Father's House Ministries - Grace, Healing, People

Mike Miller, Father's House Ministries - a Northern Colorado grace Church in Fort Collins, CO.

From the Album: “The Children’s Authority” Lesson 2

Titled:  Sons of God

Wed., January 16, 2008

 

These notes were used for personal study purposes; they are not verbatim.  Transcription errors may have occurred.  For best results listen to Mike Miller’s tape and consult your Bible.

 

We did an introduction of 10 weeks and this series will be about 12 weeks long.  We’ve laid some foundational basics in the first 10 weeks to establish what this dominion issue is all about, what this authority is all about, based on “Let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion . . . .”  In this 12-week we are going to be dealing with the applications of authority through the children of God.  We will be dealing with the authority to heal the sick, the authority to forgive sins, the authority to execute judgment, the authority to cast out devils, the authority to raise the dead, all things that the New Testament talks about.

 

I believe that the body of Christ is just ignorant, and we have to have a basis of understanding and revelation before we can operate effectively on a consistent basis.  I know from the word of God that it’s our commission to raise the dead.  (David Hogan from Mexico has raised about 350 people from the dead, some of them in varying stages of decay.)

 

The church needs to begin to see herself on display in the ministry of Jesus, in other words recognizing that Jesus was the body of Christ on the earth at that time.  There has been but one body of Christ present in the world.  In the days of Jesus of Nazareth the entire body of Christ was in the personage of Jesus of Nazareth; but today the body of Christ is still representative of Jesus, is still Jesus to the world.  The church needs to see herself on display in the ministry of Jesus.

 

When you read through the gospels, the accounts of Jesus and His demonstrative works, you need to see the church in that; you need to recognize that that is the body of Christ in operation in the world.  

 

We should recognize all of these demonstrations of Jesus as previews of the church in His resurrection power.  We have been errantly taught by well meaning teachers; for example, we have been pretty much represented as the lady with the issue of blood or one of the other Old Covenant beggars coming to Jesus for healing.  They put us in that particular identity and began to teach us about how we are to go to Jesus to be healed.

 

But, we are supposed to understand that in the gospels the church is being revealed in Jesus.  We are not the beggars of the gospels; we are the Jesus of the gospels, if you will.  And that’s the way we need to see ourselves.  We need to begin to understand that the church was already in Christ, was already in Jesus, when He was going about Galilee showing what the body of Christ could do for them.  When the body of Christ moved from town to town around Galilee and raised the dead, healed the sick, turned water to wine, and multiplied bread and fish, that was the body of Christ demonstrating what He could do for the people.  Understand that we were already in Him.  The Bible says we were crucified with Him (Rom. 6:6) (Gal. 2:20), that we were buried with Him (Rom. 6:4) (Col. 2:12), that we were raised with Him (Col. 2:12), and that we were seated with Him (Eph. 2:6).  We need understand that we were already in Christ.  The church was already in Jesus as He was moving about Galilee showing them what the body of Christ could do for them.  Just keep this in mind as we go.  Always, when you read the gospels don’t focus on the Old Testament beggars as though they represent you; focus on them as though they represent the world out there that we are to reach as the Jesus of the gospels. 

 

Several years ago I had a mental picture of the back of Jesus with the tomb of Lazarus in the background.  And the Holy Spirit asked me, “What was that?”  I quickly realized that that was the body of Christ standing before the tomb of Lazarus; that was the full extent of the body of Christ that was available to the world at that time, but nevertheless, it was the body of Christ.  His teaching to me was that we are to understand ourselves to be the Jesus that stood before the tomb of Lazarus.

 

We saw several weeks ago that we were predestined to be sons in the image the firstborn.  We talked about that predestination.  If you don’t have that tape, you need to get it so that you can understand the truth about predestination and not be confused with false religious doctrines out there.

 

We need to understand that everything God intended for us is expressed in a predetermined plan in Genesis 1:26, “Let’s make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule . . . .”  That’s predestination in a nutshell.  Everything that the New Testament teaches about predestination refers back to Genesis 1:26; it is never a statement of “some are going to be saved and some aren’t.”  It’s a declaration of who God determined man would be and what he would do on the face of this earth.  And when man turned his back on that, God said My plan is not thwarted; I’ve already sacrificed My Son before the foundation of the world.  Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, so that we could go on in to this predestined plan of being sons in the image of the firstborn.

