Sermon Central
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The Difference Between Authority And Power Series
Contributed by Brett Crosson on May 9, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: Understanding power and authority and the difference between the two will cause your prayer life and ministry to become more effective.
Difference between power and authority. The KJV USES POWER AND AUTHORITY INTERCHANGEABLY AND THIS CAN BE MISLEADING. They are two different words in the Greek with two different meanings.
1. Power and authority are two different things
2. Power and authority, to be effective and legitimate, have to work together.
3. Power is the strength or force needed to rule.
Authority is the right to rule.
4. Authority without power is meaningless.
Power exercised without authority is morally wrong and evil.
When Satan fell from heaven he did not lose or gain more power.
1. But he lost his authority in heaven.
2. And he sought to gain it in the earth, through Adam.
3. He accomplished this by getting Adam and Eve to disobey God and listen to him.
4. And so through man’s sin, Satan took authority over man.
Luke 4...particularly verse 6
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Important to understand:
When Jesus died on the cross, he did not take any of Satan’s power away from him.
1. Jesus dealt with sin.
2. By overcoming sin, and by paying the price for sins judgement, which ultimately was death, Christ removed the power of sin and death over humanity, and thereby stripped Satan of his authority over humanity.
3. So when John sees Jesus in the vision recorded in Revelation...Jesus says I am the alpha and omega.....I was dead by now am alive and I hold the keys of death and hell.
4. So whilst Jesus did not take away Satan’s power, he took away his right to use that power.
In other words, Jesus stripped Satan of his authority.
5. That is why Matthew 28:18 reads in the original Greek:.....all authority has been given to me.....not all power as the KJV says.
Dutch Sheets:
“If Jesus stripped Satan of his power, as some teach, then we no longer need to concern ourselves with him....he becomes a non-issue. And if we have been delivered from his power then he can no longer affect us. We would be able to ignore him completely, which is precisely what many Christians do.
If on the other hand Jesus dealt with Satan’s authority, the right to use his power or ability, then we would need to deal with him as a usurper, a rebel, a thief, that has no right to steal, kill, and destroy, but will if not stopped.”
We have been delivered from the AUTHORITY of darkness. Not the POWER of darkness as King James Version says.
We have been delivered from Satan’s authority and given a higher authority in Christ’s name
We must therefore exercise that authority over the devil’s works and power
When we do, God’s awesome power will back up our authority
Luke 10:19 Behold I Give you Authority (exousia) to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.
Why? Because when we operate in God’s authority, his power will manifest.
KEYS:
Matthew 16:19....I give you the keys of the kingdom.....what you bind
We have KEYS (authority) to bind the forces of hell.
Keys....lock doors and keys open doors....
BIND:
Word for bind is deo, and means to fasten or tie, as with a chain or cord.
The word is also used in legal terms to mean LEGALLY or CONTRACTUALLY BINDING
VIP
What determines victory for us is understanding and exercising authority.
We can use authority to rebuke death, sickness and disease.
Stop premature death.
When Jesus said all authority....
Go into all the world....
He was saying: Take my authority and tell the world they can take back their lives...their freedom from sin....from sickness and disease....their destinies....
Jesus as Author and Creator of the earth, always maintained his ownership and authority.
The authority he won back at Calvary was what Adam lost, not His own.
Little wonder that Satan through his theories of macro evolution and other forms of humanistic thinking wants to dispel belief in God as Creator, for is he is the author of all creation then he has authority over all creation even human kind.
We have the power and authority to change circumstances.
Take sickness and disease for example.....
A condition
A circumstance that governs a person’s life
That controls a person’s life...their finances...their activities....their time
Women with the issue of blood for 12 years
All her money was spent on doctors
She grew worse
The woman with a back problem for 18 years
