Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Scott Graham (January 25, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Well, thank you guys

for praying with me for Pastor Brad and Jenny.

They are in Malala. I don't know how to say it.

Something like that. Some city up north of us,

and they're ministering at a great church up

there, and they send their love. But today, you

get me. So I'm going to bring a word today. I'm

excited about it. So first thing, we forgot to

announce this because this is kind of a recent

thing that just happened. Mike Winkleplek, as

well as Nita Loveall, they've been working. You

guys know that we've got the riverbank issue

happening right now. We're in the process of

partnering with our church and people from the

outside to fundraise to help pay for that because

it is a large expense. Mike and Nita actually

prepared a GoFundMe. for you guys to share. If

you have friends, coworkers, family members,

people across the country that are asking about

it, how they can get involved, how they give,

GoFundMe makes it really easy to read a little

bit what's going on, see some pictures and videos,

and they make it really easy and frictionless

to give. So that being said, if you would like

to share that on your social media, man, we would

love it. We would just love as much exposure

as we can because a little bit from a lot of

people goes a long way, amen? That being said,

just a quick reminder, I know we passed out the

commitment cards last week. If you guys are a

part of this church, and you're here, you're

plugged in here at Life Bible, we encourage you

to just to give through the website or via check

or cash if you are gonna give to that project.

Don't use the GoFundMe account. And the reason

for that is they do take a lot of fees for their

platform. So anyway, we just wanna utilize the

finances coming in as best as we can. All right,

there was the administrative announcement for

all y 'all. Let's jump in this morning. Last

couple of weeks, Pastor Brad has been preaching

on fasting and we are two weeks into our 21 day

fast. How many of you guys are still in good

spirits and happy about this? Dennis and Kathy

are, come on, that's good. So I'm not, I promised

Pastor Brad and I've promised myself, I'm not

gonna preach on fasting today, but I am gonna

just talk a little bit about it. And here's the...

Here's the thing about fasting. If you have maybe

been absent from church the last couple of weeks

or you missed the fact that we were fasting corporately

as a church, I just wanna encourage you, it's

not too late. You can join right now and it is

still gonna be amazing. And I shared this parable

in first service. Do you guys remember in scripture,

Jesus was talking about the vineyard owner who

is bringing in workers for the vineyard. Several

started early in the morning. Some came during

the afternoon and some came an hour before the

close of business and they all got paid the same.

So I'm not, that maybe is way out of context,

but I'm just saying it's never too late to start

fasting with our church. Seriously though, we

are, there's something about fasting as a church

that really helps to establish unity in the spirit.

And that is what we are going after in this season.

So we just wanna encourage you to do that. Fasting

really does clean your soul in a way that not

a lot else can. And I'm gonna explain that. But

when you fast and you say no to things that your

flesh would normally really want, it's almost

like just as you go through life, stuff, crap

just kind of hits your life from every angle.

Who can relate to that statement? And I'll give

you a picture here because when I was, this is

years ago, I was driving from Redding, not from

Redding, from Sacramento, California to Red Bluff.

And it's like 150 mile stretch of I -5 that there's

pretty much nothing but orchards and fields.

It's like called the breadbasket of California,

but lots of farming. And so I was driving through

there late at night, really fast. There was like

a hatch of bugs that day because they were nonstop

splatting on my windshield. And I was using all

of my fluid, trying to keep my windshield clear

so I could drive. But this was like a 80 -mile

stretch of nonstop bugs, which was wild. So I

finally pull off at a gas station. And I had

like a half inch of bug carnage caked onto my

headlights, let alone all the smears from my

windshield that I was trying to keep clean. Here's

how fasting works. I stopped at a gas station

and I took a squeegee and I just wiped all of

that off and it came off almost instantly. And

then I was able to get back on the road and I

had a clear picture of where I was going. That

is a picture for what fasting does to your soul.

Stuff hits, stuff comes and splats on your life,

so to speak, and on your soul. And it makes it

difficult to see where you're going and what

God is doing and what God's saying. And there's

something about fasting that helps clear some

of the clutter that has accumulated over the

year. So that's part of the reason that we fast

as a church. The other reason that we do that

is it really just changes your appetite. When

you start fasting and you're giving up food,

your appetites for things begin to shift and

you begin to long for the things of God more

than you long for other things. And I heard a

pastor say years ago that when you fast, you

actually, fasting causes you to grow hungrier

for the things you can't see than for the things

that you can see. And I found that to be very,

very true. So there it is. That's it. I'm gonna

stop right now. I'm not gonna preach on fasting

today. But if you haven't joined the fast yet,

guys, we got another week. It's not too late.

Here's your invitation officially. But seriously

today, I do wanna share and bring a word that

I'm feeling stirred to release to our church

today. And the word is gonna be regarding walking,

embracing the authority of God. and actually

operating in faith. And the reason I'm bringing

this word is I really do feel like God has an

upgrade, so to speak, for our church this year

regarding the miraculous. And I really believe

God is wanting to start to move in the miraculous

realm in ways that you have not seen before in

this church. And we've seen amazing things. I'm

not discounting all the incredible miracles and

deliverances and healings and salvations that

have taken place in the last 25 years. But I

just sensed the Lord saying, there's more for

our church this year. And with that, an important

piece of actually walking into that breakthrough,

walking into impossible situations and seeing

impossibilities in front of us and those walls

come crumbling down. walking in the authority

God has given us and taking steps of faith are

absolutely necessary to see that type of breakthrough.

So that's what I wanna preach on this morning.

