Sharing in the Anointing

SERMON: 2015-10-04--s0515--sharing-in-the-anointing-part-2 SOURCE DURATION: 00:47:44.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.98 APPROVED: false REASON: The entire sequence of candidates (0-15) constitutes a continuous closing prayer and benediction, which are considered part of the sermon's conclusion. Since all material is sermon content, the final candidate [candidate 15] is selected. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:47:37.900-00:47:42.960 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- We've seen together in recent weeks that the same anointing of the Holy Spirit that enabled David to accomplish the purposes of God in his generation through faith in Jesus Christ also comes upon us to accomplish the purposes of God in our generation and that of course is what the Lord Jesus means in Acts 1 verse 8 when he says to his disciples after telling them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise from on high he said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth that word power as you know is the Greek word dunamis we got the word dynamite from it and Jesus says you stick around for the anointing of God's Holy Spirit and he will empower you to be effective agents for me all over the world beginning at home and then fanning out until every tribe tongue a nation eventually will have heard the gospel this promise you know was fulfilled a couple of days later on the day of Pentecost when God poured out his Holy Spirit in great abundance and power on the early church and today you and I when by faith we are joined to Jesus we're eligible for the same spirit the same spirit who comes with in us to transform our lives to be more like Jesus and who comes upon us to empower us to be about the business of the kingdom and in the time that we have this morning but a look with you at some of the things not all but some of the things that we can reasonably expect to happen in our lives as we experience the power of that anointing the list is not exhaustive doesn't cover all the bases your experience will differ from my experience from somebody else's experience but there are general principles that run through scripture as to what it is that the Holy Spirit has come to do and the first of these that I want to look at with you is the fact that through the Holy Spirit when the spirit comes the spiritual world the spiritual world becomes much more real Paul writing to the Corinthians chapter 2 9 and 10 quoting from Isaiah as it is written no eye has seen no ear has heard no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed it to us by his spirit the spirit pulls back the veil scripture teaches us that in addition to this physical world that we all inhabit and that we can see and feel and hear and experience with our five senses there is an other whole world that we cannot normally feel see or experience it's the spiritual world there is a God-given boundary between the spiritual world and the natural world I think there's two reasons for that number one God has pulled himself back not just because he is angry at our sin but because we cannot stay in the splendor of his presence it would consume us imagine looking at the brightness of the Sun without eye protection and you'll get a tiny little glimpse of what happens when God shows up in his glory so God hides himself so that we will not be consumed by his majesty but more than that Satan of course has a vested interest in keeping us in the dark one of his primary strategies for leading us away from God is to lead us astray and to deceive us and so the more he can do that behind the scenes the more successful he will be so there's a physical world there's a spiritual world normally there is a barrier between those though that barrier sometimes can be broken illegitimately we won't talk about that now but one thing is for sure that when by faith we're joined to Jesus one of the first things that happens is that the Holy Spirit begins to make real to us that spiritual dimension of life listen to how Jesus puts it in John chapter 16 the verses 13 14 and 15 speaking to his disciples getting them ready for the time when he is leaving them but when he that is the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth he will not speak on his own he will only speak what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come he will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you all that belongs to the Father is mine that is why I said the spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you what are you saying there I believe is that it's the job of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes not just to the whole spiritual dimension but especially to who Jesus is and what the riches are that we have in Jesus Christ and when by faith we're joined to Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives this whole spiritual dimension that most people are quite ignorant of all of a sudden becomes real in ways that previously we have not been able to imagine I know so clearly when that first happened in my own life and experience as many of you know I was at college studying for the ministry when some friends of mine encouraged me to make sure that I had personally giving my life to the Lord Jesus and I remember so clearly kneeling by the side of my bed and saying Lord I think I've done this before but just in case I haven't I really want to give you my heart and I want to give you my life and bells didn't ring no physical experience or encounters of any kind but almost immediately the spiritual world became real in ways it had not become real before God became real Jesus became real the Bible came to life