2023.02.05.Sermon Notes: SPIRIT of Worship & the Garment of Praise
William Akehurst, HSWC
BIG IDEA: As believers in CHRIST, we have HOLY SPIRIT in us. We cry out, but we are also to PRAISE and WORSHIP in THAT SAME SPIRIT. We have been given a "Garment of Praise" being clothed in HIS Righteousness, by HOLY SPIRIT within. PRAISE and WORSHIP set our focus on the LORD WHO is Above all of our problems in life.
READER: Galatians 4:6 (NKJV) And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
CONGREGATION: (NLT) 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
HOLY SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS TO OUR SPIRIT
Romans 8:14-16 (NKJV)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Acts 2:38-39 (NKJV)
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
SPIRIT OF WORSHIP – BY HOLY SPIRIT IN US.
John 4:22-24 (NKJV)
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
POINT: HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS IN SINFUL MAN TO TEACH, GUIDE AND HELP US.
Romans 8:26-28 (NKJV)
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
READER, then ALL
Isaiah 61:1-3 (NKJV)
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.”
Congregation to read Isaiah 61:1-3 together.
This is a Messianic Prophecy and was fulfilled in CHRIST JESUS.
As we follow after CHRIST, this passage speaks to our mission on earth as well.
WE ARE HIS TEMPLE – Let the PRAISES FLOW
1 Corinthians 3:16,19 (NKJV)
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
DON’T HOLD BACK
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
STIR UP THE GIFT
*2 Timothy 1:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
CLOTHED IN SALVATION AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Isaiah 61:10 (NKJV)
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
BENEDICTION:
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
***
Illustration: Garment (coat) of Praise
Isaiah 61:1a,3
1a “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me…
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.”
The following was a Facebook Reel from faith_not_fear about Isaiah 61:3
***
Isaiah said that worship is like a coat.
and when you put on a coat…
it's usually cold outside, it’s raining or it’s snowing.
Let me ask you something…
Does the coat change the weather of the day?
It doesn't change anything about the weather, does it?
What does it change?
It changes you…in the weather.
Worship is the way you clothe yourself for a discouraging world.
Worship is the way you change your focus
and you push aside the things that are worrying you and discouraging you…
and you lift up who JESUS IS.
You put HIM back on the Throne of your life.
And you say "YOU are KING and I am following YOU
and I believe YOU are Sovereignly in control of all this…
and I don't know how it’s all going to work out…"
But as you elevate JESUS…
as you worship HIM…
It is like putting on a jacket,
and the very same conditions and circumstances in your life
that were crushing you yesterday,
become something you can thrive in today.
***
We must learn and practice to WORSHIP the LORD
in the SPIRIT and TRUTH that GOD has placed IN us.
Be Blessed and Be a Blessing,
Bill
