Walking in the Overwhelming Presence of God — 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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These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Good morning, in Jesus' name. Well, it's the last day of the feast and we can't build three tabernacles and stay here.

And we don't want to either, bless God. Why don't we stand to our feet? You know that little song we sang yesterday on our knees? I know some of you probably don't know it. But that's alright. I think we'll sing that and then have a prayer.

He is here. Hallelujah.

He is our God and our Father. We acknowledge that. The truth of that little song before you this morning. We come to you in the name of your Son, the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, that we have received the anointing and it abideth in us, Father.

We thank you for that this morning. We thank you, Lord, for the revelation of that truth that you have allowed to dawn slowly upon our hearts through these last few days, Father. We acknowledge it before you this morning, the anointing, it abideth in us.

We praise you for that, Lord. Oh, we just pray, Father, that you will have your way in this meeting this morning. God, that you will teach us the things that we need to learn. We ask you this morning, God, that you would bind Satan and every evil spirit, every lying spirit that would hinder the truth to come forth to our hearts, God, today.

Lord, we pray that you will be jealous over each and every one of our hearts today. And give us ears to hear, Lord. We trust you for that. Father, wash us in the blood this morning. Lord, every little attitude, dear God, every little thing that may have come our way, dear Lord, this morning already.

We just acknowledge we need your blood to keep on cleansing and keep on cleansing us from all sin. So we thank you for that, Father, and pray that you will fill us, Lord, with the Spirit of the living God.

We trust you for that, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We have a lot of ground to cover this morning. This morning's message is probably the most important message of the five sermons that you've heard on the Holy Spirit this week.

The River of God and the Call to Walk Deeper

This morning's message. And just to introduce our subject, I would like us to read in Ezekiel 47. You want to turn there in your Bible? Ezekiel 47. This is the account we mentioned earlier in these sessions where Ezekiel is in the midst of a vision of the temple, the house of God.

Chapter 47 and verse 1. God, afterward, he brought me again unto the door of the house. And behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. For the forefront of the house stood toward the east.

And the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward.

And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles.

Again, he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters. And the waters were to the knees. Again, he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters. And the waters were to the loins. Afterward, he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over.

For the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. And he said unto me, Son of man, thou hast seen this. Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river.

Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were many trees on the one side and on the other. Are you planted there? Then said he unto me, These waters issued out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither, for they shall be healed, and everything shall live whither the river cometh.

And Jesus said to his disciples, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now this account that we have here this morning is very interesting in light of our subject today. The title of my message, Walking in the Overwhelming Presence of God.

Walking in the overwhelming presence of God. We see the account here of Ezekiel, and he was brought to the brink of a river, and there was a man there who measured a thousand and took him to that place where he measured.

Ezekiel walked to that place, and he was at his ankles. Then he measured a thousand, and Ezekiel walked to that place, and he was up to his knees. Then he measured a thousand, and Ezekiel walked to that place, and he was up to his hips.

Then he measured another thousand, and behold, it was a river that you couldn't pass over. So much water that all you could do was swim in it. I would just like to take this portion of Scripture and challenge each one of us this morning that it is in your hands how much you want to walk in.

But if you would like to swim someday, you're going to have to walk today, or you will never swim in what we're speaking about. If you would like to be up to your knees in the river of God, you're going to have to walk while it's up on your ankles, or you will never see it on your knees.

I promise you, you will never see it. Brethren, we are accountable to walk. I don't know if that has dawned on you yet, but it has upon me the awesome accountability that is settled down upon us as we have subjected ourselves to the ministry of the Word concerning these truths this week.

There's an awesome accountability upon us. I mean, the bottom line is simply this. Everything is bought and paid for. The provisions have been made. The anointing of the grace of God is flowing to the people of God, and it's available for anybody whosoever will.

We're accountable. Let us walk in the waters to the deep places, brethren. Let us walk in the waters to the deep places. I'm afraid that we've been splashing around on the water's edge much, much too long.

Sometimes I wonder if that's kind of how we see meetings like this, you know? Let's go play in the water for a week, just splashing around at the river's edge. And when the week's all over with, we leave the river's edge and go back out into all of our materialism and all of our self-centered living and all those other things, and we leave the water's edge.

And you know it's so, and many, many people would say so. Two weeks later, everything they got is gone. I'm afraid we've been splashing around like little children on the edge of the waters. And God is saying, brethren, it's time that we grow up and walk.

