Embracing the Anointing of the Holy Spirit

In my sermon, I emphasized the importance of recognizing and utilizing the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I began by expressing gratitude for the countless blessings God has bestowed upon us, and the privilege we have to worship Him. I also acknowledged the influence of my parents, wife, friends, and former students in shaping who I am today. I then moved on to discuss the significance of sharing our testimonies, as they serve as a beacon of hope for those who are currently in the situations we once found ourselves in.

The main focus of the sermon was the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I explained that every Christian has the anointing, as it comes with accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. However, many of us are not operating in this anointing, living beneath the privilege God has given us. I defined the anointing as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, and emphasized the importance of the Holy Spirit in discerning God's will for our lives. I concluded by encouraging believers to rely on the Holy Spirit, rather than their own strength, to combat the devil and fulfill their God-given assignments.

Key Takeaways:
1. Every Christian has the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but many are not operating in this anointing. We must recognize and utilize this privilege. ([04:17 ])
2. The Holy Spirit is crucial in discerning God's will for our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, we can spend all the time we want in the word and still miss what God has for us. ([05:31 ])
3. We should rely on the Holy Spirit, not our own strength, to combat the devil. The devil becomes worried when we start walking in the anointing. ([10:27 ])
4. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is important not only for our lives but for the world. The world needs to see the hope that is in us. ([11:01 ])
5. The Holy Spirit is like God's search engine. It helps us to discern God's messages from Heaven and apply them to our lives. ([08:42 ])

Bible Reading:
1. Revelation 4:8-11 [17:57 ]
2. Luke 4:1-13 [09:21 ]
3. 1 John 2:20-27 [04:17 ]

Observation Questions:
1. In Revelation 4:8-11, what are the living creatures and the 24 elders doing and why?
2. In Luke 4:1-13, how does Jesus respond to the devil's temptations and why is this significant?
3. In 1 John 2:20-27, what does it mean to have an anointing from the Holy One and how does this relate to knowing the truth?

Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the worship of God in Revelation 4:8-11 reflect our understanding of His nature and character?
2. How does Jesus' use of scripture in Luke 4:1-13 demonstrate the importance of God's word in resisting temptation?
3. How does the anointing mentioned in 1 John 2:20-27 equip believers to discern truth from falsehood?

Application Questions:
1. How can you incorporate worship, like the creatures and elders in Revelation 4, into your daily life?
2. Reflecting on Luke 4:1-13, how can you better use scripture to resist temptation in your life?
3. Considering 1 John 2:20-27, how can you cultivate and rely on the anointing of the Holy Spirit to discern truth in your life?
4. Can you identify a situation in your life where you need the Holy Spirit's discernment to make a decision?
5. How can you demonstrate the hope and joy of Christ to someone in your life this week?

Day 1: Embrace the New You in Christ

When you accept Jesus, you become a new creation. The old self is laid down at the cross, and you rise to walk in the new life that the Lord has given you. This transformation should be evident to those around you, reflecting the profound change that has occurred within you ([03:05]).

2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Reflection: Reflect on the changes that have occurred in your life since accepting Jesus. How can you better demonstrate this transformation to those around you?

Day 2: Renew Your Mind Through the Holy Spirit

With the Holy Spirit in you, your thoughts are different. You no longer think the same way you used to. This renewal of the mind is a crucial aspect of your spiritual transformation ([03:41]).

Romans 12:2 - "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Reflection: How has the Holy Spirit influenced your thoughts and perspectives? In what ways can you further allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind?

Day 3: The Anointing of the Holy Spirit

Every Christian has the anointing of the Holy Spirit. However, many of us live beneath this privilege, not fully utilizing the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It's time to start operating in the anointing that the Holy Spirit has brought into our lives ([04:17]).

1 John 2:27 - "As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him."

Reflection: How can you better tap into the anointing of the Holy Spirit in your daily life?

Day 4: The Holy Spirit as Our Guide

The Holy Spirit is our guide, helping us discern what is right and understand God's will for our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, we can spend all our time in the Word and still miss what God has for us ([04:55]).

