Preserving Your Oil: Embracing the Holy Spirit

As he goes to the Lord, he says, "Lord, I have sinned against you." He repents and turns back to God. God says, "I'm gonna forgive you, and I'm gonna restore you, and I'm gonna give you a second chance."

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David had a revelation from the Lord that that which feels insignificant is actually development. David was anointed with oil, but he did not move into the palace that day. Instead, he went back out to the pasture to be a shepherd and he counted sheep.

What a weird place to be in when you have a big calling from God or you have a deep sense of assignment or you have a God dream that's been birthed on the inside of you, but you look at your life and if you were to testify about it or describe it, you would say a lot of my life feels like I'm counting sheep; feels monotonous, feels boring, feels insignificant.

David had committed some serious sins; he had a man murdered and he had an affair. He repented before God, but out of his repentance, we get the indication of his heart. The word of God says that out of the heart the mouth speaks.

Out of all the things that David could say in this moment of failure, he doesn't say, "God, don't take my palace, God, don't take my crown, God, don't take my success or my wealth." His prayer is one thing: "God, don't take your spirit from me, don't take my oil." Because if he didn't have oil, he didn't have power, and if he did have oil, he didn't care how much stuff he lost on this side of eternity.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, he's the one who brought it the first time. Come on, somebody, he'll bring it a second time.

But when David gets anointed that day and the spirit of God comes upon him, sometimes we don't recognize that in God's words, things don't happen always as quickly as we read them. Many of us right now have been anointed and called, but we're in a season of waiting. Just because we're waiting doesn't mean we should waste that season. God wants to develop something inside of us.

We've leaned into the forward motion of the story, we've leaned into the life of David and his anointing and his oil. But David is the second king of Israel, meaning there was a first king of Israel.

And I thought today, on the last time I preach around oil till next year, that we would look at David's predecessor, Saul. Saul definitely had his oil taken, Saul definitely wasted his oil, and eventually Saul lost his oil.

That's how the text picks up that Samuel the prophet of God is mourning over the fact that God has rejected Saul as king. Why is he mourning? Well, because he's been pastoring and mentoring and leading Saul, and now Saul has finally gone past the point of no return and God says, "I'm moving on to someone else."

They're in that place of mourning. God comes and speaks to the prophet and says, "How long you going to mourn over what I rejected?"

Just want to encourage some people with a prophetic word right now that some of you don't realize that everything about your future is not behind you, it's actually in front of you, and you can't move forwards looking backwards. I know some pain happened, I know there's some disappointment, I know there's some loss, but the word of God says that God will bring it a second time.

Today, let's look backwards and discover what happened in Saul's life. Saul, the first king of Israel, did not lose his oil overnight, but rather he leaked it over time. You don't lose oil, you leak oil.

When God rejected Saul, He had another plan. This is what I love about God because the faith journey I'm on is a path and I can't clearly see always where I'm walking, but you have to know deep down in your heart that although I do not understand the path, I can firmly believe that God has a plan.

Anybody grateful that God has a plan should move forward, because your future is in front of you, not behind you. Samuel had chosen another in the house of Jesse, but rather than go forwards, let's look backwards and see why Samuel is mourning.

It's kind of funny, because it's like the whole outside looks good, but in all that work, no one addressed the oil. Your faith needs the oil of the Holy Spirit to ignite, to move forward, to make progress.

The problem with leaking oil is that typically you don't know you're leaking oil until you have a mess on your hands. Some of y'all, it's like you're like, "That's why I'm at, bro," it's like, "Boom, the affair, boom, the addiction, boom, rehab destruction."

It's not until you get the mess that you realize, "Wait a minute, something was happening, there was leaking taking place, leaking along the way."

When you study the life of Saul, what you will find out really quickly is that he didn't just lose oil, he was leaking oil somewhere on his journey. He stopped leading and he was leaking.

Maybe you're here in this room today to stop mourning over the thing that God has rejected and to remember that God has another plan. Saul was the first king of Israel and his journey is described in the Bible. From the very beginning, it is evident that Saul operated from a place of insecurity.

This insecurity was a leak from the inside, not something that started on the outside. Insecurity is something that needs to be addressed in our lives. We can see this in Saul's life as it progresses and he loses his oil and is rejected by God. Samuel mourns over this leader that he had raised up.

