Because of the Anointing

 

God protects His anointing, not for the great things we will do for the kingdom, but because of His great love for us. All the things we want to do to honor Him and to bring glory to His name are not as important to God as His desire, simply, for our presence with Him.

Text:  Isaiah 10:24  ²⁴ ‍Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. ‍ ²⁵ ‍For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.‍ ²⁶ ‍And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.‍ ²⁷ ‍And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.^[1]

The course of history will be radically changed in the near future because of the anointing.

The stage is set, the die is cast, the necessary set of circumstances has evolved for our church to have mighty revival because of the anointing.

It is God’s timing:  our people are unified.  There is passion and faith coupled with anticipation.  Our church is settled in its beliefs.  We are committed to the doctrine!  God’s holiness is still our bench mark.  We understand that all men are lost outside of truth, and that God has entrusted into our care the responsibility of promoting this glorious message to Richmond.

It has dawned on us that the harvest is ripe and ready, and most recently there is an awareness that we truly believe that we can make a difference.

Because of this there is a ground swell, a momentum that is apparent.  This wave is building with such velocity that those who stand before it are conscious of its irresistible force because of the anointing.

For Calvary United Pentecostal Church, our 2004 theme will be:  “Because of the Anointing”

Why?  Because we have been predestined for this hour!  The hunger and openness of men and women to this Biblical revelation can only be summed up as being divinely orchestrated by God.

The stage is set because of the anointing.  The world around us is searching and looking for answers, peace, solutions to their dilemmas, and confident leadership.  Unrest within, uncertainty without, and the fear of the unknown has made the future dim.  It is the hour that waits for the man of peace-  and people will either turn to the false man of peace, the man of sin, the antichrist, or they will turn to the real man of peace, the true Christ, Jesus Christ!  Because of the anointing we can help the world make the right choice.  Never before since the birth of the New Testament church as recorded in Acts 2 has the hour held more excitement and promise than the present!

I am speaking to every saint of God right now who wants to make a difference in your world:  can I boldly tell you tonight that it is impossible to have the kind of fruit and  results that we all want without the genuine and rich anointing of the Spirit.  The harvest is available indeed, but we must be anointed and that is why this new year we will focus on becoming more anointed than ever!

I want everyone here tonight to know that you can be anointed if you love Jesus Christ will all of your heart.  The anointing is not something that you cannot attain.  God has made His anointing available to all who will consecrate!

Jesus Christ came as the anointed Messiah!  Even Jesus depended upon the anointing.

Isaiah 61:1   ¹ ‍The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;‍ ² ‍To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;‍ ³ ‍To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.‍

⁴ ‍And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.‍ ⁵ ‍And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.‍ ⁶ ‍But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God:^[2]

Jesus Christ did not hold the anointing selfishly all to himself!  Jesus wants you to be anointed!

Because of the anointing, we will march into 2004 with confidence, knowing that the Lord will go before us.

Because  of the anointing, there is an  open door for a fresh harvest in 2004.

In 2003, we focused on drawing closer to Jesus.  We have seen some very good progress in this area with morning prayer meetings and a new men of Vision prayer meeting added that has proven to be a success.  Now in 2004 we will take this personal progress and apply it to our communities!

Personal and unified soul winning will become a priority for every saint of our church in 2004.

Do you want to be extremely blessed in your life?  It will happen as you respond to the anointing of God on your life and minister to your family and friends.

Because of the anointing we can all make a huge difference in this hour in which we live!

Any great thing we accomplish is going to be accomplished by the anointing of God. Anointing breaks the yoke and causes us to prevail.

Habakkuk 3:13 says:  ¹³ ‍Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. ^[3]

Our text in Isaiah 10:27 tells us that the anointing breaks the yoke off the neck.

Verse ²⁷ ‍And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.^[4]

Linking the principals of Habakkuk 3:13 and Isaiah 10:27 we see a connection with these verses dealing with the neck.  The Lord said that He would break the yoke off the neck.

What did God say that He would do to His and your enemy’s in Habakkuk?

“thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck.”!

Why is the neck so important?  Because without a healthy neck, the head cannot function properly!  That is why the devil wants to place yokes upon the necks of God’s people!  The devil hates your anointing, but God will increase it and there is nothing the devil can do about it!!!!!!!!!

When we are anointed, we have absolutely nothing to fear because that yoke has already been broken off our necks because of the anointing!

Communion:

 

I firmly believe that as we prepare to take communion tonight that the Spirit of the Lord is going to give us a new and fresh anointing both individually and as a church body (especially as a body!)

In considering the incredible sacredness of communion tonight, I want to ask all of us here one simple question:  Are you   prepared?  Are you prepared to take communion, and are you prepared for the anointing  to come upon you as we together enter a brand new year?

I Corinthians 11:²³For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: ²⁴And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. ²⁵After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. ²⁶For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. ²⁷Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. ²⁹For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. ³⁰For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

According to this  passage of scripture we must prepare ourselves to properly take the Lord’s Supper. We must examine our lives, and our commitment to the Lord. We must repent of those areas in our life that God convicts us about, and we must prepare our hearts to be one with God.

Repentance was an involved process in the early church. Sin was seen not as a personal matter but as something that destroyed the unity of the church.

In the first century, the Lord’s Supper included not only the bread and the cup but an entire meal. As part of the meal, neighbors who had quarreled made peace again.

We must make some preparation in our lives if we are to truly appreciate the beauty of this celebration.

Prepare Yourself for Walking in Christ

Self-examination is an important duty for the Christian. One that we must not lay aside or otherwise diminish. It is how we gauge our walk with Christ. We use self examination to give us a “soul-check” if you will. It’s so important to our walk with the Lord that Paul addresses it in 2 Corinthians 13:5:

2 Corinthians 13:5 (KJV)
⁵Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

We need self-examination because without it we will deceive ourselves because of a lack of accountability. We must remember to whom we are accountable.

Right now we are going to seek the Lord that the search light of His Spirit would shine upon us right now:

Pray with me:

Lord, we come before your presence right now, for you are already here:  we praise you because you are faithful to invite us into that holy place with you.  Lord, with that understanding tonight, we ask you to purge our hearts and minds of anything that is not pleasing to you.  We ask you to purify our souls with that most precious blood and your excellent Spirit even right now tonight.  Forgive us as we forgive any and all who may have wronged us this year.  Keep us from evil in 2004, in the name of Jesus Christ we ask, amen.

As the ushers are coming right now to serve you communion we ask that you all come by rows, starting with the back rows, please come down the center isle and form a single line and return to your pew when you have received your bread and cup.

Actual communion:

 

Once again, the scripture says:  ²⁴And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

If you would now take the bread with me.

²⁵After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

And now please take the cup with me.

Let us all usher in the New Year with our worship right now and rejoice because He Has Heard our prayers