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 2
Discover the transformative power of God's anointing as we explore the three distinct dimensions of spiritual empowerment available to every believer. This eye-opening teaching reveals how the anointing within differs dramatically from the anointing upon—and why you need both to walk in your divine purpose.
Pick those Bibles up, wave them around, like we do around here at Glorious Way. We like to wave our Bibles in the air. Make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Say this together. Say, heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here on Sunday morning. I wouldn't miss this for anything. This atmosphere is a miracle atmosphere. Anything can happen right now In the preaching time, in the communion time, in the ministry time, I mean even in the dismissal. It's from beginning to ending, is miracle time and we give you praise for it in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1:And I'm teaching you on understanding the anointing. Last week we started this and this week we'll continue. And Zechari you on understanding the anointing. Last week we started this and this week we'll continue. In Zechariah, we'll look at our two foundation scriptures. Zechariah, chapter 4, verse 6. And the last part I'll just read the very last part where it says not by might that word might means army not by army, not by a military army, nor by power, man's power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord, and by my spirit, by my anointing, by my presence, by my path. You know it's, it's all interchangeable in the Word.
Speaker 1:And then we look at Isaiah, chapter 10. Isaiah, 10.27. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, talking to Israel, and the burden of these foreign kings. His burden shall be taken off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck. What's a yoke? It's a wooden connector that connects a beast of burden to a load, to a burden, to a weight, and that yoke shall come off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed. Because of what? Because of the anointing. You know, the anointing will destroy yokes. The devil tries to hook you up to. The devil tries to hook you up to infirmity. He tries to hook you up to to burdens and and weights and and, uh, worries and fears, and you, you, all manner of bondage, and the anointing destroys those yokes, hallelujah. And so, understanding the anointing, we need to build our faith. Understanding I'm. I'm giving you these teachings so that you know you'll build your faith in the anointing.
Speaker 1:People throw the anointing into one sack or one category, but really we're talking about three different, broad categories of the anointing the anointing within or the inward anointing, the anointing upon or the outward anointing and then the corporate anointing. The anointing upon or the outward anointing and then the corporate anointing. They're all different. They're all different shades of the same principle. And you know in the Old Testament, those two verses where we talk about the anointing. There, in Isaiah 10 and other places where it talks about the anointing, it means grease or perfumed oil. The priests were anointed, they had a certain kind of oil they anointed things with. And then in the New Testament it means a smearing or a rubbing, and of course we know that oil is a type of the Holy Ghost. And so last week we investigated that the anointing within.
Speaker 1:Every believer has, the anointing within you. When you got saved, the Holy Ghost came and took up residence inside of you, the anointing which we first John 2, 27, the anointing which we have received. So every believer has received the inward anointing, every belief. And then that inward anointing is in there to teach you and to reveal truth from error. You know you. You, if you you'll listen to your spirit, you'll know what's on the up and up and what isn't. It'll save you bacon A lot of times. You'll learn to look to the inside, learn to look to your spirit. Your spirit knows what your head doesn't. You know your head might be attracted to somebody's line of uh, uh, you know that they're feeding you. I mean, you know these people will say things that your flesh wants to hear, but if you'll learn to look to the anointing within you, you can know the truth from error, you can know the truth from a lie, amen. And then, of course, he's there to help you. He's our helper. Comforter means helper, and then finally he's there. Greater is he that's in us than he that is in the world. He's there to help us to overcome the world. The inward everybody say the inward. Anointing Everybody say I have it, unless you're not saved. Now, if you're not saved, you don't have it, amen. But if you're saved, you've got it All right.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to talk about the anointing upon. We're going to shift gears and we're going to talk about the anointing upon, and so we'll look at Luke, chapter four. Jesus has just to set it up. You really probably ought to read that whole chapter and see what happened when Jesus announced that he was the Messiah. You know they did not like it. When you start telling people you're anointed, some people are not going to be glad. Luke 4, 18. And so let me set it up.
Speaker 1:You know he went and found his cousin John, john the Baptist, in the wilderness and he wanted John to baptize him in the River Jordan. John said oh no, you need to baptize me. I say all this stuff, no, no, just suffer to be. So now, just do what I'm telling you. So he baptized Jesus in the river Jordan and when he did, the spirit came down upon Jesus as a dove Not a dove, but as a dove and heaven opened and a voice spoke and said this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. God marked his seed. Jesus was 30 years old. This 30 is the year of ministry. It's the year this church is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Speaker 1:There are things that God is opening up to this church that are new, that are fresh, that are unprecedented. The same in your life. There is a new anointing available for you, a fresh one with the one that you have, and I'm talking about the anointing upon you. Now there's a fresh anointing available, and so you know there's no one. You know he was not anointed with the Now he was. Of course. You know he's alive to God, he is God, he's the son of God, he lives in human flesh, and so you could say he had the anointing within all along, but yet, at the same time he wasn't. The anointing upon him Didn't come until he was 30 and he entered into his rabbi rabbinical ministry and the spirit of God came upon him and he was marked.
