We started looking last time at the mantles of the anointing or the mantles of God and we saw that spiritual influences are often likened to garments that we can put on and wear. Every spiritual activity involves a mantle or a garment which we wear. I'm sure that the higher level ministries carry mantles of authority and that the other fivefold ministries who are not at office level, they carry mantles of power and ability.

What about those outside of the fivefold ministry? Are there other mantles that we can put on? If so, what kind of mantles are available? When we hear the term mantle today it doesn't mean quite the same thing to us because today's clothing is a little bit different to the clothing that they wore in Bible days. Today men's clothing and women's clothing looks very different whereas those days they looked very similar. Today we wear three main types of garments.

I'm speaking of the western world. I'm not sure in the eastern world and some of the other countries they probably have unique garments that they wear but for the average ordinary person we have three basic garments. We have an undergarment, our underwear.

We have an outer garment which is our normal clothing and then we have additional things we put on like a coat or a jacket or a sweater or something like that over on top. Okay now I want to look at clothing tonight as an allegory and so don't stumble over the word mantle all the time and think now what exactly does a mantle look like. A mantle is quite simply an item of clothing okay and so we're allegorizing that and spiritualizing it so that as we put on clothing so we put on something that is spiritual.

Now I want to look firstly at the mantles of ministry which we mentioned before so I'm just going to repeat some of that very quickly to lay a foundation before we get tonight to the main subject that we have. Okay ministry is a special activity that we carry out for the Lord and every ministry requires a mantle to operate. It's a little bit like the careers in this world.

A doctor wears a certain garment and we can often identify a doctor when they walk in. They usually got this white coat and stethoscope hanging around their necks and maybe some other instruments. An accountant can sometimes have a very unique look.

A lawyer, an electrician, a carpenter, a plumber. Each of them wear garments that are suited to the kind of work that they do. So we see there are mantles of ministry but they're also mantles of authority and we saw that there are three main ministry offices.

The apostolic office, the prophetic office and the teaching office and the mantles that these offices carry are mantles of authority and then we saw mantles of ability and the other two of the five-fold ministry the pastoral ministry and the evangelistic ministry that are not office ministries. They don't have a mantle of authority but a mantle of ability or power. Now very often an anointing of God and a mantle of power brings an authority with it and so while that mantle is active there is authority in the person who's wearing it but the mantles of authority of the offices are given as a permanent thing which the person has available to use at any time.

These are some of the general mantles of ministry. Now I want to look at the universal mantles. What happens if you are not called to the five-fold ministry? What happens if you're an ordinary believer? I don't like the term but you know what I mean.

What happens if you are an ordinary believer who has no desire to go into full-time ministry? You have no specific orientation or calling to one of the five-fold ministry but you still want to work for the Lord. Are there mantles for that? Absolutely. You see all believers can flow in the gifts.

How many gifts are there? Nine gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 but in that passage where we read about the gifts we read that there are also different modes of operation of the gift. Now every mantle of ministry uses a different set or combination of the gifts of the Spirit. And each mantle has a unique mode of operation.

So a mantle may use a specific number of the nine gifts and another mantle may use those same gifts but each of them uses the gift in a different way. So although the gifts may look the same there is a different mode of operation between them. You see that? Okay so let's not think that that a mantle is a gift.

Okay and when I come to speaking about activation I've spoken in the past and disagreed with the concept of activating spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are given to us by the Holy Spirit but when it comes to mantles the concept of activation becomes more relevant and I will cover that as we continue. Now there are other mantles of ministry that don't fall in the five-fold ministry.

One of those is prophetic ministry. You say but isn't that a prophet? Not necessarily. Not necessarily even in the Acts of the Apostles we read of many who flowed in prophetic ministry who were never known as prophets but they operated.

See I think it was the daughters of Philip were said to function in prophetic ministry. They prophesied. They were not prophets.

So prophetic ministry is something that anybody can do provided they have that mantle. Okay they don't have to be a prophet and certainly not in office. Teaching ministry.

See there is a teaching office but there is the teaching ministry. The ministry of sharing the word. There is a ministry of soul winning and some people have a very powerful soul winning mantle.

