Understanding the Authority of Believers

Start again and we're going to talk about the authority of each believer. Let's all be seated. Tell your neighbor, tell them you have authority. and say it with authority. We're going to explore the authority of each believer, each Christ follower, and we're going to look at four questions about the authority of the believer. One, why should we exercise our authority? Second, where does our authority come from? Third, what authority do we have in Christ? And lastly, number four, how do we exercise that authority? Now, before we delve into those four questions, we have to have a couple of understanding about authority first. And here's a couple of them. Number one, when someone has authority, he or she has been designated to enact the will and the desire of the governing officials in a particular area or situation. With the word designated comes the thought of a higher authority. The only authority I have has been designated to me, which means there is a higher authority above me. And that's the beauty of authority, isn't it? When I stand here and there's an office of an executive director, there's some form of authority, I do not... come just because of my authority. There's a higher authority of the apostolic team led by Bishop Manny. I know there is a higher authority. You're not just coming on your own authority. You are being backed up by the higher authority. So that's very important. Second, the level of power possessed by the governing authorities Determines the degree to which the delegated authority can influence situation. The level of power would determine the degree to which the delegated authority can influence situations. For example, we delegate a policeman to an authority to a policeman to enforce the law. And you don't give him... A gun. How many of you know that that degree of authority would be limited because he doesn't have power to enforce that authority? So if there's somebody else who's bigger, if the policeman is this small, and he's going to enforce the rule to somebody this big, it would be helpful to have a gun. And say, you have to do this. Power and authority, there's a connection. Third, authority is different from power. Authority is permission, while power is force, strength, or ability. I would like to say that authority is permission. I would like to say that authority is a right. You have the right to act because you have been delegated and designated an authority from a higher authority. You have the right to do it. Why would a policeman have the right to catch somebody who's doing crime? Because he's got the right to do it. And he's got the responsibility to do it. He didn't need the permission of the criminal to say, you can catch me. I don't need your permission. I have the right to catch you and put you in jail. Why? Because I've got authority. Christians, as Christians, we're given the right to enforce spiritual things. And this right was given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. And we have been designated authority that comes from a higher authority. And I want us to know that the high authority that have designated you, the authority is the highest authority in the whole world. Think about that. You're not just being given authority by the president of the Republic of the Philippines or president of every nation. What's the higher position and authority than the president of every nation? Pastor Steve. Every nation, right? But this is the highest form, the highest authority in the whole universe, the whole of creation, God himself, Jesus Christ. And he designates authority to us to shape, influence, and prevent situations on behalf of God so that his will will be enforced on the earth. We have been given that authority and not only that, as we've seen throughout this course, we've given... We have been given power. How? Through the Holy Spirit. So we've got authority from Jesus and we've got power from the Holy Spirit. What else do we need? We've got everything we need to live a Godly life and to enforce His rule on the earth. Now, first question, why should we exercise our authority? Authority is given to believers so that the glory of God will fill the earth. Genesis chapter 1. Verse 26 to 28. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have what? Let them have dominion. Another translation says, let them rule over. Let them have dominion or let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock and over all the earth. and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. The very first mandate of God to man was this. I've made you in my image. Therefore, I want you to go and rule the earth. That was the mandate. Go rule the earth. If you look at that passage, man had been designated by God to be a... physical representation of God on the earth. Man had been delegated an authority to rule the earth. One of the, one song, how many of you like music? How many of you like music? One song that I like listening to in my time is the song, Everybody Wants to Rule the World. And people have been thinking, everybody wants to rule the world. And in some form, Or the other, it is right. They want to rule through money and through power and through this and through that. And where does that motivation come from? It was an intrinsic thing for human beings because when we were created, God put that thing in our hearts. Rule the world. Rule the world. Rule the earth. But the only reason why we can rule the earth and why God wants us to rule the earth is so that because we are living under his rulership. Adam and Eve were living under the rulership of God. And so God says, rule the earth so that I can rule the earth through you. The reason why God has given us authority to rule the earth is so that God's rulership could be enforced on the earth. And so... what happened was, you know what happened later on, we're going to talk about what happened. Adam and Eve got out of the rulership of God. So God had to find a people who will be under his rulership again. And so he birthed the nation of Israel. And he said, through you, Israel, my rulership should be reflected on the earth. But what happened to Israel? They got out under the rulership of God. So he has to birth the church. And through the church, we have been given authority as a people to enforce the rulership of God on the earth, wherever we are. And that's why we believe in establishing churches in every nation. Because we have been given authority by God as a people, as a church, to enforce his rulership. In every nation, not just in one nation. Matthew 28, that was the command. Go and make disciples of all nations. In essence, they are the same command. In one case, in Genesis, we have been given and mandated and authorized to rule the earth before sin came in. Before we got out under the rulership of God. But in Matthew, now that we are under his rulership again, because we're now followers of Christ, then that command had been given again. Now what happens if we don't exercise our