The True Anointing
CCCAG February 26th, 2017
Scripture: Lev 8:10-13
There is a story from about 70 years ago about a new vacuum salesman down in Tennessee. One week he was out in the rural areas selling Kirby’s and was really excited about what he thought his machine could do.
His first visit of the day was at a farmhouse at the end of a long country road. The man of the house was working the fields, and the salesman figured he would have an easy sell, so he started his sales pitch.
He was showing her the ease of use, all the tools, all the attachments. He went on and on about how powerful it was.
He said, "This is the most exciting vacuum cleaner you have ever seen. It will clean your house from top to bottom...you only have to pay so much down, followed by a small amount every month and I’ll leave you this one right here"
And the farmwife was very impressed and said, "It sounds real good, but can it really do all that you say-“
The salesmen interrupted her and said, "You see that big pile of dirt right there on the floor with all those fur balls and bugs and things."
The farmwife said, “Yes, I just swept that up when you came to the door”
He said, "My vacuum cleaner will just pick up all those things up just like that (Snapping fingers) and if it doesn’t, I’ll eat what’s in that pile!"
The wife stood up and walked into the kitchen and returned with a spoon and said, "Well, you better get to it, because we do not have any electricity out here!"
The moral of this story?
You will be sucking up dirt the rest of your life if you do not have power.
Last week we talked about the call of God on your lives, today we will talk about the power that’s available for your calling.
Today we will be talking about “The Anointing”. In Pentecostal and especially Charismatic circles, it’s a popular, but widely misunderstood and misapplied concept, so today we will be looking at the biblical understanding of the anointing and seeing what it is, and why it’s important in our lives.
We will begin in the OT with the first formal example of anointing.
Lev 8:10-13
10 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. 11 He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. 12 He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. 13 Then he brought Aaron’s sons forward, put tunics on them, tied sashes around them and fastened caps on them, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Prayer
I. The Anointing in the Old Testament
As we are doing our chronological reading plan, we are right now in the midst of the intricacies of Old Testament Worship.
Anyone with a background in Roman Catholism or even the Lutheran Church will see the parallels in what was happening in the Old Testament here as the Catholic and Lutheran worship and consecration rites are very similar to the way things were done in Moses’ time.
In Moses’ time, the anointing was symbolized through the smearing, or pouring on of oil.
A. Anointing was Symbolized in the Oil
1. Oil was a very common substance
a. Shepherds used it (Psalm 23)
b. People used it to protect their skin and hair (Climate of Israel) (Sand/heat/Sun)
c. Both men and women used it as a form of deodorant
d. Used cosmetically Esther as example- preparation
e. In the scripture we read- The Holy Anointing Oil was created from the finest spices of the time. It was meant to point to the extravagant worth of God. Once that oil was made, and blessed by the priest, everything that touched it became Kadesh- most Holy.
f. When a person received the anointing, that person was now (Hebrew) “Kadesh”- (Definition)
1. Set apart- You were no longer a “normal person”
You had a received an anointing or blessing from God on high
2. Most Holy- without blemish, sin, or defect
g. It wasn’t spiritual or magic in of itself (stick with note)
1. Not “Holy Oil” that had a supernatural blessing on it
h. There was an impartation made by God to the recipient
B. Impartation (define)
to make known; tell; relate; disclose:
to give; bestow; communicate:
to grant a part or share of.
Let me illustrate this a little-
When I was a new Christian I belonged to this young men’s group called the “Seals” which stood for “Street Evangelism Action League”- we would meet on Tuesdays and someone would teach a lesson and then we’d spend time in prayer and weather permitting go out witnessing on the street.
One week the leader asked me to teach the next lesson. I was a new Christian, had no real biblical training and he thought it would be a good way for me to mature in the faith. I had read the bible through by that time, but it was still a disjointed mess in my mind other than the New Testament truths we had learned. So I studied, put together some notes, and then showed up to teach.
It was a disaster. My points didn’t mesh, everyone looked bored, and there were a lot of guys looking at each other like, “Who asked this guy to teach?”
I wasn’t asked to teach again in that group….I totally bombed my chance.
Then something happened- I was called to the ministry. Very early in my studies, I was asked to speak at Pastor Verne’s Sunday School. Pastor Verne was our visitation pastor, much like Pastor Roger is to us.
