John Gray - Anointing Of Capacity
The shift has occurred and if you're like me, I think it deserves a place of hallelujah and a place of thank you Jesus, and an amen, and a right on, and I know that's right, and a come on Jesus, and a glory, and all of that. It deserves a rowdy radical shift in our praise. 2012 praise won't do for a 2013 shift. Hey. I'm not gonna give God a stale praise with a new shift.
I love it, that's why on the job they change shifts and when they change shifts a fresh crew comes in and when the shift occur, a fresh revelation, fresh anointing, fresh favor, fresh abundance, fresh increase, fresh overflow, fresh opportunities, and so since everything else is fresh, I'm goin' give him a fresh praise. I'm goin' give him a fresh shout. I'm goin' give him a fresh hallelujah. I'm goin' give him a fresh expectation. I will meet the shift with a shift in my own praise and in my own worship. Hallelujah, as for me and my house. We will serve the Lord.
I feel the presence of the Holy Ghost and I got my good suit on and I'm goin' shout 'cause this is my first official time sharing the word as one of the pastoral team here at Lakewood and I thank God for the opportunity and the honor to call this place home. We are planted here. I'm so excited to be a part of the team. That said, let's get started. Since pastors prophesied, I wanna declare. I wanna stay up under that oil. I don't wanna shift from where the set man is already establishing the word for the year. So we gonna stay right there. Since he's shifting, I'm declaring. Since he's prophesied, I'm declaring.
And so I get to declare some things that are in this new shift. I want you to travel with me to II Kings 4. People at home, we gotta black church mother over in the left-hand side somewhere, she said, "Oh, come on". I love this church, we got the whole family of the earth in this room and around the world and we thank God for everybody at home, we're so honored that you chose to worship the Lord with us, on tonight. Pastor I'ma go for it, I ain't gonna be moved by that clock be tricking me, telling me I got like three minutes. I'ma just go for it.
II Kings 4:1. Reading from the New King James version. A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves". So Elisha said to her, "That's your problem, I ain't got nothing to do," no he didn't say that, he didn't. "Shoulda handled yo' credit," no he didn't say that. So Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house"?
Let me stop right now. I want you to know that what's in this house is enough to change the world. I don't know who I'm talking to or what circumstances you found yourself in as you entered this sanctuary, but it had been declared on Sunday that the shift has occurred and so when you stepped into this place, you stepped into a living declared word and so whether you know it or not, something in this house is enough to allow the shift to meet you at the point of your need. I'll give that a chance to soak in for a moment.
He said, "Tell me, what do you have in the house"? What we have in this house are people that are committed to developing in Christ. Who will drive through rain and bad traffic and who will get there kids to children's church and will come in and be committed to this vision. It took a lot for you to get here and we are so grateful that you came, but I want you to know that God's going to meet you because it took faith and took commitment to get here, tonight. And there's something in the house with your name on it. What's fantastic to me about God is since this is his house and we are his children, I don't have to jockey for position because, in his house, I have an assigned seat.
See I had a chance to spend some time today with Dr. Paul and pastor Craig and they were sharing some of the DNA of this church and just sharing about the core values and the principals on which the leadership drives the vision. And what I realized is that the Bible is clear and it's still here, where there is unity the Lord commands the blessing. Even life, forever more. And I want you to know that though we come from different households and we come from different backgrounds, we are a part of one family, one body of Christ and the seat that you're sitting in, whether you know it or not, God was not caught off guard.
In fact, that seat had your name on it, which is why you're sitting in it and in that seat God left a blessing and a set of promises and I want you to know the moment you sat down, you literally sat in a place of authority and that which had your name on it is now attached to your life. Your seat was assigned and you have a promise and it's in the house. "Tell me, what do you have in the house"? And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil". Then he said, "Go, borrow," that's my kind of prophet, let me borrow, let me hold, let me hold $50, Dr. Paul, you a doctor, you don't even need that 50, let me hold that 50, you don't even need it, dammit.
