Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Understanding the Anointing
The supernatural power that destroys every burden and breaks every yoke isn't just a spiritual theory—it's a tangible reality available to every believer. Yet many Christians remain unaware of how to access and develop this divine empowerment in their daily lives. Drawing from key scriptures like Isaiah 10:27 and Zechariah 4:6, this message unpacks the three distinct dimensions of the anointing: the anointing within (for personal guidance and growth), the anointing upon (for effective ministry and service), and the corporate anointing (the collective atmosphere created when believers gather in unity).
Let's pick our Bibles up and wave them around. Make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Oh my glory to God. Thank you, lord. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I am so glad to be here. There's a new season, and I'm not talking about the weather. There's a spiritual season that's being born and birthed. Right now there's a fresh anointing coming upon me and I'm walking in it and I'm benefiting by it, and so is everyone around me. In Jesus' name, Amen, praise God.
Speaker 1:I've got a couple of verses in the Old Testament. Zechariah first, and that's right before, in case you're wondering where's Zechariah. You know Zechariah, they call him a minor prophet, but I don't think he's that minor myself. Right before Malachi second to the last book in the Old Testament, and then also Isaiah, chapter 10. Zechariah 4, 6.
Speaker 1:The prophet angel was talking to this person and said the angel said then he answered and spoke unto me. The angel saying this is the word of the Lord and is the rubable, saying not by might. My margin said by might there is army, not by army. My margin says by might there is army, not by army, nor by power, man's power, but by my spirit. Saith the Lord. Not by army, not by man's power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Then. Isaiah 10, isaiah 10. Isaiah 10. Verse 27. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder. This is a word to Israel. His burden shall be taken off of thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
Speaker 1:And so today I wanted to start a series entitled Understanding the Anointing. Understanding the Anointing. You know, this church is a word and spirit church. There's a lot of things you can say to describe this church. It's a full gospel church. You know, it's a Pentecostal church Not talking about Pentecostal denomination, but we believe in the power of the Holy Ghost, the Word and the Spirit. We need both.
Speaker 1:And God gave me that before I ever had the name. And then when I got the name, I kind of fussed Glorious way church. That's hard to say and it's a lot of words, I mean hard to spell. People misspell it all the time.
Speaker 1:And so, in fact, we got a letter from AT&T one time and somebody had signed up. They had this bonus that they forever, so often that their phone bill, the AT&T would give a little money, a tiny percentage to your charity of your choice, and she did it over the phone, a tiny percentage to your charity of your choice, you know. And she put, she did it over the phone, and so we would get this uh check made out to Gloria Suede, the first building, every two cents or whatever it was. Anyway, uh, so I argued, I said God, gloria, glorious way, that's just. That's even hard to say, it's just so long. And I and you know he, of course he didn't listen to me.
Speaker 1:And then I realized you ever are, you act so innocent You'd like you've never argued with the Lord, but a glorious way. So it speaks to the word of the Spirit. The glory of God is the Holy Ghost, the way I'm, the way, the truth and the life. So you know, we need the Word and the Spirit. You know, the Word without the Spirit you'll dry up, and the Spirit without the Word and you'll blow up. But if you've got the Word and the Spirit both working in your life, then you will grow up, you'll show up, you'll glow up and finally you'll go up. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:So a number of years ago God told me you know, teach what you take for granted. And so I like to teach on the anointing because your faith you've got to have faith in the anointing your faith is limited. Your faith in the anointing is limited to your understanding of it. If you don't understand the anointing, then you don't really have faith to operate in it. And it's been my experience that a lot of people just throw anointing, the word anointing, just into one category. But it's really more than just one category we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1:There's lots of facets to the anointing. You know, one thing that kind of inspired me to maybe pick teaching on this was just a week ago it'll be two weeks ago this coming Monday when Trump had his first cabinet meeting and all these cabinet members were there and they opened in prayer. I've never seen it in my life. And the Secretary of HUD you know, housing and Urban Development I don't remember his name, but he was chosen to pray and he said God, we thank you for the anointing to do this job. And I almost fell out of my chair when I job and I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that. I almost fell out of my chair. I could not believe it. We've got people around the president, know about the anointing and know to thank God for it, and so that kind of thought, man, you know, I need to teach on the anointing. And so there's three broad areas that we'll touch on. There's lots of different facets to it, but three broad areas.
Speaker 1:First of all, the anointing within or the inward anointing. Let's say it together anointing within. And then there's the anointing upon or the outward anointing. Everybody say the anointing upon, see, that's two different things. And then, finally, the one we'll touch on is the corporate anointing.
Speaker 1:A lot of times, you know, just generally speaking, when people come into this church and they feel an atmosphere I've had it described all kind of ways I feel the love, I feel the energy. I've heard people say energy. I've had people that didn't really know why, but they would sit in the service and cry the whole service, and what is that? Well, that's the corporate anointing, or we could say it this way that's the glory, see, these are all interchangeable terms. It's the Holy Ghost, it's all interchangeable. It's the presence of it's all interchangeable. It's the presence of it, it's all interchangeable. The glory, the anointing, all of that's interchangeable. It's got different facets to it.