 

With that as background go to John 1:12:

John 1:12 (NKJV) 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 

 

That word “right” there is the Greek word, “exousia,” which is a word that is translated, “authority;” it means “privilege, ability, authority.”

 

As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority of becoming the children of God.  John 1:12 is where “kingdom authority” begins for the church; this is the initial impartation of dominion.

 

What is the initial impartation of dominion?  The initial impartation of dominion is the authority to become the children of God.  This is where we are once again being authorized as the children of God in the earth.  This is the initial impartation of dominion back to the church.

 

Dominion was given to Adam; Adam surrendered it to the devil; the devil claimed in Luke 4:6, “all the kingdoms of this world and their glory have been handed over to me, and I give them to whomever I wish.”  And Jesus didn’t refute that; He didn’t argue with that, because Adam had indeed handed the dominion of all the kingdoms of the world over to Satan.  Jesus let it be known that He was here to retrieve that dominion as the second Adam, as the last Adam, and that He was here to once again to impart dominion to mankind.

 

John 1:12 (NKJV) 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right [the privilege, the authority, the ability] to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 

 

This verse means that:

§we are now authorized or privileged to call God Father; 

§we are now authorized to approach Him as Father; 

§we now have the privilege of knowing Him as Father; 

§we have the privilege to enjoy Him as Father; and, 

§to expect every manifestation of fatherly attention:

·love

·affection

·provision

·protection

·acceptance

·communication

·counsel

·discipline

·recreation

 

Many of those are things that believers in the church don’t understand that they have the authority, the right and the privilege to.  You have the right and the privilege to really know Him and enjoy Him as Father.  You have been privileged once again to know Him and to expect every manifestation of fatherly attention, to expect His love, to expect affection, to expect provision and protection.  The Bible says we are protected by the power of God through faith:  

 

1 Pet. 1:5 (NKJV) 5who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

We can either believe that or not.  I believe it.

 

Acceptance is something most of the body of Christ struggles with.  Again, as many as have received Him have been given the authority or the privilege of knowing that they are accepted by the Father. (John 1:12)

 

Communication – so many people in the body of Christ struggle with hearing from God.  The main reason for that is many people don’t really believe they are accepted by God; they believe God has “something that has irritated Him about me.”  Consequently, that has the effect of keeping us from hearing clearly, from having an open line of communication between us and God.

 

Counsel, discipline and even recreation – Recreation?  With God?  Jesus said in Matthew 11: 

Matt. 11:28 (NKJV) 28Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 

One of the definitions of that word “rest” is “recreation.”  He said, I’ll give you recreation.  It also means “freedom from examination.”  “Rest” is the “end of examination.”  We taught that in the Nature of God series.

 

Matthew 11:28 means, Come to Me and I will give you freedom from examination.  In other words, God will never examine you any more, because He will always examine Christ in you.  So, you are free from examination.  

 

(However, you do inflict upon yourself a lot of self-examination, and there is a right way and a wrong way to do that.  We inflict upon ourselves a lot of self-examination and in doing so can use it against ourselves in a condemning way.  There is a proper way to self-examine and judge ourselves with respect to how we are interacting with our peers on the horizontal basis.   But, that’s another teaching.)

 

This new relationship we’ve been given isn’t an “in name only” relationship where many of the privileges listed above have escaped us so that we are not familiar with them.

 

We actually have authority.  Authority and privilege are the same thing.  I have authority to expect God to accept me, to protect me, to provide for me, to discipline me, to recreate with me.  It’s awesome.

 

The relationship we now have with the Father is intimate, it’s wonderful, it’s powerful, but it also assures you of religious persecution.  If you are going to have the authority of the children of God, you have to be ready for this.

 

John 5:16 through John 5:18 (NKJV) 16For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”  18Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

 

Why did the Jews want to kill Jesus?  Because He called God His Father.  John continues with the commentary of what the Holy Spirit had given him in black print, “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, . . . .”  That means Jesus didn’t say it.  So, the Holy Spirit tells us what angered them about Him calling God His Father; by calling God His Father He was, “making Himself equal with God.”

