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Beyond Rules to True Freedom • Jun 01st 1969

The Anointing Oil Part 2 – How the Holy Spirit Teaches, Leads & Transforms Your Life

What does it mean that “you have an anointing… and you need no man to teach you”? In this message, Gene Edwards explores the profound reality of the inner anointing—the living work of the Holy Spirit within every believer—and how it teaches, corrects, and builds us into Christ.

This teaching reveals that the anointing is not merely a doctrine, but an active, inward working. It is described as a kind of inner sense—sometimes gentle, sometimes unsettling—that guides decisions, shapes character, and forms spiritual discernment over time.

You may recognize it as that quiet hesitation before making a decision, or an inner uneasiness that cannot be explained logically. According to this message, that “check” is often the anointing at work—teaching, regulating, and leading you into deeper fellowship with the Lord.

The anointing is also tied directly to spiritual growth and the building of the Body of Christ. As believers learn to follow this inward teaching, they are not only transformed individually, but also knit together corporately. The Holy Spirit becomes the source of guidance, unity, and maturity within the church.

A central theme of this message is learning to respond to the anointing in everyday life. Whether in simple decisions, personal habits, or spiritual gatherings, the Lord teaches His people through this inward law of life. Sometimes that teaching comes through restraint—what the speaker calls the “negative work” of the cross—where obedience requires letting go, stepping back, or choosing not to act.

Yet this is not a message of pressure or legalism. The tone is deeply freeing: even when we miss or ignore the anointing, the Lord continues to teach and build. Growth comes through experience, not perfection.

The message also explores how this inner leading shapes corporate life. In gatherings, prayer, and fellowship, believers are encouraged to respond to the Spirit’s prompting—not with performance or formality, but with simplicity and authenticity. The emphasis shifts from outward structure to inward life.

Ultimately, this teaching points to a powerful reality: God desires a people who are taught directly by Him—living, moving, and growing under the constant flow of His Spirit.

If you’ve ever wondered how to recognize God’s guidance in your daily life, this message offers clarity, encouragement, and a deeper understanding of the anointing within.

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For the building, there is the oil. And as the oil is poured upon the stone, the more that stone is built and transformed, and so it becomes precious stone. The oil is poured on the Head; Jesus Christ is the high priest. He is from the line of Aaron, and he’s from the line of Melchizedek. He is the high priest. And we are priests too; we’re priests from here down. We are the corporate man. The oil is poured upon Him and comes down upon us. The oil is upon the tabernacle; the oil is upon everything.

Then in 2 Corinthians 1, it says we have the Anointing One establishing us and building us together. The anointing is for the establishing and the building. Paul said you are a group of people gathered together, and I build you up so that you can edify one another. Until you can what? Until you are built up and every joint supplies, until the church is expressing the all-inclusiveness of Christ, for in Him and His work in death and resurrection and ascension is everything you will ever need if you are here in this town for a hundred years. All of the working of the anointing in you will supply everything.

Now, brothers and sisters, you have to learn a little bit about the anointing. It sounds great until right now, doesn’t it? Praise the Lord, it sounds really great. I’ve got the anointing in me, and I don’t need anyone to teach me.  Well, the anointing is dependent upon the building. John said, “You have the anointing in you to teach you, and you need nothing else to guide you; you need no other teacher. And in Him is reality. Alright, brother, I also would say to you that the anointing is the law. The living law. You remember in Romans 8, it says, “The law of life, which is greater than the law of sin and the law of Moses.” The law of myself to do good. There is a law written into you. The anointing is also the regulation, and this is where the building begins. It’s the regulator.

Now, brother, you want to be built? The first thing you have to do is you have to begin now paying attention to the anointing. And the first thing that works is the death. The negative. And we shall have to have the death, the negative. The working of the anointing in you that teaches you.

