The Holy Spirit and Power #10 — What the Anointing Can and Cannot Do

The Holy Spirit and power are not optional extras for a few believers. They are how God makes His children new and equips them to serve beyond what they could ever do in their own strength. In the tenth week of this series, Dr. William P. Hohman looks back over the whole teaching, from creation and Abraham to Pentecost, and focuses on the anointing: what it is, what it can do, and what it will never do for you.

This message follows The Holy Spirit and Power #7 — The Anointing That Destroys the Yoke. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This service at NTC Ministries in Merrill, Wisconsin, was preached on the last Sunday of September 2020 and posted on September 30, 2020. It opens with worship built around a song about God’s love breaking like an ocean. During the offering, the church is reminded that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), and that the tithe opens the windows of heaven (Malachi 3:10).

Dr. Hohman then explains that he will recap all ten weeks and bring them to a culmination. He prays that everyone who came in one way would leave a different way, changed and empowered.

From Creation to Abraham: God’s Plan Unfolds

Dr. Hohman begins at the beginning. Jesus created all things (John 1:1–3), and God gave Adam dominion over the works of His hands. When Adam disobeyed, he handed everything over to Satan, and the earth became what Dr. Hohman calls an earth-curse system. From then on, people had to make the earth produce by the sweat of their brow.

Throughout the Old Testament, God kept revealing Himself. Hebrews 1:1–2 says He spoke at various times and in various ways through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. There was always a plan, and it began with Abraham, called out of the Chaldeans without being told where he was going.

God promised Abraham children as many as the sand and the stars. Sarah laughed when she overheard, and the promised son, Isaac, came about 25 years later. Then God asked Abraham to sacrifice that son. On the mountain Isaac asked where the lamb was, and Abraham answered that God would provide Himself a sacrifice (Genesis 22:8). God stayed his hand and provided a ram.

Because of that faith, Dr. Hohman says, Abraham is called the father of faith. Thousands of years later Jesus had to come legally, as a man, because the first representative of humanity had sinned. The first Adam became a living soul, but the last Adam a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Jesus came through Israel, and Dr. Hohman points out that the nation took its name not from the best of men but from Jacob, the heel-grabber who stole a birthright. Jacob had great wealth, yet he wrestled with God and refused to let go until God blessed him. That, he teaches, is the revelation Jacob started: what the earth-curse system gives you is not enough. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul (Mark 8:36)?

Not by Might, but by My Spirit

Religion in the earth-curse system says that if you work hard enough, you might get to heaven. God says it is not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9). It is by grace through faith. When we call on Him, He gives us a new heart and a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives to do what we never could. It is not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord (Zechariah 4:6).

Dr. Hohman notes that many people call themselves Christians without the Holy Spirit. You can attend church all your life and work harder than anyone, he says, but without Him it is for nothing. Titus 3:4–5 says God saved us not by works of righteousness but by His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, empowers us for service and makes us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). But feeling His presence in a service is not the goal in itself. Jesus asked why we call Him Lord and do not do what He says (Luke 6:46). The question is what you will do with that relationship.

Before His ascension, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), then told them to wait for the Father’s promise at Pentecost: two separate things, Dr. Hohman says. Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Son of God and the baptizer in the Holy Spirit and fire, a threefold ministry.

Some churches avoid the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and he traces that to mistaken teaching and fear. Fear, he says, is really pride: what about me. The Holy Spirit is a person and He is God, so Dr. Hohman and his wife Pam walk through every new home room by room and welcome Him. We do not have to struggle on our own through marriage, parenting or life. You need Him more than you need breath.

What the Anointing Is

The Holy Spirit upon us is called the anointing. Dr. Hohman finds its first mention in Exodus 28:41, where Moses is told to clothe Aaron and his sons and to anoint, consecrate and sanctify them so they may minister as priests.

He offers a simple picture of the Trinity. The Father is the architect who plans everything, down to the time and place you were born. Jesus is the general contractor who did the work. The Holy Spirit breathes life into everything God has declared, including you.

Jesus is the mediator between God and man, the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Dr. Hohman offers a reading tip: when the New Testament says “Jesus Christ,” he reads it as man to God; when it says “Christ Jesus,” he reads it as God to us. He teaches that the Hebrew word for anoint means to rub with oil, the way a masseuse works oil into stiff shoulders, and to consecrate someone to a permanent office of service to the Lord.

