Bill Johnson teaches on the purpose of power and authority. It is impossible to share the Gospel and fulfill the Great Commission without power and authority. Authority comes with the commission, but power comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit. After commissioning His disciples, Jesus instructed them to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power. Power is not only for miracles and demonstrating the supernatural, but also for endurance. Enduring hardships and staying faithful to the Lord in times of difficulty sets us up for great increase and expansion of the Kingdom. This sermon is part of Bethel’s Missions Sunday. Whether you are called to go and share the Gospel in another nation, support a missionary through prayer and resource, or represent Jesus in your own community, everyone can do something. Every believer has the privilege and responsibility of partnering with God’s heart for discipling nations. Learn more about Bethel Missions here: https://www.bethel.com/ministries/mis…
power is not just for the Miracles I
believe in that as you know the
destroying of cancer or the addictions
or whatever it might be we believe that
and we pursue that but one of the
primary functions of power in the book
of Acts is the ability to endure it was
this baptism of fire that made it to
where they have no other option they
don’t look at life as having multiple
options they have look at life as I’ve
only got one option it’s to do whatever
he says and it’s the baptism of fire
that reduces the
options
[Applause]
thanks thank
you thanks thank you
thank
wow
coordinates that’s another level of
prophetic right
there she that’s
awesome I was at the McDonald’s
drive-thru this
morning
young lady behind me leaned on her
horn and started mouthing some ugly
things because I was taking too long to
place my
order when I got to the first window I
paid for her order along with my own the
server must have told her what I’d done
cuz as we moved up she leaned out her
window waved at me began mouthing thank
you thank you probably feeling
embarrassed that I had responded to her
rudeness with
kindness when I got to the second window
I showed the server both receipts and I
took her food
too now she has to go back to the end of
the line and start all over
again I know I shouldn’t like that one
but I really do like that I think that’s
so
funny one
more this is a story about a married
woman who decided to go on her own
private vacation to
Europe she went from the Midwest to
London and then she was planning to go
to Paris Rome and Vienna
when she got to London she called her
husband back home in the Midwest and
said how are you doing her husband said’
I’m doing fine but our cat Lucy died so
his wife starts balling her eyes out on
the phone when she regains her composure
she says you insensitive brute of a man
why did I ever marry someone like you
you have no concern for my feelings the
husband said well what was I supposed to
have said the wife thinks for a moment
she says well when I got to London and I
called you just as I did you could have
said Luc our cat is on the roof when I
got to Parish you could have said Luc
our cat fell off the roof when I got to
Rome you could have said Lucy’s not
doing well when I got to Vienna you
could have said Lucy died then the wife
said by the way how’s Mom the husband
said she’s on the
[Applause]
roof
oh probably shouldn’t like that one
either but I do I think that’s so funny
we’re going to receive an offering at
the end as mentioned uh open your Bibles
to Matthew 28 and we’re going to
actually look at some stuff we looked at
last week but I’m going to expand it a
bit more today and um we’ll do Acts
chapter 1 uh actually we’ve got several
passages but we’ll do Matthew 28 Acts
chapter 1
but let me just clear up some stuff on
this I’d rather do this now uh instead
of at the end first year Services I did
it at the end didn’t like it so I’ll try
at the beginning and if I don’t like it
this one then the next service I’ll do
it in the
middle I I have more chances to get this
right so um this is our missions card
it’s for you actually sometimes we do
pledge cards where you you make a
commitment to missions and then you put
it in an offering bag this one is
actually for you to keep record of of
your mission support what we’re looking
for what I really want to see happen is
for every single part uh member of of
bethl to support missions I don’t care
if it’s a dollar a month what I want is
I want it on your radar if I can get it
on your radar where we actually think
Nations it actually affects our
decisions daily it actually starts
moving into shaping priorities shaping
thoughts Ambitions dreams those kinds of
things and um so we’ve got two uh parts
of our mission
fund one is the general fund which was
already mentioned that enables us to put
on new missionaries or to address maybe
emergency needs uh opportunities that
are unusual that just opened and the
team can make decisions to invest around
the world uh but secondly we have U the
individual missionaries that are on the
list I still have I I use this every
month I still have my uh oh goodness
where did I put it I still have the card
that we put out a few years ago um with
the all the list of the missionaries
like are on here but on a single card
and that’s what I use every month if I
say well I want to invest in Tracy Evans
or and Ronin and Heidi Baker or whoever
I and then I can put the missions number
M for missionary and then the number
