It's Not How, It's Who: The Anointing and the Authority of the Kingdom

Well, friends, we launched a new series last week that we're calling fullness. Everyone say fullness. Fullness. It's what you're designed to be. God wants you to experience the fullness of who he is. In fact, this is the way Paul prayed it to the Ephesian church. He He says, "May you may may you be filled with all the fullness of God. May you know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and may you be filled with the fullness of God. God did not design you so that you would know some of who he is. God did not design you so that you would live a part of of a Christian life. God wants you to experience the fullness. He wants you to be filled with the fullness of him. And this is absolutely possible. There are so many people in the world today that

are walking around living a powerless life even though they know who Jesus is. And what we want to ask God to do is to change us to shape us so that we would have the fullness of who he is in our lives. And we started off this series by looking at the keys of the kingdom. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is talking with his followers, his students, and he asked, "Who do people say that I am?" And Peter said, "You are the Christ. You're the anointed one. Peter said, you are the son of the living God. And Jesus said, Peter, you didn't get this from man. You got this from God. And then Jesus says, I will build my church. And even the gates of hell won't prevail. We know that the church is God's idea. It's not man's idea. Jesus is going to do this and we get to be a part of it. And then he says in Matthew 16:1 19, he

says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom." I will give you the keys of the kingdom. The keys are the promises of God, the precepts, the truths of God, the commandments of God. Keys are only good if you use them. And Jesus says, I will give you the keys and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Last week, we had one point to the message. It was this. Everything is easy for Jesus. Everything is easy for Jesus. Meaning this. Either Jesus is God or he's not. And many people say he's God, but they certainly don't live like it. That's because he's given us the keys, but we're not operating in it. We're not using the promises. We're not using the truth. We're not using what God's given us. So today, I want to continue this idea of fullness and this this picture

of the kingdom. And by the way, when we reference a kingdom, it means that there's a way to live life. Jesus is the king and he has a kingdom. There's the opposite as well. There's the kingdom of this world and there's the prince of this world which we'll look at more. And we left off last week with Matthew chap 28. These are the last words that Matthew records of Jesus life. And he says in Matthew 28 starting with verse 18, "And Jesus came and said to them, all authority," everyone shout all. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now that's an audacious claim. Jesus says he has authority over the spiritual realm and the physical realm. He he has all authority. Now either you will take Jesus at his word or you will not. I don't know why we come up with some other conclusion other than who who Jesus says he is. But Jesus either has

all authority or he does not. And if he does have all authority, he sends us out on a great commission. It's a co-mission. He's he's going to send you out on mission, but you're not going to do it alone. He says this in verse 19. Go. Therefore, so since he has all authority, he says you cannot stay where you are. You have to go. Everyone say go. Go. God wants you to go. Don't stay where you are. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So, what we saw last week when someone steps forward in baptism, they're saying, "I have an allegiance to Jesus Christ. I follow him and what he's done for me. He died. He was buried. And he rose from the grave. And that's the God I follow.

That's the one I choose to live for. He says, "Go make disciples, baptizing them." And then he says this in verse 20, "Teaching them to observe all." Say, "All all that I have commanded you." Now, if we could just stop here for a moment. I've been in the church a long time. I don't necessarily see this in the church. We like to teach what we want to hear. He said, "Teach them to observe what? Some of what I've commanded." No, no, no. All y'all got it right. Now, Jesus said some hard stuff. He said, "Love your enemies. Pray for your enemies." He said, "Listen, if you even think about somebody lustfully, you're committing adultery. You hate somebody in your heart, you're committing murder." He said some hard stuff and we put it into practice.

Practically he said, "What I do, you can do. You'll do greater thing than these. You'll cast out unclean spirits. You'll heal the sick." Jesus said, "I want you to teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, Jesus says, this is why it's a commission, a great commission. You don't do this alone." Jesus said, "Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." I believe it's time for us to take God serious. to take him at his word. It's time for us to stop living in the past. It's time for us to stop even staying right where we are, but it's time for us to go. It's time for us to take God at his word. And if you want to receive all that God has for you, it's yours. It does not matter what your age is.

Doesn't matter what you did last night or last week or last year. It matters right now in your heart. Do you want to take Jesus serious? We're not here to play games. This is not a religion. I'm not calling you to follow some rules. I'm calling you into the relationship, a living relationship with Jesus to acknowledge what he says. That if you're going to take him at his word, you're going to experience the fullness of God, not some of God. He is not the great I was. He is the great I am. And he's either going to meet you in your needs right now and meet you in your mess. and he's going to take you to where you are to where he wants you to be or he's not. So, you're either going to take the keys and start using them or you're not. There's no in between. We got to stop having one foot in the world

and one foot in heaven. We We got to determine today, I want heaven right here on earth. I'm going to start praying it. I'm going to start putting it into practice and I'm going to take Jesus at his word. And so many of us are missing out on what God wants for us because we hear the promises of God, but we don't know how to live out the promises of God. How? How do you do this? How? That's a fair question. How? If you're asking that question, I want this. I just don't know how. I'll tell you, it's not exactly natural. It's like going to the gym for the first time. It's not easy. You've got to determine and decide, I'm going to do it. And when you go into the gym, it feels awkward. It's difficult. You don't know how to use the equipment. You feel a little embarrassed.