There's a ministry of encouragement and motivation. There's a ministry of deliverance. A ministry of counseling perhaps.

A ministry of inner healing. Some people have a ministry in the arts. Perhaps you've got a ministry in music.

See any unique spiritual activity or ministry involves a specific mantle that activates that ministry and makes it work. So where do you stand? You say well yes I have been training for the fivefold ministry so therefore I see I should have one of those. I've been placed in office so I know I have the mantle of authority.

Or you're one of those that's saying you know I'm just an ordinary little Christian. Is there anything left for me? You know I don't even I've got a ministry really. Are there mantles for me? Oh yes there are two essential mantles.

Two essential mantles that every single believer has access to and should use and wear. And it actually comes right down to normal life. There are two sets of garments that we all wear.

Our underwear and our outerwear. Two garments and just as in the natural you don't go into this world without having those two garments on. So spiritually every believer has two mantles that they have access to and that they should be putting on before they go out into this world each day.

And those I want to zero on tonight. So if you're a believer this message is for you. I don't care how high or how low you are.

I don't care if you got saved yesterday. These mantles are for you. Okay so let's look at the undergarments.

I've called this the mantle of protection. The mantle of protection. What does it do? Well it protects us from evil.

The scripture says that we are covered by the blood of Jesus and we are covered by his righteousness. Because of that we can actually reign like kings and queens. You don't have to necessarily be an apostle to reign as a king and queen in this life.

And so in Romans chapter 5 verse 17 we read this. For if by one person's sin caused death to reign, how much more will those who are receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign as kings and queens in Zoe life through one person Jesus Christ. This mantle allows each one of us to not only walk in the protection of the Lord but to actually rise up and stand out in this world.

Well how do we get this mantle? Very simple. We get it when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And that mantle is ours forever.

From the moment you step out of your old life into the body of Christ and became a member of the body of Christ you receive this mantle of protection and you will never ever lose it. However the mantle itself can lose its power if you engage in sin and allow it to be corrupted. And God cannot protect you anymore because through sin you have now given license to the enemy and satan now gets in and you lose your protection.

What does the mantle of protection look like? Well if it's a robe of righteousness I think it looks like a pure white robe. But does it matter? What does your underwear look like? Nobody knows because they don't see it. It's underneath your outer garment you see.

So the important thing is you have this mantle. It's not visible. It's invisible but it's protecting you and covering you.

It's working in the background to protect you the whole time. Which means that as you step out into this world you're covered. You're protected.

You don't have to be afraid of what the enemy can throw at you. You don't have to be afraid of sickness and disease. You don't have to be afraid of accidents and things going wrong.

If you are fully clothed in that mantle and that mantle has been activated correctly you can go out into this world with absolute assurance that you are protected by the and this is the right of every single believer. So how do we activate it? Always the million dollar question isn't it? Okay I'm born again. I've accepted the lord as my savior.

I believe that he shed blood has taken away my sin and I'm covered by it and I stand in his robe of righteousness but how do I make this thing work? What are you putting on when you put on that mantle? You are actually putting on Christ. Galatians 3 verse 27 says for as many of you as have been baptized into the body of Christ have put on Christ. Oh what's Christ? Everything we need is in Christ but who is Christ? What is Christ? The word Christ means the anointed one.

To the jews it meant the messiah but to we who are believers whether we are jews or gentiles it means our lord and our savior the anointed one the lord Jesus Christ. So to activate this mantle all you need to do is to give Jesus full control. In other words you may have accepted him as your savior but you need to make him lord as well as savior.

To do that you must invite Jesus to come and relive his life through you. He no longer walks this earth in a human body but he comes to us now via his holy spirit and he wants to now come and live inside this body of yours and continue to live his life in this earth through you. When you allow him to do that your mantle comes to life.

It's energized. It becomes active. So now how do you use this mantle? Every day when you awake that's the time to put on the mantle.

