As you guys know, Apostle Earl this month has been ministering
on Kingdom Authority. And tonight I want to talk to
you guys about Unseated by a Whisper and talking about
Kingdom authority. We're going to continue and
finish this out for the month of May.
Unseated by a whisper. Now we're going to start in a
familiar scripture, OK, Genesis chapter one, verse 26, if you
guys will stand for the reading of the word.
And it says, then God said, let us make man in our image
according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and
all of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth. Amen.
You guys may be seated. So in the beginning, guys, I
know we listen to the Scripture a lot, but just like Apostle
Earl encourages us and just like the Word of God encourages us,
just as Paul encouraged us, we can never get familiar with
Scripture. We can never think that we've
learned every single thing that there is to learn out of any
scripture. And as I was going through and
just studying on the subject of authority, this really popped
out to me that it was the very beginning, always God's intent
that man have authority. It's nothing's changed of what
God originally intended. And we know that God intended
that we would be part of his Kingdom, OK?
And we know that Adam and Eve lost part of that king.
They lost the Kingdom whenever they send and rebelled.
And we're going to go over that in just a minute.
But it was always God's intent that we have authority.
So in the very beginning when God gave man purpose, when he
said This is why I created you. It's to rule over the fish of
the sea, over the birds of the air, over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth and over all of the earth.
That was God's intent, that we have authority over those
things. Now we know what happens and
we're actually going to turn over to Genesis chapter 3 and
we're going to read 19 of the 20 verses.
OK, There's one thing I've learned about inequity church.
We are not afraid to just read the Bible.
OK, so we're going to read the Bible tonight and it says here
in Genesis chapter 3, starting in verse one, it says now the
serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the
Lord God had made. Now is a serpent something that
creeps on the earth? It is.
Is that something that God said I made man to have dominion and
rule and authority over? Yes, it is.
So now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the
field which the Lord God had made.
And he said to the woman, indeed, has God said, you shall
not eat from any tree of the garden?
The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of
the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is
in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from
it or touch it, or you will die. Then the serpent said to the
woman, You surely will not die, for God knows the day that you
eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the tree
was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and
the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from it's
fruit and ate it. And she gave it also to her
husband who was with her, and he ate, he was with her.
He knew exactly what was going on too.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that
they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord
walking, the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the
day. And the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of
the garden. And then the Lord God called to
the man and said to him, Where are you?
He said, Oh, I heard a sound of you in the garden, and I was
afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.
And he said, Who told you you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to
eat? The man said, the woman who you
gave me to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.
Then the Lord said to the woman, What is it that you have done?
And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done
this cursed are you more than all the cattle and more than
every beast of the field. On your belly you will go, and
dust will you eat. All the days of your life I will
put enmity between you and the woman, in between your seed and
her seed. He shall bruise you on the head,
and you shall bruise him on the heel.
To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain and
childbirth and pain. You will bring forth children,
yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over
you. Then to Adam he said, Because
you listen to the voice of your wife.
And I've eaten from the tree about which I commanded you,
saying, You shall not eat from it.
Curse is the ground because of you, and toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles.
It shall grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the field
by the sweat of your face. You will eat bread till you
return to the ground, because from it you were taken.
For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Now why did we read all of that? Because I want you guys to note
what happened whenever Adam and Eve sinned and what authority
was taken from them. They lost the Kingdom.
And in losing the Kingdom they lost the authority that came
with being able to rule and reign on the earth.
Because God said I'm going to stay in where I'm supposed to
be, which is in heaven. I'm making you, you're going to
stay here and you're going to do what I do.
Which is exactly why Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer.
Thy Father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy
Kingdom come, thy will be. And on earth as it is in heaven.
He always wanted what was happening in heaven to happen on
earth. And so whenever Adam and Eve
sinned originally in Genesis 126, he gave them the mandate.
He said, I want you to rule. I want you to operate in
authority on this earth over the birds, the fish, the creeping
things that over the earth. And whenever Adam and Eve
sinned, what was part of the curse?
They no longer had any control over the earth over what grew
over the animals anymore. They didn't have any control
over their own bodies which were created from dust.
And we've seen, you know, we've seen Apostle Earl show us that
we God, Jesus came to get that authority back to us.
So praise God, he made a way. And we know if we keep breeding,
whenever he says this prophecy, this, whenever God says I will
bring my seed, if we read it in Genesis chapter 3, I will bring
my seed because he said I'm going to have to fix this
problem because authority needs to be on the earth and Satan
isn't going to have it forever. OK, but one thing we need to
know is Adam and Eve had dominion over the very thing
that was trying to speak to them right here.
They had authority over it. God had given them Kingdom
authority over the serpent, yet they chose to listen to that
voice instead of listening to what the king himself had told
them. This was something they already
had authority over, but yet they listen to that voice now.
It also says that she saw a hindrance to us using our
authority and operating on the earth is being led by our five
senses. Every time we start to limit
ourselves to be led by our five senses, it limits God being able
to operate in the spiritual realm.
We have to remember that the Bible says that the scene is
temporary and the unseen is more real than the scene.
Let's stop and think about that for a moment because it honestly
can be very hard for us as humans to really grasp and
understand that what I cannot see is more real than what I can
see. But the Word of God says that
what you cannot see is more real than what you can't see.
So when Eve, first of all, listened to something that she
had authority over, instead of listening to what the King said,
then saw, she saw with her eyes, she started being led by her
five senses. She was unable to continue to
operate in the authority that God had placed in her and told
her to do whenever she started being led by her five senses.