that that means the money is going to
them none of the money uh ever goes to
administrative costs or anything else
it’s always 100% towards uh towards
missions we uh we we take it onto
ourselves to do all the administrative
costs Etc so that’s uh that’s available
for you um there’s a uh on here you can
pray for a missionary and uh uh unreach
people group put it on there keep it in
your house or you just see it and just
remember uh put a pledge amount that
you’d be willing to give every month and
then U and then on the bottom it says
consider going and I I do encourage you
to to do that when when we were in in
Weaverville um you know it’s a city of
3,500 people the county is 18,000 and uh
you know the real political upheaval
came I discovered early on where the
nerve lied in that City it was when
somebody suggested we have a traffic
light oh my you thought we were being
invaded by the
Communists the second greatest turmoil
was when McDonald’s wanted to do
something put a restaurant there so
small
town I used I used to you know I’m one
of them I used to tease them saying this
is where elephants go to die but then I
would talk to them about our
International responsibility and see if
you think that it’s a it’s a big church
in a big city that has International
responsibility then you’re thinking like
Wall Street not like
Kingdom because in Kingdom one person in
God is a
majority so I I talk to we all the time
about International responsibility we
had our weekly prayer meetings for 17
years and we always prayed for Nations
it took a number of years for people to
catch it but we just didn’t
stop I think the last year I was there
we you know we got like a couple hundred
people in the church and uh last year I
was there we sent I think it was about
150 of them out in
missions so it’s it’s a huge part of
life you know the way I figured I said
not even the devil knows where
weberville is
we we get to Ambush him you know that
that was my philosophy so you know
nobody cared so we just got to
experiment and just go for it so all
right don’t quote me on that please
don’t quote me don’t quote me all right
open your Bibles to Matthew
28 we’ll read a couple scriptures
here verse 17 when they saw him now this
is when he resurrected when they saw him
they worshiped him but some
doubted it’s an average church service
right
there Verse 18 right you guys are going
to make me work hard aren’t you I can
tell yeah Jesus came and he spoke to
them saying all authority has been given
to me in heaven and on Earth go
therefore and Make Disciples of all the
nations baptizing them in the the name
of the father and of the son and of the
Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you and lo
I with you always even to the End of the
Age all authority has been given to me
in heaven and on Earth please please uh
work to make uh to recognize when Heaven
and Earth are mentioned in the same
phrase because there was always intended
to be a likeness a similarity an
influence they are not in opposition not
supposed to be in opposition to each
other one is supposed to influence the
other and that’s the way it’s always
been
designed all authority has been given to
me in heaven and on Earth go
therefore and Make Disciples of all the
nations baptizing them in the name of
the Father the Son the Holy Spirit
teaching them to observe all things I’ve
commanded you I remind you Matthew
chapter 10 Jesus commanded them to heal
the sick raise the Dead cast out Devils
Etc it was never meant to decline it was
never the miracle Ministry was never
meant to take a break it was always
intended to be the heart and soul of the
gospel and it’s the responsibility of
everyone who follows Jesus to learn it
and impart it the way that we U do
things in the kingdom is we we teach we
model and we
impower we teach we model we Empower if
it comes to healing or the prophetic or
discipleship anything that we do you
teach it it’s got to be declared first
number two is you have to model it you
have to give the illustration number
three you have to give people
opportunity to do it so you you teach
you model and you
Empower Acts chapter 1 brings us to the
second passage that I want to uh read uh
uh to kick off this morning’s uh
message Acts chapter
1 starting with verse four being
assembled together with them he
commanded them not to depart for from
Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of
the Father which he said you have heard
from me for John truly baptized with
water but you shall be baptized in the
Holy Spirit not many days from
now therefore when they asked him excuse
me therefore when they had come together
they asked him saying Lord will you at
this time restore the kingdom to Israel
and he said to them it is not for you to
know times or
Seasons which the father has put or
fixed by his own authority but you shall
receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you you shall be witnesses to
me in Jerusalem
in Judea Samaria to the end of the
Earth you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you you shall
be witnesses to me in Jerusalem in all
Judea Samaria to the end of the
Earth the issue of power and authority
these are not um it’s not like uh you’re
buying a car and you have optional
equipment power and authority is the
engine of the car I mean you don’t have
a car without it and the gospel the
essence of the Gospel is literally
carried out Illustrated demonstrated
imparted to people because there’s