Speaker 1:You could say he was smeared. See, that's the anointing. Well, it's a smearing, it's a rubbing. I mean it is visible in the spirit realm. The anointing upon you know, like the young man, the sons of Sceva, was trying to cast the devil out of there in Acts, chapter 19. And they said, in the name of Jesus, that Paul preaches, come out. Well, you know, jesus I know, and Paul I know. But who are you? You're not smeared, you don't have a smearing. I don't recognize you. I tell you, demons recognize people that are anointed. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:So the Bible says that he was driven by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil 40 days and 40 nights. We see that word driven, we think like whipped, like you know, like we drive an ox. No, it means that he went like a rushing mighty torrent. He went like a rushing mighty torrent into the wilderness to defeat the devil. He had to submit himself to be tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin and he defeated the devil three times by saying simply, it is written. And then, in verse 14, it says he came, in the power of the Spirit, into Galilee. He made his way to Nazareth, his hometown, to his hometown synagogue. He's going to sit, he's going to go in there and he's going to announce to them this is the day you're looking to. And then we're going to pick it up in verse 18. And he says to them first of all, he turned to the book of Isaiah and found it, verse 17,. Let's read verse 17.
Speaker 1:There was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. One said he found the place where it was written about himself. You need to find the place where it's written about yourself. I opened the service today with first Peter, chapter two we're we're a Royal priesthood, we're a Holy nation, we're a peculiar people, we're a chosen generation. That's what the Bible says about you. You're not some weak worm of the dust, you're not some victim that's got to be helped. You know, I mean, the Holy Ghost can make up for any lack that you've got, any kind of lack of knowledge, any kind of lack of talent. I mean I'd rather have the anointing of the Holy Ghost than all the natural talent there is in the whole universe.
Speaker 1:All right, so he found the place where it was written about himself and he said, verse 18, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He had sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, the Amplified says, a year when the free favors of God profusely abound. That generation needed to hear that. They were under judgment, they were under pressure, they. They were acquainted with God as their judge. And Jesus said hey man, it's Jubilee time, it's a time to get, it's a time to get glad. Praise God, it's. You know I. Everything has changed and y'all really read the whole chapter, cause I mean, when he started preaching he preached a five point message and he only got to preach two points of the five points before they wanted to take him and throw him off the hill.
Speaker 1:I've been there at that place in Nazareth. It's a long way down that cliff, over a hundred feet rocks, man. I mean Israel is not lacking in rocks. I mean there's lots of rocks there and right over across the way, you know, in the Valley of Jezreel, you just see these. You know there was the evening time they were playing that crazy music. God, that's the most horrendous noise you've ever heard. I don't know if you've heard it, but I just I would hate to live in a neighborhood that had a mosque that played that. Sorry, it's not melodious, it's not what we heard this morning. You know, wasn't that awesome this morning. I mean so powerful, all right.
Speaker 1:So the anointing upon Jesus. Let's look at Acts 10 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him, or God was upon him. Now see, he's the son of God, he is God, but he ministered as a man anointed, with the anointing upon him. That's how he ministered as a man anointed with the anointing upon him. That's how he ministered. He's our example in the anointing. If he needed it, how much more do we need it to do any good for anybody? We need the anointing upon. Listen, if you're greeting people in the lobby, you need the anointing upon you. See, we want people to be filled with the Holy Ghost, we want them to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's when the anointing comes upon you and people say well, you mean, I have to get the Well, if you want to be successful ministering to other people, you need the baptism. You don't need it to go to heaven. It's not a condition of going to heaven. That's a completely different thing.
Speaker 1:Getting saved is a well of water springing up in an everlasting life. Jesus told a woman at the well. But then he he talked about another experience in John, chapter seven. He said you know, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit which those who believe on him should receive. But the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. So what was Jesus saying there at the day of tabernacles, at the end of the feast of tabernacles, to the Jewish people, he's prophesying over the time when they're going to get saved, and as saved people, then they have a subsequent experience called the baptism of the Holy Ghost. There's two experiences. Are y'all with me now? So Jesus was ministered as a man, with the anointing upon him, to five groups of people the broke, the brokenhearted, the blind, the bound and the bruised.
Speaker 1:And we've got the same kind of people that we need to minister to. Whether you ever stand behind a pulpit, whether you ever preach a message or anything like that, we are all really ministers, we are ambassadors. I preached this last Sunday night the word of righteousness. If you weren't here, get the media on that, the word of righteousness. We've all been given this ministry, the ministry of reconciliation. We are all royalty, royal ambassadors for the kingdom of God. If you're going to be successful at being an ambassador, you're going to have to have the anointing upon you and that means the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
Speaker 1:I used to get in arguments. People would try to argue with me, and I'd just hold up my hands and say ah, whatever, you can believe what you want. Oh, I'm just as filled as you are. I don't speak in tongues. Well then, you're not as filled as I am, because in the Bible, when people got full of the Holy Ghost, they spoke in tongues. It's just Bible evidence. It's in there several times, three or four times, and so quit arguing with the word okay. Quit listening to people that told you lies. So you know why. They didn't want the tongues Because they're embarrassed. They didn't want to be identified with.
Speaker 1:Pentecostal people were called holy rollers In Refugio. Where I grew up, we had a Pentecostal church and everybody that went to that church was a holy roller. I didn't understand why. I'd never been to one of their services. I'm Catholic. We didn't roll. That's not how we rolled in the Catholic church. We rolled on a hard kneeler on our knees and our hands are folded like this, with your thumbs crossed. That way, that's not acceptable. It's this way Cross your thumbs, hands folded, knees on the hard kneelers until your knees are ready to wear out. You know, are y'all with me now? Holy rollers?
Speaker 1:I didn't understand that until we got in our first building and we started having our own church and I mean we had people rolling up and down the front. I had one lady rolled up one step. I thought is she coming up on the platform? I mean, I had one lady. She was in a business suit, she had heels on, she was perfectly coiffed, she had her hair up in a bun and I mean she was, and I mean she was not a hair out of place. It was amazing. It was amazing. I said, well, so this is holy rolling. I mean it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:What kind of a church is? Well, it's a church where the Holy Ghost can get a hold of people and when they get fully yielded, their flesh does kind of strange things. Been a while since we've had anybody roll in here, but we could have that this morning. It could happen right here on Sunday morning. I'm not against it.