And it wasn't just her, it was also Adam who was with her and
who had the original mandate. OK, So when she saw that it was
desirable to make one wise, because here is what Satan wants
to do. He wants to get right here in
the mind. And here's something that you
have to know and you have to be confident of and take
responsibility. In responsibility.
Responsibility, God gave it to us, is that you have authority
of your mind. But the only person, the only
person who can exercise authority over your own mind is
you. God can't do it or else Adam and
Eve never would have sent. If he had control over them
listening and then acting on what the serpent said, then they
never would have done it. But God says no, I've given you
authority, now you go do what I said and then they had to decide
it right here. God doesn't change, He's
unchanging. His word is forever and whatever
he established in the beginning is His plan and purpose forever.
So when He established in the beginning authority and for you
to right here make a decision to always obey him, that was what
He wanted you to do forever. It didn't change.
So when Adam and Eve saw that it would make one wise and they
would know the difference between good and evil.
The lust for knowledge caused them to lose their authority.
The lust for knowledge that God said I didn't even want you to
know that I didn't need you to know what evil was.
I need you to know what goodness was, 'cause I am good, I am
truth. I am the way, I am the life.
And if you would just had followed me and submitted to me
and continue to disobey me, you never would have lost the
authorities that I gave you. But the moment that they
decided, I think I want to know when they decided to not submit
here, then the authority that they had was lost and they no
longer exercise authority over the earth.
It was hard. And if we look throughout
history about all the different seasons and all the different
famines and all the different things that have come, even
today, I mean, I think I just heard that maybe parts of
Georgia are no longer under a fire ban.
But why have we been underneath a fire ban?
Because we've had drought, Because there hasn't been enough
rain, Because the dust is all on our faces every time we drive
and go somewhere. And it's hot in Florida and it's
dusty and it's humid. And so it just sticks to you.
OK, So why? Because the earth was cursed.
Now Apostle Earl has showed us throughout the last several
weeks that not only did Jesus get that authority back because
he was a sinless vessel, because he trusted his father and he
passed every test. And that the ones that Adam
fail, Jesus passed whenever he was led by by Satan into the
wilderness. OK, Whenever Adam and Eve
succumbed to that thirst and lust for knowledge and and
wanting to do their own thing, Jesus overcame it whenever he
said, Oh well, look at all these kingdoms.
I'll give them to you where they've been handed over to me
by Adam and Eve. They've been handed over to me.
I'll give them to you. And he said no, no, no, no, no.
I will only serve and submit to the Lord God.
Jesus passed those tests and and he knew the authority that he
was walking in. We learned that it was delegated
power. OK, because it's God's.
God is all power. He is all authority and he can
give it to whom he chooses. And guess what he chose to do?
Give it to us as humans, as men and women, if we choose to
continue to walk in his word and apply it.
So we also saw that he gave Jesus power of attorney and then
in turn Jesus said to us, now I'm giving you the power of
attorney. And what I love about looking up
that word authority when Apostle Earl was talking about power of
attorney last week, is it also means your jurisdiction.
OK, I've heard this before. You know, I, I, I've seen where
they say, well, there's nothing we can do because it's out of
our jurisdiction. We'd have to wait for somebody
else to get approval. Even across country lines, often
times people will flee to other countries where they know the
United States has no jurisdiction so they can try to
get away with it. OK, They're not going to
extradite them back to the United States.
They're like, we're not getting involved.
But here's the thing, God has jurisdiction over the entire
earth. There's not one country, not one
place, not one government that He does not have jurisdiction
over. Amen.
Hallelujah. So I love that whenever Apostle
showed us that the power of attorney is ours because of the
jurisdiction that he has, and he created the whole earth, of
course it's his. And then he said, now you go
therefore diamond. So when authority was lost, the
earth, the animals, the plants started working against man
instead of for man. Whenever it was all created for
us to begin with. OK, but the place that God
always intended for us was to have authority and continue to
have it. Now, God did give us that
authority over our own minds. And I want to go back to that
thought where he failed to take authority over thoughts and gave
into temptation. Remember, Jesus came back and
emphasized repent. What did John the Baptist and
Jesus both talk about over and over and over again in public in
front of people? What was their main message?
Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is in your midst.
Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
When we hear that word repent because we know it only in
English, honestly, and we don't always go back and look at what
words actually mean. And they're used even before
some of the writers of the Bible were using them.
These words existed before they used them.
They were using words that already existed in the Greek
language. OK.
But when we see that word repent, it means to change one's
thinking. It means, like Apostle Earl has
taught us before, to side with another party.
So it would literally be like you switching parties in the
United States, right? You used to think it like a
Democrat, and now you think like a Republican.
You used to think like a Republican, and now you think
like a Democrat. You've completely changed
parties. You've completely changed sides.
And that's what the word repent means.
And it already existed. It already existed and they use
it. And so Jesus came and he was
saying, and John the Baptist before him said, repent for the
Kingdom of God is at hand. Why did Jesus need to emphasize
repent? Let's look at Matthew chapter 3
verse 2 because I want you to see this.
What John the Baptist said, John the Baptist came, he said,
repent for the Kingdom. Heaven is at hand and he was
coming to prepare the way for Jesus to come.
So he was emphasizing to the Jewish people, you got to change
your thinking. You can't keep siding with the
party you've been siding with, which is so interesting when we
realized that especially the Pharisees knew the word, they
knew the Scriptures, they knew the prophets, they knew, they
knew the the writings of Moses. They knew what he said.
So why would why would John the Baptist and then Jesus come and
say repent, change your thinking?
You cannot think the way that you do when the Kingdom comes.
You can't think that way, OK? That word repent again needs to
change one's mind, to change one's mind for better and to
hardly amend with abhorrence of 1's past sins or past way of
thinking. And I've seen this before.
