The Anointing for Favor

0:00Every believer is anointed

Man alive. Today’s a good day to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Go ahead and join me in Second Kings chapter nine, if you will. Second Kings chapter nine — we’ll get there in a moment. I am not going to preach long. I want y’all to say amen and to be responsive this morning, but you gotta find that line where I don’t feel too good and preach too long. Amen. So just right there at that spot. But I don’t want to be long. I’m going to be praying for everyone at the end of service. Obviously today’s a special day. First day of the — first Sunday of the year.

I don’t know about y’all, but 2026, I feel like we’re firmly planted in the second half of the 2020s. And if a decade has ever needed a second half, I think it’s the 2020s. Amen. And so we’re in the second half of the 2020s. Yesterday, we started our sixth month as the pastors here. All right. Two people are going on my Christmas present list for this year. Amen. And at the end of the service, obviously we’re going to lay hands on you. And I’m going to teach you some stuff today that I think is really going to help you to maximize this moment in our church. And I’m going to be anointing you with oil.

And I do want to let you know upfront that the oil is non-fragrant. If you are familiar with the recipe in the Bible for the anointing oil, it is quite involved. There are four — what the King James calls principal spices — that go in the anointing oil. And those four ingredients are quite fragrant. And it’s just a personal preference that we’re not doing fragrance in the anointing oil, because every time I have it put on me, I feel like I’m wearing White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor. There’s just an aroma going before me. And so I don’t want to be doing that today.

But when we talk about the anointing, whether we’re talking about it in the Bible or in the way that we talk about it in our local church context, a Spirit-filled church context, when we talk about the anointing, it is a very broad term in its use. In the Bible, sometimes it’s on the inside and sometimes it’s on the outside. In our church, we typically use it to describe things. So that’s anointed preaching. It’s anointed worship. Or sometimes you’ll hear somebody say something like, “The anointing to heal is present,” or “There’s a prophetic anointing.” We’ll talk about — and a lot of times we’ll use anointing just to kind of describe things.

We don’t know what else to describe, but very often we use it implicitly in a ministry context. So when we talk about the anointing generally, it’s only dealing with things that are in this room: the preaching, the singing, whatever gifts of the Spirit were flowing. But the reality is that the anointing is not exclusive to the ministry or the church. The anointing is for every single believer. To the degree that First John, the apostle John, says that you are anointed. Look at the person sitting next to you and say, “You are anointed.” That’s a good confession.

Look at the person you rejected just now and tell them, “You are anointed.” Amen. You’re anointed. And so this morning, I want to talk to you about the anointing in a context that I believe is most helpful for the average believer. This is something that’s going to help everybody who is in the room, who believes that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, raised from the dead and soon coming again. If that’s you, why don’t you just shout yes right now? Yes, hallelujah.

3:56Jehu anointed king: 2 Kings 9:1-10

And so we’re going to look at an individual in the Bible. His name is Jehu. This is in Second Kings chapter nine.

And Jehu is a man who was anointed king of Israel. And in fact, in Israel’s history, he became one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history. And I do want to warn you, I’m going to read quite a bit of Bible today. And I don’t know why I feel like I have to warn people of that. But when you read more than about three minutes of Bible in a message, people are like, “All he did is read the Bible today.” That’s not the worst thing that could have happened. Amen. All right, Second Kings chapter nine, verse one: “Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, ‘Tie up your garments and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-Gilead.

And when you arrive, look there for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among his fellows and lead him to the inner chamber. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, “Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.” Then open the door and flee; do not linger.’” Now, the reason here in verse three that the prophet tells the messenger to flee is because effectively this prophet is prophesying that Jehu is going to become king by a coup d’état. He’s about to throw a coup. He’s about to overthrow. And they say the Bible isn’t for today.

Amen. They were talking about this on the news this morning. Amen. And so, but they’re effectively going to overthrow the king whose name is Joram, who is the son of Ahab, who was the most wicked king in Israel’s history. Okay, continuing on verse four: “So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-Gilead. And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, ‘I have a word for you, O commander.’ And Jehu said, ‘To which of us all?’ And he said, ‘To you, O commander.’ So he arose and went into the house, and the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.

