The Authority of Declaration

with us looking at Matthew 28 where Jesus said all authority has been given to me. And I preached on that, what it meant for Jesus to have all authority. And if you'll remember, he followed that up with going to all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

So his authority authorizes us to go and do ministry in the name of Jesus.

And that spun off in my mind. we talked about a couple of sermons leading up to the sermon that I'm going to preach today. And it's sermon three in this series of the spiritual authority of the believer. Because we are in Christ, we also have authority and power in the name of Jesus. we don't stand alone when we step into Christ we abide in him and he abides in us and so the scripture that I want to jump off on today and we'll deal with it as we walk along through this sermon is Acts 1 verses 6 through 8 Acts 1 verses 6 through 8 let me read this to you and so when they had come together they were asking him saying Lord is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom of Israel now let me put this in context this is a post resurrection scene And in fact, it's right before Jesus ascends to heaven. And 40 days has passed. Jesus has been on the earth 40 days with his disciples. Even 500 had seen him at one time. He had verified his resurrection for 40 days. He actually had been teaching and discipling and eating. He even ate with the disciples to prove that his resurrection body was a body.

And so he spent 40 days. And this is at the end of those 40 days. and the disciples are still saying Lord are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel right now you know they're ready for the Roman rule to be over and for the kingdom to be ushered in they're still a little confused about what this whole Jesus thing is all about he said to them it is not for you to know the times or epics which the father has fixed by his own authority God the father knows when all this will wrap up Jesus is even not clued in on that that up to the thoughter when all this wraps up He says though but and here's the big but,

here's our divine assignment. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth. There's going to be a worldwide evangelistic movement through the saints of God, the believers in Christ. the last couple of weeks we've looked at two areas concerning the believer's spiritual authority in Christ the first week does it come to your memory the spiritual authority of regeneration some of you went out of church saying that Sunday boy you sound like a good Baptist today I talked about initial conversion being born again the new birth experience theologically we call this the doctrine of justification that we are justified by faith through the blood of Jesus we are cleansed and forgiven we have been born again we are in Christ and Christ is in us regeneration's foundation is the love, the mercy and the grace of Christ. Bottom line, our rebirthing is a gift from God.

We didn't birth ourselves. It is a gift from God. We are born again into the kingdom. And then we consider the spiritual authority of transformation. The journey of growing in the grace in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, it's not God's intention that you be a baby all your life. You're to grow up in Him.

Knowledge, I define, is sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening and contemplating and confessing and worshiping. it's the safe place of discipleship do you hear what I'm saying when we're growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ it's the safe place of discipleship grace is the empowering work of the Holy Spirit it emboldens us and sets us apart to experience the holiness and the holy fire of God in every situation and circumstance we face in life. It purifies us and conforms us to the image of Christ. Theologically speaking, it's what we call in the Wesleyan world the doctrine of sanctification. We are not simply declared holy. We are being made holy as we walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Do you hear that distinction? it's not just a declaration you're holy but it is an empowering in your spirit that makes you holy now there's a lot of discussion about is that entirely done right here on this earth I going to stay away from that I don know I believe that we are perfected in love in Christ, in his image on this earth. I believe that, that my motives can be purely cleaned and purified on this earth, even prior to going to heaven. Now that's a big statement, a very big statement. We are not simply declared holy, we're being made holy as we walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Now that's the clue, walking in the footsteps of Jesus. He is not only our Savior, he is the Lord of our salvation. we are not only being born again we are baptized and being filled with the Holy Spirit 24-7 you hear that we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and we are being filled with the Holy Spirit it's a continuing experience as we walk in the footsteps of Jesus we walk in the authority of spiritual transformation and guys that's not something we do ourselves that is the gift of the Holy Spirit working in and through us so that brings us to our day's sermon the third sermon the believer's spiritual authority of declaration and demonstration go into the world and make disciples the very foundation of that is declaration and demonstration.

There are two Greek words here in Acts chapter 1 verses 6-8 that I read to you in the beginning of this sermon.

