 Help me. I'm anointed. I know this may sound funny, but a lot of young people that I meet, and not just young people, but people who honestly feel like there's a potential in them that's greater than the position that the church is offering to them. There is an anointing upon their life that's greater than the church is recognizing. And sometimes they're serving under ministers who feel like, man, they don't recognize the anointing that's upon my life. And they're not giving me the platform. They're not encouraging me. They're not opening doors for me. And I have this gift to sing. I have this gift to prophesy. I have this gift to preach. I have this gift to lead. I'm like this amazing person and nobody recognizes that. So I want to deal with that. Somebody will need to share this video with some of your friends or your youth group or your young people, especially if you're a pastor, because I'm pretty sure you're going to deal with this sooner or later. So David was in actually a similar situation. David was anointed way before he was appointed. And this is what you have to understand is that God will always anoint you before man will recognize you, before man will appoint you. David was anointed at the time when somebody else actually was sitting on his throne, on his title, if I could say, somebody else had his position. And that guy Saul was not willing to retire anytime soon. And God did not look at that. God just went and anointed David. And of course, David went through some challenging times of actually going from the anointing to the appointing when he was recognized publicly. It took some time. But I want to take actually highlight 10 simple things that I believe that we will have to go through or things, 10 things in mind that we have to keep in mind. You know, I had a similar thing that happened to David. I really felt the vision from the Lord of what the church would look like, what my ministry would look like at the age of 16. But honestly, it did not happen until at least like the age of 32 or 30, when God started to make it a reality of what I've seen in my spirit at the age of 16. So what do you do if you're anointed, but you don't feel like the doors are opening. You don't feel like there's an appointing, a recognition that happens by men. The first thing is we have to focus on our private victories more than we focus on our public opportunities or public corporate victories. David, the moment he got anointed, he went and start killing lions and bears. He did not rule, reign. He wasn't having a position. Nobody offered him a job in the palace. He simply went killing lions and bears. Before Jesus cast out demons, he was first dealing with the devil on a personal level in the wilderness. And so don't focus so much on letting God open the doors for you in front of the Goliath. Because the moment the anointing of God comes upon your life, the first thing God's going to allow is to bring a lion and the bear in your personal life. Certain attacks, certain insecurities, certain even honestly habits that will need to be broken. Certain maybe things that you're going to recognize. Man, this needs to be defeated in my life. And so the anointing of God will help you to do that before it will launch you into ministry or give you a recognition or put you on the stage or give you a microphone. The second thing that God wants us to keep in mind, which is one of the reasons I believe he doesn't let us step into the appointing the moment we got the anointing, is that he wants us to know that if you're too big for the towel, you are too small for the throne. If you are too big for the sheep, then you are too small for the success that God has in store for you. You know, the moment David got anointed, his father sent him back to the sheep. In fact, the moment he killed the Goliath, the Bible says he went back to the sheep. David always stayed humble. David always stayed low. A lot of people, the moment they get anointed and the moment they feel the prophetic word upon their life and somebody recognizes that and they feel like, man, but I got a gift and I uploaded the video and many people watched it. I was singing at this place and everybody recognized it. Please understand, God does not want you to grow your ego. God wants you to grow your character and God wants you to grow your humility. If you are too big for the vacuumer, if you are too big to be a greeter, if you are too big to follow, you are too small to lead. If you are too big to pick up a towel, you are too small for a title. God wants us to remain humble in our heart as we pursue that process of being promoted, elevated and forgot to open the doors for us to utilize our potential to our fullest capacity. Number three, your value does not come from visibility. What does that mean? A lot of times God keeps us hidden. God keeps us in the shade, if I could say, in the shadows for a long time. Even though we are bigger on the inside, we feel we got more anointing than we are entrusted with. We got more, you know, grace of God upon our life than we are currently, you know, being entrusted with certain opportunities. And God does that to really test and refine our value system. Many