Gateway Church's Podcast
Ken Ulmer
I want you to come with me quickly to Psalm 92, and I want you to be prayerful as we study the Word of God. I must admit to you and I need your prayer specifically. I was telling the pastor in the back, I really had been studying today about something else. I had not planned, at least I had not come here planning to share this word with you, but it's kind of on my spirit and passion I was sharing some things in the back that I think may have been confirmation, and it hopefully I want to really be submissive to leadership of the Holy Spirit. I don't really have a sermon, those pulpitiers and homoliticians and young theologs in the house. I don't have a sermon, I really don't, but I do have a word. I do have a word, and I want you to join me in opening our hearts as the Word of God speaks to us. It is in Psalm 92, that the psalmist speaks, and in verse 10, the psalmist says, "But my horn shall thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn." One version says, "This is the part I want you to see. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. I shall be anointed with fresh oil." It was in a setting much like this, a setting of praise and worship, and the psalmist has declared, "It's a good thing to give thanks to God and to sing praises unto him." That's what we've been doing tonight, giving thanks to God and singing praises to him, and the psalmist says, "That's a good thing." He speaks of corporate worship and corporate praise in the presence of God, and that's what we've done here tonight. And then in the midst of this corporate setting, it is as though the psalmist seems to stand and to speak out, and in this service and gathering of thanksgiving and worship and praise, the psalmist says, "I shall be anointed with fresh oil." Notice carefully that this 90-second psalm does not begin with verse 1. The 90-second psalm, if you note carefully, there's an inscription just under the number of this psalm, and in my Bible it says, "A psalm or psalm for the Sabbath day." Is that what your Bible says? Yeah, mine says that. It's a psalm or psalm for the Sabbath day. This 90-second psalm does not begin with verse 1. It begins with the identification of it as a psalm or psalm for the Sabbath day. That means that it is one of a group or cluster of psalms that was psalm during the time of worship on the Sabbath day. So this 90-second psalm is a psalm or psalm for a psalm is but a psalm. A psalm or psalm for the psalm day. The psalm day means seventh or the seventh day of the week. It is the time, the holy day. I shall remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And it speaks of the gathering of God's people on the Sabbath day, which is the seventh day. And on this Sabbath day they would declare and they would sing, if you will, this 90-second psalm. So this 90-second psalm is a psalm or psalm to be psalm on the seventh or Sabbath day. You didn't get it. I'll give it to you again. This 90-second psalm, this 90-second psalm the Bible says is a psalm or psalm for the Sabbath day on the Sabbath worship, which is the seventh day. This psalm or psalm would be psalm for it identifies itself as the 90-second psalm, a psalm or psalm to be psalm on the seventh or Sabbath day. Interesting that when one comes to the seventh or Sabbath day, this psalm would be psalm. However, that is a revelation for it is on this seventh day that the psalmist says I shall be anointed with fresh oil. The Sabbath day, the seventh day is the last of the week. It is the seventh day in our calendar. It would be Saturday. It is the seventh day of the week. Listen, the Sabbath day marked the end of a set season of time. Seventh day, Sabbath day is the end of a week. It's significant because it marks that you have come to the end of a set season of time. This psalm or psalm, psalm on the seventh day means it is psalm on the end at the end of a set season of time. A week comes to an end on the seventh day and the psalmist says I shall be anointed with fresh oil. What is interesting is that this seventh day is a day, listen, that looks back at the previous week, but it is also a day that looks forward to the next week. You missed it. This proclamation of a fresh anointing is made at a critical time. It is when one comes to the end of one season of time and yet you stand facing the beginning of another season of time. Somebody's got it over here. It means that when you come to a transition period, you are in need of a fresh anointing. It means that God has successfully brought you through something these last seven days, six days. God has brought you through something. And yet you do not find yourself caught in the prison of the past. You face tomorrow and in spite of what has happened in the past, you make the declaration in the present before you get to the future. I'm saying it too fast, you missed it. In spite of what has happened in the past, you make a declaration in the present in the face of the future. You say I shall be anointed with fresh oil. And when I step out of this past season and into this next season, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Now the word fresh suggests that this is olive oil. This is anointing oil. Listen now, made from freshly harvested olives. Did you get that? Freshly harvested olives. I shall be anointed, the Bible says, with fresh oil. It means that this anointing oil will be made of a potion, see? And the base of that potion will be the oil from