Note: I am not sure where I got this basic outline from. I added much of the content and used some notes from messages of the past.
Title: The Great Exchange
Theme: To show what happens when Christ changes.
Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-3
(Isa 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
Introduction:
This is the scripture that we began 2012 with. This became our theme scripture. This is the scripture that Jesus referenced in Matthew 4:18.
I call it the great exchange.
Preach - baw-sar’ “to be fresh, full, to announce, Good tidings –to the Poor, (poor in spirit, poor in self-esteem, poor in self image, poor in love, poor in spiritual vitality)
Heal khaw-bash' – “to bind up” to put back together again, restoration the brokenhearted
Psalms 51;17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart; These, O God, You will not despise.
Proclaim kaw –raw’ (to call forth, call out, ) liberty to the captive “freedom”, set free,
Galatians 5:1 MSG Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
Opening of the prison to those who are bound (set the captives free)
Joh 8:31-36 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. (32) "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (33) They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, 'You will be made free'?" (34) Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. (35) "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. (36) "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Finality – “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Jehovah-self existent One)”
And the day of vengeance of our God (Eloheem – supreme God)
Mat 11:1-6 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. (2) And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples (3) and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" (4) Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: (5) "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (6) "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."
I. Beauty for ashes
A. Beauty for ashes, what does Ashes mean?
a. Ashes is a place you find yourself when every thing has gone wrong,
b. Your enemy is about to destroy you, you have just sinned and feel like you have failed God, you are overwhelmed by every day pressures in this life, you don't no where to turn etc.
c. Literally it is a place where you have your back up to the wall and you’re crying out for someone to help you.
d. Ashes was a symbol in the Bible of being in deep mourning about something
e. It symbolized you were serious about something; you were laying before God everything and pleading for his mercy, pleading for his help.
The lady and the unjust judge 18:1-5
B. Bible examples:
Est 4:1-3 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. (2) He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. (3) And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Eze 16:8-13 "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine," says the Lord GOD. (9) "Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. (10) "I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. (11) "I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. (12) "And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. (13) "Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.
C. So when the scripture says To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, it is saying that Jesus has appointed to every child of God that will trust him in there problems, bad times, catastrophes, that will cry out MOURN that he will give them beauty for ashes.
a. he will bless them with far more than we could ever expect.
II. "OIL" of joy (gladness) for mourning – oil of the Holy Spirit
Joel 2:28 – 30
Joe 2:28-29 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. (29) And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
A. Oil symbolizes the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
a. actually this means the presence of God, his power, his strength, his ministry is merged into your earthly body and you become anointed by God.
b. When we mourn, when we go to Zion and cry out to God he will anoint us with his spirit and we are able to stand, we are able to fight, we are able to minister above our problems, above the things we are going through, to rise above those things around us and
c. like the psalmist David pray this prayer
Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Psa 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
Joh 16:20 "Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
III. Garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness
Rev 7:9-17 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, (10) and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (11) All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, (12) saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen." (13) Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" (14) And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (15) "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. (16) "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; (17) "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The Lord wants to exchange out heaviness for garments of praise.
A. God has given us a very unique piece of clothing we can wear.
a. Its called a garment of praise
b. Most people think praise is something you do when you come to church or something you can do or not.
c. Praise is a weapon against the enemy; it is a very special garment that is like putting on the superman costume we are transformed into something, somebody else.
d. It is a peace of armor to fight off Satan as in Eph 6
Eph 6:10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (15) and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; (18) praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints;
e. It lifts our heaviness,
f. Satan can't stay where Christian people are praising God,
B. Praise is our battle weapon
Moses, Joshua, Aaron & Hur – Exodus 17:9-14
Joshua crossing the Jordan – When the priests went first – Joshua 3
Joshua and Jericho – Joshua 6
Gideon – Judges 7
Jdg 7:18-21 "When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!'" (19) So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. (20) Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers; they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing; and they cried, "The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!" (21) And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.
2Ch 20:20-21 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper." (21) And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: "Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever."
Illustration: Here I took our worship leader and had him lead our praise dancers around the sanctuary in worship. This illustrated how they lead us into worship. Lead us to the throne of the Lord.
a. In Isa 61:3 it says Jesus has come to give us a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, he means that if we will come to Zion the place of prayer and praise him he will fight our battles for us and we will be overcomers.
b. To many times we want to do all the fighting, we want to take it into our own hands, but God has given us the only weapon we need and that is praise.
Conclusion:
Here is the result of all.
Is 61:3b That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
