Preserve Your Robe

The main idea of this information is about the importance of being called by God for service and the need for the Holy Spirit in ministry. The speaker discusses a specific man of God and his ministry, highlighting the power and authority that comes from being led by the Spirit. The speaker then focuses on a passage from Isaiah that talks about God calling Eliakim for a higher level of service and how God equips and elevates those He calls. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being in a place of service when God calls, and how God's agenda always has someone to fulfill it. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah to Jesus. Brethren, praise God. Glory and honor and adoration unto our Christ Jesus tonight for life, for His Word, for inspiration, for light and for the transforming power of His Word. Today we have a subject that I think is close to God's heart and we trust that Holy Spirit will breathe upon God's Word tonight and teach us in a new way. You know it's amazing because God's Word is so alive and powerful that even if you read the same Scripture every day for a year, it's very possible that God will reveal Himself in new ways through the same Word every day. I say that to say this, we must never ever get so familiar with God's Word as to think that we know what God is going to say because God's Word is fresh every day. God's Word is alive. God's Word is living and so He always, if we trust on Him and we wait at His feet each time we come together, God by His breath will breathe new life into His Word and tell us something new and something fresh which is our experience on this platform. So tonight before we begin, we want to pray. Father in the name of Jesus, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the light in Your Word. We thank You for the opportunity that You gave us to learn at Your feet, to glean wisdom from Your Word. We take nothing for granted. We know that Your Word is the Word of life, is the Word of truth. And so we ask tonight that You will breathe new life. We would breathe understanding. We pray that You would reveal to us the mysteries of the Kingdom tonight, that You will reveal Yourself, Lord Jesus, in and through Your Word tonight. I pray, Lord, that You would touch my tongue so that as I speak, I shall speak even as the oracles of God. I pray that You will open my eyes and introduce me to the higher levels of illumination tonight. I pray for the gift of oratory. I pray for the gift of articulation. I pray that You will connect my tongue to my mind by the Spirit of God. I pray that You will use me to speak even as a vessel for You. What You want to say is what we want to hear. No man here has anything to say to another except what does the Lord. So, Lord, I invite You by Your Spirit, Lord Jesus, manifest Yourself tonight. I lean on You. I depend on You. I ask that You will cause me to abide in You and You will deliver from within Your Word to us this evening. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. So, tonight, the subject for our conversation I have titled, Perfect Measurement for the Robe. Perfect Measurement for the Robe. And my text comes tonight from the book of Isaiah, chapter 22, from verse 20 to 24. Isaiah, chapter 22, verses 20 to 24. So, we're going to get right into it. We're going to read God's Word. We're going to start from the Word of God. The Bible says, Isaiah 22, from verse 20, it is written, And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Isaiah, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he, Eliakim, shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Verse 22, And the key of the house of David, the key of the house of David, I will lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open, and I will fasten him, Eliakim, as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house, and they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even the vessels of flagons. This is the Word of the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord to his church. I read this passage of scripture last week during my daily devotion, and this scripture jumped out at me. It almost felt like I had never seen it before, but that can be because I have read the Bible back to back, cover to cover, many times. So I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this scripture isn't new to me, but when I read it, it took on a life of its own, and I knew that the Lord was leading me to speak about this scripture. And I find something very curious in God's Word, because you know, last week and the week before, there had been some revelations about a certain man of God, who has been leading a huge ministry in the United States. Now, you know, as usual, when secrets break out, when people begin to talk, it's easy for the moment, if we let that happen, it's easy for the moment to wipe away what we know about the past. What I mean is this, this particular man of God, there is no doubt, no doubt, that this man is a gifted preacher. In fact, this man is a prophet. There are things that this man has said, there are lives that this man has transformed just by the ministry which has been placed in his hand. Now, I don't know how we got here. I don't know how these things have come to be. But I know, without a shadow of a doubt, this is a man who heard the call of God. This is a man who has been called by God, because the Word of God in his mouth can't be released and delivered the way it has been, but for the Spirit of God. These are the things we need to be mindful of. I believe that it's impossible for anyone who isn't led by the Spirit of God, I believe it's impossible for someone who is not walking in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it's impossible for such a person to be able to break down the Living Word of God with power and authority. So when you find someone who is so versed in God's Word, he's doing it by the power of the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus, when He walked the earth, He needed the Holy Spirit to empower His ministry. And without fear of contradiction, there is no ministry, there is no preacher, there is no minister who can with effectiveness deliver the mysteries of God's Word without the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It can't be done, because the Word of God is