And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. And the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. And I’ll make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.’” Then he opened the door and he fled. He got out of there.

6:47Aligned with God's purposes

I want to share something with you really quickly that’s important as I get into the context of the message this morning.

I want to make sure that you’re well positioned to receive today. So I’ve got some helpful stuff for you on what you can expect from the anointing flowing in your life. But I need to make sure that we understand this: that the anointing flows when we align our life with God’s purposes. That’s when the anointing flows. It does not flow otherwise. Jehu was stepping into the prophetic fulfillment that God had set into motion through the prophet Elijah. See, Elisha sent the prophetic word to Jehu, but Elijah a while back had already prophesied that all these things would come to pass.

He told it to Ahab, the record of it had probably gotten around, and now Jehu is aligning with something that God has wanted to do for quite a while. And when Jehu got in sync with the purposes of God, the anointing started flowing on his life. Now I want to give you quickly — this is not what I’m preaching on this morning, but I’m going to toss this in to help you out. I will give you a shortcut to align your life with the purposes of God. I’ll give you the cheat code to aligning your life with the purposes of God. If you want the shortcut, say, “Give me the shortcut.”

Okay, y’all like shortcuts? I’m not trying to go longer than I have to. Amen, I want to. Okay, this is the shortcut. The fastest way to align your life with the purposes of God so the anointing can flow — this is the fastest way you can do it — is to invest in the local church. And I know that comes off self-serving when a preacher says it. I don’t know who else we’re expecting to get up and say this stuff though, so it’s a little bit of a catch-22. But I did just hear a multimillionaire say on a podcast, he was telling the podcast host some advice that he shares with people, business owners, to take their business to the next level.

And he says that he tells business owners regularly, even if you’re not a Christian, find a local church and send 10% of your income to it. And he said, “I’ve watched people who aren’t even believers see their life go to a whole nother level because they got aligned with the purposes of God.” Amen? And in fact, King Solomon showed us this model. King Solomon, who said in Ecclesiastes, by the way, money solves everything. He said that money solves everything. And you know why I think that’s true? Because a third of your life is spent making money so you can fund the other two thirds of your life.

You do it every day. You go somewhere so you can get money so you can go back home and do the stuff you want to do. Amen. And so money touches every area of your life. So if you’ll connect your money with God’s purposes, it’ll touch every area of your life. Hallelujah. I’m excited. I might sow some seed before I’m done preaching today. Amen. But in 2 Chronicles 2, the same man who said money solves everything — I want you to see what the Bible says of him. It says, “Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.”

Solomon made a concerted effort to put his attention and his effort towards fulfilling the purposes of God in the earth and on doing the stuff that he wanted to do. So when we partner with God in this way, it causes the anointing to flow to every endeavor that you take on. Somebody ought to say amen right there. That’s why we’re building a Jesus-centered, Spirit-filled church for all people, because I want to make sure we’re building. We gotta be partnered with what God wants to do. Whatever the Lord wants to do in Saraland, I want to get in touch with that.

Whatever the Lord wants to do in Mobile County, I want to get in touch with that. Whatever the Lord wants to do in Alabama, I want to sync up with that so we can see God do a great work in this house. You ought to give him praise right there. Hallelujah.

11:061. People act quickly in your favor

So I want to share with you three things that happen when the anointing begins to flow in your life. These are three things that you can expect when the anointing is flowing in your life. Three things the anointing causes to happen. Continuing on in the chapter, Second Kings chapter nine, verse 11, it says, “When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, ‘Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?’

And he said to them, ‘You know this fellow and his talk.’” So immediately Jehu has left this back room where the prophet has anointed him king, and he goes back out and sits with these commanders of the army, and they’re all kind of like, “What was that about? What was that whole deal?” And he’s reluctant to tell them. He doesn’t want to tell them what’s going on. And this is twofold. The first reason is this didn’t happen six weeks ago. This happened six minutes ago. He just heard, “You’re anointed king over Israel.” He doesn’t know what to do with that. He’s processing this.