freshly harvested olives. Why is that significant? Because the prophet says, the psalmist says, I shall be anointed with an anointing oil. That is the product of freshly harvested olives. Which means that this anointing comes at a time when the olives have been recently harvested. Which means, by definition, you have come past a time of planting. You have come past a time of watering. You have come past a time of pulling weeds. You have come past a time of fertilizing. Past a time of waiting and the harvest has come forth. Now the psalmist says, I shall be anointed in this season where I have come past my time of planting. Someone in here has been planting seeds and has not yet seen the harvest of that seed. Someone has been watering and hoeing and pulling weeds and struggling and taking care of and tending and waiting and anticipating. And yet the psalmist says, your time of waiting is coming to an end. Your time of sowing is coming to an end. God says, you shall be anointed in that season of harvest. Tell somebody it's harvest time. And I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Make it a declaration. Come on, give God praise in this house. God says, I shall be anointed. I am in need. Here it is. I am in need of a fresh anointing. Somebody is going to get in a minute. I'm about to move into a new season. The old season has come to an end. It is not by accident that we come at the beginning of this new year. We are facing a year that we've never seen before. And in this new season, in this new year, God says, you are in need of a fresh anointing. Now, let me tell you something. The fact that you need a fresh anointing does not mean that your old anointing was a bad anointing. Did you get that? I'll give it to you again. The fact that I need a fresh anointing does not imply that my old anointing was a bad anointing. No. The fact that I need a fresh anointing suggests that I am about to move into a new season. Now, my old anointing was the right anointing for my old season. But since I'm going into a new season, I cannot do all that God has called me to do in my new season with my old anointing. Y'all ain't got it. Because in my new season, I have a new appointment. I have a new assignment. And for my new appointment, I must have a new anointment. Not that my old anointment was a bad anointment. For my old anointment was for my old appointment. But since God is taking me to a new appointment, I must have a fresh anointment. Is anybody getting there? I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Now, the anointing, the anointing, the anointing, the anointing. And let me give you two or three quick descriptions of the anoint. Anointing, first of all, speaks of, listen, the authority for your position. You function under the anointing. It is the anointing that validates your assignment to function in your position. You are calling. It is the anointing that authorizes and that gives you authority in your position. Secondly, this anointing, listen, affirms the presence of God. The anointing is to live, to worship in the anointing. It means that we are in the very presence of God. It is the anointing that affirms the presence of God. It speaks of those times when the glory cloud is hovering in the presence of the people of God. It speaks of those times likened to the glory cloud that rested in the tablet, in the tablet, in the temple. When the Bible said that the cloud hung so heavy and that which I can help you see it, the cloud hung so heavy in that place that the Bible says they could not stand to continue the ministry. There will be times in your life when the very presence of God steps in and he does not come to take sides. He comes to take over. He comes to manifest his glory and his power and to declare that he is Lord of Lords. It is the affirmation of the very presence of God. It is the anointing. Thirdly, the anointing is the assistance of God's power. I'll give it to you again. The anointing is the assistance of God's power. You shall be filled with the Holy Ghost and you shall be my witnesses. You shall be my witnesses because of the empowerment of the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit. And so the prophet says, the psalmist says, "I shall be anointed with fresh oil." Now listen very carefully. This anointing oil was made with a rather elaborate ritual. They would often bring huge vats, you know, these big vats. We would call it a big tub. In this big tub, they would take the base of olive oil and they would add fragrances and they would add herbs and spices and they would mix this potion up. And they would always make sure, listen, they would always make sure that they prepared more than was necessary for that given service. I'll give it to you again. They always prepared more than was necessary for that given service because there is no limit to the anointing. It does not matter how much anointing is poured out in a given gathering. There's always more anointing to go around. Is anybody a witness in this house? So they prepared this big vat, big tub, the big tub full of anointing oil. And then they get what the Bible calls it a vial. See, we might call it a picture. Just picture it down in that big vat of that anointing oil. Now the person to be anointed would assume a position, see often, of submission and a position of humility. And doing so. Then the ones doing the anointing would take that picture, that big vial and they dipped down in that big tub and they would