Anointed Preaching/Teaching

[SolaScriptura]

I am of the opinion, that certain Bible teachers and preachers, have an “anointing” from God the Holy Spirit, so that the message that we hear, has a profound conviction and impact upon us. Two such ministers of the Gospel come to mind, Aiden Wilson Tozer, and American, and Martyn Lloyd Jones, from England. When I hear them preach/teach, it feels like the Lord is speaking to me through these men, and I am greatly encouraged, challenged and blessed.

In his First Letter, the Apostle John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge” (2:20).

In his First Letter to the Church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul says, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (2:4)

These verses, and others, confirm that the Holy Spirit does indeed gives the power to some godly men when they declare the Counsel of the Lord.

What happens when a preacher/teacher of the Bible, falls from grace through gross sin, as has happened to quite a few over the past months/years? The latest very sad and disturbing example, is a man who I found to be a solid man of God with some deep preaching, Steve Lawson. It deeply saddens me, that the devil has gotten to this dear brother, and has caused him to fall. I do earnestly pray that he truly repents, and the Lord restores him.

Steve Lawson had some relationship with a very young woman, which lasted for about 5 years. What I find interesting and also scary, is the fact, that during this time, he was able to keep on preaching, even though he was living a life of sin and disobedience to the Lord and His Word. His preaching/teaching did not change, he did not show any less conviction in what he preached and taught.

The same Bible that speaks of preachers/teachers having an “anointing” from the Holy Spirit, also warns, that, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18. NLT). Or, as the Amplified Bible has it, “If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it], The Lord will not hear [me]”.

This verse, and others, is a clear warning of the Lord not “hearing”, or “blessing” those who are sinful, or living in their sins. I understand this to mean, that any “anointing” that the preacher/teacher might have had, is forfeited by their unconfessed, life of sin.

The words of Tozer I read over 40 years ago, comes to mind:

“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

A person who is gifted in speaking, can continue as though they still have the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit, though their words are from themselves!

 

[electedbyHim]

I am of the opinion, that certain Bible teachers and preachers, have an “anointing” from God the Holy Spirit, so that the message that we hear, has a profound conviction and impact upon us. Two such ministers of the Gospel come to mind, Aiden Wilson Tozer, and American, and Martyn Lloyd Jones, from England. When I hear them preach/teach, it feels like the Lord is speaking to me through these men, and I am greatly encouraged, challenged and blessed.

In his First Letter, the Apostle John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge” (2:20).

In his First Letter to the Church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul says, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (2:4)

These verses, and others, confirm that the Holy Spirit does indeed gives the power to some godly men when they declare the Counsel of the Lord.

What happens when a preacher/teacher of the Bible, falls from grace through gross sin, as has happened to quite a few over the past months/years? The latest very sad and disturbing example, is a man who I found to be a solid man of God with some deep preaching, Steve Lawson. It deeply saddens me, that the devil has gotten to this dear brother, and has caused him to fall. I do earnestly pray that he truly repents, and the Lord restores him.

Steve Lawson had some relationship with a very young woman, which lasted for about 5 years. What I find interesting and also scary, is the fact, that during this time, he was able to keep on preaching, even though he was living a life of sin and disobedience to the Lord and His Word. His preaching/teaching did not change, he did not show any less conviction in what he preached and taught.

The same Bible that speaks of preachers/teachers having an “anointing” from the Holy Spirit, also warns, that, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18. NLT). Or, as the Amplified Bible has it, “If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it], The Lord will not hear [me]”.

This verse, and others, is a clear warning of the Lord not “hearing”, or “blessing” those who are sinful, or living in their sins. I understand this to mean, that any “anointing” that the preacher/teacher might have had, is forfeited by their unconfessed, life of sin.

The words of Tozer I read over 40 years ago, comes to mind:

“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

A person who is gifted in speaking, can continue as though they still have the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit, though their words are from themselves!

It is a shame about Steve Lawson, huge shame.

I can relate with you on hearing certain men of God and the impact of their preaching has on my life.

The good doctor (M.L. Jones) is one of them and I have many of his resources, what a blessed man of God.


As for Psalm 66:18, the Psalmist went on to say...

Psalms 66:18 If I see wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;
Psalms 66:19 But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
Psalms 66:20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

We are His elect, I do believe that the Lord will hear our prayers.

Grace and peace to you.

