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| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, January 27th, 2013:
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, January 27th, 2013:
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/10951/good_news_037_jan27.mp3
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‘Fresh Oil’
Good morning, and welcome to Good News in the Morning. My name is Brent Russett. I serve at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. It is my pleasure to look at some of life’s challenges with you, and then bring you some good news in the morning.
This program is sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries, Box 184 Rideau Ferry, ON K0G1W0. Or you can find us on the web by googling “Good News Christian Ministries.”
This morning I want to take you into the life of David. There are many of you listening to me who have been following Jesus – but you know your spiritual life is flat – it is not what it should be. This morning I believe that God wants to speak into your life through the life of David.
We have been doing a summer tour through the life of David. Before we get into his life I want to tell you a couple of quick stories. The year was 1990. I had just arrived at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church – the church I still pastor.
At that time worship with a band – especially with drums was edgy. But we cautiously stumbled forward into this new kind of worship. When I came the church was about 100 people on a Sunday. There were about 30 university student, and about 70 seniors and empty nesters- and really not much else. Other than the Assistant pastor and his wife and Lynda and myself, there were three young married couples.
But God was gracious in that first year, and a lot of university students came to Sunnyside. We had something called night celebration, which was a once a month evening worship service. There were times that the presence of God in that time was palpable. There was in that time an anointing for students, an anointing for worship. I don’t know what else to call it. God was very present in so many different ways.
The year was 1993 I think. I had been pushing fairly hard. I was dealing with a number of personal challenges, and I was dealing with a growing church, and changing staff. In short I was feeling flat.
Somebody organized a conference with some great speakers in Lansdown park. I remember I was sitting about half way up in the Hockey Arena. There was worship happening and then he spoke. I don’t know how to describe it other than I felt waves of the Holy Spirit roll over me. There was something in me changed that day. I was no longer flat. There was a new anointing. This morning I want to talk to you about a fresh anointing from God.
SONG --- Heart of Worship Vol 3 Men of Faith (4:12)
In 1 Samuel, the Bible tells the story of King Saul and King David. When we get to chapter 16, we find that God has rejected Saul’s kingship and he told Samuel the prophet to go to the house of Jesse. When he got there, he asked Jesse to show bring his sons to him.
When the prophet Samuel saw Jesse’s oldest son he thought, this must be the new king – he is so tall and handsome. But God said, you look at the outside, I look at the inside, I haven’t chosen him to be king. One by one Jesse’s sons walked by Samuel, but God didn’t choose any of them. After the last one walked by and God said no, Samuel asked Jesse, “Is that all, do you have any more sons. Jesse said, well there is the youngest, but he is out tending sheep.” Samuel said send for him. When David showed up, God said this is the one.
1 Samuel 16:13 (NLT)
13 So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on.
David was anointed King and the Holy Spirit came upon him. Most Bible students see a strong connection between the anointing of oil and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But for the next ten years he ran from mad King Saul. Saul pursued David through towns and through deserts. For 10 years David was on the run.
I want to pick up our story in 2 Samuel 1, Saul and his sons have been killed in a war. David mourns them. But then the Bible records this.
2 Samuel 2:2–4 (NLT)
2 b So David and his wives 3 and his men and their families all moved to Judah, and they settled in the villages near Hebron. 4 Then the men of Judah came to David and anointed him king over the people of Judah.
Wait a second, I thought he had already been anointed King. He had ... but he was moving into a new chapter in his life. Things were different, and he received a fresh anointing. He was talking on new responsibilities, and he received a fresh anointing. He was made King of Judah and he received a fresh anointing.
Well Judah was one of the tribes of Israel. But there were 12 tribes. Some of the other tribes supported the house of king Saul. They coexisted peaceably for a while, but then the army captains of both sides did something stupid, (which I won’t go into) and a civil war erupted.
2 Samuel 3:1 (NLT)
That was the beginning of a long war between those who were loyal to Saul and those loyal to David. As time passed David became stronger and stronger, while Saul’s dynasty became weaker and weaker.
There is a whole lot of political intrigue. But when we get to chapter 5 it says this.
2 Samuel 5:1–5 (NLT)
David Becomes King of All Israel
Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past,* when Saul was our king, you were the one who really led the forces of Israel. And the Lord told you, ‘You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be Israel’s leader.’ ”
3 So there at Hebron, King David made a covenant before the Lord with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all. 5 He had reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and from Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
Wait a second, I thought David had already been anointed king by Samuel. He had. I thought David had already been anointed king by Judah. He had. But now the Elders of Israel anointed him king. A fresh anointing.
Is it any wonder that the Psalmist declares in Psalm 92,
Psalm 92:10 (NRSV)
10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
you have poured over me fresh oil.
In that Psalm the Psalmist was assaulted by enemies on every side. He was pushed to the brink, but God came through. God gave him a new lease on life, a new anointing for life – he was anointed with fresh oil.
According to Psalm 23 where the Lord is my shepherd. What happens when he leads me into green pastures and beside still waters. He anoints my head with oil. Fresh oil.
SONG- Psalm 23 - Album Celtic Psalm – by Eden’s Bridge (4:13)
Psalm 92 declares – you have poured over me fresh oil. Psalm 23 declares – you have anointed my head with oil.
Maybe you are in a place where you need fresh oil. You may be doing all the right things. You pray. You help out in community. You serve in your local church. Maybe you are even seeing success. But you know on the inside you are flat. Your spiritual gas tank is empty.
Your spiritual life is stagnant, You desperately need fresh oil.
If I was to use old time language. What we need more than anything right now is a revival. The impression I am getting from talking to a lot of people about their spiritual life is that there are many who believe that God is present but their spiritual lives are flat.