Speaker 1:So today we're going to touch on the anointing within or the inward anointing, but here in Isaiah 10, 27, where it said you know, the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. That word anointing there it means grease or perfumed oil. You know, israel had a special apothecary. They formulated their anointing oil. There was no, you could not, it was against the Jewish law to duplicate that or use that for any other purpose except for the purposes of the temple. And that was the oil that they anointed the high priest with.
Speaker 1:In order for the high priest like when Moses anointed Aaron the first time to be the high priest, well, you know, first they had to kill the lamb and they had to sprinkle blood on him, and they put blood on his forehead and on his thumb and on his right thumb and his right great toe. You know, and uh, and then they, the blood had to go first, and then they put the anointing oil on those same places. See, the blood, where we talked about the blood. Well, the blood is the reason we are anointed. The blood had to be shed, the blood had to be shed, the blood had to be applied. And uh, and you know, the high priest, uh, he had to be sprinkled blood and he only went into the Holy of Holies once a year. He couldn't go in any other time, just once a year, not without blood, or we can go anytime we want. Why? Because there's been one sacrifice made for us.
Speaker 1:Oh, what a treasure it is. But it means grease, it means perfumed oil. In the New Testament, when you see the word anointing, it means smearing or rubbing with oil, about the same thing. And of course oil is a type of the Holy Ghost. We sang that last song. You know water is a type of the Holy Ghost drinking of the river. But oil is a type of the Holy Ghost and the anointing is often tangible. But oil is a type of the Holy Ghost and the anointing is often tangible. It's always powerful, not always tangible. Sometimes you don't feel a thing. I mean, I rarely feel it. I know it's there. I have faith that it's there. I don't have to have goose bumps, I don't have to have gold dust.
Speaker 1:My cousin, you know, has got that manifestation and you know he's always trying to get me to see my. You know, max Branner. He's got the big cross in Kerrville. He's my cousin, my second cousin, and he had a manifestation years ago of when he was making Jesus. He makes these beautiful works of art of Jesus and he had one that he was working on in his home years ago Jesus coming back on the horse. You know, big old, massive, I don't know if you've ever seen that bronze sculptures, huge. And while he was working on that sculpture, gold dust filled his whole house. His granddaughter was laying in the little baby carriage and the granddaughter had gold dust all over, all over gold dust on the doors. Gold dust just started and started manifesting everywhere he'd go.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know I don't need it, I know I'm anointed without the gold dust, but I thank God for any manifestation that will convince people that are, you know, skeptical. I mean, you know you don't see radiation, but radiation can be beneficial or radiation can kill you. You don't feel an x-ray but if you sit there too long. My brother-in-law taught radiation safety, went all over the country teaching radiation safety. If you've got radioactive isotopes like doctor's offices I just had a last year. I I had a, you know, a nuclear stress test I have to drink isotopes. I don't really like to do that, but you know, whatever I did it so that they could see my blood vessels and make sure they're open and all of that stuff. It can be beneficial or it can be harmful.
Speaker 1:But I mean, regardless of whether you feel the anointing, it's here, you need to know you have it. It takes faith, amen. And so here in Zechariah 4, 6, not by might Well, pastor doesn't say anointing, there in verse 6. Well, it said by my spirit. See, it's the same thing, they're interchangeable. It's not by army, it's not by man's power, it's by the anointing saith, the Lord. And so I've had to develop my faith in the anointing God gave me, inwardly and outwardly, and you will too. And this you know.
Speaker 1:He was talking to Israel about this yoke, this yoke here recently we had a word of knowledge on a heavy burdens on a Sunday night. How many of you know we have church on Sunday night? You ought to. You ought to try it out. If you've never been Sunday nights, you ought to come. It's got a different flavor. It's got a different feel to it. It's different.
Speaker 1:I don't know why. I don't try to do it that way, but it just happens. I think it's partly because the group that comes are pulling on the gift that's on me. We have gifts of the spirit flow and I had a word of knowledge about somebody I saw, I don't know. I was watching the movie Spartacus here recently and Kirk Douglas had this big old boulder on his back and he was bent over like this and he had this strap that he was holding it with and he was just about to fall off the side of a hill. And that's what I saw. Somebody's got a burden and the front filled up with people that were carrying loads they shouldn't, and I just kept saying the yoke shall be destroyed.
Speaker 1:The yoke, see, the devil tries to a yoke, comes across a beast of burden, like an ox, and you tie heavy loads to it. And he's talking about the anointing will destroy what the devil tries to put on. You See, that's what it really means. When he said destroy, I've heard people misquote it and say, oh, the anointing breaks. No, it doesn't break it, because if you broke something you could put it back together. When it's destroyed, there's no putting it back. See, again, we misquote the word sometimes and we don't get the benefit of what it says.
Speaker 1:So, not by my army or by man's power, but by my anointing, by my power, by my presence, by my glory, saith the Lord, by my spirit and the anointing within and the anointing upon and the corporate anointing all can grow and develop and get stronger. Are you with me now? It's very similar to your spirit. Man can grow, your faith can grow it. Really it's very similar. The ways by which we can grow in the anointing are the same identical ways that we can grow spiritually and our faith can grow. It's the word in the Spirit.
