# Understanding Authority: The Key to Great Faith

## Introduction
Welcome to this week's newsletter! Today, we're diving deep into the concept of authority as it relates to faith, drawing insights from the teachings of Jesus. We’ll explore powerful biblical accounts that illustrate how understanding authority can lead to miraculous outcomes in our lives.

## The Centurion's Faith
In **Matthew 8**, we encounter a centurion who exemplifies great faith. Here’s a brief overview of this powerful encounter:

- **The Request**: The centurion approaches Jesus, pleading for healing for his servant who is gravely ill.
- **Jesus’ Response**: Without hesitation, Jesus offers to come and heal the servant. The centurion, however, responds with humility, stating, “I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
- **Understanding Authority**: The centurion recognizes Jesus’ authority, saying, “For I am a man under authority.” This acknowledgment of delegated authority is what astonishes Jesus. He declares, “Truly, I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

### Key Takeaway
- **Delegated Authority**: The centurion understood that authority can command action. His faith was rooted in the belief that Jesus’ spoken word held the power to heal.

## The Leper’s Plea
In **Luke 5**, we find another compelling story about faith and authority:

- **The Encounter**: A leper, full of leprosy, approaches Jesus, asking, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
- **Jesus’ Response**: Jesus reaches out, touches the leper, and says, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately, the leprosy departs.

### Cultural Context
- **Uncleanliness**: In biblical times, lepers were outcasts due to the contagious nature of their disease. Jesus’ willingness to touch the leper defied cultural norms, demonstrating His authority over illness and societal barriers.

## Our Authority in Christ
As believers, we are called to understand and exercise the authority given to us through Christ. In **Ephesians 1**, Paul reminds us that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings:

- **Understanding Our Blessings**: We must internalize that we are blessed and have the authority to act in faith.
- **The Power of Our Words**: Just as the angels heed the voice of God’s word, we too must become the voice that speaks His promises into our situations.

### The Great Commission
In **Matthew 28:18-20**, Jesus commissions His followers, stating:

- “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations...”

This passage emphasizes that we are to operate under the authority of Christ, empowered to fulfill His mission.

## Practical Application: Using Our Authority
- **Speak with Authority**: Begin declaring your covenant rights. Speak blessings over your life, your family, and your work.
- **Invoke Angelic Assistance**: Just as the centurion did, command your angels to go forth and assist you in your endeavors.
- **Recognize Your Position**: Understand that you are not powerless; you have been given authority over the enemy and the challenges you face.

### Personal Testimony
The speaker shares a personal story of how understanding and exercising authority transformed a struggling sales territory into the number one territory in the company. By declaring blessings and invoking angelic assistance, miraculous results followed.

## The Power of Community and Prayer
As we gather in community, we are reminded of the importance of collective prayer and support. The speaker emphasizes the beauty of having a vibrant church filled with good people, highlighting that:

- **Angelic Presence**: Our angels are assigned to us, ready to work on our behalf. We must activate them through our prayers and declarations.
- **The Beauty of Our Church**: Our church serves as a beacon of hope and a place where God's presence dwells, attracting others to experience His love and grace.

### Engaging in National Prayer
The speaker also invites us to participate in a daily prayer program called "The Dividing Line," where believers come together to pray for our nation. This initiative emphasizes:

- **Daily Prayers**: Join in prayer from noon to 1 PM, either live or through rebroadcasts on platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
- **Guarding Our Nation**: As we pray, we send forth angels to protect our communities and uphold righteousness in our nation.

## Conclusion
Understanding authority is crucial for cultivating great faith. Just as the centurion and the leper demonstrated, we too can experience the miraculous when we recognize and exercise the authority given to us through Christ. Let us step into our God-given authority, speak His word, and watch as miracles unfold in our lives.

Thank you for joining us this week! Stay tuned for more insights and teachings in our next newsletter.

"Unlocking Miracles: The Power of Authority in Faith"

- The speaker discusses the topic of authority, referencing Jesus' teaching on great faith.
- Highlights the story of the centurion in Matthew 8, who demonstrates understanding of delegated authority.
- The centurion believes Jesus can heal his servant simply by speaking the word, showcasing his faith.
- Jesus marvels at the centurion's faith, stating he has not found such faith in Israel.
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding authority and power in a spiritual context.
- Introduces the leper's story from Luke 5, where Jesus heals a man full of leprosy, further illustrating His authority.
- Jesus demonstrates willingness to heal, breaking cultural norms by touching the unclean man.
- The speaker plans to explore more about authority in relation to believers.