John 16:13 - "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

Reflection: Reflect on a recent decision or situation where you felt the Holy Spirit guiding you. How did you respond?

Day 5: The Power of the Anointing

The anointing of the Holy Spirit is so powerful that it not only affects us but also those around us. People in your life need to see the transformational spirit in you, which is made possible through the Holy Spirit ([20:04]).

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."

Reflection: How has the anointing of the Holy Spirit impacted those around you? How can you better allow the Holy Spirit to work through you to influence others?

What an honor it is to be here standing in front of you. God is so good all the time. If you’re new to church, you’ll get used to that. I have so much to be thankful for. There’s a song that says, “Count your blessings, naming them one by one.” It would take a thousand years because we would never be able to give thanks for everything that He has done for us. He is worthy of it all.

Those of you who come here, I hope you are understanding of the blessings and the privilege you have to come and worship. It is the most important thing that we can do—to give God praise. In every moment and opportunity that I have, that He’s been too good, I have to open my mouth and say, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.”

I want to give honor to my parents who are here—my mom, Linda Gordon, and my father, Dr. Samuel Gordon, are here. Thank you so much. I am who I am because of their leadership, their direction, their guidance, their support, their love, their correction, and their whooping. They have helped shape me. I know you can’t whoop kids today, but I’m just telling you, some of our kids need some whoopings on their behinds in the name of Jesus. So, thank you.

I want to give honor to my wife. I love you. Just give her a round of applause. Thank you. I learned how to treat a woman from my father, who was a godly man. He used to describe my mom as just an angel on loan, and that’s what my baby is to me. You’re just an angel on loan. I thank you for the support.

I have some friends here—Mike is here. I love you guys. Thank you so much for being here today. I also have some former students who are here. I love you guys. Thank you so much. You never know the impact that God is going to use in your life. You never know who needs to hear your testimony and how far God has brought you.

See, a lot of times we are ashamed of our past, but we have people who are living where we were, and they need to see that there is hope. The only way they see it is if you are saying, “This is where I used to be, and look where I am now.” That gives people hope that you can bring them with you. The way that we do that is through the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

I love this series that we are concluding—week one. It’s a brand new “All Access.” This is what we gain when we accept Jesus into our hearts. Week one, we talked about a new you. When you accept Jesus, people should be able to see a new person—that the old person has been laid down at the cross, and you get up and walk in that new deliverance that the Lord has given you.

Week two, we talked about a renewing of your mind. Not only is there a new you, but your thoughts are different when you have the Holy Spirit in you. You don’t think the same way that you used to. Week three, we talked about a covenant and the commitment that you make to Christ. I love week four—Pastor Johnson talked about a new love. And last week, we talked about the Holy Spirit.

We are going to conclude this series of “Brand New All Access” as we continue to talk about the Holy Spirit with the anointing. Come on now, we need the anointing in our lives. One of the things that I want to encourage all Christians is that you already have the anointing when you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit comes into your life, and He has the anointing. So, every Christian has the anointing.

The problem is that we are believing beneath that privilege that God has given us. We are not operating in the anointing which the Holy Spirit has brought into our lives. Today is the last day that we are living beneath our means.

The first thing I want to do is define it. The anointing is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. The indwelling means that the Holy Spirit lives and dwells inside of you. We talked about the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is so important that when Jesus died and He rose again, and He was getting ready to leave, He said, “I must leave in order for this Helper to come and save you.” The Helper is the Holy Spirit that we need in our lives.

But the Holy Spirit is so important that the Bible says that any sin can be forgiven except one. You can lie and cheat and steal and kill, and the Lord said, “I will forgive you.” But if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, that sin will not be forgiven. That’s how important it is for our lives. We need the Holy Spirit to be able to discern what is right, to be able to understand what God’s will is for our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, we can spend all the time we want in the Word, and we are going to miss what God has for us because we need the interpretation from the Holy Spirit, which is the anointing.