 

Here is a revelation you need.  Listen carefully.  Any man who can legitimately call God His Father is making Himself equal with God.

 

What does it mean when I say “equal”?  Let’s go back to Genesis 1:28.  To be equal with God means, “Let us make man according to our image,” or, in keeping with the stated law of creation every living thing brings forth after its own kind.  “Equal with God” refers, first of all, to the fact that we are the same kind of being as God.  God is spirit; we are spirit.  

 

In our initial creation we had the same likeness as God, and in our new creation we have the same likeness of God.  The likeness of God is righteousness, holiness, love and many other characteristics of God that we could talk about.  We were created equal to God in that sense—not in terms of sovereignty, not in terms of power and honor; we are not talking about that.

 

But, this is what angered these people to the point of wanting to kill Jesus.  All He did was call God His Father.  He didn’t say anywhere that He was equal to God.  But, He called God His Father and these religious people understood the connection.  When you call God your Father you’re making yourself equal with God.  It’s like when my son calls me his father, he is making himself equal with me; we are family.  That’s what makes us equal.

 

Every verse we are looking at tonight is absolutely vital to our being able to enter into the experience of an administration of dominion.  Without this background and the previous background I’ve given you, you are going to be impotent when it comes to the experience or the administration of dominion.

 

Phil. 2:5 through Phil. 2:6 (NKJV) 5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

 

Verse 5 – this is the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul, and he is saying to you, “Let this mind be in you . . . .”  He is saying, this is the way you need to think, this needs to be the thought that fills your head.  “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”  This is the way Jesus thought; this is the way you’re supposed to think.

 

Verse 6 – “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.”  That’s the mind that he wants to be in you.  You are in the form of God in the sense that you are a spirit being in the image of God.  It says here that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

 

(Some of the modern translations such as the NAS say it this way, “He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.”  That is a religious compromise, because that is making it just what the Pharisees said, blasphemy, to be equal with God.  But, the literal translations, the interlinear translations, everything I could find, and the literal Greek says exactly what the NKJV says, “He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.”)

 

What was the verse before that?  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”  Let’s listen a little more to the mind of Christ. 

 

John 10:31 through John 10:34 (NKJV) 31Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”  33The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”  34Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?

 

Again, religion is angered by His identification with the Father.  Even today it is still considered blasphemy to make yourself equal with God.  But, the word teaches us that we make ourselves equal with God every time we legitimately call God our Father.  

 

We ought not be fearful of these things; we ought not shy away from these things.  It’s our fear of these things, it’s our backing away from these truths that has kept us so impotent, so worthless to the world around us.  We are supposed to be out there in the world as Jesus.  But, we can’t go out there as Jesus as long as we don’t realize who we are.  We need to understand that religion was wrong then and it’s wrong now.

 

Psalm 82:

Psa. 82:1 through Psa. 82:8 (NKJV) 1God stands in the congregation of the mighty;

He judges among the gods.

2How long will you judge unjustly,

And show partiality to the wicked?

Selah

3Defend the poor and fatherless;

Do justice to the afflicted and needy.

4Deliver the poor and needy;

Free them from the hand of the wicked.

5They do not know, nor do they understand;

They walk about in darkness;

All the foundations of the earth are unstable.

6I said, “You are gods,

And all of you are children of the Most High.

7But you shall die like men,

And fall like one of the princes.”

8Arise, O God, judge the earth;

For You shall inherit all nations. 

 

Verse 1 – if you have a good reference Bible, the margin will tell you that that word “mighty” there is the Hebrew word, “Elohim,” which is the plurality for the Godhead; so it is a word that is translated “gods.”  Here is what it says:  “God stands in the congregation of the gods.  He judges among the gods.  Verse 1 tells us what He’s doing: He’s standing in the congregation of the mighty and He’s judging among the gods.

 

Verse 2 – this is what He says to them.  “How long will you judge unjustly, . . .”  This is God speaking to you and me.  What is that talking about?  For one thing it’s talking about making wrong decisions about who we are.  “. . . and show partiality to the wicked?”  

