Sunday Message (1st 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, Pastor Brad

and Jenny mentioned it in the prayer, but they

are out today, so you guys get me this morning.

And I'm excited to bring a word this morning,

but before I do so, I actually have a quick announcement

that we didn't have time to include in video

announcements, but Mike Winkleplek and actually

Nita Lovell have been working together to actually

create a GoFundMe for the Church's Wall project.

And I don't know, do we have information, like

a slide for that? I was told we might have something.

So this is just what it looks like on GoFundMe's

website. I believe we're gonna have this link

on our website available for you guys. And the

reason that we're doing this is just so you can

share. And that would be our ask even as a church

is that you would share it, whether it's on social

media, with family, friends, coworkers, because

we want to get the word out and let people partner

with us. And so what... When it comes to you

giving, you know, you guys are a part of this

church. We encourage you to give on the website

because GoFundMe does charge fees. So we're trying

to maximize all that comes in. But for those

that maybe are outside the church that would

feel stirred to give and be a part of what God's

doing here, we're gonna have that link available

that you guys can send out to your family, friends,

coworkers. Let's let the link go out all across

the nation. All right, well, we are, I almost

said we're in the middle of our churchwide fast,

but we are two thirds of the way through our

churchwide fast. Come on, praise Jesus. We are

on day 14. I'm just gonna give a little encouragement

to you. I know Pastor Brad has preached on fasting

the last couple of weeks. So I'm not gonna preach

on fasting today. I will restrain myself. But

that being said, if you, have missed out on the

last two weeks. Maybe you didn't know we were

fasting. Guess what? It's not too late. Do you

guys remember the parable Jesus gave of the vineyard

workers? One started early and one came in the

11th hour and they all received the same reward.

Just saying, just throwing that out there. I

don't know if that's, I might be taking that

out of context, but regardless. If you haven't

started fasting yet, we seriously want to encourage

you to do so. Again, we're talking about some

of the words that were given. We're talking about

unity and just like what it looks like as the

body of Christ to link arms together and pursue

the things of God. The riverbank issue, that's

an issue of unity, of us coming together to fight

that thing. But fasting is something that we

can do in unity with one another. And there's

power in that. And so, again, I'm not gonna preach

on fasting, but I'm gonna share just a few encouragements

if you're still on the fence. Just a few. Fasting,

what it does, in my opinion, is it actually declutters

your soul. When you actually intentionally give

up food, stuff happens in life. And what ends

up happening is a bunch of junk gets attached

to your soul. You know, a couple of years ago,

I was in Northern California and I was driving

down the freeway fast because it's all straight

and flat there. And they just have like a hatch

of bugs. And between like Sacramento and the

Oregon border, there's a lot of just fields and

orchards. And I don't know what bugs were out

and about, but it was nonstop splatters on the

windshield. And I actually pulled off at the

gas station because my whole windshield was smeared.

And I got out and I looked even at my headlights

and there was like a half inch of bug carnage

on my headlights. And so what I have to do, I

went and I got the little squeegee and I washed

my windshield, pulled all the bugs off my headlights.

So I could see, and I was thinking about it.

That is really kind of what fasting does. It

gives you a chance to realign of the crap that

hits your soul in life and obscures your vision.

Guess what? You can still kind of see if your

wipers are going, you'll smear, but you can still

see for a little bit. But when you actually get

that rinse and that wash on the windshield, you

can actually see clearly what's ahead of you.

And that is really the important piece of fasting.

Aside from that, it actually just reallocates

your appetites. And that is something that we

don't talk about very much as the church, but

when you fast, it actually causes you to begin

to hunger for the things of God. Now, I heard

a pastor say years ago, he said, fasting makes

you hungrier for the things you can't see than

the things you can see. And I think that's very,

very true. Okay, that's it. No more fasting.

So I do have a word I wanna bring to you guys

this morning. And it's in the realm of embracing

the authority that God has given us and standing

in a place of faith. And there's a reason I'm

bringing this word. I really do believe that

God is calling our church this year to overcome

impossible situations. And I really think that

what we're seeing even on the riverbank, you

know, that is a bit of an impossible situation.

Have we seen breakthrough? Have we seen permits

come in? Have we seen just blessing in this process?

Absolutely. But there still is situations that

we need to overcome corporately as a church.

And I really believe even individually for every

person that's a part of our church, God has,

he's moving us into a realm where we're gonna

walk in greater and greater breakthrough. And

I really feel that what we've seen in the past

in the realm of the miraculous, God is going

to increase what we've seen this year. I really

do believe that. But there's aspects of an increase

in the miraculous, an increase in overcoming

obstacles that requires partnership. And so I

wanna talk about that today, specifically in

the realm of embracing God's authority and stepping

out in faith. So we're gonna open with a passage

of scripture out of Exodus 14. So if you guys

have your Bibles, you can open up Exodus 14.

