Three Keys to A Life of Authority

This is North Way tape number 492. This message on keeping the flame of the Holy Spirit burning was delivered by Pastor Jay Passamant of North Way Christian Community on April 13th, 1986. Turn to 2nd Timothy, would you please? Chapter 1. 2nd Timothy, chapter 1. There's so much happening in our church, beloved. I pray that you're in tune with what's going on. Steve, would you hand me that? North Way notes right there. If you don't read this and take it home with you and put it up somewhere, you're going to miss some great things. These last two Wednesday night services we've had that most of you missed, now hear me now, were life-changing kinds of services. I'm a different person because what I heard a 71 year old man say on Wednesday night. I don't know what your schedule is, but if you are in the area on Wednesday night, we're not going to have meetings that don't amount to anything. We believe God's ordained those meetings to be full of his presence and I want to urge you to do that. How many were here Friday night at the concert? Wasn't that special? I heard so much about that, that God just touched people through that. So we're not doing things to keep you busy. We want life and you need to take this thing home and read it, put it up where you'll know what's going on week by week. It's so important that you take that responsibility. Now let's look at 2nd Timothy here. Let's begin in verse 3. I thank God whom I serve as my forefathers did with a clear conscience. As night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I've been reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me his prisoner. When Paul writes to Timothy, I so identify with what he says to this man of God. It's like Paul is looking right in on us here at North Way, seeing us as Timothy involved in a young growing church. Saying as it were, you don't know what's going on here, but God's doing something. I don't know how many times I feel that way. And the way that Paul addresses Timothy makes me think that perhaps you too could identify with some of the things that are being said. Paul sees Timothy as he really is, see if one of these five descriptions fits you, under a lot of physical attacks and ailments, naturally timid and retiring and shy. Better grab this one, young or youngish, okay. Under lots of opposition from others in other churches. Finally, under a constant state of persecution by those around him that represented the government and rulers. Now, I'm probably on pretty safe ground to saying that one of those five describes you today. Maybe all of them do, but I know that Timothy is much like many of us in that life so often causes us fear. There is a place in which fear would come into our lives at almost every turn. Dr. Thomas on Wednesday night said, something just has really struck me, that the people of India where he has lived in as a native worship a religion of fear. Could you imagine worshiping a religion of fear? Because beloved as he said so well, you become like what you worship and the people in that nation are people in fear of animals and insects because they worship them. And I want you to know today that God has come to say to us that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-discipline. I'm so excited about what he wants to say to us today church. I want to ask you a question. If you were to be really honest this morning, could you say that the flame of God that Paul refers to there in verse 7, 6 and 7, is sparkling in your heart? Is that flame really dancing brightly with the love of God, the flame of the Holy Spirit's life in you? Or if you were honest, is it dimming out? Is it less powerful than it was a few months ago? There's so many, many things beloved that happen in our lives that can put some water in that flame, aren't there? I want you to know that none of us are impervious to those kinds of things. It happens to us. I was with a pastor one night this week that most of you would know if I would name his name. In a span of two months he had some personal losses and so on in his day-to-day finances. Then lightning struck his house, blew out the electricity and he lost all of his appliances that were hooked up to it, all the ones that couldn't be repaired like a refrigerator. He lost TV set and VCR and all those things. Then he went to take his car in to get the tires aligned and there was so much wrong with the car that was like 400 and some dollars worth of damage underneath the car that he had to get fixed. And then he got his income tax back from the accountant and he owed $1,700. I want you to know that he was getting some water put on that flame. It was burning brightly in him. Now most of us seem, in my estimation, to come under the the diminishing of that flame in three ways. Now, I hope this little diagram came out okay. The first one, there's the flame. That's the flame of the Holy Spirit in your heart. First of all, there is an unseen thing that happens to us. That's the left-hand side. An outside oppression. These are things that just tend to seem to happen to us. Things go wrong. We get put down by some circumstance that comes along. Sickness, you know. Sickness hits us. When we least expect it and it's an oppression that comes and we just seem to be under it. That's something that belittles or diminishes