 

3Defend the poor and fatherless;

Do justice to the afflicted and needy.

 

4Deliver the poor and needy;

Free them from the hand of the wicked.

 

And then He turns as though He is speaking to the Son and He says, “They do not know, nor do they understand.”  He stands in the middle of the gods, in the midst of the mighty, judging the gods, and says these things to them and then He turns as though “They just aren’t getting it.” 

 

5They do not know, nor do they understand;

They walk about in darkness;

 

What does that mean?  They walk around in the absence of revelation; that’s what darkness means, the absence of revelation.

 

You might put in here, “consequently . . . ”

All the foundations of the earth are unstable.

 

Why are all the foundations of the earth unstable?  Because we don’t know who we are, because we are in darkness as to the high state of our created being; we have no revelation when it comes to who we really are.  And all the foundations of this earth that He gave us dominion over, all the works of His hands, He crowned us with glory and honor, He put all things under our feet, according to Psalm chapter 8(He said) are unstable because they don’t know who they are.  

 

And then He says, 

6I said, “You are gods,

And all of you are children of the Most High.

 

Notice it doesn’t say, “I say, ‘You are gods.’”  It says, “I said . . . .”  What does that tell you?  It tells you that He said it before.  When did He say it before?  He said it in Genesis chapter 1:26-28.  He said it before.  But, He said, “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.’”  That’s what I said; 

 

7But you shall die like men,

 

You shall die like mere men—like those who only perceive themselves as physical beings having a spiritual experience that we have been talking about in “The Word” series on Saturdays.

 

7But you shall die like men,

And fall like one of the princes.”

8Arise, O God, judge the earth;

For You shall inherit all nations. 

 

He is speaking to Jesus there in that 8th verse. Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations. 

 

Do you see what He is saying here?

I took you here, and now go back to John 10:

John 10:33 through John 10:37 (NKJV) 33The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”  34Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law [Psalm 82:6], ‘I said, “You are gods”’? 35If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 

 

Verse 35 --  “He” was the psalmist “to whom the word of God came” and should not be capitalized there.

 

So, why are all the foundations of the world unstable?  Because we don’t know who we are, because we are fearful of this revelation.  We shy away, we back away from this.  When we are confronted with conflict in the world, the first thing we do is examine ourselves to see how unworthy we are as human vessels, and then we get somebody else to deal with it, “I’m not worthy of this, I’m not capable of this.”  He said, No; no; no; judge rightly.  Do the right service to the needy.  Help these needy people, He said in Psalm 82.

 

5They do not know, nor do they understand;

      They walk about in darkness;

All the foundations of the earth are unstable.

6I said, “You are gods,

 

In John 10:34-37 Jesus explained the identity of gods and the relationship of Father.

 

Religion says it’s blasphemy to say you’re a son of God; Jesus said it’s a lie not to say you are a son of God.  Who are you going to believe?  Who are you going to go with?  I think I’m going to go with Jesus.  Religion hasn’t done me any good.  It’s only in believing what Jesus says and what Paul says that is truly beneficial.  I’m going to go with what the word says and not what religion tells me.

 

So, the first impartation of authority or privilege in Christ is the authority to become the children of God or the children of the Most High.  This is the first impartation of authority.  (John 1:12) 

 

We are going to be looking at our authority to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cast out devils.  He said the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6).  I’m going to show you how that is you!  He said the son of man has authority on earth to execute judgment (John 5:27).  I’m going to show you how that is you!

 

But, the first thing we want to do is receive this revelation of our privilege with the Father.  We are privileged with the Father.  And we have absolutely no reason not to expect all, all, all, of the manifestations of the Father’s love and affection and attention.

When we receive the revelation of the relationship that we now have with the Father, it empowers us to go and do these things that Jesus also gives us authority to do.

 

Nearly all of religion would agree that we are sons of Adam.  We all came from Adam.

Some of us still think that we are a little bit of Adam and a little bit of Christ, but that’s not true.

 

Luke 3:38 in the genealogy of Jesus, as it winds backwards from Jesus, comes down to these words: 

Luke 3:38 (NKJV) 38 . . . the son of Adam, the son of God. 