in ways that it had never come to life before and I remember singing you know old hymns of the faith that I had sung for years and years and years all of a sudden the words came alive on the page and I understood not only what the words meant but the reality behind the words odd as it sounds I remember that even nature seemed brighter and I remember driving my car back and forth to classes along the roads of Grand Rapids looking at cars next to me saying to myself I wonder if he or she knows Jesus that's the revelation of the Holy Spirit and I've had a lot of opportunity over the years to ponder the question why does this happen in the way that it happens and why don't more people experience it remember I am pretty sure that I was a Christian at that point I had been brought up in a Christian home had gone to church all my life knew the Lord and yet after that surrender something happened that was beyond anything that I have experienced before and I raised that question because in my experience in ministry there are varying degrees of comprehension of the spiritual dimension some people are just really in tune with it and for other people it's a bit of a mystery and some people have spiritual experiences that other people don't have it's very easy then to say what's the matter with me is there something wrong with me is my faith inferior to the faith of others as I've pondered that over the last little while what's come to me is that I think the Old Testament model of the tabernacle provides a little bit of insight let me take just a few moments and talk about that I've never taught on this before I don't want to be categorical about this but I think it helps us to understand why some have more revelation than others not only that it will help us to understand what our part can be in stepping into the things of God more deeply if you're familiar with the Old Testament then you will know that when God entered into covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai what was the first thing that he did he ordered them to build the tabernacle the tabernacle was a tent that looks like you see it in the picture it was portable they carried it with them and it served as the dwelling place of the glory of God and it was arranged in such a way that God's presence could abide among a sinful people without the sinful people being destroyed it's a picture of the temple of God in heaven the Bible spends 50 chapters on the tabernacle in the Old Testament that ought to tell you how important it is and it finds its fulfillment in the person of Jesus who paves the way for us to enter into the presence of God let me show you the floor plan and talk about that for just a few moments because that will help us to understand I think some really important things notice first of all that there are three divisions to the tabernacle there is the outer courtyard there is what is known as the holy place that's in that tent that you saw and then there is the Holy of Holies here each of these has furniture in it that is part of Israel's worship this has the altar of sacrifice or the altar of burnt offerings this is a big wash basin often called the bronze laver it is made of the mirrors of the women then you have a veil here and then into the holy place there is the table of showbread there is the lampstand known as the menorah and then there is the altar of incense another big veil that's the veil that torn a torn was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross and then in the holy place the Ark of the Covenant with the Shekinah glory of God now here's what I want us to understand the whole idea was to progress from outside the tabernacle into the Holy of Holies where is the presence of God the number of people that were allowed to enter diminished with each step of the way in other words all the Israelites were allowed to come here and make a sacrifice on the altar only the priests were allowed in the Holy of Holies to minister and only the high priest and his sons were allowed to minister in the Holy of Holies and that only once a year but here's the point that I want us to get to this morning there are three levels of illumination in the tabernacle this was the outdoors if I go back for a moment to the previous slide this is the courtyard it is lit up by the sunlight this finds its light by the golden lamp stand other than that it is dark in here and the Holy of Holies has no light except the glory of God whose presence abides between the cherubim in the Ark of the Covenant I don't want to read too much into that but I think there is an insight here that can help us about the illumination of the Holy Spirit I think if we can go back to that slide there is a place there is a place in the world where all we know is our natural understanding and you can read the Bible with your natural understanding you can come to church with your natural understanding and you can sing your songs of praise with your natural understanding and there will be a certain degree of understanding that comes your way you won't understand at all you won't understand the deeper things but there is a natural revelation that everybody in the world is entitled to because by nature we know that God is holy and we know our own sinfulness that's what the book of Romans teaches us but beyond that there is the revelation of God's Holy Spirit and when I talked about my eyes being opened the Bible coming alive sermons starting to make sense in ways they had never made sense before I'm talking about what happens when by faith in Jesus I experience the presence and the power of God's Holy Spirit because he is the spirit of illumination he lightens he bears witness and testimony to the power