Anointed | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of Luke, chapter number four.

The Gospel of Luke, chapter uh number four.

And we're in our series, week number four, in fact, um, of our series paracletos.

Uh, and and what this is is that's a that's a Greek word that refers to uh the Holy Spirit, him being a comforter, an advocate, a helper, a strength provider.

And and ultimately our theme for this year is really centered around this idea of my life, God's way, our story.

Understanding that that I have to acknowledge where I am, that's my life.

But at the end of the day, I have to surrender it and live it in God's way, the ways of Jesus.

But then collectively together, it generates a story, testimony.

And one of the things that I know about this series is really meant to reinforce that it is impossible to live my life God's way without his spirit.

In our own strength, we will fall short.

But when we are dependent on the Holy Spirit, it empowers and strengthens us to do exactly what we're called to do.

And so last week, and even building up to last week, but last week we spoke about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the role that he plays inside of the life of the believer, and what does it look like to really cultivate um the life of God that he wants us to walk in?

So if you missed um last week's message, go back and check it out because I do think that today's message will be a part two to that, so to speak.

And so in Luke chapter number four, as we continue in the narrative, I want to give you some context as to kind of where we are right now.

In Luke chapter number three, we see that Jesus has just gotten water baptized.

This purification process that was meant to be the inaugural process for him to activate his full-time ministry.

But but when he gets water baptized, he comes up, and while he's praying, the scripture says that the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove.

And that's a that's a symbol of him being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit comes upon him.

And then it's in this moment that scripture says that he is then led into the wilderness.

A lot of times we're often wondering, how do I know if I'm being spirit-led?

How do I know if this is God that's nudging me?

I'll put it to you this way: a lot of times when God is leading us, there's a there's an obedience that's with it, even if it's uncomfortable or even if it's inconvenient.

The Spirit of God came on Jesus and it led him to go into the wilderness, but he was called there by God.

Some of us are thinking the easy way is what it means to be spirit-led, but Jesus shows us sometimes God will lead us into difficult places, but we're graced to be there.

While he's there for 40 days and 40 nights, he comes out of that and that activates his full-time ministry.

It jumps off from that point forward.

So as he's been going around into some of the small villages, basically going to the synagogues, talking about the goodness of God, sharing concepts of the gospel and speaking with authority, he begins to amass a bit of a following.

But but he wants to go back home to connect with his own hometown community.

It's with this understanding that we now find ourselves looking at Luke 4.

Because as he goes to the synagogue, and this is the one that he was raised in, this is the one that he spent a lot of time with, this is where he had community and friends and people that were around him, and he goes to the synagogue and they're familiar with his ministry in other towns, and so they're looking to hear from Jesus, so they present to him a scroll and say, Hey, we want you to read the scroll.

And the process was they would read from the scroll, and then the person would sit down and then expound on that passage, and it will create a conversation.

So they give Jesus a scroll, and ironically, he reads from Isaiah 61 a passage of scripture that is prophetically talking about him.

This is what the text says it says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

For he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

I like to look at this as this is Jesus' mission statement.

This this is Jesus speaking and saying, This is why I am here.

The Spirit of God is on me.

He's anointed me to do these things, to preach to poor people, to reach those who are dealing with oppressions, and to bring healing to those who don't even have the resources to be healed or restored.

This is why I've come, this is what this anointing is on my life, this is what I'm graced to do.

You'll notice if you go back and look at the passage that he's reading from in Isaiah 61, that he actually stops short of reading the rest of the passage because the rest of the passage speaks about God's judgment.

The rest of the passage speaks about God's wrath, but he stops there because he knows that he is the one who is going to receive God's judgment and wrath.

So he's saying, I'm here to reach you people, and I'm going to deal with the consequence of your sin.

So he intentionally doesn't read the second half of that passage of scripture.

Jesus says that I've come to do these things, and I can do them because I'm anointed.

Today I want to continue our conversation around the Holy Spirit and how he empowers our calling and what he's ultimately leading us to do.

And I've entitled this message, Anointed.

Turn to your neighbor and say anointed.

Turn to the neighbor that you ignored and say anointed.

Turn to the one behind.

We want to talk to everybody.

Turn to the person behind you and say anointed.

And you gotta say it with a TD Jakes rasp in your voice, anointed.

We gotta put some soul in.

I'm anointed for such a time as this.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Lord, we thank you so much uh for your word.

We thank you for an opportunity for us to come together in community, to gather, um, and just experience your presence.

Father, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes that we can see you in areas where maybe we've lost sight.

Lord, I pray for open ears to hear your truth above all the lies that the world presents to us.

And God, I pray for an open heart to receive everything that you deposit in us, seal it in us, God, and don't allow the enemy to take it from us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen and amen.

As as Hope had mentioned uh a little bit earlier, uh, we had an amazing team night on Wednesday.

I'm so thankful for our team.

Can we put our hands together for our teams and and how they faithfully served so diligently, getting here early, set up, tear it down.

We're so we're so thankful for him.

So we we had an opportunity on Wednesday to to gather and just honor them for their sacrifice of serving um at this church.

We're at All Hands Church.

And so while we were there, um we're just connecting and talking and having some great um conversations.

And I talked with so many wonderful people.

Uh, and so in between me bowling some strikes, I was talking to some folks.