then begin to pour. See, it would pour that anointing oil over the head. It would pour it over the head. Take that anointing oil and they would pour that oil over the head. And the person being anointed would get in a position, see, of humility and submission. And they would take that vial full of that anointing oil and they would pour that anointing oil over the head. Pour that oil over the head. They never had a rag or a towel. They would never wipe it off. See, it would take that big, that vial and they'd pour it over the head or always pour it over the head. They'd take that oil and they'd pour that oil over the head. And they wouldn't wipe it off. See, the person who was being anointed, they would pour it off, pour it so lavishly, see, that after a while, that person who was being anointed would find themselves, see, kneeling literally in a pool of oil. And even when they stood up, the oil would begin to flow down because they had poured that oil over the head. Pour that oil over the head. They wouldn't pour that oil anywhere but over the head. Now, there was never a special anointing for the arms. That was never a special anointing for the knees. See, the only oil and the anointing that the knees would receive would be the anointing oil that flowed down because the anointing flows from the head. There is no individual anointing. Anointing is relational. Flows down over the one who is the head. Now, in this house, in this house, this man is the head. And the anointing that flows in this house is the anointing that flows down from the anointing that rests on the life and on the head of this man, not because he's so grandiose, not because he's better than anyone else, but because God's sovereign order, God always has an order. And the order is that the anointing flows down from the head. And in this house, the head and the anointing is on this man who stands as the head of this house. Somebody give God praise in this house. There is an anointing in this house that flows down from the head. There is an anointing in this house that covers this place by the power of the Holy Ghost because the anointing flows from the head and always flows down. The psalmist says, I shall be anointed with fresh oil, promised says, says that the anointing that flows down from the head, the psalmist says another place, it's like the oil, watch this now, the oil that flows from the head of Aaron over the beard, wisdom, wisdom comes when the anointing is flowing. The anointing flows in my life when God releases a spirit of wisdom, not just knowledge. Knowledge is the accumulation of information. Wisdom is what I do with the information that I've accumulated. There is a flow and a release of wisdom when the anointing is released. Listen, then the Bible says that flows over the beard. Listen now. And over the garment, don't miss this, over the garment, over the garment and it flows down. One version says flows down to the tail. One version says to the hem. Did you get that? Give it to you again. The anointing oil flows down from Aaron's head, watch this, flows down giving him wisdom, flows down over his shoulders or his torso and gathers, listen now, at the hem of his garment. The anointing oil flows down. Now listen, the anointing is poured out so lavishly, God, I love this, that it gathers at the hem of the garment. Now, the hem of the garment is the lowest point in the garment so that the greatest concentration of the oil is not at the highest point. Somebody sees it. The greatest concentration of the anointing is when I met my lowest point. You didn't get it. It says, it's like the do that flows from Mount Herman. Stay with me, I'm going someplace. Mount Herman is a mountain region north of the Sea of Galilee. Stay with me, you geography students, north of the Sea of Galilee. When the do, watch this now, when the do melts and the snow melts, it flows into the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee dumps into the Jordan River. The Jordan River dumps into the Dead Sea. Stay with me. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth so that the anointing that started in the high places of the mountain flows down to the lowest spot on the earth. Now here's the catch. There's something that God has put, God, I love it, in the water of the Dead Sea that prevents you from drowning. Let me try these people on this, too. There's something about the chemical makeup in the Dead Sea. You cannot drown. I know I've been there. Try to drown, so no, listen, listen, you cannot get this. The anointing, God, flows down to the lowest point and there at the lowest point is the greatest concentration of the oil and anointing that flows down, so much so that I cannot go under in spite of what would tend and normally pull me down. Now here's the route. You shall be anointed tonight with a fresh anointing and no matter how low the devil tries to knock you. It is the anointing that will make sure you cannot go down. You shall rise up because the power of the anointing shall hold you up when you cannot hold yourself up. I'm going home on this one. Finally it says this. The anointing, I'll go back to the text, Psalm 92. It says this, because of that anointing, he says in verse 12, "The righteous," I love it, "shall flourish like the palm tree." Look at me. "The righteous shall flourish," the word flourish is the same root as the word fresh oil. "The righteous shall walk in freshness." "The righteous shall walk in a fresh anointing," hmm, but