Protecting our Anointing

Specific Objectives

At the end of the session, the participants are expected to:

1. Realize that God has anointed us as Priests, Prophets, and Kings

2. Value the importance of God’s anointing

3. Commit to live and protect our anointing

Expanded Outline

I. Introduction

Activity: Ask some participants to give one word that best describes how you see our community? (Ask as many as possible to answer this question).

Everything that was said about our community is correct but if there is one word to describe community, it would be ANOINTED!

Our servant-leaders and all members of our community are ANOINTED by God. That is why for the past forty years, we were used powerfully by God to renew families and defend life. It is because of our anointing that we were able to do great things for God. It is because of our anointing that we can say that we are blessed beyond bounds. And it is also because of that anointing why God is asking us to go beyond and share are blessings to the world.

But unfortunately, there are still a lot of our brethren who fail to recognize that they are anointed by God. That is why in this assembly let us try to reflect on the word ANOINTED and learn how we can start embracing it in our lives.

II. Anointed by God

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2

What does it mean when we say that a person, a community, or a ministry is anointed by God? Basically it means that they are made Holy and are being Set Apart for God just like how St. Paul and Barnabas were made holy and were set apart for the Lord. Both responded to the call of the Lord to enter in a personal relationship. Both grew in that relationship. Both were sent to do God’s mission. If you think about it, we, too through the community is constantly being made holy and being set apart.

A. Consecrated and Made Holy

When we were baptized and confirmed we have received God's anointing! This anointing manifested even more when we were prayed over during our CLS. This is where our journey towards holiness started. It is a journey made possible by God reaching out to us and is being sustained by our life within the community.

This desire to grow in holiness is greatly instill in us when we entered in a covenanted relationship with God and with our brethren in community. By living together, we have decided to grow in holiness by making ourselves available in our households, assemblies, teachings, formation, and conferences.

Strengthen by the encouragement of our brethren to live authentic Christian lives we were able to resist our secular world and live not according to their values but according to our Christian values.

By being faithful to our live within the community, God continues to consecrate us and made us holy.

B. Set Apart and Empowered for Service

God does not just call us and helped us to be holy through the community. God has also used the community so that we can be Set Apart and be Empowered for His service.

When we said “yes” to serve God through the community, our service has set us apart for God. Our service to God has shifted our goals and priorities in life. From being focus on our own aspiration in life, we have learned to yearn more for what God wants for us. From spending our time for our own pleasure and leisure, it has made us spend our time to things that will bring us closer to God. From using our resources for our own enjoyment, it teaches us to use our resources to help other people to be closer to God.

When we said “yes” to serve God through the community, our service has now become a tool for us to grow even more in holiness. This is because through our service that we learn how to be humble and fully dependent to God. It is through our service where we learn the importance of spending more time in prayer so that we might know how God wants us to do our service. It made us read scriptures more so that we might get the instruction and inspiration that we need to do our service.

By being faithful to our service and mission within the community, God continues to consecrate us and made us holy.

III. Embracing our Anointing

“Now it’s God who makes both us and you to stand firm in Christ. He has anointed us and set his seal of ownership on us and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come”. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

God has placed us in our community so that we can grow in holiness and be set apart for His greater glory. He placed us here so that He can anoint us to renew families and defend lives. He has put us here so that we can embrace this anointing and be missionary families to the world.

Now that we are being called to go beyond, we are reminded to embrace our anointing, and we can do that by:

A. Recognize Our Anointing

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 1 John 2:20

Know that God has anointed you, not anybody else but you, to do your service in the community.

• Be Holy - God's Presence is with You (Prayer, Scripture, Sacraments)

• Be Confident - God's Spirit is with You (Guides and Direct)

• Be Fearless - God's Power is with You (Equip and Provide)

“As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” 1 John 2:27

Know that God has anointed your leaders as well. They are also being used by God so that we can fulfill our mission in the community. We need to honor and recognize their anointing as well.

• Seek them out – ask for their input, direction, and guidance.

• Listen to them – consider greatly their guidance and direction. Put weight into their words.

• Follow their direction – let us be obedient to them and humbly submit ourselves to their directions.

B. Live Out Our Anointing!

When you read scriptures there are only 3 group of people that is anointed in the OT.

• Priests (Aaron) - “After you put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint, and ordain them. Consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.” Ex 28:41

• Prophets (Elijah) – “Do not touch My anointed ones; do My prophets no harm.” Psalm 105:15

• Kings (David) - “So, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.” 1 Sam 16:13

It is evident here that to be anointed is to belong and be of service to God and His people. That is why when we were called by God to do a particular service in the community, it means that we are anointed to do that ministry! Let us live out our anointing by fulfilling our ministry by becoming PRIEST, PROPHETS and KINGS in our service to the Lord!

a. PRIEST

Priest sanctifies so that they can link MAN to GOD.

In Roman times when you are a priest they call you PONTIFEX which means Bridge Builder! We build bridges for people to go back and be connected to GOD.

Question: Can I say that I have been effective in connecting people back to God through my service?

b. PROPHET

G.K. Chesterton said that in an upside-down world such as ours, the prophet is the one who stands on his head so that he might see things right.

God sends prophets when the world is not right with him! He sends prophets to proclaim:

• God's Love and Mercy

• God's Rebuke

• God's Chastisement

For that people always look at prophets as people who are a little bit insane. Which might have been correct since the Hebrew word for prophet, “nabi,”, has the overtone of madman.

We are considered crazy to proclaim a love that is too good to be true.

We are considered crazy to call out what is wrong in the world in the eyes of God.

We are considered crazy for reminding people of the consequences of their actions.

Question: Can I say that I have been prophet in my service by proclaiming God's love, God's rebuke and God's chastisement?

c. KING

In the theological sense, a king is someone who orders the charisms within a community so as to direct that community toward God. In this way, he is like the general of an army or the conductor of an orchestra: he coordinates the efforts and talents of different people in order to help them achieve a common purpose.

In living out our anointing as kings, we are expected to:

• LEAD - Where to go

• DIRECT - How to go

• INITIATE - When to go

Question: Can I say that I have been taking initiative to move the mission forward by leading and directing my ministry?

C. Protect Your Anointing

“The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king." 1 Sam 16:1

Yes, we are God's anointed, and our anointing is God's gift to us! Just like any gift it can also be taken away from us just like what happened to Saul. So, we must protect our anointing by:

• Remain Faithful - Take out anything that might cut you of from God

• Obey God - Surrender your will to the Lord and follow Him

IV. Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, we are God’s anointed! He anointed us so that we can grow in holiness and lead other people to strive to be holy as well. Let us start to believe in our anointing and embrace it by living it out. You’re anointing matters! It matters because living it out will mean that God can use you to renew the face of the earth. Together, let us recognize, live out, and protect our anointing!

Discussion Questions

For discussion, answer the following questions:

1. Do you realize that our community is anointed? Do you realize that we, as individual members, are anointed? Share your realization/s.

2. What can you do to protect your anointing?