We're gonna start in verse 13. And I'm gonna

give you a little bit of context of what's happening

in this passage. So Moses has, he's responded

to the call of God. He encountered the Lord at

the burning bush and he went to Egypt. and to

set the people of Israel free with the power

of God. And so he goes to Egypt and you have

the whole process of Pharaoh refusing to let

Israel go, plagues and Pharaoh going back and

forth, back and forth. Well, finally, after the

Passover and the 10th plague, what happened?

Pharaoh finally said, get out, please leave,

we're done. You can take everything you need

and get out. And so Israel leaves Egypt. And

they're on their way out into the wilderness

and the Lord actually leads them to a dead end.

And it specifically says that God led them to

that location. So they're looking at the Red

Sea and in the midst of them having no way forward,

Pharaoh changed his mind, gathered the whole

army with all of his chariots and begin to pursue

Israel. Now, what was Pharaoh's intent? Was it

to recapture them or was it to kill and slaughter

them? We don't really know. We just know Pharaoh

was upset and he was gonna respond with force.

So here Israel is, they're facing the Red Sea

and behind them, they have the armies of Pharaoh

enclosing and around them. So from their perspective

in the natural, they're facing a very impossible

situation that looks like certain death. In fact,

they even articulated that to Moses. They said,

were there not enough graves in Egypt that you

had to bring us out here to die? Not really a

statement of faith, but that's where they were

at. So this is what Moses says, starting in verse

13. It says, 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 a really holy way to say,

you can shut up now. But, all right. So what's

happening here? I love this passage and I'm gonna

actually keep reading in verse 15. Verse 15,

it says, the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry

to me? It's an interesting question. Tell the

people of Israel to go forward, lift up your

staff, stretch out your hand over the sea and

divide it, that the people of Israel may go through

the sea on dry ground. So this is a fascinating

passage of scripture. And to me, between... like

verse 14 and verse 15, it seems like there's

a little bit of a gap because here Moses is addressing

the people standing in faith, but you get the

implication that after he stepped down from addressing

the people, he went to prayer. And it might've

been pretty desperate prayer. I don't know. It's

not written in scripture, but the Lord asked

him a question. He goes, why are you crying to

me? So Moses actually kind of gets rebuked for,

potentially crying out to God and asking God

for a solution. What did God tell Moses to do?

He said, take your staff, lift it in the air,

lift your hands and divide the water in front

of you that you may go on dry ground. And the

rest of the story is great. Obviously, if you

guys have read this, it's an amazing story of

deliverance. The sea parts, Israel goes through

the Red Sea, Pharaoh's armies follow, Israel

gets out safe on the other side. Pharaoh and

the armies get stuck and they get destroyed.

So it's an amazing story of God's justice and

breakthrough against the enemies of God. But

what strikes me in this story is that Moses got

rebuked for crying out to God. That really struck

me as I'm reading that, that he actually, I shouldn't

say rebuked, but he asked that question, why

are you crying out? And then he actually, told

him to do something very specific. He said, take

your staff and lift it up. And I was intrigued

by that. Why would God ask Moses to lift up his

staff? And really the staff in scripture is symbolic

of authority. It represents authority that God

has given. God ordained authority. And shepherds

carried staffs. All throughout scripture, they

would carry their staff. They used the staff

to actually guide their natural flocks to bring

correction to the natural flock. They would also

hold their staff as a way of counting the sheep.

The sheep would come under the staff and they

would do inventory of their flocks using that

staff. So the staff typically was associated

with shepherds. And we see this even with David

in Psalm 23. What is that famous Psalm? The Lord

is my shepherd, I shall not want. Well, in verse

four, he says, your rod and your staff, they

comfort me. So David was making a declaration

about something. He was saying, God, your authority

in my life actually brings me comfort. Your correction

and your authority that I come under as a sheep

in your flock brings comfort to me. And the truth

is Moses was a shepherd. Pastor Brad actually

preached on this, I think Christmas Eve. He talked

about just how Moses spent 40 years as a prince

in Egypt, but then the next season of his life,

he spent 40 years in the wilderness as a shepherd.

And he was a shepherd before God called him to

deliver Israel. So guess what? He had a staff

for his natural sheep that he brought guidance.

He brought correction. He stewarded the flocks

with that staff. And that is what he used. But

it was a symbol of his authority over the sheep.

But then God actually called him to lead the

nation of Israel. And that staff became the symbol

of his authority over the nation of Israel. And

I wanna say this, the authority carried with

it, the authority in that staff actually carried

with it the power to perform the miraculous.

And this is kind of an interesting note in scripture

that there is a connection between authority

and the authority that God gives and a miraculous

display of what God wants to do. And God actually

had to train Moses in that authority. And so

I wanna look at another scripture. We just read

Exodus 14. You can go back 10 chapters to Exodus

4. The burning bush encounter starts in chapter

three, the very beginning of chapter four. This

is what the Lord says to Moses. Moses is trying

to get out of this. He's like, I do not want

to do this. I do not want to lead the people.

I can't speak well. He had all the excuses. And

then the Lord said to him, what is in your hand?

