Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
The Believer's Authority 3
Discover the transformative power of the believer's authority in this episode, where we unpack scriptural insights, practical applications, and heartening personal stories that inspire personal growth and confidence in faith. We dive into foundational scriptures like Genesis 1:26 and Matthew 28, demonstrating how God gave humanity dominion and authority to influence our lives for good, empowering us as active participants in our spiritual journeys.
Let's wave our Bibles around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Say this together. Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here today. You're doing excellent things. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. You never change. I'm invested in this Word. I am growing, I am changing, moving into perfect alignment with your word and with your spirit, and I give you all the praise for it in Jesus name, amen, amen. Let's look at our foundation scriptures. I'm doing a series on the believer's authority and we're going to start with Genesis, chapter 1, verse 26. And also find Matthew 28. While you're looking there and getting your scriptures, and I like to get the Bible and get it right in front of you so you, you know you can follow along.
Speaker 1:I remember Brother Hagin tells a story. You know he pastored 12 years and then he went on the field and God told him to go teach my people faith. And he did. I mean he did that and he said he'd always encouraged the people to bring their Bibles. You know they had many times where he would go to a church. The people would just come and they wouldn't even have their Bibles. They just, you know, depended on the pastor to, you know, read the scriptures, and they wouldn't follow along. And he said now, now, bring your Bibles. You know, bring your Bible.
Speaker 1:You know, and a lot of times, you know, when he was teaching faith, he was teaching things they'd never heard before and they had misunderstandings about what the word would say. And so he'd preach if they didn't have their Bible to follow along. So then they would, they would stay sick because they thought the Bible said this and the Bible didn't say that, the Bible didn't say it the way they remembered it. I mean, it's good to get the word in front of you. Anyway, genesis, chapter 1, verse 26. And God said you know, it's really good to know what God said about everything. Amen.
Speaker 1:God said let us make a man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over the earth and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, created he him male and female, created he them. You idiot federal judge, you ought to be impeached. I hope she is. She's a complete fool.
Speaker 1:These people are willingly ignorant and really this whole transgender thing is nothing but a group of people that don't believe in God, they don't believe the word of God, they hate you and me and they hate themselves. And so you know, we can't go along with it. We cannot, cannot go along with it, and so it doesn't matter what they call us, we know what they are, we know that they're deceived, and the only the only remedy to that is teaching the word, the truth. We have to speak the truth in love, and so, no, you're not they, or your pronouns are not they and them. I got news for you You're either male or you're female. Thank God for Donald Trump. He just declared it. He lined it up with a word Praise God, all right.
Speaker 1:And then in Matthew 28, no, everybody shout dominion. See, we've been given. You know, god gave man dominion, all right. And then Matthew 28. Matthew 28. You know, 10 years ago would we have been arguing about whether men should be playing women's sports? I mean, it's amazing how fast it all went the way it went. It's going the other way. Praise God, all right.
Speaker 1:Matthew 28, verse 16. This is after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted that appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach, make disciples my margin says of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them again, discipling them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and, lo, I'm with you always, even under the end of the world. Amen. So the believers authority.
Speaker 1:Our great God and father gave man authority and of course we know that, uh, that Adam lost it in the garden. By obeying Satan, by cooperating with the devil. He could have rebuked the devil. He had power over him, he had authority over him and he didn't exercise it. Instead, he obeyed it, he believed it and obeyed it and spoke it, and therefore he lost. It was so legal. God's legal. God does everything in a legal fashion. God did not intend for Satan to be the God of this world. He intended man to be the God of this world. But Adam sold out. But the last Adam. The Bible says Jesus is the last Adam. He got it straight Praise God. And he said there in Matthew all authority in heaven and earth is given last Adam. He got it straight Praise God. And he said there in Matthew all authority in heaven and earth is given unto me.
Speaker 1:That word authority is a Greek word, exousia, and you know, in Genesis 1, 26, let them have dominion. And the Hebrew word dominion means about the same thing. We're going to define authority in a minute, but I want you to hear dominion. Dominion is a Hebrew word, rodol. It means to subjugate, it means to prevail, it means to rule over or to reign. I like the word reign.
Speaker 1:I preached a message on Wednesday night that ties into these messages. On Sunday morning, I preached a message on Wednesday night that ties into these messages on Sunday morning Reigning as kings in life. Reigning as kings in life. We are kings, we are reign, we're in our domain. We've been talking about that in week one.
Speaker 1:What's your domain? Well, your household, your neighborhood, your place of work, your career. Amen your finances, your mind, let your career amen your finances, your mind. Let's rule, let's reign. If we don't, there's what a power vacuum and the devil will come in there and start taking over.
