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Max Lucado – Can Someone Like Me Really Be Holy? · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody. What a treat to see you. You
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Speaker 1: look terrific. And I have a brand new joke for you.
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Speaker 1: So this chainsaw salesman discovered some untapped, untouched territory back
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Speaker 1: in the hills where people were still cutting their limber, limber,
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Speaker 1: cutting their, that's a cross between timber and lumber, in
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Speaker 1: case you want to know, cutting their lumber with handsaws.
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Speaker 1: And so he thought, boy, I'm going to sell a
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Speaker 1: lot of chainsaws. So he went from door to door saying,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to leave this chainsaw here. I'll come back
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Speaker 1: tomorrow and tell me what you think. So he went
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Speaker 1: back the next day to the first house, knocked on
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Speaker 1: the door and the fellow said, well, I didn't use
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Speaker 1: that chainsaw all day. But to tell you the truth,
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Speaker 1: I do better with my handsaw than with your chainsaw.
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Speaker 1: I cut more trees just using my handsaw. And the
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Speaker 1: And the salesman thought, there must be something wrong with
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Speaker 1: the chainsaw. He said, let me see it. And he
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Speaker 1: took it and he... And the fellow said, what's that noise?
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Speaker 1: It's a pretty good joke. But it gives me an
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Speaker 1: excuse and an entree to ask you this question. Is
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Speaker 1: there any power....
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Speaker 2: Any power.
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Speaker 1: Of which you're not making, of which you're not availing,
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Speaker 1: that you're not taking advantage of? Could it be there's
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Speaker 1: some energy, some strength, some capacity, some ability that God
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Speaker 1: has for you that you're just not using? That's a
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Speaker 1: theme that surfaces as we study what we're studying this fall.
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Speaker 1: Travis and I are leading the church through a conversation
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Speaker 1: today about the Holy Spirit. And if you're a guest today,
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Speaker 1: let me tell you what we're doing. We're looking at
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Speaker 1: these different word pictures, metaphors of the Holy Spirit that
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Speaker 1: he gives us himself to help us understand who he is.
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Speaker 1: Like the wind of God, the fire of God, the
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Speaker 1: breath of God, the gentle dove of God. Today, this
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Speaker 1: metaphor I find especially instructive. We're going to look at
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit as the anointing oil of God. Let's
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Speaker 1: pray together and then we'll get to work. These people, Father,
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Speaker 1: these precious souls have entrusted me with a few minutes
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Speaker 1: of their life. May I be a good steward. Speak, Father,
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Speaker 1: if not through me, even in spite of me. And
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Speaker 1: forgive the speaker, Lord, his sins are many. Help us
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Speaker 1: to see Christ as Christ. Through Christ we pray. And
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Speaker 1: all the church said. A few years ago I came
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Speaker 1: home one day to the most delightful fragrance. I walked
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Speaker 1: in the house and this smell was coming at me
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Speaker 1: out of the house. I followed it back in the
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Speaker 1: house and into the kitchen. And there was Dean Lynn,
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Speaker 1: my wife. And I said, honey, I smell something wonderful.
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Speaker 1: What is it? Well, she was impressed that I even
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Speaker 1: detected it because I typically don't notice things. She's writing
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Speaker 1: a book called I Married a Caveman. Because I have
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Speaker 1: a detailed detection malfunction going on. She can reorganize the furniture.
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Speaker 1: And if she doesn't give me a heads up, I'll
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Speaker 1: sit down where there used to be a chair and
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Speaker 1: land on a coffee table. Some of you wives are
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Speaker 1: elbowing your husband right now, aren't you? I just don't
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Speaker 1: notice things. But that day I did. And I said, honey,
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Speaker 1: what's that fragrance? It wasn't food because she wasn't cooking.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't perfume because she doesn't wear it. So what
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Speaker 1: was that? I was like a Labrador trying to sniff
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Speaker 1: it out. It smelled like a forest on a... Cool
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Speaker 1: fall morning, kind of musty and moist. No, no, maybe
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Speaker 1: that's not it. It smelled like some of these grocery
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Speaker 1: stores have these spice areas. And when you walk past,
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Speaker 1: you can pick up on the fragrance of these spices.