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

the ground. So he threw it on the ground and

it became a serpent. And Moses ran from it. But

the Lord said to Moses, put out your hand and

catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand

and he caught it and it became a staff in his

hand. The Lord said that they may believe that

the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of

Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob

has appeared to you. See, God had to actually.

train Moses in this moment on how to begin to

exercise the authority that God was giving him.

And the authority actually carried with it the

miraculous. Have you ever noticed this? This

is the first miracle that actually happened at

the hands of Moses. And the Lord walked him through

it. The Lord said, pick up your staff, pick up

the authority that I'm giving you right now and

throw it on the ground. And it turned into a

snake and then Moses ran away. I love that part

of scripture. Probably most of us in this room

would do the same thing. Like wasn't expecting

that. Is this a sick prank? I don't know. Regardless,

the reason Moses carried that staff, part of

the reason is that that authority and the miracle

that corresponded with it actually gave proof

that God had sent and called Moses. Notice what

God said at the end. He said, this is happening

so they may believe that the Lord, the God of

their fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob has appeared to you. So the miraculous

display connected to Moses' authority was actually

to be a proof to the people that God had released

authority over Moses. And I think this, we also

see this script, we see this principle with Jesus.

In John 14 verse 10, Jesus said something powerful.

John 14:10

He said, believe me that I am in the father and

the father is in me or else on account of the

works themselves. What was Jesus saying? He was

saying, listen, have faith in me in the authority

given to me by the father that I am God, I'm

of him, we are one. But if you don't believe

that, then at least look at the works. Look at

the miraculous works and let them point to my

authority. Jesus was really giving the same principle

that Moses was given at the burning bush. That

the point of authority, it should carry with

it miraculous power to be a proof of the authority

that God gives. So, and I wanna say this, I'm

gonna stay on the staffs for a little bit. So

hang with me guys. Most of the miraculous signs

that Moses did involved him lifting his staff.

If you go through Exodus, we'll start with Exodus

4 .17. God is still giving Moses direction. And

he says, and take in your hand this staff with

which you shall do the signs. You shall do the

miracles. And if you look through the plagues.

Half of the plagues directly involved Moses or

Aaron lifting up that staff of authority for

the plague to be released. And then as you go

on with Israel's journey, Moses split the Red

Sea with the staff. He struck the rock with his

staff, that water came forth. You can look at

all these different miracles where Moses was

instructed to hold up that staff representing

God's authority on his life. So, I want to talk

a little bit about this principle also in regards

to a few other staffs out there. Because there

was Moses' staff, but I want to talk about Aaron's

staff too. Aaron's staff had a really interesting

thing happen to it in Numbers 17. And I'll give

you guys a little bit of context. In Numbers

16, they're out in the wilderness. Israel is

complaining, which was, par the course for them.

They were grumbling, complaining. And this time

it was particularly bad. And there was a man

named Korah of the tribe of, I can't remember

what tribe he was from, but he came forth and

he said, why do we have to listen to you, Moses,

and you, Aaron? All of God's people are consecrated

and holy. You guys aren't anything special. What

makes your authority so special? That was the

condensed version for me. But that was essentially

what they brought. And it was rebellion. And

so the Lord in number 16, he dealt with that

rebellious attitude toward God's authority. But

here's what's interesting. In numbers 17, God

gives some very interesting instruction. So this

is right after the scenario where God brought

judgment to Korah and the rebellious people in

Israel. He directed each tribe. So you have the

12 tribes of Israel, each tribe's leader. was

to bring their staff or their rod into the tabernacle

of meeting. And the Lord said, you guys are gonna

put your names on your staff. You're gonna leave

your staffs in the tent of meeting overnight.

And in the morning, the rod or the staff that

buds and blossoms, that will be the tribe and

the leader that I have chosen to set my authority

on for the tabernacle. And so what happened?

God miraculously caused Aaron's staff to sprout,

to bud, to blossom, and to produce ripe almonds.

As if a bud on a dead piece of wood wasn't good

enough, the Lord's like, you know what? We'll

do all four stages of productivity in this one

moment. So there's a lot we could, I could. preach

on just this story for the rest of the time I'm

not going to I'm going to skip a lot here but

I'm just going to say there's a few things to

note from this account the first thing is that

every tribal leader had a staff they had God

-given authority a level of it but each and every

one of these tribal leaders they were desiring

their authority to grow and increase And whether

that was from a bad heart, based off the chapter

earlier, it probably was because they had jealous

hearts or they didn't wanna come under God's

authority. Regardless, they had a level of it,

but they wanted more. And I think it's important

to note, it was only Aaron's rod that God blessed.

This speaks to the nature of God -given authority.