I don't know why you're laughing at judging your boy can throw it down.

Isn't that right, Sean?

You know about it.

So so I'm I'm I'm I'm talking to some people, and I was just like just thinking of different stories and things that I that I had an opportunity to engage in.

But there's one conversation um that has been with me ever since I had that conversation on Wednesday.

And and that conversation was with uh Sam, big Sam, who's one of our ushers here and just serves so faithfully, but he had asked me uh a really um provocative question.

So in between me bowling strikes, he said to me, He said, Hey, Pastor Keith, you're so graced and anointed and just blessed in everything that you do.

Um I'm paraphrasing, this is the message translation.

Um he said, um, he said, Man, when when did you when did you decide to become a pastor?

And and I didn't get a chance to fully unpack um the answer.

So I thought about it for a moment and and we started talking and and then we got pulled away.

But but I've been thinking about that question ever since he posed it to me back on Wednesday.

Because when I think about when I got here and and and and and how I've arrived on this platform in front of us right now, I realize that it was a it was a series of events, and if I were to rewind time and really try to calculate how did I get here, when did I choose it, when did God choose me, it's it's it's not a simple answer.

In fact, I would have to go back to the beginning to recognize a series of things that took place in order for me to be on this platform with you today.

It starts back literally with the household that I was raised in.

I was I was raised in a Christian context.

My my family, we we believed in the Holy Spirit.

It was nothing for me to wake up in the morning and hear my mom downstairs singing songs of worship to God, highlighting her Bible, praying in the spirit.

Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and she's just standing over my bed praying for me.

That's weird.

You ever have that happen?

Where are you just sleeping?

Like somebody just speaking, like so, so I that was my that was my that was my life.

And so for us, those things were just a part of our regular rhythms.

And I remember at a young age how they would talk about how I would mimic my grandfather preaching, that I would just walk around and I would just be yelling, and I'll lay my hands on my cousins and push them down because that's what because that's what I did when well, that's what I would see in in in churches.

But but my parents said then that man, like there's a call of God on your life, and I don't know what they saw, but but somehow that was something that was said to me at a very young age.

But but then I also remember this moment when when my biological father walked out of my life around between the ages of four and five.

And at the time I didn't have the the capacity to navigate through comparison, but as I got older and into middle school and I began to recognize my my father had abandoned our family, he started a new family, and and there was a gap of of me feeling accepted and loved, that I began to build up this resentment.

And if you've been a part of our church, you've you've heard this story from me, but but that's when I began to express myself through through written poetry, just angry poetry, just trying to get these words out of my heart and the frustration and pain that I had been experiencing, and and then that evolved into me turning into a rapper.

So I would begin to write these songs and these lyrics that were another opportunity for me to express this bottled up frustration and disappointment and rage that was on the inside of me.

And so by the time I got to high school, I was very comfortable with standing in front of people.

I would it would be nothing for me to be invited to go and and drop a bar or or or drop 16.

For those of y'all understand the culture, it would be nothing for me to get up.

Come on, somebody knows I'm talking.

I'll drop 16 right now if y'all ask me to.

Somebody give me a beatbox outside at the end of service.

Y'all give me a cipher, I'll get in.

It's still in me.

Now, I've got to be honest with you, my my rap lingo is all pre-Jesus.

Every time I think, like, man, maybe I can still do it.

It ain't God that comes out, so I just I've just learned to stick to preaching.

I digress.

Okay, so but I remember being in front of people was something that that I had been conditioned uh to do.

And so it all ties back to me taking this anger, writing it onto a page, me turning that page into saying it in front of people, and it conditioned me to be comfortable with standing in front of people.

So then you fast forward, and then I get erratically saved.

Like I'm in a service just like we are right now, and and as a preacher is preaching, I could just feel something happening on the inside of me, and then I'm drawn to the altar at the end of a service, and and all I know is I'm I'm crying, my hands are lifted up, and and there's a there's a lightness as well as a weight that happens at the same time.

The best way I can put it is that something clicked on the inside of me, that light had just come on.

It's almost like if you go to an eye doctor and and they're they're trying to get your vision to be dialed in to be perfect, and and then when you leave the doctor's office, you're going back into an environment that you had just left, but all of a sudden things are much more clear.

All this time you're thinking to yourself, like, man, I thought I could see clearly, but apparently I was blind.

How did I even make it here today?

That's how extreme of a shift it was for me.

I was going back into environments that I had been in before, but all of a sudden things were so much more clear now.

I began to have more clarity on what God wanted to do with my life.

I began to have more perspective on what God had done with my life up until that point, that somehow that when I said yes to Jesus, that something had come alive on the inside of me and the grace had come upon me that I began to recognize what God wanted to do with my life.

I I still don't know when this moment of me choosing to become a pastor, but I do recognize that God had called me to do something significant.

Interestingly enough, about two months into my walk with God, my my pastor at the time had invited me to come on stage and to pray at the end of a service.

Now, now, naturally, for some people, you're invited to do something that that maybe you've never done publicly.

I've never prayed publicly, but but the invitation for me to come on platform, it didn't consume me because I was thinking to myself, hey, I'm used to being in front of people.

So I got in front of the people of God and I just began to pray as God led me to.