 

When you see Adam with a capital “A,” you think that was his common name.  No, it wasn’t.  The word “Adam” is the Hebrew word for “man.”  In capitalizing it we miss something here.  Basically, what Luke 3:38 says is, “man, the son of God.”

 

So, how important is it that we grasp this relationship and its identity?  Well, this is what unlocks the power of God in our lives, it’s what releases His will to work in the earth.

 

Paul is speaking: 

Rom. 8:18 through Rom. 8:22 (NKJV) 18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 

 

Verse 18 – Paul’s not talking about 2008; he was talking about the sufferings the church was undergoing at that time from the Roman empire and the persecutions of the Judaizers, etc.  He was talking about where they were at that moment in history.  Read verse 18 with the emphasis of “in” us.  Is he talking about sometime when we all get to heaven?  No; read the next verse.

 

Verse 19 – He is talking about “the glory which shall be revealed in us because the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”  That tells me that the creation is waiting for you and me to begin to walk in our true spiritual identity; that means that the creation—verse 20:

 

Verse 20 – “for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, . . . .”  He is saying the creation originally was subjected to Adam; God subjected creation to Adam in hope, in the confident expectation that man would exercise dominion over the creation, but it was subjected to futility because of man’s failure to hang on to his dominion.

 

Verse 20 – “because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption of into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  (“To as many as received Him to them gave He the authority to become the children of God.” John 1:12).

 

So, Paul says in verse 18, “I consider the sufferings of this present time [about 60 or 70 A.D.] are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

 

What should have happened is by the second century the glory of God should have been so magnificently revealed through the church to the world . . . . 

 

Acts 17:6:  “. . . .  These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

 

They were on a roll; the glory was rolling down through the places where they were going.  So, Paul was saying, we’re suffering for it, but that doesn’t compare to the glory that is going to be revealed; he said, we’ve only begun to see the glory manifest, we’ve only begun to see what God’s going to do through us as we walk in this new revelation of our identity.

 

He said, 

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 

That doesn’t say “revealed to us;” it says, “revealed in us.”

 

19For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

 

So, that means that the tornadoes that have been twisted and distorted to destroy wait for us to stop their destruction.  They don’t want to be misused; they don’t want to continue to be subjected to that futility.  Nature wants to be used to bless man.

 

I’m not assigning personality to nature; God assigned personality to nature, God put it in nature, because He said, “the earnest expectation of the creation . . . .”  Something about the creation has expectation.  Who put that in there?  God did.  When the creation finds a man who’s willing to walk out on him, the water, when the creation hears a man say, “Peace, be still,” when the creation hears a man say, “Draw some out now,” and they drew out the water and it became wine, when the creation hears a man bless the bread and the fish, the creation is excited because now creation gets to do what it was created to do—bless man.  That water was tickled to be holding Jesus up on top of it as He walked across.  That bread and that fish were excited about feeding the 5,000 and the 4,000.  You need to understand that God put this into creation.  Creation is just waiting for you.

 

Marilyn and I have spoken to tornadoes and have seen them jump back up in the sky just like they were on a pogo stick.  We’ve spoken to blizzards and they quit so fast it made my head spin.  The creation wants to be a blessing to you and me; it doesn’t want to destroy us.  But, it says here it has been set into a futile mode, a mode of futility, by man’s having handed it over to the enemy, etc., and it’s just waiting for us to accept the revelation that we are the sons of God.

 

Jesus knew He was God’s Son and God was His Father, and that was all He needed.  He didn’t need many, many weeks of teaching on spiritual authority.  He didn’t need to be taught by some faith teacher how to be healed or how to heal.  I’m not putting any of that down; we need that now because there has been so much ignorance in the church for so long.  Jesus knew God was His Father and He was the Son of God and that’s all He needed. 

 

Matt. 8:23 through Matt. 8:26 (NKJV) 23Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”  26But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

 

But, here’s what we do, we say, “I rebuke you, winds and waves.”  That’s not what Jesus did.  What did Jesus say?  “Peace, be still.”  “Peace, be still.”  (Mark 4:39)  That was a rebuke to the winds and the waves.