God -given authority, it's this, it comes from

God. It doesn't come from man. It is released

by God and it's given to those who will do his

will. See, Moses and Aaron were dedicated to

doing the will of God. And in my opinion, that

is what actually brought them to a place where

God could trust him, trust both of them with

authority. is because they were actually dedicated

to God's will, to actually complete God's will

and to do it well. And we actually, I'll say

this, there was one time where Moses, there may

be a couple of times, but there was one time

specifically where Moses did not do what God

wanted him to do. And that's found in Numbers

20. I'm not gonna read the whole passage, but

earlier in Numbers, Israel's thirsty. Moses is

directed to take his staff and strike the rock

and water comes forth. There was a second time

in Numbers 20 where the nation was without water

and the Lord gave him different instructions

this time. He said, take your rod. He said, but

this time don't strike it, speak to the rock

and it will yield water. And Moses, so he heard

the will of God. He was the appointed authority

over Israel. And instead of being obedient to

the will of God, he came before the nation of

Israel and he said something very snide and sarcastic.

And instead of speaking to the rock, he struck

it twice. Now God in his mercy for the nation,

he still brought forth water and brought water

for the whole nation. But Moses was actually

punished very, I shouldn't say punished, he was

disciplined severely for that disobedience. And

I would argue that was actually an abuse of authority

in that moment. He was a God -given authority,

but he actually stepped outside of the will of

God and used his authority to do something that

wasn't sanctioned. And because of that, he didn't

enter into the promised land. So again, we see

that authority, yes, it comes from God, but it's

given to those who do his will and are dedicated

to doing his will. You know, looking at scripture,

you will always see authority and power are connected.

When someone has authority, it's because they

are committed to his assignment that God has

assigned them to do. And when they're committed

to his assignment, authority comes and then power

comes to actually complete the assignment that

God gives. Because how many of you know, God

never really gives us assignments that we can

do on our own strength. And if you've been a

Christian long enough, you will know that God

is going to ask you to do the impossible. That's

like the job description of every Christian.

I don't know if you guys knew that, but it's

actually to live in the impossible and it's impossible

in the natural, but it's possible in him. So

the authority comes and also the power comes

to complete the assignment that he gives. And

you know, an example of this. would be, this

is a really basic example, but if a policeman

in our world, they carry a badge, right? That

badge is a symbol of their authority. And what

that says, what that badge says is this person

has been chosen to enforce the law and enforce

the rule of the government, whatever that may

look like. Well, notice they don't just give

policemen and say, all right, obey the policemen.

They also give them tools to enforce the law.

Am I right? They're gonna have a baton. They're

gonna have a taser. They're gonna have handcuffs,

a handgun. Why? Because they need to be equipped

to not just carry the authority, but to actually

enforce the will of the government and enforce

the authority that they're operating under. Does

that make sense? Again, the connection between

authority and power are very much there. And

I wanna look one more Old Testament example here.

The prophet Elisha understood this. In 2 Chronicles

4, I think it's around verse 20, the Shunammite

lady that he had ministered to, she had had a

son and the son died. So Elisha was off somewhere

in Israel ministering, doing his thing. And the

Shunammite lady beelined it for wherever he was,

bowed down and essentially pleaded for her son's

life. And what was Elisha's first response? He

went to his servant and he said, Gehazi, take

my staff, run it to the boy and lay the staff

on the corpse. What did Elisha understand? He

understood that that staff actually represented

God's authority on his life. It represented the

mantle, the assignment that he'd been given.

And with that, it carried the power to actually

release the miraculous. Elisha got it. So let's

go back to Moses in Exodus 14, 15 through 16.

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

Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift

up your staff, stretch out your hand over the

sea and divide it, that the people of Israel

may go through the sea on dry ground. See, Moses,

again, he started crying out, saying, I don't

know, we don't know exactly what he was crying

out, but maybe he was asking God for a solution.

And what was God's response? You have the solution.

It's in your hand. It's the authority I've already

given you. Now do something about it. Stand up

and divide the sea. You know, I think like Moses,

a lot of us, we find ourselves in similar situations

where even individually, we are facing potentially

challenging circumstances, impossible situations

that we can't solve in our own strength. And

we were never meant to solve them in our own

strength. And the truth is God has given us his

authority to begin to address some of those things.

Maybe it's a work dilemma, family issues, financial

challenges, demonic oppression, physical disease.

There are things that come up in our lives that

feel impossible. And the truth is there is a

time, don't get me wrong, there's a time to pray

and there's a time to discern and hear the voice

of God. But when you know the will of God in

a situation, you know it from the word of God,

you know it because he's spoken to you. Well,

at that point, it's time to stop praying and

actually grab hold of the authority that he's

given and actually begin to part the waters like

Moses did. Because it's only when we partner

with what God has spoken and use the authority

he's given that impossible situations will begin

to crumble in front of us. And the life of a

believer should be a life of embracing the authority

of heaven and of walking in its power. So I gave

a little preface on authority from the Old Testament.

