The Church - God's Anointed Servant — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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They shall mount up with wings like the eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk day by day. Amen. Real blessing to be together this morning. Appreciated the words out of 3rd John this morning.

It's a joy to hear Brother Dean sharing too. I wonder how many men are yet here from the leadership seminar. Let me see your hands this morning. Speaking to you men and all of us men that are local here.

I wonder how many of you have been keeping your conscience clear since Friday evening. Anybody have any exercises in doing that? Let me see your hand if you've had some exercises in doing that since Friday evening.

Praise the Lord. That's how you learn to walk. God wants to do many things in the future in our midst. He's longing to do that. He's waiting to do it. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.

If you're one of those, you've been exercising your hearts and your conscience is clear and heaven is open, then your heart is perfect toward Him. And the Lord is going to and fro throughout the whole earth looking for those where He can show Himself strong on the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.

That's all God asks of us, isn't it? Just keep your heart perfect before Me. An upright heart. Let's bow for a prayer. Can you do that? Father in heaven, we bow down to You this one more time. We love You, Lord.

We thank You for loving us. We thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. We thank You, Lord, for this Sunday morning assembly, the blessing of being together, the blessing of coming together after a whole week of leadership seminar.

We thank You for it, Lord. We thank You for Your presence. We sense that You're here today. We treasure that greatly, dear God. And pray that You would draw nigh unto us, Father, as we draw near unto You with our hearts.

Father, this morning we long after You. We love You. We want to walk with You. We want all that You have for us, dear Father, as a people. And we do acknowledge that You are the Lord. You sit on the throne.

You order all things. We thank You for this Sunday morning service. And pray You would anoint us with the Holy Ghost this morning. Give us ears to hear, Lord. Oh, please, Father, give us ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying unto the Church.

The Church as God’s Anointed Servant

Christ, I have been teaching about the anointing of the Holy Ghost all week long in our leadership seminar. For the most part, as we have gone through the week, limited the applications to our personal, individual lives.

Speaking to the men coming from all kinds of different places, some in churches, some in little house fellowships, some all by themselves, I felt it needful to keep the applications along the personal, individual lines.

But this morning, I would like to make some corporate applications to the subject that we have been looking at through the week. There are corporate applications, which, if we stop to consider them. So this morning, I would like to add to the messages that have already been given.

I would like to add to the messages that have already been given this one. The Church, God's anointed servant. The Church, God's anointed servant. I so appreciated the challenge that we received on Friday night.

We were warned, we were challenged about the danger of being like Simon in Acts chapter 8, who wanted to use the Holy Spirit to his own selfish advantage, who tried to buy this power, not realizing that the Holy Spirit is a person, not a power.

He saw it as a power, and thought it was something that he could just get somehow. Thank you, son. Simon did not realize that his interpretation of what was happening was wrong, and that what was happening was not because of some power, but it was in fact the presence of the Living God in the midst of the Church there in Samaria.

Peter rebuked him sharply that somehow, in the evil of his heart, he thought he could buy the Holy Ghost. He didn't realize that the Spirit of the Living God is God the Holy Spirit. He's a person, not a power.

God is not to be used, but to be utterly yielded to each and every day of our lives. Simon had not learned that on Friday evening, that some of us were guilty of using the Holy Spirit when we get in the tough spots, in the hard places, when we're not sure what to do, why then we drag Him out of the stall, so to speak, and use Him to get us out of our jam, and then we let Him back there and go our merry way, like the ox.

You know, we were given that illustration on Friday evening, and I just want to allude to it a little bit here this morning so that we can connect it to the corporate implications of the power of the Holy Spirit.

We learned on Friday evening we are the ox waiting in the stall for the promptings of the Spirit of God to serve, to bear burdens, to win souls. And all the other things that God would call upon us to do.

We are His servants. He is not ours. And I so appreciated those words and the way that was brought out to us. And Friday night after the meeting was over, I must say I was pretty tired. Amen, Brother Mose?