 

[SolaScriptura]

It is a shame about Steve Lawson, huge shame.

I can relate with you on hearing certain men of God and the impact of their preaching has on my life.

The good doctor (M.L. Jones) is one of them and I have many of his resources, what a blessed man of God.


As for Psalm 66:18, the Psalmist went on to say...

Psalms 66:18 If I see wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;
Psalms 66:19 But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
Psalms 66:20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

We are His elect, I do believe that the Lord will hear our prayers.

Grace and peace to you.

What do you think about these preachers who fall into unrepentant sin for years, and yet continue to preach as though all is normal? Surely they don't have the Anointing by the Spirit on their preaching during this time?

 

[electedbyHim]

What do you think about these preachers who fall into unrepentant sin for years, and yet continue to preach as though all is normal? Surely they don't have the Anointing by the Spirit on their preaching during this time?

I agree and think it would come down to the Pastor/preacher.

Look at all the televangelists. I question their salvation.

If a Pastor is truly saved, I bellieve the conviction from Holy Spirit would be a very heavy burden.

From experience, when I have fell into sin, it was a huge burden, guilt and I was very miserable.

I think I read that Steve Lawson was in that realtionship for 5 years, which is a long time while he was still Sheperding.

I guess the question comes down to how long can a Christian live in sin?

Would you consider 5 years habitual sin according to 1 John?

I do not know.

 

[Hidden In Him]

The same Bible that speaks of preachers/teachers having an “anointing” from the Holy Spirit, also warns, that, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18. NLT). Or, as the Amplified Bible has it, “If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it], The Lord will not hear [me]”.

It's an interesting question. I think the answer revolves around exactly what David was referring to when he said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart."

The context appears to be David drawing a parallel between his own life and that of those who survived the Exodus. During the exodus they turned to the worship of other gods, whereas the works of the Most High from that time are heavily in focus instead. So I would take the position that "regarding iniquity" would be in association with this sin in particular, and that David refused to honor other gods but the Most High alone.

I think it's also what warrants His mercy, is that we honor and trust in Him as the true God even in our weaknesses and sins. It is also to be remembered that David sinned with Bathsheba and paid for it dearly, yet God never turned His mercy away from him there either. So I'd be tempted to say the iniquity that will cause Him to no longer hear us has to do with turning to other gods.

Your thoughts?

1 Shout unto God, all the earth. 2 O sing praises to His name; give glory to His praise. 3 Say unto God, How awful are Thy works! through the greatness of Thy power thine enemies shall lie to Thee. 4 Let all the earth worship Thee, and sing to Thee; let them sing to Thy name. Pause. 5 Come and behold the works of God; [He is] terrible in [His] counsels beyond the children of men. 6 Who turns the sea into dry land; they shall go through the river on foot; there shall we rejoice in Him, 7 who by His power is Lord over the age, His eyes look upon the nations; let not them that provoke [Him] be exalted in themselves. Pause. 8 Bless our God, ye Gentiles, and make the voice of His praise to be heard; 9 who quickens my soul in life, and does not suffer my feet to be moved. 10 For thou, O God, has proved us; Thou hast tried us with fire as silver is tried. 11 Thou broughtest us into the snare; Thou laidest afflictions on our back. 12 Thou didst mount men upon our heads; we went through the fire and water; but Thou broughtest us out into [a place of] refreshment. 13 I will go into Thine house with whole-burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my vows, 14 which my lips framed, and my mouth uttered in my affliction. 15 I will offer to Thee whole-burnt-sacrifices full of marrow, with incense and rams; I will sacrifice to Thee oxen with goats. Pause. 16 Come, hear, and I will tell, all ye that fear God, how great things He has done for my soul. 17 I cried to Him with my mouth, and exalted Him with my tongue. 18 If I have regarded iniquity in my heart, let not the Lord hearken [to me]. 19 Therefore God has hearkened to me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.

 

[SolaScriptura]

So I'd be tempted to say the iniquity that will cause Him to no longer hear us has to do with turning to other gods.

Don't you think that this can also apply to all unrepentant sins, especially those long term?

You do make some good points

 

[Hidden In Him]

Don't you think that this can also apply to all unrepentant sins, especially those long term?

You do make some good points

I do in some sense, and that's what makes it an interesting discussion.

