TRADING A COAT FOR A MANTLE

Seated, thank you worship team. What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time of worship in the house of God tonight. Thank you for those that are joining with us online and we trust that after the short hearing of God's word this evening that God will touch your heart in a very, very special way and it will transform you into from what you are into what God has intended you to be.

As you heard tonight the powerful testimony from the young man, his name is Joe, who was transformed the very first time he came into the house of God after having seen God transform the life of his father. Thank God for that wonderful testimony tonight, Joe, really appreciate that. I want to give a special shout out to the TSC creative team that are here with us tonight, all the TSC people, give them a shout out.

Thank God, glad you're here with us tonight. Take time to create something while you're here, be nice. You know there are three times in my life, you know there are milestones in every Christian life and by milestone I mean it's a time you can point to that changed your life, that changed your future.

Joe tonight when the young man when he shared his testimony he talked about walking into the house of God, that was one of his milestones and transformed his life and changed his future. In my particular situation there were three specific times I can remember that actually changed the course of my life. The first one of course was in May 12, 1978 as a 24-year-old police officer on my way to work when I made the decision to pull over on the side of the road and pray a prayer and I said, Lord Jesus if what my friend has told me is true, God I invite you into my life to be my Lord and to be my Savior.

That was a milestone because that was the day that I traded a life of sin for a life of forgiveness. I traded in this old nature for the new life that God promised me and the eternity in heaven he promises you tonight online as well through Jesus Christ. The second time was when I was visiting a church and I've shared it many, many times in many, many meetings and I'm not going to share the whole story tonight.

But at the end of a message a call was given to step out of living for myself and to give myself for the sake of others and I remember coming to the altar all alone on one side of the platform that night and really gave my future into the hands of God. And I remember that day as a milestone. I remember that day as a day that everything in my life began to change.

But there was a third time and I want to talk about that tonight. It was the day that I traded a coat for a mantle. The day I traded a coat for a mantle.

Now the concept of mantle comes from the story of a prophet called Elijah and his young protege called Elisha. Elijah had a touch of God. He had a calling of God.

He had an empowerment of God. Elijah could do things that can only be done by the power of God working through his life. Elisha was a young man that was called to follow him and Elisha saw the power of God, the empowerment of God in Elijah's life and he began to desire it.

This was the request of his heart, the request of his life. And on the day that God took Elijah up by a chariot into heaven, the mantle, the covering, the calling as it is, the empowerment of God that was upon Elijah fell to the earth and Elisha picked it up because he wanted it. And he said where is the God of Elijah? And he took that mantle and the scripture says he struck the water, an impassable place of water with it and the water parted to the left and to the right and he walked over on dry land.

The power of God was now upon him because he wanted the power of God. He wanted the pathway of God. Now a lot of people, they want to go to church.

A lot of folks want their sins forgiven and that's an admirable thing and I'm not downplaying any of that. But there's every once in a while somebody rises up that says I'm not satisfied with just that. I want the power of God.

I want the pathway of God. And in order to find that pathway, there are going to be specific moments that come into your life. They're going to be tests of obedience.

They're going to be tests of desire. Do I want the pathway of God more than what I think my life should be? Do I want the life that God has for me more than the life that I have crafted for myself? Now many, many people settle in and say, well the life I have is good enough for me. So I'm just going to go to church and have my sins forgiven and I'm just going to live the way I have been.

I'm going to pursue my own goals. And I'm not suggesting for a moment that heaven won't be your home, but the influence you could have had on the earth from that moment that you received Christ until the day that you are found in eternity with God will be greatly diminished. I thank God for the day I decided to trade a coat for a mantle.

I thank God. And I'm going to share that at the end of this message. I'm going to start in Luke chapter 3. If you have your Bible, you can follow along with me.

Luke chapter 3 beginning at verse 7. Father, I thank you for the touch of heaven in the sanctuary this evening. I thank you for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I thank you, God, that you're going to have a people again in this generation who are not satisfied with just status quo Christianity.

They want the power that you have made available to those who are called according to your purpose. I pray, O God, with all my heart that we will be willing to trade in whatever we have to trade in for what it is that you want to give us. And I give you praise and glory for it in Jesus' name.

Luke chapter 3, verse 7. This is John the Baptist. Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham to our father.

For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. So in effect, what John was saying, he was saying to people who thought that through human effort and religion alone, they could bear the fruit of God. They could do the work of God.

And basically, he said, if you think you can, then bring forth the fruit of it. And the next line is incredible. In verse 9, he says, now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, and therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

God gave a promise to Abraham. This is what John was saying. The promise to Abraham is that he was going to supernaturally raise up a testimony of the earth.