I was pretty tired on Friday evening, and I remember telling a few people, well, I'm ready to go back to the stall. I've done my work, and I'm ready to go back to the stall and just rest there a while.

And those were my plans. I even said to a few people, I'm so tired. I'm just going to go back to my stall, and that'll be it. My work is done. But God had other plans for me on yesterday. He decided to test me all day long on the truth that was given on Friday night.

Are you the ox in the stall? Or are you putting the Holy Spirit in the stall, and you're the one that's in control? Now, I didn't realize what I was saying, and I think I said it innocently on Friday evening.

I'm going back to the stall. Well, the Lord said, it's not time to go back to the stall. And of course, we could allow ourselves to do a lot of reasoning on that and say, now, Lord, you know I'm tired, and you know this, and you know that.

But I didn't do that. Because of the message on Friday evening, I wouldn't touch it. The Lord tested me all day long, and about midday, I realized what was happening, and I bowed my heart and said, yes, Lord, I am your slave.

I am your ox. And you decide when I go back to the stall, I don't make that decision. I tried to take a nap three times yesterday, and I couldn't go to sleep for nothing. And I mean, I was so tired, my wife looked at me and she said, you look shot.

Go take a nap. I tried to lay down and take a nap. I couldn't go to sleep for nothing. I couldn't do it. All this message, the burden of the message this morning, it just kept coming up before my heart, and I just lay there wide awake.

You know, I couldn't sleep, even though my body was tired. And finally I realized, I'm just a slave. That's all I am. I really don't have a choice in this matter. And it's not time to go back to the stall yet.

And the phone was ringing and people were needing counsel and all this went on all the way through the whole day, all the way up to 10 o 'clock when I finally did lay my head down and go to sleep. No message prepared yet.

10 o 'clock, Saturday night, no message prepared yet. Okay, Lord, you're in charge. I was reminded early this morning that the Holy Spirit is given that we might be living martyrs. Living martyrs. Living out a dying life as the people of God.

We are to be those who are anointed by the Holy Ghost and by that anointing, those who are living out a dying life. That means a life that is choosing to die and to die and to die and to die again and again and again.

It's the administration who is in charge. It has many corporate applications also. Churches can do the same thing, you know. Churches can say, boy, those were really good meetings and my, didn't we have a good time.

Now, go back into the stall, Holy Spirit. Just go back in there and we're just going to keep on, you know, we're going to settle back down to where we were and we'll call you when it's time to have special meetings again.

We'll get a couple prayer meetings going and we'll woo that we can have your blessing on our meetings and send you back in there when we're done. We would never, we would shudder at the thought of doing such a thing, but yet, it's closer home than maybe we would even want to face.

Isn't it, brethren? During the week, just briefly, we saw that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 was the Father anointing His Son from Heaven. We saw that. Acts chapter 2. Let's read that verse.

Let's turn over there just for a minute to Acts chapter 2 and verse 33, 32 and 33. Acts chapter 2, 32 and 33. This Jesus was raised up whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He has shed forth this which ye now see and hear.

We saw in our studies that God the Father anointed His Son. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Ghost. But He was also anointed for His heavenly ministry. He is the heavenly Aaron. He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

He is the minister of the heavenly sanctuary this morning. And He is there making intercession for you and I. Pouring out prayers of intercession unto His Father and pouring out the answer of those prayers down from Heaven into the hearts and lives of the people of God.

That's what He's doing. But as we saw that, we realized that that oil, it came down upon the head of the Lord Jesus seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And that oil began to run down from His head onto His beard.

And after it went off of His beard, it began to flow down onto His garments and it dripped all the way down to the hem of His garments. And we saw that God anointed the body of Christ that day and that the body of Christ is the anointed Christ upon the earth.

These are deep things, I know. But nevertheless, it's so. The Father anointed His Son with the oil of gladness. Hebrews chapter 1. And you read those verses. We don't have time to look at all the verses this morning because I want to stick to the applications.

But you read those verses in Hebrews chapter 1. Those are heavenly verses. Those aren't verses about Christ when He walked on the earth. Those are heavenly verses. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness, is the scepter of Thy kingdom.

Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. And the church in the day of Pentecost, they were anointed with the oil of gladness, were they not?

Oh, listen, they were filled with joy. And the Holy Ghost, the Bible says. And I think that's probably the reason why the people looking along said, those people are drunk. No, they're not drunk. They've been anointed with the oil of gladness and the Holy Ghost.

Well, the church was born that day. His anointed body. We saw that He is the Christ. The Heavenly Anointed One. And we saw that we are the body of Christ. And members in particular. We are the body of the Heavenly Anointed One.

Brothers and sisters, we are the body of the Heavenly Anointed One. As we sit here this morning, if we've been washed in the blood of the Lamb, if we've been born again by the Spirit of God, if our hearts are clear and right with God, and we're living under the anointing of God, we are the body, the anointed body of the anointed Christ.

This has deep implications, brothers and sisters. Deep implications. Way farther than I could ever begin to speak about in one sermon. We looked at the vision that Ezekiel had in Ezekiel 47. You know, where Ezekiel saw a river flowing out from the throne of God in heaven, from the house of God.

There's this river flowing out. And the angel took him there to the edge of the river. And he was standing in the edge of the river. And the water was up to his ankles. And he measured a thousand and walked in there.

And the water was up to his knees. And he measured a thousand and walked in there. And the water was up to his waist. And he measured a thousand and walked in there. And behold, it was a river. It was a river.

And you had to, you couldn't go across it. It was a river to swim in. Us men, we learned. We've been splashing around on the water's edge for getting our feet wet. Amen. Looking at the river. Amen. Rejoicing about the river.

Amen. But splashing around at the river's edge much, much too long. Well, brothers and sisters, that has corporate implications also. That has corporate implications. Yes, as an individual, I have to come to grips with my own personal walk with God.

Where am I at? Where am I going? Am I walking? Am I playing games? Am I playing games with the Holy Ghost? Like our brothers shared with us on Friday evening. Or am I sincerely walking deeper and deeper into the river of God's presence?

But brothers and sisters, there are corporate implications that need to be applied also to such a truth as this. Because it's that way with churches too. Churches will go so far and some of them say, we don't want to go any further.

Some of them will go so far and face different things and say, we can't do that and they won't go any further. Happens all the time. You know it's so. It happens among us and you know it's so. Some of you that have been around here for a little while, you know it's so.

Wherever that river touches, life springs up. That river is the anointing that is flowing down from the sun unto His body which is the church. And this morning, brothers and sisters, that anointing is.

It's not something that you have to go somewhere to find it. It's not something that you can go to some box somewhere and get it out of there. It is. The church is the body of Christ. And Christ is the anointed one.

So if the anointed one, the head, is anointed, then the body should also be anointed. The question is whether or not the church, any local church, makes the choices whether they're going to step into the water, walk in the water, and yay, someday swim.

Or whether they're going to splash around on the edges all the days of their life. That is a question that we must come to grips with. God wants us to walk into a deeper and deeper anointing of His Spirit as a church.

He wants us to do that. God is waiting on us to do that. God would not let me rest all day long. Every time I tried to sleep, all these things just kept coming up before my heart. I looked upon them. I know that God uses individuals.

That the functioning of the body of Christ takes place as individuals are yielded to His Spirit. I know that's so. But at the same time, the church is a body. A body. A functioning body. It's not an organization.

It's an organism. There's a big difference between the two of those. An organization can run by the human effort of men who know how to organize and make things happen. But an organism cannot work and function without life flowing in it continually.

Cut off the life. You just stop that organism from flowing and functioning. The church is the anointed body, is the mighty power of God on this earth. That is what the church is supposed to be. We are His anointed body.

He is our anointed head. And I'll tell you what God has been speaking to my heart about all day yesterday and again early this morning. We are responsible to walk in this anointing into deeper waters.

