Title: The Anointing of Multiplication
Text: John 10:10
Most of us here today are not truly living the abundant life that God wants us to live. Most of us are barely surviving. It is a shame and a tragedy that very few Christians have experienced the abundant life that Jesus came to bring us.
In John 10:10, this kind of life is referred to in the Greek as zoe life. Zoe life is life on a higher dimension. It is eternal, victorious, powerful and rich. To have the God-kind of life, you must abide in the anointing. Learning to utilize the anointing allows you to break through every limitation. When you abide in the anointing, you are no longer limited by your natural ability; you now begin to operate in the supernatural ability.
Some of us believe that the anointing is limited to the miraculous manifestations that occur only in church services. Yes, the anointing will bring miracles when Believers come together and I thank God for those kinds of manifestations. However, that is not the primary purpose for the anointing. The anointing equips YOU to live a standard of life that is far above what others, that don’t know Jesus, experience. That is what true zoe life is all about. I guess that is an entirely different subject. A little later this morning we are going to take up a special offering for our roof fund, but I believe the Lord has given me this mandate to share this with you before we pass the offering plate. There are a couple of illustrations that I want to share with you from Scripture concerning the subject of the anointing of multiplication. I could share hundreds of stories throughout the Bible where God took something insignificant and made it significant. However, I am only going to share two of those this morning.
THE BOYS LUNCH
Jesus demonstrated how the anointing can be used to turn insufficiency into more then enough when he fed a multitude of hungry followers:
John 6:5-7; “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”
The disciples were not prepared to meet the needs of the people that day, so they went to Jesus because they needed his help. Philip’s first instinct is to think of the need in financial terms. He said, “Jesus, 200 pennyworth (the equivalent of eight months wages) is not enough to buy food to feed this crowd.” Andrew, on the other hand, saw the problem from a different perspective. He said, “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” However, like Philip, Andrew still failed to see the power and anointing that Jesus had.
Both Philip and Andrew interpreted the situation through their natural senses. But Christ, which means the Anointed One, was already aware that supernatural ability was required in order to bring the answer to the need. Listen to how Jesus responds to all this:
John 6:10-12; “And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.”
For the anointing of multiplication to be applied to your life, you must allow what you have to pass through the hands of Jesus. For example, until the fish and loaves of bread were handed over to Jesus, they still remained insufficient to meet the needs of the people. However, once they passed through the hands of Jesus, the anointing of multiplication was applied and the need was superabundantly met. Listen to what happens next.
John 6:12-13; “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.”
This same principle applies to your finances and material needs today. As long as you are clinging to the little bit that you have and withholding your tithes and failing to allow the Spirit to speak to you concerning the giving of offerings, the anointing of multiplication cannot be applied to you. It will never work for you if you are not willing to give the little you have into the hands of Jesus.
This may surprise some of you, but the truth is that when you are faced with a financial dilemma, the answer you need is not really money. A lack of money is not he root of the problem. A lack of the anointing is the problem. Insufficiency comes when you allow things in your life to drive the anointing away from you. If you allow fear or selfishness to cause you to withhold the tithe or reduce your offerings, before you know it, the anointing in your life will dry up. That is when you begin to think that your answer is money, when what you really need is the anointing operating abundantly in your life. Once the anointing comes on the scene, the money situation will take care of itself. If you give what the Lord wants you to give, once it goes through His hands, then the anointing of multiplication begins to go to work for you.
I want to take up the offering now. I want to ask each and every one of you to do one simple thing for me. If you will, the Lord will multiply what you have. I want you to write a check to Calvary in the amount of what your mortgage payment is. Watch what God will do if you will do that. Are you ready? I am not serious, I did that for illustration purposes only. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the next story and that is best way to do it.
You shouldn’t get upset when a man or a woman of God encourages you to give. God is not trying to separate you from your money; instead, He is trying to get you to hand it over to Jesus so that the anointing of multiplication can be transferred to it. As long as you hold on to it, Jesus can’t do anything with it.
ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW
I Kings 17:10-12; “So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
There was a famine in the land and this woman was down to the last of her groceries. She was about to prepare a final meal for herself and her son before they bean the long, slow process of starving to death. What does God do? Rememeber the position that she is in with her son and God sends her a preacher to ask for an offering.
I Kings 17:13-14; “And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.”
God wanted to help this woman and her son. Would anyone disagree with me on that point? But before He could help her He required her to let go of the little that she had in order for the anointing of multiplication to come on it. Some of you may think that I am just preaching this message because we are taking up an offering to pay for our roof in a few minutes. That could not be further from the truth. I am preaching this message at this time because this is an opportunity for you to try God and see if this anointing of multiplication will work for you.
Although this woman was hesitant at first, she had enough faith in God to give, despite her need. A simple act of obedience produced miraculous results.
I Kings 17:15-16; “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”
In other words, the outcome of this story was that she had plenty. More then enough!
I can imagine what the religious people of today would have said if they had been there with Elijah. You want to know what they would have said: “That preacher ought to be ashamed of himself … taking that poor widow woman’s last meal! That is ridiculous. It is horrible to see someone take advantage of a poor old woman like that.”
People who think this way do not really understand the power of the anointing. God purposely created the principle of sowing and reaping for our benefit. He didn’t create it for the church’s benefit. He didn’t create it for His benefit. Truth be told, He doesn’t really need your money, He already owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He already has a never-ending supply of abundance for whatever it is that you need. He created it for your benefit. Sowing and reaping enables us to put our material things into the anointed hands of the Master so that we can receive supernatural results. When the Spirit of the Lord prompts you to give in this offering this morning. Don’t give begrudgingly. Get excited! God is presenting you with an opportunity to activate the anointing of multiplication on your behalf. God bless you with the anointing of multiplication as you give this morning.