They are so interconnected to the believer's spiritual authority that it is almost impossible to separate them. right off the bat I bet you probably recognize them as I read this the authority of the father and the power of the Holy Spirit the Greek word for authority the father's authority is exousia in Strong's Greek lexicon the word is defined as the power to act, the privilege to act, the right to act. In most of its biblical settings, it is seen as delegated power,

referring to the authority God gives to his saints,

authorizing them to act to the extent they are guided by faith and his revealed word in their lives. That's a big statement.

It is delegated authority. It's referring the authority that he has given to you as a saint to act to the extent that you are guided by faith and revelation from his word. I can remember when I was at McMurray one afternoon in my dorm room in the un-air conditioned dorm room at McMurray down in the basement and I was reading Jeremiah and Jeremiah was a bold evangelist for God and God said to me get up and go preach on the steps of the big auditorium out in front of Bradford And I thought, did I just hear you write, God? Get up and go preach on the steps? He said, yeah, that's what you heard. So I went and asked my roommate, Ron Smith, Ron do you think this is from God he said would God say it I said yeah I think he did he said well you go preach and I'll stand down there and pass out tracks while you're preaching I can remember one of my other friends on the basketball team they were leaving getting ready to go play a basketball game at San Angelo State or so Ross and they were out there in the McBury little bus where the coach was going to drive them to play in a basketball game. And Cliff Stevens was sitting there and I was out there on the steps, the columns in front of the auditorium going, McMurray!

God loves you! Repent! Come to Jesus! I was out there shouting and Ron was passing out the tracks and Cliff said, all the basketball team pull down the window as well. What's he doing?

Is he out there preaching? And Cliff said, yeah, that's Hurst. That's one of my best friends. He's out there preaching. You know, the word was just revealed to me. Get up there and go preach. And five people came to Christ.

Five people came to Christ during that experience.

You know, that's our divine assignment.

Now, you don't have to do it in that method. Thank you. I can remember when we were at Asbury, we'd go down on the streets and preach in the red light district. Dr. Coleman would take a group of us, what he called his evangelist on campus, a group of us, and we'd preach down in front of the bus station. and it was a red light district and when we started preaching there would be prostitutes and drunks and drug addicts and all kinds of people pour out of those alleys and listen to us preach out there and we would lead people to Christ down there in front of that bus station I don't recommend that ministry to many of you that would be a little foreign to your personality but for me it was okay at that time and stage in my life. I didn't mind doing that.

The Greek word for power here is dunamis. Now listen to that dunamis. What English word do you think comes from that?

Carol Ann said it. Dynamite. dynamic dunamay signifies the empowering explosive presence of the Holy Spirit that enables believers to witness effectively you've been filled with power and with authority you've been authorized I wrote down here and I think I'm right at this I put dunamis power is the consequence

of exousia, authority. Now do you hear what I'm saying there? The explosion of dynamite can only occur when the act or action of authority lights the fuse.

John 1, 12. You have been given authority to become a child of God.

So God has authorized you to explode.

The authority came and then the explosion comes. The fuse is lit. Does that make sense to you? those two words just jumped right off the page to me when I was studying that power to become his witnesses is a result of the heavenly father and the son conjoinantly pouring out the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3 11 John the Baptist said as for me I baptize you with water of repentance but he who comes after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove his sandals, he, Jesus, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

In Acts 2.17, the first sermon of the church, what I call Peter's Pentecostal sermon, where he explains the outpouring of the Holy Spirit using the prophetic words of Joel, Peter preached and it shall be in the last days God says I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. What I want you to see here is the authority of the heavenly father and his son together. They authorize the sending of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 verses 1 through 4 and when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven from the Father and the Son a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them as a fire distributing themselves and they rested on each of them and they were filled. Hear that? The word there is covered, baptized. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

The Father and the Son, by their own authority, sent the Holy Spirit.

You shall receive power to be my witnesses. power to declare power to demonstrate guys that is our assignment Luke chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 and verse 6 and he called the 12 together and he gave them power and authority over all the demons to heal diseases and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and perform healing and departing they began going among the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere

Now did you catch the Greek words here?