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Speaker 1: But that wasn't it either. There was a touch of
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Speaker 1: a touch of liniment there. In the fragrance. I just
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Speaker 1: couldn't detect the source. Finally, I said, honey, did you
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Speaker 1: buy a bag of bark? She said, no. What you're smelling,
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Speaker 1: you're smelling oils. Oils. Well, I'm the son of a mechanic.
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Speaker 1: And so I get oil. I said, am I smelling Valvoline?
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Speaker 1: It doesn't smell like Valvoline to me. And she said, no, no,
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Speaker 1: I'm talking about oils. And she opened up a bag
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Speaker 1: that had these small bottles. I don't know if you've
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Speaker 1: ever seen this, but you can buy these oils. And
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Speaker 1: these bottles were labeled with everything from lavender to myrrh
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Speaker 1: to cassia to spikenard to cinnamon to sandalwood. You'd have
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Speaker 1: thought she befriended a fellow merchant or something in the
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Speaker 1: backwoods of Jerusalem. Because she had all these oils. She said,
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Speaker 1: I've been diffusing it into our house. I've been diffusing
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Speaker 1: these oils into our house. Turns out she'd been putting
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Speaker 1: some on her skin. She said, I even put some
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Speaker 1: drops in my water to drink. And she said, I've
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Speaker 1: been putting some drops in yours. Well, the caveman had
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Speaker 1: not noticed that. You know, she's not alone in her
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Speaker 1: appreciation of oils. Many of you probably appreciate them. I've
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Speaker 1: come to learn that they are the oldest, the most
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Speaker 1: ancient natural health product. That for thousands of years, people
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Speaker 1: all over the world have been extracting these liquids from everything,
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Speaker 1: from flowers and fruits and herbs. Apparently they help us
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Speaker 1: a lot. They help us sleep. They help us digest.
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Speaker 1: They help us relax. They help us stay awake in sermons.
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Speaker 4: No.
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Speaker 1: Do these oils really help? I'm not an expert, but
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Speaker 1: do these oils instruct us? Yes, they do. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you can bet your sweet cinnamon they do. Did you
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Speaker 1: know that there are 200 references in the Bible to oils?
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Speaker 1: And many of these references are metaphors. They're symbols in
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Speaker 1: which the oil is a symbolic representation of the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: Let me give you some examples. You may remember from
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Speaker 1: the life of King David when he was anointed to
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Speaker 1: be king. The story went like this. Samuel took the
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Speaker 1: flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David
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Speaker 1: with the oil and the spirit of the Lord came
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Speaker 1: powerfully upon David from that day on. Do you see
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Speaker 1: the connection between the anointing oil in the presence of
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit? Not only were kings anointed with oil,
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Speaker 1: prophets were as well. Here's an example from the book
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Speaker 1: of first Kings. Elijah was told to anoint Elisha, the
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Speaker 1: son of Shaphat from the town of Abel Mahola. You
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Speaker 1: say it. I don't know. Abel Mahola to replace you
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Speaker 1: as my prophet. So prophets were anointed as well. So
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Speaker 1: we're priests. Here's an example of Moses being told by God,
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Speaker 1: Clothe your brother Aaron and his sons with these garments
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Speaker 1: and then anoint and ordain them, consecrate them so they
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Speaker 1: can serve as my priest. Look at these words, anoint, ordain, concentrate, consecrate,
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Speaker 1: all in one phrase. Even the utensils used in the
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Speaker 1: Holy of Holies were told, we are told were to
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Speaker 1: be anointed by oil. cleanse the altar by purifying it,
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Speaker 1: making it holy and anointing it with oil. Of course,
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Speaker 1: the greatest example is the message of Jesus. When he
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Speaker 1: began his ministry, he said, the spirit of the Lord
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Speaker 1: is upon me because he has anointed me spirit of
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Speaker 1: the Lord anointed. What I want you to see is
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Speaker 1: this interplay, this free interchange between words like consecrate and
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Speaker 1: dedicate and oil and and anointed in the spirit of
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Speaker 1: the Lord. They're all back and forth in there together,
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Speaker 1: helping us to see that one of the word pictures
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Speaker 1: used in the Bible for the presence of the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit is nothing other than oil, anointing oil. In the
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Speaker 1: days of the Bible, God would anoint his people with
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Speaker 1: oil as a picture of the Holy Spirit. Nothing has changed.
