March 27, 2007

• The Mantle Within continued, by Pastor Don

  The Mantle of the Holy Spirit could not come to reside within us until Jesus ascended to Heaven. Then they were sent out.

  John 20: 21-23 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

  Luke 24:46-49 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

  Until the Mantle of the Holy Spirit rests within. When we look at the book of Acts we see that it was not just the 11 disciples who received the Holy Spirit

  We all have the Holy Spirit within. Does that mean we can do anything we want? No, what we have been given is Authority in Jesus’ name, which means that what we are able to do is what Jesus would do. If we are doing in our own understanding, and it is not in Jesus’ will, He is not required to do what we are wanting Him to do.

  If we have a bank account and someone gives us a check, it is no good unless there is money in the account. Jesus gave the Holy Spirit into our account. The Father gave authority to the Son, who then by the Holy Spirit, gave authority to us. We have received the mantle of the Holy Spirit.

  I have no authority to heal in my flesh, it is the Authority and Power of the Holy Spirit that heals a person, and we are obedient to the Authority and Power of the Holy Spirit. God promised that by His (Jesus’) stripes we are healed. While Jesus was with the apostles, they operated with the authority given to them by Jesus, when they hit a problem they couldn’t solve, they practiced the Jethro principle, and brought the difficult cases to Jesus.

  When the father of the demon possessed child came to Jesus, he asked why the disciples were not able to heal his son. Jesus ascertained how long the child was possessed, and then told the father, “If you can believe, all things are possible to Him who believes.”

  The father answered Jesus honestly.

  Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

  The disciples did good with what they had faith to believe for, but when the boy manifested symptoms again, they did not have a sustaining faith. They believed the circumstances. Jesus, when he healed the boy and the boy convulsed and appeared dead, did not believe the symptoms. When the crowd came, Jesus grabbed the boy by the hand and he rose, healed. Satan loves a crowd, and would have loved to have doubters there watching the show, but Jesus circumvented that.

  The disciples asked him why they couldn’t heal the boy and Jesus told them, Mark 9:29 “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

  The problem with us is that our eyes get in the way, the disciples prayed, and then said, “oops, it didn’t work.” Do not be fooled by circumstances.

  When the mantle is upon a ministry we can judge that it is really on the ministry by the fruit that the ministry produces. Does the leader really believe that Jesus is Christ and that He is really our Savior.

  John 14-17 speaks to us about the Holy Ghost, the promise of the father, and the mantle. But this promise is no longer a Mantle UPON, but a Mantle WITHIN. The Word of God will not come back void. When we pray to God with thanksgiving, and take steps in faith. We need to act on the unction of the Holy Spirit. If we feel a prompting of the Spirit, we need to listen.

  One day Pastor Don was going to visit someone in room 302 at the hospital, and felt the need to enter room 301. He was able to minister to someone who really needed to hear the gospel. Had Pastor Don not listened to the unction he might have passed up that room and missed an important opportunity to serve God. God sends promptings in our Spirit, he doesn’t flash neon signs saying 301, 301, 301.

  Most believers are waiting for the Mantle UPON, not realizing that we now have the Mantle WITHIN. Jesus has implied that when we feel the unction of the Spirit, go do something, and God will show up. But we need discernment to make sure that what we have the unction to do, is what God wants us to do. We have to be willing to go and see, and then assess whether what we did was of God or not. As we refine the tools of our bodies, then we will act more and more in line with God’s Word.

  Pastor Don said that he marvels that God loves us enough to use us. I can second that, it amazes me when God uses me, knowing what He has saved me from.

  Luke 10:22 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

  all is delivered, not some, not a little bit, not most, but ALL.

  Luke 10:23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see.

  What Jesus taught was not for everybody, and we need to be careful what we tell the masses that God is going to do, not everything is for everybody’s ears. We need to spend time with people, sharing the Word until they are grown enough to eat the meat of the Word. As the people get more and more Word of God into them, then they will grow closer and closer to God, and God will reveal more and more to them.

  Luke 10:24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.

  What we as Christians know about God is far more than the ancient prophets knew, for they only had the mantle upon them for a period of time and then it was removed. We have the Mantle Within, and the Holy Spirit reveals so much to us. There is so much to learn about God that we will never run out of things to learn about Him.

  John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

  Jesus dropped a bomb on the disciples with this revelation. First of all, they did not realize that He was going away, and that He was going to put the mantle on them. After Jesus goes to the cross the disciples hide, they have no idea what He had in mind.

  John 14:17 the Spirit of  truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells within you, and will be in you.

  IN YOU. What we can do only with the mantle on us, now we can do with the mantle within us. The world cannot receive it, but Jesus told us that the world could not receive Him. And today so much of the church is worldly, you have to be careful to make sure that your church is not teaching the doctrine of the world.

  The Barna polls show surprising results about what pastors believe and don’t believe. So many do not believe all that the Bible says about Jesus. The world wants spirituality, but they don’t want to believe. People need to keep reading the Word, coming to a solid church and being fed. Then they can model faith. Elisha modeled Elijah’s faith. By spending time with Elijah, Elisha’s discernment increased and he was able to see what the other prophets did not see when Elijah was taken up to heaven.

  Disciples of Christ have to come to the Lord and believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Every man, woman and child is fully capable of doing miracles. Your faith will work for you, for good or for bad. We want to do what the Word says, not what satan says.

  When we ask in Jesus’ name, we also give Him the authority to say “no”. We do not want what is not His best for us. If we abide in Him, we will begin to know His will, and when we ask what is His will, then it will be done.

  The church is not perfect, but we can preach a perfect Word. the gates of hell cannot prevail against God or the church. We need a discerning spirit. God will remove His mantle from the church if they are not preaching His word.

  Pastor Don gave us an acronym that mirrors what is going on today in the world: CAPS

  C – complacency
  A – apathy
  P – pessimism
  S – sarcasm

  God does His best work NOW. Not everyone wants to receive the truth of God, but we are to embrace everyone, and share the truth. Share the whole council of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit will reach those God has destined to reach.

  Hoping your day is blessed. We had a wonderful spring day and I discovered that underneath the melting snow is a driveway!!!! Praise God!

  Heather

  • 8:19 pm
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