And when I got off, and my pastor looked at me and said, There's an anointing on your life to preach the gospel.

Now you have to begin to live your life and steward your life in such a way.

And he says this phrase to me that I didn't understand then.

He said, Walk worthy of the vocation of which you've been called into.

He said that there's a greater responsibility on your life, and then I began to understand that my life was called to do what I'm called to do now.

So I began to engage the word of God and it became clear to me.

I began to engage in community groups and it became clear to me.

I began to do the things that I felt like God was leading me to do, and every single one of them was bringing more clarity, and each yes opened another door, and each yes opened another opportunity, but I didn't get here overnight.

It was 20 years in the making before I seen it truly fulfilled in my life.

So when I look into the rearview mirror of how did I get here, I recognize it was because I was anointed to do it.

But what's so confounding to me is it only takes a brilliant God that can somehow bring perspective of my past, He can give me clarity in my present and give me a vision for the future.

See, it's only by the grace of God that something that was meant to harm me with my father leaving, something that was meant to define me and have me at a place of unforgiveness and brokenness, that God would go back and redeem that.

And I began to recognize in Romans 8 28 that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and who were called according to his purpose.

What I began to acknowledge then, what I began to acknowledge is that the gifts that God activated on the inside of me came as a result of me walking through pain.

That what God was calling me to do with standing in front of the people of God, I don't know how I would have got here if my father didn't walk out of my life and I didn't turn that into wrap, which turned me into being comfortable in front of people, but now I'm declaring the word of God as a result of it.

Maybe there's some of us in here right now, and you don't understand why you've walked through what you've walked through.

Maybe you don't understand that you've gone through some disappointment, and I would even say some trauma.

Could it be what the enemy meant for evil?

God is going to use it for good if we're willing to surrender it into his hands.

What I've seen in my own life is that the pain that I had gone through, God had graced me and he used it to do something powerful in me.

Only the grace of God could allow something that was meant to destroy me to be the very thing that cultivated me into being what I'm called to be.

He gave me clarity for the present.

He began to show me the life that I needed to live and how to cultivate the fruit of the spirit and how to get connected to community.

He led me to what jobs I needed to go to, he led me to the churches I needed to go to.

He led me to the relationships that I needed to be connected to.

And each one opened an opportunity for me to get to where God was calling me to be.

I could have never orchestrated this in my own strength.

I could have never strategized this, I could have never networked that much.

I don't even like people that much to do that.

I joke, but I'm not.

Like I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not a politician, I'm not meant for that.

So if God doesn't open the door, I'm not going into it.

If God's not leading me, then I won't go.

It's almost with the children of Israel when when they felt that God was prompting them, I said, Lord, if you're not going, then I'm not going.

So I learned to live a life where I can hone in and listening to the voice of God, and God was using it.

And then when I began to get a vision for the future, God, God made it very clear to me that that the calling on my life was connected to my marriage.

In fact, what he said to me is the first thing he says to me when I come out of my Holy Spirit haze, as I glance over and I see Megan, who was my girlfriend at the time, and he says, This is the woman that I'm calling you to, and your ministry is connected to your marriage.

And as you steward your marriage, I will use you in ministry.

That became the filter in which I lived my life and how I stewarded my wife in our marriage.

Watch this.

Because I knew then that the enemy was attacking my marriage, and it would have been so easy to walk away.

We're not compatible, we've grown apart, we've evolved, so many things that we can often utilize.

But I will come back to that moment at the altar where God reminded me, I'm going to use your marriage to be the ministry, so protected and guarded.

So times when I wanted to give up, I would come back to what God said and say, But Lord, you told me that my marriage is connected to my ministry, and I will not give up on what your vision is for my life.

I'm going to fight for it.

I'm going to pray for it.

I'm going to continue to seek you for it.

I'm going to highlight the Bible for it.

I'm going to walk it out.

I'm going to ask for forgiveness.

I'm going to apologize, and it wasn't even my fault.

Come on, husbands.

I'm going to do what I got to do to protect this thing because I know that the enemy wants to keep us from doing what God is ultimately calling us to do.

That's called being humble.

I had to learn how to humble myself.

So when I look at how how I've arrived here, I recognize it's a it's a series of events, but it's a series of moments of obedience.

Just saying yes.

Saying yes to the thing that God was calling us to do.

And when I say the word calling, many of us are, I think about, Keith, I don't know what I'm called to do.

So when I'm talking about calling, I'm talking about that unique prompting that God gives us.

That thing that that at some point gives us a burden but a peace at the exact same time.

But I also want you to understand that calling will be something that will require a sacrifice of you.

It is impossible to truly do what God has called you to do and it costs you nothing.

When I got to that threshold of knowing that God was calling me into full-time ministry, I remember that moment just like it was yesterday.

Because I was working in a school system, I was on I was in executive leadership, I was making a decent amount of money, and I remember having a meeting with our CFO at the time.

And when she looked at me in the eye, she looked at me and she started off the conversation with my salary with an apology.

I'm so sorry.

We want you on a team, but we can't pay you what you were making.

But we know that you're called to be here.

And it was a$35,000 pay cut.

Right?

And I remember when I heard that number, I said, I'm sorry, say that again.

Speaking to my good ear.

How much, how, how much of a sacrifice is this?