authority as Christ followers? The exercise of our authority of believers in Christ is in opposition to demonic spirits and situations caused by them. The devil doesn't want God to rule the earth because he does. He wants to rule the earth. That's why if you look in the New Testament, the God of this age, he wants to be the God. Of this world and the God of this age. So there's this cosmic battle between God, the real God, the almighty Father that we've talked about this Sunday, last Sunday, against this small letter G God who wants to rule the earth. That's why we have to exercise our authority as believers and say this God's rule will happen and not your rule. That's our authority. That's the reason why we have authority. The rule of God will happen, not your rule, devil. If the enemy and the situations caused by him are not confronted, then the devil is glorified and he rules the earth. Imagine, imagine what our city would look like without police officers doing their job. Imagine our traffic. If there are no traffic enforcers, there are only a few real traffic enforcers. That's why we have this. Real enforcers. Imagine if there's none. It's going to be chaotic. Wouldn't it be? But the reason why we have some semblance of still rule and order, It's because of those delegated authority. Imagine the world without Christians enforcing the authority and the rule of God. Think about that for a moment. Imagine a campus where no Christian is trying to enforce the rule of God in that campus. Imagine a whole nation without any Christian enforcing the rule of God in that nation. Imagine the godlessness. Imagine all the perversion. Imagine all the things that the devil could do in that nation or city or campus. The eternal destiny of every human, of every city, of every nation is in the balance. And this is the reason why we have to use our God-given authority. Second question, where does our authority come from? The authority of each believer come... From the power of God displayed in God's work, through Christ's, through Christ, God's word, and God's spirit. Let's look at God's word through Christ. Again, I've given you the brief history of authority. God delegates his authority to a people under his rulership so that he can enforce his rule. And that's what happened throughout history. When we get out of his rulership, then he finds another people, and that's the church. In Ephesians 2, verse 4 to 6, here's the kind of authority that had been given us through Christ. Ephesians 2, But God made us alive together with Christ by grace we have been saved, and not... only were you saved how many of you are glad you're saved i'm glad i'm saved and most christians stop with that oh i'm so glad i'm saved i go to church as long as i'm saved i'm happy that's not the end of our christianity it says you have been saved and under your name and this is part of what jesus christ accomplished for you you've been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You're not only saved, but in the spirit, you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. You are sitting in authority because of the authority that Jesus Christ has given you. You were saved, but not only that, you have been designated with authority. By Jesus raising us up and seating us with him. Imagine you're sitting with Jesus in the heavenly places. That's authority. Second, the source of our authority is God's Word. Scripture allows us to know what we have been given permission to shape, influence, resist, and prevent. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is breathed out by God. All scripture is breathed out by God. Therefore, there is authority in it. So when you're a believer and people are asking, but what authority do you come from? Whenever you preach the word, Preach it with authority. Whenever I preach the word about giving, it doesn't matter what people's opinion about giving is. I'm not giving you my opinion. I'm giving you what the word of God says. So you have a problem with giving, take it up with God. The authority is God. The word of God is the authority. And I'm going to speak it with authority. When we talk about... Same-sex marriage, for example. And I would like to ask you to exercise caution. When we talk about that, there's a media firestorm about the statement of Congressman Pacquiao and people are saying, are you for Pacquiao or are you not for Pacquiao? That's not the issue. The issue is not whether you're pro or against. The issue is what does God's Word say about same-sex marriage? And I will... The posture is grace and truth. The posture is speaking the truth in love. But yet the authority to speak on any subject is when you have the authority to go to God's word. And say, this is what God's word says. Opinions doesn't matter. There was a pastor who said, opinions are like armpits. Everybody's got them and most of them stink. And here's the thing. The word of God is not an opinion of man. It has authority. It has finality. And that's where it comes from. When Jesus was in the wilderness, you remember that? Jesus was in the wilderness and he was tempted, but the devil was there. Think about this. Jesus fasted for 40 days. And after fasting for 40 days, the Spirit led him. It's the Holy Spirit who led him in the wilderness. Not all the Holy Spirit's leading will lead to comfort. Not all the Holy Spirit's leading will lead to wrinkle-free ministry. Some people think, oh, this is God because everything has fallen in place. This is one of those where the Spirit led him directly to the devil. So whenever the devil is in your ministry, is in your life, don't just think, oh, this is the devil's attack. It might be the Spirit leading you to have that confrontation. And he was there. And he was led, and the devil was there. He just fasted for 40 days, and the devil tempted him. Imagine this, 40 days of fasting. How many of you have ever fasted for a prolonged period of time? After five days, every year we do five days, right? Before we used to do seven days. Praise God, it's only five now. There was one year we did it for eight. And here's the thing about fasting. At the end of the fasting, you're ready to eat. It is easier to say no when you're in the middle of it. Because you know... I'm doing this for God. But when you're at the end of it, you're ready to eat everything. You see anything, you're going to eat it. And here's Jesus, and it says, the devil came, and he said, you've got power. You can turn these stones to bread. And I'm sure when Jesus looked at the stone, it turned into bread. After passing everything you look, it turns into food. He was probably so tempted, but how did he fight the devil? He used scriptures. There's power. There's authority in the word. The Bible says, man does not live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then there's a temptation about power. Then there's a temptation about going the shortcut of God's will. And he fought it with the scripture. The scripture is both authoritative and powerful. In Hebrews, it