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Speaker 1: In our day, God still anoints his people with the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. Look at this passage from the book of
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Speaker 1: second Corinthians. The apostle Paul is writing this. He said,
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Speaker 1: now it is God who makes both us and you
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Speaker 1: stand firm in Christ. He anointed us. He anointed us.
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Speaker 1: He set his seal of ownership on us. and put
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Speaker 1: his spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what
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Speaker 1: is to come. When you gave your heart to Christ,
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Speaker 1: he gave his spirit to you, and he anointed you.
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Speaker 1: He anointed you. He anointed you not with the oil
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Speaker 1: that a person might purchase at a grocery store or
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Speaker 1: at a pharmacy, but he anointed you with the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: He covered you. He drenched you. He anointed you with
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. God has chosen to pour his spirit
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Speaker 1: out upon you. Your life has been consecrated. It's been dedicated.
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Speaker 1: It's been imbricated with the spirit of God. Was this
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Speaker 1: not the promise of God? God gave this promise. And
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Speaker 1: in the last days, that's where we are now. We're
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Speaker 1: in the final era of history. So in these last days,
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Speaker 1: it shall be, God declares that I will pour out
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Speaker 1: My spirit on all flesh. I think that verb pour
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Speaker 1: deserves a highlighter. He comes to anoint us not with
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Speaker 1: a drop, not with a splash, but he will pour
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Speaker 1: out his spirit on all flesh. That includes you and
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Speaker 1: that includes me. What he told Moses to do with Aaron,
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Speaker 1: God wants to do with us. The instruction of God
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Speaker 1: to Moses was, you shall take the anointing oil and
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Speaker 1: pour it on his head and anoint him. I want
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Speaker 1: to talk to you for just a minute about this
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Speaker 1: fact that Aaron was drenched in oil. Aaron was drenched
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Speaker 1: in oil. Now, To understand this, what is happening, you
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Speaker 1: need to let your fingers take you back to the
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Speaker 1: book of Exodus. You need to let your imagination take
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Speaker 1: you into the wilderness. And you need to let your
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Speaker 1: mind go into that era of history, about 1300 BC,
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Speaker 1: in which 2 million former slaves of Egypt are now
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Speaker 1: released out of Egyptian bondage 40 years of wilderness wandering
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Speaker 1: has begun. They will soon occupy the promised land. But
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Speaker 1: before they do, God wants to turn them into a civilization.
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Speaker 1: And he speaks to them. The reason that the book
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Speaker 1: of Leviticus is so full of laws and customs is
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Speaker 1: because God was really teaching these people how to be,
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Speaker 1: how to exist as a culture. He talks to them
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Speaker 1: about everything from dietary laws to what to wear, to
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Speaker 1: how to protect themselves from predators. And he also talks
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Speaker 1: to them about worship. He instructs them to build a tabernacle.
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Speaker 1: The tabernacle is a foreshadowing of the temple. And he
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Speaker 1: talks to them about preparing the priests to serve in
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Speaker 1: that tabernacle. Now, the clothing they wear is very elaborate.
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Speaker 1: The utensils they use are very specific. But of interest
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Speaker 1: to us is what God told Moses to do with Aaron,
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Speaker 1: the high priest. He's the first ever high priest. And
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Speaker 1: the instruction about anointing Aaron is very instructive to us
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Speaker 1: about anointing oil. Look at this paragraph. God told Moses,
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Speaker 1: take the finest spices, 12 pounds of liquid, what? Myrrh.
