Our Christian experience is supposed to be more than just encouraging and inspiring...it’s supposed to be powerful and successful. A lot of christians believe their job is to just “Hold on till Jesus comes back”. But that is the mindset of a defeated people, who do not understand the power at their disposal. We are supposed to be an occupying force inside this foreign territory. Our king has already won and we serve Him from a position of victory. We are not here to just hold on. We have been given authority to rule over things and actively expand His territory. The truth is this. We will continue to live defeated until we understand how to access that authority. My goal is that as a church, we will discover how to use Kingdom authority, and live a successful life. We will expose the lies of the enemy and discover the rules of how to live in victory. We are going to cover spiritual laws and how they operate, and in the process we’re going to talk about how to use the kingdom authority you have access to as a believer. Now, in order to do all of that, we need to go back to the very beginning and look at how God originally intended everything to operate. Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
From the very beginning, Adam had a responsibility. And that responsibility was the oversight of the earth and all that was on it. Now, have you ever been given the responsibility to do a job but not given the authority to see that it’s done? How does that always end? In frustration, right? God created man and gave him dominion over all the earth. Adam was created to be a manager. God didn’t give His creation to Adam, He just gave Adam the authority to manage it. God wanted the earth to be a reflection of heaven. The physical visible earth was supposed to function like the spiritual invisible heavens. God, as a Spirit, ruled over the spiritual invisible Heavens and so He created a physical visible man in His image with His likeness, and He wanted that physical visible man to rule over the physical visible earth through delegated authority. God retained the ownership, but He gave man the rulership. A manager doesn’t just do whatever he wants. He is supposed to do what the owner wants done. His job is to understand what the goals of the owner are, and move the things under his authority in that direction. That was Adam’s job. There is a big difference between rulership and ownership. Let’s say your manager at work allowed you to use a company car. It is within your authority to go wherever you need to, in order to do your job. It’s your responsibility to take care of the car and use it to advance the company’s goals. You are in rulership of that car, but you are not in ownership. The use of, and authority over the car has been delegated to you from the owner...through the manager.
Why would they do that? To make it possible for you to do what they need done to advance the company. When you use the authority you’ve been given to advance the company, they view you as successful. When I talk about kingdom authority that is delegated to you...it’s for you to use it to advance the Kingdom...not yourself. Expanding His Kingdom is what success looks like to the king. Did you think your kingdom authority was to expand your kingdom? What is it called if you use company resources for your own personal benefit? I believe they call that embezzlement, which is basically theft. Didn’t we cover that last week in the 10 commandments? More on that in a couple minutes. OK, back to your company car...imagine this: what if every time you needed to go somewhere, you went into the owners office and asked him to take you there. Would that make any sense? I believe the owner would say: “Did your manager not give you a company car?” You would reply “yes Sir he did.” Then He would ask: “does the car not run?” And you would say: “Yes sir it does.” And the owner continues, “Did you lose your keys?” “No sir.” “Do you not know how to drive?” “No sir, I do not.” “Ah, there it is. We have discovered the problem. You just need to be trained on how to use what I gave you.” This is exactly what God is saying to us every time we go to Him, and ask Him to do something that He has given us the tools and authority to do ourselves. Let me make this very clear. God has retained the ownership, but He has given you the rulership or authority. God is not going to do for you, what He has already given you the delegated authority and power to do yourself.
If you know someone needs help, don’t pray for God to help them...He’s already given you the ability to help them. Get off of your rear and go do it. If you know a brother is struggling financially and you have the ability to help him...Don’t pray that God will meet their need. You do it. Stop asking God to do, what you are unwilling to do...with what He’s already given you to do it with. You have to wake up to the fact that You already have a company car. You are currently driving a Kingdom company car. You already have access to an unlimited company bank account. You have a Kingdom company debit card in your wallet or purse right now. Where do you think those resources came from? Are they not from God’s hand? Do you think you have moved up from rulership into ownership? If so, what makes you think that? If not, why do you think the Owner has trusted you to oversee them? Is it not to advance His Kingdom? When our King, the Owner, wants you to shift those resources to someone else...you do it. You don’t ask why, or worry about when...or if, He will replace them. What’s that to you? They didn’t belong to you, so don’t worry about it. That’s the difference between ownership and rulership. It’s the principle we see from Malachi in the famous tithing verse. Malachi 3:8 “8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.” Can you rob someone of something they don’t own? No. If someone let you use something they owned and you never give it back, that is robbing them. Did we not cover theft as a commandment last week?