I wanna talk now about the authority we carry

as new covenant believers. You know, and I'll

say this, I understand, and I'm gonna say this,

I understand that there are levels of authority,

even in the church, in the new covenant church,

that God gives more authority in certain areas

to some. I can tell you, I can 100 % positive,

Pastor Brad has more authority in many areas

of life than I do. And that's okay. All that

being said, there is a baseline level of authority

that every believer in Jesus Christ has. And

that's what I want to talk about today. Because

if you believe in Jesus and you've actually made

him Lord of your life, you haven't just incorporated

him into your life, but he's Lord, which means

you're actually submitted to his word. You're

submitted to his will. There is an authority

that God gives. to believers that are in that

place that are born again. I'm gonna read a passage

out of John 1, verses 11 through 13. This is,

John 1:11–13

it says this, it says, Jesus came to his own

and his own people did not receive him. But 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

flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. See,

what is this passage saying? It's saying all

who would believe Christ, who would receive him

as Lord, he gave them the right to become children

of God. And you know, if you look at that word

right, it's the word exousia in the Greek. And

that means, it can mean authority, right, liberty,

jurisdiction. What that word actually says is

that when we receive Christ as Lord and savior,

we actually begin to walk in the authority of

being his children. We have the right to be called

children of God. That's what that passage is

saying. And you look at even an example from

this in scripture would be the prodigal son in

Luke 15. That's an amazing passage. We all know

that. It's an incredible display of the grace

of God where the prodigal son, he emptied out

his father's inheritance. He squandered it on

sin and he found himself in a really dark place.

And all he wanted was to go back to be a servant

in his father's household. But what did the father

do? As he approached his father's house, the

father ran to him, embraced him. And the first

thing he did is he put a robe. He put a robe

on his shoulder, sandals on his feet, a ring

on his finger. That wasn't just him being nice.

Here, take some free stuff. There was actually,

especially most commentators will say that ring

represented a signet ring, which was a restoration

of authority that the son would actually begin

to walk and carry the authority of the father.

Well, guess what? gift of authority was not given

by merit. It was given because of grace and repentance.

He repented, but it was strictly by grace. The

authority was actually released to this man.

He was restored before he had even proven himself

again to his father. And as children of God,

we have been given a similar commission. that

we are actually to carry the authority that the

Father gives to us as sons and daughters. Luke

9, verses one through two, it says this, that

he called, Jesus called the 12 together and gave

them power and authority over all demons and

to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim

the kingdom of God and to heal. So again, we

see the disciples, they were given something

here. They were given authority and power. And

it wasn't just so that they could hold onto it.

It was for a purpose. So they could proclaim

the kingdom. They could heal the sick, cast out

demons. They could actually do the work of the

ministry and establish the will of the father

on earth as it is in heaven. That was why the

authority and the power came. And again, that

Greek word for authority here, it's exousia.

It's the same word that we looked at earlier.

And that word for power is dunamis, which means,

it means power. miraculous power force and might

so so God gave his disciples by grace can I just

say this is before Peter denied Jesus three times

he embraced the authority and the power of God

and was operating in it it wasn't by merit that

Peter was operating in the authority and the

power of God same thing Judas was healing the

sick and casting out demons he later betrayed

Christ So we can see Jesus releases authority

and he releases power from a place of grace to

all who would believe him. It's not by how hard

you work for it. That has nothing to do with

it. So as children of God, we've been called

to give, we've been called to release the same

commission, to proclaim and establish the kingdom

of God through the miraculous. And we can only

do this when we embrace the authority that he's

given. And I'll just say this, maybe this is

just me, probably all of us though, we have a

tendency to push back on God's authority. Sometimes

the authority that he would even put on our lives

will push against it. Because of our own fear,

insecurities or rejection. Sometimes we push

back on delegated authority that God has put

over our lives for the same reasons or pride

could come into play there. But the truth is

God is looking for a people that will embrace

the authority that he gives fully and actually

begin to operate from its power. See, God is

looking for us. like his church to begin to break

through impossible situations by embracing the

authority he gives. So how do we do this? How

do we actually embrace God's authority? We have

to do it from a place of faith. It's the only

way that we can actually embrace and operate

in God's authority is the partnership of faith.

And that's what I wanna talk about for this last

little bit here. If we've been given authority

by grace, Faith is what accesses that authority.

Faith is what actually releases the authority

in a place of power where miracles begin to break

out. Jesus, and how do I know this? Jesus gave

his disciples authority freely in Luke 9 to heal

the sick, cast out demons, cleanse the lepers,

raise the dead. But guess what? They had to receive

that authority by faith. They had to hear Christ.

And then they had to walk into a town without

Jesus next to them. And they had to say, okay,

now's where it gets real. There's a demonized

person in front of me, yelling at me, manifesting.

I'm either gonna believe what Jesus gave me or

I'm not. And all of them had to actually take

that step of faith and lay hands on a sick person

or a demonized person or begin to proclaim the

kingdom of God where people didn't wanna hear

it. Something had to shift and they had to partner

with the authority that God had given. And that's

the faith aspect. And it's the same for us. You

know, I remember, this is years ago, when I lived

in California, I came up to Eastern Oregon for

a family hunting trip. And my cousin and I rode

together from California and we were in his beater

Toyota Camry. And it was like, It had been on

the road way longer than it should have. I'll

just say that. We were driving back from Eastern

Oregon and we're going to stop by the Willamette

Valley at my parents' house. And as we're driving,

I hear a sound from the rear axle that progressively

gets worse and worse and worse as we're driving.