It was a quantifiable sacrifice to saying yes to God.

I think that often when it comes to following God, we're looking for the convenient way, but oftentimes it will require a sacrifice of us.

And I remember as I was wrestling with this idea, God said to me, Keith, whether you say yes to this or no to this, I will not love you any less.

But do you want to stand in my presence and say that you didn't do what I was calling you to do because I couldn't afford you?

It shifted my paradigm, and I said, Lord, I'm I'm gonna trust you in spite of it.

And so the calling is something that we feel a conviction about, but there is a sacrifice for it.

Then when we begin to think about giftings, I look at the giftings that God had given me, standing in front of people, able to articulate all the things that was developed on the inside of me, God said, I want to use those things for my glory.

So is it nature?

Is it nurture?

Is it supernatural?

It's all of it.

It's me going to school and learning how to articulate it.

It's me getting comfortable in front of people through through nurturing, but it's also a supernatural hand of God that began to say, I want to use you for my glory if you're willing to surrender your gifts to me.

There are so many gifts that are in this room, and we don't even recognize that God wants to use them in the kingdom.

There are people that have the gift of administration, there are people that have the gift of organization, there are people that have the gift of prophecy, there are people that have the gift of wisdom, there are people that have the gift of faith, and we don't know quite what to do with it.

But I'm telling you that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, he will open up opportunities for you to step into the thing that you're gifted to do because you're anointed.

Somebody shout out anointed.

You've been anointed for such a time as this.

So my decisions begin to be something where I'm like, if I'm being invited to step into a new opportunity, is it something that's gonna activate the gifts on the inside of me?

Is it an opportunity for me to do something that I believe that God is cultivating inside of me?

If it's not gonna activate the giftings and it doesn't connect with my calling, then it's not God calling me to do it.

See, scripture says that your gifts will make room for you, but it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is leading you into every room.

Some rooms God is saying, Your gift opened that door, but my spirit didn't lead you into it.

So we got to be mindful that just because an opportunity is presented, it doesn't mean that it was God because I believe that the enemy loves nothing more than to give us a detour and disguise it as God's will.

So I had to make sure that I'm I'm being sensitive, but God began to reveal to me what does it mean to be gifted and have those gifts activated.

Now I'm gonna stop there because in a couple of weeks we're gonna have a night of pursuit.

And what that night of pursuit is going to be is a night where I'm gonna unpack more detail about what does it mean to have natural gifts, the gifts that God gives us, and then the Holy Spirit.

And we're gonna be talking about it.

We're gonna lead you through an assessment so you can identify some of these gifts.

We're gonna talk about what does it mean in the church, what does it mean for your family, and what does it mean to walk it out in your day-to-day life.

And then we're gonna pray for the Holy Spirit to come to activate those gifts, and we're gonna lead you into spaces that's gonna allow you to walk in those gifts.

So I'm gonna pause there, but be on the lookout for our night of pursuit where we're gonna be talking about these spiritual gifts in more detail.

But then there's the anointing.

The anointing is the empowerment that God gives us, it's the anointing that gives us the ability to do what we're called to do.

It's the it's the very fuel for our gifts.

I like to say it like this: that my calling is what God's invited me to do.

My gifts are meant to support my calling, and the Holy Spirit empowers all of it.

I remember many years ago when I was still working for the school system, and and I traveled up to spend some time with family, and it was Christmas morning.

And and and when we got there on Christmas um morning, and and we're now at that point where we're opening up the gifts, and and my kids had some radical gifts that they wanted.

So they were all under the tree, it was a great, beautiful moment until I realized that I forgot to buy batteries for any of them.

Now, when my kids are looking around and they're seeing the gifts that are in front of them, and then they look at me, they're like, okay, like how how do we activate this gift?

I'm like, prayer.

Like I felt like such a failure, and my kids were looking at me and they made me feel like a failure because they're thinking to me, You gave me this gift, but you didn't give me anything to power the gift with.

So as I'm looking at around, I'm thinking to myself, like, man, my kids have no honor.

They don't recognize how long I stood in line.

They don't recognize how many times I had to circle the parking lot and trying to get in to buy said gift before the days of online shopping was the normal way in which we did things.

I went through a lot in order to get these gifts for them, but it meant nothing if there was no power to activate it.

But thanks be to God for mothers who are always prepared.

My mom says, What do you need, son?

I said, Mom, I could use some D batteries, I can use some double A batteries, I can use some triple A.

She said, I got you.

She came down.

They were more excited about the batteries than they were about the gifts.

Because they understood the connection of the gift means nothing if there's no power behind it.

I'm talking to somebody in here right now that all this time we've been using our gifts for the world.

And we've been able to get money in our bank account.

We may have been able to travel a little bit, live the life that we want to live.

But what if I were to tell you, if you allow God to breathe on that thing, how he can use it for his glory and how it can activate and do something beyond anything you ever could have thought you could do?

It's the power that comes with the anointing that's with it.

This is why when we look at the life of Jesus, we see that he was called, that he was gifted, but he still had to live a life of obedience.

What Luke 2.52 says is that Jesus grew in wisdom, he grew in stature, and he grew in favor with God and with man.

Jesus grew.

Nothing was required of him.

But what the scriptures reveal is that even Jesus had to live a life of obedience so the power of God could come upon him.