But the writer is David here, and very little was withheld from the man. I mean, he had all the women he could need. He had money, and he had power. There was something else. Something that would cause his heart to turn, and as a ruler over the nation, the existence of evil in his land and temptation to allow worship of pagan gods like his father gave into may have been on his mind. With the courting of pagan gods came favor from the nations who worshipped them...

I still fall back on the focus being our God, the Most High God, so it seems to juxtapose iniquity against that, but I'm not 100% sure. I can't find any commentators that try to speculate either way atm.

 

[SolaScriptura]

I do in some sense, and that's what makes it an interesting discussion.

But the writer is David here, and very little was withheld from the man. I mean, he had all the women he could need. He had money, and he had power. There was something else. Something that would cause his heart to turn, and as a ruler over the nation, the existence of evil in his land and temptation to allow worship of pagan gods like his father gave into may have been on his mind. With the courting of pagan gods came favor from the nations who worshipped them...

I still fall back on the focus being our God, the Most High God, so it seems to juxtapose iniquity against that, but I'm not 100% sure. I can't find any commentators that try to speculate either atm.

Indeed David had it all, especially a very close relationship with the Lord.

However he was tempted by the devil and gave into him. In doing so he committed a number of grave sins. I am referring to the story of Bethsheba.

David also continued for a year as though nothing had happened. It was only when the Prophet Nathan confronted David that he repented.

Similarly, we have preachers today who have fallen into sin for some years but continue as "normal"

 

[SolaScriptura]

Just discovered this from Lawson

 

[JLB]

Steve Lawson had some relationship with a very young woman, which lasted for about 5 years. What I find interesting and also scary, is the fact, that during this time, he was able to keep on preaching, even though he was living a life of sin and disobedience to the Lord and His Word. His preaching/teaching did not change, he did not show any less conviction in what he preached and taught.

This is an extremely important topic to both discuss and understand.

There are certain issues each of us must learn to recognize and deal with in our own lives in order to avoid the mistakes that others, whom God has called and anointed, have fallen into.

The Lord’s ways are different than our ways, especially in this fast paced, got to have right now culture.

The Lord values preparation and character development over gifting and talent.

He prepared Moses for 40 years even after Moses knew he was called.

Jesus spent thirty years to pour Himself out for three and a half years.

Same with John the Baptist.

What the Bible doesn’t mention about Jesus between the time He knew who His Father was and the time He was baptized by John speaks louder than the miracles, signs and wonders.

For those of us who believe we are called, we must value preparation for our purpose; to learn to cleanse ourselves from being a vessel of dishonor.

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21

• Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor

The man who taught us this spent 17 years in obscurity before he was sent out by the Holy Spirit.

There are some small identifiable similarities between Paul and Jesus when they both began their ministries.

I will stop here.




JLB

 

[Tenchi]

I am of the opinion, that certain Bible teachers and preachers, have an “anointing” from God the Holy Spirit, so that the message that we hear, has a profound conviction and impact upon us. Two such ministers of the Gospel come to mind, Aiden Wilson Tozer, and American, and Martyn Lloyd Jones, from England. When I hear them preach/teach, it feels like the Lord is speaking to me through these men, and I am greatly encouraged, challenged and blessed.

But what to make, then, of those believers who hear these men and have no sense of their being "anointed" by God? Do you think that, if other believers aren't struck by the spiritual weightiness of these men as you are, that these believers are, by default, inferior spiritually, perhaps hardened in sin and maybe even false converts? I ask, because this has been the thinking of some believers I've known when others haven't responded to their favorite Bible teachers as they have. There can be a very partisan attitude along this line that rivals the sort of stuff I've seen with eschatology nuts. I'm not saying that this is the case with you, necessarily, only that I've observed it in others at various times and places.

These verses, and others, confirm that the Holy Spirit does indeed gives the power to some godly men when they declare the Counsel of the Lord.

Yes, my grandfather was one such man. Though, he was very blunt in his opposition to the idea that he was anything other than a tool in God's hands, a mere vessel through whom God communicated Himself. In fact, he told me once that he would never preach unless he had first arranged himself under God such that he was confident that, when he spoke, it was Christ people would see, not my grandfather. He never wanted to impinge in the slightest upon God glorifying Himself in what my grandfather preached. But this meant, of course, an entire life outside of his moments at the pulpit lived in humble submission to, and holiness before, God.

