These are notes on the sermon, Be Led By His Anointing And Win, preached by Pastor Joseph Prince on Sunday, 27 January 2019, at The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore. We hope these sermon notes will be an encouragement to you!
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Go from ordinary to extraordinary when you’re led by the anointing of the Holy Spirit! As Pastor Prince shares from the gospels how Jesus’ every action and every word was led by the Spirit, you’ll see how listening to the same Spirit in you will cause you to:
As you start to follow the leading of the Spirit within you, you’ll find yourself living beyond your natural intelligence, logic, and reasoning—and walking in greater victory than you’ve ever known before!
Already, we are seeing the manifestation of miracles happen in this year of the latter rain.
Pastor Prince asks the congregation to raise their hands if they’re already seeing their harvest, and the camera pans to show many hands go up.
In the time of the latter rain, there will be a blessing on the grain, on the wine, and on the oil—to the point of overflowing (see Joel 2:24).
Back then, these were the main crops in Israel.
Today, the grain, wine, and oil speak of spiritual blessings for us.
When oil is used for anointing, the power of the Holy Spirit is applied onto the one who is anointed.
Anointing is a verb—an action. But it’s also a gerund (a verb acting as a noun), as in “the anointing dwells in you.”
When the anointing dwells in you, you will know what to do by the presence or absence of peace that supplies to you. This leading on the inside goes beyond words.
Follow the Spirit on the inside and you will always succeed.
… “I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.”
— Isaiah 48:17 NKJV
Psalm 23 tells us that the Lord leads in the paths of righteousness and in green pastures.
And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
— Jeremiah 33:9 KJV
“Fear and tremble” — This “fear and tremble” is NOT fear of condemnation or punishment. In Hebrew, this phrase is used to describe people who have seen or experienced something so good that they are awestruck. For example, when Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood, she, “fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him” (Mark 5:33). She feared and trembled because she had received her healing. She experienced the goodness of God.
In this year of the latter rain, God is not only going to bless you for your sake, but also for the nations to look at you and “fear and tremble” as they see His goodness in your life.
God wants your relatives and your colleagues to look at you and see how lavishly He blesses you and your family.
You will become a beacon of hope. A trophy of grace. A lighthouse of wisdom for a lost and confused world. They are tossed every which way with nothing to anchor their souls. But when they see you, they will see a light that guides them to the truth.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
— 1 John 2:20 NKJV
“Anointing” — the KJV says “unction.”
“Know” — In the Greek, this word is “eidō,” and it means to know something before your mind can understand it. It’s a knowing on the inside that goes beyond reasoning. That’s how the Holy Spirit works.
This knowing on the inside that the Holy Spirit gives you is the oil that’s part of the latter rain harvest. This is what we are talking about in today’s service.
In the verses before this (1 John 2:18–19), John talks about many antichrists being in the church. “Anti” does not only mean “against.” It also means “in place of.” So the word “antichrist” does not just refer to someone who speaks against Jesus, but someone who tries to replace Him. There were many in the church at that time who were trying to take the place of Christ.
John told the true believers that by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in them, they would know what was true and what was false teaching.
May it never be that there are pastors today who take the place of Jesus.
Pastor Prince encourages the congregation to come to church whether or not he is preaching. He emphasizes that he is not Jesus, and whether he preaches or someone else preaches, Jesus is present in the church. Come to church for Jesus, not for any pastor.
Back in John’s time, some people in the church were trying to replace Jesus with what they thought was good.
In contrast, in the book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit replaced what was good in the Old Covenant with Jesus. He removed the ministries of Aaron and Moses and replaced them with Jesus’ ministry. He removed the Levitical priesthood and replaced it with the priesthood of Melchizedek—Jesus’ priesthood. Every chapter in the book of Hebrews says, “Jesus is better than ____.”
Jesus is better than anything you could ever dream of. He’s better than everyone on earth. He’s better than every celebrity, every musician, every band that people idolize.
If you want comfort, sympathy, or friendship, you’ll find it in Jesus.
He’s the one who wept with Mary and Martha when their brother died, even though He knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead (see John 11:17–44). Wherever there are tears, wherever there is human sorrow, He enters into it.