says, God's word is like a sword, sharper than a double-edged sword. It's powerful. And lastly, where does our authority come from? God's Spirit. The Spirit of God carries the power behind the authority. The Spirit of God confirmed Jesus' authority in Matthew chapter 12. and demonstrated that his authority was more powerful than the enemy. So you've got Jesus giving you the authority by sitting you on the heavenly realms. You've got the authority of God's word, and it's backed up by the power of God's spirit. I'm going to have you know we've got serious power residing inside of us. We have to realize that. We have to know that. There's no force of the enemy. We're going to talk about prayer warfare. There was a time people were saying, Oh, don't pray about this. Don't pray about that. There's going to be backlash. There's going to be this. I don't care about the backlash. The power of God inside of me is more powerful than any power in the world. And I've got authority. We should not be scared of the devil. We should not be scared of demons or anything he can do to us. We've got so much power and authority. authority that God has already given us. So third question, what authority do we have in Christ? Again, we go back to the gospel. What God has given us the authority to do is directly related to the victory that Christ already won through his life, death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. First Corinthians 15 says, but thanks be to God who gives us the what? The Victory. Our name here in the Philippines, Victory, is not a random name. It's not just a nice sounding name that we came up with in 1989. We thought of something that we fully believe in. And we believe that every believer has been given victory. Amen. Every church has been given victory. Amen. Every campus ministry doing the work of God has been given victory. Thanks be to God, He gives us the victory. And here are the main elements of that victory that Jesus dealt with for us as believers that we can have authority on. Christ defeated sin. Therefore, because Christ defeated sin, we can preach. I don't want to use that word share. We're not sharing. We're not sharing food. Do you want some? We're preaching. We preach forgiveness. We preach the gospel. That's authority right there. I don't share the gospel. I preach the gospel. Because there's authority in the word of God. We preach forgiveness through repentance with others. And we don't shrink back. Because Christ already defeated sin. Christ has already defeated all sickness, disease, and ailments. We talked about that yesterday. So therefore, you can minister healing with authority. That's why we can command stuff through prayer, knowing your authority. Jesus Christ defeated Satan on the cross. How many of you believe that? Therefore, you can minister freedom and deliverance to others. You can cast out demons. How many of you here have ever cast out a demon before? Hey, Pastor Manny will talk about demonology later on. And Pastor Nixon will study demon. So after a while, he would be the expert in demonology. I didn't understand that. Okay, next, Christ defeated. and overcame the world system. And so what does that mean for us? We have the authority to bind demonic influence over structures and people as well as lose God's will and the situations of prayer and prophetic decrees and acts. I really like this course because Bishop Manny, Pastor Manny will talk about prayer warfare. It is something that's, I'm not sure how, but here in Victory, it's something that seems like been lost or misunderstood by the... next generation leaders. I have not, I was teaching our campus missionaries in U-Belt about prayer warfare and praying over a city and asserting certain things that we need to pray against and coming against spirits that rule over territories and coming against authority. Somehow that has been lost with some believers. But we have authority to bind demonic influence over a region, over a place. We can do that. It's what we call prayer warfare. Christ also defeated the power of death through his resurrection. And there's the reason why if you have that gift of healing or gift of faith, you can operate in an aspect of resurrection power through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Here's what Peter said about the church. You are a chosen race. How many of you believe we are a chosen race? A chosen people. We are a chosen people. We are the people that God chose to delegate His authority to. Why? Because we are supposed to be the people who are living under His rulership. Chosen people. And then it says a royal priesthood. A holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful, marvelous light. This passage speaks of three roles of the church. First, it says you are royal. Turn to your neighbor, tell them you're royal. How many of you are seated beside a royalty? Even if they don't look like it, they are. We are royal. That's the declaration. We have the ministry of kingship. It also says that we are a royal priesthood. We are priests unto God. And then it says we are here to proclaim. In that sense, prophets proclaim. In that sense, there's a role of the church being a prophet. Kings rule and own, priests serve and intercede, and prophets proclaim what God has done and will do. As Christ's body, the church is the extension of Christ in these roles. Because if you look, Jesus is the king, the priest, and the prophet. All those roles are... are rolled into one and can be found in Jesus. But because we are the body of Christ, we become an extension of those rules. Remember, these things are not just titles. They are responsibilities. The church doesn't have just the title of the church is royal. The church is a priesthood. The church will proclaim. These are responsibilities. God is looking for the church to enforce his will on the earth by fulfilling these roles and responsibilities. Just as the government designates authority to a police officer, and if the police officer just sits, watches movies, plays video games. How many of you know that the government will be upset? The government will hold him accountable. I've given you an authority so that you can fulfill a responsibility. That's the same way with the church. The authority was delegated to us so that we can fulfill the God-given responsibility of a church. It is a responsibility. We're not given this authority just to control or manipulate people. We're given this authority to enforce His will and rule on the earth. And throughout history, God chooses people to bring and enforce his will on the earth consistently. Colossians 1.27 To whom? To them. God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. What a mystery. Despite our past sins and despite our present weaknesses, Christ himself lives in us. And not only that, he has seated us in the heavenly realms. Now when we talk about the authority that God has entrusted to us, we have to avoid two extremes at mindset. The first extreme of that mindset is this. God has given me