He grew in favor with God.

It makes me wonder what is required of me in order to grow in favor with God.

I don't have to work for it, but I do got to work within it.

Jesus lived a life where he honored God, he was obedient to his parents.

I can't imagine how complicated that is.

Humility.

And sometimes we want to argue with taking the trash out.

I'm talking to my kids right now.

Like, if you just listen to me, there's more grace in your life, there's more favor in your life, there's more blessing in your life.

But what Jesus shows us is what happens when we live a life of obedience and he grew in favor.

So now when it was time for him to walk into full-time ministry, the Spirit of God was on him and he was anointed to do what he was called to do.

What the text tells us is that as he's standing in the community that he was raised in, that he begins to talk around this passage of scripture in Isaiah 61.

And he says a very provocative statement.

After he concludes reading the scripture, he says, Today, as you hear this, this scripture is being fulfilled.

Today, as you hear this, this scripture is being fulfilled.

What that means is for that community, they lived their lives studying the scriptures, which means this.

They would have read Isaiah 61 on numerous occasions.

It was a very popular Messiah prophetic passage.

So they were very familiar with the statement that was there.

They were very familiar with the Messiah coming to bring restoration and equality to all people.

They were very familiar with that.

But this day, as Jesus is reading it to them, he says, But today, the promises in the Bible are available if you're willing to listen.

In other words, apply it.

There's some of us in here, we've been reading passages through the year, but I believe that the anointing is on me to say, but today, if you begin to walk out in faith, you're going to see the promises of God come alive in your life.

Maybe there's some things that you've been praying for and you're getting to a point where you don't even want to pray anymore.

But I believe the Spirit of God is saying, But today, if you pray for it, you'll get your breakthrough.

Maybe you have gone to counseling and you've prayed about your marriage and you don't think that there's any hope.

But God is saying, But today, if you do it, you're going to get your breakthrough.

Maybe you've prayed for healing and you didn't get the breakthrough as of yet, and you've lost hope and even trying to seek God for your breakthrough.

But Jesus is saying, But today, if you're willing to do what I'm calling you to do, if you're willing to pray what I'm calling you to pray, if you're willing to step out in the areas I'm calling you to step out, today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day of miracle.

Today is the day of breakthrough.

Today is the day that everything can change if you're willing to do what he's telling you to do today.

He said it's available today.

Your healing is available today, your miracle is available today, your breakthrough is available today.

So Jesus says, Today this is available, but but the people that were in the community were raised around Jesus.

So they're like, Man, like, isn't this Jesus?

Isn't his dad just a carpenter?

Who authorized him to say this?

Who who gave him the authority to say this?

Like, we we don't even know if we can receive from him.

And so Jesus famously says, Man, a prophet's without honor in his own community.

In other words, he was saying that y'all are so familiar with me that you can't even see the next miracle in your life because you've made me common.

I've begun to ask this question of myself, family.

Have I become so familiarized with Jesus that I'm treating him common and I'm missing out on my next miracle?

Because what Jesus does is he takes that same message to the next town over and a revival breaks out.

He takes that same message to the next people over and he sees miracles and signs and wonder break out.

I wonder if there are times that I'm not seeing the hand of God move in my life because I handcuffed him with my unbelief.

So what Jesus is saying, these things are available today, but you have to believe it.

His miracles had broken out.

They were so in love with the ministry of Jesus, they didn't even want him to leave.

In one town, they want him to go, another town they don't want him to leave.

Maybe you've been in that space where in one environment you feel appreciated, but in another environment they don't want to let you go.

This is the ministry of Jesus.

But he continued to move forward.

Why?

Because he was anointed to do it.

Sean, you know that while while Jesus was doing his ministry, he faced a lot of opposition.

The type of opposition that I probably would have quit after.

Why didn't Jesus quit?

Because he was anointed to do it.

That he was facing opposition everywhere he went, but he never threw the talon.

Why?

Because he was anointed to do it.

That every time he faced someone that would twist his words up and try to catch him in some kind of conspiracy, he continued to push through it because he was anointed to do it.

That he would heal somebody on the Sabbath and they would be like, Well, you did it on the wrong day.

Why wouldn't he give up?

Because I'm anointed to do it.

It was amazing how God had anointed him to do what he was called to do, but also to endure the resistance and the haters and the ops that the enemy was throwing his way.

He was anointed to do it.

What I want you to understand, church, is that you're anointed to do what God has called you to do.

You're anointed to be where God has called you to be, that you're anointed to grow the way that God has called you to grow.

I know it's not comfortable, but when you're in a space that God has led you to be in, you're anointed.

You're anointed to be a mother.

You're anointed to be a father.

You're anointed to be a husband.

You're anointed to be a wife.

You're anointed to start that business.

And even if you face resistance, you can keep pushing through it because you're anointed.

Somebody shout anointed.

You're anointed for such a time as this.

That Jesus is out doing ministry, and even though he's facing resistance, he continues to fight through it because he's anointed to do it.

Jesus says something really provocative to his disciples near the end of his ministry.

In John chapter 14, he tells them, Hey man, I'm about to go, but I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and He's going to empower you to do some things.

John 14 · chapter mention

And you can understand how they could initially be a little hesitant.

