Beyond Position: How the Gospel Powers Our Authority in Christ

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I'm not going to spend too much time, but I do want to just give a couple of what I think should be our response as a church to the events that happen in Concord on Friday night and the shooting there.
[00:00:13] One is prayer, and I would say this.
[00:00:18] I would just pastor you in this.
[00:00:20] God always hears our prayers.
[00:00:22] He hears your prayers in crisis.
[00:00:24] If you haven't prayed in 10 years,
[00:00:26] and you have a crisis and you call out to God God hears you but there is a difference between praying during a moment of crisis and a lifestyle of prayer and what I want to continue to call us into is not just praying when bad things happen but covering our city 24 7 we have and some of you may not know this for over 25 years at our church we have walls of prayer so 24 7
[00:00:53] and what we ask people to do is simply sign up for one hour a week this is an hour above and beyond your normal devotion time or prayer time whenever you spend time with the Lord but an hour a week that we pray specifically over the gates of our city over the gate of government and health care and education and business and our families and there are prayer targets that we release every month and something powerful happens when a community is
[00:01:20] and so you can go to multiplyconcord.com slash prayer or it's on the front page of your app if you would just say you know I'm gonna take a next step in my prayer life and I'm just gonna use this as a moment to say not in my backyard not in my city we're not having this here we are going to be a church that is covering the gates of our city in prayer would you consider joining the prayer wall and then I just am so thankful for the team's
[00:01:49] Serving at Multiply Church.
[00:01:51] I think this is just a great reminder that we not only pray, but we serve.
[00:01:55] And whether that's in youth or young adults or children's ministry, raising up a generation of righteousness, whether that's on prayer teams, whether that's in First Impressions in hospitality, whether that's at our Dream Center, or whether that's
[00:02:09] Church we have an amazing security team here at Multiply can we thank God for the men and women that are serving behind the scenes each and every week and so maybe your next step maybe you've been coming to Multiply for a few weeks or a few months and and you just haven't taken that next step to serve every
[00:02:26] We want to help you find your next step.
[00:02:30] And so prayer and serving is a great way to make sure that our city stays a city of revival and a city for Jesus.
[00:02:39] Can you say amen?
[00:02:40] Amen.
[00:02:41] Ephesians chapter 1 this morning.
[00:02:43] Ephesians chapter 1.
[00:02:46] What I thought will be like a shorter series turns into a longer series.
[00:02:54] What I think is going to be just a one-week sermon turns into multiple weeks.
[00:02:58] And I felt like the Holy Spirit was on that last week in teaching about the three realms.
[00:03:04] And then I found some more stuff.
[00:03:06] and so I hope it's okay that I preach part two of this this morning I want to talk to you about the three realms again and what what it means to be seated with Christ I was reminded this week of an old story that was written by Mark Twain called the prince and the pauper did any of you
[00:03:25] Read it, or at least Google it when you were supposed to read it, and you read the Cliff.
[00:03:30] They used to call it Cliff's Notes, and they probably don't have that anymore, but I don't know what the version is for students.
[00:03:38] But the basis of this story is this.
[00:03:41] It was about a prince, Edward, and a person, a pauper, a person that was raised in just abject poverty, raised in the slums of London, didn't have a good home situation, fighting most of his life and just trying to scrape by.
[00:03:57] And so basically Edward met Tom, who was the boy that was the pauper, and so the prince met the pauper.