You work out hard enough. The next day you're really sore and everything inside of you will say, "Don't do it again." So it is with a spiritfilled life. If you really want the fullness of God, you're going to have to grow into this. But you got to determine today because if you keep going to the gym, here's what happens. You get healthier. You get stronger. You build up habits so much so that you got to keep going back to keep this up because you don't want to go back to your old self. But you got to decide today, do do I want to do it or not? And if you want to do this, it's yours. So the title of today's message is this. I I believe it's the longest title I've ever had. It's going to explain where we're going with the message, and it might be new language to some of you. Here's the title of today's message. How to operate in the authority

of the kingdom. And then I also gave it a subtitle. The anointing makes the difference. Let me put it this way. If you need a more Dr. Seuss title. It's not about how, it's about who. It's not how, is who. It's not how is who. Dr. Seuss would be proud. It's not how is who. So, if you need a shorter title, it's not how is who. It's going to be the secret because if you really want to live in this, you have to know how. It's It's not enough to say, "I have a gym membership. If you don't use it, it doesn't matter. You can know the promises of God and not be operating in them. So, how do I take the keys and use what God's given me?

How do I operate in this? And the key I'm telling you today is going to be the anointing. And I'll explain that more in just a moment. When I first became a Christian at about 15 years old, I heard about Jesus. It got me really excited that I get to go to heaven for free by believing in Jesus that he died for my sins and I'm forgiven of my sins. I have the hope of eternal life that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. I'll tell you, it changed everything. It was like gasoline in my soul. It got me to go. And I wanted others to know this message. So, I went into youth ministry. I became a full-time youth pastor at the age of 20. And because I wanted other teenagers to know the hope that I had as a teenager and I just the gospel was this gasoline in my life. But as I shared with you last week, at some point in my life, I I've realized that something was missing. I couldn't put my finger on it. I couldn't articulate it.

I just knew that something was missing. What was I what was I missing in my life? And most of us will come to a place in our lives where it's like, what is missing? It reminds me of what happened in high school when I used to ride a motorcycle everywhere. I rode the motorcycle to school. I rode it to work. I would ride it to church. I I went to a little country church. It was about 10 miles outside of town. And one day I was coming home from church on my motorcycle in a backcountry road and I was going about 65 miles an hour and that motorcycle just stopped. It didn't stutter. It just like it just stopped. And I I coasted to the side of the road. I checked the gas tank. I assumed it was out of gas, but it was full of gas. So I was like, why did it stop? I mean, it didn't even stutter. I was like, it just stopped. And and so I kicked that thing over and over. It did not have a push button. This was like back in the day. I mean, I was kicking that thing. I was

sweating and in my church clothes and I was trying to get it to go and it would not start. I I was so discouraged. I was out in the middle of nowhere and thankfully someone from church was driving by and they picked me up and took me to town and eventually I took that motorcycle to a mechanic and a few days later he gave me a call and he asked me this question. When was the last time you put oil in your motorcycle? And I just answered with a question. It was really only one word. Oil. You see, no one ever in my life told me that you've got to put oil in an engine. I didn't understand how engines work. I was told you need gasoline to go, but no one told me that you need oil for the

engine to operate the right way. He went on to explain to me that you have a hole in one of your pistons the size of a quarter cuz that thing just it burned dry. There was no oil. It just it wouldn't work. The engine's not going to work properly without the oil. The Bible speaks often of oil. Now oil in the scriptures is a representation of the Holy Spirit. There there's a lot of symbolism in the scriptures so that you would use your imagination and your mind. God God gives us this imagery to help us with our prayer life to help you understand practically in your life who he is. There's there's often these terms called anthropomorphic terms in the scriptures. That is that God uses human things to understand an eternal all- knowing God.

How do you understand an invisible all powerful all- knowing God? God uses earthly things so that we can understand him more. And one description of the Holy Spirit is oil. You see this over and over. Psalm 133, oil running down a beard onto the robes is a saturation of this anointing of oil. Psalm 92:10 describes this fresh oil. You need something fresh. You need more oil. You can't just have what you got a long time ago. You need fresh oil. Remember David in Psalm 23 says, "My cup overflows." This is a picture of this this abundance. And so God gives us this imagery of who he is so that we would understand it in our lives. And like what happened in my motorcycle, some of us have the gasoline, which is the gospel. Gospel means what?