God's word will back up many of the things that we can learn from Saul's life. The first thing that we need to address in our lives is the leak of insecurity. We can also see that Saul was full of jealousy, rage, and anger.

It is important that on our journey of faith walking with God, we address the leaks in our life. We don't want our spirit to escape from our life and we don't want to realize that we have been leaking. Let's look at Saul's life and learn from it so that we can avoid the same mistakes.

You can look the part but not be the part. Saul looks the part, but he's not the part. Samuel says, "I'm having dinner with you tonight and the donkeys you're looking for, you're gonna find them tomorrow."

So Saul goes back to his father and he says, "I found the donkeys." His father says, "How did you find them?" And Saul says, "A man of God told me." His father says, "What did he look like?" And Saul says, "He was an old man wearing a robe." His father says, "That's Samuel, that's the prophet of God."

Saul was sent on an assignment to find his father's donkeys. When he arrived at a town, he was looking for a seer who could help him. Instead, he encountered the prophet Samuel. Samuel looked at Saul and began to bless him, saying that he would find the donkeys the next day.

Saul went back to his father and told him what had happened. His father realized it was Samuel, the prophet of God. Samuel had told Saul that he was having dinner with him that night and that the donkeys would be found.

Saul looked the part, standing a whole head taller than everyone else and being gifted and skilled. However, Samuel knew that Saul was not the part.

This story reminds us of Romans chapter one, where the creation starts worshiping the created things instead of the creator. One of the worst things that God can do in our lives is give us what we want. We may think that people in our lives are rejecting us, but we need to go deeper and realize that it is the God on the inside of us that is being rejected.

And I'm like, "Bro, I'm open." And he's like, "I don't see you." And I'm like, "Bro, I'm open." And he's like, "I don't see you." And I'm like, "Bro, I'm open." And he's like, "I don't see you."

We come to church and the pastor gets up and speaks a good word over your life, sows a good word into your life, but the sowing is not the problem. The soil is not the pastor in the pulpit; more often than not, it's the person in the pew.

Because I don't care how good the word is, if the ground is not receptive, if the ground will not believe it, if the ground will not catch it, nothing is going to flourish from it. So you can come and get all the words you want in the world, but if you don't believe that word, it has no power in your life.

One of the greatest things you have to learn in life is how to catch a word from God and then carry a word with you from God. I remember when we first started food church, and some of y'all would have probably been around. We used to play flag football and we would go out to play flag football.

We called a bunch of guys up, and like you know, like you call a bunch of middle-aged men or guys past their prime, people get serious, you know, it's flag football. I would go over to the sporting goods store and once again, just like my Jeep, I addressed the part.

Okay, I came out with wristbands, chains on, black under my eye, I wore gloves. Gloves, okay? Gloves for flag football. I looked good. I had cleats on. What's up?

And I was playing with my brother-in-law Dakota, who played college football. He was a quarterback in high school, and we started playing. It's so funny when you play flag football with a bunch of guys; it doesn't matter.

There's one quarterback and then everybody else is playing wide receiver, and everybody is mad at the quarterback like, "Bro, you didn't see me! I'm wide open! Hit me with The Rock!"

I'm just a Benjamite. Now, you don't know me, man. I'm the least. He said, "Now I'm looking at the next king of Israel." Nah, nah, you don't know me, bro. Insecurity is robbing him of a blessing.

We see from the beginning of Saul's story the leak of insecurity because here comes a good word, but what is Saul's response? Saul responds, "Who are you talking to? Do you know who you're talking to? My tribe is the tribe of Benjamin; that's the least in all the tribes of Israel. And not only that, my clan is the least of all the clans. I don't think you know who you're talking to."

This man is trying to bless him, but his insecurity is robbing him of a blessing. Here's a good word from God, but the good word has fallen upon bad soil.

I wonder how many of you know this. I was like, "I'm just a Benjamite, I'm from the weakest clan," just spewing his insecurity. Then Samuel shows up and says, "No, no, let me get the oil. Has not the Lord given you, you're his leader, his inheritance?"