And if you guys have your Bibles, we're gonna

start in Exodus 14. So you guys can open up to

Exodus 14. If you didn't bring your Bible, as

Pastor Trent says, we have a Sky Bible behind

me. You can read along on the screen. So I'm

gonna start in verse 13 of chapter 14. But before

I do that, I just wanna give a little bit of

context for what we're talking about here. So

in this account, Israel has just been released

from Egypt. So they had, Israel, the nation of

Israel had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds

of years. God raised up Moses to go and actually

deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt. So

Moses goes, he talks to Pharaoh, Pharaoh won't

hear it. And then Moses starts with the power

of God, starts releasing plagues of judgment

on Egypt. And finally, after the 10th plague,

Pharaoh says, okay, I'm done. You guys get out

of here, take your flocks, your herds, your children

and leave Egypt. We don't want you here anymore.

So Egypt kind of pushed Israel out and Moses

and Israel started marching. out of Egypt, kind

of into the wilderness. And it actually says

in scripture that the Lord led them to a specific

location right next to the Red Sea. Now this,

if we're just looking at it in the natural, the

location he led them to was kind of like a dead

end. And God led them there. And so in the middle

of them marching to this dead end next to the

Red Sea, Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, changes

his mind and says, you know what? we're gonna

go get them. And whether he was wanting to go

capture them and re -enslave them or just slaughter

them because he was angry, we don't really know,

but he mobilized the army of Egypt, which at

the time was like the superpower of the world.

So imagine probably the most up -to -date military

force in the world coming after Israel, a nation

of former slaves that were completely unarmed.

So they have... in a large army at their heels

and they're facing a giant ocean at a dead end.

Well, they're watching the army approach and

the people start getting a little bit antsy.

They're starting to freak out a little bit, understandably,

but they started saying things to Moses like,

were there not enough graves in Egypt that you

had to take us out into the wilderness to kill

us? And Moses, stood up and the people are freaking

out and in fear. And he releases this amazing

faith statement, which we're gonna read in verse

13. So it says this, Moses said to the people,

fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of

the Lord, which he will work for you today. For

the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never

see again. The Lord will fight for you. and you

have only to be silent. That was Moses' really

polite way of saying, okay, if you're not gonna

say anything in faith, then shut up. But he did.

He obviously, he said, listen, God's gonna do

a miracle for you, but you need to, at this point,

just be silent and be still. Stand in faith.

So that was Moses' rally cry to the nation of

Israel that was freaking out. Now let's keep

reading in verse 15. The Lord says to Moses,

why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel

to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch

out your hand over the sea and divide it that

the people of Israel may go through the sea on

dry ground. Okay, so we're gonna reference this

passage of scripture a couple times today, but

I wanna just stop here for a minute because I

was reading this passage. I thought it was very

interesting to me that Moses, there, it seems

to be a little bit of a gap where he addresses

the nation. And then the very next thing written

is God speaking directly to Moses saying, why

are you crying out to me? And my guess, if I'm,

I'm not adding anything to scripture, but my

guess would be after Moses gave his rally cry

to the nation of Israel, he may have turned around

and been like, oh Lord help. me, help me, help

me. How is this going to work? How are we going

to have breakthrough? Right? I mean, he recognizes

the will of God is to deliver Israel and to bring

them into safety, but he had no clue what it

was going to look like. So God actually, and

I'll give you the full story in a nutshell. He

divided the sea. The Lord caused an east wind

to blow. Israel went through the Red Sea on dry

land. Egypt followed them. their chariots got

stuck and then God brought all the water over

the top of them and literally destroyed the whole

army. So it's an amazing story of breakthrough

where they're facing an impossible circumstance,

impossible situation, and God showed up and brought

incredible deliverance and breakthrough. But

I wanna go back to Moses here because God asked

him a really good question. Why do you cry to

me? When I read that, I was like, that's so interesting.

It kind of sounded like God was a little annoyed

or was rebuking Moses. It carries that kind of

that association. And I was specifically looking

at what did he ask Moses to do? So after he asked,

why are you crying out to me? He said, Moses,

take your staff and lift it up and then lift

up your hand and divide the waters and lead the

nation through. So God, specifically asked Moses

to hold up his staff. Why is that? Why was that

an important piece of this miraculous breakthrough?

Well, when you look at scripture, the staff actually

represents authority. It's a symbol of authority.

And we see that all through scripture, specifically

with shepherds. Shepherds in scripture, that

staff, they use the staff to direct the sheep.

to correct the sheep. They also would hold their

staff over a certain area and they would have

their sheep walk under the staff as a way to

count the sheep. So it was a tool that actually,

back then it represented a shepherd's authority,

okay? And we even see this with David in Psalm

23, one of the most famous Psalms in the Bible.

David says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall

not want. Well, two or three verses later, he

says, his rod and his staff, they comfort me.

What was David saying? David was actually saying

the correction and the authority of God in his

life actually brought comfort to David. And that

there was a comfort knowing that he was under

the Lord's authority and in the flock of God,

so to speak. So that is what the staff actually

represented, authority. So now let's look at

Moses' staff here because God specifically told

him to hold it up. Moses was actually a shepherd

before God called him to lead Israel into deliverance,

right? You guys know this? Actually, Pastor Brad

preached on this Christmas Eve this last year,

but essentially Moses spent the first 40 years

of his life as a prince of Egypt. After that,

he was driven out of Egypt. He left and he became

a shepherd for the next 40 years of his life.

And so Moses knew what life was like as a shepherd.