And he comes back out and he goes — well, “What was that all about?” Here’s the other reason he doesn’t want to tell them. Remember I told you effectively, this is a coup d’état. This is a coup. He’s about to overthrow King Joram, and he comes back out and he sits at a table with the people who work for King Joram. They’re the commanders of his army. So there is a high probability that he says, “Well, they just anointed me king in the back room there,” and these guys kill him. So he’s reluctant to say anything. And so continuing on in verse 12, they say to him, “That’s not true.

Tell us now.” How many of you know, when something’s going on, people can tell. So they put the pressure on him. “Hey, talk to me, tell me what’s going on.” “And he said, ‘Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, “Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.”’” In verse 13, “Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, ‘Jehu is king.’” While Jehu was reluctant to say anything, the commanders who were sitting at the table with him quickly declared that Jehu was king. The Bible saying that they acted in haste.

So the first thing I want you to know about the anointing is that the anointing causes people to act quickly in your favor. Y’all need to get excited about this. I’m going to tell you, I’m going to walk out of here with all this stuff working on me. I’m trying to get it on you. Somebody shout real quick. Just shout. Just go ahead, just shout. Yeah. That is some weak — that is some weak. I’m sorry, it’s 2026. I’m going to say, that is some weak Baptist stuff y’all just pulled in here. I want to hear somebody shout. Go ahead and give the Lord a praise in this place.

Come on, yeah. Hallelujah. Now don’t forget who you are for the rest of this message. Nehemiah said, “Should a man such as I come down?” Should a man such as you be quiet in this Pentecostal church? No, you should not. Praise the Lord. Number one, the anointing causes people to act quickly in your favor. Now I know that we want to be patient. We want to wait upon the Lord, because those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. But there are moments where you need stuff to happen now. If the deadline’s in 72 hours, you don’t have five years to soak in the presence.

Amen. And so there are moments where we need things to happen quickly. Now I would toss in, it does take a measure of maturity to know the difference between urgency and impatience. But I confuse the two of them all the time. So I consider you in good company, amen. But the anointing causes people to act quickly. And sometimes it’ll cause people to act even faster than you’re prepared for. I’m talking about moments where you say to someone — you’re just verbal processing with a buddy or something — and you say, “I’m thinking about selling my car.” And the next thing, you look over and they’re pulling their checkbook out.

They’re ready to take it off your hands right now. I’m talking about quickly. Some of you selling houses right now. And I’m talking about putting the sign out in the yard and getting a knock on the door in an hour. And the deal is done. Right after you find a good realtor, amen, Laura. Just go ahead and say, hey, right after you find a good realtor, amen. If you’re looking for a good realtor, you just go to Laura. And she’s going to donate all her commissions to the church. Amen. Hallelujah. So I’m talking about things acting quickly. Now there’s a flip side to that too though, is we can assume when we talk about this, that people acting quickly in your favor means that people quickly say yes.

And that’s not always the way it works. Sometimes people will say no quickly in your favor. There are moments that people will say no without hesitation. And that’s actually going to protect you in the long run. I had a situation a few years ago. I reached out to a pastor who I’m connected with. I know him. I’ve stayed in his house 30, 40 times. I mean, I’m not talking — I know this guy. And I reached out to him and he has a great church. And I said, I will go preach for this guy. Because if I go preach for him, it’d be good for my ministry. It’d be good for my reputation.

And I wanted to go preach for him. And so I got on the phone with him. We talked about it. Guys, I mean, I’m connected with him. We aren’t super tight, but we’re super connected. I get on the phone and we talk about it. He says, “Okay, well, let me think about it. I’ll get back with you.” All right, man, I’m telling you, it wasn’t 48 hours and he sent me what is probably one of the ugliest emails I have ever gotten from a pastor, telling me you ain’t preaching here ever. And he let me know flat on the floor. It ain’t happening ever. He basically told me, I don’t like you or the horse you rode in on.