- The speaker discusses Ephesians 1, emphasizing the blessings from God through Jesus Christ.
- Highlights the importance of recognizing personal blessings and the concept of being part of the body of Christ.
- Encourages understanding one's identity in Christ to experience spiritual power and miracles.
- Mentions the authority given by Jesus in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 to preach and perform miracles.
- Uses an analogy of a traffic officer to illustrate the concept of authority versus physical power.
- Stresses that believers have authority over evil and the abilities of the devil, as stated in Luke 10.
- Mentions the strength of angels and their role in executing God's commands.

- The speaker shares a personal experience of seeing an angel, emphasizing their power.
- They highlight the authority given by Jesus over the devil, who is described as a fallen angel seeking permission to devour.
- Believers have the authority to command the devil to stop his operations in Jesus' name.
- The speaker references Psalms 103:20, explaining that angels listen to the voice of God's word.
- They encourage believers to utilize their angels by declaring their covenant rights and speaking God's promises.
- The speaker shares a sales experience where they applied faith principles and saw significant success, attributing it to angelic assistance.
- They encourage others in various professions to pray for divine guidance and assistance in their work.

- Encouragement to utilize angels for business growth and blessings.
- Emphasis on the church's potential and attractiveness to the community.
- Announcement of a daily prayer program, "The Dividing Line," focusing on national issues.
- Discussion on the importance of prayer and divine protection for the nation and local areas.
- Reference to Psalm 22, highlighting the future generations' role in glorifying God.
- Reminder to focus on spiritual authority rather than personal emotions in decision-making.
- Prayer for blessings and protection against negative influences, while invoking angels for prosperity and success.

- Discussion on authority, referencing Jesus' teachings on faith.
- Centurion's story (Matthew 8) illustrates understanding of delegated authority and faith in Jesus' healing.
- Jesus commends the centurion's faith, noting its rarity in Israel.
- Importance of recognizing spiritual authority and power is emphasized.
- Leper's healing (Luke 5) demonstrates Jesus' authority and willingness to break cultural norms.
- Exploration of authority related to believers, referencing Ephesians 1 and personal blessings.
- Encouragement to understand identity in Christ for spiritual power and miracles.
- Authority given by Jesus in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 to preach and perform miracles.
- Analogy of a traffic officer used to explain authority versus physical power.
- Believers possess authority over evil, as stated in Luke 10.
- Mention of angels' strength and role in executing God's commands.
- Personal experience shared regarding angelic encounters and their power.
- Believers can command the devil to cease operations in Jesus' name.
- Reference to Psalms 103:20 about angels listening to God's word.
- Encouragement to declare covenant rights and utilize angels for support.
- Personal success story attributed to faith principles and angelic assistance.
- Call for divine guidance in various professions.
- Emphasis on the church's potential to attract the community.
- Announcement of "The Dividing Line" daily prayer program for national issues.
- Importance of prayer and protection for the nation highlighted.
- Reference to Psalm 22 about future generations glorifying God.
- Reminder to prioritize spiritual authority over personal emotions in decisions.
- Prayer for blessings, protection, and invoking angels for prosperity.

I want to talk about authority this morning.

It's 1 of those subjects I could go for several hours or we could go for 20, 30 minutes, but I wanted to get really impactful for you.

He said, he talked about the greatest faith.

Now if Jesus said, this is the greatest faith I've ever seen,

where I'm going with this, but I wanna just turn here.

Let's go to Matthew and let's go to Matthew and let's see here.

There are several accounts here we can do.

I'm going to have you turn to 2 accounts here, okay We're gonna go to Matthew 8 then we're gonna we are going to go to Luke 5 Let's first go to Matthew 8 and I'm just gonna I may read part of it and just paraphrase it for the rest of it here.

But basically, in Matthew the eighth chapter, And it's at the very beginning, but I'm looking at verse, start with verse 5.

In fact, interesting enough, both of these accounts that I'm gonna read to are both in the Matthew account as well, So we'll read this 1 here first to the centurion, and then we'll go back to the beginning of the chapter.