He spent 40 years in that occupation. So he was

used to using that staff to bring direction,

correction, even stewarding the flocks that he

was in charge of, using that staff because that's

what he did. And in the middle of that, God actually

called him out of shepherding sheep and called

him to shepherd a nation of people. But he used

the same staff that Moses used with the sheep.

God actually said, listen, this represents a

symbol of your God -given authority to the people.

Here's the amazing thing about Moses' staff.

It carried with it, it wasn't just a symbol of

God's authority on his life. It carried with

it the power for the miraculous. And I wanna

read a passage of scripture here out of Exodus

4, two through five. So the Lord said to Moses,

this is the burning bush encounter happened in

Exodus 3 and it continues into Exodus 4. So the

Lord said to Moses, what is that in your hand?

Moses said, a staff. And he said, throw it on

the ground. So Moses threw it on the ground and

it became a serpent and Moses ran away from it.

I was reading that and I'm like, that's actually

really funny. He like threw the staff down, turned

into a snake and he took off. How many of you

in this room would do the same? Maybe you don't

have an affinity for snakes. Anyway, so that

was the first miracle that the Lord actually

led Moses to perform. He threw a staff down,

turned into a snake. So then the Lord said to

Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the

tail. So he put out his hand and caught it and

it became a staff in his hand. And then the Lord

says this, that they may believe that the Lord,

the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham,

Isaac, and the God of Jacob has appeared to you.

And here's what I wanna... focus on in this scripture.

First of all, God had to actually, as Moses was

coming out from being just a shepherd to sheep,

God had to actually train Moses how to use the

authority that he was giving him. And with that,

he had to train him on how to walk in the miraculous,

partnering with that authority. This is the first

training that we get to see. This is the first

miracle that Moses did in the newly given authority

that God had given him is he took that staff

and he threw it on the ground. It turned into

a snake and God walked him through how to do

that. Okay, so here's the reason why. God actually

gives the reason why he was released in the miraculous

through his authority. And he says that so that

the people would believe that you are sent by

the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob. And that really is true that the authority

that Moses was carrying in the staff, the reason

the miraculous was partnered with it was to actually

give a proof to people that Moses was operating

under God's authority and not his own. That that

was part of the reason for the miraculous is

actually a proof of Moses is not operating in

his own authority, in his own willpower. He's

operating under God's authority. And so, and

Jesus actually declared the same principle in

John 14, 10. He said, believe me that I am in

the father and the father is in me or else believe

on account of the works themselves. What was

Jesus saying? He was saying, listen, Put your

faith in me that I'm operating in the father's

authority, that I am God. But if you don't believe

that, then at least believe the works that I'm

doing because that should point to the authority

I'm walking in. That's what Jesus was saying.

And he showed that principle. But most of the,

I wanna say this, most of the miraculous signs

that Moses did, he did using the staff. So I

wanna go through some of these. First of all,

Exodus 4 .17, God is still speaking to Moses

and he says, and take in your hand this staff

with which you shall do the signs. Or if you

wanna say it this way, with which you will do

the miracles. God actually specifically told

him to take with him that staff representing

the authority that he was carrying. And from

that staff, from that authority, he would begin

to do the signs. that God was asking him to do.

And when you look at the book of Exodus and into

numbers, Moses used his staff all the time. Five

of the plagues, five of the 10 plagues involved

either Moses or Aaron lifting up that staff of

authority before God released that judgment.

Same thing when they left Egypt. What did Moses

do? One of the first things that he did At the

Red Sea, he took the staff and parted the waters.

When they were in the wilderness and the nation

was thirsty, the Lord said, take your staff,

strike the rock and water will come forth. And

that's what he did. So there was, you see this

connection of every time there was a circumstance,

there was a situation that was outside of Moses's

natural ability to solve. And he needed a supernatural

divine intervention. What did he do? He lifted

up the staff of God. The authority that God had

given him for the miraculous. So I wanna, I hope

you guys are sticking with me here. I'm gonna

talk about another staff here and that's Aaron's

staff. Again, knowing that the staff actually

represents authority, we see the same principle

with Aaron. Now Moses, he was the main leader,

but Aaron was... kind of his sidekick, if you

want to look at that. You got sheriff and deputy

sheriff. He was right alongside Moses the whole

way and was helping him speak on behalf of God

to the people. He was the main, like the high

priest over the tabernacle. So Aaron had a lot

of responsibility. Well, in number 17, Israel

was in the wilderness and actually I'll backtrack

to number 16. Israel was in the wilderness and

what happened is there was a rebellion that popped

up. And there's a man named Korah from the tribe

of Levi. And Korah grew jealous that Moses and

Aaron had the authority from God and they were

leading the people. And so Korah said, what makes

you guys so special? All the people are consecrated.

All the people are holy before God. Why should

we? follow your leadership? Why should we trust

what you're telling us? Is more or less what

Korah and his fellow compadres were saying. So

all that to say, this rebellion started happening.

Well, God very quickly in number 16, he brought

judgment to that rebellion. Essentially, Moses

said, so be it. You present your offering to

the Lord and I'll present the offering to the

Lord. with censers and essentially fire came

forth from the presence of God and consumed the

rebellious people. So it was a really intense

story, but God shut down that rebellion really

fast. Well, the very next chapter in number 17,

God actually directed each leader of the 12 tribes

to bring their staff of authority before the

tabernacle and the tent of meeting. And God gave

specific instruction. He said, listen, each tribe,

the 12 tribes of Israel, they all had leaders.