a closed book. There is a seal on God's Word, and that Word is only revealed when the seal is broken. How? By the Spirit of God. So I believe that what's happening now is probably, I don't know, only God knows, because God says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Now, when God is building, sometimes God breaks down to build. When God is assembling a workforce, sometimes He has to weed out some, so that He can introduce some. God is sovereign. How He does what He does isn't our place to question. This man's ministry has been under the auspices of the Holy Spirit, no doubt. But if what we hear is true, then something happened somewhere, and this Word, our conversation tonight is about that. Our conversation tonight is about that. The Bible says, Isaiah 22, 20, the Lord says, And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I, the Lord, will clothe him, Eliakim, with your robe. And I, the Lord, will strengthen him, Eliakim, with your girdle, your belt. And I, the Lord, will commit your government, your ministry, your business, into his hand. Why? So that he shall be a father, a pastor, a shepherd, a mentor, a parent, a business leader to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah, my people. I will do all of this so that he will lead my people. I won't stop there, says the Lord. Verse 22, And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulders, so that he will open and none shall shut. He will shut and none shall open. I will give him authority. So much so that he will have access to higher levels than you ever did. I won't stop there, says the Lord. Verse 23, And. If you look at verse 22, we are seeing AND. Everything God is saying is AND. Verse 21, And I will close him. Verse 22, And the key of the house of David. Verse 22, And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place. And he shall be a glorious throne to his father's house. Verse 24, And. So we are looking at God progressively increasing the glory and the authority and the ministry of the one that he has called to replace the former. God called Eliakim to replace someone. So I believe that every now and then there is a call that is so important to God and to his purpose and his agenda. The call is so great that God provides the tools for the fulfillment of that call. Every now and then, and this is what we see in the life of this preacher, because this preacher is easily the very best in his generation. There is none that has been able to reach the potential, the abilities, the anointing, the capability of this preacher for his time. God released such an anointing and such a grace. But for what? It wasn't about the man. It was about the call. God has an agenda and God called this man for service to meet his purpose. So even now, usually, when God calls, God calls for a certain service. There is an agenda of God. And very often, if God calls, God will usually meet you in the place of service. You are already doing what God needs you to be doing. When God comes looking for you, to call you for elevated service, he usually will find you in some kind of service. Because God calls servants with hearts for service. When God finds you in that place where you are serving in some capacity, this higher call, such as God gave to his servant Eliakim, will usually transport you from your place of service to a higher call. So, if you, man of God, woman of God, desire to be elevated in service to God, God is going to come looking for you in the place of service. You have to be serving God in some capacity. So when he comes looking for his servant for a higher assignment, he is going to come looking in the place of service. He is going to come with an anointing, a grace that will lift you from your current level of service to a different variation of what you are probably already doing. God's purposes, they are so urgent and so vital that God isn't going to allow a vacuum. God's agenda always has someone occupying the role to fulfill that agenda. The question is, what is the quality of service for that person? When God has a work, he will call someone for the work. He will equip that man or that woman for the work. Because God hates a vacuum. So the question becomes, when God chooses someone to fill a role, and he releases such a grace and such an anointing for that role, what is the quality of service of that man or that woman occupying the role? Because you know, sometimes because our God is so merciful, our God is so kind and so gracious, sometimes God will so heavily ingrace a man or a woman and they will be so excellent in the things that they are doing that they forget themselves. They forget the why. They even forget the whom. They sometimes even forget the what. They get carried away. They wander from the place of service, they wander from the purposes, the original purposes of God, and they leave their place. They leave a vacuum. Because the moment you lose sight of the why, the whom and the what, already you have fallen off. And there is now a vacuum. You may even still be in that position, but in the agenda of God, you have fallen off. You no longer in the spirit, you no longer occupy the position that God called you into. And what does God do? God begins to search for your replacement. God begins to search in His vineyard for the men and the women who are in the place of service and are dedicated to the service of God where they are. The Bible says Isaiah 22, 20. The Bible says, and it shall come to pass that in that day I will call my servant Eliakim. Eliakim was already a servant of God when God called him. So this call was a higher call to a call already upon Eliakim's life. To be a servant in the first place, God had to have called Eliakim first. And Eliakim was a servant in the place of the first call. This is another call. A higher calling. A higher calling. So, when God calls you, and He gives you a great grace, and you are operating in that grace, and the whole world sees the excellence of that grace upon your life, sometimes you may get ahead of yourself and lose sight of the why, of the whom, and the what. God will immediately begin to search for your replacement. Regardless who you are, regardless how high you have risen in the things of God, regardless what name you now have, everything you have you received from the Lord for the call. It was never about