Speaker 1:So he received at age 30 in the River Jordan and then he went and was tempted by the devil 40 days and 40 nights. You know the anointing upon will bring tests and trials upon you. Anointing upon will bring tests and trials upon you. The devil is not going to lay down while you get filled with the Holy Ghost and have an anointing upon you that can change other lives. He's not going to just sit around and do nothing. He's going to come against you. He's come against Gladys and I in our 30th year. He's fought her and see, we're overcoming him every step of the way. We'll walk a a ways and then there's another attack and we'll just break through that and we'll keep walking and she's going to be back around rolling around these aisles. You're going to get out of that wheelchair and get out of walkers and get out of canes and be walking normally. Amen, thank you for your agreement. We appreciate all your agreement. All right, so the anointing upon will bring tests and trials.
Speaker 1:So let's look at Luke 24. I want you to get this this morning because it's so important for where we are right now. Luke 24, verse 46. This is Jesus had just risen from the dead and he's talking to His disciples In verse 46,. He said unto them Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Everybody say witnesses. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry, wait before you go into all the world and preach repentance among all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Before you do that, tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.
Speaker 1:Now let's turn over to Acts, chapter one. It's a continuation of this identical event because Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and he also wrote the book of Acts. And so in Luke, chapter one, he's speaking about the exact moment that we just read about, where Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection. I mean, you know, they fed him. He walked through the wall and they fed him. I mean, here's a guy that can walk through walls and still eat fish. Start thinking about that later this afternoon. Think about what kind of Jesus we serve. I mean, he's the kind of Jesus that appears and disappears. He's the kind of Jesus that can walk right through the wall of this church and walk right in here if he wants to, all right. So Acts, chapter one, verse four being assembled together with them, commanded them.
Speaker 1:Everybody say Jesus commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father. And I see that's a whole teaching on the promise of the father. But the promise of the father was the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I don't have time to teach on that. Why that is? Wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he you've heard of me For John. Now he goes on and says it For John, truly, baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Not many days hence You're going to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. Not many days hence You're going to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. Not many days hence. Well, how many days hence was it? 40 days, on the day of Pentecost.
Speaker 1:That's when they were all. I mean, they were all together in one accord in the upper room, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. It filled all the place where they were seated and cloven tongues like as the fire came off each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they all began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them. That's when it happened. They didn't leave, they didn't try to go out and do the ministry that God. Were they saved? Yes, they were already saved. They couldn't have received the gift until they got saved.
Speaker 1:You must get saved first, but once you are saved and you have the anointing within you, it's available. It's not compulsory to go to heaven with it, but it's compulsory if you're ever going to be successful doing what God wants you to do. I mean, don't we all have a purpose in this life? I want to remind you. You're living in the last of the last days. We are watching the end time prophecies unfolding daily. We had a blood moon the other night on Purim.
Speaker 1:Esther read the book of Esther. See how Haman's 10 sons were hung on the gallows that were made for Mordecai. Listen, and God just gave us a word. I mean God is judging. He is judging all these people that have unlawfully put their hands on the levers of power of this country and all over the world. That's the Antichrist spirit. They're not just in America, they're all there in Europe. They're there just in America, they're in Europe, they're in Africa, they're all over the world. These illicit, illegal people that have seized power and they're under judgment.
Speaker 1:Susie asked us to pray for her grandson. He's on the flight deck of one of the carriers in the Red Sea that launched those bombers that bombed the Hooties. Thank God for a commander in chief that knows how to get back at our enemies. They've been launching missiles at us, firing drones at us, and we've done nothing. Stupid Biden didn't do anything. Commander of what? What's he? The commander of Ice cream cone? The commander of the beach? Nothing, no answer.
Speaker 1:You've got to answer these people. They only understand one thing that's a cruise missile down their stovepipe and they're getting it right now. I mean, they're getting hammered. Lord, come on, let's lift our hands. Thank God, god said he's going to answer. They're in judgment now for doing that. They hate us, they hate Jesus, they hate the Jew. They're going to pay for it. I said they're paying for it, he's safe. So he's safe, all right. So, um. So he said here John truly baptized with water.
Speaker 1:But you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence, verse 8. But you shall receive power after that. The Holy Ghost has come upon you. You can say without being wrong you shall receive power after the anointing comes upon you. Amen, and you shall be witnesses unto me. Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Aren't we supposed to be witnesses of Jesus? Well, you need the baptism in the Holy Ghost to be effective, because a witness is supernatural. Are y'all, y'all, y'all are looking at me like you're kind of nervous, you're thinking that maybe you might be one that rolls on the floor. Well, if you are, nobody will we'll, I'll get down there and roll with you. I don't mind. That's kind of how we roll around here.
Speaker 1:Everybody say the anointing upon you. Receive power after the anointing comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. And so that was the birth of the church in power. I mean, we see that. So, in order to be effective at obeying the Great Commission, jesus commanded them to wait to be filled with the Holy Ghost, to have the anointing upon them. So in that sense, the baptism of the Holy Ghost is really not optional in that. In that sense, I mean, if Jesus really is Lord over your life and you really do admit that God has selected you to live in the last of the last days, he could have had assigned your life to live any time in history, but he assigned you to live right now, at the culmination.