Salvation, he says, is like a salvage job: new headlights, new upholstery, a full rework, and the Holy Spirit keeps working on us for decades. But the anointing that comes upon us is for duty. Exodus 29:7 describes pouring the anointing oil on the priest’s head, and that oil represents the Holy Spirit. Dr. Hohman suggests the message could be titled “what the anointing can and cannot do,” and the table below gathers his points.

David, Anointed Among His Brothers

When God sent Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint a king, Samuel assumed the eldest son was the one. He was strong and mature. But God told him that He does not look at the outward appearance; He looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The anointing, Dr. Hohman says, is what God puts within a person for service, and we must learn not to judge by the outside.

He applies this to the home. Parents are anointed for their position whether they get it right or wrong, which is why children are told to honor their father and mother, the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:2–3). A father carries an anointing to provide for and protect his child, and Dr. Hohman teaches that it passes to the husband when a man leaves his father and mother to form a new household.

Jesse brought seven sons, and each time the Lord said, “Not him.” Only then did they fetch the youngest from the sheep. David was a worshipper with a heart for God, and 1 Samuel 16:13 says Samuel anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

From that day forward, Dr. Hohman stresses, it stayed. You may drift from God until His voice grows quiet, but He is still there, and simply saying “God, forgive me” restores the fellowship. Every anointing in the Old Testament was for a specific, delegated task, a king or a high priest. In the same way, the anointing is for us to function.

Jesus Himself read from Isaiah that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because He had been anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free (Luke 4:18–19), and He did it perfectly. He has made us kings and priests to God (Revelation 1:5–6), and it is God who has anointed us (2 Corinthians 1:21). He teaches that the Greek word is charisma, and the gifts that flow from it are charismata.

Endowed With Holy Spirit and Power

People with a physical need often spend money traveling from place to place looking for relief, Dr. Hohman says, but the anointing says, “Be healed in the name of Jesus.” He shares a testimony from a tent crusade in a Wisconsin state park in the early 1980s. A little girl asked prayer for her deaf grandmother. When he laid hands on the woman beside her, she cried out that she could see. He says she had been blind. Then the girl laid hands on her grandmother and, he reports, her ears were opened.

The anointing gives life to our words. Jesus said it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing, and the words He speaks are spirit and life (John 6:63). Acts 10:38 says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. If you are born again, Dr. Hohman says, that verse describes you too.

Age, intellect, education, skills and personality have nothing to do with it. He calls himself an extreme introvert who once lived so deep in the Upper Peninsula woods that, he jokes, his zip code was E-I-E-I-O, yet the Lord called him first to children’s ministry. The more you obey, he says, the more comfortable you become with the anointing than with your fears and doubts.

God promised to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, sons and daughters, young and old, menservants and maidservants (Joel 2:28–29). Jesus told the disciples to wait until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Dr. Hohman explains “endued” as being wrapped or clothed, like a warm blanket around you by the fire on a cold, damp day. In Acts 1:8 Jesus promises power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

But you have to accept it and apply yourself. An inheritance of a million dollars does you no good until you make a withdrawal. His first pastor used to sigh, “Not one of those faith things again, William.” When a donor offered 48,000 pounds of brown rice to his food program and there was nowhere to store it, he prayed, heard “go ask a farmer,” and a potato farmer offered an empty root cellar and a forklift.

Rivers of Living Water in the Church

When the anointing comes, you may feel warmth, goosebumps, a tingling, or great joy. A church building is only a building, but when people honor God and give Him their attention, the atmosphere changes. Burdens lift, minds clear, and you leave a different person. When believers gather, they release the anointing on their lives so that even someone who does not know God will experience Him, not just hear about Him.

Jesus cried out that whoever believes in Him would have rivers of living water flowing from the heart, speaking of the Spirit (John 7:37–39). That is the inner person, not the physical heart. The Holy Spirit already lives in every born-again believer, which is why He can come upon them. Dr. Hohman reads a pastor friend’s warning that “church from a distance” is anti-fellowship, because the anointing ministers when people come together.

He tells of evangelist Bill Etters, a former moonshiner who could not read and had to rely on the Spirit. When Etters ministered at NTC, a man with a great need refused to go forward because the preacher was illiterate. That man, Dr. Hohman says, died without his miracle. In Haiti, Etters faced down a witch doctor in the street; the witch doctor ran, and the whole village came to Jesus. The natural mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14).