I don’t know what his deal was. I caught him on a bad day. Amen. And he — I mean, it was, it discouraged me. It hurt my feelings, made me feel like garbage. Now folks, I can get booked. I could call people right now if they’re in the right time zone and set something up. If they’re in central time zone, they’re in church. But if I call them in California, I could book something right now. And this guy turned me down. Couple months later, couple months later, a bunch of stuff out of this guy’s history came out. And all of a sudden he was embroiled in controversy.

And I’m going to tell you, the day of, it hurt my feelings. But in hindsight, I looked at it and I went, the Lord was protecting me. The anointing was causing him to act quickly in my favor, even though it wasn’t the answer that I wanted. And I don’t know that it’s always true, but there are times in your life that you can mark down not getting the thing you want as rejection is protection. Amen. Hallelujah. I want to keep going through this passage of Scripture.

17:532. Things change in your favor

2 Kings 9, verse 14 says, “Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram.

Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-Gilead against Hazael king of Syria, but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.” So Jehu said — he’s talking to these commanders who have declared him king — he said, “If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” In other words, nobody leak this and let him know we’re about to come and do this. “Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there.

And Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.” Verse 17: “Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw the company of Jehu as he came, and said, ‘I see a company.’ And Joram said, ‘Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, “Is it peace?”’” They want to check out and see what’s going on. Verse 18: “So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, ‘Thus says the king, “Is it peace?”’ And Jehu said to him, ‘What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.’ And the watchman reported, saying, ‘The messenger reached them, but he’s not coming back.’”

And this happened a few more times. This happens a couple of times in the chapter where Joram will send a messenger out to find out what’s going on. And the messenger will switch sides on the spot and join Jehu. Every time it happens, the messenger switches sides. En route, on duty, switches sides. Be like working at Target and going and taking a shift at Walmart in the middle of your hours. But this is what I want you to see, is that the anointing will also cause things to change in your favor. The anointing will cause things to change in your favor. When the anointing gets on you, you’re going to have things happen that might have formerly been fixed against you.

I want you to hear this. Some of the stuff you’re walking through ain’t permanent. And in fact, some of you are going to start getting yeses where you’ve been getting nos. I have a feeling that some of you are going to get approvals where you might’ve already gotten some kind of deny. Some of you are going to start seeing permits come through that you’ve been waiting on. Some of you are going to see sellers lower prices, buyers raise offers. I’m saying something’s going to work out in your favor. That guy who rejected your resume might just turn around and go, “You know what, we’ve been thinking about it and you probably would be a good candidate.”

Amen. Something can change in your favor and the anointing causes it to happen. And when this happens, what is it? Is it you? No. Is it that you’ve changed everything? No. Is it that you’ve chased it and hounded it and forced it to make it work? Have you pounded that square peg into a round hole? No, it’s the anointing that makes it work. It’s simply the anointing. There’s a gospel singer, her name is Maurette Brown Clark. And she sings a song that I just love that says [worship]. Somebody ought to give him praise. And the text goes on to tell us that Jehu defeats Joram in this campaign.

21:203. Protection from bad decisions

Now I want to continue moving on. Second Kings chapter nine, verse 30, says, “When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it.” Now I know some of y’all have heard of Jezebel, and I’m not going to do a deep dive on her this morning, but Jezebel was Ahab’s queen and it was Joram’s mother. And Jezebel had maintained a position of power in Israel. And Joram was the king, but Joram wasn’t the king, if you get what I’m saying. Jezebel was pulling all the strings. “And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.” Now, why did she do that? Well, she was going to try something that she had done many times before with many other people and it had worked.

She was going to try to seduce Jehu. She was going to try to seduce him to get him to not kill her, to not continue in his campaign, to not continue what he was doing. He’d already killed Joram, but if he’d spare her, she’d be all right with it. A great Bible teacher named J. Vernon McGee suggested that her name actually means seduction without intimacy. In other words, Jezebel, what she would do is she’d just get men to chase her. She was — trying to take y’all’s temperature real quick — she was the original OnlyFans girl. She didn’t have no problem putting all her business out in the street and you could see everything.