Good news, which is great. You need gasoline to go. You want to get to heaven, you need Jesus Christ. But some of you don't realize that you need something more inside of your engine of life. You need something to operate. You need something. If you want power in your life, you need oil. You need the power of the Holy Spirit. If you do not have oil, at some point you will get burned out. You will burn up and you'll get a hole in your heart and you won't even be able to figure out how. You won't figure out why. And you might even blame God. But it's not God. It's the operator. So, when's the last time you put oil in your life? Jesus told a story in Matthew 25. It's a parable. Parables are

fictional stories with the great big truth. And this is in a section of of three parables back toback. And this is the third of the three parables. And and at this point, Jesus, he's sharing the truth of who he is and what he's going to do that he's going to come again. And at the time, it seems strange because he had not left yet. So, I was like, "What? What are you talking about, Jesus? So, he used these parables so that at some point we could look back and examine these fictional stories and understand the truth of what he was saying. Now, I'll tell you this story is so strange that most preachers don't even teach it. It's a great story. It's found in Matthew 25 starting with verse one. I want to read the entirety with you so that we would understand in our lives practically what this looks like. Jesus said, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like." I hope you want the kingdom of heaven in your life. The kingdom of heaven is awesome. It's where Jesus

reigns as king and all things are possible because everything is easy for Jesus. And he says, "Here's what it's like. If you want it, it's yours." He says, "It's like," and here's where it gets strange out of a cultural context, out of the place of where we are. He says, "It's like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom." Now, Jesus often uses the illustration of a wedding between his relationship with the church and who he is. He's the groom and the church is the bride. Now, we've yet to unite. We've ne yet to have this ceremony where we will be together forever. So, he's using this illustration because if anyone's ever gotten married, it takes some time and preparation for the wedding ceremony. It takes some work. It takes some prep takes some preparedness. And so, he says it's like these 10 virgins who want to get married to the groom. They each have their lamps.

Five of them were foolish. Would you just say the word foolish? Foolish. And five were wise. Everyone say wise. Wise. So you've got to determine in this story, do you want to be foolish or do you want to be wise? You are one or the other. This has to do with the kingdom. So do you want to be wise and get the kingdom or do you want to be foolish? And nobody just naturally wants to be foolish. But Jesus is going to tell us how not to be foolish. And he said, "For when the foolish," verse three, "when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them." The lamps already had oil in them, but they did not bring any extra if it would if it was to run out. They they thought this would be enough. But the wise, verse four, the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

They've got extra. If this oil burns out, I'm going to put fresh oil in. I'm going to put more oil in so my lamp can burn. As the bridegroom, verse 5 tells us, was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. Let's just stop there. Jesus in the story said that his second coming will be in such a way that people think that it's delayed. Well, we'll talk about the second coming of Jesus and people be like, "It's been 2,000 years. He's not coming. When is he coming? No way is this going to h if he didn't come by now then how do we know he's even coming it's delayed by human terms we would say when is it going to happen I don't see how this has happened so what happened for the bride or in this case the 10 brides they got drowsy

they slept spiritually speaking there are many most in the church today asleep they've grown apathetic in their faith they're not on fire. They're not prepared to meet with Jesus. They're not excited. They They don't wake up with anticipation. Is this the day you're coming, Jesus? I'm going to live like it today. They don't look at their lives and say, "Oh, I'm going to live like you're coming this hour, God." They're not living in such a way that they believe the promises of God that he's coming again. And Jesus said, "At some point, you get drowsy. You fall back on your your emotions. You fall back on the way you feel. you you're not clinging to the promises of God. If the groom says he's coming, he's coming. We don't know why he's delayed. Maybe he's saving up money.

Maybe he's getting ready. Maybe he's doing something far beyond what we can fathom. But this isn't a day where they couldn't text message or email or send some message to be be like, "Here's when I'm coming." And verse six says, "But at midnight, at the hour you'd least expect. At midnight, there was a cry, "Here is the bridegroom. Come out to meet him." The image here is of a of a watchman on a wall that can see him far off. He's a good mile away. It's going to take him 20 minutes to get here. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Here he comes. He's almost here. And at this, we read in verse 7, then all those virgins rose. They trimmed their lamps. They go to light it because how you going to see in the dark? It's midnight.

And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise answered, saying, "Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves." And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. Come on. That's imagery Jesus uses. It's it's fictional imagery saying, "It's going to be great. There's going to be food. There's going to be wine. There's going to be dancing. This is going to be a celebration when we get to be with Jesus. You want to be prepared. And then the door was shut. There's going to come a point that you got to decide. Are you in or are you out?

Some people say, "Well, I'll decide when I get there." No, you won't. Verse 11 says, "Afterwards the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us." But he answered, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you. You weren't here. You weren't prepared. You didn't come in. Watch therefore," Jesus says, "watch. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." So be careful of people that say, "Here's when it's going to happen. Here's the day, the month, and the year. No, no, no, no. Watch your life, how you live your life. Be prepared with what? Oil. Don't run out. Don't get burned out. Be ready.