[00:04:05] and they met each other and they they thought oh wow we we actually look a lot alike and so they thought they were just gonna have a moment edward said this is just gonna be a moment a joke and so what edward did they they went and they they switched their clothes and so edward took off his
[00:04:24] Prince Lee robe and he gave it to Tom and Tom took off his beggars clothes and his rags and he gave it to Edward and Edward took off his royal robes and he put on this beggars cloak and so what Edward thought was just gonna be like a moment all boy in this funny will trick the palace guards before he knew it and
[00:04:44] The palace guards threw him out into the streets and they wouldn't let him back in and even though he tried to tell them who he was they didn't believe him because they started treating him not according to his identity but according to what he was wearing and so everybody else around him started treating him not according to
[00:05:02] the fact that he was royalty and his true identity and the fact that he was the heir to the throne of Wales they began to treat him according to the realm of if you if you will allow me according to the realm of sight and so what happens a lot of times in our lives is then the realm of sight doesn't just stop with the realm of sight it gets transferred to our emotions and we start acting according to the way that we are dressed and I'm not talking about the way that you're dressed physically I'm talking now about the way that you are
[00:05:32] We are clothed spiritually because the Bible says as believers we are clothed in royalty, that we have robes of righteousness.
[00:05:40] The Bible says that God has taken away our rags and he has purified them.
[00:05:44] The Bible says that according to Ephesians chapter 6 that we are clothed with the armor of God.
[00:05:50] But have you found in your life that the devil is a really good clothing salesman?
[00:05:56] And here's what I found that the devil will do in the lives of believers is he'll say, hey, just try this on.
[00:06:03] We have it in your color.
[00:06:05] This is in your size.
[00:06:06] This will look great on you.
[00:06:08] And so you try on something for a moment.
[00:06:12] Maybe you try on just a little bit of sin for a moment.
[00:06:16] And then what happens is people stop treating you according to your true identity.
[00:06:20] They treat you according to the way that you are behaving.
[00:06:23] And then worse than that, what happened to Edward
[00:06:26] is Edward started to actually believe that he was a pauper because what you see affects how you feel and he began to live his life less than who he was.
[00:06:39] I want to remind you of your positional authority in Christ this morning.
[00:06:47] We talked last week about the three realms.
[00:06:49] I want to give you a quick rewind about these three realms and the realms of understanding.
[00:06:56] Remember we talked about, first of all, the realm of sight.
[00:06:59] The realm of sight, this is the realm of what we see.
[00:07:02] It's the first realm.
[00:07:03] It's the world of the five senses.
[00:07:06] This is the realm of circumstances, terrain, visible obstacles, physical reality.
[00:07:12] This is where you live.
[00:07:14] It's bills.
[00:07:14] It's doctor's reports.
[00:07:16] It's traffic.
[00:07:17] It's schedules.
[00:07:17] It's deadlines and bank accounts.
[00:07:20] It's the real stuff that is in front of your face.
[00:07:23] But then we don't just live according to the terrain of our lives.
[00:07:26] We live according to the emotional atmosphere of the response of that
[00:07:31] Terrain and our emotions remember are made up of two parts our thoughts and our feelings so the second realm is this realm of emotion it's the unseen world this is the atmosphere hope despair peace or panic security or insecurity
[00:07:48] It's the realm where your internal weather patterns form.
[00:07:53] And remember we talked about San Diego people.
[00:07:56] It doesn't matter what's happening around.
[00:07:58] Everything's always sunny in San Diego.
[00:08:00] Or Seattle people.
[00:08:01] It doesn't matter if it's Thanksgiving Day.
[00:08:03] They're going to find the one part of the turkey that's dry.
[00:08:06] And everything is dark and gloomy.
[00:08:09] And we have North Carolina and November people.
[00:08:12] And they're all over the map and up and down.
[00:08:14] The truth is we all live somewhere in between there.
[00:08:18] It's human.
[00:08:19] It's common.
[00:08:20] It's real.
[00:08:22] But here's the real danger is that the enemy knows this.
[00:08:25] The Bible calls the enemy the prince of the power of the air.
[00:08:31] The devil is the master manipulator of the atmosphere.
[00:08:36] And that's why he attacks your thoughts and your emotions.
[00:08:43] it's not just what you're walking through the terrain of what you're walking through is real enough can you say amen it's real like if that was all you were dealing with was the terrain that would be difficult enough but it's not where the enemy really attacks you is the worry and the fear and the anxiety and he attacks your thoughts and he attacks your emotions because that's his
[00:09:11] Territory.
[00:09:12] And we talked last week that don't get pulled down to that level.