Samuel gives him clear instructions, "Go home tomorrow. It was going to happen on your way home. You're going to encounter some men; they're going to feed you because God's gonna bless you and hook you up. You're going to find those donkeys you've been looking for, and also you're going to see a group of men prophesying. You're going to join the chorus of prophecy and you too will prophesy."

In fact, I want you to see it, First Samuel chapter 10, verse 6: "The spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power." Those of you who are part of our church, this is exactly what it says in First Samuel chapter 16 with David.

David's not better than Saul; David is not more gifted than Saul; David wasn't more chosen than Saul. When the spirit comes upon you, he comes upon you in power.

I watch this and you will prophesy. That's a gift of the spirit with them, and your whole life will be changed, and you will become a different person. You will be changed into a different person; you will be transformed; you won't be the same.

Once these signs are fulfilled, this is a word someone's going to catch this word today, someone's about to carry this word. I might not see you for a year, but you're about to catch this word, carry this word. It's gonna be the greatest setup. I'm telling you this is important.

Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever—someone say whatever—do whatever you're told to do. No matter what you do, God is with you. That's one of the wildest scriptures I've read in six months because so many people get so caught up in worrying about God's will.

They think they'll make a mistake if they choose the wrong path. But that's not true. The only way to be a completely different person is to be born again. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

This isn't just a descriptive moment from Saul's life; it's the same thing that happened in your life when you met Jesus. The oil of the Holy Spirit fell upon your life in power, and now the word of God comes to you and says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it, for the Lord is with you."

This is a good word because I meet people who are so worried about failing that they don't even try. But if you understand this passage and know who you are in Jesus, you won't be paralyzed by fear. You'll recognize that if God is for you, who can be against you?

Psalm 1 says, "Whatever he does prospers." Don't chase prosperity; let it chase you. A lot of people talk about God's will, but they're really talking about their own insecurity.

I'm not saying you can do whatever you want, but I am saying that you are a new creation, a son or daughter of God. You have your Father's DNA, so don't let your insecurity limit you. Catch this word and run with it.

You are not your family, your tribe, your zip code, your city, your neighborhood, your school, your title, your education, your mistakes, or your failures. You are a child of God. Chosen by God, you've been reborn, and whatever your hand does, when it's done unto the Lord, God will be with you.

Oil is powerful, and the Holy Spirit in you is more than enough. First Samuel chapter 10 tells the story of Saul being announced as king. He's already had the miracle of finding the donkeys, but he's got oil on his head, and they line up all the tribes of Israel and they go one by one.

They get to the tribe of Benjamin, then they go through all the clans of Benjamin, and they finally get to Saul's clan, and they finally announce Saul. Where is Saul? He is hiding in the baggage, insecurity.

God's trying to announce and promote you, help you, but insecurity will leave you hiding. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, true, but not if you don't believe it. You don't have a word problem; more often, you've got a soil problem.

We can look the part but not be the part. What happens with the leak of insecurity is that it gives way and leaks. They don't get better on their own; they get worse. They'll get smaller; they get bigger, and the leak of insecurity will always move into the thirst for approval.

You just look at the life of Saul; his insecurity gives way to a thirst. He's dehydrated for attention; he longs for the approval of people. We're all thirsty, real thirsty, and the problem is that when you get real thirsty, if you get thirsty enough, you'll drink anything in the fridge.

It's like, "Yeah, yeah, that was thirst." What are we thirsty for? Attention, notice me, see me, hear me, feel me, you will know my name. We're posing, wearing stuff to get the like, projecting something to get the approval.

Saul feared people more than he feared God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's very, very true. We can keep playing with social media; some of you all are not called to dance, but TikToks made us.

This is the only way to be relevant. Oh, like you're a car salesman; you don't have to dance to sell that car, bro. But we're posing, wearing stuff to get the like, projecting something to get the approval.

In the scripture, it is said that the fear of man is the beginning of destruction. We live in a world right now that is so afraid of being unpopular. Where are the leaders? Where are the truth tellers? Where are the men and women not living out of convenience but living out of conviction?

You cannot fear man and fulfill your God-calling. I'm not saying to be annoying and to not get feedback; I'm just saying there has to be some gumption, some internal strength, and some conviction that I am not on this Earth to please people. I am on this Earth to live for the audience of one.