Be ready with your oil. Now, now the sad part of this story is that those who had oil did not have enough to share with the others. What would have happened if they brought such an abundance? They say there's oil for everyone. But the plot of this story takes a turn when there's a lack of preparedness. And so Jesus wants us to be prepared and to understand what we need in our lives, which is what? Oil. And there is oil for everyone. If you're here today for the first time at church, you say, "This is kind of weird symbolism." That's okay. Church can be kind of weird sometimes. If anyone tells you you got God figured out and you're going to you're going to figure out this whole journey of faith thing. No, no, it's always a growing journey till one day you're glorified with God and it will all make sense. But

until then, we're on a journey and we've got to get to know God greater. So, we want to understand these stories so that we have what God made us to be so you can operate the way he he made you to be. And he wants you to have this oil and it's yours if you want it. But you've got to be prepared. Peter once he was preaching to the Gentiles and it was revolutionary. It's in the book of Acts chapter 10 at this point. Oh, the only people following Jesus were the Jews because they came from this heritage, this lineage of being God's people. And in Acts chapter 10, God wants us to know there's hope for everyone. This is not just for the Jews. It's also for the Gentiles. It's not just for one race or one tribe or one nation. This is hope for everyone. And as Peter begins to preach, he comes to a point where he says this in Acts 10:38, how God anointed, everyone say anointed, anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy

Spirit and with power. Now, let me just explain anointing because some reason some people get really disturbed by that word anointing. It's woven throughout the scriptures, old and new testament. I would define anointing this way. Anointing is the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit with power. That's anointing. You should be anointed. Jesus was anointed. How was he anointed? He had the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And when he had the fullness of the Holy Spirit, he had the fullness of the power of God. What happens when you're anointed with fullness? Well, let's keep reading. Jesus went doing good and healing all. Everyone say all. Healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For God was with him. Jesus did a powerful work not on his own as a man. He did it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Now, if you're confused here, why I thought Jesus was God. Yes, he's God. We have one God and

three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "I don't do anything that the Father doesn't want me to do." Now we also understand he did it all with the help of the oil, with the anointing, with the Holy Spirit. He was able to do the miraculous. He set the captives free. He did the work of God. Now in the book of Luke 4, we see his ministry started with the Holy Spirit. We read the same story in Matthew chapter 4. Luke says this in Luke 4:1. And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, don't you think you need to be full of the Holy Spirit? Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. He returned from the Jordan after he was baptized and was led by the spirit. So when you're full of the Holy Spirit, you get to be led by the spirit. But how can you do the work of God if you're not full of God? Okay, maybe let me just put it this way.

How could you do the work of God if you're not full of God? Okay, you need earthly examples. Let me put it this way. If you fill your life with Fox News and you don't fill your life with your faith of Jesus Christ, you're not going to be filled with faith. You're not going to be filled with the spirit. Are you tracking with me? No conservatives at this service. Okay. If you spend more time on social media than you ask God to fill you with the spirit, you won't be led by the spirit. That's right. This gets challenging. This gets difficult. It gets convicting in our hearts because you can't keep living the same way. If you want to get to where God wants you to go, he's going to lead you out to the wilderness. And sometimes it won't even make sense because you know who was in the wilderness to meet with Jesus for

40 days. It says in verse two, being tempted by the devil. I told you everything is easy with Jesus. I never said everything is easy with us. This is a battle. You are at war. And the moment you say you want the fullness of God, you have just declared war with the devil. Do not be mistaken. I mean that entirely. I mean it true. I mean that over our region. I have declared today that I am at war with the devil because he has occupied that which is not rightfully his. This region is the Lord's. You are the Lord's. You got to give full authority to the Holy Spirit. And when you do, you have authority over the devil. But it doesn't mean the devil won't try to tempt you. and destroy you because he will. Later we read that

Jesus in the same chapter 14:16, Jesus came to Nazareth. This was his hometown. This is where you would expect Jesus to be a hometown hero where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue, which is like a Jewish church. It's where they would worship and hear the preaching of of the scriptures. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And Jesus stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Jesus. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written, "The spirit, the spirit, the oil, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor." Some scriptures interpret this preaches the gospel with the anointing. You preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim

liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to set the liberty of those who are oppressed. to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Something happens with anointing. You do what you ordinarily wouldn't do on your own. You share the good news. You set the captives free. Those who are sick are healed. And and Jesus goes on to say in verse 21, he began to say to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." This has happened. It's not someday. It's not one day. I am the anointed one. Another word for that is the Christ. He came to do what no one else has done before. And because he's done this, he now passes on to us the same power through the Holy Spirit. We have the same authority of Jesus. Remember what Matthew 28 says?

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. Did he give you some keys? No. He gave you the keys of the kingdom so that you would operate in it. But you cannot do this on your own strength. You need oil. You need the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus went to the cross, he wanted to make sure that we understood this clearly. In John chapter 14, he he spent some time on this teaching. He says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." This is how you know you love Jesus. You want to know what he says. If you don't get in the word, the word won't be in you. You won't know what Jesus wants for your life. You've got to spend time reading the Bible. If you're new to church, you're new to faith in Jesus, make this a priority in your life. If you've been following a Jesus a long time, you've been going to church a long time, make this a priority of your life. I will so