Speaker 1:I call this generation the terminal generation. I believe this generation is going up. I really believe that. Well, what if you're wrong? Well, I'll repent later, I won't care because I'll be in heaven. I mean, who cares? I mean I just believe, I'm just, I've just. I have this sense that we are going to see Jesus come back in these bodies and we're going to in an atomic second. We're in a nanosecond. We're going to all be changed and we're going to go up. But before that happens we're going to see a mighty, mighty, mighty revival. We're right on the heels of it. We're in the beginning stages of it. So we need the baptism Now.
Speaker 1:The anointing within us sustains and helps us to overcome the corresponding trouble that the devil throws at us because of the anointing upon us that's why I talked about Gladys and I that the devil throws at us because of the anointing upon us. That's why I talked about Gladys and I. It's not the anointing upon Gladys and the anointing upon me that we're overcoming the devil with. I have to trust God day by day. She does too. We have to fight him because of the strong anointing within us.
Speaker 1:I saw a famous evangelist. You know that's on TV and I appreciate him, but I don't agree with all of his doctrine. He's kind of screwed up in some things, but that's all right. You know, I spit the sticks out when I listen to him. And I saw I was in a meeting one time where he was preaching and he said you know, when I get sick I just lay my hands on myself. Well, that's kind of stupid. That's not what it's for. I mean laying your hands on yourself, and he does.
Speaker 1:He has a gift of, of the. We'll get into the gifts in a minute. But the gift of, of of healings often manifests in his meetings and he's, he's. He has lots of miracles. But that's not the baptism of the Holy ghost and the gifts of the Spirit are not for you, they're for people you minister to. You have to trust God day by day, with your confession of faith and believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth and living right, closing the door on things that you do wrong, forgiving people, walking in love. You know, when you don't walk in love, you can make yourself sick. A lot of trouble that we have is not even the devil, it's just our own disobedience. So we needed that strong inward anointing and it sustains us and helps us overcome the corresponding tests and trials that come. So the anointing within us is for us, the anointing upon us is for others. And I want to say this now the baptism of the Holy Ghost is the doorway into the gifts of the Spirit. Everybody say gifts.
Speaker 1:Let's look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. I could teach a long time on just the gifts. I want to touch on it, chapter 1. I mean't I want to touch on it. Chapter one, I mean chapter 12, verse one.
Speaker 1:Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. He's talking to the Corinthian church. They are by, by his own estimation, a carnal church body ruled. They had sin in that church where a young man was openly sinning with his mother-in-law, his father's wife, I mean you know, come into church in front of everybody. How do you, dare you, let that happen in the church?
Speaker 1:First Corinthians, chapter five why didn't you hand him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might be saved in the day of judgment? If he keeps going like this, he might give his salvation back. He might get so deceived and hard-hearted. And he said besides that a little leaven leavens a whole lump. When you let that go on, other people are scandalized by it and it can spread in the church.
Speaker 1:That's why we don't put up with that kind of stuff. We find out somebody's not living right. We love them and we, we minister to them. But if they keep on and keep on and keep on, guess what they ain't going to be here. See, I got to lead you and I got to feed you, but then the guarding has to kick in. And when the guarding kicks in, that's when people get kicked out If they don't change. Are y'all with me now? Y'all are looking really, really serious. Don't worry, I'm not going to kick you out right now. All right.
Speaker 1:So he said I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. They had spiritual gifts in this carnal church. That proves, then, the inward anointing is different than the outward anointing. I've seen people that were really not living very, very good and they just really don't have the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patient, gentleness, goodness, all of that. Meekness, self-control, temperance, all that Nine fruit of the spirit, the fruit of the Spirit are developed. They grow like your Spirit grows, like your faith grows. Righteousness is a gift. You're righteous or you're not righteous. We're the righteousness of God. It's not a gift, I mean, it's not a fruit, it's a gift. So gifts are given and received. Fruit is grown. Are you with me now? We're teaching our children about the fruit of the Spirit. They need to learn about the fruit.
Speaker 1:That's the inward anointing. That's how you live. You need to live right, you need to do right, and I've seen people that didn't really live that right and do that right and yet, and yet they're anointed with an anointing upon them and they have some success in certain things that they do. And see, that's how merciful God is. He'll deal with you. He suffers long, he's kind, he is love. 1 Corinthians 13 describes what God's like and it's what we ought to be like, because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, amen. So he's more patient than I am. If it was up to me, I'd kick him out the first minute. But no, god suffers long in his kind. He, he goes along with people, he teaches people, he, he deals with their hearts and he pleads with them to to grow up inside in their inward anointing and at the same time, if he can use them in some way, he'll use them.
Speaker 1:Brother Hagin talks about a preacher that he knew back in the voice of healing days. He's one of the greatest healing evangelists of his day. He had a huge tent, over 10,000 seats in the tent, and one day he had a wheelchair section with 15 people in a wheelchair and during the service, every, every one of them got up out of their wheelchairs and walked. I mean a miracle after miracle. I mean he had miracles and the voice of healing days. There was an outpouring of healing in those days in the 40s and 50s. It extended in the early 60s and it was so easy to get people healed in those days through the gifts of the Spirit.
Speaker 1:It wasn't by faith, it was by the anointing, the anointing, and a lot of times those people that got healed would go back to their old crusty evangelical church or some other kind of church that doesn't teach it and they'd lose their healing. Why? Because they weren't taught how to believe God, to keep what God gave them. But anyway, this preacher, brother Hagin, is a prophet, you know, and sometimes prophets know things by the spirit. And the Holy Ghost came. Brother Hagin is a prophet, you know, and sometimes prophets know things by the Spirit.