And then she would cause men to chase her. And then she would get what she wanted out of the men, but the men were never going to get what they wanted out of her. Because she could seduce them to change the way they made decisions. That’s how she ruled Israel through Ahab. Verse 31 says, “And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, ‘Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?’” Now I want to let you know just a little trivia here. When she calls him Zimri, it’s actually an insult. There was another man in Israel’s history who was named Zimri, who had also overthrown a king.

He had done a coup and he was effective and he took the throne. But the pressure was so much for Zimri that within seven days, he killed himself. And so what she’s saying to him is she says, “You’ve gotten this far, and go ahead and come for me, but you’re only going to make it about a week, son.” So she’s trying to discourage him. I’m going to tell you, that’s working on you from two angles. I’ll seduce you and I’ll make you feel scared. Woo, a lot of emotional stuff going on. Verse 32 says, “And he lifted up his face to the window” — probably the window that she was in — “and said, ‘Who is on my side?

Who?’” He’s calling out for help because he’s compromised in this moment. He’s compromised in his decision-making. She’s working a play and it’s probably working to some degree effectively. Because let’s face it, men aren’t that complicated. Amen. If she’d have had a lasagna, she’d have had him. Just — she’d have had him right there. These jokes are better than y’all are letting on, amen. And at that point, two or three eunuchs look out at him. He sees two or three eunuchs, and this is significant, because while Jehu is looking at Jezebel and he’s starting to feel this shift in his resolve, he’s starting to — well, maybe I don’t kill this good looking woman and I keep her around.

He’s feeling that. Maybe I need her because she has influence, and she’s right, Zimri didn’t make it very long. And while he’s considering changing his course, he looks up and he calls out for help. And who looks out? It’s three eunuchs. In other words, people who were not fazed by what Jezebel had to offer. Their desire for what she was offering had been cut off. Amen. Verse 33: “And he said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down, and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.” She falls out the window and she is dead within moments.

This is what I want you to see, is that when Jehu started to feel compromised, where he might make some decisions that weren’t in his favor, decisions that would work against him, he looked up for help. And what he saw is he saw people who were unfazed by the thing that was compromising his decision-making. This is number three. The anointing protects you from bad decisions. The anointing protects you from bad decisions. And the bad decisions typically come from the same place as what Jezebel was trying to put on Jehu. They typically come from a sense of allure or fascination or enticement.

And it’s not necessarily a woman or a man. This can be anything. This can be going to buy a car. You can go to buy a car in your budget that does what you need to do, and walk out of there with something that’s convertible, red and fast, and be driving away going, “I don’t know, when did this happen? I went in for a 2005 Ford Focus. I got a Maserati.” Decisions can be compromised. In fact, we see this a lot in houses. Now this is going to start happening here more soon because we’re about to have neighborhoods just start opening in Saraland left and right. But having lived in Florida — listen, they’re building so many houses in Florida.

I don’t know what it is now, but when we moved there in 2015, somebody told me a thousand people moved to Florida every day, every single day. And so they’re building new houses everywhere. And this is how they get you: is you roll up on a new subdivision and you start seeing signs, and the signs say, “Hey, these houses start for 300,000.” And you see the sign and you go, “Well, I think I could do 300,000. I think I can do that. I could pull a $300,000 house. I can make that payment. That’s in my range. I can make that happen.” And so you go in, and by the time you’ve driven into the subdivision, they also didn’t tell you that the land wasn’t included in that starting price.

So it just went up 50 grand, by the way. And you ain’t even talked to anybody yet. And then you go into a sales center and you start talking to these people at the sales center. And they said, “Well, would you like to look through some of the model homes?” And you say, “Well, yeah, I’m here.” And you go into a model home. And the next thing you know, you are falling in love with this house. And they got everything. They got the floors and they got the fixtures, and the bathroom is awesome. They got a jacuzzi tub and a big glass shower and a swimming pool in the back.

And the ceilings are 12 foot high and all the doors are solid. You even move it and you think, “Oh, that’s kind of heavy. That’s nice.” And they’ve got a refrigerator that was designed by the Archangel Gabriel. I’m talking about it’s the nicest house you have ever seen in your life. And then you ask the question, “Well, how much does this house cost if I bought it like this one?” And all of a sudden a $300,000 house costs $1.2 million. But here’s the problem. You know, “Hey, I could do three, 350.” But every time you approach those decisions about building a house — if I’m going to, I don’t know if I can do it without them floors.

