Delegated Authority - Part 4

     As Jesus was preparing His disciples once again concerning His timely departure, He explained that boot camp would soon be over for them and they would be sent into action. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). The passage goes on to say that they would do this through the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit.
        As far as the Kingdom of God goes, our works have nothing to do with our status with God. But they do have something to do with our earthly assignment. Again, these works aren’t our own doing. That is another pitfall facing the Church in these times: Just go out and do it.
         They’re not our works; they’re His workmanship. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Everything we do in terms of service to God is His workmanship—His power working through us, and not our own doing.
       The Chronos Lesson: Jesus gave us our marching orders just before He ascended. Matthew records them this way. “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 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-19).
      There are two truths we need to notice. First, Jesus said all authority has been given to Him. We’ve already seen that Jesus in turn gave this authority to His disciples. So if you’re His disciple, then you have His authority--all authority over the enemy and what he tries to bring upon you.
         The second truth is that we use this authority to make disciples, not just converts. One of the reasons the Church has been so feeble in the face of lawlessness is that most Christians accepted Jesus as their Savior, but were never taught how to be His disciple. They don’t know who they are in Christ. They don’t know how to stand in the victory Jesus secured for them.
        Mark recorded our marching orders this way. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mk. 16:15-18).
        Let’s focus in on two more truths. The first is that we preach the Gospel. The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. The original language actually calls it the too-good-to-be-true-news. Jesus summarized this beyond-comprehension-good-news as, “It is finished.” The prerequisite aspects of the divine to-do list found in Daniel 9 were accomplished with Jesus’ first coming. It is what allows us to release the authority and will of God on earth as it is in Heaven. The remaining objectives of the to-do list shall be accomplished with His second coming, thereby bringing the restoration of all things.
        Our boot camp assignment is to continue preaching this good news across the world. But notice that it’s not just talk. There’s also the walk. That is, confirming the truths of God’s Kingdom through signs and wonders and miracles. The things we see Jesus doing in the four Gospels, we’re to be doing as well by the same power of the Spirit working through us. We need to be about Father’s business as Jesus was, and not simply what we think needs to be done in our society to fix things. We use His authority to reveal Jesus’ finished work and the nature of the Father.
        If we’re not seeing this in our lives, then we need to get into the Word and really see it—that a-ha moment where we finally get it. We need to spend time meditating on His Word until we can see ourselves being His workmanship, not in our own power, but by the Spirit. We need to get as many people into the Ark that is Jesus Christ before the end comes.
        Psalm 115:16 affirms that “the heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.”    Hebrews 6:18 tells us that it is impossible for God to lie. Psalm 89:34 reveals the awesome power of His grace and mercy towards us. Despite Israel breaking the covenant over and over on their end, God declares, “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.”  Psalm 138:2 David proclaims, “I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” A person’s name is only as good as his word. We can trust God’s Word and the mystery-plan within it.
         To this Hebrews 1:2-3 affirms God’s awesome power at work in us because we are in Christ: “whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”