 

We get a little religious thing going and we start rebuking demons and rebuking the winds and rebuking our friends and our wives and our husbands.  We rebuke folks.  But, that’s not what He means.  He doesn’t mean to stand up and say, “I rebuke you, winds and waves; I rebuke you, devil.”  

 

How did He rebuke the devil?  He said, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”  (Mark 1:25)  That was a rebuke to the devil.  “Be quiet, and come out of him.”  “Peace, be still.”  That was a rebuke.  The creation accepted that rebuke.  

 

It says in Matt. 8:26:  . . . He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

 

Verse 27 -- 27So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

 

The margin of your Bible might say, literally, “What sort of a man is this?”  I looked up the word, “sort,” and it means, “kind.”  “What kind of a man is this?”  The disciples asked, “What kind of a man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him?”

 

What kind of a man was He?  He was a God-kind of a man; He was a man who knew that He had already been plugged into Psalm 82.  He knew who He was.  He knew that God was His Father, and He knew that He was the Son of God.  He knew that He was privileged to have a relationship with the Father that took care of everything. 

 

If you have that kind of a revelation, that kind of a “my daddy can lick your daddy” attitude, “my daddy can do anything attitude,” “my Daddy really can lick anybody,” then you don’t have to be the least bit concerned about what’s going to happen when you say, “Lazarus, come forth,” because you know your Father is going to back up your words.

 

John 5:19 is a continuation of what we originally started in John 5:

John 5:19 through John 5:21 (NKJV) 19Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 

 

Verse 19 – Jesus answered and said to those who were concerned with His making Himself equal with God, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself. . . .”  (I read this and think, well, we’ve done nothing long enough.  We’ve been doing nothing for decades and generations.) 

 

Here is what I want you to do.  I want you to help me for a moment drive the religious demons into a frenzy.  I want you as we read this now to think of yourself as the son that Jesus is unveiling in these words in this scripture.

 

John 5:19-20  19. . . whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

 

“. . . whatever the Father, does the son (that’s you) also does in like manner.  The Father loves the son, (that’s you) and shows him (that’s you) all things that the Father does; and the Father will show the son (that’s you) greater works than these.”

 

Jesus said in John 14:12:

John 14:12 through John 14:13 (NKJV) 12“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

 

 

That’s how I know He’s talking about me there in Christ.

 

Next verse:  John 5:21  21For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 

 

“. . . as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the son (that’s you) gives life to whom he (that’s you) will.

 

Can you imagine yourself now as the son who gives life to whom you will?  Probably not, yet; but that’s where we’re going.

 

(missed some)

 

Jesus is talking about Himself, but you were in Him.  The church was already in Christ.  So, He’s trying to unveil you.

 

Everything Jesus did when He was here on earth was to reveal the church.  Everything.  (Yes, He did things out of compassion for individuals.)  But, He revealed the church in everything He did.  He revealed life after His resurrection.

 

The verse that we just read says, 

John 5:21  21For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son [that’s you] gives life to whom He [that’s you] will. 

 

Verse 26 says:

John 5:26 (NKJV) 26For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 

 

“. . . as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the son [that’s you] to have life in himself [that’s you].”

 

Has the Father granted you to have life in yourself?  Absolutely.  That’s the reality of the new birth.

Romans 8:10 tells us that the Spirit is life because of righteousness:

Rom. 8:10 (NKJV) 10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

 

The Father has granted you to have life in yourself.  So, as sons we can give life to whom we will.

 

Every time I lay hands on somebody, I’m giving them the life of God.  It all comes from Him and it’s all because of what Jesus did.  But, as sons we can give life to whom we will.

 

Even modern faith teaching has restricted what we think we can do.  But, you can give life to anybody.  I will agree that they can do nothing with it; I’ll agree that they can talk themselves out of it or be talked out of it.

 

The point is that what He wants you and me to do is come to the place where we understand who we are, what we have and what we do when we touch people.  He doesn’t want you worrying right now about what people do with what you give them.  The problem is most of us think we don’t have it because of what people do with what we give them when we give it to them.  They don’t do anything with it, so we think we haven’t got anything.  So, we’ve drawn back into our shell like a turtle and don’t stick our heads out there anymore.