If you have your Bibles, open up to 1 John chapter 2, starting at 18. This is John’s warning: “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all knowledge. And I write to you not because you don’t know the truth, but because you know the truth, and there is no lie in the truth.”

Verse 26: “And I write these things because there are going to be those in the last day who are going to try to deceive you. But it is the anointing that you received from Him that abides in you, that you have no need for anyone to teach you. But it is the anointing that teaches you about everything, and it is true, and there is no lie, just as it has taught you. Abide in Him.”

The Holy Spirit is called the anointing, and this word speaks to the specific function of the Holy Spirit that we need in our lives—not just on Sundays or from time to time. I need the Holy Spirit in my life every single second of my life. The world is hard. Every step I take, it seems like the devil is trying to throw me off the path. It is the Holy Spirit that realigns me and keeps me on the path that God has for my life.

The problem is that we try to act and fight against the devil in the natural. We’re using our own strength and our own intellect and our own knowledge, and the Lord is saying, “You need my Holy Spirit in order to battle.” The problem is that we are still battling in a war that’s already been won on our behalf. We’re fighting against each other, we’re fighting against the church, we’re fighting against politics. The Bible is very clear: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities.” That means that there is spiritual warfare that is going on.

Before we are saved, we have like this veil that is over our eyes and over our ears and over our hearts and discernment, so we can’t see what the will of God is. We can’t hear what the Word is trying to teach us, and we don’t have discernment. But when you become a Christian and you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, the anointing comes into your life, and you’re able to see what God has for you. You’re able to hear what the preacher is telling you, and you’re able to discern what the Scriptures are telling you.

The Holy Spirit is like God’s search engine. God has messaging from Heaven that He wants to send to us, but it’s the Holy Spirit that’s already in us that discerns that. That means that we’re able to take God’s Word and apply it to our lives. So many times, we’re just reading the Scripture, reading the Scripture. We’re trying to understand it in our natural hearing and in our natural spirit, and we are forgetting that we need the Holy Spirit in order to discern what God has for us.

God is sitting in Heaven, and Jesus left to send the Holy Spirit to us to do God’s will on this Earth in our lives, and we need the anointing to be able to decipher what God has planned for us. If you have your Bibles, open up to Luke chapter 4. Jesus wanted to teach us how important the Holy Spirit is. When He got baptized, as we talked about last week, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, and that was important because soon after that, in verse 18, it says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who have been oppressed.”

Now, He wasn’t talking about a natural oppression; He’s talking about an oppression in our spirits and in our souls that the devil is trying to take us out. He’s saying, “You need the Holy Spirit in order to discern that.” Right after He got baptized, if you go back to chapter 4, verse 1, it says, “Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit.” It was in that moment that the devil came to tempt Him.

See, the devil’s not worried about you until you start walking in the Spirit. When you start walking in the anointing, then he becomes worried because he knows that you have an assignment and a job to do, and he’s trying to do anything he can to distract us from that assignment. Jesus said, “I just want to show you how important it is.”

See, the devil is going to attack us in the natural because we’re focused on the natural. That’s why we need God’s Spirit. When Jesus replied to the devil, He didn’t use the natural; He said, “It is written in God’s Word that you shall not tempt God.” He uses the Spirit. The problem is why we keep losing is we’re trying to use our natural strength to combat the devil, and the devil’s like, “As long as I can keep you out of that Word, as long as I can keep you from walking in that anointing, then I can keep other people from hearing about the good news.”

The anointing that is in us is important not only for our lives but for the world. The world needs to see hope that is in us. The world is searching for answers; they are searching for joy, and they need to be able to find it in the Christian. But not just a regular Christian. We’ve got people who’ve been going to church all their lives, not walking in the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes and changes you, it should be a difference.

Some of us have been saved; we have the Spirit in us, but we’re still walking like we ain’t never been saved in the first place. God is saying when the Holy Spirit comes, it should be a new you. Everybody should be able to see you walking brand new—that you have access to the Holy Spirit that changes your life. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit enters your human spirit, and your spirit was given to you so you can talk to God.