I don’t know if I can do it without that farmhouse sink. Well, if we’re going to do it, I’d rather put the pool in the mortgage than pay for it later. You start making these decisions that are pushing you out. And because you’ve been enticed by something, now you start making bad decisions. I’ve seen people do this all the time. I’ve seen pastors do this, where they go to a church they’ve got no business going to because it’s in an area they want to be in. Did I tell you I lived in Florida? Amen, making those decisions. But the anointing, what it does is it creates a resolve in you where you’re not quite affected by the things that you normally would be affected by.

And you’ll even be going through things and you’ll go, “Why doesn’t this faze me? Why doesn’t this bother me?” In 20 years of ministry, I can tell you, I have never had a big giver make me nervous. That’s the anointing. Because let me tell you something, I got a bunch of counterparts who are scared to death of their big givers. It got quiet in this church. Now I feel like coming down and preaching, amen. By the way, I don’t know if y’all see all this tape. This might be the new stage in the future. We’re playing with some ideas. So just vision, I’m coming down the steps here.

Oh, by the way, I’ve got musicians on the stage. I don’t know if you saw them with me this morning. We’re just doing some stuff in vision. Y’all will — if you’ll watch me long enough, I will work this stage. I’ll go up and down the stairs. I’ve just been doing it all week long. And so, but the anointing will get on you and it’ll keep you from a bad decision. Bad decision I could make — talking about the stage. I think I’ve said this to y’all at some point: this year, we’re going to have to replace these speakers. Speakers have been here 20 years longer than they should have been, amen.

The speakers have lived. They have done their service. It is time. These — speaking of things that need to move to Florida, we need to send them down to Boca Raton. They need to live out the rest of their days with Dorothy and Blanche and all them. And I had a friend who does installs and I was talking to him about what we need to do in the room. And this is what he said to me, because he works with preachers all the time. And he said, “Don’t you buy speakers that you like the way they look.” Get enticed and make the wrong decision because you think it looks good.

Anyway, protect you from wrong decisions. The other thing that the anointing will do is it’ll attract a people around you. The anointing is attractive, and the anointing can get people around you who will be able to make the decisions better than you’d be able to make it. And so even if you’re going to make a decision, God’s got a handful of eunuchs who are ready to come to your assistance, amen. So to bring them around you and give you help. So the last thing I want to share with you this morning before I pray for you is the anointing works on our behalf. And I started by telling you that the anointing requires us to be connected and aligned with the purposes of God for it to flow.

32:33Connected to the source: Zechariah 4

But there is another requirement that the anointing has. The anointing requires us to be connected to the source. I want to go to Zechariah chapter four and I want to read something to you really quick. Zechariah chapter four. It says — this is the source of the anointing, by the way — it says, “Then I said to him, ‘What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?’ And a second time I answered and said to him, ‘What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?’

And he said to me, ‘Do you not know what these are?’” At which point I’m always kind of surprised that some of these guys in the Bible don’t look at these angels and go, “No, that’s why I asked you two times. No, I don’t know what they are.” Verse 14 says, “Then he said, ‘These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.’” I don’t want to take you through the whole dissertation on this, but what this is, this is actually a Christological typology. It’s a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. When it talks about the two anointed ones here, it’s talking about the high priest and the king.

It’s actually a governor. His name is Zerubbabel. He is in the lineage of David. It’s pointing towards a king priest who is to come. His name is Jesus Christ. And he is a king priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews 7:17. And so when we look at this passage, you have to see that the golden pipe is not the anointing. And I don’t know if you understand this, but if you got a tree, oil and a golden pipe, which one do you think is going to get the attention? The golden pipe is. That’s the thing everybody wants to focus in on. That’s the means by which the anointing comes.