 

Dave Duell said years ago, “If I’m praying for somebody and they drop dead in front of me, I’ll step over the body and pray for the next one.”  He didn’t mean that to sound callous; he’s just saying you can’t be stopped by what people do or don’t do with what you give them.

 

So, as sons we can give life to whom we will—except that we haven’t believed such a thing; we have been blinded by “limiting doctrines.”   The devil knew he couldn’t stop us from getting born again once we turned our hearts to that, so he started introducing limiting doctrines.  He’s got doctrines for the world so that the world won’t even see the necessity for Jesus Christ in their lives, so he produces what I call “limiting doctrines:”

“Jesus is just so you can go to heaven when you die.”  

 

There are limiting doctrines that say the power of the Holy Spirit is not for today; miracles aren’t for today; signs and wonders aren’t for today, blah, blah, blah.  Feasts of unbelief have been skillfully prepared and set before us for 2,000 years.  And it is true, you are what you eat.  We sat down and we ate feasts that had been prepared by theologians and people who certainly “know more than we do” because they’ve “been to Bible school.”

 

Pastors who had been to divinity school that I knew when I started talking to them about Michelle’s healing wouldn’t believe what I was telling them.  I hardly knew any of my Bible at that time; but I knew God healed my little girl, and it was too late, I had already been spoiled;  I had already been spoiled by the word of God.  And then my other daughter was healed of a broken arm in about an hour’s time and one of my sons had been healed of a lazy eye.  

 

These things were happening, and yet these theologians, nice people, good people, well meaning people, were telling me, “Don’t get your hopes up.”  Too late!  My hopes were already sky high!

 

I like what Andrew says, “Don’t wake me up!  It’s working for me!”  That’s the way I feel about it.

 

But, we’ve had all these feasts, all these fine meals of unbelief prepared for us, and we’ve been eating them.

 

I have been called a heretic.  One lady looked up the meaning of “heretic:” it means “one who preaches that which is not commonly accepted.”

 

We’ve been paralyzed by the fear of making ourselves equal with God.

 

John 17:1-2: 

John 17:1 through John 17:2 (NKJV) 1Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 

 

Jesus said, “You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”

 

It’s a privilege to serve the world with the life of God; we are privileged to be able to do that.   Don’t you think that deep down in the heart of Jesus it made Him feel just so privileged to be able to feed 5,000 or to be able to give better wine than the steward of the wedding could provide?  It wasn’t just a matter of power.  It’s privilege.

 

“You have given Him authority [or privilege] over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”

 

So, whatever authority has been given to Jesus has been given to His body the church.  It was a single transaction.  It was in the resurrection that the entire church got the authority.  He said, 

 

Matt. 28:18 through Matt. 28:19 (NKJV) 18And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go therefore . . . . 

 

“Behold, all authority has been given unto Me in heaven and earth, Go ye therefore.” 

 

We know from what we learned in Colossians that as the head He has preeminence or He has “the influence of dominion” (that’s what that means).  And that is absolutely right.  He is the head on the body, and He has the preeminence.  But, all of these things are flowing from the head through us, and we are His body, “the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”  We complete Him, in other words.

 

Eph. 1:22 through Eph. 1:23 (NKJV) 22And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

 

 

Whatever authority has been given Jesus has been given to His body in a single transaction.

 

John 14:12 through John 14:13 (NKJV) 12“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

 

 

Who is the son here?  You.  The Father wants to be glorified in you, the son.  “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

 

That word “ask” in the Greek means “demand.”  So, we know that we are not demanding this of God; we are making demands on the enemy, we making demands on sickness and disease, we are making demands on the creation, we are making demands.  Whatever you demand “in My name.”

 

We talked last week about “those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)  And we talked about how we have believed from alongside Him, from behind Him, from under Him; but He said believe from within Him.  Believe from within Me, believe that you’re in Me.  Don’t believe that you’re lower than Me, detached from Me.  Yes, I am the Head, but you are my Body.  Don’t believe that you are behind Me, always trying to catch up and be like Jesus.  Don’t believe that way.  He said, Don’t believe that you’re even inside Me.  He doesn’t even want us to believe that we are His disciples.  He wants us to believe that we are Him, in Him.