[00:09:15] We don't fight according to that level.
[00:09:18] Yes, we live in the reality of those levels, but as a believer, you are called not to deny reality, but you are called to a higher reality.
[00:09:29] There is a third realm, and this is the realm of authority.
[00:09:33] The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2, by grace say grace.
[00:09:39] By grace you have been saved.
[00:09:42] And that's a nice little short verse and maybe you memorized that in Junior Bible Quiz or at Vacation Bible School or Children's Church.
[00:09:50] By grace I have been saved.
[00:09:53] And I would say, awesome, that's a great start, but that's not where the verse stops.
[00:09:59] It says, by grace I have been saved.
[00:10:03] And then it says, by grace I have been raised.
[00:10:07] And then it says, by grace I have been seated.
[00:10:10] So say this this morning.
[00:10:12] Say, by grace I'm saved.
[00:10:15] Say, by grace I'm raised.
[00:10:18] Say, by grace I'm seated.
[00:10:21] See, what we have to understand is the same grace that saved you is the same grace that seated you.
[00:10:28] And so what I was trying to teach you a moment ago when we were praying over our city is that you are not praying according to your emotion, you're praying according to your authority.
[00:10:41] authority in your life if you grasp this it will change the way that you live as a believer authority is not emotional authority is positional and once you realize that you have authority even if you don't
[00:10:56] You begin to realize who you are in Christ and where you are seated and you begin to pray and walk
[00:11:23] and live differently, you begin to live at a higher realm.
[00:11:29] This isn't just for super spiritual believers, this is for every believer.
[00:11:36] By grace, say grace.
[00:11:38] By grace you're saved.
[00:11:40] By grace you're raised.
[00:11:41] By grace you're seated.
[00:11:45] So let's go back.
[00:11:46] Let me show you around.
[00:11:48] Welcome to your new promotion and welcome to your new position.
[00:11:52] Tell your neighbor congratulations.
[00:11:55] Say you've been promoted.
[00:11:56] So let me just be your tour guide.
[00:11:59] Let me show you around your new office.
[00:12:02] Let me show you around your new corner office.
[00:12:05] Ephesians 1.
[00:12:06] Paul's going to be our tour guide this morning.
[00:12:08] Verse 15.
[00:12:09] For this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the love toward all the saints, I don't cease to give thanks for you.
[00:12:17] I thought it would be a good week to just preach a little bit on gratitude, a little bit on giving thanks.
[00:12:25] And then Paul says, I don't cease to give thanks for you.
[00:12:28] He says, I remember you in my prayers.
[00:12:31] There is a key connection between what you remember and how thankful you are.
[00:12:38] Gratitude and remembering are inseparable.
[00:12:41] Remembering fuels gratitude and gratitude fuels remembering.
[00:12:46] See, Edward forgot who he was.
[00:12:50] Never forget who you are.
[00:12:53] Never forget what Jesus did for you.
[00:12:56] Never forget where you would have been had not the Lord.
[00:13:01] Chased after you.
[00:13:03] In the middle of your rebellion, in the middle of your religion, in the middle of whatever you were walking through, I think it would be a good time just to take a moment and remember God's grace when He picked you up, when He loved you when you weren't very lovable, when He saved you when you didn't think you were worth saving, when He picked you up.
[00:13:24] Come on, how many grateful people out there?
[00:13:26] How many thankful people out there?
[00:13:28] Aren't you thankful for the grace?
[00:13:31] of God.
[00:13:32] And then Paul says this, Paul says in verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you, and I want to rewind, he says, remembering you in my prayers, I'm telling you, if the Apostle Paul came up to me and said, I'm praying for you, I'm listening, right?
[00:13:49] If like, if Paul is praying for you, I want to know, okay, that is awesome, Paul, you got a word for me, what are you praying?