authority to enforce his rule on the earth. So the harmful extreme of mindset is saying, God's will will not be enforced unless I make it happen. Wow, you're the bomb, you're the man. If you're thinking that nothing will happen unless you make it happen, then you are playing God. You are not. God. There is a divine authority delegated on us, but God is still sovereign. Amen? God still rules affairs of the nations. But on the other end, the other harmful mindset, the other extreme is God will do everything and he doesn't need me, regardless of what I do or I don't do. The healthy mindset. is that we are in a partnership with God. He wants to work in and with us to fulfill His purpose on the earth. And what a privilege, amen? How many of you know God doesn't need us to enforce His rule on the earth? We just talked about it. God is almighty. What does almighty mean? It means all the might in the universe, in all its transcendence, in all its... inexhaustible, infinite level and fullness is in God. He doesn't need anyone to enforce his rule. But what a privilege for him to say, I want to partner with you to enforce that rule on the earth. It's a partnership. It's through yielding to the influence of the Holy Spirit as we live under the rulership of God. Can we exercise this spiritual authority more and more as a spirit-empowered people? Our last question, how do we exercise our authority? Exercising our authority involves two things, attitudes and actions. Let's talk about attitudes. Some of the more important attitudes in exercising our spiritual authority are faith, humility, and courage. Now let's talk about those in a bit of a detail. Number one is faith. Faith is a confidence in God's wisdom, power, and goodness. What is faith? In Hebrews 11 verse 1, now faith is what? Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. If you want to exercise this authority, you have to be sure of what you hope for. to be sure and you have to be certain. That's what it means. Sure and certain. I am sure I have authority. I'm certain I have authority. I'm sure God wants me to do this. I'm certain God wants me to do this. That's what it means. It doesn't matter what you feel. And sometimes you don't feel you have authority. How many of you sometimes feel that you don't have authority? The devil will condemn you. The devil will lie to you. If you have done something displeasing to God, how many of you know the devil is always talking at you? He's always telling you, oh, you just did this last night. Oh, I know what you did last summer. I know what you did last summer, part two. I know what you, even the part two he knows. And he keeps telling you, and he keeps telling you, and he keeps speaking to you. But then you just have to stand in faith. I know by faith, I'm certain, I'm sure I've been forgiven. I'm certain, I'm sure that the blood of Christ has covered this. I'm certain, I'm sure I'm not condemned. I'm certain, I'm sure. So it's faith. Not feelings. Don't rely on your feeling when it comes to your authority in Christ. Don't rely on what you read or what people say about you. Sometimes it's not the devil that we hear. Sometimes it's the people around us that we hear. They sound like the devil sometimes. Oh, you just did this. Oh, you don't have authority. Oh, you don't have faith. Sure and certain. I have authority. From Christ, from His Word, I've got power from the Spirit. Second is humility. Now, this is important. Humility deals with the issues of source of mission and service. What is humility? Humility is recognizing that God is the source of our authority and power. Humility is saying, I have authority because I am under authority. No matter what kind of authority we get on earth, at best we are only second in command. Because there is always an authority above us. If you're in a local church, the pastor is the authority. In our church here, there's an apostolic team. There are authorities over you. To exercise your authority, you have to have an attitude of humility. I am under authority. And last attitude is courage. Courage is an attitude that deals with one's willingness to face challenging situations. I would always want to say that courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing what needs to be done in spite of the situation. of one's fears. So don't wait until you have no fear to enact your authority. How many of you have ever cast out a demon again? Raise your hand. Okay, a few of you. Sometimes there are demons that are not scary. But sometimes there are demons that are scary. I've had those. demonic encounters where I go and the demon in the person starts mocking me. And then I begin to think, oh no, can I do this? Then I begin to think, oh Lord, I repent of all my sins. Lord, please forgive me. But courage is doing what it needs, what needs to be done to enforce God's will in spite of your fear. So that's the attitude. Faith, humility, and courage. And lastly, actions. We exercise our authority through the weapons we possess. Ephesians chapter 16 talks about the under armor of God. No, not under armor. The armor of God. Sorry. It talks about the armor of God. It includes a belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of spirit. If we look at this armor of God, there are two common threads in all these weapons. It's faith in the word of God and corresponding action. Each piece of this armor in Ephesians 6 requires faith and authority to put on, keep on, and use in battle. Specific examples of how we can exercise authority. First, teach and share. or teach and preach the good news with others. Second, declare the biblical truth and promises of God in personal, in ministry. For example, you have lack. Your MPD partners have forgotten you. They begin to declare God's word. God is my provider. Philippians chapter 4. and my God will supply all my needs. Those are authoritative declaration of the word of God. And it's powerful. Declare it. Declare the truth and the promises of God. Speak the prophetic word of the Lord. Prophesy. And then intercede in prayer for people in situations. Use your authority to intercede for people and pray for people. Cast demons out of the oppressed and bring forth deliverance. Lay hands on people and pray for the sick for healing. Use your spiritual gifts with authority because God had given you authority. In closing, let me read Isaiah chapter 60, verse 1 to 3. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. As the church arises more and more. and uses its authority to enforce the rule of God on the earth, guess what? A day will come when the glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, I pray that we would know, we would be confident, we would be certain and sure of our authority in Christ, that we will be an instrument to enforce your rule on this earth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Start again and we're going to talk about the authority of each believer. Let's all be seated. Tell your neighbor, tell them you have authority. and say it with authority.