you. It was always about the call. Service. So the Lord says, I will call my servant Eliakim. And I know my servant Eliakim will obey me. Then, once I call him, I will derobe you. I will replace you. Because you have messed about. And you have forgotten who called you. You have forgotten the why, the whom, the what. When you get to that point, very often before God begins to replace, before God begins the process of replacing you, God will usually, because our God is merciful, He is kind, He will usually send emissaries to you. He will usually cause events to talk to you, so that perhaps you can come to your senses. Because our God is merciful, He usually gives us a long rope, so that we can walk back and we can come back to the place of our call. But when all is done, all is said, and you insist, you insist on disobeying the call of God upon your life, you make it about yourself, you stray so far away from God's voice, and from the assignment, God has no other choice but to replace you. And once He has decided to replace you, He will do it so fast your head will spin. Why? Because there are issues at stake. There are issues at stake. There are lives, destinies at stake. Lives, destinies, generations are connected to the call of God upon your life. So when you begin to mess about, God will replace you quick. Why? Because it's never about just you. You are a leader. You are a face. You are a representative of an agenda of God. You are a father to the house that God loves. God, when He has made up His mind to replace you, God will derobe you, He will remove from you the accoutrements, all the provisions, because when God calls you, He makes provision for you to excel in that role. God never leaves you. You know, people always say, God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. This is accurate. This is accurate. And we see this in this scripture. Because God called Eliakim and then provided Eliakim with everything he needed to excel. When God called Eliakim, he was only a servant. When Eliakim answered the call, Eliakim became a servant with a robe, with a girdle, with the keys, with a throne. He was even fastened like a nail after he was called. If you ever get things so twisted in your mind to think it's about you, God will move against you so quick, God will replace you so quick, God will replace you so fast, you will be in awe of God. When God replaces you, God isn't going to give the new man a new robe, because there is only one robe. It is the robe of service. Everyone who enters the office wears the same robe. When you leave, you leave behind the tools that God has provided for the office. This is why it is never about the man. It's always about the office. It's always about the role. When God calls you, He calls you into an office, and He provides everything needed for you to excel in that office. Once you leave the office, you leave behind the provisions that God has made, because they weren't provisions for you personally. They were provisions for the office. And so when God replaces a man, when God calls His servant, another man, into a role, God will give the new man the robe of the old man. When God replaces you, God will give your robe, He will derobe you, usually in public, because everything you did, you did in public. The shame that you brought to the ministry, you did it in public. You may have done those things in secret, but the result is public. And so, when the Lord derobes you, He does it in public. God will remove your robe, and He will give your robe to His servant, the one who He has found faithful, and whom He has called, and who has answered His call. God will clothe him with your robe. God will give him strength and power, power and tightening around his waist a girdle, a belt of power, spiritual power, financial power, power in the marketplace. God will give him a voice in the marketplace, so that what needs to be done in that role gets done, because he has power. God will give him power with men, and power with God. God will commit your government, your ministry, every assignment that was in your hand before that time, every responsibility that God gave you, which you left behind and went frolicking, God will remove from your hand and give to the new man. God will gird this new man with a belt. God will give him everything that he needs to function with the same excellency that you had and you thought it was because you were so cute. Then the Bible says, verse 22, God will give unto this new man the key of the house of David. The ability to open and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens, God will give this new man access, unprecedented access. He will be able to access kings and nobles, rulers of nations, of governments, his voice will transcend every level of government, not for himself, but for the agenda of God. God says that he will secure this new man as a nail in a sure place. God will enthrone him in public so that you can see and everyone can see, that God is no respecter of persons and God has judged. God will secure him as a nail in a sure place. God will enthrone him in public. Why? God isn't doing all of this just because he wants to do it. God is doing all of this for a purpose. Because God needs a man. God needs a woman to be what? A father. Verse 21, And I will close him with your robe, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand. We're in the King James Version. And he shall be a what? A father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the city of God, to the house of Judah, the people of God. God is doing all of this excellency, God is providing all this, and God is doing all these marvelous things for a purpose. His purpose, to lead God's people, with power, with integrity. That's why it was never about you. This is why it is so dangerous, when God calls you, and it is evident, that God has released a grace upon your life. This is why it is so dangerous to play with the call of God on our lives. Because he will not hesitate to replace you. He will not hesitate to derobe you. He will not hesitate to give your authority to another. He will waste no time in removing every accoutrement that he gave you, to function with excellence in that role. He will transfer everything he gave you to the new man. Why? Because God has a heart for his people. God, the heart of God is with his