 I grew up in church, but to be honest with you, I don't think I ever heard a message preached on the person I'm going to preach on today. I'm continuing my series, God's Anointed, and I'm talking about a woman who was used of God. Her name is Anna the prophetess, and we're going to be looking at her life as we continue this series. And I know this is going to bless you. I'm even going to get into a little bit to talking about women in the ministry. I know this is a topic that some of you have wanted me to address for a while. So, although the whole lesson is not devoted to it, I will be touching on that just a bit. Stephen Moctezuma is here with me as usual. He's going to lead you in worship. And then we're going to get right into this lesson. I know it's going to bless and encourage you to pursue the call of God upon your life. Here is Stephen Moctezuma. Lace our wrath, be, no place our wrath, be, no place our wrath, be, place our wrath. Won't you? Pour it, won't you? Pour it, I want more of I down in my soul That I can't contain, that I can't control, I want more, I want more of you God. So I'm going to talk to you about Anna the prophetess. Now you don't really hear many messages about Anna the prophetess. In fact, I've never heard one and I've grown up in church. But I'm going to talk to you about her on this edition of Spirit Church and I truly believe this message will bless you, it will empower you, and it will encourage you to pursue all that God has called you to do. Now let me be clear, this message is for both men and women. Though I'm talking about Anna the prophetess, this applies to men too. Even though this message is for both men and women, there's still something I have to address. You see, as I was preparing for this series and as I was teaching this series, I knew that eventually I would have to address this very controversial subject because I talked about Isaiah the prophet, I talked about King David, I talked about Saul, I talked about Paul, I talked about Moses. And while I was going through all of those characters, I knew that there were some women in the Bible that I wanted to present to you as powerful, mighty, anointed examples of God's called. But then I knew that as soon as I presented to you a woman who God anointed, that this controversy would arise, and sadly so. So there is a controversy surrounding the idea of women in the ministry or women being used by God. And I want to just let you know where I stand on the issue. I know that the Bible teaches with 100% clarity that God uses women too. And I want you to be at peace knowing what the scripture teaches. So I'll share a few thoughts on this matter in just a little bit and then I'll get into the main portion of the lesson on Anna the prophetess. But I do want to say this as well. I know that I'm not going to settle this issue on this edition of Spirit Church, nor could I settle this issue on multiple editions of Spirit Church because this debate is going to continue, I believe, until the Lord returns. But I want to talk to some women who've been oppressed by this idea that God doesn't want to use them because of their gender, because of how he created them. Think about that. That's so sad that people actually believe that. But God wants to liberate you from that religious doctrine. God wants to liberate you from that way of thinking, that mindset. And I pray that that be broken over your life today in Jesus' name. Because if you're a woman, I want you to know God wants to use you. God has anointed you. God has gifted you. And he wants you to operate in those gifts in the body of Christ. So there are those who will say, well, you know, the Old Testament makes it so perfectly clear. God's plan, God's pattern, they'll say, all of the patriarchs were men. All of the prophets were men. All of the priests were men. All of the kings were men. All of the armies were made of men. And they'll list all of these powerful men of God and say, you see, that's God's way of doing things. And so anytime you present to them any scripture where God uses a woman, they'll say, well, that's just an anomaly. That's just an unclear scripture that you have to interpret in the light of all of the clear scripture that we have. But what's interesting to me is that these same people who invoke the Old Testament to assert this idea that God doesn't want to use women, immediately reject that same Testament as soon as you start pointing out people like Esther, like Deborah, and other anointed women who God used. So they will say, well, that lays the groundwork, but the moment you use that groundwork, the Old Testament, to show that in fact God does use women, they say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. That has nothing to do with the New Testament church, yet they were the ones who invoked it. You see, they like the Old Testament until it messes with their theology. And we've seen women being used by God in the Old Testament. Even in the New Testament, we find scriptures such as Romans chapter 16 verse seven, where the Bible says, greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. Junia is a woman, by the way. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did. And again, they'll say, well, wait a minute, that's one scripture, that's one thought. And it's so unclear, what does it mean among the apostles? Maybe she wasn't really counted among the apostles. And I will admit that that verse is debatable. But they will take verses like that and they'll say, well, it's not so clear. We have to take the unclear and compare it with the clear teachings of scripture. Then what about scriptures like this? Romans chapter 16 verse one. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who was a deacon in the church of Centria. Now wait a minute, that is a direct contradiction to those who believe that God doesn't want to use women in the ministry. Let's say, well, yes, she was a deacon, but God doesn't want women to instruct men. Nonsense, Acts chapter 18 verses 24 through 26. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John's baptism when Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue. They took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately. There's a woman teaching a man. See, the scripture teaches in Galatians chapter three there was no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus and at that verse, they will roll their eyes and they'll say, but wait a minute, you can't take those verses and compare them with the clear teachings of scripture and not be convinced. But the truth is that these scriptures are just as clear, if not more clear than the verses that they present. So when you have two very clear teachings of scripture that seem to contradict one another, you have to rethink one of them. And in my opinion, or I should say from what I've gathered in scripture, you see God using women again and again. How does that not clear the debate for you? You see, it seems to me that you have to do some searching of scripture yourself. You have to study, you can't just be lazy and open the Bible and say, well, there it is, it's right there. You have to study the context, the culture, the intent of the writer, the letter itself. And once you've done those things, it's very clear that God in fact wants to use women, God has used women, God is using women and God will continue to use women whether they like it or not. Now again, I know that didn't settle the debate but I just wanted to share a few thoughts, again, to get you thinking in the right direction. And I know there will be many who comment even on this video probably, they'll put the theology on display and we'll all be very impressed at how smart they are. But the truth is the debate is not going to be settled but again, I at least want you, those of you who watch this channel and those of you who watch the teachings to think in the right direction. So here's another example of a woman that God used and that's gonna be found in Luke chapter two versus 36 to 38. There was also a prophet Anna, the daughter of Fanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Here is a woman, Anna, a prophet in the temple at the time that Joseph and Mary had taken Jesus with them. And immediately upon looking at Jesus, she recognizes who the Messiah is. She had a prophetic discernment about her. In fact, this woman who was constantly in the temple, constantly fasting, constantly praying was among the first to preach the gospel in the New Testament. I want you to think about that. This woman, Anna the prophetess, was among the first to ever preach the gospel in the New Testament. God used her powerfully. It says it right there that she had seen Jesus and she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Now I wanna point out something here. During this time, women were not considered equal. This woman, if anyone in the minds of others at least, was disqualified from being a prophet. She was old in age, she was a widow, and she was a woman. Those things in the minds of others should have disqualified her, but number one, the called are qualified. I love that saying, God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. I wish I came up with that, but I didn't. So those two things, those two primary things that she was a woman and that she was old should have disqualified her. And again, at least in the minds of others. But God still used this woman, God still anointed this woman, God still empowered this woman as a prophet. I think about Abraham, Genesis chapter 24, verse one. The scripture says Abraham was now a very old man and the Lord had blessed him in every way. Abraham was old when God called him to be the father of many nations. Timothy was young, first Timothy chapter four, verse 12. Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. It doesn't matter your age, it doesn't matter your gender, it doesn't matter your race, it doesn't matter. God wants to use you if you're a believer in Christ Jesus. If you're walking with the Holy Spirit, God has anointed you, God has a plan for you, God has called you and he's calling you now, I can feel it now, he's calling you now to step out of the place of comfort and to move into the place of uncertainty by faith and say, here I am Lord, send me. I know Lord that there are things in my mind that may disqualify me. I know there are many things about me that I would never use but Lord you created me, you formed me and you placed me in the earth for such a time as this, God, you know what you're doing, but Lord knows what he's doing. He gave you your accent, he gave you your hair, he gave you the build of your body, the sound of your voice. God decided that you're a woman, God decided that you're a man and by the way, you're either a man or a woman. We know that because the scripture teaches it. God has blessed you. So