I could do a lot of teaching around the thirst for approval because we've all fallen into it. I've fallen into it, but one of the clear ways that you know you're thirsty for approval is when you try to take other people's credit.

Jonathan, the son of Saul, goes out and defeats the Philistines. Saul issues a decree, "Saul has defeated the Philistines." Not true, bro, your son did it, but you are so thirsty for the people to think that you're a big deal, you can't even honor your own son.

You're trying to get something from your son. That's the moment you know you stop being a father, by the way, is when you need your children more than they need you. You can't parent if you need that more than they need you. That's not what a daddy does.

But here's this guy who wants to steal even his son's honor and his son's success and take it for himself. But it's the same thing like a leaking faucet; it doesn't get better on its own; it gets worse.

So he goes from taking his boy's credit to eventually that thirst for approval will not be quenched with the applause of man. So they applaud; it's all going, "Look at Saul, man, the Philistines are afraid of him," until this giant named Goliath shows up on the scene.

Now once again, the real Saul shows up, paralyzed by fear, unwilling to fight, unwilling to step up, unwilling to go to the battle lines, until a young boy named David shows up. He says, "I'll fight him."

He's fighting him because Saul is unwilling to fight. But watch what happens; David serves Saul. That's what I want you to see; he serves Saul's mission and vision.

But watch what happens; it moves beyond stealing credit and it moves into a place that you're trying to crush people who get the credit. See, if you don't get better in life, you'll just become critical of people who do.

First Samuel chapter 18, verse 6: "When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, with instruments. As they danced, they sang, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David is tens of thousands.'"

Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?"

And from that time on, Saul kept a close eye on David. Now it wasn't just about getting credit; it was about taking out his opponent.

A lot of us are living in a time where we're so afraid of people. We can't lead people if we're afraid of them. We can't lead people if we're unwilling to be unpopular.

If we want to be popular, we should sell ice cream or get a cotton candy machine. But if we're going to step into the mission that God has for us, it's not that we're looking for fights; it's just that the spirit of God on the inside of us is going to disrupt the culture around us.

What can so happen to so many people is that leaders who get a calling from God can start out with such purity that they have a call to care for people. But if we're not careful, our care for people can turn into our need for people.

We can't live for people's praise because we will always die by their criticism. The reason why the criticism and the rejection hurt us so much is because we love the praise so much.

We have to, as a man of God, say, "Lord, I'm living for the audience of one. Remind me who you said that I am." God has totally transformed us, and anything our hand touches, He will be with us. So receive and carry that word.

We have to address what we're thirsty for. People cannot quench that thirst. The like button won't quench it; the metrics won't quench it. It's a thirst that only God can fulfill and satisfy.

We have to love the people we lead. That's such a word. Even at our job, we should ask God to give us a love for our boss.

Saul had gone to Ca'an, and when Samuel got there, Saul said to him, "Blessed be you of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord."

And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle that I hear?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed."

Holy Spirit, you should be praying weird prayers, but my boss is a jerk, I know. You're called to love him and lead him, but he's my boss, I know. You're a follower of Jesus; you can't watch, you can't leave, you don't love.

Which, by the way, would heal our nation because you can't just love one party and despise the other. I'm a Democrat; all Republicans. I'm a Republican; all Democrats. We're never going to lead people if we don't say, "God, birth in me a love for people."

Watch this, but if I'm afraid of you, see, the fear of God is not being scared of God; the fear of God is an awe and a reverence of God. And if I'm afraid of you, I won't love you.

I'm not afraid of my wife; I respect my wife. Well, I should say, the Bible says perfect love. Now that I love you, I can give you the truth. Now that I love you, even though I disappoint you and even though you might not think I'm popular, I'm not thirsty for your approval; I've already got it from him.

And now I'm in a place that I'm strong from the inside out. It's the leak of insecurity that gives way to the thirst for approval, but lastly, it culminates with the hole of compromise, and ultimately Saul is rejected by God for his disobedience.

How do you lose your oil? One compromise at a time. How'd you find yourself getting into that affair? One compromise at a time. How did you find yourself getting addicted to that bottle? One compromise at a time. How'd you find yourself completely wrapped up in pornography? One compromise at a time.

