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 ”  #3

Titled:  “A Man Under Authority”

Wed, January 23, 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.

 

Tonight we want to understand an absolutely vital principle to the effective working of authority.  Next week we will begin to talk about specific applications of authority, things that the scripture tells us have been restored in us because of what Jesus has done.

 

Matt. 8:5 through Matt. 8:13 (NKJV) 5Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”

7And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

8The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour. 

 

Verse 10 – Jesus finds great faith, not in Israel, but in this pagan soldier, this Roman centurion.  I want you to consider this man’s spiritual condition was, according to Ephesians 2:11-12, “a gentile in the flesh without Christ, an alien from the commonwealth of Israel and a stranger from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God. “ Paul wasn’t speaking specifically of that particular centurion, but he was letting us know as gentiles that’s who we were.  And so that necessarily was the condition of this Roman centurion as we read about him here in the 8th chapter of Matthew.  But, we’ve just discovered that Jesus found great faith in this pagan soldier, this heathen soldier, not in Israel.  Ephesians 2 tells us “as a stranger to the promises,” that he would necessarily have been, verse 8 herein when the centurion said, “Speak a word, and my servant will be healed,” he obviously did not mean “speak God’s word.”  We read that and commonly think he was saying, “Speak God’s word, and my servant will be healed.”  But, it said here this man was a stranger from the covenants of promise.

 

Our usual understanding of great faith has been to speak God’s word, and my servant will be healed; but what’s the real secret of this man’s great faith?  Go with me to verse 9, and let’s see what the real secret is; obviously the secret of this man’s great faith was not just speaking God’s word.

 

9For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

 

When he said, “for I am also a man under authority,” this is what Jesus was focusing on when He referred to this man’s great faith.  This Roman centurion was in a place of submission.  So, understand that the secret of his faith was his grasp of the relationship of submission to authoritative power.  And that’s what set him apart from these religious folks.

 

The word “also” says that this centurion recognized something about Jesus that was vital to His ability to heal his servant.  He recognized that Jesus was a man under authority, that Jesus was in a place of submission; He was under authority.  Jesus was a submitted authoritarian.  When Jesus spoke to those under Him (referring to disease, demons and the elements of nature), He was merely passing a higher authority to a lower level, because Jesus was a man under authority.  

 

That’s exactly what happened when the centurion spoke to those under him; he was simply passing authority from a higher level to a lower level.  He was strictly the servant of the upper word, administering it to the lower need.  That’s what he recognized about Jesus.  And this was the key issue in this centurion’s mind; he was saying, “I know because of the place I occupy, under authority in the Roman government, I recognize that You are a man of submission, and when you speak the word my servant will be healed.   I understand that the word that you would speak comes from a higher authority.  (He probably didn’t know the scriptures.)  This man understood there was somebody working in and through Jesus that was a greater authority than Jesus Himself.

 

Rom. 13:1 (NKJV) 1Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

 

There is something here that we have to get.  There is no authority except from God; the authority that operated in and through Jesus was from where?  From God.  And it says that “the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”  The truth is there is no authority except from God.

 

John 5:19 (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.

 

Jesus repeats what He just said in verse 19:

John 5:30 (NKJV) 30I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

 

He said, “I can do nothing of Myself.”  That tells us something about Jesus.  That tells us something about what the centurion recognized in Him.  And this is important:  Jesus says, “not My will but the will of another.”

 

Why are the decisions that He makes just, why are they righteous?  “Because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

 

 

 

Matthew 8:13: 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour. 

 

“As you have believed, so let it be done for you.”  What was it that the centurion believed?  I think it’s safe to assume what he believed in was the power available to a submitted vessel.  He believed in how much power was available to a submitted vessel.  This centurion probably at times handled the word that had come down from Caesar himself.  All of the Roman Empire spoke out of one man’s mouth and it was administered out of many people.  There were probably times when all the power of Rome flowed through this centurion.  So, that’s what he really believed in.  Jesus said, “as you have believed, so let it be done unto you.”  He really believed in the power that could flow from whatever that higher source was that this man Jesus was under authority to, the power that could flow from that higher source through Jesus could heal his servant in some other geographical location by Him just commanding it to be so.

 

He probably didn’t believe the Old Testament prophecies because he was probably a stranger to the covenants of promise.  He probably didn’t know, “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exodus 15:26), and “I will remove sickness from thy midst” (Exodus 23:25) and “Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me; forgiveth all mine iniquities, heal all thy diseases . . . (Psalm 103).   If he didn’t know that, he wouldn’t have believed that.

 

We have said over and over that the key to understanding the Bible is understanding spiritual authority; we’ve said that you can’t possibly interpret scripture accurately without a revelation of dominion, because dominion on the earth is really the primary issue of the Bible.

