Faithful Stewards - 2.The New Covenant Fulness of The Spirit - Zac Poonen
True Anointing - With Malayalam Translation (31st PCNAK Conference, USA, 2013)
Summary
The speaker contrasts the natural tendency to experience spiritual highs and lows with the divine standard of continuous, progressive growth, likened to the sun's increasing brilliance. He warns that attempting to adapt God's truth to personal comfort or finding excuses for failure leads to spiritual deception. True discipleship requires embracing the truth, accepting self-examination, and acknowledging one's sinfulness, mirroring the honest confession found at the cross.
Outline
The message in plain words, in the order it unfolds. Select a time to jump the video to that moment.
Experiencing spiritual ups and downsThe speaker reflects on his early Christian life where making strong spiritual resolutions at meetings was often followed by falling back into old patterns after a few weeks or months.
The path of the righteous gets brighterReferencing Proverbs, the speaker explains that God's design for believers is a life that shines brighter and brighter like the morning sun until the full day of Christ's return.
Avoiding self-justification when we fallWhen failing to meet God's standard, believers often try to reinterpret scripture to excuse their failures, but God tests us to see if we truly love the truth.
Honesty versus self-justification like AdamLike Adam who blamed his wife instead of taking responsibility, people tend to make excuses, whereas the criminal on the cross showed radical honesty by admitting he deserved his punishment.
The decline of spiritual movementsReviewing church history and the Pentecostal movement, the speaker notes how original spiritual power often declines over generations because people lose their burning thirst.
Realizing the need for spiritual powerDespite preaching and serving in ministry from a young age, the speaker felt a deep lack of inner spiritual power and consistency in his own life.
His wife's experience and his own searchDespite initial skepticism, his wife received the baptism in the Holy Spirit during a time of great poverty and need, igniting a deep desire in him for true spiritual reality.
Desiring a tongue controlled by GodRather than seeking gifts for show, the speaker sought God so that his mother tongue and daily speech would be completely controlled and purified by the Holy Spirit.
A turning point of public confession and receiving the SpiritIn January 1975, after being prompted by God to confess his hypocrisy publicly, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, which transformed his understanding of the New Testament.
The difference between Old and New CovenantsWhile Old Testament saints and even early ministry can be filled with ups and downs and external blessings, the New Covenant offers a continuous upward trajectory from glory to glory.
Maintaining a good conscience and daily cross-bearingTo sustain this spiritual life, a believer must keep a short account of sin with a good conscience and willingly choose the way of the cross whenever personal will clashes with God's will.
Rivers of living water from the innermost beingReferring to John 7, the speaker explains that before Jesus was glorified, the Spirit only worked externally like a waterfall over a closed bottle; under the New Covenant, the Spirit dwells and flows from within man's spirit.John 7:39
External ministry versus inner purityWarning against relying on external ministry success, gifts, or casting out demons, the speaker emphasizes that God ultimately looks for inner purity and faithfulness.
Being faithful stewards under the New CovenantConcluding with the call to be faithful stewards, the speaker encourages believers to embrace the surpassing glory of New Covenant ministry where the Holy Spirit transforms them from the inside out.