At a crusade in Uganda, two young men asked for the power they saw in his life. He told them that no king gives power to someone outside his kingdom; they would have to receive Jesus as Lord. The anointing is only for those who belong to Him, and it is what breaks the yoke (Isaiah 10:27).

The anointing will not keep you from temptation; Jesus was tempted in every way, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), and God makes a way of escape. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Nor will it stop you from getting weary, but Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28).

Living in the Anointing This Week

Dr. Hohman closes with a prayer of salvation, prophetic words about relocation, prayer for the sick and the priestly blessing. Here are practical steps drawn from this Holy Spirit and power message:

• Welcome Him at home. Walk through your house as Dr. Hohman and Pam do and invite the Holy Spirit into every room.
• Apply yourself. When you are asked to do something you feel unqualified for, say yes and rely on the anointing.
• Stop looking at your shortcomings. Your bad day has no bearing on the anointing; let Him do His job.
• Honor the anointing on others. Look past the outward appearance of parents, leaders and preachers to what God has placed in them.
• Come to church expecting. Arrive early, open to the Holy Spirit, ready to worship and receive.
• Return quickly. If His voice has grown quiet, say “God, forgive me” and let the fellowship be restored.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:06 Opening worship
• 4:05 Not a spirit of fear; the tithe
• 6:52 Church announcements
• 11:22 Love like an ocean; prayer and worship
• 29:16 Dr. Hohman welcomed; week ten
• 32:30 Creation, Adam and the earth-curse system
• 34:51 Abraham, Sarah and Isaac
• 38:18 The last Adam and Jacob’s blessing
• 40:57 By grace, not works: Titus 3
• 44:44 Receive the Holy Spirit; the threefold ministry
• 49:48 Welcoming the Holy Spirit into your home
• 51:09 The anointing in Exodus 28
• 54:52 To rub with oil; a salvage job
• 57:08 Samuel at Jesse’s house
• 1:00:24 David anointed: 1 Samuel 16:13
• 1:02:27 Luke 4: anointed to preach and heal
• 1:06:56 The tent crusade healings
• 1:12:05 An introvert relying on the anointing
• 1:14:15 Joel 2 and endued with power
• 1:18:46 48,000 pounds of rice
• 1:21:55 Rivers of living water: John 7
• 1:26:37 Bill Etters and the offended man
• 1:29:46 Power only for the King’s family
• 1:34:40 Prayer of salvation and ministry

The Holy Spirit and Power Series

This message is part of Dr. Hohman’s teaching series on the Holy Spirit. Go back to the earlier message or continue to the next:

• Previous: The Holy Spirit and Power #7 — The Anointing That Destroys the Yoke
• You are here: The Holy Spirit and Power #10 — What the Anointing Can and Cannot Do
• Next: The Holy Spirit and Power #11

Frequently Asked Questions

Can someone who is not born again be baptized in the Holy Spirit?

Dr. Hohman teaches that they cannot. The Holy Spirit who endues you comes from within, because He already lives in every born-again believer. Someone who has not received Jesus does not yet know Him, so salvation always comes first. That is why, when two young men in Uganda asked for the power they saw in his life, he told them they would first need to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Why do I feel God more strongly in church than at home?

According to Dr. Hohman, when believers gather and give God their full attention, they release the anointing on their lives together, and the atmosphere changes. That is the purpose of assembling. But he also says you can have that presence every day, because the same Holy Spirit lives in you.

Do I need someone more spiritual to pray for me?

Dr. Hohman says many Christians think this way because they cannot see the anointing in their own lives. They assume other people must be better or more deserving, so God will hear them instead. His answer is that God hears us all and wants to bless through every one of us. It is not about having a good day or a bad day; the anointing on your life gives you the same capability.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Acts 10:38 — anointed with the Holy Spirit and power
• 1 Samuel 16:13 — David anointed among his brothers
• Isaiah 10:27 — the yoke destroyed because of the anointing
• Exodus 28:41 — the first anointing of the priests
• Luke 4:18–19 — the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me
• Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8 — endued with power
• John 7:37–39 — rivers of living water
• Joel 2:28–29 — the Spirit poured out on all flesh
• Titus 3:4–5 — renewed by the Holy Spirit

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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