 

Here is something vital that you need to understand:  The effective use of authority is rooted in submission.

 

I know that some of you are already shivering because of what that word meant to the church.  

 

We can pursue authority and never attain it.  The first time I read a book, “The Authority of the Believer,” I began to pursue authority, but I wasn’t really very effective at it.  When we think of authority, what do we think of?  We think of position, power and control.  We can pursue that and never attain it, or we can accept our place of submission, then authority will flow like it did in Jesus.

 

Here is something that we don’t often stop and reflect upon.  Did you know that all of us are submissive creatures by nature?  We were created to be in a position of submission, and there is really no getting around it.  We are always in a place of submission.  We try to deny it, naturally speaking; but the truth is we really are submissive creatures:

 

Rom. 6:16 (NKJV) 16Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 

Simplified, this is what that says:  . . . you submit yourselves slaves to obey. . . .  Because we are submissive creatures by nature, we were created to be in submission to the authority of God.  But what changed?  We submitted to the word of the enemy.

 

I’ve said before that our outer man demands remote control.  That is also true of our spirit man.  Our spirit man actually demands outside leading; he is created to be in submission; he is a submitted being whether or not he knows it, whether or not he wants to acknowledge it.

 

Here is the point I want to make about Romans 6:16:  At no time are you autonomous.  At no time am I autonomous, because we are not created that way.  We can’t be autonomous; we are always in a place of submission.  Since that is the truth, then we might as well make the right choice and become knowledgeably submitted to God’s will, to His word, to His direction.

 

And, maybe very importantly, we might as well become submitted to the body of Christ around us, because this is a huge issue in the body of Christ—this total absence of submission from a proper perspective.  Doctrines of submission have been oppressive and even fatal in the church.  

 

It is so important that we comprehend this necessary aspect of submission as the key to great faith, as the releasing mechanism of the authority of God in our lives.

 

We are going to have to learn to distinguish between biblical submission and the doctrines of men.  It is the doctrines of men that have made the word of God of no effect, Jesus said (Mark 7:13).  It’s the doctrines of men that have oppressed the church and the world.

 

2 Pet. 2:1 through 2 Pet. 2:3 (NKJV) 1But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

 

Verse 1 – He said there are false prophets and false teachers among you—in the church.  

When the Bible talks about false prophets and false teachers, do not assumed they are false Christians.  A prophet is one who speaks for God.  So, one who declares himself to be a prophet may be a Christian but not a prophet.  He would be a false prophet if he declared himself to be a prophet but that wasn’t the call on his life.  So, in verse 1 we don’t want to discount false prophets and false teachers and say they are not even brothers in the Lord; it doesn’t mean they’re false Christians or unbelievers or unborn-again people.  The emphasis is not on the people but on the ministry—false prophecies and false teachings, because that’s what comes through false prophets and false teachers.  That’s not to say that an errant prophecy can’t come through a true prophet once in a while, because he is still working through flesh.

 

This is the way to comprehend false prophecies and false teachings.  He says they will be among you (they’ll be part of us) and they will bring in destructive heresies.

 

Verse 3 – “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.”  The number one issue of covetousness to me is:  carnally-minded man covets power and position over others more than any other thing.  (Most people think of money or things.)  

 

Even though we are not speaking about the submission issue right now, we are being told here that there will be false prophets and false teachers that are going introduce destructive heresies; and by covetousness they will exploit you.  

 

I just know from reading my Bible from cover to cover and from observing the church and the world that carnally-minded men covet more than anything else power and position over other people.  And so, we have doctrines of clergy over laity, men over women in general, husbands over wives, specifically; destructive heresies, false teachings.  The body of Christ is full of men who pride themselves in the title of their position, such as, “Everybody must call me ‘Bishop.’”  “Everybody must understand that I am ‘Pastor,’ and don’t you forget it.”  Who is that really feeding?  That’s really feeding me and my ego; it’s feeding my need.  Sometimes people do that but they don’t have any strong desire to suppress people.  But, you need to understand that sometimes that is what these doctrines of submission amount to, they are oppressive and suppressive.

 

Destructive heresies have been taught in all of these areas, clergy over laity, husbands over wives, etc., so because they’ve been introduced to the church and have wreaked such havoc on the church, do we just throw out biblical submission altogether?  No.  We don’t want to “throw the baby out with the bath water.”

 

A lot of people shudder when you say the word, “submission,” and their spiritual ears get turned off, their mind begins to go another way in defense of themselves; and because of that, they don’t get free.  They need to be free.