And the people he was going to raise up would be empowered by God himself to do things that only God can do through them. And these people that God would flow through would bring the name of God, Jehovah God of that time, to reputation in the earth. As the church of Jesus Christ, we have become the inheritors, in a sense, of the promise that God made to Abraham, ultimately went into the children of Israel, through whom was the Savior born, through whom was the church of Jesus Christ birthed into the world.

So we are, in a sense, the inheritors of the promise. The promise being that not only do we have eternal life through Christ, but we have the power of God flowing through our lives to do things that only God can do. To bring the name of God to reputation in the earth.

We're not called just to be an argument in this world. We're called to be a demonstration of who God is and what God can do. As the young man shared tonight, he saw something in his father that could not be done by any man.

It was done by the presence and power of God. That's how God's name is brought to reputation, Christ's name through his church. So the people asked him, saying, what shall we do then? In other words, if only God can do these things, then what do we do? And he answered and said to them, he who has two tunics, let him give to one who has none.

And he who has food, let him do likewise. The tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than what is appointed you. And likewise, the soldiers asked him, saying, and what shall we do? So he said to them, do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely and be content with your wages.

What shall we do? In verse 11, he says to those who came, the initial people, he said, well, whoever has two coats, let him give one to the person who has none. And he who has food, do likewise. In other words, be selfless, see the needs of others before your own.

Verse 12 and 13, he said to the tax collectors, be honest, especially when it's your advantage not to be. And there's so many people today who are not honest. Be honest, he said.

He said to the first group, he said, be selfless. Look to the needs of others before you look to your own needs. To the second group of people, he said, be honest, especially when it's to your advantage not to be.

Because some people just say, well, everybody's doing it. So what's the problem with it? You know, there's a problem with it. If God says not to do it, it ought not to be done.

Then the tax collectors came to him to be baptized. What shall we do? Collect no more than is appointed to you. Likewise, the soldier said, what shall we do? And he said to them, don't intimidate anyone or accuse anyone falsely and be content with your wages.

In other words, don't use your authority to bully others. Don't accuse others without having the facts. And be content with whatever provision God gives you.

Hallelujah. I was doing an open radio show in New York City one time and police officers alone were calling in. And this was one of the chief complaints of a lot of the police officers that were not paid enough.

And I read them this scripture. What shall we do? Be content. Don't accuse others without having the facts.

Don't bully people and be content with your wages. It got very, very quiet on the other end of the line, I'll tell you. Now, supernatural life begins with a desire to do right, especially when others seem to be content to do wrong.

Supernatural life requires an inward change. It requires the permanent power of God. We can be selfless maybe one time and give to somebody else or look out for other person's needs.

We can be honest even when it's to our advantage not to be. We can stop bullying others. We can not accuse people without the facts and we can be content with our provision but only momentarily.

But John the Baptist is not talking about a momentary thing. He's talking about a lifestyle. He's talking about a permanent change.

He's talking about something that happens in the human heart. In other words, always look out to the needs of others. Always be honest even when it's to your advantage not to be.

Never accuse others without having the facts. Don't use your authority to take advantage over other people and be content with what God chooses to give you as wages. Be content.

You see, it requires inward change. It requires the power of God to be permanent. It begins when we exchange our lives for the new life that God through His Son wants to give us.

And I spoke to you at the beginning of this message about the three times that God, that I can look back on and say these were cornerstones. These were pillars. These were moments that changed my life, that changed my future, and ultimately changed the lives and the futures of other people around me over time.

But the one that came to mind as I was reading these scriptures again, I was in a church that was, I was, we were attending a church, my wife and I, that were, people were quite affluent in this church. Now we were, I don't know if we were the poorest people in the church, Pastor Treat, but we were really close to being the poorest people in this particular church. I mean, we had a farmhouse.

It was a one-wage home. We had children to raise. And I'm not saying we were poor, but if people broke into our farmhouse, they would most likely leave money on the kitchen table for us.

I saved up for a long time because I had a, I had a coat. I had a winter coat. And because I'm working in the barn with it all the time, we had sheep on the farm at this time and cows and goats and all this stuff.

And because I was working in the barn, it had a certain fragrance to it, you know. Then it was okay on the farm, but when you walked into a store, you walked into a supermarket, you know, quite often, you know, people, as you walk by, they turn around like, what is that? And it's because I worked in the barn. And there's a lot of stuff that comes along with that.

I saved a long time. We didn't have any money. And I saved a long time.

And I put pennies away. And then finally I got enough money to buy myself a new coat. And it was a nice coat.