challenge you to start your day off with the Bible. If you don't get into the word of God, the word of God is not in you. And how can you keep the commandments of God? How could you know the teachings of Jesus if you're not in this? Jesus says, "If you love me, get to know me. Get to know what my word says." And he says in verse 16, so when you know the word of God, he says, "And I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever." This is a perfect picture of a triune God. You got the father, the son Jesus Christ, and the helper here. And we know that's the Holy Spirit because the next verse Jesus says this, even the spirit of truth, that's who the helper is, the Holy Spirit, the person of God. We have one God and three persons. What a wonderful and beautiful mystery. One God, a father that loves you and made

you, the son, Jesus Christ, that did what needed to be done, and the Holy Spirit who's going to be your helper. You're not going to have to do this on your own. He's going to be in he's going to be inside of you. He's going to help you. And Jesus says this, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you. And then Jesus prophetically gave this picture. What happens when you believe in him? He will be in you, my friends. When you believe in Jesus Christ, God the Father gives you the Holy Spirit. That is the person of God now dwells in you. You do not have to go someplace to meet with God. God wants to meet with you in you. You become a temple of the Holy Spirit. You become the dwelling place of God. Jesus goes on

to say in verse 26, "But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." So many people believe in Jesus and then they stop right there. They stop short of allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you so that you would know all that God has for you. Look at the church today. Do we see a powerful church? Do we see a church that's unstoppable? Do we see a church full of signs and wonders that reflects the power of Jesus Christ himself? If that's absent, we are missing the promise of God. I'm talking about a church that Jesus said, "I will build and even the gates of hell won't prevail." It doesn't matter how evil

this world is looking. We should count it as an honor to be a light in a dark place. God says that we get to be the generation to restore and be a part of what he has to do. Then I want that to be fulfilled in my life. I want to take Jesus at his word. I'm not going to let the devil rob me of this. I'm not going to let the devil define what family means. I'm not going to let the devil take the work of God and pervert it and distort it. And somehow we're going to sit back and allow him to do it. We can't sit back. We've got to join Jesus on this commission. He invites you to go. He didn't say you have to be qualified. He didn't say you have to be smart enough. He didn't say you have to follow him long enough to do it. I'm calling you to rise up, army of God, and

do what Jesus says to do, not some other day. This is the day the Lord has made. It's time for us to start rejoicing and be glad. I got a God that makes this possible. Zachchariah the prophet would speak to Zerubabel. Zerubbabel would go from from Babylon down to back to Judah to Jerusalem where the temple was destroyed. It looked like it was over for God's people. The temple was destroyed. Some of you, your life is destroyed. The devil got in and he wrecked your marriage. He's wrecked your family. He's wrecked your mind. He's wrecked your soul. You feel dark. You feel broken. You feel abandoned by God. That's how it was in Zerubabel's time. So many people just gave up on God. It looked like it was over. There was no place to meet with God. Yet God was looking for someone to say, "It's time to rebuild the temple. It's never too late with God." And the Lord would tell him through the prophet Zachchariah. He

said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubabel is not by might, is not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts." Listen. Listen. If you had enough money, you wouldn't trust God. If you had enough intelligence, you wouldn't trust God. If you were talented enough, you wouldn't trust God. It will not be by might. It will not be by power. It will be by the spirit, says the Lord. God's going to do this in you. He's going to do this through you. He doesn't want you to sit back and think that you don't have enough to make this happen. He wants you to trust him on this mission. And you'll soon discover he's given you everything you need. We're not here to make disciples because we convince them this is the truth.

We're not here to make converts into a religion. We're here to make disciples, people to believe in Jesus and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill his mission. What a great God we have. It is never too early. It is never too late. You're never too young. You're never too old. You've never sinned so greatly that God won't use you. But the devil will try to discourage you. But when you have Jesus Christ, you have power and authority over the devil. I've got to tell you today, so many of us have a false and wrong theology of the devil. If you're afraid of the devil, that's a lie of the devil himself. You have authority over him. All you've got to do is surrender your life to Jesus Christ. James put it this way. Submit yourselves therefore to God.

If you surrender your all to Jesus, resist the devil. Say, "I want nothing to do with you, devil. You have no rights to my family, no rights to my mind. You've got no rights to my finances. You've got no rights to my health." You resist the devil. And what will he do? Flee from you. The devil is terrified that you would actually take the authority that you have. Take back what's rightfully yours. You are the Lord. So, you've got to submit yourselves completely to him. John put it this way in 1 John 3:8 that the reason Jesus came to this world, he said, was to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus has done that definitively. He's destroyed the works of the devil because Jesus came as a man. He was the only man that's never sinned. He didn't give into temptation. lived a sinless life here. A sinless person went to the cross. He did not deserve death and by doing so he was able to bear our sin. He was the great sacrifice for us. He

defeated the works of the devil. But some of us keep living like this didn't happen. And John says if you keep sinning, you're doing the works of the devil. God wants you to take authority over the temptation today. No temptation has sees you. God's going to provide a way out, but you've got to let the Holy Spirit work in your life where you take authority over the enemy. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the enemy. Now, we've got to correct our theology because Hollywood has had a greater impact on your theology than the Bible has. I mean, I'm serious about this. We We get all worked up when the Grammys tries to paint the devil as some, you know, red person with horns and a tail. I tell you the Bible says something different. The