[00:13:56] and then he says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give you what does God want to give me what does God want to give me what what blessing does he want to give me what addition does he want to give me what multiplication does he want to give me in my life and he says this this is what Paul prays that the spirit of wisdom and revelation
[00:14:15] would be in you that you may have the knowledge of him having the eyes of your heart enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints in other words what Paul prays is he doesn't pray that you would get something new Paul prays that your eyes would be open to what you already have
[00:14:45] I want to challenge you this week.
[00:14:48] I want to give you your Thanksgiving prayer life.
[00:14:50] Can I give you your prayer life for a week?
[00:14:52] I'm not telling you not to ask God for something new.
[00:14:56] But I challenge you to pray more this week and pray this prayer.
[00:15:02] God, I want my eyes to be opened to what I already have.
[00:15:08] God, I want my eyes to be open for the people that you have already placed in my life.
[00:15:14] God, I want my eyes to be open to the grace that you've already given me.
[00:15:18] God, I want my eyes to be open to the authority that I already carry.
[00:15:24] and I think that if we realize what we already had then we wouldn't let the devil get our eyes so much on what we don't have and we wouldn't compare ourselves so much with everybody else because we would be people who are thankful we would be people who are grateful verse 19 he goes on to say this and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead
[00:15:55] and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places does it sound familiar say yes verse 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the age to come and he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is the body the fullness of him who fills all
[00:16:23] In all, let me give you three things to remember, three things that Paul is telling us to remember.
[00:16:29] The first one is this, I touched on it, but we have to remember who we are.
[00:16:34] We have to remember who we are.
[00:16:36] Paul says you, with Christ, are raised from the dead.
[00:16:42] You are a walking, living miracle.
[00:16:46] Tell your neighbor you're a miracle.
[00:16:49] Here's the miracle of the cross, and this is where the people get the gospel wrong.
[00:16:55] The gospel is not that God took you from bad and made you good.
[00:17:02] The Gospel is God took you when you were dead and made you alive.
[00:17:07] That's what Jesus...
[00:17:09] If the Bible just says that the blood of Jesus took your badness and made it goodness, that would be okay.
[00:17:16] But here's the truth, here's the reality, that you were dead in your trespasses, deserving of the fires of hell for eternity.
[00:17:24] But Jesus paid the price.
[00:17:27] He shed His blood in your place.
[00:17:29] He reached down and He took you while you were dead.
[00:17:32] You're dead and He made you alive.
[00:17:35] That's worth celebrating.
[00:17:37] We gotta remember that.
[00:17:38] We gotta remember who we are.
[00:17:40] Number two, we gotta remember where we are seated.
[00:17:43] Some of you keep coming off of your throne.
[00:17:50] And you get pulled down into arguments and fights.
[00:17:56] Fighting like a three year old.
[00:17:58] Stand up.
[00:17:59] You're the adult in the room.
[00:18:01] Be the adult in the room.
[00:18:02] Have you noticed this, that people with the true authority sometimes aren't the ones that raise their voices?
[00:18:11] I'm not talking about preachers on a Sunday morning.
[00:18:13] I'm talking about everybody else.
[00:18:18] But sometimes when you walk in the realm of authority, you don't need to yell.
[00:18:24] You just need to speak.
[00:18:26] You need to walk it out.
[00:18:28] We need to remember where we're seated.
[00:18:31] And the Bible describes it like this, and seated with him, with Christ, at his right hand in heavenly places, far above, say far above, all rule and authority and power and dominion.
[00:18:45] I think too many Christians, if they do end up living in the third realm, they live barely above instead of far above.
[00:18:52] We are to live far above all of this mess, all of this junk, all of this sin.
[00:18:59] I want to remind you that your highest peak in the realm of emotions doesn't touch your lowest in the realm of authority.
[00:19:08] And when you begin to live and speak and operate out of the realm of authority, you will leave that anger behind.
[00:19:17] You'll leave the rage behind.
[00:19:20] You'll leave the unforgiveness behind.
[00:19:22] You'll leave the hurt behind.
[00:19:24] I'm not saying, what am I not saying?
[00:19:25] Remember last week, I'm not saying it wasn't real.
[00:19:28] I'm just saying that you're living above it.