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Speaker 1: Half that amount, that is six pounds of sweet smelling
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Speaker 1: cinnamon and six pounds of sweet smelling cane and 12
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Speaker 1: pounds of cassia. It sounds like he's been talking to
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Speaker 1: my wife. It's all these oils. Weigh all these by
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Speaker 1: the holy place measure and measure. Also take four quarts
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Speaker 1: of olive oil, mix all of these things like a
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Speaker 1: perfume to make a holy oil. When I read this paragraph,
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Speaker 1: I went to the oil expert in our house and
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Speaker 1: I asked her, my wife, I said, honey, let's create this.
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Speaker 1: Wouldn't this be fun? Let's replicate this recipe. And she
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Speaker 1: gave me that I married a caveman look. She said,
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Speaker 1: do you know how expensive this would be? She said,
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Speaker 1: do you have any idea how much myrrh costs? Well,
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Speaker 1: I did not, but I looked online. The going rate
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Speaker 1: is $ 25 an ounce. So if my math is right,
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Speaker 1: what Moses was told to do and did.
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Speaker 2: Involve $ 3, 000.
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Speaker 1: Worth of myrrh. Still, I wanted to give it a go.
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Speaker 1: Maybe not with But I wanted to see how much oil,
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Speaker 1: how much ordaining oil was used on Aaron that day.
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Speaker 1: So I recruited our production team. And this is no
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Speaker 1: small thing for them to figure out because you'll notice
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Speaker 1: that the paragraph here talks about pounds and then quarts.
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Speaker 1: And so they had to come up with exactly how
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Speaker 1: we were going to measure the And so instead of pounds,
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Speaker 1: we're using gallons. And it would look something like this.
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Speaker 1: It's about what's called for in that recipe is about
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Speaker 1: six gallons of oil. Six gallons of oil that was
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Speaker 1: poured on Aaron. You don't look surprised enough for me.
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Speaker 1: I'm thinking this is a pretty significant thing. You know
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Speaker 1: in a football game, if a coach wins a game,
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Speaker 1: toward the end of the game, somebody might come up
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Speaker 1: with a water cooler full of Gatorade and dump it
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Speaker 1: on him. This is even more. So Aaron, the first
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Speaker 1: ever high priest, he was soaked. He was drenched. And
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Speaker 1: it included a gallon of myrrh. That's a lot. three
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Speaker 1: quarters of a gallon of cinnamon, and then three quarters
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Speaker 1: of a gallon of cane, and then one gallon of cassia,
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Speaker 1: and then four quarts of olive oil. And they were
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Speaker 1: to all be mixed together and used for only this purpose.
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Speaker 1: There was no other purpose. It had to be used
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Speaker 1: for anointing the instruments as well as the high priest,
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Speaker 1: in this case Aaron, and his sons now we are
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Speaker 1: not told exactly how much got put on Aaron and
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Speaker 1: how much was put on the instruments but I'm thinking
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Speaker 1: that a lot was poured out for a couple of
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Speaker 1: reasons look at this little phrase tucked in the in
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Speaker 1: the book of Exodus that God said that these instruments
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Speaker 1: that that surrounded the ark of the covenant were to
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Speaker 1: be soaked in holiness isn't that a great phrase They
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Speaker 1: were soaked in holiness. And then when it comes to Aaron,
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Speaker 1: there's this reference in the book of Psalms, of all things,
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Speaker 1: using Aaron's day of anointing as a picture of harmony.
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Speaker 1: The psalmist says, for harmony is as precious as the
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Speaker 1: anointing oil that was poured over Aaron's head that, whoa,
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Speaker 1: ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.
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Speaker 1: He was soaked. I'm thinking that his skin was glistening.
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Speaker 1: I'm thinking that he had to clean out his eyes
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Speaker 1: just to be able to see. I'm thinking that it
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Speaker 1: ran all the way down his robe and everywhere he went,
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Speaker 1: he was leaving oily footprints. I'm thinking that his wife
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Speaker 1: said to him, I could smell you coming a block away.
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Speaker 1: He was drenched in oil. And this drenching was very
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Speaker 1: significant because not only did it change his fragrance, but
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Speaker 1: it symbolized his authority and his assignment because the passage
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Speaker 1: or the assignment was anoint Aaron and his sons and
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Speaker 1: consecrate them. What's consecrate mean? To set apart as holy. Holy.
