The Anointing that Makes the Difference

one God is a treasure chest understand the one God you open up the treasure chest of other great gifts from this God in Deuteronomy 6 and 4 Moses told that the daily diet of the Jews would be to here every morning here o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord thousands a few thousand of years later Jesus is asked by some men would you tell us what is the greatest commandment of all the first and the greatest he said it is hear o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord there is no disputing the one god doctrine throughout the Bible thousands of times over 7,000 times to be exact the Bible refers to God as being one God one Lord everybody clap your hands to the Lord

please father we feel your presence in this place we know that you are here tonight for a very very special reason we sense the power of the Holy Ghost in this house we understand that we're standing in the midst of a divine move of the Holy Ghost thank you for what you're doing on the Ohio campground thank you for what you're doing on this Ohio campground I love you Lord Jesus praise God what a great honor it is to be here with you and I have already heard the great services and the great intervention of the Holy Ghost that has taken place or two first services of this camp but if no one had told me anything if I had walked in here tonight without a testimony of what God has already done the moment that service began this evening I sensed that something very very special is happening in Ohio ever hallelujah I was sitting with a man you love very much brother Billy Cole he is loved in this district and throughout our fellowship he's my my uncle and a mentor in my life I was sitting with him having lunch we were talking about a Holy Ghost crusade that I had had the responsibility of preaching and conducting and he was commending me for it and I was passing the honor back to him thanking him for the investment he had made not only in my life and in the life of many young men and I said to him Uncle Bill it would have been a lot better crusade if you would have been there if you would have been the preacher if you would have conducted it it would have been a much better crusade and he said that's not so he said that cannot be so and I said you're the greatest preacher in my life you're the greatest preacher I've ever known and he said to me you're going to be a better preacher all the young men I'm training are going to do more than I've ever done see more than I've ever seen and out of respect for him I said I said okay bill that's not true I don't think anybody will ever match what you've done or go where you've gone or seen all you've seen and those of you that know Billy Cole you have to know him to understand the rest of the story but tears burst forth from his eyes his his lips begin to quiver he he took both hands at the same time and and hit the top of the table and he said that must not be true he said because to this day we're

thankful for what God has done but he said we've not done enough he said the generation that's coming on you better get a hold of something that we were never able to get a hold of you better go deeper in God you better rise higher you better allow God to use you in ways that we didn't know anything about I want to ask you again how many want to leave here tonight with your life change forever would you put both your hands in the air one more time and tell him I want to leave here different I want to leave this camp different I know this is a camp of destiny I know Lord God that you are doing something in our church not just at this campground but throughout North America and around the world you are doing something special in your church today I want to be a part of it I don't want to be outside looking in I don't want to be a spectator I want to be a participator in what you're doing I want you to use me Oh God I want to leave here different than I came some 9210 but my horn David said but my horn shalt thou exalt like the Horn of an unicorn and David said I shall be anointed with fresh oil would you say the last part of that verse with me I shall be anointed with fresh oil turn over to the Book of Luke chapter 4 verse number 18 Jesus took the book and begin to read and the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me everybody said he has anointed me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised bow your heads together brother Jordan step out here and ask God