 

Satan has told us for nearly 2,000 years that God doesn’t heal anymore.  We’re not going to throw out the doctrine of healing because there were preachers preaching that healing wasn’t for today.  But, many people have turned a deaf ear to teaching that might help them in this area.  If you have thrown it out, that might be the first clue to why things don’t work the way they should.

 

Consider this:  What truths would you most expect Satan to twist?  Those truths that possess the greatest potential to rid the world of his residue.

 

We know that Jesus destroyed the works of the devil.  But, just like there is residue in the bathtub after a bath, so also people consider the residue of the devil something to be concerned about.  But, that’s not the devil; it’s just a dirty ring where he used to be in our lives.  There is a residue of the old works of the devil in the earth, and we can delve into that residue if we choose.  And that is just what the devil desires.  So, the things that he is most apt to twist and distort are things that have the greatest potential to rid the world of his residue.  In other words, the more distorted a teaching is, probably is an indication of how powerful that particular teaching would be in ridding us of any influence of the devil.

 

We see Jesus is a man under authority; Jesus is a man occupying a place of submission of His own free will.  God didn’t place Him there; He chose it.  So, we see Jesus being an effective administrator of God’s authority on the earth, why?  Because He was submitted to God.  Therefore, we don’t want to throw out biblical teaching on submission; we want to be sure to understand it in the right light.

 

Satan introduced these perverted submission doctrines to stop the advance of spiritual authority in the church.  The strength of spiritual authority is in true submission.  Jesus describes submission like this in John 12:24, “a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying produces much fruit.”  So, we need to understand that authority is the produce of submission.  

 

True spiritual authority that will produce results in your life and the life of those around you is the fruit of submission, understanding first of all that I’m not autonomous in this.

 

Even though we talk about the authority of the believer, it’s really not the authority of the believer.  It’s important to understand that:

·It is the authority of God  (There is no authority except from God.)

·operating in the life of the believer 

·because Christ lives in the believer and 

·the believer gets to be a partner with Christ.

 

Jesus is the one who has taken up _________ place on the earth.  So, Jesus is Lord.  He is Lord of lords.  The Bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (Isaiah 45:23).

 

Mark 1:21 through Mark 1:22 (NKJV) 21Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

 

Read Verse 22 again.  He taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes.  What was the difference?  Jesus had authority in His teaching and the scribes had none.  

 

Remember, Jesus was a teacher and a prophet in the Old Covenant, and He upheld the law; He taught the law.  We see Jesus teaching the law in Matthew, Mark and Luke, because that was the only Covenant on the earth at that time.  He wasn’t going to teach people to disobey the law.  What He did was define the law for them in a spiritual perspective (for example, Matthew 5:27-28).  So, He defined the law for them; He gave them a true perspective of the law.  

 

Jesus basically taught the same things that the scribes and the Pharisees taught; but He seemed to have authority in His teaching and they didn’t.  Why was that?  

Let’s verify some things I’ve already spoken of.  Jesus said this,

Mark 10:45 (NKJV) 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

 

Jesus said, I didn’t come to be served, but to serve, and to give My life a ransom for many.

 

John 10:18 (NKJV) 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

 

Jesus didn’t have to submit to the authority of others; it was His choice to submit.  The authority to lay down His life was the strategy for victory and success of redemption that God had given Jesus.

 

Luke 22:27 (NKJV) 27For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

 

We look at the one who sits at the table being served is the greater one.  But, Jesus said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”  This gives us a perspective.

 

The scribes and the Pharisees basically proclaimed their position, their authority over everybody everywhere they went.  They were arrogant about who they were; and yet they had no authority in their teaching, and the people perceived that.

 

Jesus taught as One having authority, not as the scribes.  What gave authority to His teaching?  What made you think He has authority?  The fact that He came to serve.  This is what servitude does; this is what submission does.  It allows what is going to come from God to touch people’s lives.  

 

But that authority is short-circuited in a man who says, “I’m the authority here,” or “I’m the pastor.”  What God wants to pour through that man or that woman is short-circuited inside; it doesn’t have the impact on the spirit of the people listening.

 

John 7:16 through John 7:18 (NKJV) 16Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 

 

This is the answer to why there was authority in the teaching of Jesus but not in the scribes and Pharisees.  He said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”  He was saying, I’m here to tell you what the One who sent Me wants you to hear.  (That is a difficult thing to do, even for us.  For Jesus to say this, there had to be a tremendous desire in His heart to say something other than what the Father wanted Him to say to the people.  But, He said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

 

Verse 17 – He said, if anyone wills to do His will, he shall know of the teaching.  How is anyone going to know whether it’s from God or not?  From the results.  If the teaching is from God, there are going to be results.

