating yourself up about it, let me say this.

We all go through seasons where unfortunately we don't see the anointing of the Holy Spirit as essential as we should.

I'm just as guilty as you.

And you might be wondering, well, how do I know if I don't see the anointing of the Holy Spirit as essential?

Well, there isn't a simple answer.

You rarely ask for it.

I know I don't see the anointing of the Holy Spirit as essential if I very rarely ever ask him for it.

The more essential the anointing of the Spirit is to you, the more you will find yourself asking him for it.

Now, think about it like this.

When was the last time?

Before you went into a meeting at work, you hit the pause button and said, Holy Spirit, would you anoint me in this meeting?

Would you divinely enable me to carry out my task beyond my natural ability in this meeting?

When was the last time you went into a conversation with your children?

And you hit the pause button and you said, Holy Spirit, would you anoint me to be the mother I need to be and my children need me to be in this conversation?

The more essential we see the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the more consistently we will ask him for it.

Here's the second thing we need to understand if we're going to experience more of the oil of the Spirit in our lives.

Point number two, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is for specific use.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is for specific use.

The Holy Spirit doesn't give you a blank check of anointing to let you use it, use it however you want.

Okay?

We need to understand this.

Anytime the Holy Spirit gives us his anointing, it's for a specific purpose.

Kind of like me with money and my only daughter.

She's going off to college this fall, and she's already been there a little bit this summer, getting ready for the season, and she's learning.

Life costs a lot of money.

And so I'm gonna get a text or a call every once in a while saying, Daddy, can I please have an extra$100 for groceries?

And here's what she's gonna hear from me.

Of course, honey, you can absolutely have$100 for groceries.

But this$100 I'm giving you is just for groceries, not for you to get your nails done to look like a Kardashian.

These resources I am giving you are for a specific purpose.

Not for just any purpose of your choosing.

It's the same way with the anointing.

And Jesus knew this.

And I believe that's one of the reasons why Jesus didn't cut off the words of Isaiah in Isaiah 61 after what I read.

Jesus doesn't just say, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me.

There's a new sheriff in town, it's me.

Jesus goes on to declare, repeating the prophetic words of Isaiah, the why behind the Holy Spirit's anointing.

Let me read it to you.

Luke chapter 4, verse 18.

Luke 4:18

We read 17, here's 18.

Jesus says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He's anointed me to, the Holy Spirit has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He's sent me to heal the brokenhearted.

He's anointed me to proclaim liberty to the captives.

He's anointed me to give recovery of sight to the blind.

He's anointed me to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

He's anointed me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Jesus knew when the Holy Spirit gives anointing, it's always for a specific reason.

When the Holy Spirit gives you his anointing, it's not because God, it is because God has already given you an assignment.

Jesus says that I've been given these assignments and the Holy Spirit has anointed me for it.

Think about how this applies to you.

Think about all of the assignments or responsibilities that God's given you in this life.

Just take me.

I'm a Christ follower.

I'm a husband.

I'm a father.

I'm a son.

I'm a friend.

I'm a twin.

I'm somebody laughed at that.

I like that.

I'm an employee.

I'm a leader.

I'm a teacher.

There's lots of other responsibilities.

And you probably have many more responsibilities than I have.

Last week, when we talked about God calling us to be priests in a kingdom of priests, I'm not gonna lie, I felt a little bit of resistance.

And I talked to a couple people after the weekend message, and I kind of heard this from a few.

Preston, we're in a pandemic.

I'm under more pressure than I've ever been in my life.

And I don't have enough bandwidth for all the responsibilities I already have.

And now you're trying to throw something new on me.

Sorry, bro, wrong timing.

And here's what I would say: I don't think you felt that way if you did because you're overwhelmed by all your responsibilities.

I think it might be as simple as you don't fully understand the way the anointing works.

See, I think a lot of believers think that the anointing is like a jar that has to be used for all of their assignments.

For instance, you try to be a good dad, and the Holy Spirit gives you a little more of the anointing to be a divinely enabled parent.

You try to be a good employee, the Holy Spirit gives you a little bit more anointing to be a good employee.

You get to your friends, that's not quite enough oil left in that jar.

Sorry, friends, can't be an anointed friend.

Catch me in a month.

Okay, that's not actually how the anointing works.

I believe the anointing of the Holy Spirit works like this: it's not one jar for all of your assignments, it's a jar for each of your assignments.

