Luke4: 31 Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue every Sabbath day. 32 There, too, the people were amazed at his teaching, for he spoke with authority. 33 Once when he was in the synagogue, a man possessed by a demon—an evil[g] spirit—cried out, shouting, 34 “Go away! Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 35 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further. 36 Amazed, the people exclaimed, “What authority and power this man’s words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!” 37 The news about Jesus spread through every village in the entire region.
In our world, we see authority all the time and many times that authority is not real strong and waffles at the sight of problems. The authority we see in the world is not real authority, but the authority of Jesus as shown in the above verses IS real authority. You will notice that Jesus spoke "with authority", controlled and cast out a demon "with authority", and continued to change lives "with authority." Believe it or not, Jesus sends us out with the message of salvation "with authority." In Matthew 28 Jesus saw that some of His disciples doubted and He said the following in verses 18-20, 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We reference the Great Commission many times when talking about the mission of the church and we should. But don't forget the authority that came along with this Great Commission. We are "sent out" to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with authority. I shared the gospel with a young man a few years ago and as I shared the scriptures with him about how to be born again I could see the Holy Spirit's conviction in him. When I asked him if he would like to be born again and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, He replied, Oh yes! It wasn't my authority that made that happen, but it was the authority of Jesus and the young man was changed from a location in hell to a location in heaven. God's authority is True Authority and NEVER DOUBT IT like the disciples did, because we not only lead a person to saving faith, we lead a person who will lead others in that same authority. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
We can do nothing in our own power, but only by the power and authority of Jesus, our Savior, our Lord.
The Pilgrimage Continues,
David Warren