So he comes to the centurion, he comes in and he said, he said, my servant's home, sick of the palsy, and he's being tormented.

Now I want you to see something here, what Jesus' answer was to him.

Jesus did not say, well you know, you're kind of a rough character, not sure about you, I don't know if, I really wanna go spend time with this.

He answered him quickly and said, Jesus said, I will come, remember to say, I will come.

Real loud, come on, I will come and heal him.

And Jesus, in a serious cheer, answered the Lord, said, you know, hey, Lord, I'm not worthy to come into, you come to my house.

He said, now, he was saying it because of some cultural things, and as well as some other things he came up with, but Jesus was willing to come.

And he said, but I'm not, where are you coming to my house?

Now, I want you to pick up what he's doing here.

Jesus knew exactly what he was, but as a centurion, he was over other men.

But yet, for him to be over other men, did he just get there because he just showed up 1 day?

I wasn't trying to ask a loaded question.

he had to be given authority to do that from somebody higher than that to have authority.

And that's what he's going to talk about here.

He said, I'm a man under authority, means I've actually, I've been given authority, I'm under somebody else, and I have soldiers under me that are under my authority.

And He says, I say to this man, you go do this, and he goes and does it.

I say, another man come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it.

Jesus is getting a picture here to us by having this repeated saying, authority can call things to go, authority can make things come, and authority can say, stay here.

You only feel a few things that Jesus marveled.

Jesus is going to marvel at our faith, amen?

So, he said, Jesus said he marveled and he said to them to follow, truly I say unto you that I have not ever found so great a faith as this, even in Israel.

I'm going to give you the answer that's given in this passage here, and it was this here.

First of all, he understood delegated authority.

I'm gonna talk about some things that Jesus talked to us about in Matthew, about that you've been given authority.

And oftentimes we, I like that, everybody say woo, woo, woo, you've been given authority.

But we're going to define this a little bit.

And when I do this, I never talk about our translations like I'm dogging, I'm ringing like that.

We have some amazing translations and even better than that, we have the Holy Ghost to help us, amen?

But there are some things in English language that sometimes don't bear out the definition as clear as it should, and we're gonna let the Holy Ghost help us with that today.

And so we're gonna, I'm gonna talk about this.

We're gonna talk about power, and we're gonna talk about authority.

So he said that, he said that Jesus had the great faith here was that this man understood delegated authority, so much so that he was also implied to Jesus that you know authority, because you've been sent here by somebody.

And if you'll just say to my servant, be healed, if you'll just speak the word, I believe with all my heart, now I added that part, but I believe that he will be healed and you don't even have to come here.

Number 1, this man understood delegated authority.

This man also understood that when Jesus would say the word, that that word could be delegated to this man's house.

I actually plan on looking at the Luke account.

If you go to the very first verses of Matthew, it talks about a leper.

But if you don't mind, I'd like to go to the Luke account, which is in Luke 5, only because Luke was a physician and he says something here.

I want you to realize, how many of you ever had, anybody in this house had a relative or a friend or maybe you've had an experience with cancer?

I don't wanna say good, I'm gonna say you'll understand.

Good for a sample, you'll understand this a little bit.

I want you to see what Luke's position on this was.

Look at Luke, Luke chapter 5 and verse 12.

And he says, and it came to pass When Jesus, and this is the beginning of Jesus, was in a certain city, look, a certain man that was full of leprosy.

Now all the rest of the gospel counts say a man that was leprous or he had leprosy.

Understand that leprosy was considered an unclean disease, and by the way, interesting enough, cancer is considered an unclean disease by the doctors.

Let's say it's something that cells go the wrong direction and it causes havoc inside the body and you know all the answers to that.

But look at this, he says the man was full of leprosy.

What was his occupation before he became a disciple?

So notice here, his term was he was full of leprosy.

You might say it this way, he was stage 4.

And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and he besought him or he asked him, he said, Lord, listen closely, he said, if you will, everybody say if you will, You can make me clean.

You can fix this unclean disease in me if you're willing to do it.

It's real obvious if you know their culture.

Because in their culture, they were taught, keep your distance from a leper because it was very contagious.

Now Jesus could do something here that's just absolutely outlandish because their culture also said it was a law, don't touch an unclean thing, in fact, don't touch a leper.

