Jan
15
2010
Unction
I’m a die-hard believer in unction. Unction is an old fashioned word which describes an effusion of power from the Holy Spirit as one preaches. It is the one thing preachers need above everything else. It is the accompanying power of the Spirit. This is what Charles Spurgeon dubbed “the sacred annointing.” It is power from on high.
In his book on the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Sacred Annointing, Tony Sargent describes unction well. He writes:
[Unction] is the afflatus of the Spirit resting on the speaker. It is the preacher gliding on eagles’ wings, soaring high, swooping low, carrying and being carried along by a dynamic other than his own. His consciousness of what is happening is not obliterated. He is not in a trance. He is being worked on but is aware that he is still working. He is being spoken through but he knows he is still speaking. The words are his but the facility with which they come compels him to realise that the source is beyond himself. The man is overwhelmed. He is on fire.
Oh how my heart burns for this sacred annointing, this unction! I hope and pray that preachers all over the world would spend much of their sermon preparation time begging God for this power on high. For, it is preachers who are borne along by the Holy Spirit that are used to effect a deep and sobering awareness of God and his truth that transforms.
In his book Lloyd-Jones: Messenger of Grace, Iain Murray writes:
Preaching under the annointing of the Holy Spirit is preaching which brings with it a consciousness of God. It produces an impression upon the hearer that is altogether stronger than anything belonging to the circumstances of the occasion. Visible things fall into the background; the surroundings, the fellow worshippers, even the speaker himself, all become secondary to an awareness of God himself. Instead of witnessing a public gathering, the hearer receives the conviction that he is being addressed personally, and with an authority greater than that of a human messenger.
Given the fact that the ultimate factor in the church’s engagement with society is the church’s engagement with God, my earnest prayer is that, for the sake of the world, more preachers would come to know and understand what Andrew Bonar meant when he wrote: “It is one thing to bring truth from the Bible, and another to bring it from God himself through the Bible.”
Please pray, dear friends, that God would annoint my mind and mouth on Sunday as I preach so that God’s people would hear from God. Please pray that God’s Spirit would so inhabit my words that everyone would leave worship tomorrow being able to say, “God was surely in that place.”
I can’t manufacture unction regardless of how well crafted my sermon is and how well prepared I may be. The biggest work must come from God.
So, come thou fount of every blessing and do for your people what I cannot. Amen.
10 Comments
Pastor Tullian
I am and have been praying for you and all the pastors I know, the ones responsible to feed the flock.
I am praying that I may be able to hear tham via the internet. I did sent money in support last November.
Please pray for us here in the Ocala area. The Springs is opening their new 10million dollar facility. Today!
I am attending the 5pm service. tommorrow services are 9 am and 11 am. My two junior sisters have been members for many years and love the contemporary style. It may be too “fashionable” for me but I need to support my sisters in their faith. Please pray for the pastor who has been battling cancer for years, yet still is faithful to God. Please pray for “Hope in Ocala” a ministry started by my former pastor from 1st baptist Ocala. They are moving into a more permanent facility next month. They ae actually taking over the space that The “Springs” used.
Pray for us at The Village View Community Church in Summerfield FL. my home church.
Please pray for the Saints in Haiti, and all the people there who are now suffering so terribly. pray and ask God what you can do for the people in that Country. “Harvest International” here in Ocala is there in Haiti and have been supporting the ministry to bring the gospel and other physical needs they need desperately.
I believe what they need is a flood of the gospel to inundate the country. The recent calamity in the form of an earthquak only proves to me how out of order the world is and how much we need to sent the gospel and take authority back from our adversary. And claim the authority we have in God through Jesus Christ.
God bless you pastor you are in my thoughts and prayers along with all the church there at CRPC. If you are not able to put the messages on the internet don’t worry.
My prayers are with you. I have not been able to get your sermons on the internet, what has happened. I know God will give you “unction”
Hi James, I’m sorry about the sermons. I’ll check into it. I do know that we have a brand new website being launched in about two weeks and so there is a lot of “behind the scenes” technological work going on right now.
Pastor Tullian
I have never been behind the pulpit, but I understand what you are writing about. Pastors have the responsibilty to bring Gods Word unadulterated. Some are tempted to just write up a sermon and leave it at that but the true man of God will without any compromise bring forth that word needed by any particular church.
Where I sit I can recognize the Word from God. My prayer is always to pull from the Pastor what God has entrusted him with. As a member of the congregation I am prayful during the preaching of the Word. I expect to hear from God when I attend a meeting. When I do not, God will provide some other way, It may be that I need to feed myself. God is able to provide whatever the Christian needs spiritually.
God has given me the priviledge to pray for people and I do. I do not understand Gods ways sometimes but I understand He is sovereign and some things are beyond my comprehension.
I know God has prepared you for the great commission and I stand behind you in faith believing God will accomplise His will for your life.
Thank you for your faith and trust in God, you are truelly an inspiration to me and a great source of strength because you have been faithful to your calling.
Tullian: I will commit to praying daily for you and would be honored if you would pray for me as well. I think in this day of “i can do as I please” and “I can preach whatever tickles ears”, unction is sadly missing in my pulpits. I do not want that in mine. Thanks for this good “reminder” post.
Thank-you Bill. I will pray for you too, brother.
I want you to know, Pastor Tullian, that my family came to this church because we truly believe God works through you as you preach. God has been and is still using you in our lives to minister to our soul. Everytime you finish preaching my husband and I feel like crying. God is so good to us and he is allowing us to hear His Word. When I enter into the church, I can’t describe the feelings I carry in my heart. I just want to fall before His Throne and stay there all day listening to Him use you to get to me. When I first started coming, I remember listening to a beautiful song by the choir and when they finished we prayed. The person who was praying sounded like an angel from the Lord and so I had to look up to see who it was. It was you, as you prayed with a sincerity that I have not heard in a long time. Thank you for your honesty and faithfulness to His call in your life.
[...] Read Tulian’s post here. [...]
Tullian,
I never knew that the special infusion of the Holy Spirit when you are teaching/preaching was called unction. I know exactly what you are talking about though, because when I spoke in chapel at Coral Springs Christian Academy, especially after I came out of the “dark night of the soul,” I felt totally infused when in front of the chiledren, even though they were only in kindergarten through second grade. It was as if I were speaking, but I was saying things better than I had planned. Sometimes (this may sound funny) I felt as if when I gestured, the Holy Spirit was flying out of my finger tips and blessing the children to whom I was ministering. It was an awesome (in the God-sense) thing and I didn’t know what it was called. I felt I had been standing on holy ground.
Thanks for giving a name to what was going on up there in front of the children!!!
God bless! Gayle
Tullian,
Just wanted to thank you again for this post. I think of it often before I get up to lead music at a service.
Jamie