We're responsible to do that. We have not been responsible, brethren, we have not been responsible. We lose our way. We settle back into the status quo. We get busy doing other things. Oh, there are dozens and dozens of reasons why a church begins to lose its anointing.

But God has been speaking to my heart through the day yesterday and through the early morning hours this morning that we are responsible. And I guess the reason why the burden is there this morning is because I know so many of us men, we sat through all the week.

We sat here in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We sat here in utter awe at times. Did we not? We sat here in utter awe as we sang. And it was so heavenly. And it was so powerful. And we saw God doing beautiful things.

And men's lives were transformed. But the burden that came upon my heart through the day yesterday and this morning is, we are responsible to walk in that anointing which we tasted and saw this last week.

As a church, even though, yes, every one of us individuals in this room, we are responsible on our own, but also as a fellowship, as churches were responsible to keep moving forward in that which God was doing.

Otherwise, it's just some nice meetings we had and we can tell stories about what God did back there. But God doesn't want us to tell stories about what He did back there. God wants us to be living stories every day.

And next Sunday can be just as sweet and powerful as last week was. Amen? And that's the burden that I have upon my heart. That we are responsible to keep moving forward in the anointing that God has blessed us with.

That's how the anointing grows, brothers and sisters. It grows as we walk in it. It's not something you just step in and out of. It's not something that you pick up over at one place and you drop off at another place and maybe you'll get it again over here.

The way that the anointing grows is if we walk in it. As a church, God has been telling me that we are responsible to walk in this anointing into a deeper water. The choice to settle back down to the status quo has devastating effects, brothers and sisters.

Now, I believe that God is a very patient God. He is. He is long-suffering as He shines His light upon us as a people. But there comes a point in time if we keep splashing around on the water's edge when God will finally say, I want a body who will manifest My presence in the world.

And if you're not going to be that body, I'm going to look for another one. And there are plenty of churches to remind us that those things do happen. We are responsible to move forward in the anointing that God has given us.

As a church, we have lost some of the anointing that we had. And some of you have been around here for a while and you know that. You know that. We've come up to these deeper places again and again and settled back down.

Settled back down. There are many reasons for the settling back down. And I don't believe that we, as we're sitting here today, you know, it's not in our mind to say, Lord, You go get in Your stall. We were glad for those meetings.

That was a real blessing. Lots of people went home and they're going to talk about all the things that happened down there at that leadership seminar. But now, Lord, we have other things we need to get on to.

I know that nobody is sitting in here thinking or feeling those kind of thoughts. But, in fact, if we do go out of here and settle back down into the status quo and just go about our own lives and all about our own business, that is, in fact, how we feel.

That's a dangerous thing. And God is patient with us. And God will bring us up to the river's edge again and again. But, you know, God is only patient so long. He wants an anointed body to express the beauty of His Son upon the earth in the community where we live.

The implications are far-reaching, brothers and sisters, of what God would want to do. Of what God can do. What God is wanting to do. And what God needs to do. The Spirit of God is telling me that we can't do that anymore.

We can't do that anymore. Those days are over. You've done that enough times. You've had enough meetings. We are the ox. He is the Lord. God's anointed servant. We are God's anointed servant in our community.

That's what we're supposed to be. God's anointed servant. That is what we see in the book of Acts. Consider. Consider the book of Acts from this perspective, this morning. We see in the book of Acts, we see the Christ, God's anointed Son, manifesting Himself to the world through the church, which is His body.

Is that right, theology? Is that what you see in the book of Acts? You see the Christ, God's anointed Son, manifesting Himself in a world through His anointed body. That's it. It's beautiful. That was God's plan.

That's what the Lord Jesus went to the cross for. That's how much He loves righteousness and hates iniquity. He loves righteousness so much that He wants a whole anointed body upon this earth manifesting the glorious presence and character of the living God.

That's how much He loves righteousness. That He was willing to go to the cross to buy, to purchase Himself a bride, which flowed out of His side. Amen? He gave Himself for the bride, which flowed... I was thinking about the history of revivals this morning.