Speaker 1:So today we're going to talk about the anointing within. So let's get to 1 John, chapter 2. Hallelujah, this is a year of milestones and you know I've been teaching on ruling and reigning. I've been teaching on the believer's authority and our believer's authority is directly tied to the anointing within. Amen. You have a strong anointing within you and you develop that. You're going to rule in your domain. You're strong. You recognize the source of your strength. It's not your willpower, it's not your intellect, it's not your natural talents. It's not your intellect, it's not your natural talents. We all have natural talents. What I'm talking about today is supernatural. All right, first John two, verse 20.
Speaker 1:But you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things Well, that's kind of wild there If you just took it all by itself. But let's read it in context. What's he talking about? He's talking about deceivers. He's talking about the spirit of antichrist. He's talking about people that represent themselves. They're not what they say they are. Satan comes as an angel of light and you have an unction.
Speaker 1:The word unction is anointing and you know all things. What? It didn't mean that you know everything. I'm a know it all. It means that you know when something's not right. You have that anointing on the inside. If you'll, if you'll, take heed when I almost said listen. But it's not a voice that I'm talking about, it's a knowing. And what is that knowing? It's the Holy Ghost. He's in there to communicate what he knows. He's the one that knows all things. You might not know it up here, but he knows everything that you need to know about anything you can think of, and he's down on the inside.
Speaker 1:You have an unction. You have an anointing from the Holy One, 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 is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him or you shall abide in it. Talking about the anointing. Abide in the anointing, as it's taught you all things. Now, again, he's not saying that you don't need to be taught by your pastor or sit in a church service and be taught the word of God, go to a Bible study.
Speaker 1:It's not what it's talking about. It's talking about, again, the subject here in this chapter is deception, and we're living in that day, aren't we? And we need to learn to trust the unction or the anointing within that lets us know when something isn't right. Your brain doesn't know you're. I'm not talking about suspicion, I'm talking about the unction. I'm talking about the anointing. Are you with me now? You don't have to have somebody hold you by the hand. I can't be everywhere at once. I have a shot at you on Sunday morning, sunday night, sometimes Wednesday night, live stream, but I can't go where you go. I can't hold your hands. Oh, stay away from that one. No, I can teach you and I can help develop the anointing. I can teach you about the anointing and let you know what it means and what you've got, what equipment you've got, and then you know you're going to be successful in navigating your own life and you'll learn to trust that unction on the inside. So the anointing within which you have received number one.
Speaker 1:It says 1 John is written to believers. So every believer has the anointing. When you get born again, the Holy Ghost does what, he comes and takes up residence on the inside of you. That's the anointing. When you get born again, the Holy Ghost does what, he comes and takes up residence on the inside of you. That's the anointing. So every believer is anointed. If you're born again, you're anointed. But it's not the anointing for service, it's the anointing within. The anointing upon is for service.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament nobody was anointed except the priest, the prophet and the king. Nobody was anointed except the priest, the prophet and the king and they had the anointing upon them, not within them, to do their office. The anointing was upon the priest to do the priestly duties. The anointing was on the prophet to point the way and to hear from God for the nation of Israel and the anointing was upon the king to rule. But none of them had the anointing within.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a famous preacher. I'm not going to say his name, but I mean he sinned and he was caught a couple of times and it was just very embarrassing. He was a very famous guy on television, you know, and he just it was an embarrassing thing and he got up to confess in front of his congregation, on television and everything else oh God, I've sinned, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51, which is David, when he sinned with Bathsheba, that was his. Well, he's the king and he could have lost the anointing to be king, but that's Old Testament. You can't lose Sin.
Speaker 1:Doesn't take your inward anointing away from you. I mean you can ruin your reputation, you can make yourself less effective, and what's terrible about that is you still are anointed to do what you did before, but you don't have opportunity anymore. I've seen that God doesn't just. God is not like man, he doesn't just jerk the anointing off of people First time they stubbed their toe. I guess I wouldn't be anointed if he did that, because I've made a lot of mistakes. No, I mean he bears long.
Speaker 1:So the anointing within, see, it doesn't come and go, it's forever. Number one it's for every believer. Number two it's to teach you. He'll teach you. The Holy Ghost will teach you all things. I had someone one time was testifying that they got a promotion at work and they were in one area of this technical business and they were moved into another area and they didn't know a thing in the world. They had to sit in front of a computer screen and they had to do work on the computer and they didn't know a thing about what they were doing. Nobody could train them and the Holy Ghost taught them how to do it. I mean, if you learn to lean on the one on the inside of you, you could do things that you're not qualified to do, because he is qualified. So he's there, it's forever believer. He's to teach you, he's to reveal truth from error. See Truth from error.
Speaker 1:Years ago, gladys and I hadn't been saved very long, and the couple that God used to get me saved. We'd go to their house for a Bible study and that went on for about six, eight months I think. We had kind of a close relationship, so they were kind of showing us the ropes and showing us how, and they were members of Lakewood. That's how we started going to Lakewood Church. And so one Friday night they said hey, we heard about a Bible study over in. I think it was Spring Branch. Why don't we go check it out and see what's going on over there? It's a pretty big Bible study. I've heard about it several times.