Speaker 1:And the Holy Ghost came to Brother Hagin one day and said I want you to go to that preacher and I want you to tell him he's got to judge himself in three areas, because if he doesn't, I'm going to receive him into heaven. Now notice he didn't say I'm going to kill him. He said I'll receive him. The devil's going to kill him. So he's not going to go to hell, but he's going to cut his life short. He said tell him to judge himself in these three areas.
Speaker 1:Number one judge himself in the love walk. He had gotten so arrogant because of the miracles he thought he was doing it. That's something I've seen. When you get into a place where miracles are occurring, it's easy to take the credit instead of realizing you're just the FedEx man, you're just a delivery boy, you're not the source of the healing, it's just. You know you get puffed up and then you treat everybody like they're second-class citizens, and especially his staff. He was just real abusive to his staff. Can you imagine what it took to pitch a tent that seats 10 000 people? I think it had six, 18 wheelers to haul the tent I. It's a massive undertaking just to pitch the tent and then to have the staff that you had to have to handle that many people. And so he was arrogant. He didn't teach his. He didn't treat his fellow preachers right either. He was. He didn't walk in love. He said judge himself in the love walk.
Speaker 1:Number two judge his appetites. He weighed 300 pounds. He was on a seafood diet. He saw food and ate it 24-7. Huge Stuffed his face all day and all night.
Speaker 1:Preachers, you know when you preach at night. A lot of times preachers eat late at night. That's not good for you. Eat at one o'clock in the morning, stuff your face full of all kind of food and then go to bed. Over a period of time it'll take a toll. Judge yourself on your love, walk on your diet, your gluttonous. Number three money. When those 15 people walked out of the wheelchairs, he stopped the whole service down.
Speaker 1:Interrupted service received an offering. People will pay any amount of money to get healed and you cannot make merchandise out of people just because the miracles happen. You cannot do it. There's a time to receive an offering for your ministry. There's a time to tell people what you have need of and get them to agree with you and participate. But you don't interrupt the Holy Ghost and say, okay, shut down. I need to take an offering right now. Boy, the atmosphere is way up here. I've seen that too.
Speaker 1:Well, brother Hagin wanted to tell him he got in position. He was going to tell him he didn't want to do it. I'm going to tell you, sometimes, when you know things about somebody, you don't want to go to them and tell them that. It's kind of awkward, isn't it? And he didn't look forward to that conversation. But the Holy Ghost told him to go do it. So he put himself in position and he never could get it done. And before he could get it done, the guy had a bad car wreck and at 38, he died and went to heaven. They all had a big prayer meeting praying for him, and it didn't I mean, it wasn't, it was too late.
Speaker 1:And so in the aftermath, you know, brother Hagin got to talk to one of the leaders of the movement. Brother Lindsey knew about it too, and he said oh, I talked to him, I talked to him. He just he said, oh no, he said everything's fine, I wouldn't have these miracles if God wasn't for me. Well, see, he didn't know the Bible. See, he didn't. His inward anointing was like a puny little nothing and he had a massive anointing upon See. That's dangerous. Had a massive anointing upon See. That's dangerous.
Speaker 1:Let's get both of them. Let's have both of them, let's have a strong inward anointing and let's let ourselves be used the way that God wants us to use us. Are you getting anything out of this? I don't want you ignorant concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I don't want you ignorant. Ignorant can be total ignorance, partial ignorance or ignorance. You can ignore what God wants to do. You can ignore that God is dealing with you and wants to use you. Sometimes we have one idea how what we want to do and God has another idea of what he wants us to do. And you've got to be sensitive. Your inward anointing is going to get you in position, the right position, for God to use you and he can take away any ambition. I've seen people that just had ambition and they want to be used up here when really God has them down here. Oh, that's beneath me.
Speaker 1:I had my own business when I started going to Lakewood. I mean, I'm a home builder, I had my own business, I had people that worked for me and all of that. But I had an opportunity to mow the grass at Lakewood. I mowed the grass I mean it needed to be done and I felt a quickening. I said, yeah, I'll do it. I went down there and mowed the grass. Back there, where all those old buildings were built, those old barracks looked like barracks out there, outside that first old building out there, that old metal building with all the flags. Of course they had a lot of flags across the street in the new building. But I'm just saying, hey, let's be humble, let's do what God asks us to do.
Speaker 1:So the word there, gifts, is italicized. It's not in the original language. So, concerning spiritual brethren spiritual is the word pneumatikos, it means the wind, things concerning the wind of God. I don't want you to be ignorant, there's. You know, the anointing is like a wind. Many times it comes upon you and blows things into people's lives. Are you with me? I'm talking about believers. Now, I'm talking about you. I'm not talking about a preacher, that's a different. The anointing on my life is a different anointing. I'm not even really talking about the anointing of pastor. I'm talking about all the other anointings that are available to the church, because all these anointings, that's what we need to function in. I don't care what you do here, if you're, if you're on the gatekeepers, if you're on the life team, if you're on the uh, the welcome ministry, the hospitality ministry, the whatever ministry you need.
Speaker 1:Verse 12, it says verse 4, excuse me Now. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, everybody, say everybody, everybody To profit with all. So the word manifestation, the word gift, verse 4, there are diversities of gifts. That word gifts is charisma, charis, the root word is grace, god's ability, the gifts is God's grace, god's ability, released over individuals for the benefit of other people. Gifts of the Spirit, charis, the word anointing, charisma. See, they're all linked Gifts, charisma, they're all the anointing, the anointing. Really, you can say it this way the gifts of the Spirit is the manifestation of the anointing. Everybody say the gifts of the Spirit are the manifestation of the anointing. Everybody say the gifts of the spirit are the manifestations of the anointing. And they're different, they vary, and they're assigned across the entire body. If you keep reading all of first Corinthians 12, he doesn't leave anybody out. It's available to everyone, it's available to every believer. Every believer is challenged to receive. They're gifting. And then you know and then note gives you nine gifts of the spirit.