You know, revivals, they're not just a powerful time in history. Consider it. Consider another look at the history of revivals this morning. Just consider. It's not just a powerful time in history. It is the river of God's anointing flowing among His people.

It is a place in history, a place in time, a place somewhere on the earth where God's river began to flow and all of a sudden, the anointed head and the anointed body were connected and the anointing flowed everywhere and revival broke out.

Oh, when I start considering it that way, oh, it changes a lot of things in my own mind. I begin to realize this is something that is available and it's right here at our fingertips and we don't have to sit around for another ten years and wonder if God is going to move in our midst.

God wants to move in our midst. He has already sent His Son. His Son has died on the cross. He was raised from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness. And He has been anointed at God's right hand as the beloved Son in whom God is well pleased.

And that anointing is flowing even today. And God is just looking for a people who will yield to the anointing of His Spirit and not sit and in their community. That's what God has been saying to my heart.

I don't know how that sits with you. Maybe you're like me yesterday.

Well, it was a good week, but I'm tired. I'm going back.

No, that's not going to get it. Back to my program. I'm going back to the way things were. No, that's not it. We can't go back. Revival is not just a powerful time in history, but it is God's people responding, obeying, repenting, serving and yielding to the anointing of the Spirit of God.

I would encourage you, I would challenge you to do a little reading on that subject and see. Just read on the history of revivals a bit and see if you don't see God's anointed body moving under the anointing that is upon its head as it's connected together.

And the presence of God, the river of God is flowing everywhere. All the beautiful testimonies where revival breaks out. This morning I drove. I drove from the church over there at Charity here this morning.

And as I was driving down the road, I went by one of those church buildings, and there's a couple hundred buggies out there. And I thought, Lord, they're not converted! It's 20 years that we've been here and there's no conversions hardly among those dear people.

God wants to change that. He can save those dear people. He can do it, I tell you. You read the history of revival when God moves in revival in the midst of His people. He reaches outside of the church building, and those people that are hiding over there in their horse and buggies over there on Sunday morning, they won't be able to run away from the Holy Ghost.

The Church as the Beautiful and Holy Bride

They'll have to deal with Him because He transcends the church building. Let's look in the Song of Solomon for a minute. I found a real jewel in there. The Song of Solomon. Chapter 6. Chapter 6 and verse 10.

Verse 10 begins with, Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? Who is she, brothers and sisters, this morning, that is like the morning sun, fair as the moon, fairer than the sunshine, and terrible as an army with banners?

Who is she? Who can tell me? It's the church! The beautiful church. She looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners. That's quite a combination, isn't it?

We wouldn't put the two of those together, would we? But you see, this is a different kind of war, brothers and sisters. This is a different kind of war. The rules are different. We need to get a hold of that.

There is a war, but it's a different kind of war, and the rules are different. We need to learn how to fight according to the rules of the war. Amen? Who is she? It's the church. His beautiful, holy, anointed, that's who it is.

This bride is being manifested in other parts of the world, brothers and sisters. Praise God for what He has done in our hearts, in our lives. Praise God for what we have here, but let's not be satisfied with what we have.

This bride is manifesting its beautiful presence in other parts of the world where people live in poverty, where there is not materialism, where people live in persecution, where the church has a hard time making it, where you get thrown in jail if you open up your mouth for the Lord Jesus Christ.

In those places, this beautiful bride is showing forth herself, and she is beautiful, but she is also terrible, like an army with banners. And they don't know what to do with her. The authorities don't know what to do with her, just like the authorities did not know what to do with her in the book of Acts.

What can we do? How can we stop this thing? Beat her. Stop. No. She just glows brighter and brighter when you beat her. Let's just get four and four of the Holy Ghost. The more you starve her from deep within, and you won't be able to scare her.

She's the church, the beautiful, anointed bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. And oh my, I'm so glad that you can find out how things are going in other places in the earth. It would be pretty sad if all we had to look at and compare ourselves is what we have here in the United States.

Let's not compare with the United States. If we compare with the United States, we might think, boy, we really have got something here. I mean, we've got it. It's not good to compare with American Christianity.