We're going to explore the authority of each believer, each Christ follower, and we're going to look at four questions about the authority of the believer. One, why should we exercise our authority? Second, where does our authority come from?

Third, what authority do we have in Christ? And lastly, number four, how do we exercise that authority? Now, before we delve into those four questions, we have to have a couple of understanding about authority first. And here's a couple of them.

Number one, when someone has authority, he or she has been designated to enact the will and the desire of the governing officials in a particular area or situation. With the word designated comes the thought of a higher authority. The only authority I have has been designated to me, which means there is a higher authority above me. And that's the beauty of authority, isn't it? When I stand here and there's an office of an executive director, there's some form of authority, I do not...

come just because of my authority. There's a higher authority of the apostolic team led by Bishop Manny. I know there is a higher authority.

You're not just coming on your own authority. You are being backed up by the higher authority. So that's very important. Second, the level of power possessed by the governing authorities Determines the degree to which the delegated authority can influence situation.

The level of power would determine the degree to which the delegated authority can influence situations. For example, we delegate a policeman to an authority to a policeman to enforce the law. And you don't give him...

A gun. How many of you know that that degree of authority would be limited because he doesn't have power to enforce that authority? So if there's somebody else who's bigger, if the policeman is this small, and he's going to enforce the rule to somebody this big, it would be helpful to have a gun.

And say, you have to do this. Power and authority, there's a connection. Third, authority is different from power.

Authority is permission, while power is force, strength, or ability. I would like to say that authority is permission. I would like to say that authority is a right.

You have the right to act because you have been delegated and designated an authority from a higher authority. You have the right to do it. Why would a policeman have the right to catch somebody who's doing crime?

Because he's got the right to do it. And he's got the responsibility to do it. He didn't need the permission of the criminal to say, you can catch me.

I don't need your permission. I have the right to catch you and put you in jail. Why?

Because I've got authority. Christians, as Christians, we're given the right to enforce spiritual things. And this right was given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. And we have been designated authority that comes from a higher authority.

And I want us to know that the high authority that have designated you, the authority is the highest authority in the whole world. Think about that. You're not just being given authority by the president of the Republic of the Philippines or president of every nation.

What's the higher position and authority than the president of every nation? Pastor Steve. Every nation, right?

But this is the highest form, the highest authority in the whole universe, the whole of creation, God himself, Jesus Christ. And he designates authority to us to shape, influence, and prevent situations on behalf of God so that his will will be enforced on the earth. We have been given that authority and not only that, as we've seen throughout this course, we've given...

We have been given power. How? Through the Holy Spirit. So we've got authority from Jesus and we've got power from the Holy Spirit. What else do we need?

We've got everything we need to live a Godly life and to enforce His rule on the earth. Now, first question, why should we exercise our authority? Authority is given to believers so that the glory of God will fill the earth. Genesis chapter 1. Verse 26 to 28. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have what? Let them have dominion.

Another translation says, let them rule over. Let them have dominion or let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock and over all the earth. and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. The very first mandate of God to man was this. I've made you in my image.

Therefore, I want you to go and rule the earth. That was the mandate. Go rule the earth. If you look at that passage, man had been designated by God to be a...

physical representation of God on the earth. Man had been delegated an authority to rule the earth. One of the, one song, how many of you like music? How many of you like music? One song that I like listening to in my time is the song, Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

And people have been thinking, everybody wants to rule the world. And in some form, Or the other, it is right. They want to rule through money and through power and through this and through that.

And where does that motivation come from? It was an intrinsic thing for human beings because when we were created, God put that thing in our hearts. Rule the world.

Rule the world. Rule the earth. But the only reason why we can rule the earth and why God wants us to rule the earth is so that because we are living under his rulership.

Adam and Eve were living under the rulership of God. And so God says, rule the earth so that I can rule the earth through you. The reason why God has given us authority to rule the earth is so that God's rulership could be enforced on the earth. And so...

what happened was, you know what happened later on, we're going to talk about what happened. Adam and Eve got out of the rulership of God. So God had to find a people who will be under his rulership again.

And so he birthed the nation of Israel. And he said, through you, Israel, my rulership should be reflected on the earth. But what happened to Israel? They got out under the rulership of God.

So he has to birth the church. And through the church, we have been given authority as a people to enforce the rulership of God on the earth, wherever we are. And that's why we believe in establishing churches in every nation. Because we have been given authority by God as a people, as a church, to enforce his rulership.

In every nation, not just in one nation. Matthew 28, that was the command. Go and make disciples of all nations. In essence, they are the same command.

In one case, in Genesis, we have been given and mandated and authorized to rule the earth before sin came in. Before we got out under the rulership of God. But in Matthew, now that we are under his rulership again, because we're now followers of Christ, then that command had been given again.

Now what happens if we don't exercise our authority as Christ followers? The exercise of our authority of believers in Christ is in opposition to demonic spirits and situations caused by them. The devil doesn't want God to rule the earth because he does. He wants to rule the earth. That's why if you look in the New Testament, the God of this age, he wants to be the God.

Of this world and the God of this age. So there's this cosmic battle between God, the real God, the almighty Father that we've talked about this Sunday, last Sunday, against this small letter G God who wants to rule the earth. That's why we have to exercise our authority as believers and say this God's rule will happen and not your rule. That's our authority.

