Report for Duty: Character Is the Vehicle That Carries the Anointing

Sermon outline

God is training leaders as soldiers: endure hardness, submit and report for duty, yield to the Holy Spirit and work on your character, because character is what carries the anointing as God promotes you.

1. 1. Endure hardness as a good soldier

   A leader is first a soldier at his battle station. Rise early to pray before you meet the world and the devil, and build your relationship with the Holy Ghost, because that is the only way to tell the devil's voice, which sounds very like God's, from the voice of God. God wants military-minded leaders who cannot be intimidated: if the devil punches you on the nose, wipe it and keep going.

   Illustration: When the snake bit Paul he shook it into the fire: 'Who died? Did Paul die?' Gideon's army was reduced to 300 men who were unmovable and steadfast. 'Are you like butter? You will melt when the heat comes on.'

   “If the leaders are dead, the people will be dead.”

   • 2 Timothy 2:3
   • 2 Corinthians 11:28
   • Acts 28:3-5
   • Judges 7:7

2. Leaders don't have foot and mouth disease

   Soldiers report for duty: a leader who avoids greeting his pastor is already on the wrong road. Foot and mouth disease means your walk is wrong and your mouth is wrong; leaders are 'vaccinated' against it, so when they hear something negative they make good of it instead of spreading complaints against the leadership.

   Illustration: When a cell leader visits a home, the children show how things are: if they run to you, all is well; if they run away, 'you know lunchtime, they are talking about you.'

   “Leaders do not suffer with foot and mouth disease.”

3. Character is the vehicle that carries the anointing

   Prayer, fasting, the Word and being full of the Spirit all matter, but the question is whether you have the character to carry the anointing; people fall because they are anointed with no character. Signs and wonders follow believers, so do not be impressed by them. Jesus knew His calling at twelve but worked as a carpenter and learned obedience until He was thirty, so do not run before your time.

   Illustration: Samson killed a thousand with a jawbone and carried off the city gates: 'For anointing we give him 10 out of 10. For character, 1. Maybe minus 1 out of 10.'

   “The character of a man is the vehicle that carries the anointing.”

   • Judges 15:15
   • Judges 16:3
   • Mark 16:17-18
   • Luke 2:49
   • Hebrews 5:8

4. 2. Learn to be submitted

   The greatest thing about a leader is that he knows how to command and how to submit; if you can do both you are walking in humility and are very unlikely to fall. Age has nothing to do with it: old, middle-aged and young must all stay teachable. Listen to everything with the thought that one word can change your life.

   Illustration: At conferences he sits with his Bible and pen and forgets he is a pastor: 'I'm a student.'

   “A leader knows how to command and the leader knows how to submit.”

5. 3. Stop roaming: report for duty

   A soldier stays in communication with headquarters. To be part of the universal church you must first be part of a local church, and a pastor should never have to ask where his spiritual children are, as no parent should have to. You cannot grow into a great spiritual leader without accountability: submission is a skill that makes you grow like an oak, and God likens rebellion to witchcraft. So work on your character, which he repeats more than a dozen times.

   Illustration: A mother and father who come home for several days and have to ask, 'Where is Mike? Did he have breakfast? Has he slept in his bed?'

   “You can never evolve into a great spiritual leader without accountability.”

   • 1 Samuel 15:23

6. Yield to the Holy Ghost, especially your tongue

   In the equation of the anointing, the denominator is yieldedness: the more you give way to the Holy Spirit, going His way instead of yours, the more He anoints you. An argumentative person who must win every quarrel has not yielded his tongue, and vexing the Spirit makes the anointing 'leak' out. Gehazi was carnally minded, and the staff he laid on the child did not work; to be carnally minded is death. Check with your pastor before taking up an opportunity.

   Illustration: He admits that by nature he will argue and win at all costs, and his wife told him he missed his calling as a lawyer, but the Lord taught him: 'If you win every argument but if you grieve me, you have still lost it.'

   “The more you yield to the Holy Ghost, the more the Holy Spirit will anoint you.”

   • 2 Kings 4:29-31
   • 2 Kings 5:20-27
   • Romans 8:6

7. The higher you go, the more your mistakes show

   A mistake made at the bottom is hardly noticed, but the same mistake higher up is seen by everyone, and great will be the fall. God has already promoted you and made room for you; some are stuck between levels because of their mouth, attitude, money, yieldedness or carnality. The quicker you deal with those things, the quicker He can bring you up.

   Illustration: He stands young women on the steps of the platform, each step a level of leadership, to show how a mistake becomes more visible the higher you stand: 'You'll be like Humpty Dumpty.'

   “It's not that God does not want to promote you. He's already promoted you.”

8. God tailors your suit: accept yourself

   Never compare yourself with another believer; God tailors each person's 'suit' with the right material, thread and colour, and one person's will not fit another. The biggest problem leaders face is not accepting who God made them. Looking after your appearance is fine, but be comfortable in your own skin, because each one is fearfully and wonderfully made and the church would be boring if everyone were the same.

   Illustration: Years ago in a Full Gospel church any decoration was called 'of the devil', so aunties wore hats with fruit baskets but no make-up on Sunday, and lipstick at the hypermarket in the week.

   “Be comfortable in your own skin.”

   • Psalm 139:14

9. Walk in love and learn to handle difficult people

   He has grown from saying 'you must love everyone but needn't like them' to liking everybody: he may dislike what you did but not you. You cannot say you love God and hate your brother, and faith works by love. Difficult people are like crying children: you cannot throw them out, so as the more mature one you overlook things and forgive. He forgives everyone who rubs him the wrong way every morning, because the anointing is too precious to lose, and he guards his heart, which is the 'production centre' of life.

   Illustration: When Wesley was a baby he had colic and cried through bottle after bottle while his father came home from night shift. Smiling at someone in church while still wanting to 'sort her out' robs you of your joy.

   “I may not like what you did, but I cannot dislike you as a person.”

   • 1 John 4:20
   • Galatians 5:6
   • Proverbs 4:23

10. Every prophet must have a prophet

    You are the prophet of your own life, because your decisions determine where you go. But every prophet must have a prophet, every king must have a king and every priest must have a high priest, as Hebrews tells us to consider Jesus, our apostle and high priest, so every leader needs someone over them for direction.

    “Every prophet must have a prophet.”

    • Hebrews 3:1