You know me. You come and you make a plan. I’m going to buy a new car. My old car is worn out. I have the money to make the down payment. I need a car, and here is a good car at a bargain. Everything is reasonable, right? And you go down there to buy it. Everything seems fine, but then you begin to get an uneasiness within you. You get an uneasiness within you. You’ve had this as a young Christian. Ever since you found the Lord, you’ve had this. But you perhaps have not understood it, for there’s an uneasiness within you, a restlessness. Look, if I had some oil here, and I take the oil, the oil was always a symbol, not only of the Holy Spirit, but of something that is poured on for working into, oil can penetrate the skin. I take oil and I begin to rub it, and it goes into the man. And it goes into him. You sense the same; it’s just like this; that’s the only way I can describe it. The anointing is kind of being poured, and it’s kind of working like this. And it’s so mild, you can hardly believe that it could be the overcoming life. So quiet, but it just works. And you begin to be taught. Oh, you look for the day when no one needs to come and teach you, praise the Lord, but brother, how willing are you to be taught? And when you look at that big car or even that little car, and you look at your money, everything seems reasonable, but you need no one to teach you, for you have the anointing that teaches you everything. And this is the first teaching of the anointing. Brother, you have to go along with it. You have to go along with it! You don’t have to, but brother, I will tell you this: you will lose the sense of the anointing when you do. Go against Him, and you lose the sense.

I confess to you, I have a constant battle with the anointing all the time when I drive a car. I got in the car when I grew up, as a young person, I did like everyone else, only I lived in Texas, where everything was spaced out, the speed limit was 60 when I was young and says 70 today. I drove 70. If it had read 70, I would have gone 80, but brother, when I get in the car today and I begin to drive, all the wildness of my driving as a youth, I don’t mean that I was so very, very wild, but I think all Texans drive wild to be quite straight with you. I really do. I think they’re the wildest drivers in America. And I go along, and I am driving, and I’m in a rush, and the speed limit is 35 miles an hour, and I’m going 40, and I want you to know that there is an anointing within. You say, “Oh, really?” You bet, brother. You just be sure the Lord is anointing.  There is the anointing to teach us. No, brothers, I don’t have to do that, but I break fellowship with the Lord if I don’t. I come back down to the limit. You say you’ve never had anything like that. You do too! You do too. Yes, you do. You know. You know. Every one of you in this room, you know. There is the negative work.

Brother, when the Lord gets through transforming you, you’re not going to recognize yourself. He will change so many things about you. I’m not going to tell you what anything is. I can only tell you that you have an anointing and the Lord wants to more and more pour that anointing into you and work in you, but his first work is the work of the death, and you have to go along with him.

You go into the department store. Look at it. It’s full of stuff. And you come to buy something. You have to sense the anointing. Do you have the anointing? You have to go along with it. If you feel a check, that’s the anointing of the Lord. You have to go along with it.

(Question)

Well, all right. Brother, you have to go along with your sense. You have to go along with what you sense. Here’s something, and everything is reasonable about it, but I’m uneasy. I’m just uneasy, so what do I do? I either recognize this as the anointing, it’s teaching me, and I put it down, or if I’m not sure, brother, you may look a little ridiculous, you just stand there, “Oh Lord.  Lord, I agree with you.” Brother, I cannot tell you, and this takes some learning, this takes some going along, this takes some work of the Lord. Don’t get hung up; go along with the Lord. He knows you’re not perfect. Where is your consecration? Which way are you headed? If you don’t understand, go ahead and buy. If you say, Edwards has got me under the heat, I don’t have you under the heat. You go on and buy it. You get home and put it on the counter. Be sure and save the cashier’s receipt. And just how do you feel?

I’ll tell you, one day, I used to have a record player.  I bought a record. That was a good record. It was classical music. Out of, I think, Poland, real class, this is the only kind of music I appreciate. I bought it, and I had a check. I had a check. Well, this is Edwards. I took it, bought it, and went home, but I couldn’t open it. I cannot tell you, brothers, how much the Lord will teach us. I went home, and I got the itch. I got home to turn the record player on. I started to open the record, and I could not open it. I put it down. After a while, I tried again. I could not. There was something inside me. I picked it up and went down to the drugstore, and I said, “Will you take this back?” And they said no. Brothers, the package has never been opened. It’s still there. I can’t take it back, but it’s never been played. It’s still in the plastic. I have to go along with the Lord.

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