The Holy Spirit and power belong together: the same Spirit who gives you new life on the inside comes upon you to anoint you for ministry and service. In this message, Dr. William P. Hohman moves his series from the Holy Spirit within us to the Holy Spirit upon us, explains what the Bible means by the anointing, and shows why that anointing destroys the yoke of bondage in a believer’s life.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scriptures he uses (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), the word meanings he gives for anointing, a timestamped outline and practical steps for this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This service at NTC Ministries was held on a national holiday weekend and posted on September 8, 2020. It opens with a prayer to stir up the gifts within the church, a missions offering for the ministry’s Bible college students in Ghana, who are reaching a mountain people group that had never been evangelized, and prayer for Mary Hoffman, who has served the ministry for 34 years. Communion follows, with Pastor Paul sharing 2 Peter 1:3–4: his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, so that we may be partakers of the divine nature.
Dr. Hohman then takes the pulpit. A month and a half earlier he had begun the series, covering the importance of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit within us. This message starts the next stage: the Holy Spirit upon us, which he calls the anointing.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Dr. William P. Hohman |
| Series | The Holy Spirit and Power (#7) |
| Main texts | Isaiah 10:27; 1 John 2:20, 27; Luke 4:16–21; Acts 1:8 |
| Key theme | The Holy Spirit upon us is the anointing that empowers us to serve and breaks bondage |
| Length | About 101 minutes, including worship and communion; the sermon begins near 33:00 |
Do You Have the Spirit?
Dr. Hohman begins with an observation about the letters of Paul. In thirteen or fourteen letters, from Romans to Philemon or Hebrews, Paul never once calls anyone a Christian. Again and again he asks a different question: do you have the Spirit? For Paul, being filled with the Spirit was the gauge and the proof of a real believer.
That matters, he says, because many people call themselves Christians for reasons that prove nothing. Their parents attended a certain church, they were sprinkled as babies, or they went through catechism. Quoting a saying he likes, he notes that going to church does not make someone a Christian any more than walking into your garage makes you a car.
He also warns about churches that talk about Jesus but deny the Holy Spirit and His gifts. Yet the Holy Spirit is God. Dr. Hohman pictures the Godhead this way: the Father is the architect, Jesus is the general contractor, and the Holy Spirit brings life into what is created and directs it.
How can you tell whether someone has the Spirit? The Spirit works like a magnet: the more we are filled, the more we want the things of the Spirit. A Spirit-filled person starts to hate sin, stops tolerating what they once tolerated and grows in holiness. God so loved the world (John 3:16) that He does not hate people, but He hates what destroys them. Jesus said you are either with Him or against Him (Matthew 12:30).
The change is not our work or a set of rules, Dr. Hohman adds. Receive the Holy Spirit and He does the changing in you, so that you cherish Christ above everything else.
Newness of Life and What God Calls Essential
Life only comes from God, Dr. Hohman teaches, and without the Holy Spirit there is no life. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). Bondage does not come from God; it comes from His absence.
He has the church read Titus 3:4–5 aloud: God our Savior saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy, washing away our sins and giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Dr. Hohman explains that the Holy Spirit cannot come upon you unless He is first in you. Jesus said the world cannot receive Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:17).
Next he asks what we really count as essential. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and that love is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Having attended a 50th wedding anniversary the day before, he notes that a marriage lasts because a couple counts the relationship essential. If we do not count the Holy Spirit essential, we choose torment over life and liberty.
A gift also has to be received. If he holds out a Bible and you never come and take it, it is not really yours. Everything that pertains to life and godliness has been given, but leaving it untouched is like having a million dollars in the bank and living in an old van down by the river. Relationship takes intimacy, and intimacy means dying to your own ego, pride and will.
Prayer, likewise, is not handing God a bucket list. It is letting Him empower us to do His will. Jesus prayed, not My will but Yours be done (Luke 22:42), and the anointing upon Him empowered Him to achieve all the Father wanted.
Holy Spirit and Power: What the Anointing Means
The Holy Spirit within us is us yielding to Him so He can work newness of life. The Holy Spirit upon us is imparted for empowerment for ministry and service, and that is called the anointing. Dr. Hohman stresses that the anointing is not a force or a mysterious ray. It is a He, the Holy Spirit of God, a person with whom we have a relationship.
The anointing first appears in Exodus 40:15, where God tells Moses to anoint Aaron’s sons as he anointed their father, that they may minister to Him as priests, for their anointing shall be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. The anointing, he says, is for us to minister. Throughout the message he unpacks what the word itself means. The table below gathers the meanings he gives.
| Word, as taught | Meaning he gives | What it shows about the anointing |
|---|---|---|
| Anoint (Hebrew) | To rub with oil, like a masseuse working oil deep into a muscle | God works His Spirit deep into us |
| Anoint (Hebrew) | To pour oil all over; to consecrate, set apart for a task or purpose | We are set apart to serve Him |
| Anoint (Hebrew) | To paint, fully covering what is painted | He covers us completely, leaving nothing undone |
| Chrisma (Greek) | An unguent or smearing, a salve poured over a wound or rash | The anointing heals, like the balm of Gilead |
| Christ | The Anointed One | Jesus is the Savior who is the Anointed One |
| Jesus | Savior | Christ is not a last name; it is His anointing |
That is why, Dr. Hohman says, the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter: He comes upon us, massaging in what God has given. Then he turns to 1 Peter 2:9, which says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” Because we let the Holy Spirit into us, we can ask Him to come upon our lives to fulfill His will.
The Yoke Destroyed Because of the Anointing
The key verse of the message is Isaiah 10:27: in that day the burden will be taken from your shoulder and the yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. Dr. Hohman notes that the burden is not God’s, since God does not burden us. It is the enemy’s yoke of bondage, fear and performance, and the anointing destroys it.
He quotes the Amplified Bible’s rendering, that the yoke is destroyed because of fatness. When we allow the anointing to come, revelation comes with it, and we grow too fat with the knowledge of God for the yoke to fit around our neck any longer. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Next he turns to 1 John 2:20 in the Amplified: you have been anointed by, you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One. He asks who in the house is anointed by God. If you have received the Holy Spirit, you are, even if you do not feel different, because we live by faith, not feelings. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The anointing brings revelation, so we start to see and hear differently.
1 John 2:27 adds that the anointing you received from Him abides permanently in you. When you sin and condemn yourself, the anointing has not left; your mind has thrown up a partition so you cannot see it. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6), which is why we need daily renewal by the Holy Spirit.
He also challenges the church to respect the anointing rather than looking only at the person who carries it. People with no respect for the anointing may have thirty people pray for them and stay stuck. Respect it, he says, and you will find deliverance.
Oil in Your Lamp: Anointed Like Jesus and the Apostles
Jesus Christ, Dr. Hohman reminds the church, is not a first and last name. Jesus means Savior and Christ means Anointed One. The spirit of antichrist does not mind people talking about Jesus as long as they deny His power, the anointing. Jesus even told us what share of the church would be unprepared. In the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1–13), five were wise and five were foolish. The wise had oil in their lamps, and the oil represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
The foolish five did not think the relationship was essential. When they tried to borrow oil, the wise had only enough for themselves, and by the time the foolish returned the door was shut. Jesus answered that He did not know them. Dr. Hohman calls the church to keep its lamps full in these last days.
The early church shows how. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room, they all spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). Peter, who had denied Jesus, became the boldest voice for Him. After being threatened, they prayed again and were filled again (Acts 4:29–31). We need that refreshing daily; he says he is called to build participants, not spectators.
Jesus Himself, after being baptized in the Spirit and tested in the wilderness, read Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:16–21). He knew who sent Him and what He was anointed to do, and He completed it. The same promise is ours: you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8). Believers are anointed to lay hands on the sick and see them recover (Mark 16:18), not to beg God.
He quotes Kathryn Kuhlman, calling it his favorite quote of all time: “Why settle for a cup full when the whole ocean is ours?” You do not have to beg the Holy Spirit; you only have to welcome Him. The anointing is given for success in ministry in whatever occupation you hold, because every believer is a priest in their own generation and place.
The Anointing at Work Today
Dr. Hohman shares two experiences from his own ministry. In his late twenties he ministered in a small town hall in the woods of the Upper Peninsula. While praying beforehand, he sensed the Lord say a woman there would be delivered from drugs, though the audience was mostly older people.
When he spoke the word, a woman in her late fifties raised her hand in tears. He reports that she was delivered and baptized in the Holy Spirit, along with about five others set free. She was a pastor’s wife from Florida who had been sent away after becoming addicted. The anointing, he says, destroyed that yoke and gave her fullness of life.
The second story happened while he and his wife Pam were ministering in southern Florida around Thanksgiving. In a store line, he sensed the Lord say the cashier was believing for her husband’s salvation. He told her that her husband would be saved and a door would open before the end of the year. She wept, and he told her to thank Jesus, not him. This, he explains, is the unction from the Holy One, the anointing that directs us.