Bible says he was a created being of God to worship the Lord. And instead of worshiping the Lord, he wanted to be worshiped. He was originally a messenger and an angel of light. Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning." It happened in just a moment. The creator of light, the light of life, kick Satan out of heaven along with a third of heaven. We've got to understand this that they are rebellious against God. They are enemies of God and one day Satan will be locked up forever. And until then, he's described as the prince of this world. Now, you want to understand this theologically, I would just tell you this. It's a mystery in God's sovereignty why this is happening. But outside of this, that God wants to get glory through your life when you defeat the devil. So, some of us say, "Why didn't he just lock him in hell right now?" Somehow God wants to get the glory through a mess like people like you and

you and I so that we would operate in the authority of the kingdom of God and take back what's rightfully ours. So you've got an entire army that's going after you. These are demons, unclean spirits. They were kicked out of heaven. They're enemies of God and they're your enemy as well. Jesus on his journey to the cross said, "I will no longer talk much with you." Because he knew where he was going for the ruler of this world is coming. He was talking about the devil. Jesus said he has no claim on me. Jesus is not equal with the devil. He's not a little higher than the devil. He is far superior beyond what we can describe. Jesus took authority over the enemy and conquered him. That's why John would put this way. Little children like a father speaking to his children. He says you are from God.

You start acting like it. You've overcome the enemy. You've overcome those in the world. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. You have authority over the devil and all the dominion of his army. That is the demonic. That is all unclean spirits. You have authority. But you've got to claim it. You've got to operate in it. You've got to put this into practice. How do you do that? Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You've got to recognize today that the devil is a liar. Jesus when speaking to the religious he said you are of your father the devil you will do your your will is to do your father's desire meaning the devil he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him he's speaking to the religious he's

talking about the demonic spirit of control the demonic spirit of gossip the demonic spirit of of speaking that which is not true we've got to understand that sometimes we think things and we even operate in things that aren't from us. They're actually from the devil. And Jesus says there's there's no truth in him because when he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. It's his native tongue. That's all the devil knows what to do. And he wants to be worshiped. So, he's going to try to deceive you. So, don't think that the devil's always going to show up and be mean and scary. Sometimes he's going to show up and deceive you as an angel of light. He's going to deceive you to think about things that that you're not even going to know aren't of God.

Jesus put it this way. The devil's a thief and a murderer. He says the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. That's what the devil wants to do. He wants to kill you. He wants to destroy you. But Jesus says, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly." You are made for this. You are made for abundant life. So now it's time to take the keys and operate in it to allow the Holy Spirit through you. It's yours. But you need to operate in this. How do you do that? John says in 1 John 2, this is such important theology. He says, "You have been anointed by the Holy One." Do you hear that today? The same anointing that Jesus had in in Acts 10:38. You have been anointed. Some of you are

believing lies that you were told as a child. You are believing lies that the devil said while you were in your mother's womb. You believe lies that you've been telling to yourself when you look in the mirrors. It's time for you to take the word of God and operate in it. You are anointed. You're anointed by the Holy One. And because of that, God doesn't give you some of who he is. You have all knowledge. God God has given it to you. You You don't even need a preacher to tell it to you. You don't need a book from someone smarter than you. You need the Holy Spirit to speak to you. He puts it that way in 1 John 2:27. But the anointing, remember, the power of the Holy Spirit that you receive from him abides in you. You got to stay connected

to this. And you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. You got to stay connected to Jesus. You got to allow the Holy Spirit to fill you. Let me just give you an illustration that I don't know if this can be helpful or not. This is not uh this is not a biblical illustration. This is a this is a pastor Keith illustration that I want to share with you that I'm I'm hoping will uh give you a little glimpse of who you are. So, thank you Kim for for your help. I right here is this is a bottle that was created for a purpose. This bottle for the sake of illustration represents your life. You are created. You are not an accident. This does not happen by happen stance. you you did not evolve into a

being. You have a creator that designed you with a purpose. The devil would love to lie to you and somehow make you think that that somehow you came from some other place that God that that God doesn't exist. But this bottle represents you. Now, you'll want to notice though right now, this bottle was created with purpose, but now it's empty. How many of you feel empty right now in your life? You feel empty spiritually. You feel empty in your marriage. You feel empty in your loneliness, your singleness, empty in your your state of where you are right now. If this this represents you, I'm here to tell you that God doesn't want you to stay that way. This represents the Holy Spirit. Now, at some point, we've got to recognize that our God does not force us to follow him. He wants you to invite him into your life so that you would

allow him to take rightful reign of the way that he created you. so that you'd be a vessel. Now, some of us, we don't like the way God created us because other people are taller and thinner than us. They're stronger. They look more talented. And we just look and say, you know what? Why' God make me this way? And we're upset with the design of the creator. And God's looking at you says, "I don't care what shape you are, what size you are, your height, your width. I don't care what color of skin you are. I made you. I don't make mistakes. I'm so creative. I'm the creator. You're beautiful. You're wonderful. You're fearfully made. I've got a great plan for you." And it's not to stay empty. I I need you to surrender your life to me.