In Luke 2, 1 through 2? And he gave them power and authority. proclamation and demonstration authority over demons power over diseases in Luke 10 Jesus commissions 70 to go and do his mission to me there are three verses that stand out in Luke 10 And I want to bring those to us because I think they foreshadow what was the beginning of the common experience of believers to live in the power and the authority of declaration and demonstration. Verse 5, Luke 10. Whatever house you enter, and I want you to notice the language here, first say.

You hear that? When you're talking, what are you doing? You're declaring.

Declare. And notice what the declaration is. Peace be to your house.

When Jesus appeared in the upper room and the disciples were scared to death because he had been killed and they had heard rumors of his resurrection and he appears to them in the upper room. What does he say to them?

Peace be unto you.

And then he blows the Holy Spirit into their lives.

He speaks peace. He tells his disciples, say, peace be to your house. Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you see how smart that is?

How many of you played chess or checkered or dominoes? My brothers would always get mad at me when I played with them because I'm sitting there contemplating what my first move is going to be. And they say, come on, move that checker. Move it, do something.

On the walk to Emmaus, there's a talk, and I don't know if it's Christian action or changing our world, but there's a statement made in one of these talks that says, be a friend, make a friend, bring a friend to Christ. When we were in Sudan, and he'll probably remember this, our youth group got on fire.

And they were witnesses in that community.

And I remember one of our youth telling me, well, you know what I'm going to do, Brother Kerry? I've decided I'm just gonna treat them like Christians even if they're not.

Now what he was saying was, I'm gonna speak peace over their lives.

I gonna speak life into them Joey you remember that I to just treat my friends that aren Christians like they Christians

Whatever house you enter, first declare peace be to your house.

Matthew 5, 9, Jesus declares, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

You have been given authority to be a child of God. What is your message? Peace.

What have we learned about spiritual authority of regeneration and transformation? In a nutshell, it is his spirit witnessing to our spirits that we are sons and daughters of God.

There are many declarations you will speak in the name of Jesus in your life. But let me tell you this. None are more effective in changing the world than to speak peace, to rule over and reign in the homes in America today.

Do you see how important that is? What if the church raised up and started blessing homes by simply speaking peace over those homes?

What if you just drove down your neighborhood? You know, Kim and I have moved to a new neighborhood and I'm out walking the dog now and there's all these million dollar homes sitting there and I'm going may peace rest on that home may peace rest on that home Lord I declare peace to be on that home when I pray for you guys every week I pray God let peace rest in Tess's life let the peace of God rest in her life. Jesus knew the beginning point of revival was that you speak peace into people's lives.

How many of you need peace spoken into your life today?

I speak and declare peace over you today. I pray it over you I declare it in the name of Jesus that peace will rest on your hearts today and out of that there's no telling what fruit will come out of that the number one need I guarantee you is that there be peace spoken over people's homes today we'd have peace in our streets if we had peace in our homes you hear what I'm saying and that's the first thing he told his disciples to say when you enter into that house speak peace over them speak peace over them even if they don't want it even if they reject it you speak peace over them declare it You have that authority and you have been empowered to speak it as a believer. Secondly one of the things that I find interesting is in verse 9 It says that they heal those in that city who are sick and say to them The kingdom of God has come near you. Heal those in that city that are sick and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you. Now, guys, we're in the healing business.

We are in the healing business. When Jesus began his ministry, he started it by saying that he would be in the healing ministry. in James chapter 5 verses 13 through 18 I can remember the first time I read this when I was in college I thought are you kidding me? I didn't hear this taught in a Methodist church I doubt if any of you that grew up Baptist heard it taught in your church either or if you grew up Pentecostal I don't know what church Lutheran I doubt if you heard it I doubt if you heard a preacher ever read this from the pulpit.

If anyone among you suffering, let him pray. If anyone among you cheerful, let him sing praises.

Now those are acts of declaration. Do you hear what I'm saying? When the guys in the New Testament got thrown in jail, what did they start doing in jail? The Bible says they were singing. They were declaring the word as they sit in prison.

If anyone among you sick.

Oh boy. Sickness covers lots of avenues, doesn't it? If anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church. Let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. And the Lord will raise him up. Healing comes from the Lord.

And if he has committed sins, they'll be forgiven. Therefore,

confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that the rain might stop. And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again the sky's poor rain. And the earth produced its fruit. Now guys, that is the power of declaration and demonstration. And we as believers have been given the power and authority to pray for the sick.