you. You know, you're working at your job and you suddenly lose three of your major accounts, whatever it might be. That puts out the flame of God. Number two, other relationships cause strife and that can put out the flame of God in your heart, can't it? Let me know what it's like to live with someone that's contentious and you come burning back with the zeal of God from church. And they stand there with a fire hose, you know. And they're selfish and they are insensitive to your heart and they're uncaring about what's going on in your life. And in worst cases, maybe it's a boss or someone that you work for that manipulates you and tries to get over on you by pulling things out from underneath you and putting you in difficult situations. That puts the flame out. And finally, sometimes, how many of you say, I'm my own worst enemy? It's me. I mean, I'm the one, I'm causing my problems. I don't have any discipline. I'm always just kind of taking the easy way out. When the alarm goes off at six o'clock to get up for a quiet time, I put it off. I'm my own worst enemy in that. And the self in us can put out that flame of God. Now, beloved, unless you do something, listen to me, those forces, keep it up please, those forces will put out that flame. Are you with me? How many of you know that your Christian life just doesn't get better and better and better automatically? It just doesn't happen. If you sit back and do nothing, that flame, I guarantee, is going to start to waver and flicker and eventually go out. And when it starts happening, you know what happens in us? Fear rises up. Fear begins to choke off the life and we're afraid that we're out of touch and afraid that God's not going to speak to us anymore. I don't know how many times I've heard the enemy say, in the last year, you're not hearing from God anymore. Your flame's going down because of one of these things. And I want to share with you today, tied together with last week's teaching about the authority of God, how you can bring the rule of God in every one of those three areas today. I want to share this with you. I believe God is going to change some of our lives today because of this. Because you see, we have a choice, beloved, to either rule in these areas or be ruled, to dominate or to be dominated, to move in fear or to move in the faith that God gives us, to exercise our authority or to be crushed by the enemy who would rule over us. How many people am I describing this morning that are affected by one of these three areas? The rest of you, you can you can check out now. I want to, first of all, talk to you about the Spirit of the Lord coming on us, not in fear, but in power, in power. Last week, I talked to you about the authority of God on three levels. It was invisible, incredible, and inclusive. We have that outline up there? We've talked last week that authority was invisible, incredible, and inclusive. And that authority, that power, happens in the unseen realm. Now, don't be fooled about this. When I talk about authority in the unseen realm, church, it relates to where you are. Some while back, I counseled with a couple and one of the parties in this couple, they just could not get out of depression. And every time they turned around, something else was just triggering that depression again. Now, I know enough counseling to know what is supposed to cause that and all, but do you know that it wasn't until we addressed some spiritual powers over this person's life that they began to discover liberty. Someone asked me the other day, what is oppression, Jay? What's oppression? I said oppression is something that comes from without on your life. You know what depression is? Depression is when you accept that. Now, hear that. Oppression is what Satan would put on your life. Depression is when you accept it. Hear that. A lot of you'd be set free from depression and moodiness if you'd understand. I want you to know, I went through it this week. I was under just a subtle thing that I don't think anyone could have seen. But I was going through it. You know, Carol and my family, they knew it and some of the people that I had fellowship with knew it. But last night the Lord showed me it was because I accepted it, that I fell into the moodiness of it. And I'm here to say to you today, God does not want us to be subject to the powers of darkness, but to subject them to us on a day-to-day basis, moment by moment. Now, beloved, this is so important. When you start to move out, don't forget what Paul says here to Timothy, ties with verse 8. Don't be afraid to testify. And as we're looking toward evangelism, this next weekend will change your life. Those of you who choose not to come because you're just too busy, you know, cutting your lawns and things, you're gonna miss a blessing. You're gonna miss a time of God's outpouring in our church. It's gonna change us. But I know from reading history and watching TV, and maybe many of you were part of something like this, in a wartime situation, when the infantry troops were about to take some land, I think, for example, I know this was true in the island of Guam in World War II. It was true in Vietnam. The infantry troops would never go ahead until what took place, if at all possible. They brought air support in to just rake and strafe whether those territories that were held by the enemy. If