Jesus enters into our sorrow like no one else can. He can be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses like no one else can. He goes beyond human empathy.
That’s why He wept with Mary and Martha (see John 11:35).
If you want power, you’ll find it in Jesus.
He’s the one who cast out demons with a single word. He’s the one who had a legion of demons BEG him not to send them to the place of torment (see Mark 5:8–13).
If you want genuine care and concern, you’ll find it in Jesus.
When a crowd of 5000 men, not counting women and children, followed Jesus to hear His teachings, Jesus was the only one who cared enough to make sure that every single one of them had enough to eat. He asked His disciples, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” (John 6:5). His disciples told Him to send the people away to buy food for themselves, but Jesus refused to do that. He multiplied 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed them all (see Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31–44, Luke 9:12–17, John 6:1–14).
On another occasion when another great multitude followed Him, Jesus said to His disciples, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” And He multiplied bread for them all to eat (see Mark 8:1–9).
Another time, when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, He was the only one who thought about what the little girl needed when she awoke. Everyone else was overcome with amazement, and only Jesus could see that she was hungry and told her parents to give her something to eat (see Mark 5:41–43).
There’s no one who cares about the small details like Jesus does.
He’s not overwhelmed by any occasion.
He is constant.
You cannot flatter Him into having a good opinion of you. You cannot criticize Him into having a bad opinion of you.
There’s something lovely and wonderful about Jesus.
Do you want someone to talk to about your health? Someone who can help you? Someone who can actually heal you? It’s Jesus.
He went about doing good and healing all (see Acts 10:38). He can give you the secrets of healing.
He cares for you. He loves you.
Do you wish you had someone to guide you? It’s Jesus.
Jesus is your Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (see John 10:15).
Do you want love—real love? You’ll find it in Jesus.
Maybe you didn’t experience love growing up. Maybe you grew up in a broken or dysfunctional family. Look at the one who demonstrated His love as He hung on the cross, blood-soaked, for your sake. The one who died for you so that you would never have to go through life feeling unloved.
He didn’t have to die. No one forced Him to. He chose to die for you.
There’s no other love like His.
If you can’t sleep at night, if the devil is keeping you up with bad thoughts, talk to Jesus. Come boldly to Him.
When the New Testament talks about having boldness to come to God’s presence, the word “boldness,” actually means “free speech.”
You can be completely honest with Jesus. Speak freely to Him. You don’t have to come to Him with flowery language or Bible jargon. You can just tell Him what’s on your heart. Say, “Lord, I feel lousy,” or “Lord Jesus, I don't like what that person did just now,” or “Jesus, I don't feel like forgiving my husband. I know that I should, Lord, but right now, I really don't feel like it.”
You can walk with Him and talk to Him in your garden or in a shopping mall. You can talk to Him all the time. Just open up your heart to Him and tell Him your worries and cares.
As you’re sharing your burdens with Him, you don’t even have to tell Him to do something about them.
Just let yourself have that time of honesty and sharing and unburdening yourself. You can enjoy friendship moments with Jesus.
You can experience the closeness of the Lord in the Holy of Holies while walking in a mall. Entering the Holy of Holies is something that no one in the Old Testament could do except the high priest of Israel. And the high priest could only enter once a year and he did so with trepidation.
But now, Jesus has given us a new and living way!
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us…
— Hebrews 10:20 NKJV
“New” — This is the Greek word “prosphatos,” which means “freshly slain.” That means that every day, you can live life as if Jesus JUST died for you. Live with the freshness of this revelation.
“Living” — Every time you come to Jesus, you come alive. The more you come to Jesus, the more alive you become. The healthier you become—not only in your body, but in your mind, your spirit, your soul.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
— 1 John 2:20 NKJV
Pastor Prince explains how the verse before this, 1 John 2:19, answers the question of why some people leave the church and don’t come back.
1 John 2:20 speaks of an inward knowing. An understanding about people, especially people who are trying to replace Christ, e.g. there are people who say only that they are the only anointed ones. They are the ones who have to pray over the oil for it to become anointing oil. They are the ones who have to pray for the Holy Communion.
That’s all not true. You can use any oil and you can pray over it yourself. You can take the Holy Communion on your own.
Notice that when oil is applied on the body, there’s warmth. You can feel it.
