Clothed In The Spirit

Fresh Power - What Happens When God Leads and You Follow!

I don’t know about you, but I am really enjoying our summer reading book. And I think, as you can tell by the sermons, I’m getting so much more than just what Pastor Cymbala has written about.

Basically we have been looking at what it means to have the Fresh Power of the Holy Spirit active in our lives.

Every day lives. Not just our church lives.

And really, that’s what we’ve been really focusing on. The Holy Spirit effecting us in here, so that we can be effective for him in our World.

He aligns us up with his plan for our neighbors, our co-workers and others that we come into contact with

He places us in the right place at the right time

He prioritizes our day, our giftings and the other important things of life so that he can use us. So that we will want to be used.

He gives us the ability to be His Witnesses

He deals with that which is a mess in our lives that would normally hinder us from being good witnesses and cleans us and strengthens us so that we can become pure witnesses for him

He gives us the ability to transcend the normal barriers of the flesh to spiritually be taught and enabled to speak, act and love people. He gives us the right thing to say in that right place at the right time.

He empowers us as witnesses - Gives us the goods to back up the message

That power provides what we called the Shock and Awe

The mouth dropping awe inspiring actions of the Glory of God

It confuses and defeats the enemy in our situations

It turns people minds and hearts toward the God who is at action.

It demands a response.

And then last week we said that he makes us witnesses by Uniting us.

It’s the Holy Spirit that unites, us. We can do nothing to start or maintain unity on our own

Unity is a product of the God who is love.

That means that unity is constructed in His Love

And unity is born of the Holy Spirit.

(and I encourage you to listen to or watch that message on line if you were not here. Even in the pain that I was in last week, it was an exciting and joyful message to speak. I think it will minister to you)

Today I want to talk to you about a phrase that Pastor Jim Cymbala spoke about himself because it really spoke something in my heart when I read it.

He writes on page 121 - I want to be totally yielded to God, don’t you? I don’t want to live half full; I want to experience what it means to be full of the Holy Spirit in the way God intended. He promised that through the gospel and the Spirit’s anointing our lives could be used just like Svea Flood’s to bring blessing and hope to multitudes. The thought of that means far more to me than any worldly honor or achievement. I don’t want a title; I don’t want to be famous or meet some earthly dignitary; I don’t want to be rich. I just want God to clothe me with his Spirit so I can affect people for Christ.

That’s really what we have been talking about every week this summer. God anointing us with His Holy Spirit so that we can be useful for him in the lives that we lead.

But I had never really heard that phrase before, and if I did, it didn’t make the impact on me as it did like this week. - Clothed in the Spirit

Actually he says two things here:

Full of the Spirit - I speak alot about that

and clothed with the Spirit.

Full of the spirit is what we normally talk about.

Clothed in the spirit would be the effect of that. Having the Spirit of God on us and around us.

That’s what happens when we are baptized. Correct? We are enveloped or surrounded by or clothed by the water and the Holy Spirit.

Turn with me to

Acts 2:17–21 NKJV

17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

This is the prophecy from as we all know.

And basically what is happening is that God says, in the end days, or the days that draw to toward the end, that God is going to equip his servants to do their task.

What do we know about the end days?

They will grow short. In other words, Time will fly. Is that true of today?

There will be new evils released. Satan is going on all out attack. Is that true of Today

Men’s hearts will fear - because of anxiety and stress. Is that true of Today?

People will be lead astray. I believe the Bible says if possible. That means that people will accept a lie as truth. Is that True of Today?

Might we be living in the last days? We definitely are.

Do we need to be empowered or what Pastor Cymbala calls here clothed in the Spirit? We definitely do.

Now I couldn’t find the phrase “Clothed with or in the Spirit in the scriptures.

is the closest

Luke 24:49 NKJV

49 “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.”

In many English Translations, that word endued is translated clothed with power.

To be clothed with power, or to be clothed in the Holy spirit is to be wrapped in something other than the flesh.

Being Clothed in the Spirit makes us look different.

We’ve seen the shows. Total makeovers by many different names.

People come in and clear the closets and the drawers and go shopping with the person to change their looks by changing their clothes.

And when you see that person in their new threads, they have a new look

Many times their personalities are different - they have a new image to keep up.

They may make new friends, or what I would call acquaintances. But here is the deal. If you are going to hang out with me now that I’ve gotten a new wardrobe. I don’t need you to do so. Because I’m the same old person under these new clothes who were under the old. And what I see is that you are just liking the outside. It’s never going to last.