it was possible, they'd bring in, you know, light bombers, and they'd just shell that area and wham, wham, wham, crushing the resistance until when the troops finally landed on the island, what did they have to do? They just had to just take authority and go on in. Now, it didn't always work that way. But I know, having had officer training in the Marine Corps, that that was the first thing I knew to do. Hey, I'm gonna call in the Air Force here, guys, and get this place taken care of. Now, can I say to you that in evangelism, the strafing that's to come, the air support that you call in is in the heavenly places. And when God wants to start moving through you in a spirit of evangelism, you've got to start, first of all, exercising your authority in the heavenly places. You've got to begin by binding principalities and powers in spiritual dominions in dark places. Carl Adler shared with us Wednesday night how God used him to lead a man to Christ on Wednesday. How he just, in the course of his job, was out on a project and saw a man who's a builder here of homes in the north area. And Carl just started talking to him, and the Lord opened the discussion. And Carl was praying in the spirit as he went. Led the man into their vehicle while it was raining a little bit, or whatever, and started to share Jesus. And the man said, I need this. Let's pray. Okay. But Carl shared with me, he said, you know, I took authority. I took authority over principalities and powers. I moved in that unseen realm to take that land for God, to take that person's heart. Who saw USA Today on Friday? Now, you're not gonna get a lot of airplay on this in the media, but beloved, after years and years and years of prayer and trying, 7-Eleven is no longer selling pornography. Hallelujah! And it says right in here, it blames Jerry Falwell. And the prayer of the Saints has had effect. Hallelujah! Now, we don't see that, you know, happening right and left all the time, but we see it enough. We've seen the abortion clinic close. We've seen, you know, this is 4,500 stores that aren't going to be distributing that stuff anymore. It's the power of God moving to bring about victories in the unseen places. And Paul says to Timothy, don't be timid anymore. God hasn't given you a spirit of timidity, but a power in the unseen places. And how many times I see, beloved people, accepting oppression, accepting that down, depressive kind of attitude, when they could easily rise up and take authority over what Satan wants to put on them. The church of Jesus, this church of Jesus, is learning to move in that unseen realm where there's power. And I want you to know, beloved, we are coming together week by week, day by day, to break the power of blindness over people's spiritual eyes, of religion. We're taking authority over the dominions of materialism and mammon that hold people in luxury, unaware of their spiritual condition. And I just want you to know that every morning at 630, there's an air raid going on. If you want to be part of it, you just come. God's growing our meetings up, one by one. But I want you to know, power is being released in the heavenly places. Hallelujah. I'm excited about what God wants us to do in the unseen. Now once we learn with Timothy, as Paul has taught him, to move in power, in dunamis, in the unseen. Now listen, it works itself out in love, in the seen realm. Paul says, the Lord has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love. The authority that Jesus brings to his church is an authority of love. Now listen to this. So much of what we are accustomed to moving in, in the corporate world, in the day-to-day structure in which we live, is authority is lorded. Are you with me? A corporation comes and said, we have more money than you, so we're buying you out, and we're getting rid of all your people. Now that's authority. Money is power. Power is authority to do what we please. Some of you are here today. You've been, you've lost your jobs because someone took authority over your company and moved it out. In our homes, there's a hierarchy of authority. It's funny how the kids recognize that, isn't it? Every time Carol says to the kids, no, you can't watch any TV tonight, whatever it might be, Jonathan will come in and say, dad, you're the boss. Can't we watch some TV tonight? I've learned to submit that authority. You listen to your mom. You see, beloved, the authority of Jesus is not an authority that lords over another. He says this in Mark chapter 10, 42. You don't need to turn there, but write it down. Mark 10, 42. Jesus said, your authority is not like the Gentiles. You don't tell people what to do. You don't lord it over them. You don't demand this and that. Your authority is your love. My love is my power, Jesus says. That's the source of the power of God. And can I say to you, listen to this, I hope you're writing this down, the greatest power in the world today is the power of agape love. I want to say that again. The greatest power in the world today is the power of agape love. Agape love, the love of God, is the greatest power in the world today. Do you know, beloved, that communism will never rule this world? There will never be a day when love will fail on this earth, because the Bible says so. Now we said on Easter Sunday that the greatest enemy in all the world was the enemy