was in the latter part of the 90s that several denominations came together to discuss a joint effort in prayer for the nation of the United States of America brother Oshin sister Kenny as our general superintendent and world network of Prayer coordinator and myself were invited from the United Pentecostal church to go to a meeting just outside of our nation's capital we were to represent the United Pentecostal church in this meeting and again we were going to talk about praying for the nation the United States of America needs prayer does anybody in here know that but a person or sister Kenny was able to make the meeting so it fell my lot to represent the church at that meeting I went with the district superintendent of Virginia my district superintendent as well as a couple of presbytery Madision we went to this particular meeting with the purpose of just listening to what they had to say and bringing a report back to brother ocean then our general superintendent I went in the room a auditorium that was about the size of this auditorium maybe just a little bit larger than this and I said at the very back door just inside the back door at the very first table there were four or five of us that were from the United Pentecostal Church and we pretty much filled up that one table there were people there from all different denominations there were people there from the leaders of the Baptist various Baptist groups there were people there from the 700 club people there from Trinity Broadcasting Network people there from Salvation Army people there from all the different Pentecostal denominations Trinitarian groups independent groups many many were represented there the room was completely filled there was impaired table folds of executives of various television ministries and basically you could say it was a gathering of who's who in religion today I listened to their presentation it was a very impressive presentation they came to a part in the presentation that was multimedia and they began to talk about all of those that would participate in this joint prayer effort they talked about the steering committee and it was names like Billy Graham and Phil Driscoll and it was it was names that everybody knew as they went down the list of who would be in the steering committee they talked about all the denominations that would participate and and to my surprises are going down the list they stopped at the United Pentecostal church and what is significant about that is they had not hesitated in reading one other name on the list not not one place did they hesitate in reading the names of other groups but when they got to the United Pentecostal church the man that was reading the list said Reverend Nathaniel ershon cannot be with us in this meeting he has a representative here and he said I want you to know that these United Pentecostal church preachers there's something special about him well I kind of perked up and I started listening a little more intently to what was going on he got down a little further he came to all those involved in various prayer efforts and again he stopped and mentioned the name of sister Thea distending he did not mention the name of one other person or their prayer list only sister Kenny I was amazed and so we're staying there going through all the the plans and the projections and different people committing to different things and to my surprise a man came to the back and said they want to see you on the platform so I walked up to the platform and and I shook their hand and introduced myself to them and they pointed at me the men leading the meeting and he said I want you to represent this particular facet of prayer and of outreach for the United Pentecostal church in our prayer effort he said will you do it now I said to him let me pray about it the interpretation of my answer was let me go back and talk to the right people and see if I'm allowed to do it go get that I said let me pray about it and I'll get back with you he took my business card gave it to another man he turned back to the podium room full not another person in the room had been singled out he put his arm up on my shoulder and he said let me tell you something about these United Pentecostal church people he said the greatest preachers and the greatest singers in all the world are in the United Pentecostal church you know even the Apostle Paul said allowing me to boast in the Lord and a little bit of a spirit of pride welled up inside of me and and I kind of stood tone and through my chest out and I thought within myself thank God I didn't say it but I thought it but before you are exactly right the greatest preachers that I've ever walked in shoe leather or the Jesus name apostolic tongue talking one God holy living three cars of the United Pentecostal church

more recently I went to another meeting I went to a meeting in Chicago brother Jackie Oz who is our former home missions director called me told me of a meeting that was taking place their suggested that I come told me that there were going to be home missions directors from many other organizations coming together and they were going to talk about church planning in America he said you need to be here to represent the United Pentecostal church so I went we walked into a hotel there in Chicago it was a ballroom type deal they were set up seminar style tables and chairs we took the second row of chairs second tables that were there the entire first row was some gentleman some fine gentleman from the Assembly of God the entire front row the second row was brother Yuans myself brother mark foster brother Dan Butler and several other people from the United Pentecostal church a whole table full of Salvation Army guys with their uniforms on there was people there from all different denominations the table full of Catholic priests they were there from all different denominations we had a two-day seminar it was a good seminar at the end of the seminar the man that was presenting from Fuller Theological Seminary he said I'm going to open this up for open discussion we have time left and you can ask any question you want to ask and he said we'll just talk about it here there was a man from the city of Detroit that stood up he was on the front row on this side the wonderboy they tell me of the Presbyterian Church USA built the fastest-growing Church in their organization he stood up and said I've got a question the presenter said okay what's your question then I got a problem in my church what's your problem he said my wife has received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and she speaks with thumbs the presenter said what's the problem with that he said well I have a church of about 800 that means for worship on Sunday morning and he said she asked me not too long ago if she could start an 8 a.m. prayer meeting for those who wanted to receive the Holy Ghost I told her that it'd be all right I have my main service at 10:00 he said well what's the problem he said last Sunday she had 600 in her prayer meeting speaking in tongues and I only had 200 in charge and I watch does that man who is a doctor of theology the presenter for that particular seminar he leaned over that podium and he said sir he said I could try to answer your question but he said right there on the second row he said there's a row of United Pentecostal church preachers he said they are the authority on the Holy Ghost today hallelujah hallelujah and I'm a realist so I ask myself what is it that distinguishes our preachers and our singers from other religious groups what is it that they sense when they're in our presence what is it about our preaching and are seeing that stands out for them what is it they feel when they are around us can I tell you with all due respect tonight it's not our education and I tell you it's not our human ability it's not our connections in high places it's not our programs it's not our organization it's not our human talent I've come to preach to you tonight that it's the anointing that makes the difference it's the anointing that makes this