Because I mean, they've seen Jesus walk on water, they've seen Jesus resurrect Lazarus, they've seen Jesus do some incredible things.

So, how exactly are we supposed to continue this gospel message when we don't have the power, the faith, or the ability to do what you're called to do?

Jesus says something very strong to them in verse number 12.

He says, Those who believe in me will do greater works than me.

Jesus literally says to these disciples, Man, I know that y'all are so impressed by what you saw me do, but if you only understand that the Holy Spirit is going to come, and my expectation is that you're going to take this further, faster than I ever could do in my own strength.

He says, You can do it as well.

What that means is that what Jesus did and what Jesus was calling us to do, he's inviting us to be a part of that as well.

What if when we began to read scriptures, we didn't look at that as a distant community that we no longer have connection to, but we actually began to recognize that I'm a part of that story because I am part of that community that says that I believe in Jesus.

And I don't believe that there's any expiration date on the power of the Holy Spirit, which means the things that I saw the disciples do mean that I can do it as well.

Jesus said the things that he did, I can do it as well, which now means that I'm anointed for such a time as this.

So when I begin to look at the resistance that I'm dealing with, I'm not speaking in my own strength, I'm not speaking in my own logic, but I'm anointed because God has sent me here and positioned me to do what he's called me to do.

I'm not speaking in my own strength, but thus saith the Lord, my family will be free because I'm anointed to lead them to freedom.

Thus saith the Lord, my family will be whole because I'm anointed to lead them to wholeness.

In the name of Jesus, our church will flourish because I'm anointed to do this.

That if God is leading me to it, he's gonna strengthen me to do it because we're anointed to do what God is calling us to do.

See, when we understand that we're part of the story, we then begin to understand that the anointing is for us as well.

We're anointed.

And a couple of the things I want to share with us before we wrap up and go into a time of worship is that we are anointed to share the gospel.

Every one of us has that assignment to share the gospel.

No matter where we go, no matter where we are, we're we're anointed, we're graced, we're conditioned to share the gospel.

That means that as a parent, my responsibility is to reflect the image of God and share the gospel with my community.

I want to talk to some parents right now, because right now we're living in a world of so much uncertainty.

The amount of conversations and the amount of prayers that I have with every single one of our community members that are concerned about what's happening outside of the doors of our homes, what's happening outside of the doors of our church.

We we watch the news and we're told how we need to be afraid about how things are indoctrinating our children.

But I want to let you know you're still the most influential voice in your child's life.

You are anointed to be the parent, you're anointed to be the mother.

We don't need to be fearful of the world because God has anointed and graced you to be the one that makes a difference in shaping and cultivating them.

We're not supposed to walk in fear, we're not supposed to walk in reaction, but we're anointed for such a time as this.

Mother, you're anointed.

Just go in the grace and peace of God.

Father, you're anointed.

Just go in the grace and the peace of God.

Don't allow the world to make you feel fearful and thinking that you lost the authority.

God has anointed you to be the person that God has called you to be to lead your family into greatness.

We can't depend on politicians, we can't depend on policy, we can depend on Jesus.

I'm anointed for such a time as this.

We're anointed for, we're anointed to share the gospel.

What if we began to look at the jobs that we have that are sometimes uncomfortable?

And instead of us looking at it as a job or a career, but we looked at it as a kingdom assignment.

Because there are environments that I can't get into that you're in.

And maybe what God wants from you is to let your light so shine in the midst of the darkness that it can draw people to Jesus.

This is why the way that we live our lives matter.

Because when people see that we can still have hope in hopeless environments, that we can be people that still trust God even when it feels uncomfortable, that that grace that's on our lives has the ability to transform an entire culture or at least allow people to see what it looks like to trust God even in toxic environments.

I know it's not easy.

I'm not telling you to stay in an environment where you're being abused, but maybe God has led you there for such a time as this.

Maybe you're anointed to be there.

See, I I like to think of things in this way whenever I feel like God's opening a door for me.

And I hope that this can help you.

If we look at where we are as a kingdom assignment and God is leading us somewhere else, if that's what we feel, ask this question Is my assignment up?

Is my assignment up?

Not is my patience up?

Not not is there more money for me on the other side?

But if God led me here and God ordained me to be here, He's anointed me to be here, is my assignment up?

Have I have I been the example that God needs me to be in this community in hopes of planting a seed that I may not see come to fruition in my own strength, but it doesn't mean that God's not at work.

Is my assignment up?

The other thing that God has anointed us to do is God has anointed us to walk in freedom.

He wants us to walk in freedom.

When you look at the words of Jesus, and as he's talking about what he came here to do, he says, Man, ultimately, I came here to bring freedom to the people of faith.

You see, so many of us are are looking at areas of uh of bondage, but God doesn't intend us to live that way.

When I look in the rearview mirror of my life and I consider what I've walked through and the disappointment with my biological father, I remember that when he got to a point where he was gravely sick.

And and I'm I'm harboring a great deal of resentment at this point.

My my entire identity as it relates to my father was anger and disregard.

I was known and people knew that I that I'd harbored this.

So when my father got sick, my stepdad came to me and said, Hey, I think you need to go and and and and visit your father because he just never knew how it's gonna turn out.