of death. And Satan exercised that enemy of death as he willed for centuries and millennia. But Jesus Christ came and took the power of death and subjected it to his love. You see, it was because Jesus, in love, gave his life that God then raised him in authority over death. Read in 1 Corinthians 15, that was the last enemy to be defeated by the resurrection of Jesus. So love conquered death. And now this love, beloved, that we share as believers in Jesus, the Bible says we are now more than conquerors by him who loved us and gave himself for us. There will never be a situation where love will fail. Isn't that wonderful? Turn to someone and say, love never fails. Would you say that to them? Love never fails. You say, well, you say, Jay, there's 30 or 40 or 50 million communist believers, that is to say, believers in communist China. Is love failing them? Let me tell you something. In their hearts, they are the freest people on the face of the earth. And I will just submit to you that one day, communism will fail. One day, love will rule over communism. One day, love will rule over all the oppressions and the dictatorships of the earth. Because love is the strongest power on the face of the earth today. Love toward the lost. Love toward the mocking. Love toward the negative and the critical. Love toward your enemies. I'm speaking this morning to some people who everyday you face someone who is critical, negative and puts you down. Maybe in your job, maybe in your home, in your neighborhood. And God is telling you today, even as I speak, that your power in that situation is the power of love. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said that in the prisons, when he was in the gulag, that as long as he tried to take care of himself, that his tormentors, the guards and so on, had authority over him. But when he loved them, they had no authority over his life. What a liberty that is. I read a really beautiful story this week about a missionary by the name of Sarah Corson. Now listen, how many people here are considering short-term mission trips? Put your hand up, real high. Alright, hallelujah, there's over a hundred there. This woman was leading a short-term mission trip of 17 young people in a jungle area in a South American country. And during the course of that summer mission, there was a coup in that nation. And it was overheard that it was the intent of the military to take control of the government and they were blaming the Americans in the nation for the resistance that they were facing. And this story unfolds as to just right almost in two or three days, the situation got out of hand and this missionary team was in their little village where they were teaching people how to do agriculture and sharing the gospel with them. And I'll just read a little excerpt about this because it so spoke to me about the authority of love. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, there's this tremendous pounding on the door. These 17 young people and this one missionary woman there and a group, a band of about 30 soldiers, Spanish-speaking soldiers, smashed the door in and came in and held them all at gunpoint and said, It's because of you that our coup is facing resistance and may not be successful and we've come to take you off to prison. And she shares her obvious trepidation and she prays against fear and she said, I picked up a Spanish Bible and I turned the Sermon on the Mount and said, but we're not here to cause trouble, we're here to teach about Jesus, she said. God's Son who came into the world to save us and He taught us a better way than fighting. He taught us the way of love. Because of Him, I can tell you that even though you may kill me, I will die loving you because God loves you. To follow Him, I have to love you. Think about that. Think about that next time you sit down next to that desk of the person that thinks you're really wacko. Because of God, I've got to love you. And that man turned and looked at the Bible and said, Well, this says that you're supposed to love your enemies and return good for evil. And he said, That can't be so. It's humanly impossible. She answered back, That's true, sir. It's not humanly possible. But with God's help, it is possible. He said, I don't believe it. You can prove it, sir. She said, I know you came here to kill us. He said, Just kill me. Go ahead. Kill me slowly if you want to prove it. Cut me to pieces little by little. And you will see that you cannot make me hate you. I will die praying for you because God loves you and we love you too. So he put his gun down and said, Well, let's put him on trucks and take him to the prison. And when they headed out to get on the trucks, the commander said, Halt. He said, Take only the men. The women will come with me. Now listen to this. He said, I don't know what's happening in me. He said, But in our army, if anyone breaks an order, they die. I have never broken an order from my commander before. But for the first time tonight, I'm refusing to obey an order. I could have fought any amount of guns you may have had. But there's something here I can't understand. I can't fight. And the story goes on and says that they were released and three days later, even the men were set free from the prison. You see, love is the greatest authority in the face of the earth. And that number two