Most of the elders of the church and all of the mover and shakers of our church attended Pastor Verne’s class, which was more like an hour-long church services then a Sunday School.
Needless to say, I was very nervous, but I prepared a lesson and taught it, and everyone loved what I had to say, and several of these senior saints told me that they were convicted in very deep ways and would be making several changes in their lives.
At the end of the Sunday School, the elders and Pastor Verne laid hands on me and blessed my studies and that God would confirm to me my calling.
The next day, I opened the bible for my devotional time. Before this, I had always heard God speak to me through HIS Word, but it was in bite sized pieces.
All the sudden, I was drinking from the fire hose- whole sermons flew into my head, I would look at scripture and see patterns, teaching outlines, the cultural significance and the application for today.
God had imparted an anointing to empower my calling.
Many times the anointing or impartation does exactly that- confirm to you a direction or calling that God has for your life.
In our scripture reading, that’s exactly what happened to Aaron here- remember where he came from! He was THE person who made the Golden Calf which almost lead the total destruction of the Israelite nation.
He had a calling, but no anointing or impartation.
NOW Aaron’s getting an anointing, and the impartation of God is coming upon him to help him be a successful leader and priest.
The anointing always involves impartation! (Critical point!)
God gives us all a calling in life. Since you have a calling, you need an anointing. You need the impartation of the Holy Spirit to give fuel to your particular fire so that it burns brightly for the whole world to see.
In the Old Testament, that calling and impartation was only given to a select few people- priests, kings, prophets. What they had in part, we have in the fullness of what God intended for man.
That’s what the anointing is and how it was applied in the OT, now let’s look at the NT truth about the anointing.
II. New Testament Truth
A. If you are a follower of Jesus, If you have committed your life to HIM and made HIM Lord and Savior,
B. Your sins are gone. HE paid for all of our sin, and therefore we have positional “Kadesh” before God (Set apart, most holy)
C. So the anointing isn’t about imparting holiness- you have that through Christ Jesus.
D. It’s based on Jesus’ merit’s and not our own, and because of that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in anyone who calls Jesus LORD and Savior.
E. Therefore the anointing and impartation that only a few experienced in the OT is now available for everyone- including you!
F. In the Old Testament- it fueled only a particular gift. For us living in the New Testament age we have the whole person of God living within us through the Holy Spirit. The impartation of the Holy Spirit brings the Godhead to bear in all parts of
G. This Personhood of God that exists within you is manifested or made known in three primary ways-
The first way it’s manifested is by receiving the Mind of God
God shows us His mind in two ways.
The first and primary objective way God speaks to us is through His word the bible. That word in the Greek language is Logos. It means written word and doctrine from that written word. It is the objective truth, it is written down, everyone can see and reference it, and it is the standard by which all other truth is measured.
The logos is like a ruler or tape measure for us.
If you are building a multi-story house, and you are building 10 foot levels on the house, do you eyeball the framing, or bring out a tape measure to make sure your framing for those floors are 10 feet exactly?
You better bring out the tape measure, your house is going to look pretty weird and be very unstable.
That’s what happens when people put the second way of knowing the mind of God in front of the first one.
The second way to know the mind of God is through Rhema Word, which is the Greek Word for spoken, or prophetically or a supernaturally received Word from God. These are prophecies and words of knowledge, and you can read about them in 1 Cor 12-14.
Rhema always has to agree with the plainly written and historically understood meaning of the Logos, or it is to be rejected, and the person speaking it rebuked. This is critical to the health of the Body of Christ, and to the spiritual health of the individual Christian.
When the Rhema takes priority, that’s how cults start
It is critical that you and I know the Mind of God before we dare start attempting to use His authority.
a. The second way God’s person is manifested in us- His Authority
When the Holy Spirit reveals the Mind of God to us through both the Logos Work and the Rhema Word, we can begin to act in God’s Authority.
That is an incredible privilege that we have as believers- to speak the very words of the King of the universe. To use the authority of God means that we are saying-
“In the name of the King”, I pronounce this-
When you speak in the name of the King, you really need to know the mind of the King, right?
Let me illustrate a wrong understanding of authority here
A student of a popular charismatic bible school had been praying for a car. He prayed, he fasted, he named it, he claimed it, and finally someone gave him a pretty decent car. The night after he received the car he was driving home from work late at night when a deer jumped out in front of him, causing him to swerve violently and the car ended up smashed against a big oak tree, totally demolished.