One compromise at a time. The scripture says that God sends a word through the prophet, the seer Samuel. First Samuel chapter 15. Samuel comes and says, "I want you to go and defeat the Amalekites."

God gives a word; he says destroy all of them, all the livestock, the king, everybody. Saul goes in and gets the word of God. As he goes in, he doesn't kill everybody; he kills most everybody, but he spares the king, spares livestock.

All the parents in the house know this to be true: partial obedience is still disobedience. Just like delayed obedience, moms and dads, you don't talk about one; don't do the two and three-quarters thing, bro. They've already disobeyed; they haven't learned the lesson yet. It's disobedience.

God is not a partial obedience God; he's a total radical surrender God. He's not a "don't mess up" God, "don't fail" God; he's just a God that says when you do fail, when you do mess up, be totally honest about it.

I messed up; that was David. David messed up most likely worse than anybody in this room has. One of his own employees murdered, takes the man's wife, acts like it's not a big deal, gets confronted by God, and what does he do? He repents.

"Don't take my oil." Saul kills most everyone, but not everyone. The Bible says that Samuel comes looking for him. This is good, First Samuel chapter 15, verse 12: "Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told Saul has gone to Ca'an."

Saul had gone to Ca'an, and when Samuel got there, Saul said to him, "Blessed be you of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord."

And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle that I hear?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed."

Saul has set up a monument in his own honor, showing how self-absorbed he is. He is disobeying God and is so aloof and unaware that he is taking time to build a monument of himself.

Insecurity can lead to hiding in the baggage or building monuments on mountains to yourself. When we start living a life of compromise, we are not after God's glory.

Samuel comes and confronts Saul, and it is clear that Saul is full of himself. He tries to debate a prophet, but God will always win. Saul admits that he kept some of the livestock because he wanted to offer sacrifices to God, but God does not need our help. He wants our obedience.

God tells Saul through Samuel that rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. He has rejected Saul from being king because he has rejected the word of the Lord.

God does not need rams and effort and sacrifice; he simply desires obedience. Saul's insecurity has led to a thirst for approval, which has birthed a hole of compromise, and the oil and the anointing and the touch has leaked out.

Today, we must remember that we will leak in life, but somebody who can fill us up and give us the oil and the anointing and the touch that we need.

We all need the Holy Spirit to refresh us, restore us, and replenish us. Have you ever been in bed, ready to fall asleep, when you suddenly hear a leak? You think to yourself, "What is that? I just got in bed!"

You know you have to get up and address the leak, so you search for it and put some effort into fixing it. Finally, you get the leak to stop, and you can go back to bed.

But sometimes, you can live with a leak for so long that you don't even hear it. It's like you get complacent with it. You don't realize that it's not getting better by itself; you have to address it.

What are the cracks and leaks in your life? You don't lose oil overnight; it's a gradual process. It's like the Holy Spirit works in our life. We have to take the time to get quiet and remove the busyness of our life.

Then, we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit like a leaking faucet, dripping of His voice. God is rich in mercy and slow to anger. Saul became king at 38 and ruled for 42 years. He didn't lose oil overnight, but for 42 years the voice of God was showing up.

We need to take the time to listen and address the leaks in our life. On your own, you need an impartation of My Holy Spirit. Saul, you know you're thirsty for approval; you're not going to fix that on your own.

You need to abide in the person of the Holy Spirit. Saul, you compromised again today? You're compromising; that doesn't get better on its own. You need the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

For 42 years, I don't know if it was like rushing waters, but maybe it was like a leaking faucet. And what I know in my life, a voice of the Holy Spirit will speak to you. He's slow; he's patient; he'll point some stuff out.

And at some point, you got to get up out of the bed, and you gotta heed the word of God, and you have to obey it and come back to your first love and allow Him to heal, seal, mend every crack of your life.

Come on, if you believe it, can you go ahead and give God a big shout of praise? Come on, don't lose your oil this summer. Come on, somebody give God a big shout of praise. Don't lose your oil.

Hey, this is Rich and Don Sheree Wilkerson, and we want to say thank you so much for watching and engaging with today's content. Maybe today you want to make the decision to follow Jesus. Why don't you pray this prayer with me?

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We're celebrating with you the decision that you've made, and we want to walk this journey out alongside you.

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