And I honestly didn't want to do it, but he he compelled me, said, Listen, I've already bought the tickets, I need you to do this for me.

It was almost as if he he hit sense to say something.

So I remember going into the the hospital room and I see I see my father there, and when I when I see him there, I I sit next to him and I I'm still kind of like got my arms folded and and I'm just sitting there in my in the back of my mind, just I don't got anything to say.

But after I sat there for about two hours, I felt like God just said, just begin to just begin to speak out.

So I just begin to share some of the resentment, some of the frustration, some of the disappointment, some of the anger that had built up over the years.

And after I had articulated all of those things and I said these words, and I don't even know where they came from, but I forgive you.

I don't know what it was, but but this lift, this weight came off of my shoulders.

Now, the fascinating thing is at that time I was not walking with God.

But what I've learned now is I thank God that He was with me before I was with Him.

He was leading me and organizing my steps and bringing me to a space because He knew what He's calling me to do, and He was saying, Keith, if you don't if you don't get this forgiveness in your heart, it's gonna cause you to stumble in the way that you move forward with your life.

And so I was in an environment and I forgave because God's will is not for us to live a life of bondage.

What is the areas of our lives that we still feel deeply restricted?

Jesus said, I came to bring and give you freedom, freedom from bondage, who the sun sets free is free indeed.

I don't want you to be restricted to the past, I don't want that to define you.

I don't want you to be a person that is unable to move forward into the future, and then you create these unhealthy boundaries.

And when I'm leading you into relationships, they're paying for the pains of someone else, and you're not actually walking into freedom in your new relationship.

What God is saying is, I want you to be a person that walks in freedom.

We're anointed to be people of freedom.

But as I walk in freedom, I'm called to be an agent of freedom as well.

That as I'm walking in freedom, freedom can flow from me.

We're anointed to be free.

We're anointed to walk in unforgiveness, we're we're anointed to be free from addiction and free from unforgiveness and free from pain.

This is what Jesus came to do, and that's what's available to us today, but we gotta be willing to allow his spirit to empower us to do it.

As I close, I I want to I want to share this thought with you because I I've been triggered looking at um the coronation that took place in in England.

Anybody check out the coronation with the with the King of England and all that good stuff?

It's it's really fascinating um um pageantry.

Um but and but the thing that I was finding so fascinating about all of this um was this discussion around like the oil.

Apparently, he was anointed with oil.

And of course, that anointing in our modern day context caused a lot of confusion.

People were like, well, what does that anointing oil mean?

And and what's all this all about?

Well, well, it turns out that that the olives that were used for the oil, it came from Jerusalem, it came from the Mount of Olives, the very environment that that Jesus preached some profound messages.

It's it's it's a it's a beautiful story.

And I did a little research, the journey of the oil coming to anoint the king.

And it's fascinating when you really begin to understand how olive oil represents the empowering presence of God.

When you look in scripture and you see olive oil is connected to God's empowerment, God's blessing, God's activation in the lives of people.

And when you think about the process that is necessary in order to activate olive oil, it's it's really fascinating.

Give me give me a minute to explain it.

Ultimately, what happens is first the olives, which are very hard and rigid, they're they're submerged in water.

And after they're washed and submerged in water, they're then put into a press.

And then the press comes upon it and it is crushed.

And then what's in it begins to ooze out of it.

And as it's going through this process, the pressing comes on it.

And there's three pressings.

The first pressing is the most pure oil, that's extra virgin olive oil.

That's why it costs more when we go to the store.

It's the purest version of the oil.

Then there's a second pressing that comes upon it, and and that oil is the secondary oil, and and typically with the with the first pressing, that oil is exclusively used for God.

It's often given to him as a sign of sacrifice.

The second pressing is typically used in our household usage.

So families would take that oil home and they would use it in our homes.

And then the third pressing would come upon it, and then that oil would be used for the community.

They would make soap with it, they would make lamps and they would sell them in the community.

Three pressings, three extractions of the oil, three different purposes.

The first pressing was for God, the second pressing was for their home, the third pressing was for others.

This pressing process to get what was in it to come out of it.

I can't help but to see the parallels of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, which literally translates to the place of pressing.

And while he was there, do we remember how many times he prayed?

Three times.

He prayed and there was a pressing on him.

And the Bible says that that anointing had oozed out of him.

And then he prayed again, and it was another pressing on him, and that anointing oozed out of him, and then there was a there was a third pressing that came upon him, and that anointing had oozed out of him.

Watch this.

The olives started with being washed, then there was a pressing, and then it was placed into a vessel for usage.

The pressing activated and released what was in it to get out of it.

So getting back to Sam's original question of how and when did I decide to become a pastor is when I began to recognize that the pressing that was on my life was so that God could get glory from my life.

There's many of us in here, and we feel like we're in the olive press right now, that there's pressure being placed upon us, and it's uncomfortable, and we don't understand why we're going through it.

But I believe that it's for such a time as this that there's an anointing that God wants to get out of us.

What the enemy meant for evil, God's going to use it to good.

And maybe what you're walking through right now, God is allowing that to be the pressing that allows the gifts to flow out of you, the anointing to flow out of you, the calling to go out of you, the grace to flow out of you, your mission to flow out of you.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but it's the Lord who delivers us from them all.