and the presence of God now beyond that there is the Holy of Holies Jesus entered into that Holy of Holies the veil got torn in two the New Testament the Holy City the New Jerusalem is built in the shape of the Holy of Holies this is the place where there is direct communication with God in a way that we can't even begin to imagine we have a foretaste of it through the Holy Spirit it's a place where where words are not even needed because God and us are fully restored to each other and I believe biblically what God wants his people to do is move from out here where there is just the light of nature into the presence of his Holy Spirit where through the Holy Spirit we begin to understand spiritual reality in a way that we had never experienced it before and then I believe there are places in Christ in the Holy Spirit where we are face to face with God in a way that words cannot even begin to describe because Jesus has entered into that place well you say how do I get there what has to happen in my life well remember the key is Jesus Jesus has gone through sacrificed himself he is the bread of life he is the light of the world he knows how to pray and intercede which is what this particular altar represents he's gone through the veil into the very presence of God there to intercede for you and me and if we're joined to Jesus that is our right and our privilege this isn't for the spiritual elite this isn't just for anybody this isn't just for certain people no no this is for all of God's people to experience and enjoy to the degree that we need it in order to know what it is that he's calling us to do and to help us to do that so how do you get there well remember the big transition is from out here where there is natural revelation to in here how do I get there it begins with the altar of sacrifice the altar of sacrifice represents the surrender of my life to Jesus as best as I know how to do it I put it on the altar I say Lord I'm yours do with me whatever you want the next furniture piece is the laver or the wash basin that's the place where you wash your hands and you wash your feet this is the place where you deal with the present sins that would keep you away from the presence of God a lot of you have heard Dave Botting's story how years back we went to Willow Creek and like myself he had been raised in church all his life knew the Bible and was a leader in the church but then knew that the Holy Spirit was putting his finger on certain areas of his life we gathered around him that day prayed over him and I dare say that Dave's life has never been the same since why because he passed from here through to here and once you're here you experience Jesus as the bread of life you experience Jesus as the light of the world you experience Jesus as the intercessor there is something that comes in you that wants to pray that wants to worship as you worship put that back up again for a moment please as you worship here's an interesting thing the fragrance of this altar of incense went through the veil into the holy place it was so closely identified with the holy place that in the book of Romans or the book of Hebrews the altar of incense is actually said to be in the holy place which we know it was not but what that signifies is that there's a place in prayer there is a place in worship there is a place in praise where we draw near to God and he draws near to us and in that place I hasn't seen ear hasn't heard the heart of man hasn't imagined what God has prepared for those who love him so if you're here this morning and you know as we all do by times my heart is dull I want more of God I want to be more stirred by his presence and by his power then go back to the beginning ask yourself first of all have I come to faith in Jesus have I surrendered my life to him is there anything that stands in the way is there an issue in my life that I know he puts his finger on that does not have his approval then embrace that confess it get yourself prayed over if need be but lay hold of God's Spirit because the promise is that he will give his Holy Spirit to those who seek him Jesus Luke chapter 11 if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him never be afraid to ask him because he will meet you with his power and with his presence and what your experience looks like will vary from one personality to another from one person to another but this much is real your eyes will be opened to see things that you have never seen before that's the promise of the gospel and we need to lay hold of that because it is the driving force that made the early church turn the world upside down in their generation now we can move on here's the thing you got a note though when your eyes get opened to the spiritual world it not only gets opened to the good side of things it also gets opened to the bad side because you need to understand that not only is there a physical world in a spiritual world but this spiritual world is divided into two factions good and bad the good side is inhabited by God and his holy angels the bad side is inhabited by Satan and his unholy angels and when your eyes get open to the reality of God you will also experience Satan's power and presence probably in ways that previously you have not noticed and I say that because what's the first thing in the gospel story that happened to Jesus after he had been baptized by the Holy Spirit remember what happens in all in Matthew Mark and Luke he's driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan now my experience is that while a lot of people pay lip service to the fact that there is a devil and some even act like they are he most many people including many Christian folks live without a practical