Similarly, when you listen to a sermon, you can feel your heart being warmed.
Don’t always look for feelings, but God gave us feelings to enjoy.
Pastor Prince shares how many times, long before people hear him preach the gospel of grace, the Holy Spirit already warmed their hearts to it. Many people come to understand grace in their minds when they hear him preach, but long before that, they KNEW it in their hearts. And the preaching just confirmed what the Holy Spirit was saying to them in their hearts.
When you engage with people who argue from logic, you’re trapped in the realm of logic. You don’t touch the realm of the miraculous.
When you answer logical questions with a logical answer, there will be 10,000 more logical questions to follow.
Let’s look at Jesus—why did miracles happen in His ministry?
Even though Jesus is 100% God, He is also 100% man. He came to be fully human and take our place.
Jesus was conceived in the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb. But He had to be baptized in the Holy Spirit before He started His ministry and miracles.
Only after He was baptized did the miracles start to happen. Only after He was baptized did He walk in the supernatural.
If Jesus, the Son of God, had to be anointed by the Holy Spirit, then how much more do we need to be?
Why are some people not receiving their breakthroughs? It’s because they’re too strong in their heads. Too strong in their logic and reasoning.
The Bible reveals this to us in the story of Jesus healing the paralytic man.
The place that Jesus was in, Peter’s house in Capernaum, was jam-packed with people, “Pharisees and teachers of the law … who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem” (Luke 5:17). They were there because Jesus had just healed a leper, so everyone came to see Him.
The paralytic man’s friends were desperate for their friend to meet Jesus and receive healing, so they broke the roof of Peter’s house to lower their friend down to Jesus.
When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
— Luke 5:20 NKJV
The fact that Jesus told the man that his sins were forgiven tells us that the man’s paralysis was due to condemnation.
Not every sickness is caused by sin. While all sickness is caused by Adam’s sin, not every sickness is caused by the sick person’s sin.
But there are people who are sick or contract a disease because they sinned and they feel condemned about it. These sicknesses are psychosomatic. Because of condemnation and guilt, the body turns against itself to punish itself.
How do you break free from this kind of sickness?
Look at Jesus, the one who was condemned in your place. Look at Him and be at rest.
If you feel like kicking yourself, cutting yourself, killing yourself, don’t do it. Look at what Jesus has done for you.
True humility is to accept what Jesus did. To accept His punishment on the cross. The punishment that Jesus went through for you is the true punishment. It’s more complete than anything you could ever inflict on yourself.
Accept Jesus and all that He has done for you.
When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” —He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
— Luke 5:20–26 NKJV
“And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” — The scribes and Pharisees were using their minds. The word “reason” is the Greek word “dialogizomai,” where our English word “logic” comes from.
“But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?” — Jesus didn’t reason, He perceived. Perceiving is an inward faculty. It’s a faculty of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit in you that enables you to perceive.
Other people can reason, but you can perceive.
When everyone is reasoning, stop and ask the Lord, “Lord, what are You saying about this matter?” Sense what the Spirit is saying to you. Sometimes, someone might be throwing out many arguments but it’s all a smokescreen. There’s a deeper issue. The Spirit can show you what it is.
Sometimes, your husband might come home in a bad mood and make you feel like he’s trying to pick an argument with you. Once you see his face, you start to reason in your mind, “He’s going to find fault with me again. He’s going to criticize my cooking again…” Your mind keeps reasoning all these things, and before you know it, you’re angry with him before he says anything. And the moment he says something, the quarreling begins.
But before that happens, pause and listen. The Holy Spirit can tell you what’s really happening in your husband’s heart. The Spirit can tell you, “Something really bad happened at work today. He's fearful. He’s afraid. He thinks he might be next.” You might not know everything that happened at work, but you can have the insight to know that you should ask him, “Did something happen at work today?” A soft answer turns away wrath (see Prov. 15:1).
When it came to the paralytic man and the Pharisees who were judging Jesus in their hearts, Jesus perceived what the real matter was. Jesus flowed in the Spirit.
Your time is too precious to look at other people’s logizomai. Doing that does not bring peace.
Jesus didn’t reason, He perceived. He perceived the Pharisees’ inner thoughts without them even saying out loud what they were thinking.