young people and this becomes less when you become older, I think, personally, that they draw their identity from their influence. They draw their identity from their impact. They draw their value from their visibility. And they don't understand that our value comes from being loved by God. Jesus died on a cross for us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We're going to heaven. Spirit of God lives in us. That is where our value comes from. Our value does not come from how many people watch us, follow us, how many people invite us, how gifted we are, how our gift and serving, you know, gives us an opportunity to be seen by more people. Like look at your heart, for example, right now or your liver, you know, the value of your heart is not determined by its visibility. And nor do you promote your heart to a place of visibility just because it pumps blood. Like nobody in the right mind is going to pull their heart out of their chest and stick it on their forehead and say, oh, you've been doing such a great job pumping blood. So now you deserve to be on the forehead so that you can be always on every single photo. Nobody does that. And the heart stays comfortable being hidden, but it still is extremely valuable. You don't have to be visible to be valuable. You have to know your place and you have to be in your place until God takes you to another place. And until then, know your identity in Christ and never compare yourself with another person. Never compare the fact that you are hidden and somebody else is visible that now you're less valuable, you're less loved by God. No, you are enough. God is enough for you and your identity in Him must be secure. Number four, serving is not a stepping stone. There's this problem that happens with us is that a lot of times we serve, we serve, but we really use serving as a stepping stone to something else. We're like, man, I'm faithful and little God's gonna give me greater opportunities. And it's true that God gives us and rewards us with greater opportunities. But it's not always on this side of eternity. Sometimes you can serve in the same area for the rest of your life and you will never get promoted for greater responsibilities and opportunities on this earth. There are people who were faithful to God in jail and they got murdered afterwards. They didn't necessarily get promoted. There are people that served in one level or one way for their whole life and they never got promoted. But in eternity, God will reward them for their faithful service by giving them greater responsibilities and rewards. Like Stephen, look at Stephen, for example. You know, Stephen was put in charge of the church pantry. He was taking care of the widows. You know, he had a great gift to speak. He had a great gift to, the Bible actually says he was full of the spirit and full of faith. He healed the sick. He cast out devils on the streets. He debated like crazy. And he had an amazing sermon that's in the book of Acts, but he never preached that sermon in the church. Stephen got put in charge of the food industry and you don't see Stephen being promoted after years of faithfulness. In fact, he got stoned, like not like stoned like high, but he actually got physically stoned. And so we need to remove this idea that we serve with the hope that we get into more visible moments or opportunities in the ministry, more in the places where it's directly connected to our potential and our gifting. No, you need to serve so God's kingdom advances, not set your agenda and so that your gift gets utilized. Don't see serving as a stepping stone. See serving as an opportunity to serve. Serving is for serving. Jesus did not wash disciples' feet to get promoted. He washed their feet because he loved them. And we need to keep that heart pure as we serve in whichever capacity that we were entrusted with. Number five is that God wants to have some of his best people in the lowest positions. Like for example, people look at things in the ministry that are not as visible or maybe not don't get as much recognized. And sometimes we say, well, you know, like, I am too big for that position. Like, let's look at the from human perspective. Stephen was way more anointed than to be overseeing, you know, a food bank at the church. You know, Stephen could be an evangelist. He could do crusades. Stephen could do a healing service. He could do a Thursday night stream. I mean, Stephen could pump out sermon series. Stephen could write books. Stephen could, you know, really bring a lot more benefit to God's kingdom by using his gifts instead of being put in charge of the church kitchen. But see, God doesn't look at like that. See, that's us speaking humans. And sometimes there's this leadership principle that works in the world. We bring it to the church, but it doesn't always work in the church. Like make sure you put the best people in the best place and the right place and everything. But what if God wants to have his best people in some of the lowest positions, like greeter. Oh, but he's so anointed. He shouldn't be a greeter. He should be a preacher. Why not? Like, oh, he can't be a janitor. Why? Because he's so anointed. Why not? Like, well, he