It's time that we quit splashing around on the edge of the waters and learn to walk. Amen? True Christian reality comes as we walk in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You will never, ever see it any other way.

If it takes you ten more years to get it all figured out, well, then it'll take you ten more years, but it will not come any other way. God is very stubborn. It will be His way or it will be no way, no matter how long you want to take to figure it out.

He's very stubborn. This is how you get your light to so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Wesley said, you can't shine if you don't burn. You can't burn if you're not on fire.

You just can't. You know, the illustrations there in the Sermon on the Mount, that's not turning a light on. It's lighting a fire, lighting a fire. What we've been learning this week, this is how we become the salt of the earth.

This is it. And this is why the salt has lost its savor and is no more salty. And it is good for nothing but to be cast down and trodden underfoot of men. This is why the church is not the salt of the earth anymore, brethren.

What we've been learning this week is the reason. I was thinking about the temptations of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning. You know that beautiful verse there in Hebrews where it says that He was tempted in all points like as we are and yet without sin.

Temptation, the Anointing, and Spirit-Filled Living

You know, we know that verse and we take comfort in that. You know, that we realize that our High Priest, our Heavenly Aaron is at the right hand of the Father. We realize that He's gone on before us and He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.

But brethren, did you ever consider that every one of those temptations that the Lord Jesus Christ faced, He faced them in the fullness of the anointing of His Father. And that's how He was able to be tempted in all those points and yet without sin.

And dear brothers, we are not going to be able to face temptations when we go out of here if we don't face them in the same way, with the anointing of the Spirit of God. I think many times we got this thing all confused like I said before.

We are stumbling around in the New Testament trying to get this whole thing figured out. And we read that verse in there, There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able.

But will with the temptation make a way of escape. And we read that verse and then we look at our own experience and say, I haven't really found it to be that way. Brothers, did you ever consider that God wrote that thing in light of a Spirit-filled Christian?

You know that the New Testament is written in light of Spirit-filled Christianity. It is not written in light of our anemic, stumbling, bumbling Christian life. You won't understand the New Testament until you understand that it is written in the context of an anointed life.

So yes, an anointed life can say, There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. He faced every temptation with the anointing of the Holy Ghost. And that's how we need to face temptation when we go out of here.

You know, we are going to come down off the mountain, go back down into the valley, into a real world. And we must learn to abide in the anointing. We must. Let's read in 1 John. In 1 John chapter 2, we find these beautiful words.

I like John, that old man, 90 years old, living under the anointing for 60 years. That sweet old saint. This is what he says. Chapter 2, verse 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you.

And ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him.

That when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Now, I want you to notice in this verse, these two verses, that John is interchanging a couple of words here.

And the interchange of words is anointing and him. Anointing and him. And they're the same thing. Remember? He's the Christ. So the anointing and him is the same thing. And John is simply encouraging them to abide in that anointing which they received.

And God gives us the same challenge this morning. I don't know how God has been working in your heart through this week, but I'm sure that there are men sitting in this room this morning that you know without a doubt there's an anointing upon you as you sit here this morning.

Abide in that anointing is the challenge and plea that I make to you today. We have responsibility to abide in it. In John chapter 15, let me make this application to John chapter 15 this morning. Jesus said, I am the Christ, the anointed one.

Abide in the anointing that is poured out in these last days. Can we just put John 15 in that context? Because they're synonymous. The anointing and the Christ, they are synonymous. So when Jesus was speaking to His disciples in John 15 and saying to them, I want you to abide in Me, He's speaking about abiding in the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

And He tells them, I am the vine, ye are the branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide vitally connected to the vine, no more can ye bear fruit except ye abide vitally connected with Me.

And to abide vitally connected with Christ is to abide vitally intermingled and connected in the anointing of the Holy Ghost. That's what it means. The reality of our union with Christ is through the abiding anointing in our lives.

That union is made real through the anointing that we've been speaking about. Think about John chapter 17. That prayer that Christ prayed and all those glorious things. And we can't turn there and read that chapter, we'll get stuck in there.

And I have too much to say to even open up to that chapter. But that thing is full. It is running over. It is rich. It is heavenly. But every bit of it is answered and was answered when the Father anointed the Son.

As He sat on the right hand of the throne of God. All that prayer is answered in the anointing. All that prayer becomes reality in our lives through the anointing. All that prayer of unity and power and oneness and love and sanctification and all of that.