Kind of like the widow in 2 Kings 5.

The 2nd Kings 4, I think.

There was more than enough oil for all of the jars she brought to be filled.

Here's another way to say it.

Every time God gives you a new assignment, the Holy Spirit gives you a new jar of anointing.

So, uh, for instance, if the Lord says, Preston, I want you to sit on this board, there are two ways for me to respond.

One, Lord, I got one in college, I got two in high school, I need to finish well as a dad, and I need to pastor the church in Scottsdale.

I don't have enough bandwidth to do that as well.

I could look at it like that.

Or, understanding the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I could say, hold on just a sec.

Are you telling me you're about to give me access to a new anointing?

Because if you're asking me to do a new assignment, it means you're going to give me access to a new anointing.

Done.

I'm in.

Sign me up.

Because, Holy Spirit, I want more of your oil.

Every single thing God calls you to do, the Holy Spirit wants to anoint you for.

And that brings us to the third thing.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit comes with his power.

And this is a fun one.

We have to talk about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Remember what Jesus said to the disciples?

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power.

Right?

Okay.

Remember in Job chapter 1 and 2, Scripture tells us that there's a conversation between Satan and God on the throne about Job.

Job 1 · chapter mention

Remember that?

And God says, I have no one in all the earth like Job.

And Satan says, Well, of course he loves you like that.

You give him everything he wants.

Take away everything he has, and I bet he curses you to your face.

And God says, Okay, test my man Job.

But you can't take his life from him.

Okay, when I read texts like that, and then I read texts like Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, that talks about the accuser of the brethren standing before God day and night, accusing me and you before God.

Revelation 12:10

When I read these passages, I just wonder if there are all kinds of conversations between the accuser and God about us.

For instance, I wonder, this is just my redeemed imagination working.

I wonder if when God decided to make David king, and he said on the throne, I'm gonna make my boy David king of Israel.

I wonder if the accuser went, that puny little thing?

Are we talking about the same little Davy boy?

Go ahead, make him king.

I like my chances against this kid.

Saul was head and shoulders above everybody else.

This kid is the runt of his family.

And I wonder if at that very moment, 1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 13 goes down.

1 Samuel 16:13

As David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil and had brought, he had brought and anointed David with the oil.

And in that moment, in that very second, the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, came in power powerfully upon David from that day forward.

And I wonder if this is how it went down at the throne.

I wonder if the accuser went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's cheating right there.

You told me you were gonna make David king.

You didn't tell me you were gonna anoint him and give him access to your power to be king.

That's cheating.

That's against the rules.

You pick little Davy boy, I like my chances.

But if the Holy Spirit is gonna partner with him and give him access to your power, I am done for.

Listen, we gotta remember, the Holy Spirit with us, on us, bringing the power of God to us and through us makes the powers of hell tremble every time.

When the Holy Spirit partners with the child of God, game set and match.

This is why it terrifies the accuser.

One of the greatest advertisements for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of God is ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Here's another way to see it.

Human weakness is a divine setup.

Let me be even more specific.

Your weakness is a divine setup for the God of the universe to flex his strength through you.

This is why I think Paul bragged about his weaknesses.

Because God had said to him, in your weakness, my power is made perfect.

Human weakness is simply a divine setup.

I wonder if there are other conversations about us.

For instance, I wonder if when God gave me the call to preach, I wonder if when he said it, the accuser went, that little liar?

Do you listen to this kid talk?

All he does is lie, and you're gonna give him the task of proclaiming your truth.

Let's watch this movie play out, because this kid don't do nothing but lie.

And then I turned 13.

And the Holy Spirit, it was the first time I ever felt the Holy Spirit anoint me to do anything.

And at 14 I preached my first sermon about faith.

And I just wonder if the conversation between the accuser and the father went something like this.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

How is this little liar pulling this off?

How is this?

This kid's never preached.

It's not the best message.

We all know that.

But there is something something happening with him.

How is this happening?

And I just wonder if the Holy Spirit didn't go Zachariah 4 on the accuser in that moment and just say, trust me, it is not by Preston's strength.

It is most certainly not by Preston's power.

It is by my Spirit He is doing this at 14.

When the Holy Spirit partners with us and anoints us, impossible things become possible.

And that brings us to the last point.

Point number four, and this is the most important of them all.

I personally believe very strongly that if you want to experience more of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in every area of your life in your everyday life, you have to understand.