Me coming close to Jesus, this is a problem.

You know, in his culture, but look at this.

It says, if you will, you can make me clean.

And Jesus said, and Jesus put forth his hand, everybody say put forth his hand,

And he said this, he said I will, everybody say I will.

There's the will of God in motion right there, amen?

In fact, some of the translations, some of the new modern translations go into that Greek word, actually, he did say I will, but he said with great emphasis that literally could be translated like this, almost like a question mark.

He says, not only will I do this, I greatly desire the leprosy left him.

He said, what do you mean, what do you mean?

And the Bible says, and as soon as he had spoken, that delegated authority went forth, that leprosy left him.

I wanna go to Ephesians 1 first, and we won't have time to do all these verses, but I wanna do 1 here.

Ephesians 1, and we're going to start at the very beginning here.

Talking about apostle Paul, apostle Jesus Christ in verse 1, but look at verse 2.

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.

If you don't mind, it's up here on the screen.

I want you to hear it with your own, I want to hear your own mouth with your own ears.

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, in places in Christ.

Look at this, and of course, because honestly, according to his choice in us, you've been chosen for this.

And sometimes I say that, and you can tell that person looking at you and they hear that, they say, well I know you're blessed, but you know.

No, no, no, no, right here, put it back up, don't put that down, leave it up for me.

It says, he has blessed us, everybody say he has blessed us.

That's a past tense accomplishment, but it's a present tense fact.

I'm not going to change the word, but when you say us, it becomes a big group.

I'm going to ask you to say, He has blessed me.

He has blessed me with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

You don't need all the answer to that, but just think about what's it mean to you.

I think we have different levels of understanding of that, different levels of what we see that as.

But you know, how many of you call yourself a Christian?

you right now, and it was gonna fix that.

Okay, so pretty much everybody calls themselves Christian.

It refers to, in Ephesians 1 where it says this, and he raised him up,

when he raised Christ up from the dead, he literally says this, you was raised with him.

And he was the body, he's ahead and you're the body.

When he raised him up, he raised you up and he called you Christ.

Now, you know, some of you are like, wait a minute.

Mary could say, now, she's got respect and she's not saying, I'm the Christ, but she says, I'm part of the body, I'm Christ.

Because God didn't raise up his head and leave the body sitting there.

You know, see, I saw Phil at the bank and I saw Phil in his head.

No, Phil brought his head and his body in there, right?

And they came together, and when he raised us up together, we were raised up together with him, we have that same ability, that anointing that is on the head, it's on the body.

When you don't do this, this is why Christians are oftentimes anemic and they wonder around, why am I not seeing more miracles?

Understanding of who you are in this Christ has a lot to do with it.

And I will tell you, it wouldn't hurt to spend some time in the Word.

In fact, you need to spend time in the Word.

A little bit of...a lot of praying, but praying and a little fasting not going to hurt any of us, amen?

The fasting, all it does is going to put down that body and get you to listen better.

But look at this, let's go to Matthew the 20th chapter and Matthew 28, and I want to start with verse 18 and we'll come back a couple of verses.

We're going to get to the closing portion of this here in just a moment.

has been given to me in heaven and in earth.

says this, go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teach them to observe all things which have commanded you." That word power is referred to in his name, it refers to the authority.

But let's go to 1 more verse, the Mark account of this adds a little more to it, or I should say it gives a little bigger picture of it.

But Mark 16, I want you to notice this here.

Mark 16, and it says this, and he said unto him, verse 13, go you and all the world and preach the gospel to every nation, he that believes and baptizing me shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe.

In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.

They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

I want you to notice something here that, And we'll just give you a little bit of a tip of this before we go into this next part because I want to wrap up this last part here.

But you know, I've had people, you know, there's a lot of, there was cartoons in the past, there was some of these superhero guys, you know, that were fictional that would say, we've got the power, you know, when we got together.

We've got the power to get this thing done.

And I understand what they were saying and that, but you know, that kind of dilutes what we believe here.

And I want to talk about that a little bit.

When the Bible says that all powers were given to Jesus.

He refers to authority, but it also refers to the ability behind the authority.

And when Jesus said that the greatest faith of all was when this was at Santerion, understood delegated authority, He refers to the fact that he understood what this referred to and what it meant and how to operate in it.