That's the reason why we have authority. The rule of God will happen, not your rule, devil. If the enemy and the situations caused by him are not confronted, then the devil is glorified and he rules the earth. Imagine, imagine what our city would look like without police officers doing their job.

Imagine our traffic. If there are no traffic enforcers, there are only a few real traffic enforcers. That's why we have this. Real enforcers. Imagine if there's none.

It's going to be chaotic. Wouldn't it be? But the reason why we have some semblance of still rule and order, It's because of those delegated authority. Imagine the world without Christians enforcing the authority and the rule of God. Think about that for a moment.

Imagine a campus where no Christian is trying to enforce the rule of God in that campus. Imagine a whole nation without any Christian enforcing the rule of God in that nation. Imagine the godlessness. Imagine all the perversion.

Imagine all the things that the devil could do in that nation or city or campus. The eternal destiny of every human, of every city, of every nation is in the balance. And this is the reason why we have to use our God-given authority.

Second question, where does our authority come from? The authority of each believer come... From the power of God displayed in God's work, through Christ's, through Christ, God's word, and God's spirit.

Let's look at God's word through Christ. Again, I've given you the brief history of authority. God delegates his authority to a people under his rulership so that he can enforce his rule. And that's what happened throughout history. When we get out of his rulership, then he finds another people, and that's the church.

In Ephesians 2, verse 4 to 6, here's the kind of authority that had been given us through Christ. Ephesians 2, But God made us alive together with Christ by grace we have been saved, and not... only were you saved how many of you are glad you're saved i'm glad i'm saved and most christians stop with that oh i'm so glad i'm saved i go to church as long as i'm saved i'm happy that's not the end of our christianity it says you have been saved and under your name and this is part of what jesus christ accomplished for you you've been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You're not only saved, but in the spirit, you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

You are sitting in authority because of the authority that Jesus Christ has given you. You were saved, but not only that, you have been designated with authority. By Jesus raising us up and seating us with him. Imagine you're sitting with Jesus in the heavenly places.

That's authority. Second, the source of our authority is God's Word. Scripture allows us to know what we have been given permission to shape, influence, resist, and prevent. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is breathed out by God. All scripture is breathed out by God.

Therefore, there is authority in it. So when you're a believer and people are asking, but what authority do you come from? Whenever you preach the word, Preach it with authority.

Whenever I preach the word about giving, it doesn't matter what people's opinion about giving is. I'm not giving you my opinion. I'm giving you what the word of God says.

So you have a problem with giving, take it up with God. The authority is God. The word of God is the authority. And I'm going to speak it with authority. When we talk about...

Same-sex marriage, for example. And I would like to ask you to exercise caution. When we talk about that, there's a media firestorm about the statement of Congressman Pacquiao and people are saying, are you for Pacquiao or are you not for Pacquiao? That's not the issue.

The issue is not whether you're pro or against. The issue is what does God's Word say about same-sex marriage? And I will...

The posture is grace and truth. The posture is speaking the truth in love. But yet the authority to speak on any subject is when you have the authority to go to God's word. And say, this is what God's word says.

Opinions doesn't matter. There was a pastor who said, opinions are like armpits. Everybody's got them and most of them stink.

And here's the thing. The word of God is not an opinion of man. It has authority. It has finality. And that's where it comes from.

When Jesus was in the wilderness, you remember that? Jesus was in the wilderness and he was tempted, but the devil was there. Think about this. Jesus fasted for 40 days. And after fasting for 40 days, the Spirit led him.

It's the Holy Spirit who led him in the wilderness. Not all the Holy Spirit's leading will lead to comfort. Not all the Holy Spirit's leading will lead to wrinkle-free ministry. Some people think, oh, this is God because everything has fallen in place. This is one of those where the Spirit led him directly to the devil.

So whenever the devil is in your ministry, is in your life, don't just think, oh, this is the devil's attack. It might be the Spirit leading you to have that confrontation. And he was there. And he was led, and the devil was there.

He just fasted for 40 days, and the devil tempted him. Imagine this, 40 days of fasting. How many of you have ever fasted for a prolonged period of time? After five days, every year we do five days, right? Before we used to do seven days.

Praise God, it's only five now. There was one year we did it for eight. And here's the thing about fasting.

At the end of the fasting, you're ready to eat. It is easier to say no when you're in the middle of it. Because you know...

I'm doing this for God. But when you're at the end of it, you're ready to eat everything. You see anything, you're going to eat it. And here's Jesus, and it says, the devil came, and he said, you've got power.

You can turn these stones to bread. And I'm sure when Jesus looked at the stone, it turned into bread. After passing everything you look, it turns into food.

He was probably so tempted, but how did he fight the devil? He used scriptures. There's power. There's authority in the word. The Bible says, man does not live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then there's a temptation about power. Then there's a temptation about going the shortcut of God's will. And he fought it with the scripture. The scripture is both authoritative and powerful.

In Hebrews, it says, God's word is like a sword, sharper than a double-edged sword. It's powerful. And lastly, where does our authority come from?

God's Spirit. The Spirit of God carries the power behind the authority. The Spirit of God confirmed Jesus' authority in Matthew chapter 12. and demonstrated that his authority was more powerful than the enemy. So you've got Jesus giving you the authority by sitting you on the heavenly realms.

