THE ART OF SOAKING IN TAPES PART 2

THE ART OF SOAKING IN TAPES PART 2

Scripture: Ezekiel 2:2

Topic: The Art of Soaking in Tapes Part 2

“As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.”

                                                                                                                                         Ezekiel 2:2 - NASB

You will not succeed in the ministry by being clever. Intelligence and education are not substitutes for the anointing! Desire the anointing! Go for it! It is the main thing! And the main thing is still the main thing!

Jesus’ First Sermon

The first sermon that Jesus preached was about the anointing. The first thing that he said when he began his ministry was that he was anointed.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor……….”

                                                                                                                                                         Luke 4:18

In fact, Jesus did not attempt any form of ministry until he was anointed. Jesus knew that the Ministry depended on the anointing.

Church Elders

I recently visited a large beautiful church. The pastor himself was not around so the janitor took us around the building. The main hall had hundreds of beautiful mahogany pews. It was a beautiful building with two huge pipe organs and surrounding balconies. I asked the janitor, “How many people does this building seat?” He answered, “This building seats at least eight hundred and eighty people.” “Wow,” I remarked, “That’s a lot of people!” He continued, “But, we don’t have many people coming to church anymore.” “I see. How many people come to church nowadays?” I asked inquisitively. “About twenty, with a maximum of thirty people.” He added, “Only old people attend church now. The young people don’t come to church anymore.” I thought, “How sad. Such a large church has been reduced to a fellowship of twenty old and dying people. Obviously there was no life. But that was not all. The janitor continued, “From this month onwards, the services are being held every two weeks instead of every

week.” I thought to myself, “We hold church services on almost everyday of the week. There is so much life in our church. It is full of mainly young people who want to serve the Lord. What a contrast!”

The difference between a growing and a dead church is the anointing. The anointing is the life of God in the ministry. Oh, how we need the anointing! We cannot do without the Holy Spirit. So how do we come by this Holy Spirit? That is what this book is about. God is trying to show you that you need the anointing. You may be ministering the Word. You may even be ordained. However, it is only when you are anointed that your ministry will begin to make a difference to the lost masses of humanity. I see the anointing on you right now as you read this!

The prophet Ezekiel experienced the anointing entering his life one day. He described exactly how and when the anointing came upon him. Ezekiel sensed that the power and the anointing of the Spirit had entered into him whilst he was listening to the Word.

“And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me…………..”

                                                                                                                                                       Ezekiel 2:2

Ezekiel said very clearly in this Scripture that the Holy Spirit entered into him when he was being spoken to.

Peter, the apostle, also noticed this phenomenon. He noticed that the power of the Holy Spirit fell on people as he preached. Do you remember when Peter was preaching to the Gentiles? The Bible says that as he ministered the Word, the Spirit of God fell on the people. 

“While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.”

                                                                                                                                                      Acts 10:44

If the gift of the Holy Spirit could fall on people whilst Peter was preaching, then surely the gift of the Holy Spirit can fall on you when any other anointed man of God is preaching. This is simple logic.

How it All Began...

At five o’clock in the morning on January 1st 1987, I decided to obey the call of God on my life. It was in the early hours of the first day of that New Year when I decided to take up the mantle and become a pastor. I knew that I had been called, so I had decided to obey and become a pastor. At the time, I was in the fourth year of medical school. I began the church with a few nursing and laboratory students in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, where I was studying medicine. I had no one to direct or guide me so I struggled quite a bit during that first year.

By the end of 1987, many friends had expressed their lack of confidence in me and deserted me. I was criticized until I felt like killing myself, just to make my enemies happy. I remember looking at the ceiling fan as it twirled above my bed. I often thought of hanging myself on it. I wanted to vanish out of the view of all those who hated and criticized me. I had very little guidance, but I was sincere and had a lot of faith, and many enemies. It is amazing how people hate you when you decide to follow the call of God. This was the precarious and doubtful beginning of my ministry. I started out by faith and began teaching and preaching what I knew. A few nursing students responded. In the beginning, the church met in a little classroom at the School of Hygiene. After a while, many people left and some stayed. The little church stabilized with about forty members. But something happened to me in 1988 that made a big difference to my ministry. It transformed the ministry from a little classroom full of nursing students to a ministry that

impacts thousands of people around the world today.

Credit: Excerpt From

Catch the Anointing

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills