In this weekly Q&A, Pastor Bill shares his thoughts on the believer’s process of learning to use the authority that we’ve been given. While all things are made new in our hearts, we are always growing and maturing in faith.

question about theology

if jesus finished everything on the

cross and why are people not healed

and delivered of demons you know right

away or

when they’re converted it does insane

the question so i could probably just

jump through when they’re converted

yeah i don’t know yeah i have no idea

it’d be nice

you know yeah you know we’re we’re all

in process

and that process means you know

i have i’m coming out of a lifestyle

that’s so

antichrist in nature you know if i was

saved as a child or if i

saved as you know an 80 year old man you

know i’ve come out of a lifestyle

and while all things are made new and

you know in our heart there’s still i’m

coming out of a lifestyle where

i’m a child in this new kingdom and

there’s things that you grow into you’re

just not instantly mature

and some of the things that we need

changed in our life is an issue of

maturity some of it is

is that contamination issue you know why

it doesn’t happen

once i can’t answer but i can’t say

absolutely it doesn’t happen all at once

it’s why scripture teaches us to do

certain things you know

um don’t give place to the devil why

because it’s possible to give place to

the devil

you know why why should we give

attention to certain things in our life

you know as you give as you pay

attention to these things you will be

complete and mature in christ and

there’s these

statements about patience and lung

suffering and enduring and

fasting and you know all these issues

that come up in the christian life

you know they’re just they’re a part of

our process you know

and why it doesn’t happen all at once i

don’t know but i’m

i i do know this and this is kind of

paradoxical maybe

it was all covered at calvary everything

that is needed

jesus doesn’t have to return and do

anything else it was all paid for

then so everything that we break into

whether it’s a

an anointing for miracles or a

deliverance from an addiction

it was all taken care of at calvary and

what we do in our walk with christ is we

learn to step into these realms

you know into these things he purchased

for us and

so it’s it’s a process of learning to

use the the power or the authority he’s

given us

so it doesn’t come all at once to here’s

a badge and a gun i know you just

joined the force i know you’re only five

yeah exactly try not to turn up your

brother

yeah you know there’s a difference

between what we what i have in my

possession what i have in my account

yeah everything’s put into the account

but maturity makes withdrawals

faith makes withdrawals there are

certain elements of our life that

enables us to withdraw from what’s

already been put into the account

and uh that’s part of the process it’s

like

you know it’s like a person who gets an

inheritance i remember

uh years ago uh knowing somebody their

their father died and

and they had a very huge inheritance

left for them but they couldn’t touch it

till they were 35.

you know it’s like there’s certain

markers in our life

where we are we grow into what was

laid aside for us a long time ago 2000

years ago you know

yeah and that the christian life is full

of that stuff you know where we

we become qualified in the sense that

that uh the blessing won’t kill us

you know it comes back to um uh

the thought that god disciplines us so

we can survive his blessings

you know he prunes us so that his

blessing on our life doesn’t kill us

because you know israel ended up time

after time

being blessed by god but falling off

into some crazy

sin you know and and so because that

christians have come to the conclusion

that god wants us

to be miserable in this life so that we

stay pure

that’s that’s not the answer either

that’s kind of dumb yeah

you know it’s his blessing we just have

to learn how to be mature enough

to live with blessing without it killing

us you know without it

taking us away into independence or

rebellion or whatever

so i think that’s huge and then do you

have any put any stock in the idea of

like a corporate anointing

or a individual anointing like i think

we’ve talked about in times past where

that

the belief that you were actually saved

in the moment of asking

and it was is a relatively a kind of a

new idea

for a long time you were saved by being

connected with the church and taking the

eucharist the sacraments with the church

but then you know with finney and these

guys that hey it’s just a confession

and it happens in an instant there was a

faith that actually people are saved

right

in a moment of confession right and then

you have that same sense that we’re

corporately moving towards greater

anointing or

in these areas of dealing with the

demonic or i do

i do uh strongly i think there are some

things

that god won’t you know historically we

look at you know the the

wigglesworths and the you know finney

and you know these people

and they’re our heroes but what god put

on them

is small compared to what he’d like to

put on his body yeah

because then the focus isn’t just one

person yeah

you know um i i really believe that the

lord wants to raise up the finis the

wigglesworth the whoever

to impart but so that there is a

corporate expression

so that it’s you know you don’t just

target one individual you know the enemy

doesn’t just target one individual

because

it’s everybody’s carrying it yeah and i

do believe that i also believe there’s a

unique flavor in every

house of faith every church family you

know the lord will put a certain grace

on us

a certain grace on little country church

and risen king and

each of the ones and denominations have

certain flavors

you know tribal flavors that are that

are rich and wonderful to

you know i i that’s one of the things i

like to do is to be with so many

different groups and just see the

diversity and

i don’t want to do that but i so

celebrate it and i’m so glad to you know

to be

to be there so yeah um but that’s i

think i think it’s just a huge part of

the whole process

of just you just you realize that god

has put things in our account there are

corporate anointings corporate

expressions

and it’s kind of cool when you get a

brand new believer they get grafted

into a church family that has many years

of walking in something

it means they’re in a protected

environment to grow fast

much faster than if they were outside of

that

it’s kind of like drafting behind the

big semi truck

it just makes it easier and uh and

that’s that’s part of

well it’s been you know one of the

things is just the idea that

that there’s a whole body carrying an

anointing

is a relatively new you know idea we

were pretty much the

one with the hot hands either the saints

of old the saint francis of assisi

or the master teacher in calvin and

luther and and even up to the healing

revivals of the 50s and 60s they were

it wasn’t the idea that it was everybody

could do this no that’s right

and that was that’s what i think

ultimately brought it in

to that to that move of god in past

moves because

if you think about when the lord raises

up someone head and shoulders above

everybody else you know you’ll have a

nobody and they have this encounter and

suddenly they have this extraordinary

anointing you know finney

who’s a lawyer who suddenly preaches

with such extraordinary power or

wigglesworth who’s a plumber that now

crazy things happen when he prays or he

preaches and

and suddenly you know they their head

and shoulders above everyone

else but the role is to equip yeah

and it’s to equip the saints so that the

saints

come into what was unusual comes into it

as a norm you know

it’s it doesn’t mean that person stops

growing there’s still more but the point

is

is to raise the corporate anointing yeah

and it and that’s why i think it ends is

because

the the anointing i don’t think is to be

used the anointing on my life

just to be used to gather people

together so they can feed from my gift

yeah there’s a part of that yeah but

it’s got to be to equip them

to go past what i have what i’ll have

time to do yeah you know yeah

and if we can get that shift that’s one

of the things i think has been

a theological breakdown in anointings

and giftings

as men have have used their gift well

to take care of people but have not

caught the peace at least it appears

from history

have not caught the part that they’re to

equip the saints

to actually do yeah and then the whole

success

and a successor concept you know bring

up other people to carry the same

anointing

there’s been a break down there

historically and so things end that i

don’t think ever should have ended