He said, you're gonna etch your name into the

staff and we're gonna put all 12 staffs before

the presence of God. The next day, the Lord said,

the staff which buds is the staff I have chosen

to give authority to and to actually be over

the tabernacle and the priesthood. And so Aaron

was the leader of the tribe of Levi. So they

all put their names on the staff. They all put

them in the tabernacle. And the next day they

came into the tabernacle, they pulled the staffs

out and all of them were the same except for

Aaron's, which had budded. It had sprouted, budded,

blossomed and was producing ripe almonds. So

it had four different levels of growth that were

coming out of this dead staff that had probably

been dead for over a decade or two. Dry as you

could imagine. So that's a miracle in and of

itself that the Lord would cause life to spring

forth from this dead piece of wood. And you know,

there's a lot of things that we could look at

in this passage. I'm not gonna look at too much,

but I wanna make a couple notes here because

there's a few things that we need to note from

this account. The first thing, is that all of

the chiefs of the different tribes, they all

had a staff. They all had a level of authority

that God had given them, that was given to them

by God. But they wanted that authority to increase,

whether it was from selfish motive, whether it

was from a bad heart or jealousy, they wanted

control and power over Moses and Aaron. And so

God, with this test, he actually declared, no,

Aaron and the tribe of Levi, they are the chosen

vessel that will minister before the temple and

that will step into that authority and help lead

the nation. And so it was God's way of saying,

this is the authority that I'm blessing. And

I think that's the key is it speaks to the nature

of authority. The first thing that we need to

know about authority is authority comes from

God. It comes from God. It's not just given to

the people who want it the most. God -given authority

has to be God -given. God has to actually give

it and release it to someone. And it's given

to those who are actually dedicated to doing

his will. When you look at Moses, when you look

at Aaron, you see two people. Yes, they made

mistakes. They had their own sin issues. They

were human, but they were devoted and dedicated

to doing God's will, which is actually what gave

them, put them in a place to receive authority

from God and exercise that authority. Moses and

Aaron were dedicated to doing God's will. Thus,

they were given the authority which carried the

power to do God's will. Again, we talked about

the connection between authority and power. I

wanna just highlight one other Old Testament

passage and then we're gonna move into the New

Testament. I promise, I'm almost there. But Numbers

20 is really, really key because it deals with

this issue of authority. and specifically the

importance of those operating in God's authority

doing his will. So if you guys have your Bibles,

you can open up. I didn't put it on the screen,

sorry. But Numbers 20, what is happening is Israel's

in the wilderness. Again, they're complaining,

they're grumbling again. And what does God do?

They're out of water. And so God speaks to Moses

and says, hey, I want you to take your staff

and I want you to go to the rock and I want you

to speak. to the rock and the rock will bring

forth water. Now, earlier in Moses's life, the

Lord told Moses to strike the rock and water

would come out. This time it was a different

instruction. So God's will shifted as far as

how Moses was to bring water forth. And so Moses

made a mistake in this passage. He was upset.

He'd been with these people for 40 years. It

was probably a little... upset at them and they're

grumbling. And so what did he say? He said some

very snide remarks to them. And then instead

of speaking to the rock, he took his staff, his

symbol of authority, and he struck the rock two

times. God in his mercy still brought forth water

and gave it to the nation of Israel. But the

Lord was very displeased with Moses and actually

brought a pretty severe discipline to him. And

he says, Moses, because you did not hallow me

as holy before the people, you will not enter

into the promised land. You can see it from afar,

but you're not gonna actually enter into it and

inherit it. So why is this so important? God

takes, when we use the authority that he gives

and we step outside of his will, it's a big deal.

That's what I would call an abuse of authority.

When we actually take something that has been

given to us by God and we step outside of what

he asked us to do with it, that's an abuse of

authority. And ultimately God disciplined Moses

pretty intensely because of that. So looking

at scripture, you will always see that authority

and power are connected. When someone has authority,

it has been given to them. by God to complete

God's assignment on their life. So God gives

authority so that that person can actually walk

in the power of God and complete the assignment

God's given them to complete. Ultimately, that

power that comes with authority is given to enforce

the will of God. And I'll just give a quick example

here. You know, in our world, we have police

officers, right? in the United States, and a

policeman will have a badge that actually represents

authority, right? Maybe it's Lane County Sheriff

or it's Oregon State Police or it's some federal

branch of law enforcement. Regardless, there

will be a badge that actually says this person

has been given authority by the government in

order to enforce the law. right? We understand

that with policemen. So they have a badge that

actually declares the authority that they carry.

But here's the amazing thing. Our government

just doesn't send policemen out with just a badge,

right? They also give them tools they need to

enforce the law. right? A police officer might

have a baton. He might have handcuffs. He might

have a handgun or a taser or pepper spray or

whatever it might be, whatever the job is needed.

In other words, there was a gift of authority

that was endowed to a person, but also the power

to enforce the authority and the rule of law

and the government. That we understand that from

a natural perspective. Well, the same is true

spiritually. God gives authority to us. He also

gives us the power to enforce the will of the

king. Does that make sense? Okay, I'll give you

one more example from the Old Testament and then

we'll move on. Elisha the prophet understood

this principle. And if you look at, I think I

might have this on the screen, I might not. 2

2 Kings 4:29

Kings 4 verse 29, in that passage of scripture,

Elisha, he had been staying with a Shunammite

lady and her husband and their family. And he

was off in Israel doing different things. Well,

the boy died, the Shunammite son died. And so

the mom found Elisha in Israel and she pretty

much just said, hey, can you please raise my

son from the dead? I'm giving you guys the cliff

notes edition here. And so what does Elijah do?