I usually get to fly it, but I drove this trip for taking a little piece of

may know that there was that tropical storm that came in, dumped a lot of rain.

Well, right in my driving path, there was a lot of that rain going on.

There was some roads that were not necessarily closed, but down to 1 lane, because water had gotten up over the other lane, and they had people directing traffic.

And, Carolyn, you'll appreciate this, but I pull up this 1 section and they're having to let 1 side go and stop it then let the other side go back and forth, you know, it's kind of a mess.

Now, there's this little lady that had a, what do you call it, reflective suit on, reflective top on, and she's there going, this 1 guy's coming too fast up to the thing and she's got this stick out there that's got a sign on it, she's going, stop, stop, She gets right out in front of him and does this, you know?

And that guy stops and everybody stops behind him.

You know she didn't have any strength, she didn't have

the power to stop that vehicle and all those ones behind it.

But you knew what was sitting over there about 30 feet away?

In fact, he was helping do radio work to the next guy, letting him back and forth and that.

So she didn't have the power to do it, but she had the authority to do it.

I tell Carol, Carol was an Indiana state trooper, amen?

And if you get a chance, thank her for her services on that, amen?

That state trooper himself, he didn't have the power either, as in physical strength.

But he did have the authority of the state of Missouri backing him.

And he had the ability to get on the radio and call more help

called a couple weapons in that truck if he had to do it.

if you get a chance to look at it, we'll turn here for the sake of time.

The disciples came back after he had sent them all out to minister in the homes.

He told them to lay hands on the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils.

And he tells them to do all these different things, and they come back and they're rejoicing.

They're saying, you know, wow, the devils were subject to us.

And he literally says this, he says this, Jesus tells them, he says, well, don't, he says, rejoice not that the devils are subject to you.

Now, he's not saying you can't be happy about that.

He said, don't be happy about that by itself.

Now the King James, here's where I wanna clean this up.

The King James, the English translation say, I give you a power, but the literal Greek word there is the word authority.

I give you authority over serpents and over scorpions and over all the abilities.

I give you authority, right and privilege over all of the abilities of the devil.

The Bible says this in Psalms, and we'll look at these verses in a moment.

I'll give you the references as you write them down.

He says the angels are mighty in strength.

It says they excel in strength, and they hearken to the voice of the Lord.

I have, And I don't need to go into that story, it's not important.

But I will tell you, the size and the magnitude of what I saw was just, whoa.

And for me to go up and say, you know, I'm gonna fight, I wanna wrestle you, or I wanna have a boxing match with you.

I'm not picking on any name, I just thought of something there.

You know The devil is a fallen angel and we look at him like, you know, some people look at him like he's nothing, some people look at him out of order like he's really something.

But it doesn't matter what he is, you have authority over him.

In other words, I can literally go, stop!

In the name of Jesus, I have the blood of the Lamb on me and you must stop your operation.

The Bible says, and Peter wrote this, said our enemy, the devil, he basically says that he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

He looks around for who's gonna give him permission to devour, or who he has opportunity to devour.

Who knows their stuff about their blood covenant?

The Bible says that the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour, right?

Because I'm not going to be ignorant of the devices and I'm going to look at my authority on this thing.

Now, interesting enough, and that's in Psalms, let's turn to Psalms 103 and we'll just have you look at that verse real quick, and we're gonna close here with this in just a few moments.

Psalms 103, in verse 20, I haven't just put it up there, make it simple, put it up there, Look at this.

Says, bless the Lord, you as angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments.

And that word, the King James says, hearkening.

I was, I'm watching this clock, I need to wrap this thing up.

I was, I want to tell you a story about using the angels.

Every person have angels assigned to them, lots of them.

And you know, and I'm not picking on anybody, but you know most believers they're angels are sitting around not having anything to do.

Because we're not getting the word out there like we should.

You know how many how many here have how many I'm gonna just ask a few questions.

How many have a job would you may get low commission overrides?

Okay, how many work for a company and get paid?

How many work for a company and get paid and on a raise it'd be nice?

How about, you know, and I'm just trying to get some things out there, how many people work for a company and get paid and a promotion would be something that could come up in your future?

Can you provide a comma delineated list of all the bible verses used in this sermon?

Can you write a short description for this sermon by Pastor Roger Cook of Faith For Life Church?

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