It is that indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your human spirit that is anointed, and your human spirit, which is now anointed by the Holy Spirit, lives inside of your soul. See, the soul that we have is our personhood. It is who we are. If you remove the soul, there is no life in the body. If you’ve ever gone to a funeral and you look at the body, it just looks like that person because that personhood is gone. That spirit and that soul are gone.

But when we have the Holy Spirit inside of our human spirit, it starts to fix our soul. The problem is that our soul has been infected by sin, and we need to make sure if we’re getting the right processing from the Lord that we need the Holy Spirit inside of our human spirit to tell us what to do and what to say and how to walk and what to see. We need to stop looking in the natural man’s spirit because our natural hearts can be deceived. The Bible says, “Who can know somebody’s heart? It is deceitful, and who can know it fully?”

That’s why I don’t rely on how I feel. I don’t rely on what I can see with my natural eyes. I need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to be able to say, “This is where I need to be. This is where I not need to be, and these are the people that I need to be around.” It gives us discernment as well. We need to be able to discern the Word of God.

You’ve been to church, and the preacher’s been up, and you’re like, “Something just isn’t sitting right.” You have to be able to say, “You know what? Just because the person is a preacher and they’re up here…” That’s why Pastor Keen said, “Search the Scriptures for yourself.” But in order to search the Scriptures and have an understanding, you need the anointing from the Holy Spirit to be able to say, “This is what God is trying to tell me to do.”

We need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We already have the anointing when you become a Christian. It’s already there. It is there to illuminate what is in our heart and shine bright what the Word of God is actually trying to say. But many of us, we have the Holy Spirit; we’ve got that light turned down low because the Holy Spirit is there to also convict us.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being told what to do. Sometimes the Holy Spirit, when that conviction is like a finger in your face saying, “You need to get your life right,” and you know you don’t need to be doing that. We turn it down real low because we’re not trying to hear that. But for some reason, when it comes to other people’s lives, we want to turn that light up bright. “Lord, if you would just save them and heal them, you need to work on them.” And the Holy Spirit is saying, “I’m trying to do that with you.”

I need the Holy Spirit in my life to be able to discern what God is trying to tell me to do. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, it says, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit that lives within you, and it was given to you by God. You are not your own.” You are not your own. There was a price that was paid for the Holy Spirit to come. Jesus had to die, and He sent us a Helper. It is our responsibility to walk in that anointing that Jesus paid that price for.

Too many of us are living beneath that authority. There is a power that comes with that anointing. Sometimes I’m in my prayer closet, and I don’t even know what to say, but the Holy Spirit says, “I’ll pray for you. I know what your spirit needs. I know what your heart needs. I will go before you and pray.” But we have to activate the Holy Spirit. We have that access that we are living beneath.

The word for me to you is today: no longer will we live beneath the means that God has given us. We will access the Holy Spirit every single step I take in my life. I need Him. God is saying, “I have divine revelation I want to give to you, but your eyes are not open.” The Holy Spirit takes that veil off, and we’re able to take a peek into that spirit world.

If you open up to Revelations 4, it says, “After this, I looked, and behold, a door was standing open to Heaven, and at the first voice which I heard speaking like a trumpet said, ‘Come here, and I will show you what must take place.’ And at once I was in the Spirit, and behold, there stood in Heaven.”

See, he got a glimpse of Heaven because he allowed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to take him there with the one sitting on the throne, who sat there and had the appearance of Jasper. And around the throne was a rainbow that appeared as an emerald. Skipping on to verse 8: “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, full of eyes, day and night, they never ceased to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’”

I’m going to say it again: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down on their faces before the throne, worshiping day and night. They would say, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. You created all things, and by your will they were created.”

When we have the anointing, that veil is taken off, and we’re able to see things in the supernatural. But we also have to understand that it gives us discernment of things that we should not be seeing. When I was a kid, I used to like horror movies. I don’t know why, but I used to watch these horror movies, and I remember I’d be trying to sneak and watch them, and my mom would walk in and say, “You better turn that TV off, letting these demons in my house.”