church powerful somebody shall yeah I may not be preaching anybody than me tonight but I've been saying it nearly every day god I want your anointing to fall on me you say brother Cunningham haven't you ever been anointed oh yeah I've been anointed in my life and I'm thankful for it but I've got a feeling that the Holy Ghost is saying it's time for this church to step into a new dimension to walk in a place that we've never walked in before I believe the Holy Spirit of God is saying come on church ground for my anointing I have a last day's anointing to put upon you that will change you forever somebody say yes in the Old Testament that word for anointing is chemin sa THM en it literally means to pour on or to smear the connotation is when the shepherd watching over his sheep concern for their health concern for their protection against disease and gnats would mix together and apothecary an ointment if you please and he would pour it upon the head of the sheep and then he would smear it all around he would smear it over their eyes and in their ears and around their mouths and all over their head all over their face can I tell you tonight that what we need in the United Pentecostal church is a hunger to rise up among us to have the anointing of God smeared all over everything we eat and everything we are we are only safe when we rest heavy upon the anointing when we rest upon our own ability when we rest upon our own Talent when we rest upon our own education when we rest upon our finances when we rest upon our own reputations when we rest upon who we think we are and what we've done we are going to fall miserably short of turning this world upside down but I've got news for you honey I don't care if you're a carpenter or a plumber or a mechanic or a washer and dryer repair and I don't care if you're a psychologist below you a doctor or a banker if you and I can forget about who we are and get focused on who he is and get focused on his will in our lives and what he will do through us it will submit ourselves to the anointing of the Holy Ghost I'm telling you anything we set our hand to do God's gonna bless it John chapter 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit we understand that the first the first interpretation of those verses is an interpretation relative to salvation water and spirit baptism but there is a second understanding that should come to us from those verses and that is that that which is born in the flesh cannot ever produce anything but play among us but that which is born in the spirit that which we get from God that which we bathe in the spirit that which we do while we walk in the spirit that which we do under the anointing of the Holy Ghost it's going to produce spirit results and I've come to tell your spirit result is better than flesh results any day of the week it's not my power nor by might but by my spirit saith the Lord and the New Testament the Greek word for anointing is charisma khr is mah also meaning to pour or to smear but in addition it means a special endowment or unction of the Holy Spirit United Pentecostal church I'm preaching to you as one that loves you with all of my heart tonight I respect every man of God and woman of God in this place I respect the precious people of God that are gathered here but can I tell you tonight we can do a thousand times a 10,000 times more under the anointing of the Holy Ghost than we can ever do by our own ability all that special endowment that special unction of the Holy Spirit if every Sunday school teacher every musician every singer every choir member every elder every preacher every usher if everybody that attempts to do something for God with fines and anointing upon their life god I've got to have that special on see friend here's the bottom line the church cannot everybody said cannot and say will not the church cannot and will not effectively minister to the lost in this third millennium without the anointing in and of ourselves we're going to fall miserably short we must have his anointing say man somebody I