Watch what he said. I'm thinking he's gonna ask him to borrow something that was, he said, "Go borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors-empty vessels". God is looking for people that are not full of themselves. He's looking for people who are at the end of their pride and at the end of their ambition and at the end of their common understanding of God. And are willing to say, "I'm empty, I don't have a clue. I don't know which way to go, I don't know which way to turn, I don't have a clue about direction, I'm lost when it comes to purpose, I need some help, I need some clarity, I need fresh perspective". God says, "Great, I can use an empty vessel, but if you're full of yourself then you're definitely not full of my word. But when you're empty I can pour into you". Said, "Go borrow vessels from everywhere".
Say "Everywhere". I want you to know in this season you can expect favor from everywhere. No matter where you turn, favor. No matter where you go, favor. Favor at the restaurant. "There's about a 30 minute wait," three minutes later, "Step right in". And it might not seem like much, but that 27 minutes was just God saying, "I just gave a tide, since you were tied, I took at tide and turned 30 into three because I know that you're a part of the kingdom". Little things that God will do to take stress off your life. You will find favor in the most uncommon locations. God's going to put you, as pastor said, "From the back of the line to the front of the line". Expect God to be begin to do the supernatural in your life as of this moment.
"Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors-empty vessels: do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons: then our it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones". So she went from him and shut the door behind here and her sons, who brought the vessels to her: and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel". And he said to her, "There is not another vessel". And so the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil, pay your debt: and you and your sons live on the rest". And what I wanna share and talk about tonight is from the subject heading the anointing of capacity. The anointing of capacity.
The definition of the word capacity is the maximum amount that a vessel can contain. One of the other definitions of capacity is the amount that something can produce. The first definition is for us. The amount that a vessel can contain. The second, we're gonna leave that one for God. The amount that something can produce. I wanna talk about the anointing of capacity as it pertains to the shift that has occurred in our lives based on the word of the Lord that has been spoken over us.
The anointing of capacity, when a shift occurs, and I shared it with pastor very briefly, I said, when you have a manual transmission, anybody got stick shift? Got a stick shift. When you pull down on the clutch, you go from first to second gear, you're able to speed up without going over the redline. As you shift a gear and you're able to get more capacity, more horses behind you as you're moving forward. And each time you shift it opens up more valves to allow more airflow to allow the fuel to do what it does to power the engine forward to make sure that the tires are moving forward, that the vehicle is moving forward.
The shift allows you to go faster, farther. The shift is not just about you. It's about everybody that's in the vehicle with you. In this scripture it was her and her sons. I want you to know that the blessing of the Lord is not just gonna touch you, it's gonna reach your husband, it's gonna reach your wife, it's gonna reach your children, you're aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews. In fact, it's gonna bless the people on your job, people that you come into contact with, people that you're in a club with, or on a team with, or whatever it is you do, the anointing that's on your life is going to impact the people around you.
In the same way a negative spirit can impact the emotions and the moral of people around you, so can the positive impact of anointing of God and the promise of God and God wants to get glory out of your life. This shift is not just for you, it's for everyone that's connected to you. The anointing of capacity, the reason why this is so important for us and I'm excited, is because capacity is one of the things sometimes we struggle with. "God, I don't know if I have enough. I want to do a business, but I probably need startup capital and then I probably need investors and then I probably need".
And then God's like, "You might just want to thank me since it was me that gave you the idea in the first place. Instead of telling me what you don't have, why don't you give back to me what I gave you, which is the seed of the idea? Why don't you give me the idea back, but wrap it in some faith? Why don't you just extend it back towards heaven since I was the one that gave it to you? What I needed you to do was just repeat what I've said to you because I've given you power in the earth and what you speak on earth is loosed in heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. So I gave it to you in your spirit so you can speak it out of your mouth because once you speak it as my representative in the earth heaven has to be begin to move on behalf of the thing you've spoken, so angels have to get moving in the direction of your declaration. I need you to understand you need to start talking the shift, speaking the shift, declaring the shift. I am well, I am not sick, I shall live and not die".