Authority because there’s
power what you notice in the Matthew
passage is that Authority was for the
purpose of discipling Nations power is
for the purpose of transforming Nations
and there is a
difference discipleship has a
direction um Chris Valentin just got
back from the the Washington prayer
Presidential Prayer Breakfast and uh one
of the speakers this year I think the
main speaker for the breakfast itself
was the president of Rwanda Rwanda is
going through one of the most
extraordinary
reformations in all of history from when
he inherited this position some years
ago to have a million people slaughtered
innocently slaughtered in this uh
horrible stuff that was going on in the
Tribal wars Etc in just a few months to
go to a place where reconciliation
started they learned how to walk in
forgiveness and they are now building so
what do you do when you’re building a
nation you have to build infrastructure
that helps everyone to win everyone to
be successful it involves education
medicine it involves business it
involves Church life but there’s there’s
the wisdom involved to actually build
structures that make room for the
blessing of God and the work of God in
families and in communities this is the
privilege of building a nation
and that’s what this uh this man in uh
in Rwanda is doing I forgot his name but
uh but he’s having profound effect on
his country and surrounding Nations what
is Authority for Authority is for that
Authority is for the purpose of
discipling
Nations now only a nation can disciple a
nation I can disciple an
individual but it’s our understanding of
being a holy nation positions us
emotionally mentally and spiritually to
be effective in the discipling process
it’s in that posture of understanding we
are actually a nation that is learning
how to discover how God functions as he
directs and empowers Nations to become
something in that context we have the
capacity for discipling
yes 1 Peter 2:9 says you are a royal
priesthood a holy nation
a people for God’s Own
possession there’s not a lot of talk
about it for me or most anybody I know
about us actually having an identity as
a nation but that is who we are and
learning to think of ourselves as a
people that are here as a nation of
servants to bring out the best in all
the surrounding Nations it’s not a
competitive thing it’s not you come
serve us it’s the opposite it’s that we
are empowered with Insight with Grace
with spirit of God to come and Empower
and to train and to teach and to release
Nations into their capacity into their
potential discipleship is about is is
about U uh being conformed yeah becoming
Like
Him Luke says that a a student when he
is fully trained will be like his
teacher so the whole purpose of
discipling is to raise up individuals
and then in this context Nations that
are like
Jesus it’s not about getting people
ready to go to heaven that’s the endgame
obviously but there’s supposed to be a
way of life that is modeled in how I do
family how I do business how I do
politics how I do education how I do
medicine all these areas are supposed to
come under the influence of people who
function in Authority not for personal
gain but for the benefit of the whole
using Divine wisdom to BU build
something yes and Authority is unto that
end Authority is not optional equipment
for us neither is
power Jesus came having been
commissioned from the father 1 John
3:8 the son of man was sent to destroy
the works of the evil one so Jesus came
on assignment to destroy the works of
the evil
one he came commission but he didn’t
come with power now as God he has all
power I get that and he never stopped
being God but he chose to live in in a
in a restricted way as the son of man
dependent on the father to show him what
to do in the spirit of God who rested
upon him to enable him to do what he was
assigned to
do he did so to model to give us an
example that could actually be followed
and so Jesus came with authority why
because he said yes to the mission the
father gave him a mission destroy the
works of the evil and he came in the
mission and came with authority but he
didn’t come with power he needed an
encounter
because Authority comes in the
commission but power comes in the
encounter so Jesus comes commissioned
with
authority but he went to be baptized by
John in that moment the spirit of God
Came Upon him it was after that you
start seeing him walking in
power the point is is that power
transforms discipleship
builds wow that’s good there’s a lot lot
of people that have personal
transformation but they don’t know how
to do
life does that make sense it does it
does to me let Let Me Trace you let me
think through this for a minute
somebody’s transform we’ve seen it we’ve
seen it so countless times where this
encounter with the almighty God there’s
this incredible transformation of their
life all the addictions that they had
all the stuff that they had is broken
off but how many you know when all the
bad stuff is gone you still have to
build
something and discipleship is for the
purpose of Busom uh building wisdom
gives us access to the tools to build
something that is longlasting
power starts a Revival wisdom sustains
it and Authority is what gives us access
to the realm of wisdom that God has made
available for
us in
discipleship all authories has been
given to
me disciple Nations yeah in Authority we
do but in power we
become he said and you will be my
Witnesses good as I heard stated
recently in authority we do right we