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” —He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
— Luke 5:22–26 NKJV
Jesus flowed with the Spirit, spoke, and saw supernatural results.
If you are always using your logic, you will not see supernatural power released. But if you live in the spirit realm, if you are sensitive to what the Spirit is saying, supernatural power will be released when you speak.
Many arguments start with logic. “You did this… then I did this… then you did this…”
Stop and listen to the Spirit. The Spirit can tell you to let certain matters go because they are not that important. In a few years time, you won’t even remember them.
When it comes to parenting, listen to the Spirit to know when to correct your children or let the matter go.
Sometimes, you might want to overlook some bad behavior, but the Spirit will tell you that you can’t let it go. Make sure you listen to Him and correct your child.
But other times, you might get angry at something your child does and you want to punish him. The Spirit can tell you to let it go. Hold back and let the matter go.
When you correct your child at the right time out of love, they become more loving toward you. They grow up to be upright citizens. If you don’t correct them, when they grow up, the institution will correct them heavily.
The Pharisees had their logic, but they didn’t have what Jesus had, and they didn’t get the results that He got.
The Pharisees could talk and talk and judge and judge, but they could do nothing about the situation. Jesus perceived in His spirit, and He had results.
When you go for a business meeting, someone at the other end of the table can give a great presentation, but listen to the Spirit. Do you have the peace within to invest?
People can argue based on reasoning. They can show you statistics. But listen to what the Spirit is saying.
Don’t just follow your logic. Follow the peace within and you will succeed. Supernatural power and results will follow you.
There are many things that people are trying to sell you that you might not be able to afford. Follow the peace within.
There are some things that you should buy, like life insurance and settle your will. That’s wisdom.
But don’t buy things you don’t need and cannot afford. Don’t spend money for no reason.
Look at Jesus.
In the feeding of the 5000, He was so generous that there were 12 baskets full leftover (see Matthew 14:20, Mark 6:43, Luke 9:17). And yet, despite His lavishness, there was no wastage. He told His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” (John 6:12).
Just because God supplies freely and abundantly doesn’t mean that we should waste our money. Don’t be someone who says, “God supplies everything! Just spend! Don’t worry, this is the year of the latter rain!”
Pastor Prince tells the congregation, “If you don’t follow God's leading in this year of the latter rain, there’ll be a ‘latter pain’ somewhere down the road.”
There are 5 offerings in the book of Leviticus. All of them require the shedding of blood except for one: The grain offering. It’s the one offering that does not depict Jesus’ death on the cross. It depicts a different aspect of Jesus.
When anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.
— Leviticus 2:1 NKJV
“Fine flour” — This is not just any flour. This is fine flour. It’s soft to the touch. There’s no grain that is coarse. There’s no unevenness. It has been sieved multiple times until it’s fine. This is a picture of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is perfect. There’s nothing coarse about Him.
His benevolence doesn’t cancel out His good stewardship over what God has given Him (see the feeding of the 5000).
Many of us err on either side: We are either generous until there’s wastage, or we are such “good stewards” until we become stingy or fearful to spend at all.
Morally, Jesus is perfect. He is beautiful. His majesty is overwhelming.
There’s the saying that “no man is a hero to his valet,” but Jesus was always a hero to His disciples. They always saw His majesty even as He lived, walked, ate, and slept beside them. When they were arguing about who would be the greatest among them and Jesus asked them what they were talking about, they dared not tell Him (Mark 9:33–34).
When Jesus was praying before God in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was frustrated and He was in pain. His suffering had begun. But the moment He stood before the Pharisees and His accusers, He stood with unbending dignity. One moment, He was crying before the Father, and the next moment, He spoke a word and all the soldiers who came to capture Him fell.
In Jesus, there is beautiful equilibrium. He is fine flour.
He can be sleeping in a boat. As a man, He can be tired. But the next moment, He can stand up and command the storm to be still. And there’s perfect peace.
Jesus is an amazing combination of moral features that delights our souls.
Peter
In Matthew 16:13–23, we see Peter saying the right thing one moment and the wrong thing the next. First, he declared Jesus as “Christ, the son of the living God.” The next moment, He told Jesus not to go to the cross, to which Jesus replied, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
All of us are like Peter—saying good things one moment and bad things the next. But Jesus is perfect. He never says the wrong thing. His words are always beautiful and spoken at the right time.