came to this campground I guess when I was 2 3 4 years old by the start I may have been here some of those times you were my mom and dad came to camp here until the West Virginia district was formed and and they fought and built their own camp over there until then we came here for camp when I was a little kid and I remember many many many times coming here just as a child and how wonderful it was didn't look like this didn't feel like this back then but it was wonderful camp meeting and my granddaddy who pastored not far from here in Parkersburg West Virginia he was an old-fashioned preacher he was an old-fashioned pastor my grandpa preached the word I'm telling you without fear and without favor that man came to the pulpit every time every time it fell his lot to preach the Word of God he would walk through the pulpit under the anointing of the Holy Ghost and preach one God Jesus name dad baptism holiness separation from the world he only had three or four messages it wouldn't matter if my grandpa got up and said brethren the Lord's been dealing with me to talk to husbands about how you treat your wives he'd do that for about five minutes five minutes later you hearing jumping and hollering and stomping about one god he'd forget what he came to preach about I started a church in the 1980s my mother and father moved to where I pastored in the 90s now there's a world of difference in the church my grandfather started in Parkersburg West Virginia in 1939 and the church I was trying to pastor in the 90s and when my precious mom and dad came to be with us in the nineties my mom wasn't there one week not one single week until she was following me around like a shadow telling me well dad grandpa did it this way and Rand Paul did it that way and grandpa would have handled it like this and grandpa would have done taking care of that guy and did you know that man over there ain't married to that woman and did you know these people you baptized today we're outside smoking cigarettes before church and and Jack grandpa wouldn't handle this that grandfather took care of this and after about a month of that I very respectfully said mama me explain something to you the church that grandpa started in 1939 and the church weren't trying to start in the nineties we're in two different worlds in 1939 three months after a fella got the Holy Ghost he could sing in the choir might even be able to teach Sunday School class the Bible was a textbook in school they started every day with prayer his word was his bond homosexuals were still in the closet men weren't fooling around worrying trying to figure out their female side back in 1939 you know they knew all about the word of God they knew all about love and God going to church pray and read the Bible and all that good stuff I said mom everybody that walks through our doors in 1990s and now 2000 if it's a man and woman into three tents they may be married but most likely not if they are married it's their second third or fourth marriage it's his kids her kids and their kids and some kids nobody knows who they belong to they got drug problems and alcohol problems they don't know joke from job songs from pubs have you ever owned a Bible they've never been to church they don't know nothing about praying when they walk through the doors of the church they got warrants for their arrest down at the police station their lives are in a mess I got so involved in that talking to my momma I went to the office and put together a Bible study for a church gold seminar entitled there's no good sinners left everybody that walks through the doors our life is in a mess can I tell you tonight United Pentecostal church when a man and woman walks through the doors with drug problems and alcohol problems and marriage problems and immorality in their life you're not going to basketball game it out of them you're not going to have a picnic or a party and get it out of them you're not going to fellowship it out of them forgive me I don't mean to be on time but you're not going to sing it out of them hello you're not going to put them in some special group and get it out of them Isaiah chapter 10 and 27 said though you shall be destroyed because of the anointing can I tell you tonight is the annoy hey it breaks the chains of fear and the hold that Satan has a full life

somebody shout hallelujah somebody shout yeah change that's on their life are not broken by human means they're not broken by human ability they're not going to be broken by you just patting them on the back and telling them everything's going to be alright when people come to our older today they need a genuine experience with God they need God to touch and transform their life and that's only going to happen by the power of the Holy Ghost I've heard my dad say it a hundred times his testimony when he came to church my dad was 33 years old I have a great aunt here somewhere sister and Beulah god bless in 91 years old my dad was almost 35 if I remember right years old when he came to church he was literally the town drunk he drove a beer truck and drunk up most of his most of his paycheck every week absolute miserable drunk when they brought him to church he set right out here on the on the center aisle brother rondell Moss used to be one of your ministers here in Ohio brought him to church that night walking down the aisle set him on the end of the aisle my dad did like any old sloppy drunk would do he clapped off beat he sang off-key he heckled the preacher and those leading to so he talked back talked out loud he was slobbering drunk one minute he was laughing one minute he was talking the next minute he was just boohoo and and crying like any old drunk would do I've heard my dad tell the story that he had been drunk for weeks weeks and weeks and weeks without being sober but there was something about it he said when that preacher preached he said something got ahold of me something got ahold of my spirit and my old drunk daddy said when the older call was given he stepped out in the aisle and walked down to the altar and knelt at an old fashioned Pentecostal older he said I don't know what happened I don't know how it happened but he said when your pastor your granddaddy leaned over the rail and laid his hand on my head he said I went from being drunk to being sober he said I sobered up immediately I was all of a sudden sober he repented of his sins was baptized that night come up out of the water speaking with other tongues he died three years ago but from the age of about thirty four or five till the age of 75 when he died he never took one more drink than alcohol in his lifetime I forgot all of his life I've come to tell somebody tonight that the yoke is destroyed because of the anointing you can't do it on your own only the anointing will break the yoke father the demoniac boy brought his son to the disciples of Jesus of times he gnashes or grinds at his teeth he told them he cast himself into the fire and into the water the Bible says the disciples prayed for the boy but they could do nothing the father is leaving very sad and as he's leaving the disciples he meets Jesus coming toward them and when Jesus inquires of what he was doing there and what he wanted the father rehearsed the entire thing before Jesus again my boy grinds that his teeth cast himself into the fire and into the water totally totally possessed by Devils I took him to your disciples and I think the saddest words that we recorded against the Apostolic Church were recorded that day by that father he said I took him to your disciples but they could do nothing do you know what dad was saying he was saying they're not who they say they are they don't have the goods when they were presented with the opportunity they failed the most strong rebuke that Jesus gives anybody in the scripture was given to the disciples on that day more Stern than the review given to any sinner he ever crossed paths with he looks at his own disciples those that he's training and he said you faithless and perverse generation how long he said do I suffer you one translation said how many times do I tell you the same thing this kind this time cometh not out but by prayer and fasting you've got to have the goods you've got to have the spiritual relationship you've got to be in tune you've got to be anointed you've got to have a hold of him if you're going to practice spiritual ministry in your family in your community in your church in your city in this state if we're going to impact our world we've got to have a hold of God we've got to get a hold of him like we've never had a hold of him before somebody shout hallelujah John the Baptist is in prison tomorrow he's going to lose his head his disciples come to him and say John we we want to minister to you what can we do this is the eve of your execution is there anything you want John said yes Ellis there's a driving disparate desire in me to know one thing there's just one thing I'd like to know before I die I've given my life to preparing the way of the Lord but before I die I want to know go find Jesus and asking this question are you the one to come or do we look for another are you really it or do we keep on looking can I present to you in this holy atmosphere that every sinner that walks through the doors of your churches they may not be saying it audibly but in their heart they're saying is this really it well do I look for another are these people really who they say they are are they like all the other fakes and the charlatans out there that are doing what they do my slide of hand and fancy word and manipulation tactics or do these people really have a relationship with God do these people really have an anointing are they really who they say they are and I promise you that the only way lives are going to be changed is if we plug into that anointing reach out and get ahold of God like we've never had a hold of him before if I can just take a pause here for a moment and talk about me just for a second I love God with all my heart I told my wife the other night as she and I were sitting talking about the ministry and the things of God with tears pouring down her face and tears pouring down my face I said babe I feel like I'm closer to God today than I've ever my life I want to do more for God today than I've ever wanted to do in my lifetime but I said even though I realize that I'm close to him even though I realize that I may be doing more than I've ever done busy wise I said there's something inside of me that's hungry there's something inside of me that's thirsty there's something inside of me that's unsatisfied there's something inside of me that says oh God I want that anointing