people. And so God needs a good leader. God will do anything. God will search high and low, for the best man, to serve his people. And God will provide whatever is needed for this man, to do his job excellently. It's never about you. It is always about God. So when you forget, because often times when God calls us, he tells us, and we know, that this is not about me. I'm not even the most qualified. I don't even talk well. Moses stomach. But God called Moses. And God gave Moses the man who knew how to talk, in his own house. God will give you whatever you need to get the job done. And you will know, in the beginning, that it's never about you. Saul, when God anointed Saul, Saul said, I come from the least of the tribes. My father's family is even the least in that tribe. So at that point he knew, it wasn't about him, but at some point he lost the plot. He went on a frolic of his own. He forgot the what, he forgot the whom, he forgot the why. And God did what? God found himself a man, after his own heart, in the form of David. And God replaced Saul. As marvelous as Saul was, because the Bible says, Saul was head and shoulder above the men. God replaced Saul, because of his team. His people. God's heart is with his people. The call is always for a purpose. What's the purpose? To be a father. To be a pastor. To be a mentor. To be a shepherd. To be an industry leader. To be a priest, over your home. God calls for his purpose, his agenda. God's heart is with his people. And so he anoints men and women, as cover over his people. Once you forget, once you mess about, you will find out, that God respects no one. God only respects his purposes. God only respects his agenda. This is why we must always walk in humility. And never forget where he picked you from. Never forget, because you know, I have found that usually when God lifts up a man, or woman to such great heights, often he lifts them up from the depths of, he lifts them up from the lowest depths. He lifts them up from the lowest depths. Why? So that in the day of glory, you don't forget who you are. So that because God, you don't know, when God calls you, you don't even know where God is taking you. You don't even know what the agenda is. You don't even know what the plan is. If you're obedient, all you do is, yes Lord, and you keep following God. And as you follow God, he opens up more and more of his plan for you, for your life. He opens up more and more of why he called you. So very often when the journey begins, you don't even know how big this thing is. Because every level where you are, is a miracle when you think about where you're coming from. And so this preacher, who has been in the news lately, I remember I heard a testimony from him and his family, of when they couldn't afford to pay for anything. They couldn't afford to keep the lights on. He had to work so many jobs. He came from nothing. And God lifted him so high. And now here we are. So the question is, how did we get here? If those allegations are true, if they are, because at this point, there are only allegations we don't know for sure. But if they are true, the question becomes, how did we get here? How did a man so anointed by God, so graced by God, a man who has risen to the very, very height, to the pinnacle of his call, how did we get here? The answer is simple. He forgot the what. He forgot the why. He even forgot the whom. Because if you ever, ever, lose sight of who called you, then you're done. If you keep in mind, who called you, you will never forget the why. You will never forget the what. The first thing that happens, is you forget the whom. You begin to think it's about you. Because now you have so much grace. You're doing spectacular things. You think it's about you. So you forget, how you got to this point of excellence. And then God has to do what God must do. He begins to take a perfect measurement of someone else. And usually that someone else, because, you see, the robe is spiritual. That robe, regardless of who wears that robe, it's going to fit perfectly. So God begins to take a measurement of the new, the replacement in the spirit. Because there are qualities that are required for this assignment. So God begins to take measurements of the new man by his qualities. Can he be a father to the house of Judah? Can he be a father to Jerusalem? Does he have a heart of a father? Can he love? Is he forgiving? Is he humble? God begins to measure this new man because now there is coming a transfer of the robe from the old man, the old father, the old pastor, the old bishop, the old mentor, the old spouse. God is about to replace someone. And so God begins to measure because those measurements, they have to be perfect. Perfect for the assignment. The robe never changes because that robe is spiritual. You can imagine that robe being alive once it comes on the new person, it fits right away because it's spiritual. But the requirements, God needs a replacement with perfect measurements in the spirit to replace the old. And so my prayer for you and for me is that God will uphold us in His call for our lives because it's not by power, it's not by might, it's by His spirit. Once God releases that grace by His spirit, God is Ebenezer. He is the helper of men. God will help us. I pray God will help us and uphold us by His righteous right hand in the call of God upon our lives so that we never find wanting so that God never needs to check us or worse still replace us. My prayer for everyone listening including myself is that Lord in the name of Jesus keep us keep us acceptable in the beloved. Keep us acceptable to you so that the robe we need to go on another by your righteous right hand Lord uphold us. Teach us how to always be in that place of service and to keep our eyes fastened on to you who has called us. Let us never lose sight of the whom, the what, the why. The grace that you have released upon our lives Lord give us the grace to always be in that place where we are acceptable to you. I pray this in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Hallelujah. Well brothers and sisters thank you for listening. This has been a very sobering message even for myself and I'm going to go back now and listen and apply this to my own life. And I trust God to help us all to stand. Amen. So till next week stay blessed stay safe and stay prayed up. Amen.