I'm not a mechanic, but I'm assuming the bearing

was about ready to give out or the axle was about

to break. I'm not really sure. It sounded like

it could have been either. And so we're driving

back and it's getting worse and worse. We make

it to Harrisburg. And I remember we had a family

powwow about this axle or the bearing. Because

we had to get back to California. We were on

a tight timeframe. And so my grandpa and grandma

were there, my mom and dad. I had an aunt and

uncle, a couple of cousins. We were all circled

up in front of my parents' house arguing about

what to do. I wish you guys could have seen it.

It was great. One person's like. Get him a bus

ticket. We'll do that. No, we'll lend your car.

We'll do this. We'll do that. And we're trying

to figure out because obviously the car was not

safe to be on the road. And I can attest for

that. It really was not safe to be on the road.

But here's what's interesting. My grandpa, who

recently passed last summer, he was a man of

very few words. He didn't say much. In fact,

he rarely spoke at all, honestly. And usually

we would have him as the patriarch pray for family

meals. And he would say, dear Jesus, bless this

food. Amen. And that was it. Like it was consistent

every year. So that was like, he just didn't

talk much. And I remember in that moment, everyone

was arguing. There was fear at play. There was

things happening. And my grandpa stepped into

the middle of the circle. He was 84, I think

at the time, maybe 85. And he goes, the car's

fine. He said. They're gonna get in the car.

He said, I'm gonna pray for him. And the car

is gonna make it to California. And this is not

an issue. And everyone shut up. Everyone's like,

okay. And sure enough, he prayed a short, concise,

faith -filled prayer where he took the authority.

And I think it was twofold. There was a patriarchal

authority that he stepped into, but there was

also a believer's authority where he knew the

will of God and he actually had to step out.

And knowing my grandpa, that was actually probably

a major faith step for him to actually interrupt

everyone because he was non -confrontational

and say, this is what we're gonna do and this

is what God's gonna do. And sure enough, we got

in the car by faith and we drove 400 miles and

the axle didn't fall off. So it was a great testimony.

So I wanna talk a little bit because we're talking

about the connection between authority and faith.

The Roman centurion in Matthew 8 understood this.

He understood this connection. And I wanna read

this passage starting in chapter eight, verse

six. It says, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed

at home, suffering terribly. So he's talking

to Jesus right now. And Jesus said to him, I

will come and heal him. So right off the bat,

Jesus said, hey, I'll come to your house and

lay hands on him. The centurion replied, Lord,

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

but say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man under authority and with soldiers

under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes,

and to another, come, and he comes. And to my

servant, do this. And he does it. When Jesus

heard this, he marveled. And he said to those

who followed him. So he didn't just say it to

the centurion. He turned to the crowds following

him. And he said, such faith I have not seen

in all of Israel. So there's something about

the centurion's understanding of authority and

faith that moved Jesus tremendously to where

he marveled at his faith. I think there's one

other person in scripture that actually caused

Jesus to marvel by their faith. This was one

of them. And what did the centurion understand?

He understood the authority that was on Christ

from God. And he goes, Jesus, you don't need

to come to my house. I know how this works. I

have people under me. I'm a man of authority.

When I say go, they go. He said, don't come to

my house, just say it. It's gonna happen. That

was the level of faith where he understood the

authority on Christ Jesus. And he actually accessed

that miracle because of his faith. See, God's

looking for us to understand his authority and

actually lead us into a partnership in faith.

So I have to spend some time in my last couple

minutes here, just saying, defining faith. What

is it? What is faith? Well, the Bible defines

it really clearly in Hebrews 11 one. Faith is

the assurance of things hoped for. It's the conviction

of things not yet seen. That is what faith is.

And really faith, if I could focus on the last

part of that definition, a conviction of things

not yet seen. I'm gonna say this, conviction

is not passive. It isn't. Conviction leads people

to live their lives differently, right? And we

see this in the world. If someone holds a strong

conviction about a political persuasion or a

certain movement or a social issue, if they hold

a strong conviction, then they're gonna actually

do something about it. They're gonna support

financially. They're gonna post on their social

media. They're going to go to demonstrations,

go to town hall meetings. Whatever it looks like,

that conviction actually should lead you to change

your life in some way. Otherwise, I would argue

it's really not a conviction. If it's not changing,

actively changing your life. And I would argue

as a definition of faith, you can apply this

principle to faith. Faith is not passive. our

conviction of things unseen or our conviction

of God's authority that's been given to us should

actually cause us to live our lives differently.

We should not stay the same when there is a conviction

of real faith of who God is and what he's spoken.

