Enabled

Enabled

Scriptures: Matthew 3:16; Luke 4:18-21; 10:1, 17

The title of my message this morning is “Enabled.” I want you to think about what it means to be enabled and to help with our understanding I want to give you the definitions of three words.

• The first word is “Able.” Able is defined as “physically or mentally equipped to do something; having the necessary resources, ability or talents to do something.

• The second word is “Enable.” Enable is defined as “to provide somebody with the resources, authority, or opportunity to do something; to confer legal power or authority on somebody or something.”

• The last word is “Disabled.” Disabled is defined as “a description of somebody with a condition that makes it difficult to perform some or all of the basic tasks of daily life; incapable of performing or functioning.”

All three of these words share the word able but their definitions are very different. The word able speaks of potential and ability, but it does not speak to drive or desire. We have all seen people who have the ability or potential to do something but because they have no inner drive or desire all of their potential and abilities are wasted. Being able is the opposite of being disabled. Disable speaks to the lack of potential or ability to do something even if the drive and desire is present. Now I really want you to pay attention to this. Enable speaks to the authority/power that has been given that makes someone or something able to perform a task or function. In other words, being enabled is not necessarily about what the person already has within them, but is directly about what is being placed within them – what is given to them! What I want you to take away from these three definitions is this: God has enabled us! Where we were once disabled by sin, through Jesus Christ God has changed us, we have been enabled! Through the Spirit of God we moved from being disabled to able because of God enabling us. But remember what I said earlier, being able does not address drive or desire and that is what I want us to think about this morning.

There are many Scriptures in the Word of God that shows us the role we are to be playing while we are here on earth. The primary role that all of us share is the spreading of the Gospel. It is not enough for us to just to come to Church and have a good time; we have to live the Word outside of these four walls. There are many people in the world who are suffering and are in need of the message that we have; the message of hope; the message of deliverance; the message of Christ. Having experienced being a Christian, can you imagine going through this life not believing in Jesus Christ? Can you imagine not experiencing the release that comes through fervent prayer? Can you imagine thinking that everything in your life happens because of you – you answer only to yourself? Can you imagine experiencing troubles and having to tell yourself that they are of your own making and only you can solve them? I am not saying that we do not experience troubles of our own making, but we know that we always have Someone who is able to help us even as we learn from our mistakes. The message that we have is a message of hope, deliverance and most important, love. It is a message that heals the broken-hearted, calms fears, brings us through difficult times and offers encouragement when no human words can do so. It is a message that transforms the human life into a spiritual existence. It is a message that offers peace and rest when we are in the midst of the storm and eternal rest when we leave this earth. Yes we have a wonderful message and God has enabled us to be able to get that message out – but we must have the desire to do so.

So let’s talk about what it means to be enabled by God to act on His behalf on this earth. How many of you have heard the word “delegate”. There are two definitions that I want us to examine for this word. The first definition means “to give a task to someone else with responsibility to act on your behalf.” The first definition of delegate is a verb – it represents an act. In this definition someone with authority transfers their authority to someone else to act on their behalf. The person receiving the authority now carries the same power to make the decision as the original person. This leads to the second definition where delegate is used as a noun. The second definition of delegate is “someone who is chosen to represent or given the authority to act on behalf of another person.” The first definition defines an act while the second definition identifies the one acted upon. What this means is that there is an act of delegation where someone transfers their authority to another and the person receiving that authority now becomes the original person’s representative or emissary. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38) Jesus was here as the delegate (or representative) of His Father and His desire was only to do the will of God. He repeated this when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42). Jesus was here to do the will of His Father. Once we are saved, we are to do the same and it starts with our doing the commandments of Christ. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) We give up our personal will to be delegates for God through Jesus Christ.