The first thing he does in verse 29 is he takes

his staff. He gives it to his servant Gehazi.

And he says, Gehazi, take this and run to the

child. He said, lay the staff on the child. Why

did Elisha do that? I read that. I'm like, that

is strange. Well, the reason is he actually understood

that that staff represented the authority that

God had given him as a prophet over the nation

of Israel. And he recognized that if God gave

him authority and that he gave him that mantle,

then he would also give the power to enforce

the will of God and to bring about the miraculous.

Elisha understood that. Okay. So let's go back

to Moses. Exodus 14 verses 15 through 16. The

Exodus 14:15–16

Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell

the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your

staff and stretch out your hand over the sea

and divide it that the people of Israel may go

forward on dry ground. See, Moses started crying

out to God, probably praying desperately, Lord,

help me. And God kind of rebuked him a little

bit, said, no, lift up your staff, lift up your

authority and divide the waters. Do what I've

already declared I wanna do. And that's deliver

this nation out of challenge. So here's my point,

guys. I think like Moses, a lot of us, we can

relate to Moses where God has given us authority.

He's given us an assignment. And many times we

will pray and cry out to him asking for breakthrough,

asking for a solution. Meanwhile, we're actually

holding the tool in our hand that we're supposed

to bring the breakthrough from. Does that make

sense? Moses had the staff with him the whole

time. The Lord said, hey, look what's in your

hand, lift it up and divide the sea. And I think

right now, corporately, we're facing an impossible

situation, just like Israel was, even with this

riverbank. Now, I know we've had some breakthroughs.

We've had permits come in at all the right times.

We've had really low quotes come in for the work

compared to other quotes. But there is still

an impossible situation that faces us. So that's

happening corporately, but I wanna now take it

to the individual level. Probably every one of

you in this room has something in your life right

now that just seems to be obstinate and stubborn

and refusing to bow at the feet of Jesus. And

I don't know what that is. And maybe if you don't

have an impossible situation, I hate to prophesy

anything negative, but you're gonna have one

at some point in your life. That is guaranteed.

You will face something that you will not be

able to overcome without the power of God. If

you're walking in the calling that God's called

you to walk in. So maybe that's family issues.

Maybe that's a work dilemma, a financial challenge,

demonic oppression, a physical disease. There

could be a variety of different things that is

facing you right now. Like David facing Goliath.

In the natural, this just doesn't add up that

I will ever have victory over this thing. And

I'll say this, there is a place for prayer. Absolutely.

We have to discern what God's will is. And if

you don't know what God's will is, then you need

to, prayer is where we start. But in Moses' situation,

he knew the will of God. He knew what God, at

some level, he knew that God wanted to deliver

Israel. And because of that, God was asking him

to step into the authority that he's already

given to release the miraculous. And I'm telling

you, The same is true for us. God is looking

to actually release breakthrough over the impossible

situations in our life this year. You know, and

it's only when we partner with God, with what

God has spoken, and we use the authority that

he's given that those situations will begin to

crumble. And truly the life of a believer should

be embracing the authority God gives and walking

in its power. And that is, I'm gonna say this,

that's standard issue for a believer. And I'm

gonna talk about this in a little bit, but the

truth is, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you

have been given a level of authority. Now, I'm

not saying there aren't other levels that God

gives more authority to some. and less to others,

but there is a baseline level of authority that

God has given to every person that would call

on the name of Jesus and would actually declare

Jesus as Lord of their life. And it may not be

the authority of someone who would lead a nation

or the authority of someone who would lead a

church or a movement, but it's still a strong

level of authority. I'm gonna talk about that

in a little bit. But first, I do want to just

say, I want to say this. Authority, we already

talked about how it comes from God, right? And

it's given to those who do his will or who are

purposed to do his will. Well, similarly, as

believers, we have to do the, we're called to

do the will of God. We're called to actually

step into that place where we're being obedient.

And as we do that, it positions us to receive

the authority that he's given us. So John 1 verses

John 1:11–13

11 through 13 says this, Jesus came to his own

and his own people did not receive him, but to

all who did receive him, who believed in his

name, he gave the right to become children of

God. who were born not of blood, nor of the will

of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of

God. How many of you guys have ever read that

scripture before? That's an amazing passage.

What is it saying? Those who would receive Christ

Jesus as Lord, those who would submit to his

word, submit to his will, that they would actually

become his children. That's not a light thing.

We get used to hearing that as Christians, but

the implication is as a child of God, it's not

just a get out of hell free card. It's not just

you're gonna go to heaven when you die. It represents

that you are being grafted into the family of

God. That as you become a child of God, there

is a level of authority that's given to you.

And that Greek word for the right, God has given

them the right to become children of God. That

is the word exousia in the Greek. And that word,

it can mean right. It can mean authority, jurisdiction,

liberty. The point is when you are given the

right to become a child, that you've actually

been given an authority to be a child of God.

And I'll give you an example from Luke 15, the

prodigal son in Luke 15. he did everything wrong,

right? He got his father's inheritance early.

He squandered it on sin. He was feeding pigs

hungry to eat what the pigs were eating. And

then he came to himself and he said, man, even

if I lived as a servant in my father's house,

I'd be in a better place. So he went back to

his dad and he was gonna repent. He had no expectation

of anything other than just being a servant in

his father's house. So he repented to his dad.