I've seen people who have switched parties in the United
States of America, and whenever they switch parties, they abhor
what they used to believe in. Now we need to abhor what we
used to believe in. We can have no part of it.
We can't think of anything like it at all.
We have to abhor what we once believed in and we have to
completely side with God and His word and what He says.
OK, look over at Matthew chapter 4, verse 17.
We're going to see that Jesus said himself.
From that time Jesus began to preach and say repent for the
Kingdom of heaven is at hand. What was Jesus repairing them
for? He was preparing them for
authority. He was preparing them for the
Kingdom to come back to the earth and for them to walk as
kings and Queens on this earth because previously they could
not walk that way. They could not walk as royalty.
Whenever you know that you have the right to do something,
you're not scared, you're not walking in scared.
I don't get in my car and go. I really hope that the police
officers know that I'm allowed to drive.
I don't think that I have a driver's license.
I make sure it's on me and I know that if I get pulled over,
unless I'm breaking the law. Hey here, here's my proof that I
have authority to drive in the state of Florida.
I don't need to be scared. I'm not afraid of anything
because whenever I get in my car, I know that I've done
everything I could do. I've passed every test.
I've studied and I know what to do in the United States and what
the driving laws are. And as long as I follow them,
I'm not scared to get in. When you have authority over
something, when you've been given permission to do
something, it doesn't scare you. You go in with confidence
knowing I'm supposed to be here. This is what I'm supposed to do,
OK? I don't arrive at my own house
and think, oh man, I really hope that the bank's not here since
you know, I do pay a mortgage. I don't hope the bank's not here
and they're not going to like, no, it's my house.
I know I signed paperwork. I know I pay my mortgage and I
have a right to be at my house. I'm not scared of that.
So whenever you have authority, you should not be intimidated
and you should not think, oh, I really hope this is going to
work. I really hope that, you know,
I'm supposed to be here. No, I have authority.
And that's why Jesus said you got to repent because you guys
have previously not walked like royalty.
You have not walked in authority, You have not walked
like Kingdom citizens, like kings and Queens on this earth.
So hey, the Kingdom of heaven is in your midst.
And it's time for you to repent so that you can start walking in
authority. Because if you don't repent,
you're never going to understand who you are.
You're never going to be able to really walk in authority if you
don't change it right here. And again, the only person who
can do that is you. That's it.
Jesus never took away personal responsibility when we got born
again, He never said, well, I gave you a brand new spirit and
that's all you need. I'll see you, see you when you
get here. That's not what he said, what he
intended. He said repent for the Kingdom
of heaven is in your midst. So Jesus is preparing us for
authority to walk in our role as royalty, as Kingdom citizens.
And he knew that they had to change their thinking.
Let's look at Matthew chapter 10 verse one.
Now we see in we write in Matthew chapter 4, so we know
that Jesus had already started preaching.
Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is the hand.
Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is in your midst.
Later on. This means that we know that
Jesus must have been giving the word to his disciples for some
time. OK so in Matthew chapter 10
verse one, it says Jesus summoned his 12 disciples and
gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to
heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Luke Chapter 9 verse one and two.
And he called the 12 together and gave them power and
authority over all demons and to heal diseases.
And then he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and
to perform healing. I want you to notice something
in Luke that I like that he put is that authority and power
always accompany each other. Our God is not a powerless God.
He's not a God. That's like, well, I mean,
sometimes it's my will for it to happen for you.
Sometimes it's not. Sometimes my power show up,
sometimes it won't. No, no, no.
Whenever Jesus came, how did they know he had authority?
Because remember, the scribes and Pharisees knew the same
scriptures that Jesus knew. The scribes and Pharisees could
preach the same scriptures that Jesus preached.
What was different? What did Apostle Earl show us a
few weeks ago? Wow.
He's teaching as if someone who has authority.
Obviously, you could see in note the effects of authority.
The effects of His authority were that He brought power
everywhere He went. And we know that it says in the
Word that wherever the Word is preached, then signs, wonders,
and miracles will follow. The preaching of the Word.
Power accompanies authority. If you truly are walking and the
authority that God gave you, if you're really operating in the
jurisdiction of what God gave you, then you're going to have
power. Follow it.
You're not going to be a broke Christian, you're not going to
be like, I hope it works. You're going to know your
rights. You're going to know the power
that you can operate in because whenever Jesus operated in
authority and then not just Jesus, then he told us, 12 come
here, you go and perform healing, not just OK, go tell
them, tell them to repent too. And we hope that they do.
No, there was always a sign and action that followed the
authority that Jesus gave them. And he said, I give you
authority. Now you go, you go and do it.
And Jesus, God does not respect her persons.
Like the 12 disciples were not like special people who only got
to do special things with Jesus. Even Jesus himself said it's
better that I go because I'm going to send you the Holy
Spirit. So they were in his presence and
that's awesome. And I know all of us have
thought like if I could only see Jesus presence, if I could just
see Jesus and talk to him face to face when Jesus is like I
already told you it was better if I send you the Holy Spirit
than me to stay here and talk to you face to face.
So everything that the 12 disciples did and that Jesus
did, then he said, now you go and do OK, let's keep going.
Mark chapter 3 verse 14 and 15. This is another scripture in the
Gospel where it says, and he appointed 12 so that they would
be with him and so that he could send them out to preach and have
authority to cast out the demons.
In Matthew 3/8 it says, therefore bear fruit in keeping
with repentance. Now I want to go back to that
word repentance because it means to change your thinking.
When you bear fruit in keeping with repentance, that means
there must be an action that can be seen that you've repented.
Your thinking is not the same anymore.
Now there are fruits of the spirit and gifts of the Spirit.