Point number four, don't ever let the anointing become more important than the anointer.

The key to the anointing of the Spirit is to prize the Holy Spirit more than the anointing he gives.

Well, one of my favorite things about getting to grow up here at Gateway from the beginning is I've gotten to watch the Gateway movie at times from behind closed doors before the masses got to see some things.

The Blessed Life.

I remember seeing that go down on a weekend, speaking into a dictaphone.

And many would say that the Bless Life is the most famous and most important book Pastor Robert will ever write.

And it is.

The Blessed Life changed my life.

It was the second most powerful thing that changed my marriage in 20 years.

Absolutely.

God has used the blessed life all over the world.

But I contend that to this point, the most important book Pastor Robert has written so far is The God I Never Knew.

And as a little boy, I got to watch from the front row how it went down.

It started with a series that Pastor Robert preached entitled My Best Friend, the Holy Spirit.

And I watched my hero in ministry spend a couple of months talking about his best friend.

And I remember sitting there saying to the Lord, I want to be just like that one day.

I want the Holy Spirit to be my best friend.

And I want to be his best friend.

I remember asking Pastor Robert one day, who are your heroes in Scripture?

This was years ago.

He said, Well, I have lots of heroes.

I said, I know Jesus is at the top of the list.

Who else would you say are your heroes in Scripture?

He said, Well, I have multiple heroes.

King David is one of my favorites.

And I've always wondered this, but I've never asked him.

I've always wondered if one of the reasons why the Holy Spirit is one of his best friends is because his hero in scripture had the Holy Spirit as his best friend.

You see, one of the biggest things that distinguished David and Saul from one another, I believe, is how they saw the Holy Spirit.

When Saul sinned against God, and Samuel comes to him and says, It's over, it's lifted off of you, and God is finding a man after his own heart.

Saul doesn't lament at the spirit lifting off his life.

Whereas King David, when he sinned with Bathsheba, and he gets caught, and God calls him out through Nathan, David grieves and he begs God.

And David writes Psalm 51.

And I just want to read you one verse, verse 11, David says, God, please do not cast me out of your presence.

And whatever you do, please don't take your Holy Spirit away from me.

Can I give you my paraphrase?

I think David was looking in the direction of his best friend, the Holy Spirit, who came upon him that day in power when he was a boy, anointed king.

I think David was looking in the direction of the Holy Spirit, saying, Holy Spirit, if you aren't with me, I can't be me.

Holy Spirit, if you leave me, I don't want to even be me.

Holy Spirit, the best thing about being me isn't the kingdom or the throne.

The best part of being me is you.

So please, God, don't take your Holy Spirit away from me.

Can you imagine if the church adopted the same posture in the day in which we live?

Let me explain the situation we find ourselves in today.

In Joel chapter 2, God made a promise.

Joel 2 · chapter mention

And then on Shavuot that day, which we call Pentecost now, the Holy Spirit falls.

And people said they're drunk.

And Peter steps up and he says, No, no, no.

Many, many years ago, God made a promise that in the last days he would pour out his spirit upon all mankind.

And that's what's happening.

Two thousand plus years later, God's promise still stands.

I will pour my spirit out upon mankind.

And the Holy Spirit is moving to and fro all over the earth, looking for godly men and women who will say, Holy Spirit, I need you.

I can't live without you.

The best part of being me is you.

Please, God, don't ever take your Holy Spirit away from me.

Holy Spirit, would you rest upon me?

Here I am.

Fill me.

At all of our campuses, would you stand?

And we're gonna do something.

We're gonna respond.

And we're gonna do it together at all of our campuses, all of our gatherings, wherever you're watching this.

We can't talk about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the opportunity God's given us to be divinely enabled to accomplish the work He's given us.

We can't talk about it without responding to it.

And we're gonna sing a song with really simple words that says, Holy Spirit, come rest on us.

I want you to think about all the assignments God's given you in your life.

And as we let our hearts cry out, say, Holy Spirit, come rest on us.

Ask Him all over again to anoint you for the work God's given you to do on this earth to the glory of God.

Holy Spirit, I pray.

I pray that you would divinely enable every single one of us to do the work we've been given on the earth so that all glory goes to God.

Holy Spirit, would you come upon us?

But even more than your anointing, we cry out for more of you, more of your presence in our everyday lives.

We are desperate for you.

Holy Spirit, come rest on us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.