(Clip) The Cost of Anointing

I just want to talk to you about the cost of a fresh anointing. Jesus said the Father anointed him to preach the gospel. When I hear it, I know that it's a man or woman that's touched God. And when I hear it, I'm convicted. When I hear it, I'm moved. When I hear it, I know I'm driven to my knees. And there's such a weightiness about it that I can't ignore it. I have to deal with it. You see, God does not give the anointing to lazy preachers, lazy Christians. He won't do it. There's a cost to the anointing. Where you will never again be satisfied as long as you live without seeing God at work in you and walking with you. And I had to travel all over the United States. Promoters got a hold up of Christian promoters. And I traveled for, I think, two months to national television, radio television. And it went around the world, and I became what some would call famous. I know what it's like to have the anointing, and I know when it's lifted. I know when I don't have it. I know when the death moves in. And, folks, I got so busy that there's no hunger, there's no brokenness, there's no cry. When I go into the Scriptures, I look at men that God has used, and there's always been a cry. Jeremiah said, I engaged my heart to seek the Lord. And you'll find that there was a cry. There is nothing worse that I can think of for a man of God or a woman of God than to lose the anointing of God and be dead and have the knowledge that something is wrong. I was known around the world as a man of God. And yet growing lukewarm and cold in my heart, that every kind of temptation out of hell. The devil is saying, I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to kill your minister. I'm taking you down. You see what? You don't have this touch, this anointing. And if you're not shut in with God, and you're not serious about the things of God, and you're happy with the status quo, you have this inner struggle. How do I get back? How do I get this anointing? Are you examining your heart like I had to do? It's not enough to be called. I'm still called. God still loves me. I think that all true ministry comes out of intimacy. I say it again, all true ministry comes out of intimacy with Christ. Because the Lord said, you know the cost. You know what it's going to take. Seek in my face. Ezra set his heart to seek the face of God. Nehemiah, he hears the destruction happening in Jerusalem. And the Bible says he was overcome with grief, and he set his heart to seek God. He set his heart. You'll find it all through the Old Testament. He set his heart. Because you're going to make up your mind when you get in your 50s or 60s, or you're just going to retire. And you're going to take it easy. God can't allow anybody to retire anymore from the ministry. If you've ever been touched, you've ever been anointed with God, you don't have time. You've got to say, God, use me. I don't care where you send me, I don't care where you want me to go, but I'm not going out. With my spirit drained, I'm not going out a dry stick. I want the anointing. I want the touch of God. I'm speaking to everybody, but the pastors in particular, I speak from my heart, and I'm going to tell you, if you believe these are the last days. Folks, have you not seen prophecy fulfilled in the last few years? It's going lightning speed. You hear secular world screaming that the time is up, and you set your mind, you set your heart now by an act of faith, by hearing the Word of God and laying hold of it. God, I hear you. I know that you've been stirring my heart. I know I have some issues, and I want to deal with them. I want to walk with you, but I want an anointing. I want my people to know when I stand in the pulpit again that something has touched my life. There's a change in me. God does miracles when you begin to seek His face and get back to the simplicity of this, and you devour this Word of God, and you stay there. You turn everything down. But here's Daniel now, and he said, I ate no pleasant bread. You're going to be fasting, friends. This won't happen until God sees something in you and me of determination. God, I want this. I will not let you go until you anoint me again. Don't miss what God's about to do. Don't miss it. God, help me. I'm not going to miss it. I'm going out clinging to Him, that this anointing is available to any man, any woman who's set their heart. You're calling so many. I can feel it so strong. You're calling them. You're wooing them, saying, now, in these meetings here, not another time. You've made me promises before, but now, tonight, open your heart. And say, God, once again, use me. He's saying, I have wooed you so many times. God, this time, if you pay the price, I'll open doors for you. I'll speak through you. And I'll use you again like you had never conceived.