It's up to God. I leave it up to God to heal. but I guarantee you you got one preacher here that's going to pray for the sick.

There will be no prayer of resignation on my lips. There will always be the prayer

faith. Now, that's a pretty bold statement.

But let me tell you why I say that. If I get sick, my wife has been instructed.

Don't let anybody come in this hospital room and say a prayer over me that'd say, well Lord, we just surrender Carrie to his deathbed now.

we just resign ourselves that he's done. He's done.

Don't let anybody come in here or a group come in here and pray a resonating prayer over me.

Now, when I was in seminary and in counseling, they taught us there were times when you needed to say to the person that was dying, it's okay if you go on home, I'll be okay.

Well, that's more for me than it is for them. So I refuse to say that. It is okay with me.

But I'm still going to say, in the name of Jesus, I pray that God will heal you, knowing that ultimate healing is heaven, but God just might do it right here on this earth. That he might not be done with that person in that hospital bed. Does that make sense to you? James, don't ever think that I'm not going to come and pray for you or Jenny's healing. I don't care what the doctors say. I'm going to pray for healing. I have been given power and authority to declare it and to demonstrate it. and that will always be where I'm anchored. Always.

In verse 17, the third thing that I saw here, what is so mind-boggling to me, verse 17 says, And the seventy returned with joy, saying, listen to what they were saying, Lord even the demons are subject to your name Even the demons That was their divine assignment To go out there and spit in the face of the devil and to rebuke him and send him on his way.

I have said many times in a counseling room with parishioners that were demon-possessed. I knew that they were demon-possessed, and I spoke over them in the name of Jesus. Demon, you leave this person, and you put peace in their hearts. You clean their house up, and then you start remaking that house. And Lord, I'll be there to help them. I'll be there to help them make that house over again. but I speak in the name of Jesus demon be gone and I can't tell you how many times I have seen the demons flee you know some folks would say that's absolutely foolish to take that stance Jesus went by a fig tree one day that was not bearing fruit y'all remember this story and he's with his disciples and he looks at that fig tree and of course the fig tree is representing probably the nation of Israel and he curses that fig tree because it's not bearing fruit. And the next day they pass by and look at that fig tree and his disciples say, Lord, that fig tree's dying.

It's withering. It's dying.

Jesus said to them, Have faith in God.

When something's dying, then it might come back to life I did He said Truly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes in what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. Now that is absolute foolishness. I go to Rocky Mountains and say, poof, God just put it over in the sea you know I think some folks would have probably concluded that Jesus was having a bad day that day when he taught that I can remember being in a church meeting one night and we were wrestling with vision and where the church was going to go and I had a dream the night before and I shared this dream and one of the guys in that church meeting that night said, you know, when I eat chocolate late at night, I have stupid dreams like that.

You know, I wasn't offended by what he said because he didn't understand where I was coming from.

That I knew there was a mountain, that we would cast into the sea and we would grow and develop fruit.

The word of the cross for those who are perishing is foolishness. But to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the clever of the clever I will put aside.

You know I got to thinking how would I conclude this sermon?

1 Corinthians 4 10 says we are fools for Christ's sake.

I decided a long time ago I'm going to stand with the foolish I going to declare the power and authority of God and by His grace witness the poor being uplifted the captives being set free the blind being healed the downtrodden being encouraged and sinners transformed into saints I'm going to stand with the foolish. and the Lord said to me to say to your church today will you stand with me?

Will you stand with me?

Will you become a fool for Christ's sake?

Will you declare and demonstrate listen to this that what is impossible with man is possible with God.

Will you stand with me?

Now you may say, we got a fool for a preacher.

So be it. I am a fool for Christ's sake and what man has declared impossible I declare to you today it is possible with Jesus and I speak it over us in the name of Jesus Amen let's pray Lord I thank you so much that you have given us authority and you have lit the fuse so that we might be explosive power in this world.

Each of us face our own situations and circumstances. We face our own mountains. Lord, give us faith to speak to those mountains to be cast into the sea. Lord help us have faith in you in Jesus name I pray Amen