OK, fruits of the Spirit is our character, and absolutely your
character better show out and prove that you are his.
And the fruit of the Spirit are we know in Galatians 522
Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,
faithfulness and self-control against such thing.
There's no law OK, but there's also the gifts of the Spirit and
the gifts of the Spirit are his power are how the Holy Spirit
comes and he shows his power through us on the earth.
And so understand that whenever he said repent and bear fruit in
keeping with repentance. We need to make sure that our
actions are showing that we've repented, that our mind is not
the same. Now again, we cannot.
You've got to stop thinking that repentance just means I've came
down to the altar, I've admitted all my sins, I was doing
something really wrong. I've been caught in a sin and I
got to tell somebody that's not what repentance means.
Only that is does apply. When you do those things, you
are repenting, but you need to remember that repenting means
we're making these adjustments in our mind.
We're changing our thinking. We're making sure that where I
previously was not exercising authority in an area of my life,
I've said no, I've got to change my thinking about that.
I've got to find out what does the Word say so that I can
repent and I can walk in my authority that God's given me in
this area. OK, so repentance, I'm bringing
the Scripture back up because we have to make sure that we're
keeping with repentance. In Acts chapter 26, verse 20,
Paul says it again, performed deeds in keeping with
repentance. God expects us to use our
authority and he expects it to see it manifest on the earth
through power. OK, because every time that
Jesus was exercising his authority, he always had
something that showed that he was exercising it.
Now what am I saying that every single time you speak the word,
then some miracle sign and wonder is going to happen?
I'm not saying that we're going to see these, you know, oh, the
every single time the blind person has to see, but the power
is the ability in you and you have to understand, just like
Pastoral says, sometimes we discount miracles everyday that
God's doing. Whenever God has has taken
someone who was in addiction and supernaturally delivered them
and they never ever went back to it, never had a desire for it,
never even had to go and think about it ever again.
That's a miracle. Whenever God saves someone, you
know, I've heard so many testimonies of women who were in
labor, even my own third child. She was breached her, she
turned, she was head down and then she turned.
And I did not want AC section. If I felt peace to do AC
section, I would have done it. But I felt to stand on what I
had believed and prayed for the whole time in my pregnancy and
whenever it's funny, I just told this story to Cassie the other
day, but I just felt, no, I'm going to stand and believe.
And I was 6 centimeters dilated in active labor.
I was having contractions like I'm in and apart.
Like there was the doctor's like, I'm sorry, just get over
it. You're having AC section.
It'll be all right. I do 6 sections everyday and I'm
like, I, I feel like I need to stand, you know, and I, and
again, that's what I felt on the inside.
I had peace stand. And so a midwife that I'd only
met one time who was on call that night, and she came in and
she was like, let's see what we can do.
And I was like, OK, let's see what you can do.
She's like, you know, you're hooked up to monitors.
You know, I felt peace about it. She felt peace about it.
And I believe she was being led by the Spirit because of my
husband and I's faith. And Indiana turned and I was
able to have a natural labor, and that's God.
That's a miracle that doesn't happen, especially not in the
United States of America in our healthcare system.
But that was a miracle because I believe God for that.
I prayed for that and I knew that God came through.
So we cannot just discount that I took authority over my body.
I took authority over my situation, and God came through
to perform with power and authority.
Amen. But again, I had to exercise my
authority and my power. So we can't think that these
little things are not power and authority.
Even I'm, I teach kindergarten at our private school at
Washington and I've encouraged some of our, our, my fellow Co
teachers before and we've encouraged each other with
stories where we are ministering to children every day.
OK, because it's not just teaching children, it's taking
care of them in so many ways. OK, We have to give them hugs,
they fall down, they get hurt, they feel sad, their feelings
are hurt. There's so many things we have
to minister them too, But we also have to be led by the
spirit because sometimes I can have a word of knowledge or a
word of wisdom for that child. Like, no, your heart wasn't
right there. I know it wasn't right.
You're saying this to my face, but your heart's wrong with your
friend. You need to repent.
And that is using authority and walking in it and seeing God's
power show up. So we can never discount these
little things as in any role that we have in life as a mom or
a dad, as in your job and your role that God's assigned you,
you cannot think that these are not you exercising authority
now. You have to consciously do it.
You have to have repented right here and say, I'm gonna, I'm
gonna operate in authority today.
Lord, use me. You know the gifts of the Spirit
as the Holy Spirit leads and desires.
But you should expect to be used in them.
You should expect for that power to show up on you.
You should expect that you can lay hands on that child and they
will recover. You should expect that they will
feel better because you pray for them.
And that's something that we have to do every day.
So we can't discount these little things.
We need to make sure that we're thanking the Lord in in being
conscious of places that he has LED us to use that authority.
And because we've repented in our own mind now something that
hinders our authority is ignorance.
Something that hinders us to being able to use authority is
ignorance. OK, In week 1 when Apostle Earl
was preaching about authority, he talked about wishful thinking
because he says unfortunately a lot of believers are not even in
biblical hope. OK, Biblical hope was a
confident expectation. I confidently expect that God's
going to do something. I don't know what it is yet, but
it's a confident expectation. And we know that Hebrews 11
chapter 1 Chapter 11 verse one says that our our hope fuels our
faith. OK, so it is something that
fuels our faith is hope. Now most Christians are not in
biblical hope. It's really just wishful
thinking. Like maybe if I rub the genie
and he gives me 3 wishes, God will give me 3 wishes and I'm
hoping he'll do what I ask him to do.
