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Writer's pictureRandall Owens

Power

Two weeks ago we started our series on “The Kingdom Life”. We talked about the difference between ownership and rulership, as well as the two types of authority. Let’s recap for a minute. God is in ownership, but we have been placed in rulership by the authority that Jesus has given us. Remember, God is a spirit and rules over the spiritual invisible realm, so He created Adam, a physical man and gave him a management assignment to have dominion or rule over all the physical earth. He was to take whatever God, the owner, wanted done and move it forward in the earth. The Owner’s authority was delegated and flowed through Adam, it didn’t originate with Adam. The type of authority we have been given is bottom up. Meaning that we willingly submit to the authority of Jesus as our Lord. And His authority is brought into the earth when we pray and speak the word of God in His name.

Last week we talked about the legal system by which heaven operates. Spiritual laws exist and function regardless of whether or not you believe in them. Just like the natural law of gravity. It doesn’t matter what you think about gravity, it affects you anyway. The word testament means: Contract, covenant or agreement. The Bible is made up of the old contract and the new contract. Why would God write a contract? Because He wants us to understand the terms of His agreement with us. The spiritual laws that govern the Kingdom of Heaven are listed in this contract. Matthew 16:18-19 (NASB) “18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” When Jesus established the “church” it was supposed to be an ecclesia. An ecclesia was a governmental body of people who came together to consider the affairs of their jurisdiction. It functioned just like our state and national legislatures do now. Jesus built His church with the responsibility to carefully consider spiritual issues, and afterwards, the authority to either restrain it or release it. Heaven will then back our decision by enforcing it. This brings us to this week’s topic. Power. Jesus has given His church the “Power of Attorney”. Power of Attorney means: the authority to act for another person in legal matters. Jesus has given us the power to operate in His name and with His full spiritual legal authority.

This is illustrated In Matthew when Jesus sent the 12 disciples out to minister and as He did, this is what He told them to do. Matthew 10:7-8 “7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” Did Jesus tell His disciples to pray and ask Him to preach the kingdom? No, He told them to do it. He also told them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons. Jesus didn’t ask them to let everyone know He was on the way and would do all these miracles...He told them to do them... freely. And that is exactly what they did. You may be thinking, “yea, but those were the big 12, you know The Disciples”. But here’s the problem with that thought, later in Luke, we read about how Jesus again gathered other disciples, this time 70 of them, and then sent them out to minister in the towns where He was going to be visiting soon. Here were His instructions to them. You’ll find that they are very similar to the instructions He gave the big 12. Luke 10:8-9 “8 Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ We don’t know who these 70 people were. There is no reason to think they were professionals in the ministry, you know pastors and church staff. These were just folks who believed in and followed Jesus. And so, Jesus sent them out with power and authority over sickness in His name.

Here’s a kingdom key for us to understand: When Jesus sends you to do something in His name, the results are up to Him. All we have to do is follow His instructions. That is what the 12 did, and that is also what the 70 did. And it’s what we are supposed to do also. We’re about to see what happened when they returned. Luke 10:17-18 “17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Jesus wanted His disciples to know just how lopsided the battle was. This was not two great superpowers locked in a cosmic battle for dominance. This was Satan thinking he could rise up and be like God...and God ended it faster than it took satan to think of it. The scripture that talks about satan falling from heaven is in Isaiah. Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Verse 13 says, that all satan did was to say this in his heart...he didn’t even get a chance to speak the words out loud, before his rebellion was crushed. Make no mistake, there is no equal to God’s power.

Now back to the story of the 70 disciples. Luke 10:19 “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Here, Jesus goes on to tell them that he’s given them the delegated authority over things that could hurt them in the natural, and also over all the spiritual power of satan...so that nothing can hurt us. You have been given authority over all the power of the enemy. How much of the enemy’s power do you have authority over? That’s right...all of it. Are you using that authority and power? Luke 10:20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Who are the spirits subject to? That’s right...you. Now as powerful as that is, Jesus didn’t want us to be happy because the spirits were subject to us through the authority of His name. He’d seen their leader defeated as fast a lightning strike.

Here’s what He did want us to rejoice about. That our names are recorded in heaven. Is that enough for you to rejoice? Most of us would not hesitate to rejoice if we saw a miracle of healing, but according to Jesus, the miracle of salvation is a much bigger deal. How do you know the kingdom is being preached? You’ll see new names being recorded in heaven and you’ll see God’s delegated power at work in the earth. And that happens by the authority given to us to use the name of Jesus. We all like to drop names when we want people to be impressed with us. If you are good friends with a celebrity, that fact probably comes up in conversations pretty often. In business, we drop names when we believe that who we know would give us influence over the person we are dealing with...if they were just aware of it. Jesus gave us the power of attorney when He left the earth. We now have the legal right to use His name and all the power and authority that accompanies it. When we bring the name of Jesus into a situation...that situation has to change, because of the authority that is backing His name. So how much authority is that? All of it. Jesus has all authority, because it has been given to Him by The Father. Matthew 28:18 “18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

There is nothing, and I seriously mean nothing, that doesn’t fall under the authority of Jesus, in heaven or on earth. Philippians 2:8-9 “8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,” Because Jesus used bottom up authority and was humbly obedient out of love, God raised Him up and highly exalted Him. God gave Him a name that is above every other name. There is no name that carries more authority than Jesus. The roman centurion in Matthew 8 recognized that Jesus was under authority and that’s where His power came from. When he described what power looks like he said, “when I say to a soldier go, he goes, and when I say come, he comes”. This is the perfect example of what we see Jesus doing when He exercised His authority over demons. When Jesus told them to go, they went. When He asked them a question they had to answer, because He had authority over them. That’s the authority that he has given those who believe in Him. We are in authority over demons because Jesus gave us the legal power of attorney to use His name. The book of Acts lists multiple accounts of the disciples using the name of Jesus to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast our demons. Ephesians 1:19-20 “... These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,”

Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, which is the seat of power. It is described in the next couple of verses. Ephesians 1:21-22 “21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet...” All things are in subjection to Jesus. Jesus is The King. Philippians 2:10 “10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Every being in heaven, earth and under the earth will bow down to Him and confess that Jesus is The Lord. Jesus isn’t just your savior, He is your Lord. His title of Savior was because of His sacrificial act of obedience to the Father’s plan. So being Savior is something He did. But being Lord is who He is, and at some point every being in Heaven and on earth will confess that truth. The question you have to ask yourself tonight is not, Is Jesus Lord? The answer to that is a firm YES. The question is will you acknowledge that truth and confess Him as the Lord? One thing is certain, you will eventually confess that He is Lord, when you stand before Him after you leave this earth. But then it will be too late for your confession to change your eternal destination. Jesus is The Lord, that is His position, but He wants to be your Savior, that is His heart. That is what gets your name written in heaven. Remember, that’s what Jesus said should make you rejoice. It’s the most important miracle that is done in His name on the earth.


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