It's not good to do that. And there's a danger. There's a danger. God wants His bride to be manifested here. We must walk in the light that God has given us if God is going to manifest the beauty of His bride upon the earth in these communities where we live.

You know, it's some weeks ago that I was here at Ephrata and I preached on walking in the light. I just shared the principles on walking in the light and went from there. But when I was in Africa, not long ago, the Lord led me to give the same message that I gave here in four different places.

And I'll tell you why. Because each place where I went, I saw these young churches who were not responding to the light that God was giving them. And there was problems among them. And there was sickness among them.

And there was strife among them. And all kinds of things. And they were filled with doubt and unbelief. And the Lord led me to give the same message four different times. Because I saw that what was happening was they had not been responding to the light that God gave them.

And when you don't do that, it doesn't go well. Well, that applies to us too. As churches, it applies to us. It's not just for the Africans over on the other side of the ocean. It applies to us too. Living in America will not be an excuse at the throne of judgment.

We will not be able to say to the Lord, Lord, we lived in America. We didn't have time. We lived in America. I was too busy. We lived in America. I had to get the house. We lived in America. I had to have three cars, Lord.

We lived in America, Lord. None of that is going to mean a thing when we stand before the judgment. There is no special spot for us because we lived in America. In fact, yielding to America and all of its dreams may be our condemnation when we stand before the judgment.

And we get there and we find out how much more God wanted to do and we didn't even realize it because that's all we know. God is wanting to work mightily among us, brothers and sisters. Praise God for what He's doing, but God wants to do more than that.

He wants to do more than that. We have many needs among us and you know it. There are some hurting people in this room this morning and many of us know it and the ministers know it for sure. And some of the others of you, you know it.

You know there are hurting people in this room. Some of our children are not saved this morning. God wants to do something to change all of that. There are some parents that are weeping in their heart this morning.

They have a child that's not saved and they don't know what to do. The child is getting older and older. Some of our people have deep problems. Deep problems. Problems we don't know how to solve. Problems with the ministers.

Wring their hands in the ministers' meeting and say, I don't know what to do. I agree with Brother Moe's and his teachings. Psychology is not the answer. But brothers and sisters, if we're going to say psychology is not the answer and not have the answer, shame on us.

So, psychology isn't the answer, then you just sit there and wallow in your trouble for the next ten years. That's not the answer. The answer is that we get desperate about where we're at. The answer is that God is an ever-present, living, mighty and powerful God and there's nothing too hard for Him.

But the answer is that God's people need to get serious about those things and seek God until God comes in and changes the situation. Do you believe that God can do that? Amen. I hope you do. Because God will test us to see what we will do with the problems that we have in our midst.

He will test us. We have those that are sick among us and God would like to heal them. I'm not saying that God's going to heal every person that's sick in this whole room, but brothers and sisters, why don't we seek God for those that are sick and trust God to heal them and save ourselves a few scores of thousands of dollars in hospital bills and take that money and put it in the offering plate for missions?

Why give it to the whole thing? Think of our dear poor brothers over in Africa. You know? They don't have any money. They don't even have a clinic to go to, most of them. No doctors over there. What do they do when somebody gets sick among them?

They have an all-night prayer meeting. I wonder what would happen if we had an all-night prayer meeting over somebody who is sick. Amen? But I'm afraid we have fallen so far down into the if-it-be-thy-will that we have no more faith to believe that God could raise them up.

We have if-it-be-thy-will so many times we don't even believe God can do it. God can do it. And I believe in if-it-be-thy-will. But I'm afraid we've if-it-be-thy-will so many times that there's hardly any faith in our heart.

I remember that time some years ago we had an anointing service at our cell group. But it was at our house. Dear sister had cancer of ovaries and she was barren and we were watching her just wither away little by little, day by day.

I mean, she was drinking barley green and carrot juice until she was turning orange. Trying to spare her life that way. She called for an anointing of oil. We dedicated the whole meeting to the anointing service.