Speaker 1:So we went and it was a big Bible study. It was 30, 35 people there and they had a big old central living room and people were all packed in there on folding chairs and they had some ministry, you know. And then they had the guy that the, the husband I guess was the teacher and he was teaching out the book of ephesians, just line by line, reading just one verse after another, and kind of expounding on it. And and I you know I'm new, you know, you know I don't know, I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't critical, I wasn't, you know, suspicious. I mean, I'm really trusting these people that we're with that took us or caused us to go. I drove, but we I had a big van, an eight-passenger van, so we could. I think there were six of us that went to the thing. So we dropped everybody off at the end of the night and Gladys and I drove up in our driveway and I looked at her and I said you know, honey, I don't think we'll ever go back to that place. Now, neither one of us said anything bad about it. We didn't cut it down, we didn't, you know, we didn't have anything ugly to say or anything like that. It wasn't because I did, I just there was an unction. I didn't know. That's what it was.
Speaker 1:But three years later now I'm a little bit more developed. You know, I'm moving into some things that God had for me. And I'm in Utopia, texas. My brother lived in Vanderpool. We were there to visit them and Utopia is on the Sabinal River, beautiful little place, and we were there at the country store in town to get some groceries for Saturday morning. And I'm coming out of the store and this couple's coming in and we recognized each other somehow. I don't know exactly how I could recognize them, but anyway we did. And we shook hands and visited and and, uh, they ask uh well, do you still, uh, you still go to Lakewood? I said, oh yeah, absolutely, that's the only place for me, that's. God leads me out sometime or another. And yeah, oh well, we, we left that a long time ago.
Speaker 1:I said, well, what are y'all, where are y'all going to church? Oh, we have church in our home. We, we believe in the Pauline revelation, we just preach what Paul preaches. And you know the early church, they just had church in the home. Well, you know, as soon as I heard that, I remembered why I didn't want to be associated with them, because they're goofballs, they're kind of a semi cult. I mean there's more to the Bible than Paul. Thank God for Paul and thank God for the Pauline revelation. But there's more than that.
Speaker 1:I'm reading out of John this morning Peter knows a few things too. I mean, your whole Bible is for you. You can't tear pages out of the Bible and succeed. Bible is for you. You can't tear pages out of the Bible and succeed. And uh, it just you know. And then I realized what that that I had just had see, and nobody held me by the hand and told me don't be going back to that Bible study. You know I, what if I had? What if I had gotten hooked up with those people and and heard that at a as a young baby Christian and get fed a bunch of error, and I don't, you know. And the next thing, you know, one thing leads to another and you're all hooked up in the wrong spot. Talk about the inward anointing now. So it will reveal truth from error. It's in there to help you. John 14, 26,.
Speaker 1:Jesus said it's going to be good for you that I go away, told the disciples, because if I don't go away, the comforter will not come, but if I go away, I'll pray the Father and he will send another comforter. I'm a comforter, he's going to send another comforter. Now, that word comforter is a poor translation of the word. The Greek word is parakletos is a poor translation of the word. The Greek word is parakletos and it really simply means helper, comforter. The King James calls it comforter. We get the idea. Comforter is like patting you on the head oh baby, dry your tears. Yeah, there's an element of that, but really, you know, it's much more than that. He's a helper, and I like the Amplified Bible. It breaks it out Counselor, helper. And I like the amplified bible. It it breaks it out counselor, helper, intercessor, advocate, strengthener.
Speaker 1:Standby, the holy ghost. Yes, he's inside, but he's standing by, just in case you need him. Well, I need him all the time. How about? You see, I'm developing my faith in the inward indwelling spirit. I'm, I'm, I'm more God, inside, minded, all the time. He's always watching, he's always there to assist. Paul called him an ally. He's your ally, he's not your enemy. And uh, and then, finally, the last one is in. First, john, four, four, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.
Speaker 1:The Holy Ghost, the inward anointing, is inside you to help you overcome the world. The world is going to come against you. The world is going to. It has its troubles, it has its. You know storms of life and the Holy Ghost is in you, the inward anointing is in you to help you overcome, not dodge. You're not going to dodge all the trouble You're going to have. You're going to have some trouble.
Speaker 1:But when trouble comes, instead of getting all intimidated and having a pity party and all that, you just start saying well, bless God, the greater one's in me to put me over. I'm telling you trouble, I'm going to go through you. And if I can't get through you, I'm going to go under you. If I can't go under you, I'm going to go around you. If I can't go around you, I'm going to go over you. But I'm getting on the other side of this. So you just just start saying things out of your mouth. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:So the anoint, everybody say the anointing within. So developing the anointing within is so vital. And again, as you practice what I'm saying, these three things that I'm going to give you this morning. What you're doing is you're building your faith and you're building your own spirit. It's getting stronger, as well as your ability to trust in the inward anointing and utilize it, because it takes faith to utilize All right in the inward anointing and utilize it because it takes faith to utilize All right. So the first one is found in Colossians 3.16. Here we go back to Paul. Paul wrote Colossians, colossians 3.16.