We are told by the scriptures to put on the whole armor of God.

We have the helmet of salvation

We have the shoes of peace

We have the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness

However in that whole list, it doesn’t tell us to put on the robe of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s my thinking to that. And again, it’s my thinking. But I think you will see that it makes sense.

When we put on our spiritual armor and take the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith into our hands, what really gives them the edge over the attacks of the enemy that we need. What really empowers them to their full extent is the surrounding of the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you want to look different, don’t just walk in the armor of any soldier, but walk in the Holy Spirit powered armor of the Soldier of Christ.

If you want to have victory in your situations of life, don’t just put the spiritual armor on, but make sure you clothe yourself in the power of the Spirit of that armor.

Pastor Cymbala writes about the word Deacon being another word for servant.

In those scriptures it says that a deacon or a servant, must be full of the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

Have you ever had a device or something else that you don’t have batteries for? Or the batteries have run out?

Have you ever given a child a gift and you didn’t think about the fact that the batteries are not included? How much fun did that child have with your gift?

It may look cool. It may promise great things. It may be ever to do some amazing things. But without batteries it’s just another thing. Why, because without power, it can’t do what it’s meant to do.

I have a sense that there a lot of christian running around with good armor on.

It looks cool

It promises great things

It has the capability of doing amazing things.

And yet they are always living the defeated, sick, rundown, discouraged life. WHY? They have the armor, but they never have put the power to the armor on.

In our scriptures for today, God says that I will pour out my spirit on my male servants and my maid or female servants.

And they will what? Prophecy. They will know things that they could not any other way know.

Prophecy isnt’ only a word. But it’s knowing how to put that word into practice and live by it.

Let me tell you, you will look different when you are living in a way that is putting God’s revelation Word into action.

2ndly,

Being Clothed in the Spirit Makes us Act Differently

When the flesh is covered up by the Spirit, we become spiritual people.

We are no longer driven by the things of the flesh, but now the Spirit of God is dictating our lifestyles.

We no longer act, or respond according to the flesh, but we now act according to the Spirit of God. How many know that is a big change.

We find ourselves for the first time, totally yielded to God.

This is what we see in the Son when he prays, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.

We don’t pray that a lot in life do we?

We pray for what we want

We pray for the people that we love

We pray for God’s direction and will, but our thinking is always that it will line up with what we are involved in or where we want to be.

When we are clothed in the Spirit, none of that matters.

You see, no longer are we trying to cover up the flesh

No longer are we seeking to save or protect the flesh

Rather, we seek to protect and grow in the things of the Spirit.

We seek the Spiritual things over the fleshly things.

How many still need that to happen in their lives?

We are enabled to live a life that is full.

This comes because for the first time our life is full of something other than ourselves.

We are full of God’s Holy Spirit.

Because the Spirit is over the flesh, we no longer look for fulfillment in the things of the flesh.

We don’t need our pride stroked by the things of the flesh.

We are not worried about our works of the flesh being recognized.

Joy is now found in serving God and others around us

Fulfillment is found in ministering the Gospel wherever we are.

We are fulfilled as we worshiped the Lord today in the songs that we sang

We are fulfilled by our gathering together and being with the family of God this morning.

We find different ways to make life count.

Life takes on a whole different meeting.

For those who read the book, it’s the same type of thing that Aggie learned about her mother’s death.

Some would say, what a waste

Some would say that God wasn’t in that

That they shouldn’t have been there.

But when you see the big picture of God, we understand that every sacrifice is worth it in life.

I know that I already spoke about Acts chapter 6, but there is something here.

the deacons or the servants were to be men full of the Holy Spirit.

There is something there to that statement.

As believers everyone would have had the Holy Spirit in them.

But there was an evidence that could be seen of the Holy Spirit upon them.

There was something that could be noted as different about them.

As Pastor Cymbala says, there was something that was distinct and observable that made them stick out as such.

Is it in your life today brothers?

Does it mark your lifestyle sisters?

Have you put on the Holy Spirit of God this morning?

Well how would I know Pastor?

I just told you:

You will look different.

Did your family notice it as they drove to church with you?

You will act different

Did the cashier at Wawa see it?

Did your family notice it as they drove to church with you?

Does the enemy know it? He will, he should

And he should be scared that you do.

Let’s all go to work tomorrow.

Let’s all go to our groups tomorrow

Let’s all do life tomorrow, clothed in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s Pray!