 

John 14:13 13 . . . whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

 

 

Whatever you ask in My name, whatever you demand from within the revelation that My name is your name, or that your name is My name, whatever you demand from that understanding, from that place of revelation, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, in you.

 

The church is unlimited.  I’ve shown you some scriptures tonight that probably would give you something to think about—giving authority over all flesh, and we are in Him.  The church is unlimited, it is unhindered in its exercise of dominion because all men are now legally subjects of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  (Satan has no kingdom anymore.)

 

So, the unbeliever, the atheist, the Buddhist, the Muslim, the prostitute, the drug addict, whoever you want to name out there that would not be “Christian,” is, nevertheless, under the legal dominion of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  But, we have obedient subjects and disobedient subjects.

 

In the New Testament men are no longer considered to be Adam if they are not born again; they are called in Ephesians 2:2, “the sons of disobedience.”  They are still sons but they are disobedient sons.

 

All men have been brought back into this now.  A man has to accept it before he leaves this earthen tabernacle or he will bear his own judgment.  But, for the time of existence on this earth in this tabernacle, all men are now legal subjects of the Lordship of Jesus.  “Every knee shall bow, in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and say Jesus Christ is Lord.”  (Philippians 2:10-11)

 

Phil. 2:10 through Phil. 2:11 (NKJV) 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Nobody can bow their knee and say Satan is lord.  They can say it with their mouth, but it just isn’t so, he is not lord.  But, you can give Satan opportunity in your life.  Do you understand the difference?  There is a difference between somebody being lord over you and somebody having opportunity to be lord over you.  He doesn’t have legal right to it, but I can give him opportunity.   That’s why Paul says, “Give no opportunity to the devil.”  (1 Timothy 5:14).

 

Christians think there is still a struggle going on between demons and angels.  No, it’s not.  It’s all done!  The demons no longer have any power or authority in the heavens.  The Bible says, “we have such a High Priest who has passed through the heavenlies.” (Heb. 4:14)  Do you know what that means?  That means He just scorched them on the way through.  He made them all powerless on His way through.  That’s why it says, “He has passed through the heavenlies.”  

 

The heavenlies no longer have any authority or dominion over you and me.  But, because demonic things are spirit in nature, they can’t cease to exist; they are still out there, and you can give them opportunity.  But, you don’t have to.

 

I always tell people don’t bother talking about the devil unless you’re telling people not to bother talking about the devil!  Don’t even talk about him; he’s not worth wasting words on.  

 

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”  (Hebrews 12:2)

 

“Consider Jesus the apostle and High Priest of our faith.”  (Hebrews 3:1)

 

That’s where your consideration is supposed to be.  That’s where we are supposed to be looking.

 

If you go looking for devils, you’ll probably find them.  There are probably some here in the room with us who would like us to pay attention to them.  But, I refuse to do that.  Why?  Because I know that there is only one King!  And His name is Jesus!

 

Here is the point I was making a while ago.  The church now operates with the bestowal of unlimited authority.  But, we don’t think we have unlimited authority, for reasons I’ve already said, because when I try to give somebody something, they don’t take it.

 

I have authority to give life to whom I will.  I have authority to give life, in whatever form:  healing, deliverance, freedom, peace; whatever it is, I have authority, you have authority to give life to whomever you will.  I’ve tried to give money to people, and they have said, “No.”

 

Marilyn and I have sometimes had greater success with healing going into hospitals and dealing with people who weren’t Christians.  We’ve had two or three dramatic healings in the last five years at Poudre Valley as the result of just going into rooms and saying, “I heard about your son.  I’m just here to bring Jesus to you.  Have you ever heard of Jesus?”  Or Jesus came in this room with me, and I’m going to lay my hands on you and I’m going to pray for you, and when we do this brain problem is going to be healed.  I said,  “Is that okay?”  So, we laid hands on and prayed for him and by the time we were done his eyes had cleared (the haze was gone), the slur in his speech was beginning to leave, and we left.  The next day when we went to see him he had already been moved to another wing, getting ready to go home.

 

(more testimonials follow)

 

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