[00:19:30] And stop living barely above it.
[00:19:32] Live far above it.
[00:19:33] You're not gonna barely forgive somebody.
[00:19:35] You're gonna forgive far above.
[00:19:38] You're not going to barely get over your anger.
[00:19:41] You're going to live far above your anger.
[00:19:43] You're going to stop reacting to people out of rage and start responding to them out of the authority of the love of Jesus Christ that you walk in.
[00:19:53] And he put all things under his feet and gave him as the head.
[00:19:59] So we've got feet, we've got head.
[00:20:02] and then over all things to the church which is his body.
[00:20:06] All right, quick lesson and this is gonna be Anatomy and Physiology 101.
[00:20:11] How many of you remember that class?
[00:20:13] How many of you failed that class?
[00:20:14] How many of you wanted to be a doctor until you found out you had to take that class?
[00:20:18] All right, this is gonna be simple.
[00:20:20] Only three things you've gotta remember.
[00:20:22] We're gonna remember head, we're gonna remember body and we're going to remember feet.
[00:20:27] And so who is the head?
[00:20:29] Very good.
[00:20:30] That was not a trick question.
[00:20:31] Let's try that again.
[00:20:32] Who is the head?
[00:20:33] Okay, let me push a little bit more.
[00:20:36] Who is not the head?
[00:20:40] Who is the head?
[00:20:42] Who is not the head?
[00:20:43] You got to remind yourself that sometimes, right?
[00:20:48] Say this.
[00:20:49] Say, I am not in charge.
[00:20:53] Type A people, say this with me.
[00:20:55] Say, I am not in charge.
[00:20:59] All the firstborn people in the room, say this with me.
[00:21:02] Say, I am not in charge.
[00:21:05] Oh, you are struggling.
[00:21:11] It hurts.
[00:21:14] It's hard.
[00:21:16] You feel that a little bit, right?
[00:21:17] But we do need to remind ourselves there is only one head.
[00:21:23] His name is Jesus.
[00:21:25] He is the head of the church.
[00:21:27] He is the head of our family.
[00:21:29] He is the head of me.
[00:21:30] He is the head of my emotions.
[00:21:32] Jesus is in charge.
[00:21:37] And you're not.
[00:21:39] And then the third, excuse me, so we have the head and then we have the body.
[00:21:44] Who's the body?
[00:21:45] We are, right?
[00:21:46] The church.
[00:21:47] So you've got the head, you've got the body.
[00:21:50] What is the role of the body?
[00:21:53] The body is to carry out the will and the role of the head.
[00:21:58] And so if you have the head that is thinking, the head wants our community to walk in healing and forgiveness.
[00:22:06] The head is saying, I want everybody to find Jesus.
[00:22:09] And the head is saying, I want people to walk in unity.
[00:22:12] The head needs
[00:22:15] This is tough theologically, okay?
[00:22:17] Some of you are going to wrestle with this a little bit.
[00:22:19] But not because he has to, but because he worked it in this way.
[00:22:24] God self-limited himself.
[00:22:27] The head needs the body to carry out his will in our community.
[00:22:33] That means most likely the only way that your neighbor is going to hear about Jesus is if the body tells the neighbor.
[00:22:41] The head isn't just gonna shout to the new neighbor that the U-Haul moved down the street, hey, come to Wonderland.
[00:22:49] No, the head needs the body to walk down the street and knock on the door and say, here's some cookies and an invitation to Wonderland.
[00:22:57] Does that make sense?
[00:22:58] The head needs the body.
[00:23:00] And then you got the devil that sometimes, I'm just saying, we give way too much credit to the devil.
[00:23:08] Where's the devil in this equation?
[00:23:12] Under.
[00:23:12] Under.
[00:23:14] Under your feet.
[00:23:17] And so we walk, not, oh my goodness, the devil's overtaken this and he's overtaken that.
[00:23:24] No, you've got to remind yourself where the devil is.
[00:23:29] He is under your feet and everything that the devil represents.