Speaker 1:Let the word of Christ you let. It's not, you don't pray God, oh God, let your word dwell. No, you, you have to let. Let the word of Christ dwell in you, barely, rarely, richly, abundantly, copiously. When you look up that word richly, it means abundantly. Let the word, in other words, be full of the word.
Speaker 1:And then it goes on to say what happens when you do that Teaching and admonishing one another. So it starts then. It starts when you let the word abide in you. Now he starts talking about the anointing upon and you'll start encouraging others, you'll start teaching others. You know you don't have to be a teacher behind a pulpit to teach a baby Christian what you know One on one. One on one. It's not. You know you're going to share truth. You know someone that's full of the word, is able to share that truth. So that gets over into the anointing upon you.
Speaker 1:But guess what? If you didn't build the anointing within by letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly, you don't have anything to say to people except what's going on. You know, shoot the breeze. Talk about the troubles in the country, talk about the troubles in the this and that in the city, talk about the troubles in the this and that in the city, talk about your troubles and magnify sickness and disease. See, that's what happens when you don't let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. So you have to decide.
Speaker 1:Last week we talked about John 15, seven. Jesus told the disciples he said if my, he said if you abide in me and my words, my rhema words, my God-breathed words, abide in you, you shall ask or make a demand or a declaration or a decree, whatever it is that you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. So disciples should abide in him. And of course that happened as soon as you got saved. That's the legal side. But do you really abide in him on a daily basis and my Rhema abides in you.
Speaker 1:Rhema is is more than the logos. Rhema is the God breathe word, which implies that you spent time in prayer waiting on the Lord, and he is speaking to you out of the word and giving you specific words. For instance, he gave me a rhema word for the church on the 2nd of January out of Psalm 92, but my horn shall thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. And then, as we prophesied that God said this is a year of milestones. I didn't get milestones until I was prophesying in the moment.
Speaker 1:There again see my personal devotion of building the inward anointing was Was born out in my public ministry. Your public ministry is the anointing upon Whatever you do for someone else. I mean, we're all called to be witnesses With evidence. But it's hard to be a witness with evidence If you don't spend any time on the inward anointing, building it.
Speaker 1:So you let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. You're full of the word. I dwell in you richly, you, you're full of the word. I mean, when people press on you, the word comes back. Brother Joseph, he's he's newest member of our staff, and if I ask him something, the word comes out of him. All my kids, I mean they'll, they'll, they get me. Give me the word back. They give me the word back. They give me the word back. Yeah, we have, we have fun, we have conversations, but I know if I ask a, a question, I'm gonna get the word. Why? Because they're full of it. They let it dwell in them richly. Are you with me now? That's a choice you have to make. It's a prior. It's a prior priority that you have to make and and there's no shortcuts. I mean some people, so I've seen people try to make shortcuts.
Speaker 1:We're not going to talk that much about the anointing upon, but sometimes the anointing upon will make people lazy and not have them develop the anointing within, because they still have an anointing upon and they still, when they show up and say things or do things, that anointing upon is still working, but they're dying on the inside and at some point in time they're going to just give out. There's nothing left because your anointing upon has got to be supported by the anointing within. I've seen preachers do that. I mean, you know they still preach up a storm, but they're not spending any. They're spending too much time on the golf course or traveling, or vacation time or whatever. Hunting, fishing there's nothing wrong with hunting and fishing, nothing wrong with having a Really I like a balanced life. I think people ought to have time to do other things for enjoyment, but again, it's a priority. What are the priorities If things get out of priority, where you're just spending all your time up here, you know, and then you're not giving God his time, you're not letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly, all right.
Speaker 1:So everybody say full of the word, all right. The second one Ephesians, chapter five. You getting anything out of this? All right. The second one Ephesians, chapter five you getting anything out of this? All right? Verse 17.
Speaker 1:Wherefore, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Isn't that why we read our Bible? Find out what the will of the Lord is. His will is his word. I just don't know which way to go. Well, get the word in you. And then the second thing understand what the will of the Lord is. Be not drunk with wine, where is an excess, but be filled with the spirit. And that word be is being filled. And when I look up that word in the linguistic key to the Greek New Testament, because I'm not a Greek scholar but I've got a book that is written by a bunch of them.
Speaker 1:It means to be continually and habitually filled with the Holy Ghost. I mean, you know, first of all you need to get filled the first time, in other words, receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. You know, I think about Cornelius's house. You know, the angel told Cornelius to send for a man named Paul who will give you words whereby you and your household can be saved. So so, uh Peter came, uh to preach the gospel to uh Cornelius's house and while he was preaching, while he was preaching, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them that heard the word, for he heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. They just started speaking in tongues while he was preaching. Well, he didn't even have an altar call for him to get saved. So they got saved while he was preaching and they got filled with the Holy Ghost while he was preaching and there wasn't no altar call, man. So, yeah, we can receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost and we should, but once that happens, then it's up to us. Then, very similar to being filled with the Word and letting the Word. We have to let the Holy Ghost keep us full. We have to purpose in our hearts to stay full. Why? Because we're constantly giving out.