As a kid, I didn’t understand that. I’m like, “It’s just people playing; it’s not a real thing.” The devil is so good that he has taken the demonic and satanic and turned it into entertainment. But now, when I got the Holy Spirit and the anointing in my life, I turn that same thing on, and it’s a check in my spirit that just doesn’t seem right. That’s the Holy Spirit that we need.

It gives us discernment when we’re dealing with people. My soul is so sensitive; I can’t just let anybody speak a word of life over me. I need to be discerning. Whether it’s from the Scripture or actually from God, people be speaking all kinds of foolishness, and if we don’t have the Spirit, we’ll believe anything. The Lord done promised you a mansion and a Mercedes and a million dollars, and our flesh will take that and be like, “Yes, Lord, I received that word.” And then when it doesn’t come true, we blame God.

The Holy Spirit said, “I never told you that.” We need the discerning spirit in our lives to know if people who are saying, “Thus says the Lord,” that it actually came from the Lord. When people are speaking “Thus says the Lord” in your life, for the Lord gave you a word, it needs to be something that has already been confirmed in your spirit. This is not anything new. You need the anointing to be able to discern whether or not it’s from God or not.

It’s so important. It’s so important, but it is something that is free that you all already have. We just need to keep that switch up. We need to keep it bright. So every time I’m in a situation that I’m not supposed to be in, that light will say, “You shouldn’t be there. You shouldn’t be doing that.” I need to be able to take that veil off of my heart and my eyes and my ears to be able to hear what God is trying to say and be able to see things in the spirit world.

The anointing is so strong that it not only affects us but those around us. I’m going to have the worship team come. People need to hear God’s Word. God has a message that He wants to send to us through our spirit so I can send it to you. There are people in your lives that don’t know Jesus, and they need to hear it from you. There are people who won’t ever come to church unless you invite them. They need to be able to see a cleansing in your spirit and in your soul.

I don’t want people to look at me and be like, “That’s just an old luron.” When they look at me, they need to see a new spirit—a transformational spirit in my life. God wants to do that for you, but you have to be able to access the Holy Spirit in your life—something that you already have. God is saying, “Just keep that light up, and I’ll show you everything that you need to see. I’ll reveal everything that you need to know.”

I spend too much time in this Scripture not to know what God is trying to teach me. I’m in this Word every single day, and I wonder how much of my life I’ve wasted in my spiritual growth. See, I feel good about myself when I’m in God’s Word. I’m like, “You know, there’s something I check off the box.” But I’m not reading for understanding, not reading for discernment. God has a word not only for my life but for those who are in my life.

When I was in high school, our family used to have family prayer. I used to tell people, “We’ve got to get to family prayer.” I remember the power from those rooms of the people praying. My grandfather is almost 94 years old, and him and my father would get together and pray so hard. I would be in there scared, like they were calling down Heaven. I’m like, “Not the whole Heaven, Jesus! Lord, I’m scared!” As a kid, you know what I’m talking about.

1. "A lot of times we are ashamed of our past but we have people who are living where we were and they need to see that there is hope and the only way they see it is if you are saying this is where I used to be and look where I am now that gives people hope that you can bring them with you." - 00:01

2. "Every Christian has the anointing. The problem is is that we are believing beneath that privilege that God has given us that we are not operating in the anointing which the Holy Spirit has brought into our lives." - 02:55

3. "There's people in your life that need the holy spirit in you that can illuminate and show them that they need it. No longer will I live beneath my means. God has a calling on my life and a plan that is perfect and you have a holy spirit living in you that is perfect. Allow him to work." - 22:39

4. "There are people who won't ever come to church unless you invite them. They need to be able to see a cleansing in your spirit and in your soul. I don't want people to look at me and be like that's just an old luron when they look at me they need to see a new spirit, a transformational spirit in my life." - 19:57

5. "God has a word not only for my life but those who were in my life. When I was in high school I used to our family used to have uh family prayer. I used to tell people we got to get to family prayer and I remember the power from those rooms of the people praying." - 19:57