That becomes a reality in our fellowships as we abide in the anointing. Signing praise God. We can go home and have a totally different church if we want. If we want. Jesus said these words to His disciples somewhere in the middle of His ministry.

He asked them, Who am I? Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am? And Peter was the one who said, Thou art the Christ, the anointed one. Thou art the Christ. Thou art the anointed one. The Son of the living God.

And then Christ said to them, On this rock, on this foundation, I will build My church. On that anointed Christ, I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Do you see what I'm doing this morning?

We're just kind of moving around. New Testament verse. One here, one there, and I'm trying to pull them all together to help you to see that we can't get away from what we've been learning this week. We must come to grips with it.

That's how Christ built His church.

Building the Church by Abiding in Christ

I know there's a lot of little fellowships represented in this room. Some of them are small. Some of them are big. Some of them just started. Some of you are in fear and trepidation and you wonder whether they're going to make it or not.

Well, I'm telling you how they can make it. Abide in the anointing. And Christ promised He would build a church. You say, well, Brother Denny, what message can you give me today? None! I won't give you any message.

You build your life on the Anointed One, and He'll build the church. You can sit back like the apostles did in awe and watch Him work. And He'll get all the glory. You won't need to be able to write a book on seven steps to church planting success.

Just abide in the anointing. And it'll be there. I'll give you a little exercise. I'm good for exercises. Amen. Yeah, well, you can pass it off if you want, but I'd encourage you to take some of these exercises I give you.

Let me give you an exercise. You take the tapes of these sessions, and you sit down alone with God for a day, and you listen to them again. And when you're done, you start in Matthew 1 and spend a couple of hours every morning in the New Testament until you get to the end of the month.

And just go through the whole thing in light of all the meat and material that has been placed at your feet this week. I tell you what, things will come together in your mind and heart that never did before.

I give you that exercise. Go pump weights for a while. Amen. Paul said it this way. Paul said, I count but done that I might win, gain the Anointed One. Amen? Isn't that right? I count all things but done.

Forget it all. Forget my reputation. Forget my pedigree. Forget my money. Forget my heritage. Forget my denomination. Forget all of those things. My selfish pursuits, forget them all. Count them but done that I might gain the Anointed One.

And brethren, he wasn't saying something that he didn't already have. He was saying, I want to gain the Anointed One every single day and every moment of my life. You know that's what he was saying. He wasn't a lost man saying, you need Jesus.

He was a man who knew the Lord sweetly. He knew the anointing of God sweetly, but the cry of his heart and the motivation of his heart was that he would live under the anointing of Christ all the days of his life.

This one thing I do, Paul said. This one thing I do. Beautiful words, Paul. And we can look at your life and surely know where the secret of your strength came from. And brethren, that is what it will take for every one of us here also.

All things but loss that I might gain the Anointed One in my life. That's what it will take. Can't change that. Now, I want to give you a few principles this morning that will help you, that will aid you in maintaining the anointing of God upon your life.

Deliverance from Sin and Walking in the Spirit

But before I give you some principles that will help you to maintain the anointing upon your life, I want to talk to you about maintaining the anointing. There's a difference. There's a difference. Let's read in Romans a bit here.

Romans 7. Brother Denny, you're just going to give us a message that you gave before. How come you haven't figured one out yet? How come I have to give it again? But listen. Walking in the overwhelming presence of the living God.

That's what we're talking about. Praise God. We learned all about it. Praise God. We learned how to obtain it. But that really doesn't mean a lot if we don't learn how to walk in the overwhelming presence of the living God.

Paul, in Romans chapter 7 and verse 24, we see the heart cry.

Of a man who is failing.

O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I don't know if there's anybody in the room yet who feels that way. But there probably was on Monday. I hope there isn't, but there probably still is a few even here this morning.

And in your heart, your heart is just saying, O what a wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Paul goes on to say, I thank God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through the Savior, the Anointed, the Lord.

Amen? Through the Savior, the Anointed One, the Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in the Anointed Savior.

There is no condemnation to them that are in the Anointed Savior. Amen? There's a safe place to stand. You can look at your needs. God can reveal them to you. God can convict you. There's no condemnation to them that are in the Anointed Savior.

Those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. There's no condemnation. Look at verse 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed Savior has made me free from the law of sin and death.

That's beautiful! Freedom! Glorious freedom! Continual freedom! How? Oh, there is a law I have to abide by. It is the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed Savior. Did you get it? That's it! But you've got a new law, brethren.

