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UNDER AUTHORITY

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

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UNDER AUTHORITY

Preface

(authority and submission)

It’s trendy for people to laugh, kick against, and mock authority. They particularly mock those who come under authority. People will laugh at you for taking God so seriously. 2 Timothy 3:3 says there will be those who despise those who are good.

However, if we yield ourselves over to Jesus, we can come under His authority, and we can obtain His authority.

James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Sickness and torment are works of the devil. You need to address that with a greater authority - Jesus Christ, but you must submit to Jesus before the devil will listen to you!

UNDER AUTHORITY

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

Matthew 8:5‑10 says, “And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

Matthew 8:13 says, “And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, fled to Egypt, and then He was raised in Nazareth. One of the places He lived and ministered to was Capernaum. A centurion in that region had been watching Jesus, and he could identify with His authority.

Roman Centurions basically got their rank by having at least a hundred soldiers under them. He was a military man and understood authority. As a man of means, and since he had so much authority, he needed assistance in his household duties. Therefore he had servants. Soldiers were ready at his call, as his job required.

When you are under authority, you’ve got connections. No one has made General without first being a Private, but most people don’t even want to submit themselves as a Private. When you are under authority, you represent that authority, and you must be subject to that authority above you before you can enact authority.

The United States was won and has been kept to this hour by God’s grace and by those who were willing to submit to authority to fight battles for the sake of the nation. When you go into the military or become a police officer there’s a chance you can get killed. Understand that when you are in authority, you are faced with a variety of things that could be life threatening.

The centurion saw that Jesus was a man under authority, and consequently he knew that he had authority because of it. You have no authority unless you are subject to authority.

If you are rebellious and constantly kick against authority, you will have no authority when it is time to take authority. If we don’t submit ourselves to God, the devil does not have to flee from us.

The authority that you are willing to sit under and be under is the authority that will rule over you. Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

If you even dabble with the devil, he’ll take authority over you. He can take authority over your body, mind, and spirit - complete or in part! Just a little bit of the devil is enough to get you down, make you sick, and give you trouble.

The centurion had a servant who was grievously tormented with palsy. Palsy is a devil that causes people not to rest. Sickness and torment are works of the devil. You need to address that power and authority with a greater authority.

When the strong man (which is the enemy working against humanity) is armed, he keeps his goods. He’s in authority, but when a stronger than he comes along, he will be spoiled. The stronger one will bind him and command him to let go of what he has. He is overcome by a higher authority. (See Matthew 12:28‑29.)

The one you yield to is your master. You can say that you don’t yield to anybody; you just do what you want to do, but that means anything your body wants, your soul will yield to it. What we want in our human normal way a lot of times will get us in deep trouble and drag other people down too!

Man was created under the authority of Almighty God, and God walked with him. One of the first things

God said to man was that man had dominion over the earth. Man is supposed to have full, God given authority over everything in this realm. It was lost when we sinned. Man preferred one bite of fruit off the forbidden tree and gave all that up. That was not a good trade, and we suffer the consequences. Thank God for Jesus who came in the authority of God Almighty!

If we yield ourselves over to Jesus, we can come under His authority and obtain His authority. John 14:12 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” When you believe in something you will yield to it, and you can depend on it.

The centurion saw something in Jesus he’d never seen in another man, but he realized they had something in common, authority. He knew Jesus was a man under authority, because when somebody was sick He told the sickness to go and the person got well; the sickness listened to Jesus. The centurion said it was like when he told his servant, Go and do this, and he did it. When he told a solider to do something, whatever it was, the soldier did it! (See Matthew 8:9.)

He said he was a man under authority too. He didn’t say, I’m a man who has authority. He said, I’m a man under authority. If you are under authority, you will automatically have authority. People are trying to get authority without coming under authority, and it doesn’t work.

Luke 7:2‑5 says, “And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.”

Perhaps the centurion had heard about the sea calmed by Jesus. Jesus restored the power that God gave man originally over all things in this realm, even the storms, winds, and waves. If people would understand it, He also gave us power over all the power of the enemy (see Luke 10:19). Jesus talked to inanimate things and got them corrected if they were out of line and out of the will of God. That’s amazing, and now by the Holy Ghost we can operate in the gift of miracles!

The centurion knew his own authority was limited, but he knew the authority of Jesus had no limit. Jesus was ready to go to the man’s house, because He’s ready to deal with us even when our faith is small, but he asked Jesus to speak the word only and his servant would be healed!

Luke 7:9 says, “When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

Faith pleases God. It blesses God when a person is willing to come under His authority in his day to day life so when a need arises they will have authority from God for every need. Luke 12:32 says, “. . . it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

God loves man whom He created in His image. It pleases Him to pull man up out of the miry clay, set his feet on the rock Christ Jesus, and give him back the authority he lost. Man can stand over the top of a superior being, a devil, and command it to go in the name of Jesus! It pleases God to watch man use the authority He gave him and to see him cast out devils, heal the sick, and take authority over everything ungodly.

If it means acting and doing differently, do so. Get on your knees and get a hold of God. Let Him fill you with the Holy Ghost, and then yield to Him until He sends the victory. That’s submitting under God’s authority. Then you have power to resist the devil.

Our nation is at war for its very soul. The United States of America, its government, its liberal news media, and even churches, are trying to get out from under the authority of God! They want God out of the court room, the Ten Commandments out of our schools, and out of the public arena completely. When we start getting out from under the authority of God, we start to lose our authority!

When you are under authority, something in you drives you to please that authority, because judgment can be imposed upon you if you go contrary to or rebel against that authority.

There are a lot of reactions to authority. Some people get angry when someone preaches on Holiness. They get angry when they see the cop pull out behind them, Yeah, I know I was doing 80 in a 55, but he just needs to leave me alone and get a real criminal. He’s stopping you now before some family pulls out in front of you and gets killed, because you drove too fast!

You may not like the person in authority, but you should respect their position. Many of our soldiers are not saved, but their position keeps them going. Many times the King of Israel was not godly, but there were praying people who were under God’s authority, and God blessed the nation for it in spite of those in power, for a time.

In spite of those who are in authority in our land who have been ungodly, God has shed His grace on us and given us victory in battle to protect the people that do serve Him. His mercy is because of the submission of the saints to the authority of God and for absolutely no other reason.

The devil is at war with this nation. If you come out from under the authority of God, you automatically go under the authority of the devil. Jesus came to save that which was lost. It didn’t say ‘who’ was lost ‑ it said ‘that’ which was lost.

Jesus didn’t come just to save sinners. He sent the power of the Holy Ghost that we might walk upright as He did, being joint heirs connected with Jesus Christ. God will restore His glory in the earth that we gave away so long ago.

Revival will bring back the fear of God. Folks, when you come under God’s authority you also come under His protection. When the Twin Towers fell, there was a trend to move God out of the school, the court house, the government, science class, etc. People want to be their own authority, and man wants to be on his own!

Some say man can be God, and they don’t believe in a devil. Most churches don’t preach on the Devil, and rarely address him by name anymore. There are people who have authority over the devil, but they don’t use it, because they don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about the Devil in front of people! Some will think you are dark ages mentality or a simpleton.

Let God deal with you about any rebellion in your heart, or any laziness, or any complacency. Be careful to be faithful in that which is least so God will make you ruler over much.

I pray that God would arise in the church again and let His enemies be scattered!

Sometimes we don’t willfully resist God, but for the most part we neglect Him in our lives. Seek His face and say, Lord, forgive me where I’ve not yielded. Forgive me where I’ve wasted time, and forgive me where I’ve not given my all to you. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Put me under your canopy of protection again.

James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL 62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord. Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.