Speaker 1:Amen, let's get on the offense. That's what I love about President Trump. He's on the offense. They're on their heels. They're trying to answer 13 different things a day. They don't know where they're at. They don't know where they're at. They keep saying Musk isn't elected. That's the best they can do. Well, fauci wasn't elected. I mean, are you nuts? That's the whole point of this whole thing is unelected. People have been ruling and reigning Like kings. They're not supposed to do that. Oh, I just see what I'm teaching playing out in the political world every day right now.
Speaker 1:And you can see now why the church, where the church, has allowed this to happen Because we haven't been ruling and reigning Amen, so and so then you know we've got these. Somebody said well, yeah, but Jesus was talking to the disciples there. Well, no, in Mark, chapter 16, he was talking to all believers. These signs shall follow them that believe. And so the authority goes with the church, and the context is in the context of go ye. In other words, we ought to wrap our lives around the kingdom of God. We ought to bring the kingdom of God into our daily life, everything we're about, especially now. We know the time is short, we know that Jesus is coming soon. We need to adopt that worldview that this whole thing is about to wind down and we need whatever it is that God has put us on the earth to accomplish. We need to be busy about that. We need to be busy about ruling and reigning in our life in the context of the gospel, going out to reach people that need to have the good news preached to them, amen.
Speaker 1:So then, the word authority there, all authority, all power, exousia, all authority. It means exousia means privilege, force, capacity, competency. I like that because so many people feel incompetent. They feel like that they're not competent. Some people were raised by parents that criticized them unduly all the way through their growing up period. You feel kind of incompetent. Sometimes wives, husbands, treat their wives. You're dumb. Call them names. Many wives are abused. Many Christian wives are abused, you know, and even with a Christian husband. I mean, I've seen it. I've had to sit across from people and hear what they taught each other and all the stuff that they go through. And it's not if they just line up with the Word of God. No, you've got competency. It's not yours, it's His, it comes from Him. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, comes down from heaven, and so he gives you competency when you maybe had incompetency before. He gives you strength, mastery. I like that Mastery, influence.
Speaker 1:You know, I've heard it said and I believe this is true we don't have authority over someone else's will, but I do, I tell you what we do have we have supernatural influence. We do have supernatural influence. It's not witchcraft, it's not praying that somebody does something you know, like witchcraft does, but it's. You know, when you pray for somebody and you pray, especially when you pray the word over them, you know, pray those Ephesian prayers over them, where you have supernatural influence, and God will hear those kind of prayers that you pray for people and they can change their mind. I mean, it can cause unwilling people to become willing. We saw that in this last election. We saw people who had never before ever voted for a Republican. They voted Democrat all their life, hoping and praying that somehow the Democrats were going to do what they had promised to do, you know, all these years ago, and they finally woke up and realized no, they're not going to do it and they voted for Trump. Trump talked them into and they saw how they, how Trump survived an assassination, two assassination attempts that we know of. How he survived all the lawfare, how I mean God had to do that there's no way survived all the lawfare. I mean God had to do that, there's no way. And so you know, it's encouraging to see the country start to wake up. Praise God. So influence Everybody. Shout, influence, Jurisdiction I like that word the power to do as one pleases.
Speaker 1:Now, pastor, I got to draw the line. Now that's we can't just do anything. No, I'm not talking about dreaming some silly thing up at. Anything you want to do, you can do. It's when you line yourself up with God's word and God's spirit, then you're going to want what he wants for you and you can do whatever you please, because whatever, whatever you please is what he pleases. That's the context of that. You've got the freedom to do what you please. You don't have to ever say I can't do that. Yes, you can. You have authority. You have exousia, the power of rule or government. Praise God.
Speaker 1:So in week one we talked about Ephesians, chapter one, and chapter two, the Ephesian prayers. For understanding how great is our authority and it's backed by the love of God. God loves us so much he gave us that authority. And then last week we talked about feeding your faith on your seating. You need to maintain your seat of authority by making sure that by faith, by words and by action, you take upon yourself all the whole armor of God. It's prayer armor and you have to have a prayer life for the prayer armor to work and that prayer armor will protect you and keep you from the attacks of the enemy against. And every piece of armor is a revelation of how the devil will attack you. He'll attack your mind. He'll attack your, your truth. He'll attack your core beliefs. He will attack you know, uh, your obedience in your feet. You know he, you know you, you sometimes you'll go places you shouldn't go. You'll get involved with things. You should listen that the devil will attack you every way he can. But if you'll take on the whole armor of God, you can maintain your seat of authority, amen. And so today I want us to switch gears here a little bit and look at Mark, chapter 4. So let's look at Mark 4 here.