knowledge of encountering him but I can promise you that changes to the degree to which you become a threat to his kingdom and you will not know what spiritual warfare is until through the Holy Spirit you begin to see things from God's perspective and you give yourself wholeheartedly to the cause of God let me read you an email that I received from one of our members here just this past week this is an extreme example of what spiritual warfare looks like and there are reasons for that that I don't have time to go into this morning but here's the email that I received earlier this week and and this is written by a lady she said I need the last 10 hours of my life erased from my memory they have been horrible I went to bed at 1045 in my dream I was awake lying in bed beside my husband we sleep with their door open at my bedroom door there was a demon spirit in a black hooded robe with a white face and black around its eyes floating kind of like a scream mask it floated towards me lay behind me in bed put its arms around me and both hands on my face and was suffocating me I was rolling all over trying to get its hands off my face and screaming for my husband it seemed to go on for at least two long minutes finally my husband woke up put his arms around me and said it's okay I'm here I awoke and we have mirrored closet doors I saw it fly up into the air over our bed and fly backwards into the wall and disappear the time was 1250 a.m. that's the dark side I said it's extreme and it's extreme I suspect because there is a history of the occult of air but Jesus after he was baptized by the Holy Spirit was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan and the answer of course to all of this is the armor of God I don't share this story with you to scare you or me or to cause us to live in fear but to point us to Jesus Ephesians 6 10 and 11 be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes the devil is active in an unprecedented fashion in the world and in our culture today and you and I need clearly to understand all the riches that we have in Christ to even be able to identify what he's doing and where he is going I I saw on the news just this morning before I came to church remember that couple in is it Oregon with a cake and I got fined a hundred and thirty thousand dollars and they refused to pay the fine the authorities are now moving in to take their home because they will not bow to the spirit of the age what's troubling about it to me is how many Christians across North America think they're nuts for standing up for what they believe is the right thing to do and that shows you how much we need the illuminating power of God's Holy Spirit so what happens when we say yes to the Holy Spirit the spiritual world both good and bad becomes increase increasingly real in our lives and the Bible says that we can ask the Lord for what the Bible calls a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus so that we may know him better so that's one thing that happens second thing that happens is that our passions to serve the Lord will be profoundly stirred our passions will be stirred the Bible says and the reference there is wrong it should be Romans 12 11 never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord God has created us you know to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our soul and with all our mind other passages add the word and all your strength we are created to love our neighbor as we love ourselves the fall has messed that up we're alienated from God we're deceived by Satan by nature we hate God and we hate our neighbor in Christ we are restored to God then God gives us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is at work with in us and upon us both to will and to work for God's good pleasure so what happens when I see how great God is what happens when I see that the kingdom of God has been realized in Jesus what happens when I've repented of my sin and I see how much Jesus loves me and what a glorious future it is that he promises to those who serve him there is something that happens on the inside I turn from cold to lukewarm to hot because the passion of God's Holy Spirit remember the Spirit of the Lord that came upon Jesus was created in him a zeal for God I don't know about you but all too often I find my heart too cold to lukewarm and the antidote is the anointing of God's Holy Spirit working deep inside changing us from the inside out and quickening us to step into the good works that God has prepared for us from before the foundation of the world now what he stirs in you or me is dependent on two things I believe the first is what God's will for our lives is and the second is what your gifting is let me talk just briefly about each of those because we know from Scripture that in Christ there is a particular calling that rests upon each of us with that calling comes a particular gifting of the Holy Spirit so that we can step into it and obey him so if he calls me to be a businessman then he will give me business insights so that I can do business for God if he calls me to be a family man man or a mom or you know he will give me a love and a passion for my spouse and he will give me the desire and the ability to raise my kids in the ways of God if he calls me to be an evangelist he will give me a passion for lost people in fact that's what originally stirred Dave when we were at Willow Creek and he saw how passionate they were for lost people and he looked at his own life and he said I don't share that passion what's the matter with me that started him on that journey that led to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in his life today you can't get him to shut up about the