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Speaker 1: to set apart as holy for a specific purpose. So
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Speaker 1: consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. So
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Speaker 1: they were given this special assignment. Aaron and his sons,
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Speaker 1: they were drenched in oil, they were consecrated, and they
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Speaker 1: carried upon them God's special favor. They bore this unique fragrance,
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Speaker 1: this unique responsibility. Can you imagine how they must have felt?
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Speaker 1: I so hope you can. Because something even greater has
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Speaker 1: happened to you. You see Aaron was drenched in oil.
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Speaker 1: But you are covered by the Spirit. Do you know
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Speaker 1: what happened to you the day you gave your life
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Speaker 1: to Christ? Do you understand what happens when someone says
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Speaker 1: yes to Christ? When they believe in Christ? Yes, you
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Speaker 1: are covered by God's grace. Yes, the tent of God's
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Speaker 1: sovereignty is spread over you. Yes, the pathway to heaven
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Speaker 1: is love. out before you. But yes, yes, yes, and
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Speaker 1: triple yes. You are drenched in the power and the
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Speaker 1: presence of the person of the Holy Spirit. We know
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Speaker 1: this for many reasons, many scriptures, but one in particular
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Speaker 1: helps us It's in 1 John, 1 John chapter 2
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Speaker 1: and verse 20. AMP means the Amplified Version of the Bible.
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Speaker 1: It deserves a spot on your shelf. The Amplified Version
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Speaker 1: of the Bible is a Bible that offers parenthetical explanations,
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Speaker 1: kind of a running commentary. As you're reading the verse,
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Speaker 1: there are these parentheses that help you understand what that
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Speaker 1: scripture says. For example, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20.
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Speaker 1: For you have an anointing from the Holy One. What
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Speaker 1: does that mean? You have been set apart, specially gifted,
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Speaker 1: and prepared by the Holy Spirit. That's you. You have
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Speaker 1: an anointing from the Holy One. And all of you
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Speaker 1: know the truth because He teaches us, illuminates our minds,
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Speaker 1: and guards us from error. What a helpful verse. You
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Speaker 1: have been anointed. with a special gift from the Holy One.
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Speaker 1: Like Aaron, you have been set apart for a special assignment.
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Speaker 1: And like Aaron, you did not receive just a few
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Speaker 1: drops upon you, but you have been drenched. Look at
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Speaker 1: this statement from the Gospel of John. God gives the Spirit, how, church?
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Speaker 1: Without limit. He doesn't come at us with an eyedropper.
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Speaker 1: He doesn't come at us with a teaspoon. He's not Scrooge.
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Speaker 1: He doesn't parcel out his spirit just tiny here. It's
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Speaker 1: not like there's only so much to go around. There's ample.
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Speaker 1: And he pours it out upon us. Oh, how I
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Speaker 1: desire that you know that you have been covered and drenched.
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Speaker 1: And even now, you have the Holy Spirit upon you,
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Speaker 1: inside of you, soaking you. If only we would.
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Speaker 1: If only we would learn to trust the presence of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit. How do we do this? Well, two ideas
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Speaker 1: and then I'll be done. Number one, can I encourage
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Speaker 1: you to accept your new identity? Accept your new identity.
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Speaker 1: You know, when Aaron and his sons went home that
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Speaker 1: day from that special anointing, they knew they were different.
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Speaker 1: They knew that no one else in that vast crowd
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Speaker 1: of two million pilgrims was like them. Do you know
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Speaker 1: that you are different? You are different. That God has
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Speaker 1: placed his favor upon you. You smell different. You look different.
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Speaker 1: That when heaven looks down upon you, heaven sees a
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Speaker 1: child that has been purchased, a heart that is treasured,
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Speaker 1: and a person that is being prepared for an eternal
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Speaker 1: service in the kingdom of God. Do you know how
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Speaker 1: special you are? I'm speaking to some people who've been
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Speaker 1: beaten up in life. The world has been hard on you.