Speaker 1:It's preached out of this chapter many times, many, many, many times, and this is Jesus speaking the parable of the sower sows the word. He spoke to the Jews in parables, knowing that they wouldn't accept him. See, they'd already rejected him and so he spoke in parables. That hearing, they may hear and not understand. Seeing, they may see and not know, and they would be without excuse. Now you know, later on he's going to deal with the Jews after the church is gone and the Bible says all Israel shall be saved. So we're not giving up on Israel. But they had hardened their heart. They just wouldn't believe as, as a nation they wouldn't, and they paid a terrible price for that unbelief. And so, um, but, and then you know he. He explained what the the sower sows the word. He, you know. He explained what the sower sows the word you know.
Speaker 1:He talks about seed being sown in four different kinds of dirt and then he explains what it meant. And you know you had three out of four had a crop failure. First sowing of the seed was immediately the birds of the air stole the seed. That's Satan comes immediately, steal the word out of your heart. And the second one is stolen. The word is sown on stony ground and immediately it's received with joy and it starts to spring up, but then, when the heat of circumstances come, it's withered. So you had the stolen word, you had the scorched word they bought no fruit. See, they didn't get a crop. The third one was the strangled word. The deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things entering in choked the word, it became unfruitful. So you had the stolen word, the scorched word and the strangled word. Finally, you had the successful word that brought forth some 30, 60, and 100 fold.
Speaker 1:So he went through this whole thing off of Peter's boat all day long. I mean, he's preaching up a storm. He explained the parable. The Jews didn't understand it, but he gave it to the disciples. The parable they didn't, the Jews didn't understand it, but he gave it to the disciples and they had, they had, they understood what it meant, that when you hear the words that you become responsible. It's a seed that has to be sown into your heart. And so at the end of the day, here Mark, chapter four, verse 35.
Speaker 1:And the same day, when the evening was come, he said unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship and there were also with him other little ships. It wasn't just one ship. He had an entourage, had a group of ships sail out there. I've been there. I've been at Sea of Galilee. It's not a very big. They call it Sea of Galilee. It's a lake and it's not that big. I mean it's really not that big. But it's such that it's in a valley where it has some strong winds and you can have some big waves. And so there arose a great storm of wind, a mega storm Great means mega, mega storm of wind. And the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. I mean you know they did have a legitimate emergency. I mean I don't want you to think they just had the storm. I mean the boat got full of water, so it's what's sinking. And he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say unto him Master, carest thou not that we perish. That's my interpretation. That's in the Griner translation. I like to put myself there. I like to listen. I like to be there. I. That's in the Griner translation. I like to put myself there, I like to listen. I like to be there. I'm right there in the middle of them watching the whole thing and he, you know, he arose, he woke up out of sleep. He's tired. I mean he's preached all day long. I mean I remember when I was in the Philippines and I started preaching in my last service. At the last service we're going to assemble the people that have come and the deal was, if they had the faith to get to my meeting and they were three to four days long in the afternoons and we had night services. We had morning services, afternoon services and night services. The night services were. We had morning services, afternoon services and night services. The night services were for the lost. But the morning service and the afternoon service were for the preachers, full-time ministers, and if they had the faith to get there, then Glorious Way Church would pay their way home. We would hand out cash to where they could pay for their trip home. And the Philippines is, I don't know, 6,000 islands. There's nowhere you're going to travel and you've got to have a bus and a boat. I mean, you got to buy all kinds of tickets to get anywhere. And you know, these people didn't. You know, and the last meeting was on finances, was on prosperity. I preached hour one and they wouldn't let me quit. I preached hour two and they wouldn't let me quit. I preached three solid hours. Okay, and they all have to catch forms of you know, they were running at the last minute but they didn't want to stop hearing me talk about finance. They wanted to hear they were drinking, they were sucking me dry. I'm telling you right now, you talk about tired man. I was ready to go home. I'm telling you, of course, I had another 40 hours before I got home, but anyway, praise the Lord, are y'all with me now? He's tired, he's asleep, but he got up. He arose verse 39, and he rebuked the wind and said under the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased and there was a mega calm. You know, that's what I like to say. It was a mega storm and then there was a mega calm. Now, how many of you know, there's no way, even when the wind stops blowing, for the waves just to go like that. I mean that just doesn't happen. It takes a long time for everything to kind of go Finally settled. Not this time. I mean, he ordered that wind to cease and he ordered the calm on the sea, and the sea just went whoop like a glass. And then he said unto them and I was there when he said, I mean, you know, figuratively I thought, man, I'd hate for him to have to ask me these two questions. I'd hate to have to answer why. He said why are you so fearful? Well, their boat was full of water. That's why they were in the middle of a megastorm. How is it that you have no faith, man? That's