When your eyes open in the morning that's the time to put on the mantle. Romans chapter 13 and verse 12 says these words the night is fast spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light you should start your day with him you put on your underwear first now i don't know if you sleep naked or you get out of bed naked but when the night is over and the day has begun it's time to put on the first mantle or do you wait until suddenly there are problems or do you wait until there's difficulties and now suddenly you want to cry on the lord oh lord help me you know what you went out into the world and suddenly realized you forgot to put on your underwear can you imagine that feeling can you imagine you arrive at work you go to sit down at your desk you think oh no oh no i forgot to put on my underwear what a tragedy none of us would be that stupid but you know spiritually we are we're that foolish we go into this world thinking that we can face what life brings to us and we forget to start our day putting on christ that's when you put it on folks from the moment your eyes open your first word should be lord jesus good morning there's the last time you say good morning to the lord well you know i got things to do i gotta rush there get that horrible feeling out of my mouth brush my teeth brush my hair give myself looking human again a cup of coffee you know that gets me out of that feeling of morbidity and starts me for the day we always do those things but we forget the most important thing of all the mantle of his protection we forget to put on christ and it's so easy it's so simple to do what about the end of the day before you go to sleep well you know when you start your day you don't go out with your underwear you uh you put other clothes on as well and we're going to get to the next garment shortly but when it comes to night time you know you're allowed to sleep in your underwear if you want to nobody's going to complain how about inviting the lord to protect you while you sleep while you are the most vulnerable to attack from the enemy where he can attack you even in your dreams you wake up with your heart racing and you wonder if there's something physically wrong with you how about putting on that mantle before you go to sleep and saying lord i put on christ lord jesus rule over my sleep take control of my dreams lord lead me and teach me even during my dreams and my sleep and be in control of my life so before you start your day put on your mantle of protection keep it on or re-put it on at night before you go to sleep we come then to the outer garment i'd like to call that the mantle of power but he used to remember two p's mantle of protection mantle of power what does the mantle of power do it enables us to do things for the lord it enables us to obey the one commandment that every single believer has been given commonly known as the great commission going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature you don't have to be called to the ministry to do that if you are born again and you are a child of god yet that commandment applies to you you have a calling you have a ministry activity to carry out so when you start your day having put on your garment of protection invited the lord to take control of your life you now make yourself ready to do something more for the lord i like the way the apostle peter puts it for us in 1 peter 3 in verse 15 he says but having committed yourself wholly to the lord in your hearts that kind of sounds like putting on the first mantle doesn't it be prepared always to give a reasoned statement to anyone that asks you for an explanation about the hope that is in you with quiet confidence and respect you go out ready to share the lord you go out ready to tell everybody what you have that they don't have you get out ready to brag about the lord about what he's given you about what he's done for you to go and share him with this dark world that's how you start ministry if you've got a higher ministry yes there may be more but as a believer no matter what other callings you may have and it's possible to have many mantles as i said last time and we look at that in more detail in future as we go into this again but right now you as a believer have a first responsibility to share with the world what god has put into you so now we have a mantle but that mantle that mantle requires a bit more than just being born again you see every believer is able to share a testimony of their salvation to share with others what god has given to them but for most of us it's not so easy especially if you've had friends who are unbelievers and now suddenly you are a christian and they want to know what's wrong with you why don't you want to do the same things you did before you may you may feel a bit insecure and afraid to tell them about the lord because you are so new in this thing so you need something more than just a simple mantle of ministry you need power you need the mantle that gives you an ability to do something that you couldn't do before and especially that will give you the boldness to do what you know you should do or where does that come from see this is how we get this is how we get the second mantle that's chapter 1 verse 8 jesus said but you will receive dynamic power after the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be witnesses to me in jerusalem and in judea judea and in samaria and to the ends of the earth in fact he told disciples don't you even try and do a thing until you are endured with power from on high go and wait in jerusalem until the promise of the father comes do not even try to minister until then well peter was quite happy to hide away there in jerusalem peter was the coward remember he was the one that was afraid to acknowledge the lord in front of everybody else after opening his big mouth and on the day of pentecost something happened that changed even peter how do we get this mantle there's three stages the