Speaker 1:There and I won't go into that great detail, but they can be broken down into three broad categories the utterance gifts, the power gifts and the revelatory gifts. The utterance gifts are the gift of tongues, the gift of interpretation of tongues and the gift of prophecy. Now, the gift of tongues is not speaking in tongues with your prayer language. The gift of tongues is an inspired utterance in another language given by God toward another person and it's designed to operate with the gift of interpretation of tongues, not translation interpretation. So someone can give a message in tongues and it might be short and the interpretation might be longer, or vice versa. One of the great examples of tongues and interpretation are the Hankins. I appreciate their ministry. They minister together in that way. She gives a message in tongues and sometimes it's part, partly tongues and part English, and she goes back and forth like this, back and forth, and then she pauses and he takes up and gives the interpretation, and the two of them working together equals prophecy. I rarely ever operate in tongues and interpretation mostly in prophecy.
Speaker 1:Prophecy is an inspired utterance in a known language, inspired by god through a human vessel to another person prophetic, prophetic utterance. And what's it for? Well, it says here in chapter 14, chapter 14, verse 3, 1 Corinthians. It says it's for edification, agitation and comfort. It's not for telling future. It's not for telling somebody's fortune, it's not for telling somebody who they're supposed to marry or where they're supposed to live. That's not prophecy, that's baloney. There's nothing quit majoring on the minors. That's very rare and it's usually anything like that will come from somebody in the five-fold ministry, like a prophet. You know you'll get a message like that or a prophetic word like that. That's got some word of knowledge. I'll get to the revelatory gifts in a minute.
Speaker 1:But what is prophecy? Prophecy is to boost people up, to lift people up. I've had people stand up and prophesy and the whole atmosphere goes up. And I've had people stand up and start to prophesy and they don't know how to quit and they go and, but, and, and, and, but, and. Before long they have. They have gone way beyond the anointing and now they're just talking and the anointing went up and then it went. And sometimes when it gets down so low, then I've got to pick the whole service back up because it went down lower than it was before they started. Why? Well, because they're not instructed. I mean, I'm not critical, I just want to help you.
Speaker 1:Everybody can prophesy. In fact it says if you really want the gifts of the Spirit, they're available. But rather I would rather you want to prophesy, because prophesy helps everybody, it edifies everybody, and that should be our heart. Our heart should be a heart of love. We're motivated by love, not by wanting to be noticed. Are you with me now? So it's for edification, exhortation and comfort, motivated by love.
Speaker 1:And verse 11 in 1 Corinthians 14, 11 is as the Spirit wills, not as you will. Well, I've got the gift of prophecy. Well, no, you don't. You don't have that resident on you. You may have prophesied, I've prophesied a lot, but it's I don't have it. It just manifests when he wills, not when I will. I would love the gift of the word of knowledge. That's a revelatory gift. A word of knowledge is a part of God's information about a person, place or thing in the past or in the present. A word of wisdom is a part of God's knowledge about a person, place or thing in the future.
Speaker 1:And then discerning of spirits is seeing into the spirit realm, where you see angels, you see demonic powers, you see the condition of someone in the spirit realm. I've seen arrows in people sticking out of them that was fired by a devil. I've seen axes. I've seen knives. I've seen all kinds of implements the devil uses to afflict people. I've seldom seen demons themselves. I'm just glad not to see one. I don't really care to. If he wants to show me one, I'm open, but I don't. I can deal with what they've done without seeing them. Are you with me now? Discerning of spirits, those are the revelatory gifts. The power gifts are the gift of healings. It's really gifts of healings, working of miracles, and the gift of faith, not just normal faith, but you'd have to have the gift of faith to raise the dead. The gift of faith has to be in operation to raise the dead. Are you with me now? So the gifts of the Spirit are for every believer, not just the five-fold ministry.
Speaker 1:So in prophecy, I remember one time Gladys and I were invited to the Galleria, the Westin Oaks Galleria. Brother Osteen was having a minister's conference here in town, about a thousand people there, and I had just started opening the services in prayer. I think Gladys and I were invited to go to lunch with Pastor Doty one Sunday. He wanted to get to know me a little bit more. He knew me, but he didn't know me very well. They wanted to get acquainted. And you know, john, how did you get to do what you're doing for us? I, and you know, john, how'd you get to do what you're doing for us? I said the Holy Ghost. Oh, he just thought he'd laugh. That was his standard answer. Anybody ever ask him a question about how or why? He'd always say the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:And then after that we were invited to be part of this, just be like a greeter. You know, we were just going to be there. We weren't ordained in the ministry or anything like that. We were just going to be there. We weren't ordained in the ministry or anything like that. We were just there to be there, to kind of fellowship with the ministers and pastors and full-time ministers that were at the meeting. It was an invitation, they had an invitation and it was a real nice. They had a real nice spread in the room, you know, and we just kind of circulated and chatted with a few people that we knew and a few that we didn't, and we just were just like emissaries, you know, just to make everybody feel welcome is what we were there for.
Speaker 1:And then the meeting started. We went and sat out in the crowd and it was a big special section for the full-time pastors on this side and Brother Osteen started preaching and he hadn't been preaching five minutes before the anointing came upon me. Like I just I could hardly sit there. It was so strong. And and it came on me and I heard myself say did not I command the blessing to come upon you? Did not I command the blessing to come upon you? And I said, oh God, I can't. You know, I'm not even ordained. This is a whole room full of preachers. They're here, they're full-time ministry.