hard Notice. He didn't say oh, come on, boys, y'all, I'm going to give you a participation trophy. I'm so proud of y'all. Come over here and give me a hug, give me. I have not found anywhere where Jesus hugged them. He never asked for a hug, he never gave them a hug, he never slobbered on them. He never, you know, he never patted them on the head and indulged them. He challenged them, he held them accountable for his word. He said let us pass over. And you didn't do it. You didn't listen. This whole day I preached on this subject. I gave you the word to put in your heart and you let the devil steal it right out of there. The devil stole the word right out of their hearts. Number one, when I'm number one. They illustrated the number one point on his four point message. They let the devil steal all the word right out. And so as soon as the storm happened the mega storm, yeah, it was real as a mega storm. They're fishermen Most of them are, and they've been out there, they know what it's like. And yet they had a word. Jesus didn't say let's go out there and die, let's go out there and sink. He said let's go go right over there on the other side that's where we're headed Goes to sleep. He gave them what Authority to get the job done? And what did they do? They had what? No faith. Why? Because they were fearful. Fear and faith have no compatibility, amen. So these circumstances were real. Their life really was put in jeopardy. The point is, it didn't have to get that bad anyway. They could have started rebuking it before the boat got full of water. I mean, what did he just get through preaching to them A whole day? What has he been demonstrating? Are y'all with me now? So no faith waits on Jesus to do everything. That's no faith. No faith says God's going to do it, god's going to take care of this. You know well, you know God's sovereign. God is sovereign, he. You know, if he wants me healed, I'll get healed and if not, well, I like what. Brother Ed Dufresne, you know he was a prophet of God we he's in heaven now, but he used to come to the church. I've, I Ed, since the 80s, been in a lot of his meetings and God opened the door for us to have a relationship with him. So he'd come once a year here. How many of you remember Dr Ed Dufresne? You know he was a one of a kind, and of course his wife, nancy, still pastors their church there in California. Boy, talk about a Bible teacher. She's great, she's been here too. But Ed would say it this way he said the sovereignty of God is in your mouth. Isn't that good? The sovereignty of God is in your mouth. All this stuff about God has got some kind of mysterious will that I don't know about, and whatever happens is no, that's not what it is. The devil does a lot of stuff and God doesn't have anything to do with it. It's when we don't speak right, it's when we don't believe right. That's what I mean. That's what happens. The devil gets a place. Amen. So, um, we have to answer the storms of life. They should have answered this storm really, even before it got that bad. I mean, when it starts kicking up. There's fishermen. They know what the deal is. They're not babies. They make a living off of the Sea of Galilee. That's where they make a living. They've been out there countless times in storms. They know the beginning of a storm, they know how it's going to develop and they should have started speaking against it. That's the problem. A lot of times, people don't start speaking and answering the attack fast enough and they should have started speaking against it. That's the problem. A lot of times, people don't start speaking and answering the attack fast enough. You ignore something long enough and now you've got a real problem. Are you with me now? You're not healed by what you ignore. Well, I'm just going to ignore this pain, or what if it's a symptom of a stroke? You ought to know the symptoms of a stroke. Well, I don't like to think about it. Well, you ought to think about it. You get, you know. I mean. People die of strokes every day. And even worse than that. People are impaired by strokes and have to go and just become a vegetable. That's even worse than dying because you're not dead but you wish you were. Listen, folks, you're not healed by what you deny. Let's take authority, let's get our authority moving against whatever it is and answer the trouble. I mean Jesus answered the trouble he rebuked. Go back here it says he rebuk answered the trouble, he rebuked. Go back here, it says he rebuked the wind. This church man, you know, we rebuke hurricanes. I remember 2005. Katrina was headed right for Houston. I mean, it was Katrina come out and got in the Gulf and it was a big storm. It was a mean storm and it's headed right. I mean there. And of course, the news media just they're just overjoyed, have you noticed? They just can't wait for us for the worst storm to hit Houston and then they'll have something to talk about. They'll get out there in the middle of it with their boots and they're're, you know, and it's blowing, hitting them in the face, you know, and they've got their microphone and they're reporting from the scene. And Dan Rather, that's how he got his. Dan Rather got famous by covering Hurricane Carla in 1961. You never heard of, you never heard of Dan, rather until hurricane Carla he got, he got famous for hurricane Carla, that's, that's just the. So they, they're, they're thinking that way about a storm. They can't, they want it to come, but we didn't want it to come. We, we started praying against that. I mean we. I mean we. And so, you know, wednesday night, we, we had Wednesday night service. We rebuked it. And I got home and I said we. And so, you know, wednesday night, we, we had Wednesday night service. We rebuked it. And I got home and I said man, it looked, it didn't seem like it moved, it looked like it was headed right for us, even this latest Wednesday night. And and so we just kept rebuking and I, just I, had my faith. I kept the switch of faith turned on. Well, what's your? How do you do? Well, right here. I mean, if Jesus can rebuke a storm, why can't the church rebuke a storm? Do we want Hurricane Carla to hit