Psalm 1:18 and 17, I will walk upright, my family is blessed, my children are blessed, the blood of the lamb is on the doorpost of my house, no evil thing can come in this place, I rebuke the devil, he's under my feet, he's behind my back. I am the resurrection, I've got the resurrection in me. I'm a walking living breathing epistle, I'm a living letter, read my life, read my story, read my faith, read my praise, read my passion, read my hallelujah and see that God is good. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
Somebody say the anointing of capacity. You have enough to do the thing that you were created to do. Right here, right now. With no additives, no preservatives. The prophet showed up in a desperate situation and I wanna give you some principals so the anointing of capacity. First of all, God always starts with what you have. So important for you to get this principal in your spirit. If you wanna see God max and maximize your capacity, start with where you are. You wanna get to the upper echelons? Be faithful on the lower levels. You wanna microphone? Be faithful when you got a mop. You want to excel in front of the masses? Be faithful when no one's looking. Because whether you know it or not the audition for favor with people and influence over people is when no one's looking.
If you want to have influence over the audience of some, you've got to impress the audience of one. When it's just you and God, what's the motivation of your heart, what's the posture of your heart, what are the determining driving forces as it pertains to the vision over your life? Are you living to serve God, are you living to make Jesus famous, are you living to walk a life of integrity and character and honesty? If so, then you can expect for the shift to occur in your life even faster and for your capacity to expand, but if you're battling through ambition and issues and struggles and you're battling through the course of life and the flesh and the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, then you can expect to battle in this season because God may have to put you in neutral.
That means the wheels are spinning, but you're not going anywhere because he's not going to shift you into high drive if he can't trust you once you get where he's taking you. God always starts with what you have and the anointing of capacity always involves a couple key things. Empty vessels, desperate circumstances, a prophetic word, faith in action and discretion. I'll say it again, the anointing of capacity always involves empty vessels, desperate circumstances, a prophetic word, faith in action and discretion.
This woman came to the prophet and said, "My husband just died, you know he loved God, you know he was a man of God, he fears the Lord, but I owe some money and I don't have it now". In Middle Eastern culture, when the head of the household died it was a dangerous desperate moment, particularly for widows. That's why the Bible says, "Religion at the father honors is to take care of widows and orphans, against such, there is no law". Because in this culture a woman that was uncovered could be taken advantage of.
There's so many ways I could just run with that. Ladies who are single, I want you stay under the covering of accountability. If there's somebody that's interested in courting you, I want you to let one of the pastors know, if you're a member of this house or whatever church you're in, if they wanna get to know you let 'em know, "You gotta meet with my pastor first or one of the leaders of my church". If they don't wanna do that, there's a problem because they don't mean you any good.
And people like, "Well, I don't want people in my business, that's a bad idea". That's not biblical we're supposed to live in community. People need to be able to cover you and keep you accountable and make sure that you're properly protected. And in this scripture this woman was battling because her covering was gone. So she went to the prophet and said, "Is there a word from the Lord"? And he said, "I know your husband and I know you're in a desperate circumstance, God's about to move. What do you have in the house"?
And I don't know what your talent is, or what your gift, or what your bank account looks like, but it couldn't have been any worse than this lady. She says, "I have nothing". And then out of the corner of her eye, she said, "Well, I gotta little bit of oil". He said, "I'll take it".
I want you to know had it not been oil, had it been something else, the prophet would've used that too. Because the issue wasn't what she had, is that she made what she had available. God is saying with whatever you have, whatever talent you have, whatever gifts will you make them available to me to give me glory. Can I get glory from the little bit of oil that you have and everybody's got a little bit of oil.
Elbow somebody who's asleep next to you and tell 'em everybody's got a little bit of oil. Everybody's got a little bit of oil. Everybody's got a little anointing. If you believe Jesus is the Son of the Living God then you can only believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the anointing of God or the oil of God. And maybe your faith is not as strong and maybe you struggle with belief. But let me encourage your heart. This is not Bible scholar 401. This is not a heightened level of class. There's no big us and little you. We're all trying to grow in grace.