|
Psalm 45:7 – …your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. Notice that the anointing is what puts you “above” your companions. The anointing is what makes the difference in your life. The anointing is also what will cause you to be a difference maker in this generation. A. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE INNER ANOINTING & THE OUTER ANOINTING 1. The inner anointing is the Holy Spirit in you. The outer anointing is the Holy Spirit on you. 2. The inner anointing is more about His presence. The outer anointing is more about His power. 3. The inner anointing is received at salvation. The outer anointing is received at baptism of the Holy Spirit. 4. The inner anointing is available only to the New Testament saints. The outer anointing was made available also to few Old Testament saints. 5. Every believer has the inner anointing. Only those who surrendered can receive the outer anointing. 6.The inner anointing is for you. The outer anointing is on you to serve others. 7.By the inner anointing you know that you are blessed. By the outer anointing you are empowered to become a blessing to many others. 8.The inner anointing is for revelation. The outer anointing is for demonstration. 9.The inner anointing stills you. The outer anointing stirs you up. 10.The inner anointing affects your walk. The outer anointing affects your work. 11.The inner anointing bears the fruit of the Spirit. The outer anointing works the gifts of the Spirit. 12.The inner anointing cannot be imparted. The outer anointing can be imparted. 13.The inner anointing is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The outer anointing is the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Bonus point: The inner anointing is the flow of the divine life into you. The outer anointing is the overflow of the divine life flowing through you. |
B.YOUR APPOINTING REQUIRES THE ANOINTING
You cannot do the work of God without the power of God. It is more important than education or connections. Without the anointing, your calling becomes a mere ambition; preaching becomes mere motivational speaking; the church becomes a mere club; and ministry becomes a social organization.
It is the anointing that breaks the yoke –
Acts 10:38 – Jesus depended on this outer anointing for ministry.
Acts 1:8 – the disciples, after training with Jesus for more than 3 years, had to wait in Jerusalem to receive the outer anointing and receive power.
The word for Power there is DUNAMIS (Gk), which means POWER IN ACTION.
Pastor Gracewin: “The first time I stood to lead worship, I sat down after the opening prayer!! The 1st time I tried to preach, I couldn’t deliver full sentences; it left a few snickering in the congregation. I was asked to share for a few minutes at a youth camp, but I shivered so much after losing my notes that I accidentally hit my lips with the microphone I was holding. So clearly what you see today is the effect of the anointing!”
Bonus point: Without the anointing, your calling is dangerous. With the anointing, you are dangerous.
Without the anointing, your calling will crush you: Saul and Samson – both started out with an anointing on their life. They were great in their exploits, but they despised the anointing and lost it. They were still able to keep their office, but without the anointing, they were crushed under the weight of their calling. They both died in battles they were anointed to conquer.
->Andrew Wommack was kidnapped when his friend died – Andrew had raised several people from the dead, and these people feared that if he made it to the funeral, he would raise the dead man!
->A young boy was kidnapped, and for several hours he sang “Every Praise”, and finally the kidnappers themselves brought him back to release him.
C. 3 TRUTHS ON THE OUTER ANOINTING
1.THE OUTER ANOINTING IS FOR SERVICE & MINISTRY
1 Cor 12:7 – The manifestation of the Spirit is given for others to profit. The anointing and the gifts of the Spirit are ministry tools – not medals for a show. When God anoints you, pick up a towel rather than going after a title – Learn from the example of our Lord Jesus.
2.THE ANOINTING WORKS AS YOU EXERCISE BOLDNESS
Acts 4:29-31 – When they prayed for boldness, the Spirit filled them! You see, there is a connection between boldness and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The main reasons for the outer anointing to lie dormant are shyness, timidity, and insecurity. But boldness is the key to the supernatural. The more you flow in it, the more you will grow.
3. THE ANOINTING OPERATES BASED ON YOUR FELLOWSHIP WITH JESUS
Acts 4:13 says that the people who saw the disciples perform wonders and preach with boldness “perceived they were with Jesus”. Fellowship with Jesus is the key to flowing in the anointing.
Even though the outer anointing is a gift, you have a responsibility to maintain and walk in it. How? Fellowship with Jesus. This is what gives us a clear-cut differentiation between being bold in the Lord and being reckless in the ministry of the Lord.
God wants us to be risk-takers but not reckless. How to tell? Whatever is born out of a fellowship with Jesus is a faith-risk, but whatever is not born out of a fellowship with Jesus, it will end up in recklessness.
A lack of fellowship on the inside will create a deficit in your personal life and result in consequences:
Like Saul: Saul became naked when the Spirit of God came upon Him because he didn’t seek fellowship with God. If you operate in the anointing only for ministry, you will find yourself naked and vulnerable.
Bonus point: The outer anointing exposes both your gifts and your weaknesses.
Powerful faith-stories from the ministry of Bro. Augustine Jebakumar (GEMS, Bihar)
Story #1 – He recounted in one of his sermons that there is a community in one part of Bihar named “NUT”. Their primary means of livelihood was prostitution, and this was how they lived for 15 generations. These people were spread across 52 villages. The mafia controlled them. They lived as stone breakers and did prostitution as bonded labour.
Their children were not sent to school. From the tender age of 5, these children, both male and female, were exposed to pornography and brainwashed to engage in prostitution. At the age of 7, young girls would be given mild drugs to make them sexually active.
Bro. Augustine had a passion to see their lives changed, so he started a project for the stone breakers in bonded labour. He would buy them out of slavery and would educate them. One couple dedicated their lives to taking care of them. As they started to serve them and do charity work among them, which included stitching dresses for them out of their own sarees and dresses, and soon, 36 children started attending their project. One day, the GEMS team tested the blood of all the children, and they were shocked and heartbroken to discover that 26 kids out of the 36 were HIV positive. The children didn’t know about it.
The following week the held a prayer meeting in their facility, and in that meeting, the Holy Spirit filled each of them, and they all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. About a month later, they repeated the blood test, and glory be to God – all the children that tested positive a month ago were now HIV negative.
Story #2 – There was a young girl, Anjali, who got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit as she attended the classes. One day, she suddenly stopped coming. Bro. Augustine and his team later got to know that her mother, who was fully into the bondage of prostitution, had sold her off to a pimp who took Anjali to Kolkata to deploy her in the red light area. It was practically impossible to locate her or to redeem her because all this was a part of a huge flesh trading mafia. All they could do was pray and expect god to do a miracle.
To their joy and surprise, Anjali came back after three days! They were all much amazed at how she made it back, escaping the grip of the mafia. She said to Bro. Augustine “Uncle, I went with boldness because I have the Holy Spirit in me. No one can trouble me”. This is what happened: There were 15 prostitutes in that room where she was brought to. One of them was bleeding and was crying out in pain and fear that she was going to die. Anjali went near her and prayed for her in Jesus name, and the bleeding stopped – she got healed! Seeing this, all the others, too, now lined up to be prayed for by her. The pimp who got to know this news got scared that this little girl was spoiling his business, so he brought her back as soon as he could! Hallelujah! The anointing will work wonders in your life.
Anjali grew up to be a fine young woman; She finished her polytechnic course and another degree, and goes around declaring to others her story and her testimony. Due to her ministry and the stories of other transformed young girls, prostitution began to decrease. In fact, two villages (as of 2022) have already banned prostitution in their villages already and the fire is spreading fast. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
(Join us next week for a powerful teaching on how to receive the Holy Spirit Baptism which is also the outer anointing.)