If you can grasp this principle and start living by it, it will change your life. OK, let’s move on and discuss authority. Authority is something that flows through you...it doesn’t originate from you. There are two types of authority models we need to understand. The first on is called Top Down authority. This is basically the kind of authority your manager uses at work. His power is delegated from the people above him and is forced on those below him through fear. Compliance to a request from the manager is forced from above. The other type is Bottom Up authority and is the kind of authority that a leader of volunteers uses. This authority is submitted to from below, voluntarily out of love, instead of being forced. Compliance to a request from the leader is submitted to from below. Here is an example of both kinds of authority. Matthew 8:5-10 “5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
This Roman Centurion understood authority and he recognized it when he saw it in action. As a Roman soldier, he had Top Down authority, because his authority came from Rome and was forced on the soldiers beneath him. Jesus had the right to use top down authority because He is the Lord. But instead, He chose Bottom Up authority. His authority came from God because He was willingly submitted to His task out of love. In turn, the disciples willingly submitted to Jesus as their Leader because they loved Him and they saw His example of submitting to the Father. Bottom Up authority is what we are called to have as believers. Our authority flows from our willingness to submit our lives to God voluntarily out of love. As a church we are called to function with bottom up authority. Our volunteers don’t serve because they have anything to fear. They serve because they willingly submit to God, because they love Him. Again, authority is something that flows through you, not something that originates from you. When you speak the word of God over your situation, you are bringing heaven’s authority into the earth. You become a conduit of authority to move power from heaven to earth. Speaking God’s word over a situation ensures that you are in agreement with Heaven. This principal is the same as an electrical wire conducting electricity. Unless it’s hooked up to the power source, it’s useless. But if you connect it to a power source, it starts functioning the way it was intended. It was created to cary power from the original source, to some place that needs it...just like you. You were created to cary heaven’s power and authority into the earth, but in order to do that, you must be connected to the power source. And that power source is Jesus.
That is why we pray in Jesus name. We are releasing His authority and power into the situation. In Ephesians the Apostle Paul lays a foundation as he describes the position and authority of Jesus. You see, He’s not just the Savior, He’s also the Lord and as we will see, The Father has put everything under His feet. Which means under His authority. Ephesians 1:18-23 (NASB) “18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. 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, 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, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” He wants us to “see” the greatness of His power toward us who believe. It’s described in verses 19 & 20. We see His power because it was demonstrated by the resurrection, which flipped the natural order. Up to that point, death was the natural order. When Jesus came on the scene things started to change. His power in the heavenly places began to change things on the earth. God is in the business of flipping the natural order of things here on earth. Verse 22 clearly says that Jesus is head over all things to the church. Let’s look at how He established His church.
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.” In these verses, Jesus establishes His church and gives it the responsibility of holding the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Why was this important? Because the one with the keys can open or close the locks. He has access to the authority. That is how the church has the spiritual legal access to heaven’s authority to bind and loose things in heaven and earth...we have the keys. But notice the way the authority flows. It says if we bind something on earth...it shall have been bound in heaven. That’s past tense. This is a much more correct translation of the verse. Our job with the kingdom keys is to bind and loose things on earth that have already been bound or loosed in heaven. Remember, we are the colony, the outpost of heaven. Heaven is the seat of power and we are only to do what has been approved of there. We, as the church, should be careful as we make declarations of binding the enemy. We like to take over the position of authority and decide for ourselves what needs to happen. We let the power go to our head and get out of position. Jude 1:9 “9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” What should that tell us about our position and authority?
Even an archangel as powerful and famous as Michael did not speak against the devil. He said “The Lord rebuke you.” If he was that careful, then we should be also. You should not presume to pronounce a judgment on the devil, that’s God’s area of authority. 2 Peter 2 10-11 “10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.” The context of this passage is about the punishment of the unrighteous. And they are described as those who despise authority, pronouncing a judgment against “glorious ones” or spiritual beings, which are of a higher order than humans. Just like the previous verse from Jude, it says that even other angels don’t do this. You absolutely do have the authority that has been delegated from heaven, but before you start running your mouth rebuking and binding things on earth...you better make sure they have already been rebuked and bound in heaven. That decision is not yours to make. It comes back to this basic idea. What are you doing with the delegated kingdom authority that you have from heaven? Are you using it to expand your own kingdom? Or are you using it to expand the kingdom of God. Because that is what our King views as a success.
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