Paul
In Acts 23:1–5, Paul stood before the council in Jerusalem and got struck on the mouth by order of the high priest of Israel. Not knowing it was the high priest, he said, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!” And he had to recall his words once he realized who he was speaking to.
Jesus never had to recall anything.
John
Even John, the one who leaned on Jesus’ bosom at the last supper and heard His heartbeat, the one who called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” was not perfect. In Luke 9:54, he asked Jesus, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them [unbelievers], just as Elijah did?”
The apostle of love was not always loving. He was inconsistent, just like all of us.
But Jesus was always consistent. He is consistent in every situation.
We are coarse flour. He is fine flour.
When anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.
— Leviticus 2:1 NKJV
“put frankincense on it” — Frankincense emits a wonderful fragrance that was used to drive away bugs, pests, and snakes. Out in the desert, and it's a sweet-smelling aroma.
Everything that Jesus did, every thought He had, every word He spoke, was a sweet fragrance to the Father.
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus the Pharisee, He told him exactly what he needed to hear—that with all his erudite learning, he needed to be born again to be saved. Jesus went straight to the point with a teacher of the law (see John 3).
But when it came to the woman at the well in the very next chapter, the woman who had 5 husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband, Jesus was extremely considerate with her (see John 4). He was gentle with her feelings. He knew how to address her problem without being insensitive. In the most beautiful way, He revealed Himself as the Messiah to her.
He knew exactly what to do at the right time.
He is altogether lovely. When you read the gospels, see how lovely Jesus is.
His every action is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Every touch, every answer, every look. Even that look of forgiveness He gave to Peter after Peter had denied Him 3 times. It was a look that must have said, “Peter, I told you this would happen, but I still love you.” (see Luke 22:60–62).
Only love can melt a heart. Laws cannot. Laws only produce a stony heart.
And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.
— Leviticus 2:4 NKJV
“fine flour mixed with oil” — This represents Jesus being conceived in the Holy Spirit. His human spirit and God’s Holy Spirit mixed in Mary’s womb. At this point, Jesus was not yet anointed. This was the mingling of spirit.
This is also what happens to us when we are born again—our spirit mixes with God’s Spirit.
“unleavened wafers anointed with oil” — This represents Jesus being anointed by the Holy Spirit in the River Jordan at the age of 30.
“You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.”
— Leviticus 2:6 NKJV
“break it in pieces and pour oil on it” — When the fine flour is baked it becomes bread. Then it is broken into pieces. Once the bread is broken, you need to pour oil over it.
What does this mean for us?
It means that when you read the Bible, notice the different pieces, aspects, acts, and words of Jesus. And when you observe them, recognize that everything He did, He did by the anointing of the Spirit. That’s how you pour oil on the pieces of bread.
Recognize that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and that is why He had the power to go about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
God was with Him.
Pastor Prince prays for people with these conditions:
Pastor Prince reads a testimony of a woman who was healed of a frozen shoulder when she partook of the Communion and used the anointing oil. The doctors initially told her that she needed a shoulder replacement, but the MRI she took after the Communion and the anointing oil showed that there was nothing wrong with her shoulder at all!
Pastor Prince tells everyone in the congregation to stand because God is pouring out the oil. God is pouring out His anointing on us. He prays for healing for ALL afflictions.
Jesus’ body that took our sins also took our sicknesses. On the 3rd day, when God raised Him from the dead, there was no sin and no sickness left in His body.
Right now, our position is in Christ.
Look to Christ. Not to yourself.
“The Lord bless all of you under the sound of my voice. Wherever you are listening to this, the blessing will manifest as you believe and receive. The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you and your loved ones, preserve you and your families from every danger, harm, accident, tragedy, disease, emotional trauma, and from all the power of the evil one. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord make His face to shine on you and be favorable to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you so that you see Him always smiling on you. Amen. You are the favored of the Lord. Amen. You're a victor, not a victim. You're the head, not the tail. In Jesus’ mighty name, and all the people say? Amen.”
We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.
© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2019
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.
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