From Nobody to Somebody: The Kingly Anointing to Recover All

Sermon outline

God has set his love on you and anointed you as a king, so you are not shamed or cursed: you are anointed to recover what you lost, go forward, and let God fight your battles.

1. Dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty

   It can be discouraging to see the wicked seem to prosper while you serve God, but things do not equal prosperity; knowing and walking with God is prosperity, and believers are already blessed. Those who make the Most High their habitation have angels given charge over them, protecting them and their children and opening doors, whether they see it or not. Deliverance, healing, health, protection and wholeness belong to them.

   “Prosperity is knowing God.”

   • Psalm 91:1-13
   • Ecclesiastes 1:2
   • Psalm 34:7

2. God has set his love upon you

   Never doubt God's love: it is agape, unconditional love, not earned by performance, because believers are accepted in the beloved through Jesus. God has promised to set you on high, so your present level is not the end of your journey. Trust God for more and better, and expect long life and satisfaction.

   Illustration: The old 'he loves me, he loves me not' petal game, which some people play with God. He also tells of a young man in a brand-new red Ferrari roaring past him on Umhlanga Rocks Drive, and of how God delivered him from swearing and smoking before he was saved.

   “God loves you, period.”

   • Psalm 91:14
   • Ephesians 1:6
   • Psalm 91:16

3. Jesus took your shame

   God promises to answer when you call and to be with you in trouble, not to keep you from all trouble; people slandered Jesus and they will slander his followers. On the cross Jesus bore our shame and guilt, so believers can let go of shame from abuse, divorce, job loss or rejection. You are not a mistake: God chose you before the foundation of the world, and you are somebody, not the nobody the devil calls you.

   Illustration: He cites an author who observed that many babies born during America's Great Depression grew up with a spirit of rejection, and speaks of children who feel like a late, unplanned 'mistake'. He adds that his own fingerprint shows he is one of a kind.

   “Jesus took your shame that we may be shame-free.”

   • Psalm 91:15
   • John 16:33
   • Matthew 10:24-25
   • Matthew 27:35
   • Romans 1:16
   • Ephesians 1:4
   • Psalm 139:14
   • John 10:10

4. The kingly anointing makes a nobody a somebody

   Samuel anointed Saul as captain over the Lord's inheritance, and God did the same with David, taking nobodies and making them somebodies. Jesus has made believers kings and priests unto God, so God can raise you up, give you standing and promote you even if people have forgotten you.

   “When God anointed them, he took a nobody and suddenly made a somebody.”

   • 1 Samuel 10:1
   • Revelation 1:5-6

5. You are anointed to recover what you lost

   After the anointing comes recovery. When Ziklag was plundered, David asked the Lord whether to pursue and was told to go for it. Whatever has sunk in your life, God can make it rise again.

   Illustration: The axe head that sank to the bottom of the river and floated to the top when the prophet threw a stick into the water.

   “You are anointed to recover things that you lost.”

   • 1 Samuel 30:8
   • 2 Kings 6:5-7

6. You are not cursed

   Christ became a curse for us, so believers are redeemed from the curse and blessed; the only way to come under a curse is to curse yourself with your own words. Believers can also recover from their own bad choices: do not blame God, forgive yourself and move on. He adds that he is not responsible for other people's choices, including those who leave the church, and that for everyone who left, a hundred will come.

   Illustration: As a child he heard his mother talk about curses operating in the family and saw it for himself, but as a Christian he began to meditate on the blessing. As a younger working man he made one bad choice that cost him two years of being stuck, until God told him it had been his own choice.

   “You can't blame God for the bad choice you make.”

   • Galatians 3:13
   • Genesis 12:3
   • Proverbs 10:22

7. The kingly anointing makes you go forward

   David pursued, overtook and recovered all, and the anointing makes believers go forward and make war with their mouths, not sit down. God is a man of war who defends his people, so sometimes you do not have to fight. When the Spirit came on Saul he became another man, so do not expect everyone to understand you. Shake off what is dead and let go of people and things that have left, like the sailors who threw Jonah overboard.

   Illustration: Years ago he was cheated when buying a photocopier for the church and learned to leave the matter in God's hands and let God be his defence. He also tells how Reinhard Bonnke prayed for a man on death row in a Nigerian prison whose sentence was then set aside, and has the church dust off their hands as an act of faith.

   “Sometimes you don't have to fight. God will fight for you.”

   • 1 Samuel 30:18-19
   • Psalm 144:1
   • Matthew 12:37
   • Acts 13:22
   • Exodus 15:3
   • 1 Samuel 10:6
   • Jonah 1:15