function we have specific assignments
Expressions because of the mantle of
authority that we
carry but in power we become in other
words it’s like the hands of a pot the
power of God comes upon a person to
start shaping their lives their values
how they think their Ambitions Etc these
things are shaped in a person by a power
encounter and they are distinct they
overlap in in nature but they are
distinct I I feel like I missed this the
first two Services I thought about
earlier today I just feel like the Lord
is is like he’s giving us an invitation
for a baptism of
fire a fresh fresh baptism
individually family and corporate that
there’s there’s something that’s that’s
in the air it’s been happening for a
while but there’s something in the air
about to equip and train and and Empower
release people into different different
levels of expressions of the
Gospel I I have friends who they’ve been
beaten they’ve been imprisoned they’ve
been shot at they’ve been they’ve had so
many horrible things uh happen to them
in the preaching of the
gospel and every one of them that I know
of will
say they couldn’t have endured without
that specific encounter they had with
the Lord there was an overwhelming power
encounter they point back to that and
they say they never would have been able
to make it see Power is not just for the
Miracles I believe in that as you know
part the the the destroying of cancer or
the addictions or whatever it might be
we believe that and we pursue that but
one of the primary functions of power in
the book of Acts is the ability to
endure it was this baptism of fire that
made it to where they have no other
option they don’t look at life as having
multip options they have look at life
I’ve only got one option it’s to do
whatever he says and it’s the baptism of
fire that reduces the
options as you look through the book of
Acts uh turn to chapter nine of Acts if
you would as you look through the book
of Acts you see
um you this you see this cycle in the
first uh eight
chapters when you when you get to
chapter 10 uh you’re somewhere around 10
years after the day of Pentecost so
we’re not looking at 2 weeks after
Pentecost and when you look at uh you
look at this cycle what you have is you
have an outpouring of the spirit and
then you have added increase of souls
people added to the church and then
persecution then you have outpouring of
the spirit people added to the kingdom
then persecution outpouring of the
spirit people added and
persecution but something happened when
Stephen was being
killed he was he was a man described
full of the Holy Spirit and full of
wisdom I I really he’s one of the guys I
admire most in the Bible because he
wasn’t one of the originals but he rose
up under their influence and came to
such a place of prominence because of
his tenderheartedness he’s like here’s
here’s this this lover of people this
lover of God God so here he’s got
extraordinary wisdom he’s filled with
the spirit of God and he’s being killed
and Saul of Tarsus is on the side and
he’s the the ring leader of this
murderous mob that is going to take out
Christians and he’s been sent both by
religious leaders and government to find
these Christians that are causing such
upheaval in in communities you know
upheaval like getting people free of
drugs and
stuff it’s only upheaval if you’re
selling the drugs
[Music]
so um they sent Saul to as the ring
leader and as they’re killing Stephen he
looks up into heaven and he sees the
heavens
open and then it says that he sees Jesus
the son of God the son of man standing
at the right hand of the father well we
know in Scripture it says that Jesus was
seated at the right hand of the father
but in this moment he is standing to
welcome the first martyr of the church
so Ste Steven is killed but right before
he dies he prays and he says God don’t
lay this to their account in other words
God forgive them he prayed a similar
prayer to what Jesus prayed forgive them
they don’t know what they’re doing
what’s the
point Stephen targeted the people that
were killing him to
[Music]
be places where God would visit in the
future yes individual that God would
bring transformation to fast forward
next chapter two chapters later the Saul
who was looking for more Christians to
kill has an encounter with Jesus on the
Road God in his uh kindness knocks him
off his
donkey the Holy Spirit the gentleman
you’ve heard of
him knocks him off his donkey and he has
this encounter with God he’s blind for
several days and it’s a bizarre story
but he was born
again Saul the biggest enemy of the
church so here’s this enemy who was
prayed for by a man who was dying he was
being literally being killed in the
moment and if ever you’ve heard a
sacrificial prayer a prayer that cost
something instead of working to protect
myself to pray for me for my family my
own personal safety whatever he put all
that aside and he prayed for the who
were killing him and in the next scene
you see God visit one of those he prayed
for and Saul became the major influence
in the New Testament of bringing the
gospel to the nations of the world
missions it came out of that moment
missions was birthed in that moment of
prayer God forgive them they don’t know
what they’re
doing both Authority and power were
focused on
Nations all authority is been given to
me go disciple Nations you’ll be clothed
with power and you’ll take it to the
other most parts of the earth both
Realms were to set us up equip us to
have impact on the course of history
