The Anointing Of God - Part 2 Series

Changing the Climate - Part 5 of 8

THE ANOINTING OF GOD – Part 2

Recap of last message

A couple of weeks ago I started to look at what the scriptures say about the Holy Spirit and how He can (and should) be moving in our lives.

In JOHN 14:16-17 Jesus said, I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.

And again in LUKE 24:46-49a He told them, "This is what is written: the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; …………”

And so very clearly, the Holy Spirit is a PROMISE.

And this promise stretches from right back into the Old Testament. God spoke through the prophet Joel, and said, JOEL 2:28-29 I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

BUT Scripture is also clear that when the Holy Spirit fell upon people, there was a reason for this. The most obvious scripture is Jesus speaking again where He says, ACTS 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

As Pentecostals, we often see the Holy Spirit as something that will make us feel good – make us laugh and shout and without doubt, this is what can happen. BUT the main reason for the Him to come upon believers was to empower them to rise up above adversity and struggles and to live lives so different than the rest of the world that we would automatically become witnesses of His saving grace and mercy.

I haven’t forgotten that I started a study on the Book of Romans and am yet to finish it, but if you look in ROMANS 5 it talks about how Christians are now justified,

ROMANS 6 talks about how believers because of being justified, are now dead to sin,

ROMANS 7 talks about despite being dead to sin and united to Christ there is still a battle of the two natures – the spiritual and the flesh – and don’t we all know that there is a constant battle raging within us to sin and not to sin!

BUT LISTEN! ROMANS 8 is all about being delivered from that state of turmoil that causes us to fail and fall, to repent and rise, only again to fail and fall.

Do you know what ROMANS 8 talks about? It talks about the Holy Spirit. In the first 27 verses, the Holy Spirit is mentioned 19 times.

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MATHEW 7:7-11 “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD’S GIFT TO EACH BELIEVER. BUT WE MUST RECEIVE HIM INTO OUR LIVES. AND WHEN WE DO THAT, THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN EMPOWER US TO MOVE AWAY FROM LIVING A DEFEATED EXISTENCE OF CONSTANT INNER STRUGGLES INTO THE ABUNDANT AND VICTORIOUS LIFE JESUS PROMISED IS OURS.

Scripture encourages us to have a child-like faith – a faith that trusts that God IS IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS! One that trusts that He is not going to give us a stone when we ask Him for some bread……

COMMON ARGUMENTS

But when it comes to being baptised in the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit, it is almost like we no longer trust that what God has for us is not only good, but GREAT! I know that when I first got saved there was something lacking and it was when I got baptised in the Spirit that I knew what that something was!