lost and the last and least because that's what the Holy Spirit does and if the Holy Spirit calls you forth to speak the word of God with power and authority you will be disturbed by situations that you see you will see things that other people don't see and he will give you the words to speak into that situation and as we'll see in a few moments it can change people's lives to the core and you can multiply it that way if your calling is to care for the sick then when you see somebody who is evil you will have a compassion that many other people won't have and that compassion will step into that situation and will make a difference if God equips you with the gift of serving then when nobody else sees the things that need to be done behind the scenes you see them you will step into those situations and you will make a difference that's the difference between calling and gifting in the body of Christ and what Paul is talking about in these verses that were read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is that there is an intense in an immense variety among the callings and the giftings that God places in community Paul's analogy later on in that chapter is that we are the body of Christ some of us are a hand some of us are are the feet and some of us are eyes and ears and mouths and I believe just as the body is composed of cells that create tissue that create organs that create systems so in the body of Christ you will have a certain gift set that is complementary to the gift set of other people around you and when you band together you have a common vision you beat with a common heartbeat and as you step into that you make a difference for the glory of God in the life of that community that's what the Holy Spirit does he breaks down dividing walls and he enables us to experience the joy of knowing that we're all different we all have different gifts and in fact as Paul goes on in the passage the less we have to commend ourselves naturally the greater is the anointing of God's Holy Spirit to make up for it so that there is no discomfort or whatever the word is there's no imbalance in the body of Christ and you and I by faith need to soberly reflect on what it is that he pours out into our lives and as we'll see in a moment we need to step into that at the same time we need to set other people free to be who they are because the same Lord gives many different gifts many different varieties many different manifestations how the Holy Spirit manifests himself in your life will be very different from somebody else's life and a lot will depend on your personality some of it will depend on your culture some of it will depend on what you're comfortable with at the end of the day what counts is are we yielded to the Holy Spirit so that collectively as well as individually we can be so led by this spirit that we could be the hands and feet of Jesus and make a difference in a world that so desperately needs us that's what scripture teaches so what happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon you he's gonna stir you he's going to create in you a hunger a longing and you're gonna see things but maybe other people don't say and he will give you joy in using your gift and that's the third thing I want to talk about just briefly before we wind up this morning and that is as the Holy Spirit does his work in your life as he stirs up your passions and he loosens the gifting in you then and this is the tough part folks he's gonna call you to step out in faith the purpose of the gift is never just to sit on it feel good about it hold it with Ian no it's to invest it take a risk with it use it so that God can use it for his purposes and multiply its effect we all know the parable of the three people that Jesus gave talents to the one talent and the two talent and the five talent the guy with the five two talents he invested it doubled it the guy with the five talents he invested it he doubled it the first guy what did he do buried it why did he bury yet because he was afraid to lose it and that is so typical the less we have the more afraid we are of taking a risk and I have learned over the years that God would rather have us take a chance of messing up knowing that he can fix it and corrected then to be more concerned about our own selves and we are about the body of Christ and the purposes of God in this generation and what that means is whatever anointing he gives you whatever place in you that stirs and that's how you can tell what your gifting is it'll stir within you you know if you have the gift of giving and you hear challenges towards giving something inside you says what can I do that's the stirring of God's Holy Spirit it's better to make a mistake than to bury it in the ground because when you bury it in the ground it illustrates that you're more concerned about your own hide than you are about the purposes of God so God equips you as he equips you he stirs things in you and he says all right now for you to do something with this you've got to step out in faith and start using it see it would be wonderful if all our gifts emerged full-blown and mature and we would never make a mistake and we'd never make a mess of things good luck doesn't happen anywhere else in life now it's our job to step into it trusting that gone in the context of community will shape me if I'm willing to submit the community and he will call me forth and make me a blessing Romans 12 the verses 6 7 & 8 one of the passages in the Bible that talks about spiritual gifts Paul says we have different gifts according to the grace given us if a man's gift is prophesying that is speaking for at the word of God let him use it in proportion to his faith if it is serving