You've got a new law. It's a glorious law. It's a life-giving law. It's a law that flows with grace and power into the life of the believer. It is the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed Savior.

Hallelujah! Glory! That's worth getting excited about. It has made me free from the law of sin and death. Maybe you read all those verses over there in Romans 6 and said, sure, not that way with me. Free from sin, dead indeed to sin, and alive unto God.

I don't understand how all that works. Well, listen, you're not going to understand it until you come to grips with the new law. Amen? I mean, this is the new standard. It's the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed Savior.

You see, we have to walk in this abiding presence of God. The whole thing doesn't work if we're not willing to walk in that abiding presence. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemns sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Now, that's just simply saying the same thing that we've been saying all week long. Only it's just very simple in a nutshell. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit. If you will walk in the Spirit, you will bear much fruit.

If you will walk in the Spirit, you will find a very fruitful life. If you will walk in the Spirit, you will have spiritual ministry. If you will walk in the Spirit, you will be spiritual. If you will walk in the Spirit, you will be spiritually minded.

If you will walk in the Spirit, you will war in the Spirit. If you will walk in the Spirit, you will find the reality of all the spiritual things that are mentioned in the New Testament. If you walk in the Spirit.

What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? I think you've been learning this week. You've been learning. God has been exercising you. The stage was set for you to learn how to walk in the Spirit all through this week.

You know what I'm talking about. Maybe even sometime this week something happened inside of your heart and you knew right away things aren't right. Something isn't right here. What did you do about it?

You went and made it right. You went and made it right. That's what it means to walk in the Spirit. I walked through the door this morning. Three hours alone. Three hours alone. Sweet, beautiful time alone with God this morning preparing the message.

And I walked through the door and someone came up to me and someone else came up to me and somebody had an announcement to give me and all these things and I'm just going, oh, I've got a sermon to preach.

Don't give me any announcements or anything. But in the midst of that, something happened inside of my heart. Now what am I going to do? I'm going to walk in the Spirit, brethren. I'm going to bow my heart before God and say, God, that frustrated me, Lord, all those things coming my way and I'm just wanting to give my sermon this morning, Lord.

Please forgive me, God. I wasn't trusting You. You could have given me the grace to handle all of that, Lord. Please forgive me and wash me in the blood. That's what it's all about. That's abiding in the anointing.

Amen? I had a choice this morning. When all that hit me when I walked through the door, things got a little cloudy for me for about a minute. You know what I mean? You ever been under this chair before?

Now I had a choice to make. I could just get up here and give my sermon. I can get up here and say my prayer. You know, that's the right thing to do. I'm the minister and I've got to say the prayer, you know.

And I give my sermon and I have a choice to make. I can give my sermon up here like this. Or I can give my sermon up there like this. And I chose to give my sermon up here this morning like this because I don't want to give it any other way.

But brethren, that's the reality. When you leave here and you're going to go home, you're going to have to deal with this chair, brethren. What are you going to do with this chair a week from now, two weeks from now?

What are you going to do with this chair? What are you going to do when the wife passes something your way and it doesn't sit right and you throw it back? You know? All of a sudden, the atmosphere isn't quite the same anymore.

And brethren, if we would abide, if we would abide in a powerful anointing, we would know it immediately. We would know it immediately. Things aren't right. Things aren't right. Now what am I going to do?

Am I going to live like this for a couple of days? Oh, it's Wednesday night. Prayer meeting tonight. Well, I think I'll just go on to church. Amen. And I'll sit down in my pew at the church and the preacher has something to share and I'll sit down there.

Amen, preacher? Amen? Brother Denny, would you lead us in prayer? Sure, I'll lead you in prayer. Oh God, we pray that You'll bless us, Lord, and bless the ministry tonight, God, as they share. Don't laugh too much.

That's reality, brethren. Don't laugh too much. That's reality. That's very real. And some of you came here that way. You walked through the door that way. The law of the Spirit of life in the anointed Savior is now our law.

That is now our law. You want to get in up to your ankles? You better start walking. You better start walking. No more splashing around by the edge of the river. Amen? Hey, I'm going to go to that men's conference over there at charity and just splash around in the water for a while.

Praise God. That sounds sickening to me. When you look at it that way, doesn't it? Then I'm going back home and just go right on as usual, pursuing my big business, making all my big money, all those things.

That just sounds sickening to me to walk away from this and go back to that. So we have to learn to walk with a clear conscience. Clear conscience keeps the anointing open upon my life, upon my heart.