Moses had to hold fast to that staff of authority,

but guess what? He had to then by faith, wait

for that miracle. Now we read it in black and

white. Maybe that east wind came and separated

the waters instantly. Maybe it was absolutely

instant. It's possible that it took a little

bit for that wind to begin to move. Where he

took that staff and he then had to partner with

the authority in faith and look at a circumstance

that wasn't moving and say, God, you've said

it. I'm operating in the authority you've given

me and I'm, dividing these waters right now,

according to your will. Maybe it was 30 seconds.

Maybe it was a minute. Maybe it was five minutes.

We don't know how long he stood there, but we

see this in scripture, even with Elijah praying

for the cloud. And what did he do? He prayed

in faith and waited. Nothing happened. He prayed

again. He prayed seven times and nothing happened.

In the seventh time, a tiny cloud rose from the

sea. It did not shake Elijah's faith. Why? Because

it was a conviction. It was a conviction of something

that he hadn't seen materialize, but he knew

it was there and he knew it was coming. Mark

16, 17 through 18, Jesus says to all of us and

his disciples, these signs will accompany those

who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons.

They will speak in new tongues. They will pick

up serpents with their hands and they will drink

deadly poison. It will not hurt them. They will

lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.

Guys, this passage of scripture is a snapshot

of the life of just a standard issue believer.

Honestly, it really is. And we don't always see

that in our own lives or if we're comparing ourselves.

to the rest of Christianity, we don't necessarily

hold ourselves to that standard. But Jesus made

it clear, if you believe, if you are standing

in the authority that he's given, and you will

begin, by faith, you'll begin to operate in the

power of God. But again, faith is the contingency.

And we see that in this passage, that it is for

those who believe, these signs will follow. That's

the one contingency. If you believe these signs

will follow. If you aren't operating like this,

I would argue you don't really believe it. And

I know that might be convicting. It's convicting

for me because I read scripture all the time

and I have to put myself in that place of, do

I actually believe this to the point where I'm

willing to operate in it? To the point where

I'm willing to step out in faith in this area?

And sometimes the answer is no. And that's where

God has to work on us to actually grow and establish

faith in what he's spoken, the authority he's

released. So we must know our authority as believers

and we must actually use that authority from

a place of faith. So I wanna spend the last couple

minutes here talking about how we can grow in

faith. And I'm gonna just go through this quick,

but the first way that we can actually grow in

faith is by consuming the word of God. Romans

10, 17, it says, so faith comes by hearing, hearing

by the word, Faith comes by hearing, hearing

by the word of Christ. What is the word of Christ

in this? It's the rhema word, the Greek word

for rhema, which is the active living word of

God. Bob Sorge talked about this this fall where

we read the logos and the Holy Spirit is the

one who takes the written word and he makes it

life for us. He makes it rhema. And so the truth

is, when you put yourself in a position where

you're consuming scripture on a daily basis,

your appetite is growing for the written word,

for the logos. You're setting yourself up for

the rhema to be released in your life and for

faith to begin to grow. That's how that works.

And it starts with us getting in the word. So

that's the first thing we can do, consume the

word of God. The second thing we do is so important

and that is to actually step out in our faith.

And I'm gonna say this, faith is incomplete until

there's corresponding action. It just is. Let's

look at James 2, 14 through 17. What good is

it, my brothers, if someone says that he has

faith but does not have works? Can that faith

save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed

and lacking in daily food, and one of you says

to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled

without giving them the things that they need

for the body, what good is that? So also faith

by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

I'm gonna say that again. Faith by itself, if

it does not have corresponding action, is dead.

Faith, real faith involves being convinced about

what God has spoken and actually doing something

about it, actually acting on that. That is what

real faith is. So if you say you believe God,

but you don't act on what he's saying, what he's

releasing to you, that's a dead faith. It absolutely

is a dead faith. And I remember the Lord convicted

me on this. Well, he's done it many times actually.

But I'm gonna give you a specific example. A

couple of years ago, I was here at the church.

It was a super busy season. We had a lot going

on. So my mind was in a thousand places. I was

running from this thing to the next. And I noticed

someone on WhatsApp had messaged me, a friend

from ministry school who was in India. And this

person reached out, said, hey, I was lifting

weights. And I strained something in my back

and I'm in excruciating pain. And this person

was laid up in bed, had been in bed for two days

because they could barely move. And just all

I got is the question, will you pray for me?

And in my busy, distracted state, I saw it, didn't

respond. And I started praying, Lord, heal this

person's back. And I heard the voice of the Holy

Spirit so strong and say, do you actually believe

that I'm going to do it? Or did you just pray

a religious prayer? And I'm like, the fact that

you're asking me that question, I think I know

the answer. And I slowed down for a minute. I

said, Lord, forgive me. I don't want to just

get in the habit of rote religion, checking boxes.

And I had to actually look at my heart. Do I

believe that God is gonna do this right now?