Speaker 1:In John, chapter 7, let's hold our place there and go back what Jesus said about the Holy Ghost. He's standing outside the city after the Feast of Tabernacles and everybody had been rejoicing and eating their apples and honey and rejoicing, you know, and having the booths. It's the Feast of ingathering and so forth. They're commanded to rejoice. And he said if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. But this spake he of the verse 37, that last day, the great day of the feast, the feast of tabernacles, jesus stood and cried, saying If any man thirst, see, he cried, he shouted If any man thirst. Now they've been dancing. You know how the Jews dance. You know da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. That's what they were doing. They're dancing and they're rejoicing, they're eating apples and honey, but it's empty. It's a religious exercise. They're backslid.
Speaker 1:He said if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Everybody say rivers of living water, but this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive, for the Holy ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. So that's what happens when you get filled with the Holy ghost, rivers of living water come into you. And so when you're ministering to people with the outward anointing and you're praying for people and you're testifying and telling people about Jesus, like all disciples should do, then you're giving out. Well, you know, if you don't replenish with more coming in, then what happens? You dry up. See again, you've got to work on the inward anointing, because it's the source of the rivers of living waters on the inside of you and your belly, your spirit, or you're with me now. So we need to be continually, habitually, filled with the Holy ghost.
Speaker 1:One preacher said why do we need to have it over and over? Cause we leak. But really it's not so much that we leak, we're just giving out. Every time you give out, you've got to replenish. You got to replenish. I mean what if you didn't eat? You just, you know, got to replenish. I mean what if you didn't eat? You just fasted forever where you'd finally die. You got to replenish the calories, you got to replenish the energy.
Speaker 1:And so it says here let's go back to Ephesians 5, talking about be filled with the word and now be filled with the Holy Ghost. Be being filled, be continually and habitually filled. What is that? That's the will of God. The will of God is for you to stay full of the Holy Ghost. It takes time, it takes attention, it takes priority. It says here be not drunk with wine where it's in excess, but be being filled, be continually filled, habitually filled with the Holy Spirit speaking. And then verse 20, giving thanks. And number three, submitting.
Speaker 1:There's three things that are associated with staying full Speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. So when you're, when you're another. Another verse is first Corinthians, chapter 14. He that prayeth in an unknown tongue edifies himself. Edify means build up. Jude 20 says building up yourself on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:So you ought to pray much in other tongues as a part of your prayer life. You ought to pray a lot in tongues, but that's not the only thing. You can. Also, when you're full of the Word, you should confess the Word, speaking to yourself and then, in Colossians, speaking to others. See so what you've spoken to yourself in your private devotion. Sometimes you can take that and speak it to somebody else.
Speaker 1:That happens to me all the time. I mean I've spent time and I've encouraged myself in the Lord. My God, I've prayed in tongues. That's good. What is it then? I'll pray in've. I've prayed in tongues. That's good. What is it then? I'll pray in tongues and I'll pray in my understanding Also. I sing with tongues and I'll sing in my understanding Also. That's my private devotion. But then I turn around and next thing, you know, I'm ministering to somebody and I'm using what I just got in prayer. I'm using what I just said to myself to encourage myself to stay. What Full of the Holy Ghost. Is this helping anybody?
Speaker 1:You speak supernaturally to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual song. The worship team has sung a couple of my songs recently that I wrote when did they come from? Right here, what I'm reading. They didn't come in public, they came when I was worshiping the Lord privately. I used to have my Omnicord out. I would have my Bible, my Omnicord. I mean I had my lap full of all kinds of stuff and I'd be strumming my Omnicord and singing along you know some chorus or whatever, and sometimes I'd get a spontaneous song and you know it wasn't anything fancy. But if you stay full of the Holy Ghost, god's going to give you spiritual songs, and some of them I wrote down and we sing them, or we used to sing them. We don't sing them that much, but they're in mothballs. They blow the dust off of them, bring them out and it always blesses me. I think I wrote that. That sounds familiar, but the Holy Ghost was my helper.
Speaker 1:Are you with me now? All right, so, speaking to yourselves, I mean that includes confession. Man, we ought to have a good confession every day. Jesus is Lord over my health. Glory to God. Jesus is Lord over my thought life. Hallelujah, have a good confession. Jesus is the Lord of my thought life. Hallelujah, have a good confession.
Speaker 1:And the second one is giving thanks. It says for all things, but I draw the line it's not for it's in the midst of you. Don't give thanks for the devil. Some guy wrote a book years ago Charismatics. You know the Charismatics. They were full of the Holy Ghost but they didn't have much word and so they blew up A lot of them. I've watched them over many and now 40 some odd years. I've watched the charismatics that weren't associated with the word of God enough and they just get flaky. And you had this guy write this whole book.