Or you know, like when I wish upon A star, that's what they're
in. They're not really in biblical
hope. OK, but that ignorance of not
knowing what hope is is going to keep us from able to operate in
authority. And Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31,
it says, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their
strength. They will soar on wings like
eagles. They will run and not grow
weary. They will walk and not be faint.
If we're truly hoping in the Lord and exercising our
authority, then even whenever we feel like we should be weary, we
won't. This scripture says even
whenever we feel like we should faint, we won't even whenever it
seems like we won't be strong, we will be strong.
And I love, I don't know if you guys were here, but a couple
Sundays, maybe about a month ago, Apostle Marcy got up, was
talking about the joy. And it says in the word that the
joy of the Lord is our strength. Maybe joy doesn't always look
like laughing and running around.
Not that you can't do those things, not that God can't lead
you to say, you know what, just laugh at that situation because
it's going to be OK. Maybe joy looks like strength.
OK, so but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength,
which means you must have some joy.
Hosea 46 says My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge.
I also will reject you from being my priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget
your children. So again, whenever we are
ignorant of what the Word says, then we will not be able to
operate in the authority that God's given us.
In fact, whenever not just that, you're ignorant.
Maybe you've read that Scripture before, maybe you knew it at one
time. But Paul says it does not bother
me to stir you up by way of remembrance.
Let me tell you again what I said.
Jesus repeated the same message over and over and over and over
and over again in public. Repent for the Kingdom of heaven
is a hand. Repent for the Kingdom of heaven
is in your midst. Repent, for the Kingdom of
heaven is a hand. Apparently God has no problem
with saying the same thing over and over and over and over again
to us. Obviously we need it.
Obviously we need to be able to get it.
OK, so it's not a problem for him to repeat it, but are you
going to get it? Are you going to continue to
apply that repentance to your mind so that you can walk in
that authority? That ignorance will hinder you
from being able to walk in authority.
And sometimes it's that we've forgotten.
We as human beings forget too easily.
God knew that. That's why he's like, all right,
I'm going to write these on stone tablets.
And then I want you to take the my law and I want you to like
write it in your house. And whenever you're washing
dishes with your children in the morning and making the
breakfast, I want you to talk about my laws and precepts.
And whenever you're making the Nune meal, I want you to talk
about my laws and precepts. Whenever you're getting your
children ready for bed, I want you to talk about my laws and
precepts. And whenever you're doing things
in daily life and you're harvesting and you're going out
and you're buying things and you're going and doing errands,
whenever you're doing your groceries, I want you to talk
about my laws and precepts. Because He knew we forget way
too easily. We can easily go back to giving
to the flesh if we don't continue to abhor, abhor, abhor
with repentance our past life and our past sin.
We have to continue to apply the Word.
We have to continue to walk on our authority.
And first, Peter chapter one, verse 14 and 15, it says, as
obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of
your former ignorance. Your lack of knowledge and moral
blindness is what that word ignorance means.
But as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all of
your conduct. Now again, this contact does
mean your behavior. It does mean your character.
It does mean how you interact with people, but it also means
what you do and what you say. No, I know the authority I've
been given and I'm going to operate in it.
What comes out of our mouth the moment that you feel a little
symptom come on. What comes out of our mouth the
moment that we get a bill in the mail?
What comes out of our mouth the moment that we have conflict
with a friend or a Co worker or a boss?
What is the first thing you say your go to?
I'm going to tell him my own self.
Apostle Marcy got on to me very sternly one time.
I remember I used to be the director at the preschool and we
had changed DCF oversight people.
I don't the the the word is escaping me at the moment, but
we have, you know, the preschool is underneath DCF and so we have
to have surprise inspections. We have them once a quarter.
We know they're coming and we previously had a really good
rapport with one of the DCF inspectors.
He was born again, a retired pastor.
He was just doing this in his retirement.
He was loved what we were doing, spoke the word over us.
It was great. Well, he got, you know, assigned
to a different area and we got a new DCF inspector and she did
not love the things of the Lord or the word or any of those
things. She recognized what we were
doing. We're trying to do with
integrity and that we, you know, our, our endeavour was to do
everything right and to do everything the way we're
supposed to be. However, she was very, very
strict whenever it came to things.
There was no getting away with anything.
And I remember I was just really frustrated and I was like, I
mean, we, we try everything. You know, we read through this
handbook. We're doing everything that we
know we're supposed to do. And she just would kind of be
like, well, I hope you can get this type of Band-Aid in your
first aid kit. Hurry or else I'm going to cite
you, you know, I'm going to write you up.
I'm like, Oh my gosh, a Band-Aid, Literally, it was
something, it was a bar soap. Actually, it was a bar soap.
And the first aid kit, remember, Miss Mary was a bar soap.
So we had Pastor Chase running all over the building looking
for a bar soap somewhere so we can get in our first aid kit
because it had to be in there. And I was just like, oh, I was
so frustrated. And I called Pasta Marcie.
She was in her office and I called her from my office phone
to her office phone. I said, you know, this lady just
doesn't like us. She just, you know, obviously
she just, she just finds a problem with everything and she
walks into my office and she's like, what are you even talking
about? What are you speaking out of
your mouth? Why are you complaining about
this woman instead of praying for her?
Obviously she's lost. And I was like, yes, ma'am, I
knew better. I knew better.
But I was frustrated. And in my frustration, I spoke
out against this woman who was not even born again, who really
asking you to speak blessings over and be like, you know what?
Thank you for making us better. Thank you for making sure that
we have a bar of soap on our first aid kit.
I appreciate that. I know that I need to follow
every rule, every dot, every I and, and cross every T Thank you
for helping us. And, you know, whenever I, I
left and started teaching kindergarten at Washington, she
was still there. And I don't think she's there
anymore. But the last time I saw her, I
gave her a big hug and she's like, Oh, I hope you're doing
really well. She was chatting with me and
she's she was able to know and see what we've done.