[00:23:33] So in this equation, in this lesson of anatomy and physiology, where is sickness?
[00:23:39] Sickness is under your feet.
[00:23:41] Where is fear in this equation?
[00:23:43] Fear is under your... Where is anxiety?
[00:23:47] Anxiety is under your... And so when you walk in authority, because authority is based on who is the head, and so to have authority you need to be under authority, and the reason some of you are not operating in authority is because you refuse to be under authority.
[00:24:03] That's a good word.
[00:24:07] and you don't like it but you are seeing the devil have access to you in your life and you're not having your foot on the devil is because you won't be under authority and that means that you have to be under the Bible gives structure and systems for that and so authority of the laws of our land and authority of
[00:24:26] Parents and authority of how households work and all of that and it's not my message and you can dig into it but you have to be under authority and the more you are under authority the more you have authority and the more you have authority the more you operate in authority.
[00:24:43] Authority in your life.
[00:24:44] God did not put authority in your life to control you or suppress you in some way.
[00:24:49] God gave you authority to cover you
[00:24:51] and protect you and to help you realize and actuate the authority that is in your own life.
[00:24:58] That's a good word for somebody today.
[00:25:00] Authority.
[00:25:03] And then here's the third thing is remember.
[00:25:06] So we remembered who and then we remembered where and what.
[00:25:10] We got to remember when.
[00:25:12] We have to remember when we have access to this authority.
[00:25:16] So this is a really interesting line
[00:25:20] That Paul puts in the scripture in this passage to the Ephesians.
[00:25:26] And not only is it a really interesting line, to me it was fascinating the order that Paul put this in.
[00:25:34] So I want to...
[00:25:36] Could be a little bit confusing, but stay with me.
[00:25:38] God help me to teach this.
[00:25:41] So Paul says, you have all of this authority, you're seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, and the enemy is under your feet.
[00:25:50] Is that fair?
[00:25:51] Did I give a fair synopsis of the previous scripture?
[00:25:55] And now it says this, Paul says, hey, church in Ephesus, all of these things, you are seated with Christ, the enemy is under your feet,
[00:26:03] Not only, say not only, not only in this age but also, say but also, in the age to come.
[00:26:13] So the order of that was fascinating because follow my train of thought here and see if I'm close.
[00:26:21] If I tell you the something that is after the phrase not only that would be the thing that you is like yeah of course I know that like not not only and then the but also is the thing that you may you may not realize that you do have.
[00:26:41] Does that make sense?
[00:26:42] Let me explain it like this.
[00:26:43] So let's say that this week somebody gave you tickets, free tickets to a basketball game.
[00:26:49] Name your favorite North Carolina basketball team on the count of three.
[00:26:52] One, two, three.
[00:26:54] Okay.
[00:26:54] And so I won't divide the house.
[00:26:57] God, we pray for unity in the name of Jesus.
[00:27:01] But somebody gave you tickets to your favorite basketball team.
[00:27:04] And so
[00:27:05] You had never been to this particular arena and you didn't realize that there was a club level with access not only to the game, but you had access to the club level which gave you access to free food the entire game.
[00:27:20] And so if you didn't realize that and you handed the ticket to the usher, the usher may say something like this,
[00:27:28] Not only does this give you access to the game, which you already knew, but also it gives you access to the lounge, which you're like, oh wow, I didn't realize that I had access to that.
[00:27:42] Does that kind of make sense?
[00:27:43] Are you tracking with me?
[00:27:44] Not only, but also.
[00:27:46] And so here's what is really interesting to me is the order that Paul says this.
[00:27:51] Paul says you have authority
[00:27:53] In Christ you are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms and that the enemy is under your feet not only in this age i.e.
[00:28:02] Where we're living at now, but also the age to come.
[00:28:07] Here's why that's confusing to me is because I don't think myself and most Christians live that way.
[00:28:12] Let me explain that.