The dad ran toward him, embraced him, threw a

robe over his shoulder, sandals on his feet,

and a ring on his finger. Now, he wasn't just

giving him a couple nice gifts. They represented

something. And most commentators will believe

that the ring he put on his finger was actually

a signet ring. It represented a signet ring,

which would give the son the authority. being

under his father and under his father's house.

That the son could then stamp that ring and it

would be as if the father had stamped that piece

of paper. Which you look at this and you have

to recognize the grace of God is amazing because

that prodigal son did nothing to deserve or merit

being restored to a place of authority. He just

came back and had just repented. in God's mercy

and grace toward him, didn't just welcome him

back as a servant, welcomed him back as a son,

a child of God, and immediately restored authority

to him. That's incredible. And the truth is,

we are all called to do the same. We're called

to be joined to God. enter into his family as

a child of God and then step into the authority

that he's given. So I wanna read Luke 9 verses

one through two. It says this, it says that Jesus

called the 12 together and he gave them power

and authority over all demons to cure all diseases

and sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of

God and to heal. So in this passage, the disciples

were given power and authority. Right? The authority

word is the Greek word exousia. I just talked

about that. It's the same word from John 1 verse

John 1:11

11. He also gave them power. That's the dunamis

power of God. To not just be good Christians

and do their thing and wander around and preach

a couple times. No, he gave them, yes, to preach

the gospel, but to also demonstrate the kingdom

through miracles, through casting out demons,

through signs and wonders. That is what Jesus

commissioned his disciples to do when he gave

them that authority and power. And the truth

is, I was just talking about the grace of God.

The disciples did not really deserve it. They

did not merit a lifetime of working for authority.

And finally, Jesus said, you know what? You're

ready for it. No, the truth is Peter after this

denied Jesus three times publicly and Judas betrayed

Jesus. Judas was casting out demons and healing

the sick along with the other 11 disciples. So

the point is it wasn't by merit. It was by the

grace of God that the authority of the kingdom

was released. And as children of God, we've been

given the same commission to proclaim and establish

the kingdom through the miraculous. And we can

only do that when we embrace the authority that

he has given us. And I say embrace because a

lot of times we fail in that element to actually

embrace the authority that God gives us. Due

to our own fear, insecurity, our own issues,

sometimes we actually push back. When the Lord

is looking to give to us the authority of a son

in the kingdom, we push it back. So we say, we

can't handle that. Notice what Moses did. First

of all, Moses tried to get out of the call many

times in that encounter with the burning bush.

But even when the Lord first was teaching him

how to operate in authority in the miraculous,

what did he do? He ran away. He saw the miracle

and he took off. We do that all the time. I do

that all the time. Where God is looking to actually

release his authority into our lives, teaches

how to walk in power. And it freaks us out for

whatever reason and we push back. And sometimes

that's the authority he gives us. Sometimes we

push back on the delegated authority that he's

put over our lives, right? Just like Korah pushed

back against Moses and Aaron's God -given authority.

We can do that too with delegated authority.

Say, well, nope, we don't wanna come under that.

But the truth is, God is looking for us, his

church, to begin to break through impossible

situations by embracing his authority. And how

do we do this? We can only embrace authority

by faith. There is no other vehicle that allows

us to begin to operate in the authority that

God's given to each and every one of us as believers.

And if I'll say it this way, if authority is

given by grace, To each believer, not by merit.

Faith is what accesses that authority and manifests

in the supernatural and the miraculous. Jesus

gave, and we can see that from the disciples.

Jesus gave his disciples authority freely in

Luke 9. And then he also in Luke 10 commissioned

72 others to go out with authority. So he gave

the authority freely to the disciples, but they

had to partner their faith through action. through

the laying on of hands, through casting out demons.

Because guess what? It's one thing when Jesus

is right in front of you saying, I give you all

authority. Go heal the sick, go cast out demons.

It's a totally different thing when two disciples

walk 10 miles through the dusty roads of Judea,

they come to a new town and there's a demonized

person in front of them screaming at them. Well,

all of a sudden, it's not just authority that

matters. They have to access that authority through

faith. and lay their hands on that demonized

person or some lame person that hasn't walked

their whole life. It took faith for the disciples

to partner with the authority that was freely

given. And the truth is, it's the same for us.

We have to partner with the authority that God

gives freely as a gift. And I'll share a brief

story with you guys from my grandpa. He passed

away last summer, but several years ago, when

I was still in California, my cousin and I, we

were driving up from California to go to a family

hunting trip. And we decided to take my cousin's

really old Toyota Camry. It really shouldn't

have been on the road anymore, but it was. And

we were driving in this Camry. And on the way

back from the hunting trip, we decided to stop

by Harrisburg to visit my parents' house. And

so we're driving back from the hunting trip.

And as we're driving, I just hear, A sound that

sounds like a ball bearing going out or like

the axle is about to break. I don't know. I'm

not a mechanic. I'm not very mechanically inclined,

but the sound was getting louder and louder and

louder as we drove from Eastern Oregon down into

the valley. And by the time we arrived at my

parents' house, it was like. something is going

to break on this car. I don't know what it is,

but this is not good. And so we get back to the

house and we have a big family powwow. My grandpa

and grandma were there. My aunt and uncle were

there. Mom and dad, I had cousins. So we had

this big circle in front of my parents' house

and everyone was arguing about what do we do

with this car? Because I was supposed to go back

to California with my cousin in this car. And

I'm like, man, it does not sound like it's gonna

make it. So all of us were, we were talking,

maybe we need to get a bus or a train, or maybe

someone can lend us a car. And we're, no one

could come into an agreement. We're all arguing.