It was one of the puffy ones, you know, it had a fur hood and everything. And it was just a nice coat. And I'm not wearing that in the barn.

I wear this new coat to church because I thought it was important to look nice in church and to smell nice in church and everything else. And I had my brand new coat. And I remember going to church on a Sunday morning.

It was cold. It was either in January or February in Canada. So it's minus, it's really cold outside.

At the end of the service, I went downstairs to the coat room to get my coat. And a man came downstairs and he said, there's a homeless man here that has no coat. And it's really cold outside.

And this is a homeless guy and he's got no coat. And I'm just standing there. And in my mind, like everyone around here has got a lot of money.

And they did. And they probably got six coats at home, which I don't doubt they did have. And lovely warm cars to drive home in.

We had a car that I called it a Rolls-Conardly. Rolls down one hill, Conardly make it up the next. It had holes in the floor.

And if you drove on a dust road, you had more dust in the car than was outside the car. It was that kind of a vehicle. But that's where we were.

We were happy. We were happy to be saved. We were happy to go to church.

And so nobody said anything. And all these guys are downstairs and they're all getting their coats off the, off the hooks in this coat room. And nobody says anything.

And the man stood on the stairs again. He said it the second time, if I remember correctly, there's a man upstairs, homeless man. He has no coat.

And the man next to me said, as he's taking this five, $600 coat off the hook, he said, we'll pray about it. And I remember standing there thinking, what's there to pray about? I was actually reading this scripture the week before. Let him who has two tunics give one to the man who has none.

And then suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, give the man your coat. And I immediately said, but my other coat is at home in the closet. This is my new coat.

This is my good coat. And the Holy Spirit said again, give the man your new coat, not your old one. Give him your new coat.

So I took my coat off the hook and I gave it to the man on the stairs. And I said to him, here, give the man my coat. You know, the man turned out to be a backslidden Christian that was homeless and his wife ended up coming to our church.

And it was just a long story. God really blessed. God really blessed.

And I gave the man my coat and I went home on a February day. It was freezing outside in my shirt and without a coat, but I was a happy man. I went home and I picked up my old coat and I was happy to wear my old coat because I had traded.

I didn't realize it that day, but I had traded my coat for a mantle. I traded my coat for the covering of God. I traded my coat for something that only God can give.

I traded my coat for a pathway that has taken me into prisons and poverty stricken areas throughout the world and places where I could never have gone in my own strength. And it began the day I traded my coat for a mantle. I simply obeyed.

I let go of what I thought I should have. So I'm not really understanding that I was receiving in kind or in return something that only God can give. A covering from God, a pathway from God, an empowerment of God, a journey that God would set my feet on that would send me into places all throughout the world.

And we have been in some of the most poverty stricken places of the world. We've had the privilege of taking truckloads of goats into Burundi. We've taken chickens to impoverished people.

We've done all kinds of things all over the world. And I know it began that day. I know it in my heart.

What if I had just ignored the voice of God, picked up my coat because I deserved this coat and went home with it? I dare say that might have been the only covering I had, the only mantle I had. When we give up what we think we should be and we give up what we think we should have and we give up where we think we should go and we put it into the hands of God. And as John said, we begin to look out to the needs of others.

And we deal honestly with God when we could deal dishonestly with God. And pretend we never read the scripture. Pretend it doesn't apply to us.

Oh, that must, that's, and go. And my story could be today, oh, that poor guy beside me, he didn't give the man his coat when I didn't give him mine. No.

And look out for the needs of others and be content with what you have. Be content with your wages, he said. God said, I gave you that other coat.

Be content with that. And so I wore that. As a matter of fact, I used to be discontent wearing my stinky coat.

Now I was happy wearing it because I had done something that God had asked me to do, not knowing that it was going to part the water. Do you understand? Not knowing that it was going to create a new pathway. It was going to bring something into my life that can only come from the hand of God.

And so I guess the question is, what do we all have to trade? What do we have to give away so that God can give to us what He wants to give to us? What are we holding to that we think we need? That God says, you don't need that. Somebody else needs that. You see, it becomes a life of looking out past ourselves to the needs of others.

A life where we take on this new heart and our lives become an extension of the goodness of our God to the society and the people all around us. And to some of the people listening online tonight, there are some things you need to let go. You need to let go of just a loathsome self-image.

You need to let go of the drugs you're taking, the drink you're putting in your body, the places you're going to, the entertainment you're watching to try to satisfy your soul. You need to let that stuff go so that the mantle of God can come upon you. And when you let it go, God gives you something that can only come from heaven and leads you on a pathway that only God can lead you on.