You've got the authority of God's word, and it's backed up by the power of God's spirit. I'm going to have you know we've got serious power residing inside of us. We have to realize that.

We have to know that. There's no force of the enemy. We're going to talk about prayer warfare. There was a time people were saying, Oh, don't pray about this.

Don't pray about that. There's going to be backlash. There's going to be this.

I don't care about the backlash. The power of God inside of me is more powerful than any power in the world. And I've got authority.

We should not be scared of the devil. We should not be scared of demons or anything he can do to us. We've got so much power and authority. authority that God has already given us.

So third question, what authority do we have in Christ? Again, we go back to the gospel. What God has given us the authority to do is directly related to the victory that Christ already won through his life, death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. First Corinthians 15 says, but thanks be to God who gives us the what?

The Victory. Our name here in the Philippines, Victory, is not a random name. It's not just a nice sounding name that we came up with in 1989. We thought of something that we fully believe in.

And we believe that every believer has been given victory. Amen. Every church has been given victory.

Amen. Every campus ministry doing the work of God has been given victory. Thanks be to God, He gives us the victory.

And here are the main elements of that victory that Jesus dealt with for us as believers that we can have authority on. Christ defeated sin. Therefore, because Christ defeated sin, we can preach.

I don't want to use that word share. We're not sharing. We're not sharing food. Do you want some?

We're preaching. We preach forgiveness. We preach the gospel.

That's authority right there. I don't share the gospel. I preach the gospel.

Because there's authority in the word of God. We preach forgiveness through repentance with others. And we don't shrink back.

Because Christ already defeated sin. Christ has already defeated all sickness, disease, and ailments. We talked about that yesterday. So therefore, you can minister healing with authority. That's why we can command stuff through prayer, knowing your authority.

Jesus Christ defeated Satan on the cross. How many of you believe that? Therefore, you can minister freedom and deliverance to others. You can cast out demons. How many of you here have ever cast out a demon before?

Hey, Pastor Manny will talk about demonology later on. And Pastor Nixon will study demon. So after a while, he would be the expert in demonology.

I didn't understand that. Okay, next, Christ defeated. and overcame the world system. And so what does that mean for us?

We have the authority to bind demonic influence over structures and people as well as lose God's will and the situations of prayer and prophetic decrees and acts. I really like this course because Bishop Manny, Pastor Manny will talk about prayer warfare. It is something that's, I'm not sure how, but here in Victory, it's something that seems like been lost or misunderstood by the... next generation leaders. I have not, I was teaching our campus missionaries in U-Belt about prayer warfare and praying over a city and asserting certain things that we need to pray against and coming against spirits that rule over territories and coming against authority.

Somehow that has been lost with some believers. But we have authority to bind demonic influence over a region, over a place. We can do that.

It's what we call prayer warfare. Christ also defeated the power of death through his resurrection. And there's the reason why if you have that gift of healing or gift of faith, you can operate in an aspect of resurrection power through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

In 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Here's what Peter said about the church. You are a chosen race. How many of you believe we are a chosen race?

A chosen people. We are a chosen people. We are the people that God chose to delegate His authority to.

Why? Because we are supposed to be the people who are living under His rulership. Chosen people.

And then it says a royal priesthood. A holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful, marvelous light. This passage speaks of three roles of the church. First, it says you are royal.

Turn to your neighbor, tell them you're royal. How many of you are seated beside a royalty? Even if they don't look like it, they are. We are royal. That's the declaration.

We have the ministry of kingship. It also says that we are a royal priesthood. We are priests unto God.

And then it says we are here to proclaim. In that sense, prophets proclaim. In that sense, there's a role of the church being a prophet. Kings rule and own, priests serve and intercede, and prophets proclaim what God has done and will do. As Christ's body, the church is the extension of Christ in these roles.

Because if you look, Jesus is the king, the priest, and the prophet. All those roles are... are rolled into one and can be found in Jesus. But because we are the body of Christ, we become an extension of those rules. Remember, these things are not just titles.

They are responsibilities. The church doesn't have just the title of the church is royal. The church is a priesthood. The church will proclaim. These are responsibilities.

God is looking for the church to enforce his will on the earth by fulfilling these roles and responsibilities. Just as the government designates authority to a police officer, and if the police officer just sits, watches movies, plays video games. How many of you know that the government will be upset? The government will hold him accountable.

I've given you an authority so that you can fulfill a responsibility. That's the same way with the church. The authority was delegated to us so that we can fulfill the God-given responsibility of a church.

It is a responsibility. We're not given this authority just to control or manipulate people. We're given this authority to enforce His will and rule on the earth. And throughout history, God chooses people to bring and enforce his will on the earth consistently. Colossians 1.27 To whom?

To them. God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. What a mystery.

Despite our past sins and despite our present weaknesses, Christ himself lives in us. And not only that, he has seated us in the heavenly realms. Now when we talk about the authority that God has entrusted to us, we have to avoid two extremes at mindset.

The first extreme of that mindset is this. God has given me authority to enforce his rule on the earth. So the harmful extreme of mindset is saying, God's will will not be enforced unless I make it happen. Wow, you're the bomb, you're the man.

If you're thinking that nothing will happen unless you make it happen, then you are playing God. You are not. God.

There is a divine authority delegated on us, but God is still sovereign. Amen? God still rules affairs of the nations.

But on the other end, the other harmful mindset, the other extreme is God will do everything and he doesn't need me, regardless of what I do or I don't do. The healthy mindset. is that we are in a partnership with God. He wants to work in and with us to fulfill His purpose on the earth. And what a privilege, amen?

How many of you know God doesn't need us to enforce His rule on the earth? We just talked about it. God is almighty.

What does almighty mean? It means all the might in the universe, in all its transcendence, in all its... inexhaustible, infinite level and fullness is in God.

He doesn't need anyone to enforce his rule. But what a privilege for him to say, I want to partner with you to enforce that rule on the earth. It's a partnership. It's through yielding to the influence of the Holy Spirit as we live under the rulership of God.

Can we exercise this spiritual authority more and more as a spirit-empowered people? Our last question, how do we exercise our authority? Exercising our authority involves two things, attitudes and actions.

Let's talk about attitudes. Some of the more important attitudes in exercising our spiritual authority are faith, humility, and courage. Now let's talk about those in a bit of a detail. Number one is faith.

Faith is a confidence in God's wisdom, power, and goodness. What is faith? In Hebrews 11 verse 1, now faith is what? Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. If you want to exercise this authority, you have to be sure of what you hope for.

to be sure and you have to be certain. That's what it means. Sure and certain.

I am sure I have authority. I'm certain I have authority. I'm sure God wants me to do this. I'm certain God wants me to do this.

That's what it means. It doesn't matter what you feel. And sometimes you don't feel you have authority.

How many of you sometimes feel that you don't have authority? The devil will condemn you. The devil will lie to you.

If you have done something displeasing to God, how many of you know the devil is always talking at you? He's always telling you, oh, you just did this last night. Oh, I know what you did last summer. I know what you did last summer, part two.

I know what you, even the part two he knows. And he keeps telling you, and he keeps telling you, and he keeps speaking to you. But then you just have to stand in faith. I know by faith, I'm certain, I'm sure I've been forgiven.

I'm certain, I'm sure that the blood of Christ has covered this. I'm certain, I'm sure I'm not condemned. I'm certain, I'm sure. So it's faith. Not feelings.

Don't rely on your feeling when it comes to your authority in Christ. Don't rely on what you read or what people say about you. Sometimes it's not the devil that we hear.

Sometimes it's the people around us that we hear. They sound like the devil sometimes. Oh, you just did this. Oh, you don't have authority. Oh, you don't have faith.

Sure and certain. I have authority. From Christ, from His Word, I've got power from the Spirit. Second is humility. Now, this is important.

Humility deals with the issues of source of mission and service. What is humility? Humility is recognizing that God is the source of our authority and power.

Humility is saying, I have authority because I am under authority. No matter what kind of authority we get on earth, at best we are only second in command. Because there is always an authority above us. If you're in a local church, the pastor is the authority. In our church here, there's an apostolic team.

There are authorities over you. To exercise your authority, you have to have an attitude of humility. I am under authority. And last attitude is courage. Courage is an attitude that deals with one's willingness to face challenging situations.

I would always want to say that courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is doing what needs to be done in spite of the situation. of one's fears.

So don't wait until you have no fear to enact your authority. How many of you have ever cast out a demon again? Raise your hand.

Okay, a few of you. Sometimes there are demons that are not scary. But sometimes there are demons that are scary. I've had those.

demonic encounters where I go and the demon in the person starts mocking me. And then I begin to think, oh no, can I do this? Then I begin to think, oh Lord, I repent of all my sins. Lord, please forgive me. But courage is doing what it needs, what needs to be done to enforce God's will in spite of your fear.

So that's the attitude. Faith, humility, and courage. And lastly, actions. We exercise our authority through the weapons we possess.

Ephesians chapter 16 talks about the under armor of God. No, not under armor. The armor of God. Sorry. It talks about the armor of God.

It includes a belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of spirit. If we look at this armor of God, there are two common threads in all these weapons. It's faith in the word of God and corresponding action.

Each piece of this armor in Ephesians 6 requires faith and authority to put on, keep on, and use in battle. Specific examples of how we can exercise authority. First, teach and share. or teach and preach the good news with others. Second, declare the biblical truth and promises of God in personal, in ministry.

For example, you have lack. Your MPD partners have forgotten you. They begin to declare God's word.

God is my provider. Philippians chapter 4. and my God will supply all my needs. Those are authoritative declaration of the word of God. And it's powerful.

Declare it. Declare the truth and the promises of God. Speak the prophetic word of the Lord.

Prophesy. And then intercede in prayer for people in situations. Use your authority to intercede for people and pray for people. Cast demons out of the oppressed and bring forth deliverance. Lay hands on people and pray for the sick for healing.

Use your spiritual gifts with authority because God had given you authority. In closing, let me read Isaiah chapter 60, verse 1 to 3. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.

But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. As the church arises more and more.

and uses its authority to enforce the rule of God on the earth, guess what? A day will come when the glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth. Amen?

Let's pray. Lord, I pray that we would know, we would be confident, we would be certain and sure of our authority in Christ, that we will be an instrument to enforce your rule on this earth. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Transcript for:Understanding the Authority of Believers

Transcript for:
Understanding the Authority of Believers