You you may feel it right now, but I assure you, God is not done with you yet, and there's an anointing on your life to do exactly what he's called you to do.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to pose this question to us.

We're we're gonna go back into a moment of worship where we can just allow the Holy Spirit to do the work that he wants to do, and I believe that he wants to activate on the inside of us.

But maybe you're in here right now, and and maybe you're going through a season of transition.

Maybe you're in here right now and you can feel the pressing on you, and and you don't know what your calling is, you you don't know what your giftings are, and and you just want to be empowered by God's spirit.

You you just want strength, you just want perspective, you just want clarity, you you just want to have that moment where you have this encounter with God that activates purpose and makes everything make sense.

I believe that there's a grace in this room for that to happen today.

On account of three, if you just want a touch from God that can order steps, that can reinforce gifts, that can strengthen you, that can give you perspective, that can give you grace in a time of trouble.

I want to pray for you.

On a count of three, would you boldly lift your hands up?

One, two, three.

I just want to touch from God.

I just want to touch from God.

I want to encounter from God.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

What I want to do is this.

I want us to stand and come into a uh a moment of worship because I'm gonna pray that the spirit of God moves.

But you know there's gonna be a twist.

I want if you raise your hand and come down here and meet me at this altar.

I want us to come down here.

I don't want to, I don't want to push, I don't want to beg, I don't want to pry, but I just is an open invitation for you just to come down and just say, Man, I God, I just I just need a touch from you.

God, I I just need a I need a touch from your spirit.

I I just need I just need an encounter with you.

I just need a a move of your grace.

I need strength from you, God.

I need clarity, I need direction, I need perspective because I know that I'm anointed, because I hear the teachings, and I know that today a lot of things are available.

To me, but I don't feel it right now.

And God, I need you to stir it inside of me.

I'm believing that the Holy Spirit is going to move in here.

We can we can crowd in here.

We got some space here.

First and foremost, I'm I'm I'm proud of every single one of you for taking that bold step.

And what I recognize is when you hear these phrases about being anointed and being called and being blessed and having this grace on your life, I know that it doesn't often feel like that.

Because you're thinking to yourself, if I'm anointed, why do I feel like all hell is breaking loose?

We're gonna go into a moment of prayer in just a second, but I I want to give you this simple, but I think very clear illustration.

You know, I was I was raised watching cartoons, and one of my favorite cartoons that I grew up watching, um, it probably would get canceled today.

We certainly could watch it today, but it would be Popeye.

Anybody remember Popeye the Sailor Man?

A couple of us are old enough to remember Popeye.

I wonder why they don't replay it because it's actually kind of weird now.

But but in the context back then, Popeye was a fascinating cartoon.

And here's the thing that's so fascinating about Popeye.

It's like not only yes, did he have this strength that was inside of him that was activated by the spinach, but I began to deconstruct what was the tension really all about.

And as I began to think about it, it was all about his girl.

Like Brutus had beef with Popeye because of his girl.

Does anybody remember what his girl's name was?

Say that one more time.

That means that Popeye, because of the olive oil in his life, it was inviting the enemy to come and test him.

Because of the olive oil that was in his life, the enemy was attacking him, which means the enemy could recognize and see there's olive oil in your life, and I don't want you to live with it.

I don't want it to dwell with you, so I want to take it from you.

What if I were to tell you that the olive oil, the anointing, the grace, the mission that God has on your life, the reason why you're dealing with so much hell right now is because the enemy doesn't want to activate heaven or the inside of you.

But if we only understood that the very pressure that the enemy puts on us activates what's in us, which actually defeats the enemy with every hand lifted up.

God, I thank you so much for the olive oil that is in our lives in the name of Jesus.

And not touch and agree with every precious soul up here that God, as we're looking for clarity, as we're looking for breakthrough, as we're looking for miracles and signs and wonders, Father.

God, I'm praying for an activation of your spirit in the name of Jesus.

There are many people up here that are dealing with affliction, that are dealing with bondage, that are dealing with fear, that are dealing with persecution.

But in the name of Jesus, I command for the olive oil to be released in their life in Jesus' name.

I'm praying for sound minds, I'm praying for clarity, I'm praying for breakthrough, I'm praying for restoration.

We recognize that what God has for us is for us, and the enemy cannot have it.

I'm anointed for this marriage, I'm anointed to be a father, I'm anointed for this business, I'm anointed for this next step, and I will not allow the enemy to take it.

So, Holy Spirit, have your way in this place as we lift our hands.

We invite your spirit, we invite your presence to activate the olive oil in our life and to bring us to a place of freedom, to bring us to a place of clarity.

Chains be broken in the name of Jesus.

I command for our past to be redeemed and for us to be people that are walking in victory.

I'm praying for forgiveness, I'm praying for breakthrough, I'm praying for healing, I'm praying for signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.

Holy Spirit, reign on us, God.

Holy Spirit, fill us, Holy Spirit, come upon us and anointing, break every chain and activate what's inside of us.

So as we worship you, God, as we declare your name, as we declare your work, we declare healing, we declare hope, we declare breakthrough, we declare restoration, we declare freedom because you've anointed us for such a time as this.

So, Holy Spirit, have your way, restore us, rest on us, and do a new thing in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

Come on, family, let's worship together one more time.

Thanks again for listening.

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