Scripture is full of the same pattern. When the Spirit came upon Gideon, he delivered Israel; when He came upon Samson, Samson killed a lion with his bare hands and defeated the Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. Under the new covenant, Peter’s shadow passed over the sick and they were healed (Acts 5:15). Dr. Hohman says he would rather see people saved, blessed and transformed. He closes in prayer for healing, including for someone with a painful neck, for freedom from addiction and fear, and for anyone who needs to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Living Under the Anointing This Week
Dr. Hohman ends by asking everyone to lift their hands and tell the Lord they want to do His will. These steps come straight from the message:
- Answer Paul’s question. Ask yourself honestly whether you have the Spirit, not just whether you attend church or were baptized as a child.
- Welcome the Holy Spirit daily. Say, Holy Spirit, come and do whatever You want to do, however You want to do it, and receive by faith rather than feelings.
- Pray for empowerment, not a bucket list. Use prayer to lay down ego and pride and ask God to empower you to do His will.
- Stop condemning yourself. The anointing abides in you; renew your mind so a carnal mindset does not hide it from you.
- Keep oil in your lamp. Build your relationship with the Holy Spirit in your alone time at home, not only at church.
- Serve where you are. You are a royal priesthood, anointed for ministry in your workplace, family and community.
Above all, he says, treat the Holy Spirit as essential. The holy spirit and power go together, and the same anointing that rested on Jesus is available to every believer who welcomes Him.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 Opening prayer: stirring up the gifts within
- 8:50 Missions update: Bible college students in Ghana
- 15:40 Prayer for Mary Hoffman
- 27:58 Communion and 2 Peter 1:3
- 33:04 The series so far: from within to upon
- 34:17 Paul never calls anyone a Christian
- 47:04 Titus 3: new birth through the Holy Spirit
- 55:29 What prayer really is
- 58:01 Exodus 40:15: the first anointing
- 59:03 The Hebrew meaning of anoint
- 1:05:09 Isaiah 10:27: the yoke destroyed
- 1:09:27 An unction from the Holy One: 1 John 2:20
- 1:14:11 The anointing abides: 1 John 2:27
- 1:17:39 The ten virgins and the oil
- 1:19:46 Luke 4: the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me
- 1:21:51 Acts 1:8: power when the Spirit comes
- 1:27:28 Deliverance in the Upper Peninsula
- 1:33:37 A word for a cashier in Florida
- 1:37:33 Prayer for healing and freedom
- 1:39:36 Prayer to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord
Holy Spirit and Power Series
This message is part of Dr. Hohman’s series on the Holy Spirit at NTC Ministries. Continue with the next teaching:
- You are here: The Holy Spirit and Power #7 — The Anointing That Destroys the Yoke
- Next: The Holy Spirit and Power #10 — What the Anointing Can and Cannot Do
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to feel something to know I am anointed?
No. Dr. Hohman teaches that if you have received the Holy Spirit, you have been anointed by God, even if you do not feel any different. We are not living by feelings but by faith. He asks the church to raise their hands and say, yes, I am anointed, because God honors faith, not doubt and unbelief. Receiving the anointing works like receiving any gift: you have to take hold of what He has already given.
If the anointing teaches us all things, do we still need teachers?
Yes. Dr. Hohman points out that 1 John 2:27 does not mean believers no longer need teachers. In Ephesians 4:11–12 God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip His people for the work of ministry, which is why he is teaching the church in this message. What no one else can teach you is intimacy with God. That, he says, is what the Holy Spirit teaches each believer personally.
Why does it matter to gather with other believers?
Dr. Hohman notes that the apostles met daily in the temple and fellowshipped from house to house. Out in the world, believers are bombarded all the time, but in church you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit coming upon you. He calls the gathering a hall of kings, since Jesus is King of kings. Still, he says, do not live in the anointing only at church; build your relationship with the Holy Spirit at home too.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Isaiah 10:27 — the yoke destroyed because of the anointing
- 1 John 2:20 and 1 John 2:27 — an unction from the Holy One that abides
- Exodus 40:15 — the anointing of Aaron’s sons as priests
- 1 Peter 2:9 — a chosen generation, a royal priesthood
- Luke 4:16–21 — the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me
- Acts 1:8 — power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you
- Matthew 25:1–13 — the wise and foolish virgins
- Titus 3:4–5 — new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit
- 2 Peter 1:3–4 — partakers of the divine nature
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
Watch More Messages
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