Speaker 1:Make all this stuff about praising God for cancer, praising God for car wrecks that's a bunch of baloney. You don't do that. You don't praise God for what the devil does. You praise God that you've got the victory over it. So, giving thanks, you know, if you're full of the Holy Ghost and you give thanks long enough, then you're going to quit complaining and finding fault and all of that, having a pity party and being offended and so-and-so's not treating me right and all of that.
Speaker 1:But when you give thanks and really the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14, he that prayeth in an unknown tongue, verily giveth thanks. Well, you know you can start out by saying Lord, I'm going to give you thanks in tongues for a while If you can't really remember anything to give you. You, you know I can give thanks for that. I've got a pulse. Oh, look, lord, I got a pulse. I'm still alive today, glory to God. I could be up there with you, but I'm down here. I'm still down here making a difference. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. But you know you can give thanks. Well, you can magnify the Lord in other tongues Amen, amen. And then the last one you can tell somebody if there's really full of the Holy Ghost when they're cooperative, submitting yourself one to another in the fear of God.
Speaker 1:Fear of God is one of the things that's lacking in the modern church. There's no respect. Fear of God means respect and reverence for God. If you reverence God, then you won't run roughshod over your brother and sister. You'll submit.
Speaker 1:You know well my wife. She just doesn't submit to me. Well, do you submit to her? Are you accountable to her? You goofball? I mean, they're always talking about submission. I knew a guy one time. Oh, I just won't submit to me. Well, you don't submit to anybody else. There's nothing to submit to you, oaf, I mean all that is just, you know they're trying to be spiritual and they're just as carnal as they can be. They want their way all the time. They're El Jefe. I know a little Spanish, I know what El Jefe means. That's the boss.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, submit yourself one to another in the fear of God and that's a sign that you're filled with the Holy Ghost and you're cooperative, that you don't have to have your way all the time, that you don't have to have a bunch of strife and you just rise up and you're a right fighter. Have you ever known a right fighter? I have. I've had people right fight with me and guess what happens? They lose. Because I'm the pastor and I decided you don't like it, there's the door. I mean, I hate it, I don't want that to happen.
Speaker 1:But when you see you're not full of the Holy Ghost, and if you're not full of the Holy Ghost, what are you doing here? I mean, you've got to be full of the Holy Ghost. And if you're not full of the Holy Ghost, what are you doing here? I mean you've got to be full of the Holy Ghost to stay in this church. We're doing things that just. There's no other way to do them except supernaturally.
Speaker 1:If there's any rocks in the river, what happens in a river when there's a bunch of boulders? Well, there's rapids and it's destructive. You've got a lot of white foam, you know, and they ride the rapids, you know, in these rafts and stuff. And when it's really bad, and especially when they're coming way down, like they're having a three or four hundred foot descent down a river, you know there's some summer rivers. You know in the west that, and you better be an expert rafter, because you might not make it. And uh, and so when there's rocks and see, the river shouldn't have rocks in it. We and so when there's rocks in the sea, the river shouldn't have rocks in it. We shouldn't have boulders in the river.
Speaker 1:Everybody ought to flow together. We have to flow with the Holy Ghost. Are you with me now? All right, so be full of the Word, be continually, habitually filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking to yourself with supernatural utterances, giving thanks and submitting one to another in fear of God.
Speaker 1:The third one is found in Romans, chapter 12. My last point developing the anointing within. How many of you know that you need to develop and we all need to develop? There's nobody graduated, nobody's got their. You know all finished Romans, chapter 12. Now I like 12 because it's talking about how you should be.
Speaker 1:Present your bodies a living sacrifice, verse one. Verse two Don't be conformed to this world's way of thinking. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Verse three I say, through the grace given unto you, every man that is among you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. I don't mean that you ought to denigrate yourself. I don't think that you ought to criticize yourself, but quit.
Speaker 1:I've met people in church that think that they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. They're a legend in their own mind. Come on, you ought to be looking in the mirror more. This is your mirror. You need to look in this mirror and find out where you need to grow, instead of being so superior to everybody else. I know you've never met anybody like that, but I have, unfortunately. No, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think soberly, because God has given every man the measure of faith. Everybody's gotten faith. When they got saved, they got the same measure. What measure was that? The measure to get saved? And then what happens after? That is up to them. Then they could grow that faith. Some people never grew beyond the just initial little bit. But if they come to this church, my job is to get you to grow.
Speaker 1:And then it goes on to talk about many members in one body. We're all, but we all have gifts differing. We're not all. We don't have the same function. There's more of this in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. It says many of the same things. It goes on and talks about how we have gifts Verse 6, having then gifts differing.
Speaker 1:So you know, if you that's the anointing upon you for service, so serve according to the anointing that's upon you, whether it's teaching in children, church, or or you're welcoming people into the front door, or you're on the gatekeepers, or or you're in the sound booth, or you're behind the camera, whatever it is that God has anointed you to do, to serve, then do it, and do it with joy, and do it with excellence, you know, and don't think of yourself way up high, above what you ought to be. Let's be humble about it. You wouldn't be of any use if the Holy Ghost wasn't helping you. You're not doing it out of your own resume. You're not doing it because you're talented. You're doing it because you're talented. You're doing it because you're anointed. You have a gift and we're all different. They have different looks, just like your body does. That's what it's talking about.