literally influencing
Nations and so here’s this cycle of
outpouring of the spirit addition of
Souls and persecution outpouring of the
spirit addition of souls persecution and
now Saul gets
saved chapter 9:31
one of the coolest verses in the whole
book of Acts verse 31 says the churches
throughout all Judea Galilee Samaria the
places Jesus had propes prophesied about
in Acts 1 ver8 Judea Galilee Samaria had
peace and were edified and walking in
the fear of the Lord and in the comfort
of the Holy Spirit they were
multiplied up until now we have
addition but because power enabled
endurance
because power enabled
endurance you have the exponential
increase because you’ve been faith for
long period and now all of a sudden
there’s multiplication multiplication
was set up because of people who had
encounters with God and they walked in
power and the power they saw the
Miracles they saw the extraordinary
things happen but they also faced
praying I’m sure for Steven to be spared
yes if you and I are in that crowd and
we know him we’re praying God spare him
and it didn’t happen and here’s what
happens when you have your worst moment
if you handle it well it becomes the
back door to your greatest
promotion and so here we’ve got stepen
being martyred the worst moment in the
next scene the guy who the ring leader
gets saved and all of a sudden we got
church moving into mul
multiplication it’s about it’s the
Harvest of souls yes
one of the most important things to
learn in this in this uh role of of
being a follower of
Jesus is that when I value what he
values he starts valuing what I
value what do you think it means when it
says seek first the kingdom and all
these things will be
added it means just that you take on
what he values and you allow his values
to shape you when that takes place then
he’s ready to listen to your values you
say well why doesn’t he do that first
because then he’s building a
self-centered person instead of a
kingdom oriented person that can be
trusted with blessing see when blessing
is the reward and not the pursuit it it
it uh solidifies the Devotion to
Christ I didn’t say that as good as I
could
have when the blessing of the Lord is is
added to a life in a reward it
reinforces the Devotion to Christ but
when the blessing of the Lord becomes
the
pursuit then it creates a division of
the
heart
one of the things that has excited me
the most in the last I I would say 10 10
years has been the discovery this may
seem a little silly to you but has been
the discovery of the word proverb in
what it
means
it it put together this many many many
years a quest for divine
wisdom it brought a missing piece to me
that I never had I never knew Brian
Simmons of the passion translation was
sharing this concept with me that the
word proverb actually comes from a word
that means to Reign or to
rule and that the essence of wisdom is
to enable a person to rule over life to
reign it’s not reigning over people it’s
reigning over life it’s that money
doesn’t control me I control
money you can tell if you’re controlled
by money because money is what uh forces
you to make
decisions I can’t afford this I can’t
afford this everything’s based on money
instead of you directing it to where you
want it to
go so with wisdom then was always
designed to equip us to reign in life so
I’m I’m just I’m fascinated by this
invitation of the Lord to disciple
Nations he he didn’t say your
neighbor which would have been good
enough he said
Nations because that’s how he
thinks that’s how he thinks that we make
decisions today that affects the course
of history for Nations
it’s going to be interesting for all of
us exciting fun and terrifying all at
the same time when we stand before the
Lord and we see the effect of every
dollar that was given every word of
kindness that we gave every moment you
stop to visit a friend when it was
inconvenient and and we’ll see the
ripple effect into eternity of all these
various things there won’t be any part
of your life that you won’t be able to
see the effect of hard decisions easy
decisions and the impact it had on
eternity and I can tell you I can I can
only I can only imagine that nothing
else is going to matter to me in that
moment than than that it’s going to be
what did I do with what I was
given and it’s not a guilt thing into
giving it’s a it’s a living from
eternity like right now now it’s just
living thinking of Eternal
impact and if Nations has never been uh
a part of uh your thinking then learn
you know just pick one you know pick
Japan and then whenever you see it in
the news you know just read the article
or something do something to where it
stands out to you pick some place on the
earth pick one of these 12 tribes that
you can just pray for maybe it’s just
once a week but you what you do is you
you just don’t lose track with not only
an invitation of the Lord for you
personally but your identity in a family
that’s been given an
assignment those coordinates is that the
most extraordinary thing ever a three to
five-year-old girl gets numbers and it
takes you right to I want to go find
that
Shepherd where where is he hiding my
goodness that’s just bizarre that’s
right but that’s that’s the Lord that to
me that reaffirmed this entire two weeks
right there for us as a family
it was his amen here let me show you
I’ll speak through a
child
wow thank you
Lord I think I’m done
pretty sure Chris why don’t you come up
and do what only you can
do you
already yeah you know your
[Applause]
part