Houston? Well, it's gonna hit somewhere. What makes us more worthy? I can't help. What other people will put up with. They can put up with Katrina, but I'm not putting up with it. I hate it. See, we don't hate stuff enough. We're so soft and sweet. Jesus hated that storm, he rebuked it. And I'll tell you something else. Jesus hates. He hates unbelief. He was not happy with them. Let me ask you a question why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith after all day? I've been preaching this all day long. Where were you? He doesn't say that, but that's my version of it. I think we just don't understand that God hates unbelief but he's pleased with faith. I'd rather God's not going to smite you just because of unbelief, but I mean the devil will I said the devil will Are you with me now? So you have to answer the storms of life. Jesus answered that storm. He rebuked the wind and told the waves peace, be still. And there was a mega calm. Praise God, the wind stopped and there was a calm. So we have authority, then, over every hindrance that comes our way, every obstacle. Now you know, a month later, oh well, let's finish Katrina. So Katrina, man, I mean it was headed, headed, headed and finally, sunday morning, it was headed to New Orleans. It was obvious it was going to hit New Orleans. The outer ring was hitting New Orleans. And the Holy Ghost, I had a word, I had a prophetic word. I mean they've sown to the wind, they're going to reap the whirlwind. I mean that is a center of evil, that Mardi Gras is not something that Christians ought to ever go to. I've seen Christians. Well, you know we go every year to witness. Well, why don't you? Do you go down to hell too? Is that where you go to witness as well? I mean, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to expose myself to that kind of level of debauchery. It's Sodom and Gomorrah. For God's sake, are you going to let your eyes see what's going on out there? I, god's sake, are you going to let your eyes see what's going on out there? I mean, I'm not going to repeat what goes on, but you, you and we're adults, we know what goes on. It's not just a little party, it's Sodom and Gomorrah, and they celebrate that deep, those demons. That's what they're going to celebrate in Galveston next week. I don't understand. If I've got a church in Galveston, why am I putting up with that? Why don't they rise up? Well, because it's money. Lots of people come, and that's why they go to New Orleans Lots of money. I hate it. I don't just. I hate it because it's ungodly. Are you with me now? So I'm prophesied. So I got home Sunday morning and they had pictures of the French Quarter. Oh, the French Quarter is dry. We dodged a bullet. Everything turned out great and I thought, hmm, well, I don't know. I wonder what my word was all about. And I kept the you know? Was I wanting there to be damage? No, I didn't want that, but I marked it. I thought well, god said something this morning. I'm pretty sure he's right. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. But what flooded? Well, the retaining walls broke, that's what flooded. And the stupid DEI mayor, dumb man, a very dumb man, left his buses downtown New Orleans. They all flooded. There was no way for the people to get out of town and they suffered greatly and we brought lots and lots of them to Houston. Maybe some of you are from new Orleans from that time. I don't know. A lot of people moved to Houston. They were in the Astrodome, stayed there for a long time. Are y'all with me now? A month later, we had Rita. Anybody remember that? 2 million people got on the road. I said it's not coming here. I said it can't come here. We prayed it. We prayed it and it hit the. It hit the line between Louisiana and Texas. We moved. It came a little closer to Texas, but not all the way to Houston. Are y'all with me now? I mean some of the far East, like Beaumont, east Texas, they, they had Rita, but we Houston didn't really have much at all. But if you traveled you had a mess because you were stuck on the freeway and a lot and some people died. You know, it was terrible and we had people that that got afraid and they left and they got stuck instead of listening to the church and listening to what we had prayed and having faith to stay, you know. But then when I came, the Holy Ghost said you're not going to stop all the way. And that was later, that 2005 and 2008. 2005 than 2008. And he said you can reduce it and you can move it some, but you're not going to stop it all the way because judgment is on this nation and it's just, you know, it's moved your way and it's not anybody's fault, it's just how it has to be. We had some that went down south and died in the valley and nobody was affected. But in 08, god spoke to me, see. So our authority is not just all the way across the board, but we did pray against it. It was going to hit right on the button and, if you'll recall, ike moved over east of the ship channel and Kingwood Humble all of that part got the worst of it. But thank God it didn't come up the ship channel, because if the dirty side of the storm, if it had hit the ship channel, we would have lost billions and billions and billions of dollars of economy. Lots of people would have been unemployed, you'd have had all kind of refineries and plastic plants just messed up for a long time. So we were able to influence See our authority. I mean I thank God for the revelation of God's authority that he got in the church. We don't have to put up with all this stuff. Some stuff is unavoidable. You know, god spoke to me years ago. There's going to be five terror attacks and if you will pray, texas and Houston will be delivered from any of them. And remember, you know there's a guy had a bomb. It started going off in his underwear and his underwear caught on fire in the airplane. And another one they found one in a printer cartridge. It was supposed to be mailed from overseas and I think Europe. It was coming in. It was going to blow them in the airport. And then there were several other. And one of those terror attacks was was Fort Hood. Well, pastor, you missed God. Fort Hood was in Texas and