Or as James says in chapter 4:7, "Would you submit yourself to God?" Because if you do, you've declared war with the enemy and he's going to flee. cannot tolerate holiness, righteousness, purity, perfection. And that's what happens when you surrender the Holy Spirit. But you got to say, I I just want some Holy Spirit inside of me. So, you just get some Holy Spirit inside of you. You believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. You believe he died and rose from the grave. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Praise be to God. You fulfilled your purpose. The Bible says when you believe in Jesus, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit. That when you get into heaven, it's not by your good deeds. It's not by your good works. It's because you've believed in Jesus Christ that you're counted as righteous. God the Father looks at you and he sees the Holy Spirit inside of you and that's righteousness. You were designed. You were destined for this.

Some of you just stopped short of God's destiny. You're you're continuing to operate in the Holy Spirit that you invited into your life, but we're inviting all sorts of other things, all sorts of other thoughts, all sorts of other dreams, all sorts of other false beliefs into our lives. And if you want to stay there, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, but you're not operate in the fullness. You've got to continually come back to the Lord. You know, Lamentations 3, it says that his mercies are new every morning. I believe God said his mercies are new every morning because you need new mercies every morning. Don't be operating on yesterday's mercies. Psalm 23, David says, "Surely goodness and mercy are following me. You look behind you and goodness is chasing you and mercy is chasing you." But some of

you don't even see it. You're not willing to look to see what God wants to give you. But I'm here to tell you, if you would just surrender to the Holy Spirit, say, "Fill me up, Holy Spirit. Fill me up. Fill me up. Fill me up. Fill me up. Fill me up." Here's what will begin to happen. You get filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, do you know what happens when you get filled with the Holy Spirit? There comes a point where you can't even contain it anymore. You start to overflow and there's such an anointing on you that like Jesus was led by the spirit because he was full of the spirit that wherever you go, God's going to lead you. You say, "I I want to know God's will for my life. Who am I going to marry? When am I going to retire? What's this going to look like?" I just going to tell you what Jesus said in John 3.

The Holy Spirit's like the wind. When's the last time you tried to catch the wind? The wind's going to take you. It's going to move you. Sometimes it's going to be like a tornado and just flip over the tables of your life that shouldn't be there. But God wants you to operate in him. Some of you are waiting for God to move in your life. And I'm here to tell you, God's just waiting for you to fill you. you're waiting for God to to do the work and actually God's waiting for you to move. Paul wrote to the Ephesians. If you're wondering, how do I live like a Christian? Go read the book of Ephesians. It talks about every area of our lives. And in Ephesians chapter 5, these are the words of Paul to the church in Bend, Oregon. And do not get

drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. He didn't say you can't have wine. But if you're getting drunk, you're actually trying to cover up a need that only God can fulfill. You You're trying to numb something. You're you you're trying to forget about something. You're trying to have fun. You're you're trying to do something that only God can do in your heart. That's the lie of the enemy. And he goes after kids early. Oh, partying and getting drunk. That's what it's all about. No, that's debauchery, which mean it leads to destruction. It's not going to lead to life. So he says instead of getting drunk with wine, be filled with the spirit. Now you get filled with the spirit. Come on. This you get filled with the spirit. You know what happened when the Holy Spirit fell in the church for the first time? They thought they were drunk.

You start doing things and people look at your life say you're a little tipsy. You say, "Nope, this is the 9:00 service. It's too early to have a drink. I'm not going to say it's 5:00 somewhere. The Holy Spirit can fill me anywhere at any time. So, I'm not going to go by the ways of the world. I want the Holy Spirit to fill me. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, Paul writes to this church. And in 1 Thessalonians 5, you should read the whole chapter because he says this, "Rejoice in the Lord always." He says, "Pray without ceasing. Give thanks to God in all circumstances for this is God's will for you." And then at the end of this in 1 lesson 5:19, he says this, "Do not quench the spirit." Do you think the Holy Spirit wants to be inside of you? If you're looking at things that God wouldn't look at, if

you're saying things God wouldn't say, if you're living in a way right now that's not of God, you're stopping the power of God. So, what does it look like to not quench the spirit? Rejoice, pray, give thanks. You don't leave a lot of room for the enemy when you start doing that. You see, my circumstances suck. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. I don't feel like doing those things. It didn't say it's about feelings. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. And the spirit says, "Oh, I got lots of room for you. I'm going to overflow in you." People are going to say, "Where'd you get that joy? Where where'd you get that love? Where'd you get that peace? Where'd you get that patience? Where'd you get that kindness?