like a palm tree. Interesting picture that the Lord paints here. He says that the anointing of God on your life, you hear tonight, you watching by TV, God says there's an anointing of God on your life and it is because of that anointing that you shall be like a palm tree. I don't know how many palm trees you guys have here in Dallas. I'm from Los Angeles and Los Angeles. In front of my house there's a palm tree and there was a wicked storm going on in Los Angeles. The storm was raging, the winds were blowing, and the rain was falling, everything. It was a storm storm. And in the midst of that storm, the palm tree began to talk. Palm tree said to me, "God wants to make you like me." I said, "First of all, I don't know about a palm tree that can talk." That's the first follow man. So he says this, "God has put something in me because I'm a palm tree." There's something unique about the makeup of a palm tree. Palm tree said this, the storm was raging, the wind was blowing, billows tossing back and forth. Palm tree said, "God made me unique and with the ability to withstand in his storm." I said, "What do you mean, Mr. Palm tree?" He says, "God put something in me called elasticity." I said, "I beg your pardon." I said, "My big word for a palm tree." He said, "God, there's something in the trunk of a palm tree that is elastic." I said, "What do you mean?" He says, "Notice if you will, when the winds are blowing. Notice if you will why the storm is raging because I am a palm tree." I love it. He says, "I might bend, but I won't break." I'm ready to go back to Los Angeles and help God. God brought me all the way to tell somebody tonight because of the fresh anointing that's on your life. When the enemy begins to throw storms at you and throw trials at you and troubles at you, you may get weak sometimes. You may have to get lonely sometimes. You may weep and cry sometimes, but because of the anointing of God that's in your life, because of this fresh anointing, you might look like you're bending, but the word is you shall not break. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. You might get dizzy sometimes, but you shall not break. You might have to cry sometimes, but you shall not break. You may have to get lonely sometimes, but you shall not break. You may feel as though you're standing all by yourself, but there's an anointing on your life. There's a call on your life. There's a power of God resting on your life, and you shall always stand in spite of the storm because God says you might bend sometimes, but you won't break. Now here's the last thing that the palm tree said. It's time to praise God somebody. He says this, "Notice if you will, that every time the winds blow, the palm tree stands back up." I said, "Okay, what about that?" He says, "Notice if you will, the leaves on a palm tree." I said, "I beg your pardon." He said, "The leaves on a palm tree are not like leaves on the rest of the trees. The leaves on the rest of the trees are low on the trunk of that tree, but notice that on a palm tree, all of the leaves are at the top of the tree." Y'all ain't getting it. He says, "When the wind blows, all that it does is call me to shake my leaves." I brought somebody here today to tell you that God wants you to lift your hands and shake your leaves and give God some praise and put your hands together and give God some glory and declare to the enemy, "I'm still standing in spite of the storm. I'm still standing in spite of the heartache. I'm still spent in spite of the trial. I'm still standing in spite of the storm. I'm still standing in spite of the failure. I'm still standing in spite of the heartache. I'm still standing somebody ought to stand up tonight and give God some glory. Shake your leaves and give God some glory. Put those hands together. Clap your hands, all ye people. Shout out to the Lord with the shout of time. Shout your victory. You are more than a conqueror. Come on and bless God tonight. Come on and give him some praise. Shout pass your problem. Shout pass your pain. Shout pass your disappointment. God, I feel like faith in him today. Come on and bless the Lord somebody. I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Praise them with the clapping of the hands and give God glory in this house. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Fill me again, Lord. Fill me again. Fill me again. Let your power flow. Okay. Let your glory flow. Let your presence flow in the name of Jesus. Lord, I stand in need of a fresh anointing. Oh God, fill me again. Fill me again. Fill me again. Fill me again. As you did with the apostles of all, fill me again. Fill me afresh. Fill me up. Fill my cup. I am in need of a fresh anointing. Oh God, pour out your spirit on this house tonight, when the disciples were gathered in that upper room, they did two things. They prayed and they waited. They prayed and they waited and God poured out his spirit upon all flesh. Oh God, the anointing had come. I want you to join me in a moment all over this room. We're going to pray. We're going to pray. Some of you might be a simply saying, "Lord, do it again." Some of you might be a simply saying, "Lord, fill me again." Some of you might be a simply saying, "Lord, fill me with evidence of your presence and power." Oh God, I surrender my tongue. I surrender my life. I surrender my mouth. I surrender my being unto you. But Lord, I need to be filled. Some of you have never been filled before. The Bible