I am talking about what the apostle Paul was talked about in Ephesians 5
Ephesians 5:18–20 (NRSV)
18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When he says be filled with the Spirit. The tense of that verb, is present. Keep on being filled. Fresh Oil.
Dwight L Moody, one of the great preachers of the 19th century was able to attract large crowds. Every night when he preached 4 or 5 people would come to know the Lord.
But one night two little old ladies met him at the door of the church and said, Mr. Moody, we are praying that you will be filled with the Spirit. He said “Don’t pray for me, look at all the people who are coming. Every time I preach people get saved.” But they said, you need more.
And they kept on praying. And one day, when Mr. Moody was in New York city – the Holy Spirit came upon him in such power that he had to ask God to say his hand.
After that he said, I preached the same messages, but instead of 5 people getting saved, 50 people would get would come to know Jesus. He said where before I was carrying buckets of water, now I had a river of life carrying me. Fresh Oil.
But here is the thing – this kind of anointing is not just for preachers. When you became a Christian, whether you know it or not, God gave you at least one spiritual gift and maybe more – It might be teaching or evangelism, or gifts of mercy and of helps – it might be a gift of mercy or leadership – it might be the gift of knowledge or faith – but all of you were given at least one spiritual gift. And they weren’t given to you so you could feel good about yourself – they were given to you so you could use them to help others – or to use biblical language – for the common good.
If you are going to accomplish what God wants you to accomplish – if we are going to be who God is calling us to be– then we are going to need fresh oil.
Can you imagine those who are called to lead, leading a bible study with fresh oil, so people are transformed by the power of God in those studies. Can you imagine people with the gifts of mercy or of service using those gifts in Spirit lead ways, so not only do things get done, but what they do bears fruit of righteousness, or holiness, or people come coming to the Lord – We need fresh oil.
But there is more – Ed Sovoso – in his book “Anointed for business” talks about how as a business man he knew he need the power of the Holy Spirit. God poured fresh oil into him. He built three business from the ground up – why because that is what God called him to do – He was anointed for business. – Fresh oil.
What I am talking about is not only what happens in church – I believe there is an anointing for business, and an anointing for parenting, and anointing for work as well as church.
I am convinced that right now we need fresh oil. David was anointed king, but then he was on the run for ten years. Then he started a new chapter in life, and he was anointed again. He was anointed king over Judah. But that wasn’t all, in a few more years, the whole country of Israel came together again. This was the beginning of greatness for this country. David was anointed again.
Could it be that God has called you into a new chapter. Could it be that this is time the for fresh oil.
The question is, Yes but how. Well there isn’t a formula. But I will say this. When Pentecost happened and when the Spirit of God descended on the people – it happened in the middle of a prayer meeting. It happened at 9 a.m. in the morning – And they had been praying for some time.
One of the great revivals in the last couple hundred years was in the Heberdies Islands in Scotland. The Spirit of God transformed the place – but before revival broke out there was a small group of people praying.
In fact, people who study these things say they can’t find a single instance where you have a massive move of God where people were not first praying.
Jesus told this story in Luke 11
Luke 11:5–13 (NIV)
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
We need that shameless audacity to ask God for fresh oil. We need to pound on the door of heaven until God gives us what we need.
There are some things I don’t get about God. I often go to God with attitude, God I know what I need, and God you know what I need, so here I am asking for what I need and I entrust my need to you. So if God knows and I have prayed then it is in God’s hands – and I can trust God with that . There is something good about that.
But there are times that we just need to persist in prayer. We need to keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking. I don’t get why – but this seems to be one of those areas.
People if we are going to see fresh oil poured out amongst us we are going to have to consistently pound on the door of heaven. Some of you need to every day, in your prayers call out to God – I need fresh oil, we need fresh oil.
Some of you meet in prayer groups. Your group needs to call out for fresh oil. And you need to keep on calling out until it happens.
There are some of you who know that what I am saying is good and right and true, you know it is what you need. But right now the idea of persisting in prayer is a mountain too big to climb. If that is you- you need to start shoot arrow prayers to God. Quick, one sentence prayers;
“God I need you. God anoint me with fresh oil. God anoint the church I attend with fresh oil.”
Every time it comes to your mind shoot off an arrow prayer.
It could be that God will lead you into green pastures and beside still waters – and that he will restore your soul - so then he can anoint your head with oil and your cup runs over.
For the sake of you family, your work, your church, your lives, storm the gates of heaven until you have the faith to say with the Psalmist in Psalm 92, “You have poured over me fresh oil”.
Let me pray for you.
Father,
You know our needs and when we’re spiritually flat, when we enter into different challenges in our lives; when we come to those places in our lives that are new places of responsibility: we need you. We pray for fresh oil.
We pray for fresh oil in our lives: fresh anointing in business, in parenting, in life, in work, in our calling, in our churches. I pray, Lord, that you would indeed grant fresh oil.
I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thank you, Listeners for your words of encouragement, and for keeping us in your prayers. Keeping this program on the air continues to be a work of faith. If you can help with that, please make out a cheque payable to Good News Christian Ministries, Box 184, Rideau Ferry , On. K0G 1W0.
There now are several ways of accessing our programs. If you have Rogers Cable, you will find it on Channel 927 at 6:30 on Sunday mornings as well as over this radio station. Also I encourage you to visit our website and follow us on Twitter or comment on our Blog.
May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. And may the heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying love
Song- Guy Penrod “What a Friend we have in Jesus” –Track 8 -3:21
- Rev. Brent Russett
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