area, that relational area that would put out the flame, beloved, you have authority and love over that area. Think for a moment about the people that really influence your life, would you? How do they treat you? What authority do they hold in your life? It's generally, if you're honest, people who love you. Some people will do anything for someone that loves them. But if it's demanded of them, soon it wearies. Soon it begins to be negative and difficult. When love asks the question, authority then comes forth and gives a great motivation to do it. Why does Jesus say He should be Lord of our lives? Because He commands it? Listen now. No, but because He loved us to the end. It's His love that makes Him be our Lord. And this love, this authority, church, is very practical. In your homes, dads, what kind of authority do you have with your children? Is it an authority of, I said so, therefore you do it? Or is it an authority of love? In your place of work, do you have an authority in people because you command them or because you love them? You see, the authority of love gives and serves and respects. It's faithful and encouraging. It prays for them and teaches them. And I want to share one thing with you right now. Any authority that I have as a pastor in this church is only an authority of love. But I need to share with you that that love many times is not in the form that you think it ought to be. Jesus said to Peter in John 21, Simon Peter, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know I love you. Then he said what? Feed my lambs. I just want to say to you today, beloved, the greatest love I can give you as a pastor in this church is to feed the flock of God. The greatest love I can give is to make this word come alive to you. And that therefore means, now hear me please, I may not be available to you to give the kind of love you feel you need. And one of the great grievances in my heart is the fact that I have to say no to some people. That I can't be with all the people I'd like to be with and spend time with. But it's because of a higher call, a higher love for you, that I feel is my number one responsibility. Do you understand that? Do you? I would be disobedient to God if I loved you less than to give you the word of God. And you need to love me. Some of you are so dear. You'll walk up and look me right in the face and say, I really love you, Jay. And what I think you're saying is, I know that you love me because you're giving me your best. And I'll tell you, beloved, I need to hear you say more than anything, listen, I need to hear you say, I know you love me. Because I sense your love and I trust you sense mine. And wherever God leads us together, if there's any authority in that, it will be the authority of the love of God. Paul said, I don't give you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love. And finally he said, I give you a spirit of self-control or self-discipline. I need to quickly conclude today. So let me just say this about self-discipline. Without the power and authority in the heavenly places, your flame will be put out by the oppression of darkness. Without the authority of love, your flame will be put out by relationships that just beat you down. But without the authority of God in your own self-life, you will not be able to persevere in the other two. That's why, slide the diagram down, Nancy, would you? On the very bottom, keep coming, keep coming, there. That's why I put self underneath. You see, that supports the other two. And I'm so glad, now listen to me, every one of us here have failed at some time in making a vow before God about getting up to pray or reading our Bibles or all that stuff. But who does Paul say gives us the ability to be self-disciplined? The Spirit of the Lord. It's the spiritual enablement that allows us to be self-disciplined. You'll weary out trying to do those other two things on your own. To me, beloved, most of us work under the second law of spiritual dynamics. This is sort of a rough adaptation of the second law of thermodynamics. Any person left to himself will get increasingly undisciplined. Any person left to himself will become increasingly undisciplined. There's no way to do it apart from the giving of God. And here's my point. The support of others. I just want to say to you today, if you're not able to discipline your life for God, then turn to somebody. There are hundreds of people in this church that will support you. Your home groups will support you. Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the women's ministry, and in the TGIF ministry, youth ministry, they'll support you. Jesus sent people out two by two for a reason. So they could grow in discipline. Paul had a Timothy for a reason. And you won't be able to rekindle that gift unless you're in discipline. One to another. If you shrink back, then it's your own fault. Because people are here to stand with you in that. And so how do we then fan that flame of the Spirit of God in us? We move in the oppressive powers by taking authority over them in spiritual warfare. We move in relationship by authority and love. And we move in self areas by the discipline of the Holy Spirit through one another. Let me conclude with this little illustration. In Matthew chapter 8, Jesus is facing a centurion captain. A man who has over a hundred other