[00:28:14] I think that we think that when we get to heaven that then the devil will be under our feet, then we have access to ruling with Christ,
[00:28:23] and also I need to be reminded and also hey I get some of that stuff now but that's not what was Paul was telling the Ephesians apparently the church in Ephesus this blows me away apparently the church in Ephesus had found a way to already tap into the authority that they had now
[00:28:47] and what they needed to be reminded is hey church in Ephesus the devil's not only under your feet now but he's going to be in the age to come maybe they were worried that they were going to lose it but let me flip that to you i want to say and i get the now and not yet and i get that we won't fully see the manifest until the thousand year reign until jesus comes back
[00:29:09] I understand that, but I don't think we realize the power and the authority and the level that we have in Jesus Christ, not just when we get to heaven someday, but now!
[00:29:24] He's under your feet now!
[00:29:26] The devil must bow now!
[00:29:29] You walk in this authority.
[00:29:32] not according to the realm of emotion but according to the realm of position and so Edward for days and for weeks and for months positionally he's the king positionally he is the prince positionally he has access to the throne positionally he has access to the king but he's walking around and he's living in poverty and he's getting in fights that he shouldn't get into and
[00:30:00] and people are are treating him a certain way and because they're treating him a certain way his emotions and he starts to he starts to believe this is who he is and this is my destiny and i'm just destined to live at this level and so finally edward makes his way back into the city gates and he makes his way back into the throne room and everybody's laughing at him they're saying who is who is this pauper what's this kid even doing in the throne
[00:30:26] room and and and it's not until Edward does this Edward finds the throne and he sits down on the throne and as soon as he sits down everything changes everything changes in that moment why because authority isn't determined by what he looks like authority is dictate isn't dictated by how he feels authority is positional he was always the prince
[00:30:53] He just wasn't living from his position.
[00:30:56] I want to remind you of your royalty today.
[00:30:58] I want to remind you of your position in Christ.
[00:31:01] I want to remind you that you will not live according to your emotion.
[00:31:06] You will not live according to how other people treat you, but you will live according to your authority and position in Jesus Christ.
[00:31:16] In the book of Zechariah,
[00:31:18] There's a fascinating vision that kind of tells this story.
[00:31:22] Would you stand all across the house this morning?
[00:31:25] Zechariah has this vision and he sees the heavenlies and he sees the high priest Joshua.
[00:31:31] Verse 1 says, Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him.
[00:31:39] Of course he does because that's what the devil does.
[00:31:42] The Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren.
[00:31:47] And where is Satan accusing Joshua?
[00:31:52] In the throne room.
[00:31:53] Hear this.
[00:31:54] Sometimes the closer you get to God, the more the devil will accuse you.
[00:32:00] And so some of you need to be encouraged this morning that that voice in your ear that's trying to tell you you're not enough, you're not good enough, you're not the mother that you should be, you're not the husband that you should be, you're not the prayer warrior you should be, the devil is in your ear because he realizes that you're about to step into a position of greater authority than you've ever stepped into in your life.
[00:32:26] and he's nervous and so sometimes the closer you get to God the louder that voice of accusation the louder that voice that will try to accuse you because that's what he does he's the accuser of the brother but I'm telling you God doesn't put up with that nonsense in verse 2 and the Lord said to Satan
[00:32:49] The Lord rebuke you, Satan.
[00:32:52] The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you.
[00:32:56] Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?
[00:32:58] Now Joshua was standing before the angel clothed with filthy garments.
[00:33:04] I don't know if you've ever walked into a room where you didn't feel like you were wearing the thing that you should be wearing in that room.
[00:33:13] And Joshua's standing there before the Lord and he's clothed in filthy garments.
[00:33:18] And he's the priest.
[00:33:19] If there's anybody that should have had it together, it should have been the priest.
[00:33:24] But he was clothed with filthy garments.
[00:33:27] But the angel, who most people think would be a representation of Jesus, said to those who were standing before him, Remove the filthy garments from them.
