Utilize The Authority You Have In The Spirit

Utilize the Authority You Have in the Spirit - (Phil. 4:11-13)

Autoarkeo - Self-sufficient. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we have become sufficient in Christ according to Phil. 4:11-13. Listen to the verse from the amplified Bible:

"I have strength for all things through Christ who empowers me. I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient (auto-arkeo) in Christ’s sufficiency-sustaining power."

Too many Christians are living on a small fraction of the authority and power they possess. It is analogous to driving an eight cylinder car that only has two cylinders functioning. Not only is the car underpowered but it run tentatively and sometimes not at all!

Illustration: Author Jamie Buckingham once visited a dam on the Columbia River. He’d always thought that the water spilling over the top provided the power, not realizing that it was just froth, that deep within turbines and generators transformed the power of tons and tons of water to electricity--quietly, without notice, not like the flashy froth on top. Without the empowering of the Holy Spirit we cannnot be run with Christ’s power, energy or authority.

Source Unknown.

1. The Holy Spirit, as Lord, gives great authority to those who are involved with completing His great commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Ask the Lord to help you appropriate the power given to you for the fulfilling of the Lord’s purpose of enlarging His kingdom and righteousness in every one of the 18,800 ethnic groups of the world.

Illustration: For $30/month anyone can support a full time church planter in China through ChristianAid.org. This enables someone who will we probably never meet to be involved with starting several new house fellowships that add to the present 500,000 new fellowships starting every year in China. It allows us to be obedient to Christ’s command, "When the Holy Spirit has come upon you will receive power. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the utter most parts of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

2. The Holy Spirit gives authority to a plurality of Godly leaders for each church fellowship. Dr. Luke wrote, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship.... and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." (Acts 2:42,43)

Application: Ask the Lord to help you assembly a group of Godly elders that can lead many new church fellowships to higher levels of quantitative and qualitative growth in their communities. A fellowship can only grow as mature as their leaders.

Illustration: In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man’s associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bits & Pieces, September 15, 1994, p. 4.

3. The Holy Spirit identifies the root causes of peoples’ rebellion and troubles. The Spirit authoritatively spoke through Paul in pointing out the reasons for Israel’s problems. Dr. Luke wrote, "They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement, "The Holy Spirit when he said through Isaiah the prophet: ‘Go to this people and say, ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes... Otherwise, they might see and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." (Isaiah 6:9-10)

Application: Ask the Lord to give you greater discernment to authoritatively identify the root causes of peoples’ resistance to the will of God.

Illustration: From the world of business, Robert J. Kriegel offers an observation about being proactive that applies to churches, "Research shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans (85 percent) are reactive and static, not action- or dynamic- or instinct-oriented. They wait and meet, meet and wait. With a ready arsenal of conservative, conventional wisdom at their disposal, they try to control outcomes in an out-of-control world."

H.B. London, Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman, Pastors at Risk, Victor Books, 1993, p. 217.

4. The Holy Spirit makes us authoritatively competent to minister to His people. Paul wrote, "He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6)