what I'm about to tell you please please prayerfully consider what I'm about to tell you my pastor told me not to do this and it is with tremendous respect for him and great caution in my spirit that I even say it to you I've been telling God some of you old-timers aren't going to like what I'm about to say but I've been telling God God I don't care anymore what you have to do to us I don't care anymore what has to happen among us I don't care anymore what we've got to give up I don't care anymore if you got to put a splat of our backs I don't care anymore if you got to take some of the ease in the pleasure away from us my pastor said don't pray that way that's a dangerous prayer and I'm not doing it lightly but when I listen to the news I realize that time is short when I look around me I understand we don't have another hundred years we don't have another generation when I look around me I realize that we're coming down to the wire and either we're gonna do it or it's not going to get done you know we're going to give ourselves to hell or we're gonna miss it could it be could it be that God has chosen this year no doubt you've already been told in this pulpit of great revivals taking place all over the nation just a week ago Friday night in the Astro arena in Houston Texas we had over 6,000 people in our crusade there and God filled 300 96 people brand-new people with the gift of the Holy Ghost in one single service you heard about the great revival brother Mangum's heaven you've heard about the great revival there brother teases heaven you've heard about the great revival brother Tom Foster's heaven we have heard all summer long brother Christian knows all across our fellowship camp after camp meeting after meeting districts are saying something special is happening among us there's a divine intervention of the Holy Ghost could it be that God is saying I want to prepare your church I want to get you ready Church I'm about to pour out my spirit upon all flesh and I've come to tell you tonight that if that's what he wants to do I want it I said I want it you can be on the outside looking in if you want to you can clap your hands and hurrah for somebody else if you want to but you're looking at an old boy that's hungry I want the anointing I want whatever God has for me in this day I've never done this in my life I have a very strange older call for you I wonder how many of you are so hungry for the anointing that you'll make your way out of your seat come put your face in an altar and pray for the anointing like you originally prayed for the Holy Ghost I don't mean come play a little pattycake prayer I mean put your face in the carpet don't care who sees you tell God you'll do anything tell him you don't care anymore telling it just simply doesn't matter I gotta have me another Bahama hyah when this alder fills up hill up the pews fill up the pews lay your head on a few in front of you but I want you to cry out for the depth of your heart god I've gotta have your anointing that anointing that breaks the yoke that anointing that breaks the old gotta have it you naughty whoa boom cry out from the gift of your heart cry out from the depth of your heart let the tears flow open yourself up transparent before God telling God anything that has to go is going to go anything you want to ask Elijah's okay add it whatever you've got to modify gotta come to the place that's what I want you to do I'm gonna have the authority