we must say, Lord, though there are things about me that I feel may disqualify me, though there are things about me that make me insecure, Lord, I don't speak very well or Lord, I'm not eloquent or Lord, I'm not charismatic or Lord, I'm not intelligent or Lord, I in the minds of others am not what you would use. Let me tell you something, neither was Anna the prophetess. She was not someone that you would look at and say, now there is a mighty servant of the Lord. Now there is someone who God is using. Now there is someone who is going to be recorded in the scripture, no, but Anna the prophetess was spoken of in the scripture. Anna the prophetess was used of God mightily. She was a prophet. So number one, the called are qualified. Number two, the called will face tragedy. The scripture tells us that she was with her husband married for seven years when she became a widow. I want you to imagine that. Think about that. And it doesn't say how he died. It doesn't say how she lost her husband. We don't have a backstory before us. We don't see all of those years that she went through grieving and pain. We don't see the love story between her and her husband. We don't see how they met or the plans they made or the things they did together or the places they visited. We don't see the heartache. We don't see the emotion. We don't see the human element necessarily behind this record in scripture. But we do see that here was a woman who went through tragedy, yet came out declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here was a woman who was alone. Here was a woman who was discouraged. Here was a woman who went through some things yet God anointed her. God used her. Now we don't know. In fact, the scripture says, let's go back and read it again. And then was a widow until she was 84. Now what's interesting is the way that scripture is written in the original language is a bit ambiguous. So it's possible that she was 84 years old, but it's also possible that she was actually a widow for 84 years. And she would have been married, they say no younger than 14 in those days. Then seven years married, you do the math. So she probably was much older, likely much older than what the scripture with some of the English versions translate her age to be. Still my point is that she suffered a long time, that she went through this tragedy and she carried that pain with her. Yes, the Lord healed her, yes, the Lord helped her, but you know when you lose somebody, even though you grieve and even though you find a certain degree of healing, you'll always carry that person with you in some way or another. And so this woman carried that burden, but the truth is that the called will face tragedy. James chapter one verses two through four say, Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. The called will face tragedy. These hardships, these trials are opportunities for us to grow. The scripture says when troubles of any kind, not if troubles, trouble will come, trials will come, tragedy will come, but God can still use your life. Don't let the tragedy of yesterday rob you of your destiny. Don't let yesterday's worries, yesterday's burdens, yesterday's sadness, keep you from walking in joy and in the fullness of what God has called you to do. Number one, the called are qualified. Number two, the called will face tragedy. Number three, the called fast and pray. Now I know I've done many messages on prayer, but I wanna talk to you real quickly, specifically about fasting. You see, the scripture says she never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. This woman was disciplined. This woman was devoted. This woman was dedicated to God's work and she would subject the flesh regularly to prayer and fasting. Matthew chapter six, verse 16 says, and when you fast, don't make it obvious as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. Jesus did not say if you fast, Jesus said when you fast. The believer who is called must make it a priority to regularly fast, to make it a part of their own life. Now you believer can start, maybe start with one day fasts and then work your way up from there, but fasting is a good way to regularly subject the flesh so that you become trained in subjecting the flesh. Fasting, what it does is it weakens the sinful carnal nature. It weakens self and it strengthens the spirit. And when you do this regularly, you live in a place of power. So number one, the called are qualified. Number two, the called will face tragedy. And number three, the called fast and pray. Finally, number four, we find that truth gleaned from this portion of the scripture. I read it and I'll read it again. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. She spoke about the child. Number four, the called preach Jesus. The called do not preach money. The called do not preach success. The called do not preach three keys to a better life. The called preach Jesus. Let me tell you something. If you want the power of God on your preaching, then you need to preach Jesus. If you do not preach Jesus, there is no substance to what you are preaching. If Christ is missing from the message that you declare, yet you move in power, then you are operating in new age power, not in the power of the Holy Ghost. The power of the Holy Ghost backs the message of the cross. The power of the Holy Ghost backs the message of Jesus. He backs the person, the Son of God. The scripture says in first Corinthians chapter two, verse two, for I decided that while I was with you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse three says, so I want you to know that no one speaking by the spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. We understand from those scriptures that the focus should be Jesus. The focus of Paul was Jesus and him crucified. The focus of the Holy Spirit is the declaration of the Lordship of Christ. The Holy Spirit points to Jesus. The Holy Spirit guides us to Jesus. The message of the Holy Spirit is Jesus. There is no one on earth who loves Jesus more than the Holy Spirit loves Jesus. And when you begin to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will come alongside of you, partner with you, and bring power to your preaching. You know, a Christ list gospel is a powerless gospel. When Christ is missing from our message, so is the power, so is salvation, so is the substance behind what we declare. The called preach Jesus. Listen to me, believer, because many are becoming sidetracked in these days. Do not go wayward. Do not start preaching self-help. It's, look, it's okay to every once in a while encourage the believers. It's okay to pull from the proverbs of the scripture and bring about wisdom for everyday living. That's fine. But when that is the entirety of what you declare, you're missing the substance. You're missing the person and you're missing the point. When you begin to preach things other than Jesus, you start to become sidetracked. It becomes humanism. Listen, people will begin to adapt to what you declare. And if what you are declaring is self, self, self, self, then people will begin to worship self because of new age preaching. Many of the churches nowadays have gone this route and it breaks my heart. And I am pleading with you, those of you who are influenced by this ministry, those of you who receive from these teachings, I am pleading with you, stand your ground in these days. Hold fast to the faith. Keep your focus clearly placed upon Jesus. Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Do not move to the left or to the right. Instead, preach and declare the one who died on that cross, the one who rose again from the dead, the one who is returning and the one who is the salvation of all of humanity. Don't become sidetracked. I see preachers and it is so hard to watch, especially in my generation. They come alongside and I see them as co-laborers and I see many of them beginning to preach success. And they get on their social media and they just put out an image of success and it's all about material gain. And look, I know God wants to bless his people and I appreciate that truth of scripture. But we must come to preach the way to your matters which is the gospel and Christ. Do not be, I'm pleading with you. Do not be sidetracked. Preach the cross. Preach the blood. Preach repentance. Preach Jesus. And do not go either way. Be like the prophetess Anna who in everywhere telling of the child who in everywhere talking about Jesus. She had a passion for Jesus. She had a love for Jesus. She was obsessed with Jesus. Do not start preaching money. Look, it's okay to fundraise but don't let all you preach be money. It's okay to encourage but don't let all you preach be self-help. It's okay to give wisdom for successful living but don't let all you preach be success. Declare this message. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Woe is you if you preach not the gospel. We have to declare Jesus. He is the substance behind our message. He is the purpose behind our declaration. So number one, the called are qualified. Number two, the called will face tragedy. Number three, the called fast and pray. And number four, the called preach Jesus. That's it for the lesson from the life of Anna the prophetess. I pray, I bless you, I wanna pray with you now. Let's just pray that God would raise you and that God would use you. I know you're watching this and you're so hungry. You're saying, Lord, use me. There are some of you who are watching this right now. You're gonna become a different person the moment we're done praying. Believe it, you're gonna stretch your hands toward mine and you're gonna feel power move out and touch you and you'll be transformed. God's called you. Lord, I pray in Jesus' name. I lift that one receiving his prayer to you. And I ask in the name of Jesus that you would raise them. Raise them and use them for your glory. Clothe them in the fire of the Holy ghost. Father, I pray that your word would be upon their mouth, that your power would be upon their hands and that your authority would rest upon their shoulders. I stretch my hands in faith toward that one receiving this now. And I pray, Father, that the anointing of the Holy Spirit would flow through me. Holy Spirit flow through us and make our lives what they ought to be. Mold us. We bend to your will. We yield to your guidance. Thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing. In Jesus' name we pray. I want you to say it if you believe it. Say amen. Well, I'm happy to have prayed with you. I want to welcome now new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. I want to read now the comments from last week's video, God's Anointed, King David. Here are those comments. Mary March writes, Thank you, Brother David. I'm really enjoying this series, God's Anointed. They are amazing and deep teachings. I am