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Speaker 1: You've been the victim of jokes. You've been mistreated. You've
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Speaker 1: been relegated to the side. You've been marginalized. But God
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Speaker 1: counters all of that with teachings like this that say
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Speaker 1: you're special in his sight. Would you please, would you
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Speaker 1: please accept your new identity? God does not measure your
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Speaker 1: value by the number of followers you have on the internet.
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Speaker 1: Your identity is not defined by the square footage of
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Speaker 1: your house or the size of your waist or the
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Speaker 1: number of diplomas on your wall or the absence of
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Speaker 1: pimples from your face. Your identity is defined by the
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Speaker 1: simple fact that he knows you, he loves you, he
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Speaker 1: cherishes you. And listen to me, He indwells you. He
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Speaker 1: must think you're really special if he's going to place
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit within you and you're going to serve
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Speaker 1: as a modern day temple of the Holy Spirit. Receive
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Speaker 1: this identity. Receive it. Let it bless you. Let it
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Speaker 1: define you. Let it motivate you. You have the identity,
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, the presence of God within you. So receive this.
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Speaker 1: And then secondly, as you accept your identity, engage your
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Speaker 1: new ability. You get tired, but the Holy Spirit never does.
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Speaker 1: You have questions, but the Holy Spirit has answers. You
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Speaker 1: feel limited, but there's no limit to the Spirit. You
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Speaker 1: don't know what the future holds, but the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: is as much in tomorrow as He is in the present.
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Speaker 1: So you have access to this wonderful power within you.
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Speaker 1: You don't have to climb a mountain. You don't have
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Speaker 1: to perform a holy chant. You don't have to learn
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Speaker 1: to do spiritual somersaults.
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Speaker 2: He is there.
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Speaker 1: He is there. And God's prayer for you is exactly
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Speaker 1: the prayer that the Apostle Paul offered for the church
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Speaker 1: in Ephesus. He said, I pray the Father in his
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Speaker 1: great glory to give you the power to be strong
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Speaker 1: inwardly through the Holy Spirit. It is not God's will
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Speaker 1: that we limp our way through life. That we just
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Speaker 1: lurch as anemic souls from one day to the next.
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Speaker 1: He wants you to be powerful, strengthened by the inward self.
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Speaker 1: Some of us are old enough to remember the invention
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Speaker 1: of something called a people mover. Do you remember the
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Speaker 1: first time you ever saw a people mover move? Usually
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Speaker 1: in airports, there are these moving sidewalks. You're looking at
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Speaker 1: me like I'm the only one who's ever seen a
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Speaker 1: people mover. You know what I'm talking about, right? These
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Speaker 1: rubberized sidewalks. Yeah, they weren't always around. And I can
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Speaker 1: recall back in the 1980s, late in the 1980s, maybe
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Speaker 1: about 1990, was the very first time I'd ever seen one.
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Speaker 1: I was traveling and I went through Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
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Speaker 1: And I was walking down a concourse. Really, I was
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Speaker 1: slugging my way down a concourse. I remember being very tired.
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Speaker 1: I had a shoulder bag and a briefcase and I
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Speaker 1: was walking along. And I looked over and these people
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Speaker 1: were passing me and they weren't even walking. Could you
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Speaker 1: believe that? They were going faster than I was and
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Speaker 1: they were just standing there. Some of their bags were
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Speaker 1: on the ground. Some of them were still holding their bags.
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Speaker 1: And a few of them were walking. And boy, were
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Speaker 1: they going fast. I thought they were jet propelled. They
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Speaker 1: were going to take off any minute. And I stopped
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Speaker 1: and I said to myself, how could this be? What
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Speaker 1: is that? Have they discovered the yellow brick road? And
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Speaker 1: I leaned over that, that banister area. And I looked
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Speaker 1: and I saw that moving sidewalk. It was moving. It
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Speaker 1: carried them and they could either stand there and still
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Speaker 1: move forward or they could walk and they would move
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Speaker 1: even faster. So I found an access point. And I thought,
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Speaker 1: you mean all you got to do is step up
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Speaker 1: there and it's going to carry you? I didn't know
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Speaker 1: whether I should do it or not. I didn't know
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Speaker 1: if you had to go through training. If you had
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Speaker 1: to have a token. If it was just for special people.
