The True Anointing

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.