[00:33:37] and he said to him behold I have taken your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with pure vestments and I said let them put a clean turban on his head representing what his thoughts and so they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord that was standing by and the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua thus says the Lord of hosts if you will walk in my ways and keep my charge then you shall rule my house
[00:34:07] it sounds like God's calling him to a different level of authority and have charge over my courts it sounds like the Lord is calling him to begin to operate out of a different realm and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here with heads bowed and eyes closed in the house you're here this morning and you would say pastor the devil has been working overtime in my life and
[00:34:34] He's been trying to accuse me.
[00:34:36] He's been reminding me of past sin, past failures.
[00:34:39] He's been reminding me of who I'm not.
[00:34:42] He's been pointing out all of my flaws, all of my failures, my rags, and you want to break that right now in the name of Jesus.
[00:34:49] If that's you, heads bowed, eyes closed, but just lift your hands.
[00:34:52] Say, Pastor, the devil's been after me.
[00:34:54] He's been talking to me.
[00:34:55] He's been in my ear, and I want that gone in my life.
[00:34:58] I want that voice cut off in my life.
[00:35:02] You can put your hands down.
[00:35:04] How many of you are here this morning and say, Pastor, I want to walk in the realm of authority.
[00:35:10] I want my words to be words of authority.
[00:35:13] I want how I carry myself to be, I want to carry myself in the realm of authority.
[00:35:18] If that's you, would you just lift up your hand?
[00:35:21] You can put your hands down.
[00:35:24] One more question this morning.
[00:35:28] Maybe you're in this house and you would say, Pastor, my rags are still on me.
[00:35:39] I haven't swapped out clothing.
[00:35:42] I'm still living according to my sin.
[00:35:44] I'm living according to my rebellion.
[00:35:49] And I realize today that I can't fix it myself.
[00:35:52] I realize today that Jesus is the only one
[00:35:56] who can trade my rags for his righteousness and I want to make that trade today I want to make that exchange today if that's you I'm just going to count to three as a point of reference when I get to three I don't want you to hesitate I want you to lift your hand high trade your rags
[00:36:14] for the Righteousness of Jesus.
[00:36:16] One, Pastor, I'm living in my sin.
[00:36:19] Two, Pastor, today I want to surrender my life to Jesus.
[00:36:22] Three, if that's you just all across this house, would you put your hand up and you can put it right back down?
[00:36:28] Church family, can we pray this prayer out loud together?
[00:36:32] Can we just say, Dear Jesus, I come before your throne.
[00:36:37] I know that I'm a sinner, but I ask you to forgive me.
[00:36:42] And I ask you Jesus to come into my heart.
[00:36:47] I ask you Jesus to come into my life and help me to live wide awake
[00:36:54] to the love of God and fully alive to my purpose now would you just lift your hands father i bless this house as the house of joshua i bless them with access to the throne of god i bless them that they are clothed in righteousness i bless them that the accuser of the brethren that voice will become less and less i bless them to live
[00:37:18] Far above unforgiveness, far above their fears, far above their worry.
[00:37:24] I bless them to live and walk and speak and carry themselves out of the realm of authority in the name of Jesus.
[00:37:35] If you believe it and if you receive it, give the Lord a hand clap of praise this morning.
[00:37:40] Amen.

[00:37:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Well, I hope the service today made a difference in your life.
[00:37:45] Hi, I'm Noemi, the new online ministry director here at Multiple Concord, and I want to thank you for watching our live stream today.
[00:37:53] If you made a decision to follow Jesus for the first time, we are so excited for you.
[00:37:57] It's one of the best decisions you could have made.
[00:38:00] We'd love to walk with you as you continue your walk with Him.
[00:38:03] All you have to do is download our app and click Next Steps.
[00:38:06] We have resources we'd like to give you as you continue your journey in following Him.
[00:38:11] One of the main announcements coming up is that Wonderland is two weeks away.
[00:38:15] It's a free festival for the whole family and we'd love for you to join us here at Multiply Church on December 5th from 5 to 9 p.m. You don't want to miss it.
[00:38:24] Well, thank you for watching this online service.
[00:38:27] I'll see you next week.
[00:38:28] God bless you.