You need to learn to walk in obedience to the Spirit and the Word. God wants to lead us. You know, we give the illustration there on the negative side just so that if you lose your way, you know how to get back.

But brethren, there's a positive side to that whole thing. That is awesome! That is walking in the positive promptings of the Spirit of God that God can speak to your heart and say, go into the library.

What? Go into the library. Okay, Lord. That man over there. Okay, Lord. Walk up to him. Look down at him. He's got a book open on salvation. You look down at him. He looks up at you and says, could you tell me what this means?

Yeah, I'll tell you what it means. Amen. You see, there's a positive side of walking in the Spirit too. Amen. I mean, where is the supernatural, brethren? Where is it? Oh, that's just for the charismatics.

We'll let them handle the supernatural. We'll just live in the dead and formal. We'll have all our doctrines right and straight and narrow. We'll let them handle the supernatural. We must learn to live in His abiding presence.

We must, we must, we must learn to live in His abiding presence and be led by the Spirit day by day. I tell you, you'll have an exciting life. You'll wonder what's coming next. You'll get up every morning and be thinking, wow, here we go, another day.

Glory! I wonder what I'm going to happen onto today. You know, like Philip. Philip, go out on the road to Gaza. Okay, Lord. I don't know what I'm going out there for, but I'm going. See that chariot? Join yourself to it.

Here sits a man in there reading the book of Isaiah. Do you understand what you're reading? How can I know? Except some man guide me. Come on up into my chariot. Tell me, is this speaking of somebody else or is the prophet speaking of himself?

What do you think? Oh, glory. What do I think? Let me tell you what I think about those verses, bless God. Amen? Oh, that's just the book of Acts. That was a transitional book, you know. You know, God did those things as a transition.

Now we're living in the dead now and now. I don't believe that. I'm sorry. You can cut the book of Acts out if you want and throw it away, but I'm going to keep mine in my Bible, bless God. I'm going to keep mine in my Bible.

I need that book. Let me say this. We do not work for the anointing. You do not work for the anointing. You abide in it. You believe. You receive. You walk by faith. Your heart is filled with confidence.

You trust God. You lean upon Him. You know it's already given. You just walk in it. You live in it. You joy in it. You revel in it. You walk in it. You believe God for it. You trust God for it. You do not work to get the anointing.

You do not. It's done. It's done. Here's what some people do, though. This happens in their life. And they don't understand what we just talked about. That when this happens, it's time to get right with God.

And they don't understand that. So instead, they say, things aren't very good today. I better read my Bible. So they start reading their Bible. Maybe things will get better if I read my Bible. Things aren't very good today.

I think I'll go on a fast today. I'll fast today. That's what I need to do. No. You can read your Bible all day long. But if you're not willing to get right with God, then just live under that chair. Just live under it.

Go through the motions of your devotions for the now and the next ten years. But if you're willing to get right with God, that's all you need to do. You don't have to work for the anointing. Just get right with God and believe.

Just get right with God and believe. That's it. Ephesians 5 .18 Again. Be being continually filled and controlled with the presence of the living God. That is the command in the New Testament. Be being continually filled and controlled with the presence of the living God.

That's it. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that simple? Christian life is not complicated. Remember this also. The Holy Spirit is the person, Like Emmanuel said last night. It's not a power. The Holy Spirit is a person.

Continual yielding of my heart to be filled. Continual yielding of my will to be controlled by the person of the Holy Spirit. That's what we're talking about. He's a person. He can be grieved. He can be quenched.

You can offend Him. You can take Him places where He doesn't want to go. You can make Him look at things that He doesn't want to look at. He'll be grieved and quenched. I don't know where I read it or what, but somebody's interpretation of quench not the spirit was don't put out the Spirit's fire.

That's a good amplification of that verse. Quench not the Spirit. Don't put out the Spirit's fire in your heart. But rather, continually yielding my heart to be filled. Continually yielding my will to be controlled by the Spirit of the living God.

Recognizing Need and Abiding in God's Presence

We mentioned some points earlier. Points concerning obtaining the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We spoke about my need. I need to recognize my need. Well, brethren, as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord so walk ye in Him.

Back there you cried out to God and said, I need a Savior. And you got one when you put your faith in Him with a repentant heart. You got a Savior. Well, brother, you need a Savior today! You need one today!

So, my need. My need doesn't go away. My need is always there. You remember the Beatitudes? Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they that are hungry and thirsting after righteousness.