It’s the preaching and the spiritual gifts and the manifestations. And it’s all the stuff. It’s the means. That’s the golden pipe. And then there’s the golden oil, and we can get fixated on the golden oil and we can chase the gold. And I gotta get the oil. I gotta get the oil. And I’m going to tell you this morning, we’re going to anoint you with oil, but I want to let you know that the oil is not the source. The oil is simply a way that we set some time aside in this service and consecrate ourselves to the things of God in this year. But the source, the Bible says, is the olive tree.

It’s the two anointed ones, the olive tree. Who is that? It’s Jesus Christ. Over the next 10 weeks or so, just to let y’all know, the series on the Holy Ghost is getting longer and longer. Every day I sit down and write. But over the next 10 weeks or so, we’re going to be talking about how we’re an openly Spirit-filled church. That’s one of our values. But when I’ve said this mission statement over and over again, I’ve said it the way I’ve said it on purpose. We’re not just a Spirit-filled church. If you want just a Spirit-filled church, there’s tons of churches that’ll tell you, “We’re Spirit-filled.”

Great, have at it, go for it. That’s not who we are. And that’s not who we’re going to be. We’re a Jesus-centered, Spirit-filled church. Because if you don’t hook up to the source, I don’t know what you’re getting, but it ain’t the anointing. You can get peanut oil in any church. You can get Crisco in any church, but you only get the golden olive oil if you’re hooked up to the source, which is Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. And so we’re going to be Jesus-centered here. And over the next 10 weeks, I want to invite you, be here. Do not miss a week. Do not miss — if you watch it online, just don’t miss these messages.

I’m going to walk you through how to see the power of God effectively flow in every area of your life over the next 10 weeks. Man, I feel like preaching right now. We’ll just stay for three hours. But you can accomplish a lot without the anointing. And I want to be clear here. You can do a lot without the anointing. You can get a lot done. 2026 is not going to be better than 2025 without the anointing. You can do a lot under your own power. You can do a lot under your own strength, but your life doesn’t go to the next level without the anointing.

You can maintain some level of peace with your family, but there’s not going to be restoration in the relationship without the anointing. You need the anointing. We need the anointing. Because when the anointing begins to flow, the impossible becomes possible. The improbable — those things that you think, man, that’d be a really long stretch for that — so I’m telling you the improbable becomes probable. When the anointing gets on you, you start to look at situations that seem difficult. And all of a sudden you go, “I don’t think it’s that hard.” The anointing emboldens your decision-making.

It brings your faith to the next level. And all of a sudden you see yourself walking taller and stronger and making decisions, and you can’t be swayed. And no matter what the enemy throws at you, you just seem to have a tenacity that says, “I’m going to do what the Lord said to do. Come hell or high water, I’m going to make it happen.” Hallelujah.

38:24Today is about Jesus

But I want to be clear, as you stand to your feet all across this place this morning, today is not about the oil. Today is about Jesus. Today is about the one who bled, who died, who rose again, who is a soon coming King.

Hallelujah. Just all across the room, just lift your hands to heaven and just worship the Lord for a moment. I sense the presence of the Lord in the house, amen. Thank you, Lord.

Hallelujah.

40:08Favor that fits who you are, and a blessing

I’m telling you, the anointing releases favor in areas of your life, folks, that just — if you’ll hook up with Jesus and get serious about the things that God wants to accomplish, I’m telling you, your life will go to a level you just can’t imagine. And I’ll be honest, I’ve seen it in my life. I really — I’m at a point now, I can barely testify about it, because I’m a preacher and y’all will get all the wrong ideas. But I’m telling you, I’ve seen God do stuff that I just sit in there.

When I went into the ministry, y’all, I went in for nothing. I went in for a hundred dollars a week, and they housed me in a boys’ home. It was, you know, hungry, I guess is the best way to do it. I was hungry. And I’ll never forget when I got — the first time I got a job for $35,000 a year, I thought, y’all, I might as well have been Jed Clampett. I’m like, they giving hillbillies money around here, man. And my life had just — I was like, whoa. And I know that at times, when you have different things going on and you hear a preacher talking about money, and you go, “Why does he talk about money a lot?”