Speaker 1:And so then, verse nine let love be without dissimulation. In other words, don't be fake, don't be a hypocrite, don't be going saying I love you and then over here you're talking bad about them, criticizing them. Are you with me now? It needs to be sincere. Let your love be sincere. Abhor that which is evil, cleave unto that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another. If people did these verses, you'd never have a church split, no one would ever get offended, no one would ever leave in a huff.
Speaker 1:Are you with me now? This is the hard part of the message. Are you with me now? This is the hard part of the message. It's not really, though. I mean, when you're headed that direction, stop yourself. You're going the wrong direction. You're violating the Word. You're supposed to be what? Full of the Word, full of the Holy Ghost. And now the product of these is your behavior in an assembly, in the church. It should bear upon what you do right here. It should bear upon what you do right here. It should bear upon what you do right here. If it doesn't, then you're missing something. You're missing something. I don't want you to miss anything, because we need everybody. It's all hands on deck right now. We need all the help we can get to do what we're doing. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business. You know the words. Hey, take care of your business and don't be a.
Speaker 1:I had to separate myself from one guy. I mean he had some gifts and he was a friend of mine. He didn't go to this church but I knew him and I was around him a lot and then finally I just had to separate because he had no integrity. He wouldn't pay his bills. He always had his hand out. He's always grifting and trying to get people to, you know, trick people into giving him something that wasn't his and borrowing a car and wouldn't pay anything. I mean I had to. Just, you know, I just don't want to be around anybody like that. I don't give up on people, but yet at some point in time you just can't afford to be around some people like that, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Speaker 1:I like the Moffat translation maintaining the glow, maintain the glow. So that's a product of one and two being full of the Word and being full of the Holy Ghost. That's going to help you maintain the glow. I tell you, as pastor, I can look at people and I can just look at their face and know when they're in trouble. I don't have to talk to you, I don't have to know any detail, I don't have to wonder. I just look at your face and I know, uh-oh, and sometimes the Holy Ghost will have me call you up here and I'll lay my hands on you or I'll. You know, I might pray for you some other time and not embarrass you or whatever, but I just see. What is it? Well, that's my office that I stand. That's another part of the anointing upon in my life, the anointing upon to be the stand in the offices that I have, and I always thank God for those offices and I believe I receive the grace to stand in those offices when they're needed. But pastor is the main one, but, as the Lord allows, the other ones are active and so maintain the glow. You can can tell the glow. You can tell when people are just lit up.
Speaker 1:You know, first corinthians, chapter 11 uh, paul called the church on the carpet because they, uh, were getting drunk instead of having communion. They were using it as an excuse to have a party and they were eating and drinking, and to excess, and they were not discerning the lord's body, they were not treating each other correctly. And he said you know, because you haven't just rightly discerned the Lord's body, you haven't regarded your brother and your sister. In other words, in church, many are sick, sickly among you, and many sleep or in other words have premature death Because they eat and drink damnation or judgment upon themselves. And so that's really part of what this is talking about maintaining the glow. When you maintain the glow, then you're going to love people real. You're going to love them for real because you're full of fire.
Speaker 1:You know, as great a man of God as Timothy was, he had a spot in his ministry where he was down in the dumps, and his father, paulul, wrote him a letter, and for in second timothy 1 6, he said you know, stir up the gift that's in you. Stir it up. The amplified says fan the flame, rekindle the embers, keep burning the fire of god on the inside. See, we have a fire on the inside. It's called the inward anointing. If we're always developing it, we're paying attention to it, we're leaning on it, we know we have it, we depend on it and then we stir it up.
Speaker 1:How do you stir it up? Well, same things praying in other tongues. No one in two keeps number three active tongues. No one and two keeps number three active. One and two, one and two keeps number three active. And number three is really how it plays out when you're around everybody else, because if it's not playing out when you're around everybody else and you just, you know, stick in the mud the negative, find fault with everything you see, and you're not the supply of making it right.
Speaker 1:Well, the bathrooms are dirty. Had one lady, it just bugged my staff, I mean just in the bathroom. Well, why don't you clean it? Lady, you've been here five years. Why don't you pick up a rag and go in there and clean it yourself? It's the women's bathroom. Do you expect him to go in there during service? To go in there during service? Hmm, oh, I mean, this is practical. I mean, look, be part of the supply. Everybody say I'm part of the supply.
Speaker 1:Amen, oh, glory to God. Or you could say, oh, oh me, if it applies. So he told Timothy, he said stir up the gift that's been given you. You've got to get. We all do. We have that anointing on the inside. It can be stirred up and we can maintain the glow and our brothers and sisters get the benefit of it. The whole church benefits. Really, honestly, all of that bears on the corporate anointing, see, because if our individual anointings are weak and then it's going to impact the corporate anointing, which is where you know. God gave me this little formula years ago love plus unity equals miracles. This is Houston's healing center. How many of you need a miracle today? So you're in the right place, because the atmosphere is here for miracles, because there's a lot of love and a lot of unity. I want to keep it and I want to see it even go further and further and further, amen.