looking forward to the next one. Ron Zhu writes, Your ministry is a blessing in my life. I actually came across your book, 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare at our local bookshop called Exclusive Books. I eventually got myself a copy and I've been following your teachings ever since. Thank you and you're watching from South Africa. God bless you. C. Nobert writes, I pray that the Lord strengthens and keeps you and your team. There are great things ahead, brother. May the Lord strengthen and bless you in every area of your life in Jesus' name. Thank you, C. Nobert. We appreciate the encouragement. Another commenter writes, Thank you, Brother David for this anointed teaching as all your teachings are. It has stirred my faith to the core. I love that. May God bless your heart even more. I hope you know how much your anointing has helped me grow my faith in Jesus, sending hearts from the Philippines. Well, let's make one thing clear. It's his anointing and to Jesus belongs all to glory and I appreciate your encouragement. And finally, Yanni writes, I stumbled upon your videos a few weeks back and ever since then have been watching many on a daily basis. With each video, I have felt the presence of Jesus near to me and it makes me more hungry to know the Lord Almighty even more. Thank you, Brother David for teaching all of us every week and helping us come closer to God. May God bless all of you at Spirit Church and I pray that someday I can see you preach live in my country. And that's Yanni writing from the United Arab Emirates. Wow, all the way from the UAE. God bless you and I would love to come and preach live in your country and this is where I need your help. I want to tell you, let me just give you a quick breakdown because you know the motive of this ministry. The motive, our goal is simple. We want to win souls and we win souls two ways. Direct evangelism and edifying the believer because when you edify the believer you actually multiply your effect in winning souls. So we are in the middle of a ministry campaign. We want to raise 1,000 new $30 monthly supporters to help us take this ministry to the next level. Now, here's where that support is going to go. That support is going to help us get into a new facility and that support is going to help us to do more events in more places and it's also going to help us to bring staff members on to help with that expansion. Now, with that new facility is going to come more production. We're going to be able to do more programs in different sorts. We're going to be able to do live programs from the studio. We're going to be able to do weekly events where people can come into Southern California and attend the services. We're even going to be able to do live studio audiences for different tapings. So like when I bring guests in, you get to come and be a part of those tapings. On the other hand, we're also going to do more events more often in more locations. You know when we do events, it takes money to fly there. It takes money to get the venue. It takes money to put our team in hotels. It takes money to bring in the musicians and the camera operators. It takes money to let people know about the event. So all of those finances go to the next phase of ministry. So when we reach 1,000 new $30 a month partners, we will be able to move into that new facility and we'll be able to expand the ministry in those ways are described. So I know we've talked about a lot of different things. Later on down the line, we want to do more translations later on down the line. We want to add that 24 seven prayer room to that facility, which won't be hard to do once we get the facility. But the primary reason we're raising these funds is for those two things, that new facility where we'll do more production and more live events and also studio audience accommodations and weekly services. And we're going to do more events more often in more locations. That's what we're going to do primarily with the finances and the other things that I just described will come along after those things are in place. So be a part of that. Sign on board, become a $30 a month partner today. Here's where we are in the campaign. That's how much support we need left. Look at that. We have over 700 of you who have signed up to become a partner. We have less than 300 to go. Sign up today, become a $30 a month partner. You sign up to become a $30 a month partner today and I'll send you either carriers of the glory or 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare that will be a signed copy sent to you as our initiation gift or thank you for supporting the ministry and becoming a partner. Go do that today. Become either a monthly donor or a one-time giver. You can use the information at the bottom of the screen or you can wait until the end of the video. If you're watching this on YouTube, there's going to be a link that appears at the end. It's going to be a red button and you're going to click that red button and it's going to take you to where you can sign up to become a monthly supporter. I pray you do that today. Let's do this. Let's just finish this campaign off so we can start working on these things. Well, that is it for this edition of Spirit Church. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe. Also, help me win souls by spreading the gospel through events and media. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.