But I had to change my own heart.
I had to repent and say, whoa, what am I saying?
Why am I allowing something other than authority to come out
of my mouth? Why am I allowing something
other than the word to come out of my mouth about this person?
Why am I choosing, grumbling, complaining in my heart instead
of choosing, oh, let me submit. Let me make sure that I'm
honoring and respecting and praying for this very lost
person who just needs the Lord. And, you know, we offered to
pray for her and she's like, I mean, you can pray for me, I
guess, you know, And so we were able to minister to her.
And I don't know, it's not like she got born again in our
presence, but I believe that we did plant something in her heart
and the Lord can call on that and she will be able, if
anything, stand before him and know that we ministered to her
and we loved on her. OK, So again, we have to make
sure that we arrest ourselves and say, what's my first
response? Am I speaking the word first in
every situation? Because sometimes we want to
limit these things to very specific categories, healing,
prosperity. But it should apply to
everything in our lives. My children, right before I came
here and was studying and trying to get ready to come, broke a
giant glass jar in their room and it was huge and there was
glass everywhere. And their room was not clean, so
there was glass on things. So I was just like, I can get
really frustrated. I was frustrated, but I can get
mad at them. I can yell at them, or I can
just clean it up and help them. What is going to come out of
your mouth? Because it indicates the
repentance that happens here and allows you to either operate and
speak authority, speak the Kingdom, or speak death.
I mean, the Bible's very clear life and death are and the power
of the tongue and those who love it will eat it's fruit.
And here God's telling us, hey, your fruit, you better have some
performance with it. You better have some evidence
that you know the authority you have and you're operating in it.
And that evidence and that fruit comes from us, every situation
that comes into our lives. And guys, all of us can do
better. All of us can continue to always
advance. All of us can continue to say, I
got to cut that off. I got to prune this off.
I got to stop saying that because I'm going to operate in
the authority that God's given me in Acts chapter 19.
Let's turn over to Acts chapter 19.
We'll start in verse 11 it says God was performing extraordinary
miracles by the hands of Paul so that handkerchiefs or aprons
were even carried from his body to the sick and the diseases
left them and the evil spirits went out.
But also some of the Jewish exorcists who went from place to
place attempted to name over those who had evil spirits the
name of the Lord Jesus saying, I endure you by Jesus whom Paul
preaches about seven sons of 1 Skiva, a Jewish chief priest
were doing this. And the evil spear answered and
said to them, I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who
are you? And the man in whom the was the
evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them and
overpowered them so that they fled out of that house and naked
and wounded Ignorance hinders you from using authority.
These people were like, I've heard that it works for them,
but I don't really know. I'm ignorant of who he is.
I'm ignorant of a relationship with the king, but I've heard it
works and I kind of want to see if it works.
So I'm just going to say it. Ignorance will hinder you.
Now, that's pretty embarrassing to literally be naked, beating
seven of them against one and running out.
That's embarrassing. OK, But that's because they were
ignorant of the authority. They didn't really know him.
They didn't really know the authority that had been given
them. Ignorance will hinder your
authority. And so we have to make sure that
we're not choosing to be ignorant.
Because here's the thing, If you're ignorant, whose fault is
that? Ours guys, even today in this
time that we live in, we have the Bible in every single
version ever made in this tiny little computer pocket computer
that we can put right here. We have millions of printed
versions is it is the most printed book of all time.
It over double every other book that's ever been printed.
The word of God has been printed.
We have no excuse and no reason to be ignorant.
And God said, I'm giving you that responsibility to know my
word, to not be ignorant of it, to renew this mind so that you
can operate in authority. In Ephesians chapter 6, verse
16, actually, we're going to start in verse 10.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His
might. Put on the full armor of God so
that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the
devil. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in heavenly places.
Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able
to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to
stand, stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having
girded your loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. In addition to all taking up the
shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all
the flaming arrows of the evil 1 and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Now Paul's telling us here to put on the armor of God.
I I know that those who've taken an FCU class for me know like
it's a pet peeve of mine whenever I see either a picture
a painting or a show where Jesus just like oh excuse me could you
please move? That's not who my Jesus was OK
he was polite, he was kind the kindness of God draws men to
repentance. He was good, but he also knew
his authority. He also went to a temple and
started turning over tables and took out a whip.
OK so the armor of God does not portray to me some weak not know
who I am authority. If someone in military, full
military uniform comes in here and has all the I'm really
ignorant of the ranks, but if they had all the patches and
things and they said ranks, I know, I know Mr. or Rain would
know what to do. I know he would know how to
honor that person who walked in the room and realize, hey, that
he has authority. I'm gonna honor that.
So when we put on the full armor of God, guys, it's not like God
is scared you're gonna get defeated.
He's like, no, no, no, you have authority.
So put on your armor. Come on, get up, go walk in what
I've told you. Now I kind of want to focus in
in here on verse 16 where it says in addition to all taking
up the shield of faith, which you will be able to extinguish
all the flaming errors of the evil one.
That phrase to be able is the word power.
The same word power that Jesus was using when he said now go,
I've given you all authority and power.
I'm going to say it wrong. Dunamis power, Dunamio.
I don't know. I'll look at my father-in-law
because he knows and I don't, but it's that word that means
dynamite power. OK, so he says you will be able,
you will have dynamite power to take up your shield of faith now
to be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil 1.
Now those fiery darts are what thoughts that come right here.