The Police and fire department showed up and they found him pacing and shouting out a prayer saying, “God, I don’t claim this wreck- restore your blessing to me!”
If you’re car is wrapped around an oak tree….you should probably get used to the reality that you are faced with, and simply thank God for being alive.
This is one of the big misunderstandings about the anointing and the biggest problems I have with name it and claim it doctrine- you are assuming the mind of God in a situation where He has not spoken, either through Logos or even a legitimate Rhema Word.
When we claim the authority of the King, it should be with great caution, fear, and trembling because we are putting God’s name on the line with what we think He should be doing in that situation.
But when we do have the Mind of God, and We know we are acting in His Authority, the Power of God comes.
b. The third way the personhood of God is seen through the anointing is through God’s Power manifested in our lives
The Greek language has a word for the power of God and that is Dunimous- which means a supernatural power not normally available to a human being.
This power comes from God. Let me make this very clear- this power comes from God.
It comes from knowing His mind, His authority, and His will concerning the use of HIS power.
It is meant to be used to glorify God, and not ourselves, which is one of the main errors we see in the teaching about the anointing or impartation of the Holy Spirit among some charismatics.
When we were at our first church Tammie and I went to Appleton to see a then popular preacher among charismatic people. We heard a lot about this person’s gift, about his ability to impart spiritual gifts, or holy laughter, or immense joy because of how God blessed him. The whole services was him talking about his gifting, his anointing, and his ministry and very little about God, Jesus, or repentance, holiness, or serving.
The whole thrust of the service was just about receiving from God to get a spiritual thrill. The time came for prayer, and the preacher asked everyone who wanted a fresh anointing from God to come up and be prayed for. Dozens lined up in the front and people were falling all over the place as this man prayed for them for the power of God to hit them.
If you are new to this kind of thing, that can happen- where God comes upon you in such a powerful way that you actually fall to the ground.
Now, I believe that God can impart giftings through people
I even hesitantly think that God can come over with such a overwhelming presence that it would cause a person’s legs to buckle and fall.
I think it’s WAY OVER EMPHASISED in some circles. You probably won’t see that here very often. It’s often said these kinds of (quote) revival services don’t happen in church’s where they primary gifting of a the pastor is that of a teacher…which is my primary gifting.
However, I believe if God’s power is touching you like that-it’s to give you an impartation. But remember, God’s impartation and power comes with a catch- HE comes with it. You can’t separate God’s power from His person- it’s integral to who HE is.
IF God is imparting some of HIMself to you, you better believe it will also form a new appreciation and level of Holiness and commitment to living right within you.
I once heard a pastor say, “I don’t care for people falling on the floor during a prayer service if they ain’t going to walk right when they get up!”
The power of God is not a carnival side show- its very serious business. You requires knowing His mind and carrying His authority before you attempt to access that side of the Father.
I just wanted to put those cautions out there because having an anointing to know the mind of God, to act in His authority, and to use His power is the right of all Kingdom citizens, but they are to be used to further the Kingdom and bring glory to the King-not us.
We had to spend some time talking about the misuse of the word anointing or impartation before discussing the truth of why we need it for today-
III. Why you need it today
Why do we need an anointing from God and an impartation of HIMSELF into our spirits?
“We struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and against spiritual forces of wickedness in the spiritual realm”
You can’t fight satan and his kingdom on your terms and in your flesh. You’ll lose- that’s his realm, his battlefield where he has all the advantage.
Satan is an ambush predator- he lays in wait until he has the advantage before he attacks.
There is a species in our country that hunts it’s prey like that- the alligator. An alligator will lay absolutely still either in the water right next to the bank, or on the bank next to the water. The alligator’s whole goal is to get his next meal into his environment- the water. Once he has his mouth clamped down you a part of his prey, he will drag it into the water and roll it over until it drowns.
That’s just like our spiritual adversary- he needs to get us in his environment to do any damage.
That’s why we need an anointing and impartation from God. We need it to stay out of satan’s realm as much as possible.
You need to fight in the spiritual- with the anointing and everything that comes with it!
The power
The authority
The mind of God
Because God Himself comes all of that!
It doesn’t matter how gifted, talented, or skilled you are- if you don’t have God’s power, the impartation of HIS presence in your life-
You will be just sucking dirt like the salesman in the beginning of the message
Let’s rise.
Prayer