let him serve if it is teaching let him teach if it is encouraging let him encourage if it is contributing to the needs of others let him give generously if it is leadership let him govern diligently if it is showing mercy let him do it cheerfully and the emphasis there is twofold let it happen but make it happen in your own life on the day of judgment God's going to hold us all accountable with what we have done with our calling and with our anointing and the higher you call and the greater you're anointing the more trouble you'll get into in the course of life I can promise you that now but the greater a threat you will be to the kingdom of darkness and as you step into it whatever that looks like whether it's you know wiping snotty noses in the kids ministry or whether that is stepping into a business deal that you're not a hundred percent sure about or whether that's stepping into a relationship that has all the potential in the world of going wrong and making life difficult for you as you step into it you're going to discover two things and the first is this you will discover where your anointing lies because it is in doing what you're doing it is in availing yourself of opportunities that God's Holy Spirit comes along and he stirs life in places where you have not headed and you discover I can do this I never thought I could do this there are people in this church that are doing things that never in a hundred years they thought they ever could do because our tendency is to say well not me I'm I'm too young or I'm too old or I'm too immature or too busy well God calls you however he does that with the calling comes the enabling with the calling comes the grace to step into it not only that but the second thing that happens is that it will confirm your place in community because that's the picture that emerges here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 the body has many parts some of us are eyes some of us are hands as we said earlier some of us are feet some of us are pinkies some of us are you know toenail of our little toe and the temptation is to say well if I can be the important part I don't want to be any part of the body that's not for you to decide that's for God to decide he's already decided that he's calling you to it he's equipping you for it and as you learn to walk it out in faithfulness and God backs you up guess what happens people around you begin to see what your gifting is they will acknowledge your gifting and they will receive your gifting and that way the body of Christ begins to grow to maturity so here's what we're gonna do this morning as we draw this to a close I'm gonna ask you to stand again if you would please if you're comfortable with it again put out your hands we're gonna pray now but the Holy Spirit will just identify for us the places that he wants us to step into and to identify the places of our fear or hesitation that he wants us to acknowledge before him and that we can trust him to transform and change in our lives so father here we stand before you immensely odd that God is holy and as righteous and as self-sufficient as you are should have any desire at all to use us in your service often we feel that you're taking advantage of us maybe and we wonder you don't why me but Lord help us to understand that your heart is that you're raising a family of children and that you want to share the grandeur of your eternal purposes with each one of us so that we can have the joy of sharing in what it is that you're doing in the universe so that one day we can celebrate forever with you that incredible program of redemption that will culminate one day in a new heavens and a new earth so come Lord be at work in us to willing to work according to your good pleasure if there are places that we have not surrendered to you and put your finger on those places and make us wrestle with you or get the help that we need so that we can be wrestled to the ground in these spots and really surrender the deepest parts of our hearts to you and then Lord when you call us to step out on the water or when you call us to to do this or to do that or do the other thing help us not to have a false modesty help us with sober judgment to think according to the gifts that you have given us help us to embrace them know that we're responsible before you for them help us to not worry about what other people think or other people want but let your pleasure fall upon us in those spots and may we know what it is to have your wind in our sails and your breeze under our wings and then father so pour out your spirit of this community that you bond this together with the body of Christ each part working the way that it ought to be working so that your redemptive purposes can be realized in us and through us for a generation that is lost we confess that we're often more concerned about our comfort than we are about your purposes we care more about our immediate convenience that it is about a hurting world or even a hurting neighbor but Lord change us we just give you the right to change us burn out of our lives those things that are not holy and honest and good and true and give us joy unspeakable so that like Jesus for the joy that was said before him we can run with perseverance the race knowing that there is coming a day when there will indeed be a great awakening and when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father even so Maranatha come Lord [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:47:37.900; remove through 00:47:44.000] Jesus come quickly we pray it together in your name God's people [CUT] said amen [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:47:44.000; resume after this marked segment]