I’ve Got The Power
Using Your God-Given Authority
1/19/05
I. Introduction
Play clip from Bruce Almighty.
In this scene, Bruce Nolan has just been endowed with God’s powers. His initial reaction is disbelief, until he sees the amazing things that he can do with God’s power.
Well, did you know, that as a Christian, you’ve been endowed with God’s powers? Tonight, we’re talking about I’ve Got The Power: Using Your God-Given Authority, and you’ll discover the power you have and how to use it.
II. Jesus Says
John 14:12 NIV 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Let’s play a little game of Simon Says. I’m Simon and whatever I say and do, you do, as long as I say Simon Says before I say it. If you do something that I say if I don’t say Simon Says before it, you’re out and you have to sit down.
(play Simon Says for a few rounds or until one person is standing)
Alright, Simon Says is one thing, but here Jesus Says, and he says, anybody who has faith in Him will do what He’s been doing. What has Jesus been doing? He’s been healing, casting out devils, speaking to things with authority, and imitating His Father.
Jesus has authorized you to do what he did. He’s given you His powers.
Mark 16:17-18 NKJV 17And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
According to Jesus, you’ve got the power to do all of these things. So, how do you do them? How do you use His power?
III. Know That It’s Yours
The first key to using your God-given powers is to know that it’s yours. If you’re not absolutely positively completely sure that you have the authority, you won’t use it. For instance, let’s say that you wake up one morning and it’s your birthday and you walk outside and you see a new car in the driveway. You walk back in and notice that there is an unfamiliar set of keys on the key rack. The excitement begins to rise as you begin to hope that the car belongs to you. Now, you think this car is yours, but mom or dad hasn’t actually handed you the keys and said, “Go take it for a spin.” So, at this point, you have the power to take this car for a spin – the keys are there, the car is there, and you know how to drive- but you don’t have the authority because you’re not positive that it belongs to you. So, would you take this car for a spin? Well, if you had any conviction about doing the right thing, you wouldn’t touch those keys until they had been given to you.
And it’s the same thing with using your God-given authority. If you don’t know that the keys have been given to you, you won’t use it.
Well, here’s some good news, Jesus has given you the keys.
Matthew 16:19 NIV 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
He’s absolutely positively completely given you the authority. Based on God’s Word, are you sure that the authority is yours now?
You have the authority to bind and loose, to do what Jesus did, to cast out demons, speak in tongues and lay hands on the sick.
IV. Know How To Release It
Once you know that the authority is yours, you have to know how to use it. Let’s go back to the car. You won’t drive that car if you’ve never been taught how. You can’t drive that car if you don’t know how to start it or put it in gear. But if you know how to operate that car, you’ll drive it all over the place.
Well, how do you use your authority? With your words.
Mark 11:23 NKJV 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Your authority and faith is released through your words.
This is a spiritual law. It works every time it’s applied correctly. God released his authority through His words. He never does anything without saying it first.
Mark 11:22 NLT 22Then Jesus said to the disciples, "Have faith in God.
A more literal translation of this verse says, “Have the God kind of faith, or faith of God.”
And basically what this means is that God released His faith and used His authority through His words, therefore, that’s how you release faith and use authority.
In 1973, Charles Capps received a Word from the Lord. God said to Him, “If men would believe me, long prayers are not necessary. Just speaking the Word will bring what you desire. My creative power is given to man in Word form…
For it to be effective, man must speak it in faith. Jesus spoke it when He was on earth and as it worked then so shall it work now. But it must be spoken by the body. Man must rise up and have dominion over the power of evil by my Words. It is my greatest desire that my people create a better life by the spoken Word. For my Word has not lost its power just because it has been spoken once. It is still equally as powerful today as when I said, ‘Let there be light.’
But for my Word to be effective, MEN MUST SPEAK IT, and that creative power will come forth performing that which is spoken in faith.
My Word is not void of power.
My people are void of speech. They hear the world and speak as the world speaks. By observing circumstances they have lost sight of my Word. They even speak that which the enemy says, and they destroy their own inheritance by corrupt communication of fear and unbelief.
No Word of Mine is void of power, only powerless when it is unspoken.”
Now, that word is just as relevant now as it was in 1973 when Charles Capps received it, and I think we should receive it tonight as if God were here in the flesh speaking it directly to us.
Jesus told us in Mark 11:23 that we can have what we say, yet so many times, we just say what we have. And if we say what we have, then we’ll just be stuck in that same circumstance or position that we were always in. It’s time to speak the Word of God with boldness like we really believe it.
It’s time to find out what the Word says about our situation and speak that, instead of talking the problem. It’s time to talk the answer.
What would happen if Jesus walked around to where you’re sitting tonight, laid His hands on you, and said, “It will come to pass that after I have laid my hand on each one of you, everything you say will happen just as you say it”?
You might jump up and say, “Well, that just tickles me to death” and right then and there you’d die laughing.
Well, Jesus has said that you have what you say. He’s given you the power and the authority. What are you doing with it?
Using your God-given power is really simple in principle. It’s much harder in practice. Why? Because we hear too much of what the world says and not enough of what the Word says.
Romans 10:17 says “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” But if you’re not hearing the Word of God, then faith’s not coming. And if faith’s not coming, then the opposite is. What’s the opposite of faith? Doubt. And when doubt comes out of your mouth, you’re not using your power.
(Go With The Flow)
Let’s Pray.