When Elijah picked up that mantle, he struck the water of impossibility and he said, where is the God of Elijah? In other words, where is the power that's promised to those who walk with God in the scriptures? And the scripture says the water opened up before him, the pathway. I don't know about you, but I wanted and still do want the pathway of God. I wanted and still do want the power of God that goes with it.

I don't want a powerless testimony. I don't want to be just an argument about the reality of God. I would rather be a demonstration of the reality of God.

I want what God has for my life. I want the giftings that God has. I want the passion in my heart that God can give me.

I want the pathway that God sets before each one of our lives. I want it for my own life. I want it more than I've ever wanted it in my life.

I've wanted it in the early years, but now that I'm old, I see something of God. I see where the power of God lies. It's not in youthful exuberance.

It's in the presence of God in a surrendered vessel. I see now why God had to wait until Moses was 80 years old to send him into Egypt to deliver the people. I understand some things now I didn't understand before.

It has to be Him, and I want it to be Him because I'm tired of the name of Jesus Christ not being glorified in my generation. I'm tired of the children being gender confused and confused every other conceivable way in the time we're living. And as Joe said, I'm tired of families being busted up.

I'm tired of children being wounded and bruised. I'm sick and tired of the godlessness in this society. And I know that God is able to change it.

I know that God can open a pathway through the sea even when it seems impossible. And the only thing He asks of me is what He asks of me. Do you understand? I don't have to come up with it.

He brings it before me. He will let me know what I need to do. He will let me know when I need to let go of something.

He will let me know if discontent is getting into my heart. He will let me know when He gives me an opportunity to do good. Because every time I release something, it comes back to me pressed down, shaking together, and running over, as the scripture says.

It was a pivotal point the night I changed and traded a coat for a mantle. And I thank God for it with all my heart. I thank God for those little decisions that make a difference.

Those little decisions that can govern our entire future. The little things that God says, I want you to let go of it now. I think about bitterness.

I think about unforgiveness. I think about habits and patterns. I don't know.

There's just so many things that we can let go of tonight so the mantle of heaven can fall upon us and a new pathway opens up, a new authority, new abilities, new resources. Oh God. Oh God.

Oh God. Thank you for giving me the courage to make decisions back then that looked so big and yet they were so small. It's funny.

It seemed like such a big thing to give away a coat. Isn't that something? But it wasn't. It was a little thing that just looked big in my eyes.

When we start to give, we start to understand that there's this infinite supply of God that never goes away. And God begins to do through our lives what only God can do. And so I want to encourage you tonight, those that are listening online, trade your life of sin for the forgiveness of God.

Admit that you can't save yourself and believe that God sent his son to die on a cross in your place so that believing in him as I did back in 1978 and confessing him with your mouth, you might know that your sins are forgiven. That means the wrong things you've done against God that have separated you from God can be forgiven. That you're brought back into a right relationship with God.

And not only is heaven, can heaven be your eternal home, but you can have an abundant, meaningful, full, purposeful life while you live on the earth. Oh God. I can't thank the Lord enough for what he's done in my life.

And I can't thank him enough for what he's going to do in your life, sir, madam tonight, when you just make that first step, that first step, that first milestone in your life of getting up from where you are and saying, I'm going with God, just like Elisha did. I want the power of God. I want the ways of God.

I want the calling of God. I want the purpose of God. I want the ability of God.

I want everything that comes with this walk. Even if it brings persecution, I want that too as well. I want it all because I want Christ to be glorified through my life.

I'm going to ask you to pray a simple prayer with me tonight. And if you mean it with all your heart, I'm just leading you in a prayer. Then you can know that your sins are forgiven and heaven will be your eternal home.

Let's all pray together, please, for the sake of those praying with us online tonight. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for loving me. Thank you for paying the price for my wrong so that I could be forgiven.

Tonight, I give you my life. I open my heart to you, Jesus, and I invite you into my life to be my Lord and my Savior. From this day forward, I believe that heaven will be my home when I die and that while I live, I will have a purpose, your purpose, for my life on this earth.

I believe tonight that I am a child of God. I am forgiven, and my life will make a difference. I do have a purpose.

You will serve others through me. Your power will be in my life. And I thank you for it tonight, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen and amen. We're going to celebrate communion in just a moment. If you can go to your cupboard and get some bread and some juice or crackers and juice, and we're going to celebrate the death of Christ on the cross for your sins.

And we're going to believe tonight as we continue to do, and we're going to rejoice as we heard earlier in what God has done in your life tonight. Be back in just a moment.