scripture speaks about the first one is to receive jesus as your savior the second one is to be baptized into water and the third one is to receive the holy spirit repent and be baptized in the name of jesus christ and you shall receive the gift of the holy spirit i think that's in acts 238 somewhere there what peter preached now this is a once only event you only need to get this once usually when this event takes place which we often call the baptism of the holy spirit the most common sign is that those who receive this anointing begin to speak in other tongues and so in most cases in the new testament starting from the day of pentecost when the new mantle fell on them many of them in that case all of them began to speak in other tongues usually when this mantle comes on you you will feel it physically when you get born again something takes place very deep down inside of you and you can even put on that mantle of protection without necessarily feeling anything but when the baptism of the spirit comes on you affects you physically different people often feel the presence of the holy spirit in different ways you may get like a cold shiver down your back you might get weak in the knees i don't know other different people have different symptoms there who i can feel the holy spirit well let's not make a doctrine out of it so you know if you don't get the right kind of chills then it's not the holy spirit you know the devil can give you chills too so let's not go by those but it's a good indication that you have received this mantle of anointing what does it look like well usually you can see the effects on a person different people respond differently but i would say the most powerful effect and result of all is boldness and that's what happened to peter of the day pentecost he stood up boldly and preached to those guys who before he was afraid were going to kill him he was very bold turned him into a leader well they must have been doing a lot of other things also on the day of pentecost because they were accused of being drunk so you know what happens when people get drunk sometimes they get loud we sat in a restaurant and people come in and everything's quiet and they order drinks with their meals and after a little while you start to hear the voices getting louder before you know it people are really talking loud not even thinking about it have you been there alcohol has that effect you know the holy spirit can sometimes have a very similar effect when that anointing comes on you uh you you begin to lose all your cares and some people get drunk in the spirit so there are definite physical effects that take place so don't go buy a bottle put on the mantle it's much more fun yeah much more fun to have the anointing of god no hangovers after effects there's two main ways that you can activate this mantle once you've received it because once you've received the baptism the holy spirit and you've got that anointing you now must put it on and when you put it on the chances are you're not feeling anything you put it on by faith you received it when you were baptized in the holy spirit when god gave you his anointing of power for service now you've put on your undergarment you're ready to go out and face the world and do what god's called you to do and you put on this mantle and you don't feel a thing you say i remember the last time i'm full of the spirit man it was whoo i could have gone for hours it was awesome i remember the times where i felt it in a meeting where the power of god was so strong on me hey i wanted to dance and now i've just woken up in the morning i'm getting the sleep out of my eyes i'm just starting my day getting in the car to drive to work and i don't feel a thing in there you're not alone you see you've got to reactivate the mantle you've got to bring it back to life the power is in there the ability is in there but it must be activated before it's going to work how do you activate this mantle very simply you should have received the ability to speak in tongues when you got it if you didn't ask for it nag the lord for it put your faith out until you get it that's another story and we'll preach on that separately and we have so i'm not going to cover it now the chances are you receive the baptism you know how to speak in tongues don't wait until you feel the anointing before you speak in tongues you speak in tongues first and when you start out you feel as dead as a doornail was it a doorknob i don't know each language has their own you feel dead you feel nothing so you start shalama that's boring oh boy oh i may have traveled to other tongues see you may have lots of tongues already the holy spirit spirit gave you but you don't feel anything but if you keep speaking in tongues sometimes it only takes a couple of minutes if you've been out of it for a while it might take you an hour but you know what how long does it take you to get to work while you're driving in your car they start speaking in tongues by the time you arrive at work your mantle is activated and you are ready to step out into this world and into what you do on a daily basis and you are protected and you are anointed and you are ready to be used by the lord you are ready to share the word with others you are ready to minister to anybody that comes across your path because you've now brought that mantle to full activation okay perhaps you as a believer have accepted jesus as your savior your great greatly desired to be used by the lord and you've tried to witness and share with others but there's no power and you're struggling you haven't got this mantle of power yet have you you're trying to guard in your undies or maybe you're just putting on very plain clothes they don't have any power in them see many believers go that way for years they go that way for years as well i don't need to speak in tongues i don't need this baptist in the holy spirit i can do things for the lord you probably could but not very well the