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Speaker 1: I didn't know if maybe it was a trick and
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Speaker 1: these were being, people were being abducted by aliens and
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Speaker 1: they just didn't know it. I didn't know what to do.
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Speaker 1: And I had to make a decision. So I could
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Speaker 1: either go back to my old way and slug my
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Speaker 1: way down the concourse, weary and tired, or I could
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Speaker 1: take a chance. I could, you know, put my foot out.
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Speaker 1: I didn't know if I'd fall over or what, but
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Speaker 1: I thought, okay, I'm going to give it a go. Oh,
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Speaker 1: what wonder awaited my weary feet. It was spectacular. You
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Speaker 1: ought to try it sometime. It is phenomenal. I put
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Speaker 1: my bag down and I kept moving. And then I
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Speaker 1: decided I'll walk and I lifted up my bags and boy,
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Speaker 1: I mean, I had a strut. I was making progress.
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Speaker 1: Every step I took was amplified and magnified and expanded
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Speaker 1: by the people mover. That's a picture of the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: You don't have to, you don't have to carry all
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Speaker 1: these burdens and you don't have to make this walk
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Speaker 1: under your own power You don't have to be so weary.
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Speaker 1: He will help you. He will. You don't have to
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Speaker 1: wait on some day in the future, some event. When
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Speaker 1: you gave your life to Christ, he gave his spirit
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Speaker 1: to you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that
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Speaker 1: you've been drenched in the Holy Spirit? Some of you
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Speaker 1: are struggling right now. You're thinking, yeah, that's right for
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Speaker 1: such and such. Oh, yeah, my aunt so-and-so. My grandma was,
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Speaker 1: but me, no.
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Speaker 2: Yes, you.
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Speaker 4: Yes, you.
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Speaker 1: You have everything you need to be the person God
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Speaker 1: wants you to be. You have everything you need. to
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Speaker 1: be the person God wants you to be. It may
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Speaker 1: just fall to you to take that step. How do
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Speaker 1: you take this step? Well, for some of you, it
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Speaker 1: means becoming a Christian. You never said yes to God.
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Speaker 1: You never accepted a forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: You never called him your savior. This gift of the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is given to Christians. It's given to people
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Speaker 1: who say yes to Christ. So for some of you,
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Speaker 1: just say yes to Christ. Don't walk this journey by yourself.
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Speaker 1: This gift is available to all people. That was the promise.
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Speaker 1: God said, I will pour it out on all people.
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Speaker 1: But some people don't want the gift of the Spirit.
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Speaker 1: I can't imagine why they would not say yes to Christ.
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Speaker 1: And then engage in this power and in your new identity.
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Speaker 1: For example, what's a problem you're facing right now? What
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Speaker 1: is a particular issue that's really troubling you? Maybe something
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Speaker 1: at work or a relationship problem or maybe even a temptation.
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Speaker 1: Why don't you take this and invite the Holy Spirit
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Speaker 1: to help you? Just say, Lord, help me. Holy Spirit,
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Speaker 1: I welcome you. And go into great detail about what
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Speaker 1: this is. The Holy Spirit loves to talk to you.
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Speaker 1: We can pray in the Spirit. Talk to the Spirit.
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Speaker 1: And He will help you. Try this out. Or talk
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Speaker 1: to the Holy Spirit. Maybe this would be something for
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Speaker 1: you to think about. Say, Holy Spirit, what's my anointing?
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Speaker 1: What's my unique anointing? I see what you did with Aaron.
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Speaker 1: I see what you're doing with other people. Do you
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Speaker 1: have an anointing for me? What's my assignment in life?
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Speaker 1: And he will tell you. And then you can begin
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Speaker 1: to live out of this anointing and follow the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit as he leads you through life. You know, the
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Speaker 1: truth of the matter is we don't know exactly how
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Speaker 1: much oil was poured out on Aaron, the first high priest.
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Speaker 1: But I'm happy to report that we do know exactly
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Speaker 1: how much was poured out Upon our high priest. Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: Did you know that after he was crucified. Oil was
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Speaker 1: applied to him. His body was lowered from the cross.