I do it for two reasons. One, math’s real easy to understand. One plus one is two. And you know, if you got one and then you got two, that’s easy to say, “Well, that was a blessing.” So I liked that. But I also — my family, my parents went bankrupt. We had the repo man come to the house. I knew what it was like to wake up and go for my mom to take me to school, “What’d y’all do with the car?” And it’s not — the car ain’t out there. Repo man come and get it. I grew up in all that stuff. I saw that stress rip them apart. I saw when the money went down, the drinking went up, and all hell was breaking loose in the house.

So when I talk about having money, man, that’s favor to me. And so when the Lord touched my life and I saw stuff like that happen — and I’ll never forget, I got that $35,000. And I thought, my God almighty, look at what the Lord has done. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw that come in, and in a month one time. Oh, and hang on, that ain’t — those aren’t month numbers. Those are year numbers. And the Lord touched me. I wasn’t traveling in the ministry at the time. I wasn’t in a local church. It wasn’t coming through donations. Y’all don’t pay me $35,000 a month.

Y’all just pay the lease on the helicopter. Amen. And I’m kidding. Everybody calm down, I don’t have a helicopter today. But when I saw favor, I’m telling you, it happened quickly. And you’ll almost — this is what I’m believing for some of you, that you’ll almost just be sitting in the blessing of the Lord, looking back, going, “When, when did it, when did it happen? Where’d it come?” I’m talking about just suddenly, and naturally, it won’t jar you. You won’t be out of place. You’re not going to get your breakthrough and feel like you don’t deserve it. You get the breakthrough and you feel like, “Well, no, I’m good with this.

This is who I am. I’m this kind of person. I’m the kind of person that this should be happening to.” When the healing comes, you won’t be going, “Well my God, I can’t believe I got healed.” No, you’ll be going, “No, it seems like I’m the kind of person that would get healed.” You know, I said it earlier in the service, it came up as a joke, but it came up in my spirit, that Nehemiah was on the wall and they tried to get him to come down. And he said, “Should a man such as I?” And I’m telling you, the person that you are in Jesus Christ and the person that you are in the natural world can come into such an alignment that all of a sudden you’re going, “You know what?

Everything I’d been believing for, everything I’d been hoping for, it’s coming to pass. I’m seeing it happen. And my God, it feels right.” And I’m believing that for you this year. I’m believing that God’s going to touch you in that way. Some of you are believing for healing. I believe it’s coming. Some of you are believing for financial increase. I believe it’s coming. There are some of you in this room that are one approval away from finally being to the place that you want to be. I believe the approval is coming, because all his promises are yes and amen.

Hallelujah. And I’m declaring over you this morning that favor will flow in your life. The anointing will flow in your life in a way that you hear a yes, and so be it, because that’s how in the South, we say it, ‘tis, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Hallelujah. Will everybody stand to your feet? I have bad news for you: unless there’s been an outbreak of somebody slitting tires at the Baptist and the Presbyterian church, y’all are not getting a good seat at the buffet today. Y’all are going to be in competition. But man, we’re going to have moments like this where we just see God move.

And I believe — I think some of you got a stamp of “it’s done” today. I really do in my spirit. There’s a handful of y’all I was praying for, and I just thought, Lord, I don’t know what that is, but you’re doing it right now in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Lift your hands to heaven. Let me speak a blessing over you. Father, I pray right now that the anointing of favor would begin to flow over every person in this church. God, let Saraland Church be the church known for where the blessed people go to church. Father, everybody that seems to go over there is walking in health, and they seem happy, and they enjoy their life, and they seem to have enough, and they don’t operate in lack, but they always seem to have a smile on their face, and they’re kind and they’re generous.

Father, let this be the church that’s known as the blessing church. The church where everybody is blessed, in Jesus’ name. Father, release the anointing of favor. And over the next 10 weeks or so, as we plug into the power of the Holy Ghost that is rooted in the source of Jesus Christ, God, I ask you for an outpouring of the Holy Ghost in this place like this city ain’t ever seen, in Jesus’ mighty name. And all God’s people said, amen. God bless you. We love you. We’re excited about 2026, and we’ll see you next Sunday at 10:30 AM. God bless you.