can be teaching kids because he's so anointed. Why not? I mean, who is it better to teach little children than the most anointed people? You know, why not have the best people serve in the lowest positions in the church? It's all about the kingdom of God. God takes a huge pride when he notices his apostles, his evangelists, his anointed men and women of God full of gifts, talents and blessings and character. And they are serving in the capacities that are maybe not necessarily fully recognizable or noble in the eyes of other people because it's all about God's kingdom. And God takes pride in the fact that his best, all of his kids are the best kids. They're serving in quote unquote lowest capacities. Number six, don't fear if your position is smaller than your potential. Make sure your gifting is not bigger than your character. See, God is far more concerned about your character matching your gifting than make sure that your position matches your potential. A lot of people are like, oh, but this position they gave me, my potential is greater, my anointing is greater. God doesn't sit there and have any sweats about it. You know, what God is concerned about, make sure your character does not get smaller and make sure your gifting does not outgrow your character. And sometimes God will put us in places like David, for example. He goes as a musician to play music for Saul. He doesn't get promoted into a kingdom right away. And then he becomes an armor bearer and then he becomes a general and then he becomes a fugitive. And God wasn't there sitting in there like, oh, poor little David has such a great anointing upon his life and look how he's being treated. No, God was making sure that David's heart was right. The time for promotion would come. The time when he would be recognized, that time will come. But God wanted to make sure that the heart of David was right. Make sure that his character was better than his gifting, bigger than his gifting. So don't sweat if your position doesn't match your potential. Make sure that your gift and your character are like two wings of the same plane that are not too far off from each other. Another thing, number seven, is that when we go through this from the anointing to appointing, God wants to develop honor within us with the authority we disagree with. You know, sometimes what happens is when we begin to serve like David did, he noticed that Saul wasn't a good authority. Saul was not a good king. He was not a good father. And he was not a good father in law. In fact, Saul, not only he was not good, he was rejected by God. He was disobedient. Saul was demon possessed and Saul had a mental problem. And Saul would throw spears at David, but you never see David disrespecting Saul. He had to distance himself from Saul. I don't think he respected him, but he did not dishonor Saul. Like, he did not agree with his decisions, but you don't see David attacking Saul. In fact, one time God gave David a promise and said that I'm gonna put your enemy Saul within your hands and I'll let you do whatever you want. I mean, imagine that. And God put Saul right in front of him. And David has an opportunity to take out Saul. All of his problems would be over. He would literally see the fulfillment of God's promise in a split second. And like the next day, David is going to be the king. One of his guys told David, say, hey, this was the moment the prophet prophesied. Go ahead, let's take Saul out. If you don't want to take him out, I'll take him out for you. And David says, do not touch God's anointed. And he did not take out Saul. In fact, he continued to live a miserable life for a while because he refused to take Saul. And I read that. I'm like, why didn't he? I mean, God gave him the green light. God gave him that opportunity. But somehow, David didn't see that as an opportunity. He saw that as a test. Because anytime you take a jab and you start attacking an authority that God placed you under, just because you disagree with them, it doesn't necessarily, even if you are right, you're still wrong to dishonor. Now, respect is given. Respect is earned. I'm sorry. And honor is given. Meaning, person has to earn respect. But they don't have to earn your honor. You give it to them. David wept on Saul's funeral. I mean, the guy literally made his life living hell. He wept on his funeral. And when David caught a little bit of the robe of Saul, just to prove to Saul, I'm not out to get you, bro. The Bible says his heart convicted him and he felt bad for cutting Saul's robe. And so we have to live. I really believe that in this season, when you got the anointing, but you're not yet appointed, God will test you and develop your honor and your attitude toward the authority, toward your parents, toward your pastors, toward your mentors. And that attitude especially shaped when you come into disagreements, when you don't see eye to eye and you have to take the low road. Like for example, Jesus is spending time in the temple. Joseph comes in, he's like, hey, we're going home. And Jesus is like, no, that's my father's house. I need to be here. And Joseph says, no, we're going home. And Jesus, like, he submits to his father and he's