says they were all filled, which means he filled the place and he filled the people. You didn't get that. He filled the place and he filled the people. And when he filled the place and filled the people, they all spake. They all uttered as the spirit gave release. They prayed. Jesus said, now wait because I've got something for you. They were just ordinary folk like you and me. But Jesus knew they had been called to take the gospel to the world. What an extraordinary assignment. And so Jesus said to these ordinary men and ordinary women, if you pray and wait, I will add some extra to your ordinary. And when I add my extra to your ordinary, your ordinary will become extraordinary and you will do the extraordinary. My prayer tonight, Lord, I need a fresh anointing. Women of God, men of God, I'm facing a challenge in my personal life like never before. I'm facing an assignment that I find myself wondering, Lord, how can I? And God says, you are in need of a fresh anointing. Someone's here tonight and God is calling you. You know it as clearly as you know your name and you are wondering, Lord, how? I know what you want me to do, but how can I do it? God brought you here today, bring you to this altar and simply say, Lord, I'm in need of a fresh anointing. I'm already at the front of the line because what I've been called and assigned to do, if God does not do it through me, it shall not be done. If God does not build this house, those of us who labor shall labor in vain. I need Him as never before. Someone is watching this program right now via TV. You may have been channel surfing and God has gotten your attention to tell you, my friend, you are in need of a fresh, there's a pastor, there's a pastor, a pastor, so discouraged. I don't know who you are. You're so discouraged and you are just about ready to give in, throw in a towel. It's not happening. It's not going. It's coming together. This kind of challenge, that kind of challenge, God has brought you here tonight. Until you don't need another church, you need another anointing. God has brought someone. Oh, God, God, God, someone. There's a marriage. There's a marriage up against the walls. Oh, Lord, help me. There's a relationship under such attack. And you've wondered and you've pondered. Maybe you need a new start. Maybe you need another relationship. Oh, God. My brother, you don't need a new wife, you need a new anointing. In the final few minutes that we have, what does ministers and song to come? We're going to do two things. We're going to pray. We're going to wait. For many of you, God's going to start something tonight and that manifestation will be seen after tonight. Others of you, God's going to do a work in your life right here in this place. I sought the anointing. I sought the feeling for months, even years. I struggle with it intellectually. I struggled. I struggled with it. My psyche, my intellect struggled with submission to the power of the Holy Ghost. I became so analytical that I analyzed myself out of that which God wants to synthesize in my life. And I started and started and I struggled and struggled and I struggled and struggled and struggled and struggled and struggled. And it was out of prayer, breakthrough of all things. By a man who came to be a friend of mine, Larry Lee, the Anaheim Stadium in California, I went that night all by myself, searching and struggling and searching and struggling and searching and struggling. And a spirit of prayer broke out in that place. Not an hurry, spirit of prayer and the glory of God. The glory of God rested in that house. And up there on the 20th or 30th row, no one knew me, no one knew my name, no one knew who I was as I began to open my mouth, as I began to worship God, as I began to speak. Words that I had never learned that I heard in my spirit and uttered with my mouth came forth as the spirit gave utterance. Not for any self-aggrandizement, not for any pious pomposity, not for any spiritual arrogance, but because God had an assignment to live a life for him that I could not live in the power of the flesh. And I find myself over and over and over again, saying, "Lord, do it again, do it again, do it again, do it again." Not for selfishness, not for fame of worship, not to be known as a spiritual dish, no, but Lord, I can't do this thing without you. I cannot do it in my own power, I cannot do it in my own flesh, I'm not smart enough, I'm not intellectual enough, I'm not creative enough, I cannot do it, I need your power. Luke uses the word, he says, "The Holy Spirit fell upon you." It's a coming down, almost with a sense of suddenness. Now listen, listen, it's not falling upon you to hurt you, it's not falling upon you to knock you down per se, although there's a sense in which under the power of the Spirit, you know, one year or so that, but that's not the point. The idea of falling upon you, of coming upon you is really more the idea, listen, of coming upon you really more of an embrace. Holy Ghost wants to embrace somebody. He wants to come upon you. He wants to come upon you and embrace you. It may not be theological, but Lord, sometimes I just need a holy hug. We're okay today by Shata. We're going to pray. We're going to wait. And the Spirit of God will be ushered in. And He will take all the glory and no flesh shall glory in His sight. Not because we're so this or so that, but by His sovereign will, He releases Himself, fills this place, fills the people in this place. [BLANK_AUDIO]