Speaker 1:You don't expect me to get up and prophesy. He didn't pay a bit of attention to me. There you go arguing with the Lord again. Well, you know, listen, I mean, I mean, I'm just horrified at the idea that I'm going to stand up and prophesy in that group, horrified. I mean, I just did not want to do it, but I knew it was God. I knew it because I knew the anointing. How did I know the anointing? Because I developed the inward anointing. Are you with me now? If I hadn't been strong in the inward anointing, I would have passed up that opportunity. And God knows I didn't want to do it, to be seen. In fact, I wanted to crawl into a hole after I finished, but anyway, it didn't seem. I mean, you know, he never preaches more than 30 minutes. For those Osteen he doesn't go 45. He goes 30 minutes, that's it boom.
Speaker 1:So he finished and I, you know, my knees are knocking, my hands are sweating, I'm nervous as I can be, and I stood up in the middle of that, like in the center here. I stood up and I put my hand up because it's you know, it's kind of dark in there a little bit. I put my hand up and he saw me, brother Osteen saw me. He says John, you got a word. And I went like that. He said well, come up here. And I was like, oh God, thank God, he knew my name. He doesn't know very. I mean, he doesn't know a lot of names. I mean, you know, I forget names up here Sometimes. I can't even remember your name. I've known you 30 years. But anyway, so he, he said, john, you got a word. Yes, sir, come up here.
Speaker 1:So I came up there and I, I said thus saith the Lord, have not. I commanded you to receive the blessing, be blessed. And I just began, I mean I, I delivered that word with emphasis, and I mean the microphone was shaking like that and I laid it over on the table and I went back and slumped back to my chair and I was just so. I thought, oh God, I can't. And it got a response. I mean, those preachers did respond because it was the anointing upon. Are you with me? The anointing upon? And then later afterwards, brother Osteen says John, that was a powerful word and it opened the door to what I did the next eight years. It opened that door.
Speaker 1:That anointing open your gift will make room for you. You don't have to have ambition, you don't have to have a haughty spirit Like I'm the, you know God's gift to the whole human race. No, if you're humble and you just stay strong in the inward anointing, god will use you. Are you with? Come on, lift your hands right now. Glory to God, are you getting anything out of this this morning? I'm taking my time. You can't get. We can't get out of church so quick all the time. I like to get out in an hour and a half, but this ain't going to happen today. This just ain't going to happen. Are you late for a meeting? Put it off, cancel it.
Speaker 1:I knew I was called a pastor, but not very many other people do. Brother Osteen started not too long after that, a couple of years. He told me you're a pastor, john, I see the gift. You're glad it's a pastor church. He said tell them you're one of the pastors at Lakewood. I didn't have a title, I wasn't on staff, I'm a businessman, but he saw me as a pastor and I knew that.
Speaker 1:And I went to the Lord. I said, lord, I, I want Gladys to be my partner in ministry. I, you know, I know that's in our future and I want Gladys to have a complimentary, anointing. See, I'm, I'm desire spiritual gifts is what the Bible says. Desire them. You can ask for them. Now I didn't tell God what gift. I just said I need her to be my compliment. I want to, and just like what you see with the Hankins, I mean what a compliment they are to each other.
Speaker 1:But I knew Gladys wasn't a preacher or a teacher. She hadn't, you know, had that evidence. She knew the Word, she's a prayer warrior. But I mean other than that, I wasn't sure. I said, god, I just need her to have some equipment that will help the ministry that you've called us into. Because you called me but you called her too, and this is before she really got on board with pastoring, you know.
Speaker 1:And so one night 1988, we heard about a meeting at Brother Hilly's church in Dayton, texas, and Billy Brim was there. She was ministering and we were sitting in the back. It was like a Tuesday night meeting because we were church all the other time Wednesday night, sunday night, sunday morning. But we went to that meeting because Billy was in town and we knew Billy and knew her ministry and she's ministering, she's, she had words of knowledge. She had people pulling, pulling them out of the sanctuary, out of the crowd and ministering to an up front and we're just sitting there watching participating.
Speaker 1:Gladys' hands were on her lap, face up, palms up, and she leaned over and says my hands are burning, they're just hurt. And I looked down at her hands and her right hand was purple all the way to the fingers. And I looked down at her hands and her right hand was purple all the way to the fingers. Her whole palm was dark, purple like ink. And the other one was smaller, about two inches, like the size of inside the fingers, just the palm itself.
Speaker 1:And a young lady crossed the aisle and came and she's the daughter of a man that we knew, that we went to Mexico with, and she's a pastor's wife in Winnie, texas. Her husband started her and her husband started a church. He says what's going on over here and I said well, look at her hands, they're burning on fire. She said so you're the one I prayed for all afternoon. I was standing in my seat washing, washing dishes and my hands started burning. I thought maybe I'd put bleach in the dishwashing liquid or something and I realized it was. It was intercession, and I dropped to my face and I laid on the kitchen floor all afternoon groaning and crying and and travailing in prayer with my hands on fire. You're the one I was praying for. Isn't that awesome.
Speaker 1:God used this little pastor's wife to birth. Don't we need each other? When you're yielded to God, god can use you in prayer. I mean, you know, nobody would know it. You don't get a silver star by your name. Nobody never heard of you. You live in Winnie, texas. I've never seen her since, saw her that one night and that was it. I mean, it's just amazing when I think about what God did.