energizing of the holy spirit gives you a mantle that you put on and makes you begin to reign in power and in glory and you'll be amazed that you can say the same words and things start to happen you speak the same words to people and now they get saved don't ever ever ever discount the power and the value of the baptism of the holy spirit you say well i didn't have a very exciting experience yeah i can speak in tongues i never felt anything actually well time for you to energize the mantle time for you to energize it until you begin to feel it and then put it on and use it don't leave it lying rotting in your cup devil that's not one of my favorite items of clothing so many believers have got these things they never use them they wonder why their spiritual life is lacking so let me ask you these questions did you get dressed properly today did you put on the mantle of protection by inviting jesus to take control of your life did you invite him to live his life through you or are you covered by darkness instead well there is a mantle of darkness and we will look in future messages and how to deal with those but for now why don't you just invite jesus to take control you say well i don't feel him i feel like he's a thousand miles away when i pray i feel like my prayers are bouncing off the ceilings why don't you stop right there now and say lord jesus i give myself to you afresh here is my life take it and use it i invite you now to come and live in me by your holy spirit and to take control of my life i ask you lord to give me this mantle of your protection now so that i can walk in light have you received the baptism of the holy spirit he's anointing if you have when last did you use that power oh yeah i'm waiting for the lord to use me sounds so spiritual doesn't it i'm being humble i'm not trying to push myself forward i'm going to wait for the lord to use me he will live his life through you and he will use you but he's giving you that mantle so that you can have the ability to be used by him and when you have that ability and you step out you take that anointing you activate it and you speak his words in the earth your life goes to a whole new level do you think it's time to activate it hmm those of you who haven't spoken in tongues in a while those of you who haven't felt god's presence or his anointing for a while why don't we activate that mantle right now i want you to put it on by faith and i want you to say lord use me lord anoint me lord i receive your power and then start to pray in tongues let's try it for a little bit eh you'll all have a different tongue just pray in the tongue that god's given you perhaps praising may help thank you jesus hallelujah praise you lord i worship you and i glorify your name thank you lord thank you lord and if you run out of words just put music to your tongues that's more powerful isn't it try it come on come on maybe you never sung in tongues before try it right now shindala make up your own tune can you feel it can you feel it it's like something's starting to bubble up from inside of you you're starting to feel something happen on the outside oh keep doing it keep doing it you're activating that mantle now and get it flowing good and strong and go out there into this world wearing it boldly and proudly you'll be covered by his protection satan cannot touch you you'll go out and you do mighty things for the lord and you'll be used by him and that's only the start because the more you do that the more the desire will rise in your heart to do greater things for him to say lord i want something more miraculous i want to see the sick being healed when i pray for them i want to see demons bowing and coming out of people when i pray for them lord i want to see you giving me prophetic words of direction for people that desire is in your heart there's more mantles there folks plenty more mantles that god can give you and we'll be showing you how to move into some more of these mantles and perhaps ultimately god is calling you right up into that higher office level of ministry there's a price to pay and it's going to cost you but it's available to you no wonder why you didn't start this earlier instead of sitting back in there saying oh the lord never uses me it's not fair god uses everybody else but he never uses me he didn't put on the mantle we're going to change that now aren't we tomorrow morning when you wake up i want you to put on the mantle while you're standing in the mirror brushing your teeth put on the mantle while you're driving your car put on the mantle while you're eating breakfast put on the mantle hello jesus here we are the day is yours i give you control then i put on that other mantle hallelujah praise his name oh i tell you what you're going to be flying high by the time the sun is fully risen and you're ready to go out and face your day you are going to be in a place where you are ready to face this world you face whatever satan brings against you and go out and you take the land for the lord you come back the end of the day and say wow what a day it was the lord really gave me opportunity today he used me isn't that exciting that's what your spiritual life shall be if you will take these two these two universal mantles that god has for you and you'll use them every day and as you use those we'll move on to the other mantles next time we'll look at some of the other mantles and i'll share a bit more of them with you and how you can get them and put them on and activate them whatever desire you have to be used by the lord there's a mantle for you and god wants to give it to you and he will give it to you i thank you father for your word i thank you for each one that heard your word i thank you lord for the mantles of your power and glory that will be seen manifest in your people from this day forward i will turn this world upside down for you thank you for it lord in jesus name amen

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