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Speaker 1: And taken to a place where his body could be
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Speaker 1: prepared for burial. Tucked away in the gospel of John
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Speaker 1: chapter 19. Is this interesting detail. About two followers who
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Speaker 1: came bringing a mixture of, look, myrrh and aloes about
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Speaker 1: how much? 100 pounds. 36 pounds over here. 100 pounds
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Speaker 1: for our high priest. This special mixture of oils and
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Speaker 1: aloes was applied to him and his body was wrapped
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Speaker 1: around burial garments and he was placed in the grave
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Speaker 1: but we all know what happened the grave could not
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Speaker 1: hold him and he stood up on Sunday morning and
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Speaker 1: he walked out and Peter and John were among the
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Speaker 1: first to enter the grave the burial chamber after he
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Speaker 1: exited and I'm thinking they could smell it in the
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Speaker 1: air still the presence of oil I'm thinking that the
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Speaker 1: ladies who saw the resurrected Christ could smell the presence
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Speaker 1: of the oil that anointed their high priest. And I'm wondering,
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Speaker 1: I'm just, maybe my imagination is getting carried away, but
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Speaker 1: I'm wondering if after those 40 days on earth, when
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Speaker 1: he ascended into heaven, if he didn't take the fragrance
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Speaker 1: of that oil with him. And in heaven now, our
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Speaker 1: high priest said, Indwelling that place where there is no decay.
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Speaker 1: Where there is no decomposition. Maybe when we see him.
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Speaker 1: We will smell the oil of our high priest. Could
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Speaker 1: it be that that Friday night preparation. Was the anointing
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. Upon Christ. As he ascended into
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Speaker 1: his new assignment. To be our high priest. Forever at
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Speaker 1: the right hand of God. Interceding for us. You're a
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Speaker 1: part of his family. You're a part of his family.
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Speaker 1: This week, may the Holy Spirit bring to your awareness
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Speaker 1: and to mine a sense that we are drenched in
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Speaker 1: the power of the Holy Spirit. May everywhere you go,
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Speaker 1: people detect your holy fragrance. And may you, as you
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Speaker 1: look behind you, see oily footsteps, presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord,
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Speaker 1: this is our prayer, that we could be aware.
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Speaker 3: Loving you alone feels so beautiful. And yet, it hurts
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Speaker 3: the most.
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Speaker 4: You became my quiet sunrise The dream I never dared
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Speaker 4: to say Every smile you gave so freely took my breath.
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Speaker 3: A little away.
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Speaker 5: I held this love like fragile glass so precious soft
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Speaker 5: and true but every beat inside my heart was only
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Speaker 5: reaching out.
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Speaker 4: To you.
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Speaker 5: Unspoken love is sweet and painful like honey mixed with
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Speaker 5: rain a tender hope I hold so tightly while it
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Speaker 5: Slowly breaks me.
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Speaker 2: Loving you from just one side now leaves.
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Speaker 5: My soul in silent blue. Cause the deeper that I
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Speaker 5: fall alone, the lonelier I do. I can't blame my
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Speaker 5: heart for choosing someone it could never keep. So I
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Speaker 5: smile through hidden heartache.
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Speaker 2: And love you quietly.
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Speaker 5: Unspoken love is sweet and painful like honey mixed with rain.
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Speaker 5: A tender hope I hold so tightly while.
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Speaker 2: It slowly breaks me. Loving you from.
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Speaker 5: Just one side now leaves.
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Speaker 2: My soul in silent bloom.
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Speaker 5: Cause the deeper that I fall alone, the lonelier I do.
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Speaker 5: Maybe loving you in silence is the closest I can stay.
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Speaker 5: Though it leaves behind a sorrow that may never fade away.
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Speaker 5: Unspoken love is sweet and painful, like honey mixed with rain.
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Speaker 5: A tender hope I hold so tightly while it.
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Speaker 2: Slowly breaks me loving.
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Speaker 5: You From just one side now Leaves my soul in
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Speaker 5: silent blue Cause the deeper that I fall alone The
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Speaker 5: lonelier I do