Anointed To Do Good

Acts 10:38 Insights into Building, Maintaining, and Releasing GodaEUR(tm)s Anointing in Your Life and Ministry

Dr. Keith Attles

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781639031535
• eBook ISBN: 9781639031542
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Anointed to Do Good is a book designed to help the believer in Christ to better understand and implement the anointing of the Holy Spirit in their life and ministry. This book takes a detailed look at the subject of God's anointing. It examines the Holy Spirit's work in scripture throughout Church history and the anointing upon God's servants as they performed ministry.

The purpose of this book is to encourage believers to embrace the Holy Spirit's power available to them. According to 1 John 20, "You have an unction" (anointing) from the Lord. Now you can be empowered and confident to be used by the Lord like never before. I believe the devotional section of this book will inspire believers to activate God's anointing in their life and ministry.

Preface

Anointed to Do Good is a resource designed to educate, enhance, and ultimately empower a believer to do anointed ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is my personal conviction that many believers and churches have sought to do ministry apart from the Holy Spirit’s enablement primarily because we have been convinced that education, programming, or traditional systems promoting church life are enough to “get the job done” for God’s kingdom. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, left for us an example to follow in Matthew 3:15–17, which patterned for us the need for God’s Holy Spirit (the anointing), in order to produce greater results in life and ministry.

The anointing of the Holy Spirit will be examined through various lenses, giving the reader a rich understanding of a misunderstood topic in the Body of Christ. My goal is to create a fresh hunger in the life of every believer who desires to grow in the depths of God’s anointing and to produce fruitful results for the expansion of God’s kingdom. An especially insightful section of this workbook is the Devotionals. The Devotionals are designed to encourage the believer in weekly spiritual practices. I recommend that you choose one or two devotionals that you plan to practice during the week and follow the reading, reflection questions, and spiritual practices carefully. If these directives are followed, you will begin to experience a deeper spiritual life in the Lord; as well as a walk in a greater anointing of the Holy Spirit.

You can change the world for Christ under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. May God richly bless you.

Rev. Dr. Keith Attles

Christian Spirituality A Historical Overview

For many years, I have often wondered why the church of today did not really model the Apostolic Church found in the book of Acts. This question provoked me to search for answers in church history writings throughout many generations. What I have found was the church Christ came to establish and sought to fulfill a different mandate than the one we see today. The early church stressed the “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18–20) as its main reason for existence, coupled with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit with signs, wonders, and miracles following. The purpose of the church was to exhibit power over all the kingdoms of Satan by setting the captives free so that they could be able to serve the living God.

As the Apostolic Church moved into different parts of the world, its doctrine became tainted and weakened because of pagan philosophy and practices, which de-emphasized the teachings of the kingdom of God and the person of the Holy Spirit. By AD 313, Constantine became ruler of the Roman Empire and chose Christianity as the state religion. Little by little, the state began to take control of the affairs of the Apostolic Church, and leaders with little or no experience in religious matters began to shape Church doctrine. About AD 350, the Church began to persecute all who were not under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. People had to make the choice of submitting to the Church or face the sword. Salvation with the need for “justification by faith,” culminating in the “new birth” experience, was no longer emphasized. Hence, the imperial church of Constantine continued to become increasingly distant from the original purpose Christ intended when He established His church. This led to the Medieval Church period (AD 476–1453), which lasted for about one thousand years. This period is better known as the “Dark Ages” of history because gross darkness began to influence both political and religious leadership during this time. Corruption within the Roman Catholic Church became very apparent with the selling of indulgences, the extortion of finances from both the rich and poor to finance the church, and the distortion of sound Christian doctrine with teachings on transubstantiation (in the communion sacrament, the bread and wine are transformed into the veritable body and blood of Christ). These types of corrupt practices in the church caused men like John Wycliffe (1329–1384), John Huss (1369–1415), and Jerome Savonarola (1452–1498) to arise and proclaim the injustices advocated by Roman Catholicism.

Later, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Church was positioned to receive revival and enlightenment from men whom the Holy Spirit would move upon in order to right the wrongs that cast it into the “Dark Ages.” Over a two-hundred-year period, a great reformation began to take place, which started in Germany and spread all throughout Northern Europe. This resulted in the founding of national churches owing no allegiance to Rome. Much of the transitional period of the church called the “Reformation” was attributed to a man named Martin Luther, who was a monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg. Luther observed many of the practices advocated by Roman Catholicism and concluded that these theological beliefs and practices were not in-line with the Word of God. Men could not be justified by works of obedience as preached by John Tetzel who sold certificates to pardon all sin. Martin Luther vehemently protested against such doctrine and set out to disprove this type of flawed teaching. On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed his “Ninety-five Theses” or statements to the front door of the Wittenberg Cathedral, openly protesting the selling of indulgences and his discontentment with the Pope and priesthood. He maintained that many doctrines and practices of the church were not consistent with th...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Preface