soldiers. He was a leader. A Roman, not a Jew. And he had a servant that was sick. About to die. And Jesus was told that the centurion was a good man. And he went to him and said, Well, let's go. I'll go pray for your servant. And the centurion said to him, Lord, you don't need to come under my house. He said this, For I am a man under authority. I say to one, do this, and he does it. I say to another, go here, and he goes there. Lord, if you just say the word, my servant will be healed. Dear brothers and sisters, the way that I can tell you in summary today to come under the authority of Jesus Christ in the spiritual places, in relationship, and in yourself is by submitting to his lordship. The lordship of Jesus. You see, you must be a man under authority if you're to have authority. Can I say that again? You must be a man or a woman under authority. The authority of God in Jesus Christ to move in authority. And the reason why some of us today are at the same place in your spiritual walk that you were six months, two years ago is because the lordship in Jesus is lacking in your life. And the Lord spoke to my heart this morning at 6 a.m. and said to me that there will be some today who will submit to the lordship of Jesus, to my lordship, as they never have before and they will see more authority released in their life than they've ever known. And I want to conclude this service today by giving opportunity to maybe dozens of you, scores of you to say, Jesus, I want to submit to your lordship. I want you to be my authority. I want you to be my lord. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, as we just give attention right now to your word and to the commandment that you've given to us today, we would submit right now, Lord, to these final moments together. Lord, it goes so quickly. But I pray that we would just cast off hurriedness right now, Lord, and let your spirit do that settled work in our hearts right now. Father, I pray for the ones here today that sense an absence of authority in their lives. They're dominated by spiritual powers. They're under the rule of principalities in their life. They're oppressed day after day. Lord, I pray for them. I pray for the ones, God, who because of something in their life are under a relational difficulty that just doesn't get any better. They need authority and love. And for the ones, God, who just can't seem to change, I pray right now, Lord, for the authority in their self-life that you bring by giving them discipline. We bless you, Lord. Hallelujah, Father. I just want to ask right now, in the name of Jesus, if you're here today and you know that you've been wandering from out underneath the lordship of Jesus Christ, maybe you've never really come to the point of surrendering to him, of becoming a man or a woman under authority. But today you're saying, I want to be there. I need to be there because I need authority in my life to set things in order. The Lord said, those who will come today, those who will make a statement of that authority, I will meet today. I will touch today. I will give authority to them today. If you're here this morning and you need to come under the authority of the lordship of Jesus Christ, I'm going to ask you to stand right where you are. I need to be under that authority today. God bless you. Yes. Now don't stand if you're walking in it. Just those who say, I need to come under that authority. I haven't been there, Jay. I need to be there today. Yes. Stand right where you are. Let's all be praying. I need to look around. Let's just pray for these that are standing as a statement of authority. Surrender to God. Hallelujah. Lord, we bless you for this. Let's pray for them, church. Let's pray in the spirit. I'm going to lead you in prayer. Father, I see these scores who are standing who say, I need to be under the lordship of Jesus today. And I ask you, God, right now to break through. Lord, as they surrender their hearts right now before you, I ask you, God, to just set them in order in their lives. Holy Spirit, begin to descend upon them and take over the throne of their hearts, God. And cause them to rule in their day-to-day life. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, that you cause this to be so. Glory to God. Hallelujah. I want you to all stand now, please. I ask our home group coordinators to come forward with your wives and just stand up here. As we prepare to leave, beloved, the Lord instructed my heart to do this today. Those who were standing, there was probably 40, maybe 50 people who stood. Perhaps you were one of those, or maybe you didn't stand because you didn't want to embarrass yourself. But I want to say this this morning. Listen to me. If you have never in your life consciously submitted to the Lordship of Jesus, in other words, you may have said, well, he's my Savior. He's my Savior. But today you're saying, for the first time, Jay, I want to know that Jesus is in control of my life. We're going to sing a chorus, and I want you to come forward and pray with one of these coordinators of their wives. Just pray with them. Say, I'm submitting to the Lordship of Jesus. Now, if you've never received Christ, you come forward right now. No one's looking at you. You're looking at him. This will set you free to rule with him. You come forward right now and have someone pray w