Where'd you get that gentleness? Where'd you get that self-control?" Come on. And you know where that comes from? The Holy Spirit. I'm not going to live like the world just because the devil's attacking me. I've got the fruit of the spirit working out in my life because I'm not going to let anything quench that. No longer living in defeat. Because what Paul tells you Peter at some point when he was following Jesus for a time period, he says this, remember this. Paul tells Timothy, Paul tells Timothy this. God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Another translation says for self-control, a sound mind, a sober mind. You don't let the devil discourage you, lie to you. You don't listen to that anymore. God gave you the Holy Spirit to operate in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

So, so language like this starts to leave our lips. I'm afraid. I'm worried. I'm concerned. Now, I believe God can do anything. We're operating in a new season at Journey Church where I'm going to be I will confess this as repentance. We're going to believe God is God. You have cancer, the first thing we believe is you can be healed from that cancer. You meet with the Lord Jesus and you've believed in the Lord Jesus. That's the best healing possible. But until then, we're going to believe that he has all authority over all cancer, over all sickness. You've been chronically sick for decades. We believe at Journey Church, it's never too late. You touch the hem of his garment in one moment, it changes everything. You financially got yourself in a mess. We believe it's all the Lord. Start honoring God in every area of your life and he's going to bless you. He can restore what took you decades to get in

that mess. Are you tracking with me there? You You've got debt that's overwhelming. Now's the time to start honoring God with your finances. Have him help you get out of this. Now, I can't assume just because you came to church today, you've believed in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. If you want to be saved today, you can. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Don't wait another day. I want to ask you right now, if you came here to church and you're uncertain of your future, you're uncertain of eternal life, you can know with confidence right now by believing in Jesus, you're saved. Not only do you get saved, you get the power of the Holy Spirit in you. And he changes everything. God changes everything. He changes your identity. The Bible says you become a child of God. You're not a stepchild. You're not adopt child. You're grafted into the family. You're a child of God. Praise be to God. If you want that today, I want

to give you an opportunity. I want to pray with you. It starts with prayer and it continues with prayer. Prayer is conversation with God. It's communion with God. It's living with God. So, we're going to start that today and you can continue it on your own. God, when I just where you are right now, would you just close your eyes right where you are? Just close your eyes. This is between you and the Lord. If you want to say yes to Jesus Christ, to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, would you just raise your hand up high? Just praise God. Boldness right there. Praise God. Praise God. He loves you. He's proud of you. Praise God. Amen. Anyone else here today? So many men look like strong men, but you're just saying, "I'm empty without the Holy Spirit." You're getting real strength today. Anybody else right now? Your your heart's beating and saying, "Man, I think that's me." Just raise up your hand right now, right where you are.

Don't think about anybody else. Eyes are closed for this purpose. I want you to focus on the Lord. Yes. Praise God. Praise God. He's changed your identity. You're loved. You've never stopped being loved. Amen. Amen. Anyone else? Right now, all across the room, any if you're watching online, I want you to repeat this prayer with me. If if you want to receive Jesus or if you've ever received Jesus before, we're going to do it with those doing it for the first time. I'm going to keep it simple. Just say these words with me. Lord Jesus, I give you my life. Forgive me of my sins. I repent and I follow you. I receive the Holy Spirit. Fill me with the fullness in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Oh my

friends, if you prayed that prayer, it's changed everything. You're not alone. Now you continue on this journey. You've got to ask for prayer. You've got to get baptized. You got to keep following the commandments of God. And I'll tell you, when you do, it changes everything because he's given you authority of God himself in your life. Some of you are here today and you've believed in Jesus, but you you are still struggling with something something. Maybe it's a false belief. Maybe it's something you're going through right now. Maybe it's something bigger than you. If you need prayer, bring it to God and ask for anointing. The Bible says that when you are sick, you should be laid on the hands and you'll be healed. invite somebody else into your story. If you're going through something right now, would you receive prayer? I'm going to ask that the prayer team right now would just take their places on both sides of the platform. We're just about to end our service, but if you need prayer, I want you to get the oil today. I want

you to get the Holy Spirit. So, prayer team, which is right where you are, if you guys would just come forward. Any pastors come forward just on both sides of the platform. I'm going to say we're going to finish with one last song. I'm just going to say, please don't rush out of here. It's just going to take a couple minutes. If we need prayer, I'm going to ask you come forward and get prayer. you get anointing. We got a prayer team on this side. I'm looking for uh they're coming over here. So, uh we got more coming on this side. I'm going to say this. Listen, listen. Today, there's something the devil's been trying to keep in your life. I'm saying today it's done by the power and the authority of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. It's time for you to come forward. If you've never been baptized in the Holy Spirit, it's different than the baptism of water. You receive the authority of God in the entirety of your life. Just like you get baptized in water, it covers your entire life. Baptism means to be immersed.

Immerse your life today in the Holy Spirit. All it takes is you saying more. I want more. I want more. I want more. I want the fullness. I want the fullness. I'm not I'm not okay staying where I am. So, there's people on both sides. I'm going to ask right now, if you're able to, would you stand to your feet? And as we sing the song, would you come forward? Ask right now. Maybe just say, "I want more oil. I want more Holy Spirit. Maybe tell them what you want. It doesn't need to take a long time to pray for a breakthrough. God hears your prayers and he can do in a moment what the devil's been trying to destroy for a lifetime. Come forward for prayer. Receive it right now. Yes, Lord. We give you our hearts. We give you our lives.