Speaker 1:So we went up to see Billy and Billy looked at that's God, that's God. And so, from that time on, the gifts of healings began to manifest. That's God, that's God. And so, from that time on, the gifts of healings began to manifest. That's a gift of the spirit. That's one of the power gifts.
Speaker 1:Now we were prayer partners. We laid hands on people for all kinds of reasons, like we do here. For any kind of need, people would come up. Sometimes it's healing, sometimes it's something else. I had a guy was going through a business reversal and he was being sued and I don't know. I seem like I prayed for him every, every week for months because it was a journey he was taking and he would just come up and I just agree with him.
Speaker 1:You know, but when Gladys would pray for the sick not every time, but sometimes I mean those people fell. They did. I'm not talking about they fall like a tree. I'm talking about knocked over. Why would they fall? Because they couldn't stand up. That's the anointing. And so God answered that she's for years and years, and that gift has waned in the last couple of years, but it's coming back. It's coming back stronger than ever before. It's coming back stronger than ever before.
Speaker 1:The devil can't steal that. The devil cannot take that out of the church. We need it and if we need it, he needs it. Are y'all with me now? Oh, I'm talking about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I'm talking about the anointing upon, every believer can lay hands on the sick. You don't need in fact you don't even need the baptism of the Holy Ghost to lay hands on the sick, because it's every believer. See, if you're a believer, you can do that. But I'm talking about a different demonstration. I, you can do that, but I'm talking about a different demonstration. I'm talking about another echelon of power and it's only as the Spirit wills. You can't just, if it was as I will, then I would do it all the time. But no, the Holy Ghost has got to manage those and Jesus is the administrator of all these gifts and he decides I don't know what his criteria is A lot of it, these gifts, and he decides I don't know what his criteria is A lot of it has to do with the congregation, a lot of it has to do with you and whether you come to church expecting for the Holy and yielded to the Holy Ghost, willing for the Holy Ghost to do anything.
Speaker 1:You don't come as a skeptic. You know Jesus. He had the spirit without measure. John said that God gave the spirit without measure unto him and even with this anointing without measure, he could, in his own hometown, do no mighty work. Why? Because of their unbelief. So it's incumbent upon the congregation then to come ready for the Holy Ghost to have his way, hallelujah. So three things Now.
Speaker 1:Anointing upon is for others, it's for others, it's not for you. You can't live by the anointing upon you. You've got to live with the anointing within you. But yet if you'll do that, if you'll stay humble, god's not against you being exalted, he's against you exalting yourself.
Speaker 1:I didn't exalt myself that day when I prophesied, I tried to bow out and God wouldn't lift the anointing off me. I had to go through that entire message with the anointing on me, just I mean just electrified. And I told him later on, when I got to have the job I had, when I was opening and closing services and praying before the people you're talking about six 7,000 people on Sunday morning. I'm standing there and I've got an opportunity to speak and say anything I want to say or do, as long as I'm under Brother Osteen's authority. And so I said, lord, I've got plenty of chances to say things. So I will never prophesy unless you come on me real strong. You're going to have to sit on me. And when he did, I did.
Speaker 1:You need to be anointed upon. Before you stand up and speak, you need to be anointed upon to flow in the gifts of the Spirit. Number two the anointing upon you helps you fulfill your call. What's your call? Well, you're called to be a witness. You're supposed to sit in the witness chair. You're not in the judge's seat, you're not in the jury, you're in the witness. You're in the witness chair, you're you're. You're to tell what you saw and heard. You're to tell what Jesus did for you. That's what you do, and so the anointing upon you will help you do it. You'll have evidence and also, then it's yours for the asking. I said it's yours for the asking. All you got to do is ask. All you got to do is ask. You've got the right heart. You can ask, and God will give you the anointing upon. He'll give you gifts of the spirit.
Speaker 1:Praise God, hallelujah, all right, let me give you the verses. First Corinthians, 14, one desire spiritual gifts, but especially prophecy. There it is right. There, in the very first verse of chapter 14, verse one verses 12 and 13 tells you to seek to excel in edifying the church. You should want to be a supply to others and the anointing upon is the way you do that. Come on, lift your hand and receive today. Glory to God, hallelujah. Did you get anything out of this today? Praise God, hallelujah. Let's join hands together. Let's all just reach across and join hands together. You don't have to join across the aisles, but just join hands in your section and let's just pray this sinner's prayer.
Speaker 1:Maybe I don't know everybody here. There might be somebody here that hadn't been saved, and now you've heard about the baptism and you're kind of excited about that. Well, you've got to get saved first. So you can get saved by saying this prayer. It's not hard to get saved, especially in an atmosphere like this.
Speaker 1:Let's just all pray this prayer, say it out loud, or you can hear it and mean it from your heart and just say this oh God, oh God. I know without Jesus I'm lost, without Jesus I'll die and go to hell. But oh God, I want to be saved. I want to go to heaven. Jesus, I believe you're the son of God. I believe you died for my sins, but God raised you from the dead. Come into my heart, jesus. Make me the kind of person you want me to be. I make you my Lord and I give you my life. I make you my Lord, and I give you my life.
Speaker 1:Devil, get out of my life. You're not my Lord. Jesus is my Lord. And now, god, you're more than just my God. You're my very own heavenly father and I'm your very own child. Thank God, I'm saved. I'm not trying to get saved. I'm not going to be saved. Thank God, I'm saved. I'm not trying to get saved, I'm not going to be saved. Thank God, I am saved. Now, come on, let's rejoice right now. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. Now you can pray that prayer with others. I mean, that's part of your job. Your job is to get people saved. Your job is to tell people what Jesus did for you and lead them in a sinner's prayer.