We all have to decide if we want to do the will of God.  Are we going to take the hard road, which is putting down our pride, submitting ourselves to the fact that we are wrong and renewing the mind.  It is hard to say, “I’m wrong,” especially when we’ve been taught that in the church; but if I will to do His will, then I will know whether the teaching is of God.

 

If I believe that healing is not for today and am out to prove that, then I will never experience healing.  But, if I will to do His will, then I will know whether the teaching is of God.  So I need to lay aside my own preconceived notion and will to know the will of God and allow Him to teach me apart from men through the Bible.

 

John 7:18:  18He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 

 

That described the scribes and the Pharisees; that’s why they had no authority in their teaching; that’s the motivation of men teaching false submission today.  They are seeking their own exaltation.  The only way you can provide your own exaltation is through the suppression of others.  By pushing other people down is the only way you can lift yourself above anybody else.  So, people who are teaching oppressive doctrines of submission and not going to be effective in the operation of His authority operating through us.  They aren’t under authority.

 

The words of Jesus were authoritative because they were the Father’s words, consequently, they carried the power of truth, the power that could be felt through the human spirit.

 

In 1975 when I was first introduced to the writings of E.W. Kenyon, I was reading books that were edited by his family containing sermons that were preached 35-45 years prior to that, and I could feel the authority of that word; I actually sensed something coming off the pages I read that was more powerful than anything I had ever experienced before in reading.  Years later I began to understand that E. W. Kenyon was teaching as one having authority, and that authority doesn’t go away when a man dies; the authority stays in the earth, because the authority is of God.  There is no authority except from God (Rom. 13:1).  The authority doesn’t leave when you leave; it just moves through another vessel; it moves somewhere else.  But, the authority of God coming off the printed page having been spoken out of the mouth of E. W. Kenyon hit me like a ton of bricks, and I knew it was truth.  I could have said, “Wow, he speaks as one having authority!”

 

John 12:49 through John 12:50 (NKJV) 49For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

 

It’s clear that Jesus did not speak on His own authority but on the authority of the Father.

 

John 8:28 through John 8:29 (NKJV) 28Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

 

 

Acts 10:38 (NKJV) 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

 

Even though Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit, it was God with Him that affected the works through Him, so He remained in a submitted state.

 

Jesus got anointed with the Holy Spirit, and that immediately kicked in His servitude and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.  God was with Him because He was in a perpetual state of submission.

 

You can be anointed with the Holy Spirit and not have God with you in your works.  There are plenty out there that God is not with in their works, such as people who get more and more from themselves.  God still loves them.

 

The words of those who seek their own glory only strengthen the confusion and the bondage. 

 

Mark 1:22-27 (NKJV) 22And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”  25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

 

Jesus didn’t say, “I rebuke you, devil.”  Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 

 

(Missed some)

 

With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.  Why did the unclean spirits obey Him?  Because is a man under authority.  That’s why they obey Him.

 

Here’s what I want you to get.  Everything Jesus did was immediate and decisive because of His authority.  But, the authority was God’s, and the effectiveness of Jesus’ ministry had its roots in His submission to God.

 

“How come I’m not more effective?  How come things don’t happen immediately and decisively like they happened to Jesus?”  

 

This is something to consider.  Where are you in regard to being in a submitted place as we’ve described it from the word tonight?  Authority doesn’t manifest in men by virtue of their title or position.

 

“God called me to pastor.  I heard the call of God.”

 

That’s fine, but authority doesn’t manifest on the basis of your call or the position you stepped into.  It’s by God’s will.  

 

Authority can manifest only as a person is submitted to God for His purpose at that moment.

 

Authority can move from person to person; it is a momentary manifestation.  Authority does not just abide in a man, whether he is the head of the house or the head of the church or anything else.  Authority is granted to us to meet God’s purposes at a particular moment in time.

 

A man has an opportunity to be in authority for an extended period of time, but the moment he ceases to use the authority for God’s purposes, he no longer has it.  For us authority is always the execution of God’s will, God’s desire, and it always exalts others, whether it raises them up from the bed if they are sick or whether it sets them free from some mental or emotional oppression.  

 

Jesus was always exalting others; and Peter said, Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you.  (1 Peter 5:6-7)

 

Just because you raise one person from the dead doesn’t mean you have will have a lifetime of doing so.

 

Our homes don’t often exemplify the victory of Christ because we are seeking our own glory or our own will; and the church hasn’t been in it’s proper place of power, releasing grace to save, heal and deliver, because we resist submission and demand our independence from one another.

 

It is so critical as you begin to operate more and more effectively in the gifts of the spirit, etc., don’t ever start thinking that you’re the one they have to have there.  Don’t ever push somebody else aside so that you can get to the person.  Allow God to work through the whole body.  Remember, we are one body, and we need to be in submission to God.

 

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