God. I mean, he has the world to save, yet he submits. And for the next 18 years, we don't see nothing. Jesus is humbly serving with his earthly father. And I think that's a lesson for us as young people. Wait until God recognizes the authority and anointing upon your life and you walk under authority. Serve the people God places over you in Jesus' name. Now, number eight, anointing of God is like a magnet. It will pull you toward your appointing. Don't push, rush, manipulate or cut corners. Like David, the anointing upon his life started to draw him to the palace. Like he didn't even have to apply. He simply went on the field, bringing cheese and crackers. I mean, bringing food to the general and to his brothers. And boom, he gets an opportunity to fight the Goliath. And then boom, after that, people are asking questions about him. And boom, after that, he gets employed in the palace. Boom, after that, he comes closer and closer and closer. He did not have to cut corners. He didn't have to sleep his way to the top. He didn't have to manipulate. He did not have to cut corners. You let God take you to your appointing. If he anointed you, he will take you there. Joseph was the same way. The dream that God has given him, Joseph did not had to sleep his way to the top. He did not have to lie, cheat, manipulate or dominate or literally crush people on the way. That anointing, that calling will draw you like a magnet. You just have to trust God, his process and don't push yourself ahead of the rhythm that God has you on. Number nine, don't let your position in the church limit your anointing. Find an outlet outside of your position for the anointing you carry. Be like water that does not need an open door to get into the room. Water can get into the room through a crack. It can get from under the door, from beside the door. Water needs a crack. It does not need an open door. Many people have a very stiff personality. Like for example, the church doesn't let me, you know, minister. Well, you can minister on YouTube. You can minister on Facebook. You can write books. You can write blogs. You can go to the park and preach. You can go to homeless shelter. You can go to other places. Well, they don't recognize my gift. You know, nobody let Stephen preach in a apostolic church, not that we know. Yet he went on the streets and he preached. Don't wait for your pastor to recognize your gift and begin to give you a microphone. Most likely the stage in your church is already to crowd it. And so if you want, if you really feel there's an anointing upon my life, do not see the fulfillment of that anointing only on the pulpit in the church. You have your own pulpit and that pulpit is your sphere of influence. You don't need to shine on the stage in the church to make an impact for the kingdom of God. We need to stop seeing. The only fulfillment for our calling is on the church stage. Jesus took the Peter's boat and from the boat he preached to the crowds. None of the Pharisees gave Jesus a microphone. They didn't give him a pulpit in a synagogue. He just simply borrowed somebody's boat. And you can use your own boat to preach the gospel and to use your gift to make an impact for the kingdom of God. Don't be so, so stuck and stubborn that you only need a church to recognize that for you to be effective in serving God. And a lot of times you begin to serve outside of the ministry of your local church without neglecting your local church. And you begin to make an impact for the kingdom of God that the local church will recognize that and give you the opportunity. And even if they don't, as long as Jesus is glorified and you are serving people and glorifying Jesus, you will be alright. And last one, number 10, don't serve at the altar of your potential. Live to fulfill your purpose. Remember, God and church is not obligated for you to fulfill your potential. You and I have given our life. Make sure that we fulfill the great commission. And so don't think the church exists is make sure that you don't die with your gifts unfulfilled. No, you exist. I exist. Make sure the kingdom of God reaches as many people as we can. Church does not owe me to fulfill my potential. God does not owe me to fulfill my potential. I owe God my life and my potential that one he's given me so that his kingdom is advanced. His name is glorified and he gets all the honor and as many people as possible can come to know Jesus Christ. I hope that you were encouraged by this short video. I just wanted to share my heart with you, especially with you young people, young adults who maybe feel like you're restricted in your calling right now. Hey, let me know what's your favorite thought or something that really stuck with you from this short little exhortation. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and like this video and drop some comments below and share this with your youth group. Share with this with your small group. Share this with others. We just recently launched our merchandise store called southchickstore.com. You can go and check it out. There are some amazing deliverances essential and a lot of other t-shirts that you will really enjoy. God bless you and until next time.