Authority Is Not The Issue

Good evening. You are the blessed of the Lord.

The message tonight is something I have been thinking about for quite a while. What I am going to share tonight dovetails into what Pastor taught Sunday morning. I’m going to use the phrase “no excuses” in terms of where we are in our relationship with the Lord.

When Pastor was teaching, what went through my mind was “Authority is not the issue.” He was talking about praying for people, but not seeing their healing manifest. He talked about the availability of the gifts of the spirit but few in the Church are walking in therm. So, again, I said to myself, “Authority is not the issue” and that’s the title of tonight’s message.

The message will be somewhat redundant because I want you to truly grasp the understanding that our having the authority to do what God has asked us to do is not the issue at all.

I want to start by looking that the word “power.” In the New Testament, it’s defined by two different Greek words. The first is dunamis, which means “strength power, ability; intrinsic power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature.” Every person is born with dunamis, natural power, natural strength. But we are not born with the same dunamis.

Look in Matthew chapter six. We’re going to read a very familiar passage but there is a truth in it as it relates to power. We’re going to read verses nine through 13. Jesus is getting ready to teach the disciples how to pray.

(9) After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

(10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

(11) Give us this day our daily bread.

(12) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

(13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Who has the power? God has the power. Now dunamis, as it relates to us in our relationship with our Father, belongs to Him.

Now turn to Matthew 9, beginning with verse one.

(1) And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.

(2) And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

(3) And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

(4) And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

(5) For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

(6) But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

(7) And he arose, and departed to his house.

(8) But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.

One of the disservices I believe the translators have made in this passage is to translating the Greek word, exousia, as power in verse six and in verse eight. Exousia means authority. The full definition is “permission, right, liberty, power to do something.” Primarily translated as “authority.”

Verse six says “that ye may know that the Son of man hath AUTHORITY. Ladies and gentlemen, why is this important? It has been the Greek word dunamis, then that would have meant that Jesus had something that we did not have.

We read in Matthew chapter six that all power, all spiritual dunamis, belongs to God. Jesus is saying “I have the spiritual authority to tap into My Father’s dunamis.” Are you following me?

So, what is the source of spiritual authority for us? It’s our born again spirit, our new nature.

In John 3:3, Jesus responds to the observation that Nicodemus, a the religious, made after seeing the miracles that He had done.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Getting born again returns us to God’s original intent for humanity that we read in Genesis 1:26.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

We were born into this world with authority. The simplest way to understand authority is “I can say ‘yes’ to something or I can say ‘no’ to something.” That’s the authority that we have. In essence, we determine what we will do and what we will not do. We have spiritual authority that has been given to us by our Father. We can use that authority by saying “yes” to our Father or we can choose not to use our spiritual authority by saying "no” to our Father.