Greater Anointing

Introduction

There is an organization called ChildSavers which provides outpatient mental health services to clients and families who are mostly Black youth being raised by Black mothers and grandmothers. Often they see a pattern in many of these women which can be described as the Black Superwoman Complex or the Strong Black Woman narrative.

In the New York Times, Dr. Inger E. Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist, defines the Strong Black Woman as,

…a cultural icon, born of black women’s resilience in the face of systemic oppression that has dismantled families and made economic stability a formidable challenge. She is self-sufficient and self-sacrificing. She is a provider, caretaker and homemaker. And often, she is suffering.

In 2010, Cheryl L. Woods-Giscombé held eight focus groups to study the Black Superwoman Schema. The participants, 65% of the 48 who were mothers, named unrealistic expectations as key parts of the Superwoman stereotype. Some named feeling expected to show endless strength and always help others. They gave examples such as being expected to never complain or to pretend to be strong even when they don’t feel it. Participants also named tiring themselves out by saying yes to every request and taking on other’s wellbeing as their duty.

Many pressures like these have come up when Childsavers counselors talk to some of the caregivers whom they assist. They talk about being expected to be agreeable at all times even when they don’t feel agreeable. They fear that if they are not agreeable it will reflect on their parenting or as a personal flaw. They talk about the expectation to parent at home, help at school, lead at church, socialize, and work.

All of this despite being called a Mammy, Jezebel, & Sapphire (sharp tongued, manipulative woman, who emasculates her husband)

Three Stereotypes of Black Women in America- Submissive, Sexy, & Sassy

Attempting to please everyone

The Greatness of a Black Woman

Yet unheard and unnoticed within the culture

Transition To Body- People within the society and times of the audience of 1st John not listening to the church & some leaving church

No specific church named mentioned except the address to:

1 John 2:1 ESV

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Becoming & Being Christ like

1 John 2:2–5 ESV

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

We have been anointed

1 John 2:18–20 ESV

18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

Anointing That Teaches

1 John 2:26–27 ESV

26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Anointing Against Practicing Sinning

1 John 3:8–10 ESV

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Anointing of the Holy Spirit

1 John 3:19–24 ESV

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Body- The Anointing Recognizes or Realizes

Spiritual activity is not necessarily Godly activity

1 John 4:1 ESV

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Many False prophets are in the world too…

Believe- the person to whom one gives credence or the one whom one believes

What or whom are you giving credence?

Test the spirits to see whether they are from God

Test- to make a critical examination of someth. to determine genuineness, put to the test, examine

Action: So Christian’s Ought Examine Spiritual Happenings Critically i.e. do not take off your spiritual thinking cap

“Blind faith in your leases, or in anything, will get you killed.” - Brice Springsteen

Some people are just dreaming

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 ESV

1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Speaking presumptuously in the name of the LORD

Deuteronomy 18:22 ESV

22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Jesus is LORD

1 Corinthians 12:1–3 ESV

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

Weigh what the prophet says

1 Corinthians 14:29 ESV

29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

Godly activity acknowledges the work of Jesus Christ (in the flesh)

1 John 4:2–3 ESV

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Confesses- to acknowledge someth., ordinarily in public, acknowledge, claim, profess, praise

of profession of allegiance

Confess who is Jesus- God incarnate

Confess Jesus - the one who is anointed to save

John 15:26–27 ESV

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Holy Spirit speak what he hears from God

John 16:13–15 ESV

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Behind these words John is urging three things about our belief:

that the man Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the divine Word of God;

that Jesus Christ was and is fully divine as well as fully human;4 and

that Jesus is the sole source of eternal life since he alone reveals the Father to us and atones for our sins.

Holy Spirit’s activity (power) inside children of God is greater (than those in the world)

1 John 4:4–6 ESV

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Note the use of little children as a term of affection and endearment as well as recognizing the children’s position and true source of power.

2 Corinthians 4:7–10 ESV

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Overcome- to overcome someone, vanquish, overcome,

Greater- pert. to being relatively superior in importance, great

ⓐ of rational entities: of God and other deities

The Origin of the message matters- the difference between false prophets & true believers is their origin

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

John 8:47 ESV

47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Transition To Close

THERE was a TV show about a very heavy man who decided to change his life. This man was very heavy … around a thousand pounds. All he did was lie in bed, because that’s all he could do. He just lay in bed all day long waiting to die. His doctor had to come to his house to see him.

On one visit, the doctor shrugged and told the man that there was nothing else he could do for him. He said, “Well, if you are just going to lie here and do nothing, you are going to die. I can guarantee you that. Instead of lying there and waiting for death, at least die doing something.”

That struck a cord. The man decided to do something. The television show fast-forwarded to a year later and showed that same man, 250 pounds thinner and walking around. He decided that he didn’t want to go out like that. He chose not to settle.

Some of us have settled although we have the power to get up and do something through the power of God at work within us.

To Live Is Christ...

Philippians 1:21 ESV

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Know what you have inside of you

Temple of the Holy Spirit

What do we do inside temples

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

You have been sealed (closed or made secure)

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Close- Jesus had a greater anointing

Jesus is mightier (more powerful)

Mark 1:4–8 ESV

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Because of Jesus- Not of natural birth

John 1:11–18 ESV

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

See how great a love...

1 John 3:1–2 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

For God so loved the world

John 3:16–17 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Through the Greater Anointing of the Holy Spirit this we know....

1 John 4:13–19 ESV

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

The Testimony of God is Greater!

The Holy Spirit, water, & blood all testify that Jesus came by water & blood

1 John 5:6–9 ESV

6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.

Believe in the Son of God

1 John 5:10 ESV

10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.

Whoever has the son has eternal life

1 John 5:11–12 ESV

11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.