And This is why it's so important that we take authority
right here that God's given us in our mind that we take
authority because whenever he shoots that fiery dart, if we
don't have our shield of faith up, and if we keep in Ephesians
chapter 5 verse 26, it says that he might sanctifies and cleanse
her with the washing of the water of the word.
Paul here is referring to he talks about husband and wives
and he says, now Jesus does this.
He does this because it's a type and shadow husband and wife
relationship is a type and shadow of Jesus relationship
with the church, with the church, not with an individual
with the church. OK, I just want to say that with
the church so that he might sanctify and cleanser with the
washing of the water of the word.
If you don't have the word, if you don't know your authority,
if you don't know what the word says, how are you going to
extinguish a fiery dart? This is why sometimes if we
don't have our Shields up and our Shields are down, something
happens, a thought comes and we kind of are bothered by it.
We get tempted to take up an offense, which is also a
hindrance to your authority. I won't go into that, but it is
a huge hindrance to your authority taking up an offense
are kind of bothered by it. It messes with your emotions.
You keep thinking about it and replaying it in your mind
because you haven't taken captive that thought, thrown it
down, compared it with the word of God and spoken out of your
mouth. Not thought, but spoken out of
your mouth what the word says. If we are not washing ourselves
with the Word constantly and we put our Shields down at all,
then those fiery darts are coming.
Now, I don't want you to imagine a red guy with horns and a tail
that's just over there going all the time, OK?
But there is a spiritual realm that is more real than this
realm that is very real. And there are forces that are in
the Kingdom of darkness that do roam around looking, just trying
to fire these little darts, seeing if something can catch.
Well, if you're saturated with the word and it's nice and your
grass is nice and wet, it doesn't matter.
You can try to throw a flame into my very, very saturated wet
grass and it's not going to catch on fire because the word
immediately extinguishes it. But if you're a little dry in
some areas, if you haven't been washing your mind with the word
of God, it's going to be really easy for that dart to take fire.
And then you're wondering, I don't know why I, I just been
feeling like this. I don't know why I just keep
thinking about that. I don't know why I, I just keep
replaying that in my mind. And then I'm going back to this
old habit or, or it's because you haven't been washing and you
haven't taken authority over that fiery dart whenever God,
Jesus says I've given you all authority to tread on all
serpents. Wait, you mean like the serpent
that was in the beginning who came in to see the Yes, like
that serpent who's trying to come in and be crafty and say,
oh, I think this might be a little dry over here, you know,
no, no, no, no, no. I'm gonna douse it with some
word. OK So in Luke chapter 4 verse 36
and amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with
one another saying, what is this message?
For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and
they come out. His authority always showed
power. It always had that washing of
the word. Now Jesus spoke the Word and
noticed His pattern. Always whenever He was
ministering, He would preach and teach them.
And then he would say, all right, bring to me the ones who
are sick. Bring to me the ones who need to
be healed from their diseases. He always gave them and taught
them the word. In fact, whenever they started
only wanting to see something, a sign, he said, no, no, no.
Obviously, I have to do some more teaching.
I gotta get you some more word. I've gotta get you some more
water because you're not ready for that.
If I try to just give you this, then it's gonna be real easy for
the enemy to come in and put those fiery darts.
That's why he looked at some people and he said healed them.
And I said, now go and sin no more because he knew you're
gonna have to take up that authority right here.
Always. OK, now all those pieces of
armor work together. OK, so we have this shield of
faith and then he says and wield the sword of the spirit, which
is the word of God. So if you're struggling right
here in your mind, you're like, I, I'm struggling.
I, I feel like I don't have authority over my mind.
I feel like I'm just constantly this battle.
Well, the Bible says, guess what?
The mind is the battlefield. But you have to know that Jesus
says, I've given you everything you need in my word for you to
overcome it. So it sounds to me like you need
to get into the word, not try to numb it with shows, not try to
binge a Netflix show, not try to scroll 'cause we all do it.
Sometimes I just want to numb my mind.
You can numb your mind and then you can also have it on fire.
So I would say don't do that. I would say go ahead and turn on
the sprinkler system 'cause you're going to need it.
I need to turn on my own sprinkler system at my house,
but I don't. It's why my grass is dry.
OK, but armor does not depict a weak, powerless Kingdom.
The armor says this is a strong Kingdom and we have authority.
And the Kingdom of God suffers violent, and the violent take it
by force. And we're not gonna just lay
around and let's say and just run all over our minds.
We're not gonna start thinking like we used to think.
We're gonna continue to operate and the authority he's given us
and choose to take mind here. Now, how can we do this
practically? How can I do that?
How can I take authority? Well, you're gonna have to find
out what the Word says. If you're struggling with
forgiveness, then you need to go look up scriptures or
forgiveness. And again, guys, never been
easier, never been easier. The concordance is right here.
You don't have to get out the giant concordance anymore and
bring it out as like 10 lbs. My parents had as a kid, the
strongest accordance. You don't have to do that.
You can look it up right here. It'll tell you every place that
forgiveness says in the Bible. And you can look at all those
scriptures, you can write them down.
You can copy, paste, print a Word document, paste it on your
mirror. It's super easy.
It's never been easier than today for us to know the word
and be able to operate in it. So we practically do that by
finding out what the word says. Now, another way you can
practically do that is to surround your people.
Surround yourself, people who are going to give you the word.
Don't go hang around the people who are like, I know I it's
really hard. I know.
I mean, it's just like one thing after another.
Is it one thing after another or is it like I get to wake up and
do my Kingdom purpose today? I get to wake up and be a mom
today. I get to wake up and go teach
children today. I get to wake up and be a wife
today. I'm so excited to do my role in
my assignment in the Kingdom because I'm going to use the
authority he's given me and I'm not going to think it's too
hard. It is a doctrine of demons to
just I love this anxiety thing that goes on.