no, no, fort Hood is, is is federal soil. It's not tech. Texas does not own Fort Hood. The soil that Fort Hood sits on is federal land. We. It's not part of the state of Texas. Did you know that? And that was. That was a terror attack. There's no. Of course, obama said it was a workplace violence, but it was a terror attack. Are y'all with me now talking about praying and what kind of authority we have? Let's look at Exodus 14. We've got another example here in the old Testament. You get anything out of this. I want to get you in the mode in the thinking of ruling and reigning as a king, because we are. We have to rise up in that area in the church, exodus 14. This is the Israel being delivered out of Egypt, verse 15. Let's turn back Exodus 14, verse 11. See Pharaoh's chasing Israel out of Egypt. They're headed and they're led by the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. So that cloud led Israel to the banks of the Red Sea. That cloud led Israel to the banks of the Red Sea. They followed the Holy Ghost to an obstacle called the Red Sea. So they had the Red Sea in front of them and they had Pharaoh's army behind them and verse 11, and they, israel, said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt. Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? See, they're always murmuring and complaining. Were no graves in Egypt? Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? See, they're always murmuring and complaining. Wherefore hast thou dealt so with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Because you cried to get out of Egypt, you doofus. You cried and cried and cried for 400 years to get out of it. And now we answered your prayer. And now you're griping and we want to go back. See, they couldn't make up their mind. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people fear you not. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today. You shall see them again, no more forever. And the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. In other words, shut up, hold your peace. I know parents, they don't want me to say that in front of their kids. I understand, it's the Griner translation I just trained. And the Lord said unto Moses, why do you cry unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward, but lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. So here Israel is crying and murmuring over the circumstances, and God said, in effect, stop your crying and start commanding. I mean, even Moses fell on his face and was crying. And God said stop crying and stop, start commanding. He said go forward, go forward. You have to answer this obstacle. So you think about the. What is the obstacle? Well, the Red Sea is saying you ain't crossing here, might as well turn around and go back where you came from. Well, if they turn around and go back where they came from, who they're going to run into? Pharaoh. So so the Red Sea said nah, nah, you ain't crossing here. And Pharaoh and his army said we're going to kill every one, last one of you, like we should have already. We're going to kill you. And so what did they do? They had to answer the obstacle, in other words, get out of the way. Red Sea. We're going forward. He stretched out his rod, the rod of God. See the rod that God gave him to begin with. Remember he threw the rod down and became a serpent and all that? He would stretch out the rod, the water would turn to blood. He would stretch out the rod and the lice would come on the land. He stretched out the rod and the frogs went everywhere. I mean he had what? The name of Jesus. We've got something better than the rod. We've got the name of Jesus. We can stretch out the name of Jesus and our authority and we can answer the problem. It needs to be answered with the same enthusiasm and intensity as its attack. I mean, if something's going to attack you, I mean full frontal bad report from the doctor. The doctor says well, you know, you've got. You know, like Dodie, you've got a few months to live, you've got metastatic cancer of the liver and there's nothing we can do for you. Well, doctor, we believe in miracles where you're going to have to have one. Well, we're going to have one, we're going to get one. And they got one. How did they get it? They had to answer that Dodie had to answer, that. She had to answer it every day. She had to answer it several times a day. She put pictures of herself on she's 88 pounds, 89 pounds, withered away, looked like a skeleton. She never missed church. She was there every week and she put a picture of herself in her younger days when she was healthy and happy. And she's happy. But I'm talking, she's fighting a battle for her life and she couldn't just say, well, the Lord's going to heal me. No, that's not good enough, that's no answer, that's not faith, that's hope. No, she called the thing that be, not as though it were. And she did it over and over. She took the word as medicine. She'd sit down and read her verses until finally she didn't even have to read them. She just himself bear my sickness. It took my infirmities. Thank God I don't have cancer. He took it. Hallelujah, glory to God. Jesus, wounded for my transgressions, proof my iniquities on self. Bear my sins in your own body, on the tree by whose stripes I was healed. Ha ha ha, glory to God, I was healed. Ha ha ha, glory to God, I was healed. I'm not going to be healed, I was healed already. Just go through that. Go through that. Go through that. It didn't look good for the longest time. It took about two years to get the manifestation, but she's still alive. She's in her 90s now. She threw it into the sea and it never came back. Are y'all with me now to the sea? And it never came back. Are y'all with me now Talking about authority? You answer. You've got to answer the trouble with the same intensity with which it attacks you. You can't just be lackadaisical, can it be? Matter of fact? I've seen people be so. Matter of, oh, cancer is nothing. See, I'm always. I don't think you ought to be afraid. I just think you ought to be a little bit more determined. I think there ought to be a lot more fight in you. I mean, when I see David, he