Authority of the Believer
(See the Spiritual)
The only authority Jesus had was through the Father instructions and the Holy Spirits Power:
Text:
John 5:19-20…Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
John 5:30
By myself, I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Jesus then passed this authority on to us:
John 14:20… On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Paul wrote about this in:
Eph 1:17-19
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Illustration: Liza
• Mid teens
• Raised in a Christian home
• Fascinated by a heavy metal rock group
• Invited to go back stage for the wild party of sex and drugs
• Rebelling against God and parents she decide to go
• An older woman who identified herself as a witch, who said, “No Christians are allowed back stage after a concert”, stopped her at the back stage entrance.
• Liza asked how do you know I am a Christian
• The witch said, “I can feel and see your power:
Luke 9:1-2
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Before Jesus gave the authority, the disciples could not deal in the spiritual world with power. After Jesus issued this command, the unseen spiritual world came under their authority.
1. CHRISTIANS MUST USE IT OR LOSE IT:
Jesus was committed to the fathers will. He was fully aware of the importance of being in full obedience to the father.
John 4:34…"My food," said Jesus "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Jesus was born of the father in Heaven through the miracle of a virgin birth. Still he laid all of his godly power aside and was fully man.
All he did he accomplished through the father and the Holy Spirit.
John 20:21
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you
We have the same supernatural power the Jesus used. The supernatural power intrigues us so we study the feeding of the thousands, walking on the water, the healing of the blind.
We long to have such dynamic effects on the world.
Bold statement…When we are prepared to be to Jesus what Jesus was to the father than Jesus is willing to be toward us what the father was to Him.
The power is already available and given, we lack the disciplines to use it.
Jesus received the power from the father, we receive it from Him
John 5:30
I can of mine own self do nothing:
2. Two worlds = Spiritual and physical/natural
• Jesus saw both worlds through faith
• We see one world through knowledge
• We live in defeat and accept it a normal
• Jesus lived in victory and accepted it as normal
Example… Feeding of the 5,000
Jesus seeing both worlds:
John 6:5-6
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"
He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip failed the test
John 6:7 …Philip answered him, "Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!
Philip saw only one world, one way, one path the natural physical world, then Jesus stepped into the spiritual world and fed a multitude of people from a boy’s lunch
We fail the test also when we base our activity on what we have heard or know in the natural body. We are often too busy to hear from the Lord and see the spiritual world all around us.
• Never teach your Sunday School base on what you see in the natural but what God reveals in the spiritual
• Never plan your family goals as to what you know to be true I the natural but what God shows you to be true in the spiritual
• We live and breath the natural but choke on the spiritual
• By every means available, we consume the natural and miss the opportunity to consume the spiritual.
• God’s power and authority are available to us in all situations we face but we are so much like Phillip that we miss the chance.
• Churches are basing all the programs on what is seen in the physical world missing the dynamics of what God is doing in the spiritual world.
In desperate times, we will seek the Lord and listen to the advice He wants to give.
Like Philip, we often miss the opportunity to experience the power all ready given to us.
Quote: … Jack Taylor
“If you haven’t seen God doing it shut down; if you haven’t heard God say it shut up!”
• Let Open Door Church strive Not to be normal in the natural but be normal in the spiritual
3. The change…from concentrating on the natural to living in the spiritual only comes through prayer, fasting and study.
Please understand the commitment to walk in the spiritual must take place before the time is necessary for the power to be used.
• Jesus prayed before, never during miracle.
• Communion with God must be in place before the power goes forth not while we are using it.
• The church used the form of prayer called asking. Jesus used the form of prayer call commanding:
Jesus commanded
Luke 4:39…So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.
Luke 5:13…Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And the leprosy left him.
Luke 4:35…"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
More Commands….
Luke 8:24…He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters;
Luke 5:24…"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.“
Luke 6:10…"Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored
Luke 7:14-15…"Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk
All these are times when Jesus was seeing the spiritual world and not the natural! He commanded the miracle because the father told him to.
Power through Relationship
Jesus had the relationship so he could hear the father give the direction to command the power to go forth.
He could see and hear the spiritual world because the spent time in fellowship with the father.
John 20:21… as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
Send us to minister …
• In His name
• Under His direction
• Through His ability
• With His power
• Not in the physical but only in the spiritual
• Understand the authority
• Learn to see the spiritual
• Release the full power of God
Commit to fellowship with God
Conclusion:
• Will you strive to understand the authority of the believer?
• Will you learn to see into the spiritual world?
• Will you hear and see what the will of God is and command it into reality through the name of Jesus
• It is our time to act
• It is our responsibility to act
• It is God’s will for us to act
• The question will you act?