It gives me the heebie jeebies and makes me very frustrated to
read all of these believers. They're like, well just I'm
really dealing hard with anxiety today.
I know that anxiety comes, but Jesus said be anxious for
nothing. So again, if you're dealing with
anxiety, it sounds to me like you need to get into the Word
and say, what does the Word say about anxiety?
How can I cast that care upon the Lord?
Because He cares for you. He does not want you to operate
that way. He says I've given you all
authority, go operate it and use it.
All right, let's look at Romans chapter 8 verse 5 through 8.
It says those who live according to the flesh have their mind set
on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance
with the Spirit have their mindset on what the Spirit
desires. The mind governed by the flesh
is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Now what does it tell us in Hebrews 11?
What pleases God? Faith.
Faith is the only thing that can please God.
So if you are setting your mind according to the flesh, then
obviously you're not operating in faith.
You cannot be put in your mind and continuing to side with your
flesh and be operating in faith at the same time.
Because right here it says those who are in the realm of the
flesh cannot please God, which means they cannot be in faith in
that area. Faith pleases God, and we have
to be able to know what His Word says to be able to operate in
that faith, to be able to exercise that authority that we
have. Submission and faith are
required for authority, just like Apostle Earl showed us with
the centurion, OK, He came to Jesus and he said, my servant is
at home, he's being tormented and he's dreadfully ill.
And he said, Jesus said, OK, I'll come, I'll come lay hands
on him. And they said to her, he said,
no, no, no, I'm not worthy for you to come underneath my roof,
but speak the word only, for I also am a man under authority.
I tell this one come and he comes.
I tell this one go and he goes, I tell this one to do this and
he does it because the centurion And then Jesus said I have not
found such great faith in all of Israel, in an entire nation with
millions of people. This Gentile man had more faith,
and it's because he understood authority.
He understood I had to submit in order to be an authority.
I've told my children, and I encourage my kindergarteners and
I encourage adults. You're gonna have to submit
forever. Get over it.
Don't allow the independence and rebellion of the United States
of America become your creed. Become who you are because
you're going to submit forever. The people who don't want to
submit and think they aren't submitting, one day they will
submit. It'd be better just to go ahead
and do it now. Just learn I have to submit.
And if you will submit, you get to walk in freedom.
If you submit, there's so much more available to you.
If you could submit, then you'll understand the authority that
God's given you. So whenever you submit to God,
then you can be able to walk in authority.
But if you're submitting to your flesh, then you're acting
hostile to God and you cannot please him.
Submission and faith are always required for us to be able to
walk onto authority. Romans chapter 12, verse 2, it
says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good, acceptable and perfect.
We have to renew our minds. It says you renew your mind, not
God's going to do it for you. He did what you couldn't do,
which is give you a brand new spirit man.
He took out that old Stony heart.
He gave you a brand new heart. You couldn't do that.
You can never have been reconciled to him through your
own actions and words. But now he said, now you go
renew your mind and make sure it matches up with what I said.
So we have that responsibility. And the only way for us to
continue to operate in full authority is for us to continue
to renew our minds. I'm going to give us a couple
more scriptures here before we close on renewing our minds.
And 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 through 5 and says, For
though we walk on the flesh, we do not war according to the
flesh, for the weapons of our war flare are not a flesh, but
divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up
against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought
captive to the obedience of Christ.
Ephesians 417 through 24 says, So this I say and affirm
together with the Lord that you walk no longer, just as the
Gentiles also walk. Don't walk like the world.
Don't identify with them and their reels and their trends and
their Tik Toks. Stop identifying with them,
being darkened in their understanding and excluded from
the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the hardness of their heart.
They've become callous, have given themselves over to
sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with
greediness. But you did not learn Christ in
this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught
in Him. Just as truth is in Jesus, that
in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside
the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the
lust of deceit. And that you be renewed in the
spirit of your mind and put on the new self which is in the
likeness of God that has been created in righteousness and
holiness of the truth. Second Timothy 17 says For God
has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, power and of
love, and of a sound mind. That means that we have His
power, his authority, his love, and the ability to have a
renewed and sound mind to walk in authority.
Colossians 32 says set your mind on things above and not on the
things of the earth. Guys, whenever we do that,
whenever we say I'm not going to be like Eve, I'm not going to be
like Adam, where I allow Satan to come in and to whisper to me
right here and to take my authority.
Because here's the thing, really he can't.
He has no authority to take your authority.
You give it, you give it away, just like Adam and Eve.
You choose not to operate in it. You choose not to walk in it,
but the only way for us to continue to make sure that we're
operating in it and knowing that Jesus came, He was the only one
who could give that authority back to us, that we could
operate as royalty in the Kingdom so that we could
continue to be kings and Queens on the earth, to rule and reign
over every circumstance over all of the earth.
You guys remember, as Apostle Earl told us, our bodies are
made out of the dust. We have authority over them.
I don't have to follow every single whim of my flesh.
I don't have to follow everything that it wants to do
because I have authority right here in my mind.
I have authority over every scheme that the devil tries to
bring against me. And the only way for us to die
is to for us to take authority over our mind.
Jesus did what we couldn't do. He came back and he died.
He gave us a brand new spirit. He took back the keys to death
town in the grave. And then he said, I give you the
keys of the Kingdom. Now go.
And we have to continue to operate in that authority if we
continue to renew our mind so that we can please Him, so we
can operate in faith, so we can do all the things that He's
called us to do here on the earth because He has purpose for
us here right now. It always was His will that we
operate in the earth and on the earth.
And he says, I want you to keep operating in the earth and on
the earth. Amen.