didn't come around and say well, goliath, what is he? No, he started talking trash. He said I'm going to kill you and I'm going to cut your head off. He ran and got those stones. He ran toward him. He didn't just sit around and wait for Goliath to come after him. Are you all with me now? All right? So Moses said get out of the way, red Sea, we're passing over. And they did Praise God, and they did. And so, going back now to Mark, chapter 4, and I skipped this last part, so let me go back real quick. You know, jesus was asking them two questions how is it that you're so fearful? Why is it that you have no faith? And I didn't read this last verse, so let me read it because it's real important Mark, chapter 4. And so he said why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Verse 41, and they feared exceedingly and said one to another what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? What manner of man is this? And so I asked the question what manner of person are you? And so I ask the question what manner of person are you? It's a good question to ask yourself what manner of person, what kind of person? What you made of honey? What you made of Marshmallows, frankfurters, what you made of? Are you blood bought? Are you redeemed? Are you the chosen generation in the royal priesthood? Is that who you are? What manner of person are you? Manner of person are you? And so, um, uh, to develop in the believer's authority, I've got four things for you that will help you answer that question, to where you're never a victim. I'm not saying you won't have trouble. I'm saying you'll have the answer to the trouble. I'm saying you'll stand up against that trouble and overcome that trouble. There's a lot of trouble to overcome and it comes to everybody. But the point is, what kind of person are you? Have you got that sphyserinctum? It's that I'm not bowing, I'm not backing up. See, you've got to be determined. All right, number one put God's Word first place. You've heard me say it over and over again. Put it at the top of the list of things that you prioritize. It's not down the list, it's first, number one first. God's word first. First. That means read your Bible first. I mean you just have to read your Bible, you have to get it in front of your eyes, you have to read it. It's not good enough to know what it says. You think you know what it says, but if you don't read it every day, you start to think wrong and you misquote. I've heard people misquote scripture because it's been so long since they looked at it. I mean, I sometimes I'll struggle to remember a verse. I know it best as well as I know my name. But when I start quoting I said I'm not. I'm not quoting it right, let me go back and and I'll go find it and quote it correctly. But you need to read your Bible every day. It's your, it's your life, it's it's the word of God. You know, john, chapter 15 says if you abide Jesus said this if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. You will and it shall be done unto you. That word ask is not beg, it's not really prayer, it's make a demand. You're not demanding of God, you're demanding of the devil. You are speaking, you are making a command, you're using authority. When you see that word ask, what are the two conditions for the ask to be done? Well, number one you've got to abide in him. So really learning who you are in Christ is key. Now get out of the idea of your DNA, your natural DNA, your family line and all of that kind of thing where you were born, what kind of you know, what's your racial background? None of that is even makes any difference at all. It's who you are, in Christ. Everything we have is in Christ, through Christ, with Christ. Our authority is in Christ, it's in Christ. And so you have to. And who is Jesus? Well, it's the word. So if you abide in him, that is, you abide in the word Amen, I mean we can say, yes, I'm saved, I abide in Christ. Well, that's the legal side. But the vital side, or the functional side of that, are you abiding in the word of God? Because the word of God is Jesus. So if you're not abiding in that word, you're missing one of the two caveats, one of the two conditions for your demands to be met. If Jesus said you abide in me in the word and my word abides in youth, point number two. Condition number two my word abides in you. Well, what does that mean? To the degree that you obey the word, that's how much it abides in you, to the degree that you are persuaded by the word, those two conditions, then you shall make a demand and whatever you demand will be granted your authority. A lot of times people's authority is not working for them like they thought it would. You know, pastor taught this. But man, check up on these two conditions in John, chapter 15. Jesus said it. In fact, it's worth looking at real quick John 15. This is not even in my notes. This came. There's no charge, there's no extra charge for this extra point. Right here, verse seven if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it will be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified. How many want to glorify God? Well, this is how you do it. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. This is how you bear fruit, by having your demands met. So shall you be my disciples. So shall be. You're not a disciple if you don't have your authority. That's not working. You're not really a disciple. You need to be a disciple, you need to be taught. That's why I'm teaching this. I teach this every few years at a very minimum, and I'm always talking about authority. I'm always demonstrating authority. When I minister to people, I rarely beg or ask. I mean, I just don't do that. I don't ask. I demand sickness to go off people. I demand devils to lead. Are you with me now? Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. So disciples are to walk in this authority. You put God's word first place, you put it at the top of the list. That's what you, you, you major on that. Then, of course, number two to be obedient day by day, to be a commit to yourself, to be a doer of the word. As you read this Bible, you'll come across things that maybe it's like a mirror. This is a mirror. Read it like it's a mirror, look into it, look into this perfect law of liberty, and when you come across a scripture that kind of scratches on you a little bit and you become aware that maybe you're not doing that word right there, maybe it has to do with forgiveness, maybe it has to do with walking in love, because that's the only commandment we have is to love, and if we don't forgive, then our prayers aren't heard, or perhaps it's so. Worry, a lot of worry. Right now, a lot of people are afraid. Yeah, we have a new president, but everything the economy is the same as it was. In fact, it's even worse. So some of you are still in a battle over your finances, or maybe your health, or whatever the battle is. Maybe things have not changed yet that you can tell in your favor. Well, you know, praise God, it's going to. If you don't give up, don't quit, but don't be anxious. Bible says be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication. With Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep and rise and Mount guard over your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. I like the message Bible Don't worry about anything, pray about everything, but pray with thanksgiving. What does that mean? It means that you believe, you receive, and then you don't have to worry. You're not going to stay up all night long thinking about your finances. You're not going to be worried about the IRS. Next couple months from now, irs, you know, I'm kind of looking forward to the IRS being the external revenue service, ers. How about the ERS? How about making Germany pay their fair share? France, canada, canada, boo, canada, no, I'm not there. They booed us first. Are you getting anything out of this? See, be a doer of the word, not a hearer, only deceiving your own self. When you read your Bible and you don't do what it says, then you become deceived. You start rating yourself higher than what reality is. I'm not trying to say depreciate yourself, I'm just saying line your life up with the Word. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Number three pray much in the Holy Ghost. First, corinthians 14 says when we pray in other tongues, our spirit prayeth, but our understanding is unfruitful. So it's spiritual activity. When we pray in tongues, our spirit is active. When we pray in tongues, our spirit is active. When your spirit is active, then it is ready to receive information from God that maybe you didn't know you had coming. There comes a knowing that starts rising up out of your spirit. Why? Because your spirit is active and you're praying in the Holy Ghost and all of a sudden, you just know your things, that you're going to know and strategies are going to rise and God can alert you to certain attacks that are might be forming that you haven't seen yet. He's in the planning stages. Isn't it better to get on the offense rather than on the defense? That's what I like about Trump he's always on the offense. He's not waiting for them to do something, he's going against them. He's just. I mean, you know, I just see so many things going on right now that are so encouraging for us and are teaching us how to operate. Pray much in the Holy Ghost. He that prays in an unknown tongue edifies himself, builds himself up, charges his battery, so to speak, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, jude, verse 20. Stir yourself. You know you stir yourself up when you pray in tongues. You stir yourself up Again spiritually. You need to become more spiritually dominant your spirit, to become more spiritually dominant your spirit. You are a spirit and since you are a spirit, then you've got to be dominant over your flesh. Your flesh is not you, your mind is not you, your spirit is you and your spirit needs to dominate your flesh and your mind. And one of the ways you can have that happen is you know what I'm saying Putting the word first place, being obedient to be a doer of the word and then praying much in the Holy Ghost. You're doing two things at one time. You're developing your faith and you're also developing your spirit. Man, isn't it amazing? It's the same thing. One action can do two things at once. While you're growing your faith, you're developing your spirit and your spirit's becoming more dominant over your flesh and your mind. And then, finally, the last one is answer every circumstance with it is written, and if you've done the other three, you won't have to fast and pray for two weeks and search the Bible day and night to find where it's written about your circumstance. I'm telling you when the circumstance rises. Probably you've already handled it, but if not, you're going to know what the word is to answer it. It is written devil. By his stripes I was healed. I don't accept that doctor's report. I'm submitting myself, therefore, to God. I resist sickness and it has to flee from me. I'm not putting up with these symptoms. In the name of Jesus, see, let's get. Hey, let's quit being so easy to get along with with the devil. Let's make it hard on him. Amen, are y'all getting this now? That way, when you come to a Red Sea, you'll have developed your faith along the way and you'll exercise the believer's authority and keep moving forward. Come on, lift your hands and receive today Hallelujah. Everybody say I'm moving forward. Nothing's stopping me now. Hallelujah, glory to God. Well, come on, let's rejoice over the word of God. Amen. Now, next week, I want to give you the word. The last message on this series, week four, is I want to remind you authority means mastery. One of the definitions of the word exousia is mastery, and I want to teach you on how to get your master's degree. Amen, is that going to be? I believe you're going to really like that message how to get your master's degree. Amen, I believe you're going to really like that message how to get your master's degree. Now, some of us have master's degree and master's in education and master's in different subjects, but when you have your master's in the authority of the believer, I'm telling you you've got something very valuable. Amen, amen, praise God, glory to God. Thank you, lord.