And I had to sit for a while, but the Lord showed

me I'm a healer. I still am healing today and

6 ,000 miles or however long it is to India,

10 ,000 miles from here doesn't make much of

a difference. And I prayed still a short prayer,

but from a place of faith. And a minute later,

I get another message. I had never even responded

to the text. And this person said, you won't

believe what just happened. I was, I got up out

of bed to get water and I was in excruciating

pain. I felt like warm oil flowing down my back

and my back is completely pain -free. Well, what

was the difference? The difference was a partnership

of faith, recognizing that there is authority

given. There's authority over sickness and disease,

but it can't be accessed without partnership,

without action, without faith on our side. James

1 .22 says, be doers of the word and not hearers

only deceiving yourselves. We are called to actually

respond to what God says. And what does that

look like? That is the message of faith is we

hear the word and we respond. If God convicts

you of sin, that doesn't look like just saying,

Lord, I'm sorry, give me grace. It actually looks

like saying, yes, embracing the grace of God

for that sin, but also embracing the grace of

God to step out of that sin. Same thing, if the

Holy Spirit convicts you on healing, That he's

a God who heals. What does that conviction look

like? It should look like you're starting to

pray for yourself and you're starting to pray

for other people to be healed. A conviction of

being generous should look like you start giving

money. You may not even have much to give, but

you start with what you have. Why? Because it's

a conviction that you're partnering with what

God has spoken to you and you're gonna bring

your life in alignment with that. And guys, that

partnership of embracing authority. And stepping

out in faith is where the miraculous begins to

break out. And I really believe that God has

a season for our church of increasing miraculous

signs and wonders, healings, deliverances, people

coming for solutions to the house of God first.

I believe God has an increased measure for this

house. But something has to shift in all of us

to recognize he's given us an authority to actually

step into by faith. So I wanna just encourage

us this year to not be like Moses crying out

for a God solution when we have that solution

in our hands and we know the will of God. I want

us to be a church that actually begins to step

into it and begins to use that staff, use the

authority that's been given by grace in faith

and begin to watch the miraculous break down

impossible circumstance in front of us. And guys,

the truth is, as a church, we are in a test of

faith right now. Even with this river bank, I

know I mentioned it earlier. There have been

amazing praise reports. God is moving, but there's

still impossible circumstance that we're facing.

And this isn't just a test for Pastor Brad and

Jenny. It's not just a test for the staff or

the eldership. This is a test for each and every

one of us that are connected to this church,

this body here at Life Bible. And I just wanna

encourage us. in this season to pray and say,

God, how can I be involved? How can I respond

in faith in this season? How can I pray? Lord,

what does the church need? What can I give? These

are questions we should begin to ask the Lord

and in faith begin to actually step into them.

Be faithful to pray, faithful to give and see

what God will do. Because I'm telling you, yes,

we're in a corporate test, But when we pass a

corporate test, that flows to the individual

parts. And I really do believe this is maybe

the obstacle that's in front of us, that as we

break through, there's going to be breakthrough

in the realm of the individual parts at every

level. So I want us to, I'm gonna close here,

running out of time. Why don't you guys just

close your eyes with me? You know, I just wanna

give a chance to respond this morning. If you

are here today, and even as I was talking about

authority that is given by God to those who would

do his will, and you recognize that you have

not actually had Jesus as Lord of your life,

maybe you've gone to church for a while, you've

read the Bible, you've been to all this stuff,

but when it comes down to it, Jesus is not actually

Lord. You are not submitted to his will. If that's

you, I'm telling you, there is grace in the house

of God today to restore you fully that as you

would repent, as you would turn to the Lord,

He's gonna meet you in that place. So I just

wanna give you an opportunity. Everyone's eyes

are closed, but if that's you and you say, you

know what? I have not actually made Jesus Lord

of my life and I am gonna do that today. I'm

gonna repent for the rebellion I've walked in

in the past and I'm gonna step into a new season

with Christ today. If that's you, I want you

to just stand up. And the second thing I want

to pray for is if you are facing an impossible

circumstance right now, if you're not facing

one, that's great. But whether it's physical,

that you've got an ongoing health issue that

you can't find a solution to, if there's demonic

oppression, there's something going on in your

life that seems... And it's actually impossible

for you to solve in the natural. I really believe

God is here to bring breakthrough this morning.

So if that's you, if you're facing maybe a family

member, being reconciled to a family member,

a physical disease, oppression in your soul,

I want you to stand up right now. And I wanna

just, I'm gonna pray for everyone standing. I

want you guys to just put your hands out. Father,

I thank you, Lord, for your kingdom. Lord, that

your kingdom is a kingdom of power. Lord, it's

a kingdom of grace. It's a kingdom of life. Lord,

I stand in the authority that you have given

me. I stand in the authority that you've given

your house. Lord, and right now I speak over

every wall of impossibility, Lord, that it would

begin to crumble, Lord, that even as the people

in this room are laying hold of the authority

that they have in Jesus Christ, that they're

taking a step of faith today saying, God, I know

that you can touch me. I know that you can release

breakthrough. I know that you will release life

over me. Lord, I ask for breakthrough to come

by your spirit right now. Lord, every sickness

would flee. Every disease would dissipate. Lord,

oppression would cease. God, we are asking right

now on behalf of every individual part that breakthrough

would begin to be released over this house in

Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for taking the time

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