And all of a sudden, my grandpa, who was a man

of very few words, emphasis on very, he rarely,

he just didn't talk much. Whenever we would have

him pray for family gatherings, he would just

say, Lord Jesus. Bless the food. Amen. That was

it. I mean, and that was just him. He just didn't

talk much and rarely asserted himself. So in

the middle of this circle of probably eight people,

my grandpa just steps into the middle of the

circle at 85 years old. And he says, the car's

gonna be fine. I'm gonna pray for them. They're

gonna get in the car. They're gonna drive 400

miles to California and nothing's gonna break.

And all of us just, it shut us up. It really

did. And why was that? Because he, in that moment

at 85 years old, he recognized his authority.

Now I'm just gonna give it the baseline level

of authority of him being a believer and that

he had faith saying, God is gonna preserve this

car. And this is not an issue that we have to

worry about. So sure enough, he prayed for us.

We got in the car. It sounded like it was gonna

break for 400 miles, but it didn't. We made it

to California and we were totally fine. Well,

why do I share that story? Because it took faith

for him to actually exercise authority in that

situation. He had to actually step into something.

It probably felt a little bit risky, but he heard

God, he believed God, and he said, this is what's

gonna happen. And I'm telling you, for us, we

can't operate in the authority that God's given

without faith. The two have to work together.

And the Roman centurion in scripture understood

how authority relates to faith. In Matthew 8,

verses six through 10, he approaches Jesus, this

Roman centurion, and he says, Lord, my servant

is paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And

he said to him, so Jesus said to him, I will

come and heal him. But the centurion replied,

Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my

roof. but only say the word and my servant will

be healed. For I too am a man under authority

with soldiers under me. And I say to this one,

go, and he goes. And I say to another, come,

and he comes. And I say to my servant, do this,

and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled.

And he said to those who followed him, truly

I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found

such faith. So notice the centurion in this situation,

he understood something about authority. And

I believe it was that authority. He understood

that there was an authority on Christ. And because

he understood that Christ was carrying the authority

of God, he recognized the power of that, that

Jesus didn't even need to come to his house.

Jesus, just say the word. I know how this works.

The centurion's thinking, I'm under authority.

When my superiors tell me to do something, I

do it. I've got soldiers under me. When I tell

them to do something, they do it. You don't even

need to come to my house. Just say it, say it.

And it is going to happen. And what did Jesus

do in that situation? It says he marveled. There

are very few instances. I think there's only

two instances in scripture where Jesus marveled

because of someone's faith. This is one of them.

And he turned not to the centurion, but to all

those who followed him and said, this is unlike

faith. It's faith like unlike anything I've seen

in all of Israel. What did the centurion understand?

He understood authority and he partnered with

his faith without authority. So I wanna, before

we close here, I wanna just define what is faith.

Hebrews 11, one defines faith. And so we're gonna

look at that passage. It says, now faith is the

assurance of things hoped for. It is the conviction

of things not yet seen. Faith, and I wanna focus

on the last part of that because that scripture

defines faith kind of with two different wings.

So the assurance of things hoped for and it is

the conviction of things not yet seen. Faith

is a conviction of things unseen. That's what

faith is. And I'm gonna say this. if we're looking

at conviction, conviction is not passive, right?

If you are convicted about something, Marissa,

if you're convicted about a certain cause, maybe

a political cause or a social cause, chances

are, if you're genuinely convicted, you're gonna

do something about it. Maybe you're gonna go

to a demonstration or you're going to go to a

town hall meeting or you're gonna become a financial

supporter. When there's real conviction, there's

real fruit that you're actually convicted about

it. So when we look at faith, faith is actually

the conviction of things not yet seen. That's

what faith is. So I'm gonna say it this way,

faith cannot be passive. You cannot have a passive

faith that does not affect your life and how

you live your life. It's impossible. By a biblical

definition, it's impossible for your faith to

not carry any type of weight that would change

the way you live. See, faith, conviction of things

unseen or our conviction of God's authority given

to us, which isn't necessarily seen in the natural.

It should cause us to live our lives differently.

And Moses had to hold fast to his staff, which

represented his authority and by faith divide

the water, right? Sometimes we just read that

passage in Exodus that he just divided the water,

but he was given the authority. He held onto

the authority. He was probably looking at that

sea for a period of time before things started

to shift in the natural. He had to stand in a

place of faith, believing what God said, holding

onto the authority given. And he probably had

to wait. Maybe it was instant. I don't know.

It doesn't say in scripture, but maybe it was

30 seconds or a minute or two minutes or five

minutes before that east wind blew the water

out of the way to where there was a place for

Israel to go. Regardless, it took faith for Moses

to take that stand. And the same thing with Elijah

in scripture, when it was supposed to rain, he

prayed in faith. God, I know this is what you

wanna do. And then he'd send his servant, go

look for a cloud. No clouds. He did that seven

times and he had to stay in a place of faith.