The result of such a life, though, was that many times God used the preaching of my grandfather to bring entire sanctuaries of people to their knees in repentance from, and confession of, sin. My grandfather would be so fixed on God during the preaching of his sermons, however, that he would not notice that hundreds of people in the pews before him were weeping and calling out to God in confession of their deep sin. I recall men saying how they'd had to interrupt my grandfather and point out to him what was going on.

Anyway, when folks would meet my grandfather, one on one, they would often say to me how surprised they were, given his confident manner of preaching in the pulpit, to encounter such a gentle, meek and kind man. There wasn't the slightest whiff of self-importance in my grandfather, only a mild, good-humored man of God.

One other thing about him, too, that really stood out was that my grandfather had what appeared to be a photographic memory when it came to God's word. Really, it was just that my grandfather had spent so much time in the Bible (he'd forget all sorts of other things on a regular basis). When pressed on the subject, he calculated that he'd studied his way through the Bible nearly eight hundred times. All over his study there were Bibles he'd filled with notes, cross-references, highlights, etc., all of them falling apart from use. And so, when my brother and I once tested his memory of God's word, reading to him part of an obscure genealogy from the OT, he quoted the remainder of it without flaw, going on for many verses.

Steve Lawson had some relationship with a very young woman, which lasted for about 5 years. What I find interesting and also scary, is the fact, that during this time, he was able to keep on preaching, even though he was living a life of sin and disobedience to the Lord and His Word. His preaching/teaching did not change, he did not show any less conviction in what he preached and taught.

This is as much a testament to the spiritual condition of those who listened regularly to, and worked directly with, him, unaware of his sinful condition though it was prolonged and very serious, as it is to the spiritual condition of Lawson himself. The same was true of those who worked directly with Ravi Zacharias, who were oblivious to his deep moral/spiritual collapse though it was ongoing for many years.

Conviction about, and enthusiasm for, what one is saying can be put on. Charisma and eloquence can be manufactured. There is, though, no faking the sin-exposing, will-breaking movement of the Holy Spirit provoked by holy truth spoken from a holy, Christ-centered life. There is no mistaking, either, the life and work of the Spirit in one who is, throughout each day, living under the Spirit's control. Such an one is filled with the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, etc. of a supernatural sort, overflowing from them in an unmistakable way. Most wonderfully, they are, as far as I've observed of such rare folk, largely oblivious to the fact that Christ radiates brightly from them.

Anyway, I think characters like Ravi and Steve exist, in part, because credentials have come to replace spiritual maturity such that one who has high credentials is assumed to have a commensurate spiritual depth. And this is so much the case these days that such men can carry on for years under the momentum of their credentials, escaping any close scrutiny.

 

[JLB]

But this meant, of course, an entire life outside of his moments at the pulpit lived in humble submission to, and holiness before, God.

The result of such a life, though, was that many times God used the preaching of my grandfather to bring entire sanctuaries of people to their knees in repentance from, and confession of, sin.

Beautiful.

You are truly blessed to have such a heritage.

 

[follower]

“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

So they were wrong! The first thing that departed noticably from the assemblies/teaching in the first centuries was voluntary poverty, which is still lacking here and everywhere I know of.
i.e. the truth departed as the messengers of God said the wolves would come in and tear the flock up when the apostles were gone.....
and 'everything' kept going on as if nothing had changed! The religous leaders , in league with the enemy of Christ, kept preaching and teaching and directing , without God's Approval, and without the power of God anymore to heal or to save souls.

 

[follower]

Can anyone correct the spelling / meaning / error IN THE TITLE ?

 

[Hidden In Him]

Can anyone correct the spelling / meaning / error IN THE TITLE ?

What is wrong with the Title?

 

[follower]

What is wrong with the Title?

I thought it was the title, but appears to be a different sort of heading , including "How are .... 'effected' by sin" ....
Should be "affected".

Note the error is common/ several instances just now found:

Search results for query: effected

christianforums.net

 

[Hidden In Him]

I thought it was the title, but appears to be a different sort of heading , including "How are .... 'effected' by sin" ....
Should be "affected".

Note the error is common/ several instances just now found:

Search results for query: effected

christianforums.net

Yes it should. It was in the sliding notice. Thank you for the heads up.

 

[follower]

Yes it should. It was in the sliding notice. Thank you for the heads up.

ty, I've seen some of the notices like that, but usually did not pay attention to them. (figured it may be spam?)