So sometimes the breakthrough, the miracle doesn't

manifest right away. but we have to hold to the

fact that God has given us authority. He's revealed

his will, and we are going to hold that authority

and exercise our faith to see that thing come

to pass. Okay, in the last three and a half minutes,

I am going to just give us some practicals on

how can we actually grow in faith. The first

thing that we can do and we need to do is we

need to consume the word of God. Romans 10, 17

says, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the

word of Christ. When it references the word of

Christ in the Greek, that's the rhema word. That's

the word that actually is living and it brings

life. Not that the logos doesn't, but it's the

fresh word from the Holy Spirit. And Bob Sorge

talked about this fall when he was with us for

Waypoint Conference. He talked about how when

we read the logos, the Holy Spirit should be

making the logos rhema to us. In other words,

as we're reading the word, things are gonna begin

to pop off the page. All of a sudden, something

you read in scripture is gonna become very applicable

to you personally. That's the rhema word in operation

in our lives. So it is important when you are

actually in the word of God, you are setting

yourself up. for the Holy Spirit to begin to

make the logos rhema. And that's where faith

actually can begin to grow in your life. When

you hear the word, faith comes. That's what that

scripture says. The second thing we need to do

is we need to actually learn to step out in faith.

And I'm gonna say this, faith is incomplete without

action. You can't have a, Living faith that doesn't

carry conviction and action. It's impossible.

Scripture gives us that in James 2. I'll just

read you the last verse. He said, so also by

faith, so also faith by itself, if it does not

have works, is a dead faith. That's what James

2 .17 says. See, real faith involves being convinced

about what God has spoken and then actually acting

on it. You know, I'll say this. If we say that

we have faith in God, but we don't actually let

that faith change our lives, I would argue scripturally

that is a dead faith. And I don't, I'm not trying

to sound harsh when I say that, but scripturally,

that's what we see, that faith has to have the

belief and it has to have action partnered with

it. And I'll finish with a story here, but the

Lord convicted me in this area a couple of years

ago. I was here at the church. It was a super

busy season. And I had a lot on my mind. There

were things happening, things I was responsible

for. I was running here and there. And I got

a text on WhatsApp from a friend in India. And

this friend says, hey, would you just pray for

me? I was lifting weights. And I strained my

back really bad and I am in debilitating pain.

I can barely get out of bed. And I got that message

and I was in the middle of a bunch of things,

but I stopped and I prayed a very short prayer.

I said, Lord, heal that person. Very short. And

I started going about the other things I was

doing and I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit

really loud and clear. And he said, do you actually

believe I'm gonna heal this person? Or are you

just praying that? And it was anytime God asks

you a question like that, you usually know the

answer right away. And I realized, man, I just,

I was just trying to check a box, honestly, just

trying to say, yeah, I prayed, be blessed. But

there was no faith that God was actually gonna

do something when I prayed. And I had to take

a minute. I repented and I just said, Lord, what

do you wanna do? And he reminded me, I am the

God who heals. I am the God of the miraculous,

the God who brings impossibilities into your

now. And he reminded me of those things. And

I prayed really the same prayer, but from a very

different place. It was a place of faith. And

not two minutes went by. I never responded to

the message. Two minutes later, the same person

messaged me, said, this is the craziest thing.

I just got out of bed and I felt like warm oil

going down my back and I have no more pain. So

halfway across the world, God showed up. Why?

Because there was a recognition of authority

and there was a stepping out of faith that actually

caused breakthrough and miraculous to break forth.

So I just wanna encourage us today. Guys, authority

is a gift. That if you believe in Jesus, you've

aligned your life with him and his word. There's

authority that he wants you to walk in. And if

there's authority, the supernatural power of

God is right alongside, ready to bring about

the miraculous to help us overcome impossible

situations that we're facing. You know, and as

a church, we are currently in the middle of a

test. Even just with this riverbank issue. This

isn't just a test for Pastor Brad and Jenny or

the eldership or the leadership. This is a test

for each and every one of us. And I firmly believe

it is a test of faith. Will we believe God for

what he's going to do? Not just in our mind,

but will we actually partner with him and step

into something that a conviction that maybe we

haven't seen manifest in the natural. And that

is my encouragement to us today is to recognize

what God has given us, but also recognize that

he has more. He has more for us to walk into

this year. The riverbanks one piece, but I know

each and every one of you have circumstances

in your life that you are believing for breakthrough

this year in. And I believe God is gonna bring

that as we partner in faith. Amen. Okay. If you

wanna just close your eyes, I'm just gonna pray.

I wanna just pray for us as a group, but I wanna

give a chance to respond. You know, if there

is an area of your life right now that you are

facing an impossibility in the natural, whether

it's a physical disease, if it's oppression,

if there's things, even relationships or finances

that you do not see a way out, And you recognize

I need divine intervention. I need a touch from

God. I want you to just stand up because I want

us to just pray for you. So if that's you, I

want you to just stand to your feet. I want you

to just put your hands out. Father, we come to

you today, Lord, as your children. Lord, and

we stand in the authority that you have given

your children. And Lord, right now, I speak to

every impossible circumstance, every discouraging

giant, Lord, that has stood in people's homes,

in front of their eyes, Lord, that has actually

wreaked havoc over the years, Lord, and they're

recognizing we need a miracle and we need a breakthrough.

Lord, I just pray right now that your kingdom

would be released in this place. Lord, that even

as this message, Lord, of holding fast to the

authority you've given. God, I pray that there

would be a grabbing a hold of authority in this

place this morning. Lord, and in that same vein,

by faith, we recognize your will is for your

church to be overcomers, for your church to step

into victory, not just once, but a lifestyle

and a life change that's filled with victory.

So Lord, I pray that today that every circumstance,

every giant, Lord, that has raised up its face

in opposition to the living God would come. crashing

down right now. Lord, let your spirit begin to

minister in this place. Lord, healing for every

disease, freedom from oppression. Lord, a breakthrough

with family. Lord, let your presence go forth

and do the miraculous in this place. In Jesus'

name, amen. Thank you for taking the time to

listen to this week's message. We are so grateful

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