Creflo Dollar - The Authority of The Believer
This morning, I'm gonna talk to you about "The Authority of the Believer". It's gonna be a little different. I'm gonna challenge you to walk in the power that is already been given to you. I'm gonna challenge you who keep going to God asking God to do what he's already told you to do, to stop. I'm gonna challenge you to become peculiar people, yet royal, and show you what you got, amen?
Amen, let's begin in John chapter 1 verse 17. John 1:17, and in John chapter 1 verse 17, we've been talking about this contrast between different subjects in the Bible. The contrast between the law by Moses and the grace by Jesus Christ. And last week, we began and started with the contrast between performance by law versus performance by spiritual authority. In other words, what we saw last week was, under the law, the law was all about performance-based Christianity. The law was all about if you want God to be good to you, you gotta be good. The law was about if you wanna be righteous, then you gotta work your own righteousness, okay?
And we found out that under grace, you can't perform to try to do what Jesus has already done. Under grace, he's already done it, your job is to believe and receive what he's already done. In fact, I told you that living in the flesh was all about being under the law, trying to do good in your own self-effort. And so, we declared that under the grace of God, you trying to do something to be righteous, you trying to perform to try to be redeemed, you trying to perform to try to, you know, have the wisdom of God, or perform to try to be holy, it's what the church is teaching all over the world, telling you you have to do this in order for God to do that.
Every religion requires you to do something. Every religion has a bunch of demands, demands, demands in order to get God to do something for you. But under the grace of God, it's supply, supply, supply, and God says if you'll believe it, the supply has already been given. Some of you, including myself, are used to going to church, they said, "If you want God to do this, then you gotta do that". That is under the pattern of the old covenant. The old covenant is a performance-based covenant, which includes the Ten Commandments, but under grace, it's discovering what he's finished, and then believing it, and then the Holy Spirit comes in and changes your behavior, and all kinds of wonderful things happen.
Now, we're gonna contrast this with, okay, if under grace we're just believing what Jesus has already done, in other words, we're having more faith in what Jesus has done instead of having more faith in what we can do, the question now arises, well, do we just do nothing? Well, the answer to that is, when it comes to what Jesus has already done, you believe what he's already done. But then, the other side of this coin is, performing and doing something to activate your spiritual authority. Say, "Spiritual authority".
Now, under the covenant of grace, we have been given the right to command and the right to use God's power. We didn't deserve that right, we didn't earn for that right, this spiritual authority is not because of what you have done to deserve it, this spiritual authority is a result of God's unmerited favor. He favored you with the right to command. He favored you with the right to use spiritual authority. In other words, the power belongs to him, but he has graced you with the right to use his power. It's his power, but you have to use it in order to see results. If you understand that, say amen. So, it's God's power, say, "It's God's power, but I have the authority or the right to use that power".
So, there are certain things on the planet, on the earth, if you don't do, you won't see results. For example, I don't have to perform to become righteous, Jesus has already done what's necessary for me to be righteous, and I believe it. But, when it comes to the devil, and the Bible says, "Resist the devil and he'll flee from you," if I don't resist, he won't flee. When it comes to saying unto the mountain, if I don't speak to the mountain, why should I expect for it to move? There is authority that has been given to the Christian. It's grace-given authority that if you will accept the authority and learn how to use his power, then you will see supernatural results in the earth as a result of a righteous man who knows how to execute spiritual authority on the planet. If you understand that, say amen.
Alright, is everybody on the bus with me? I know that was a lot, but I think you see what we're saying. So, I am going to talk to you about how to execute the spiritual authority. It's almost like you are a superhero and you don't know how to work your powers. You are Superman, and you don't know if you jump, you'll fly, hallelujah. You are Batman, well, Batman ain't got no power, but he has tools. He has tools, amen, and you have to know how to use 'em.
And so, those of you who gave your life to Jesus Christ, and you made him your Lord and personal Savior, he put you on the planet, but he didn't put you here powerless. There's a devil loose, and there are demons loose, and their assignment is to kill, steal, and destroy. And they wanna rip you apart every which way they know how. And you are a man and a woman of God, clothed with an enormous amount of power, but if you're ignorant of what you got, you'll be beat up putting up with it, 'cause you think, "Well, praise the Lord, I'm under grace and he got it, hallelujah". No, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is the time for you to execute your power. This is the time for you to pull off that suit and put on them tights and leap in one bounce. Are y'all hear what I'm saying?
'Cause this is gonna be really weird for some of you. Some of you just got born again, and you ain't never heard about your authority, and the devil should be very afraid today, because thousands of people will walk out of here today informed about their power. Ha-ha-ha oh, glory to God, man, I been waiting all night to get here. Alright, are you ready for this now? So, we're talking about performing your spiritual authority. The word "authority" literally, again, it's power given to you, or a right, a right to command. Let's do that, it's a right to command, your grace-given right to command on this planet. As if you were God, you're not God, but if he was here, do you think he would put up with some of the stuff y'all put up with?
Now, let's get on it. Let's go, I didn't read John 1:17, but I'll read it since it's up there. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". Now, let's go to Matthew chapter 10 and let's begin to dive into a discovery of your authority and a discovery of your power. Matthew 10 verses 1 and then I'm gonna go to 7 and 8. Let's look at what your authority looks like, okay? Matthew 10, verse 1: "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them," what? "He gave them power against," what? Unclean spirits, to do what to 'em?
So, there is a such thing as unclean spirits, but even though unclean spirits may inhabit some people, those who have the power can do what? He gave them power also to do what? "To heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease". He gave them power. Now, some of you will hear this today like it's ridiculous, because you ain't never heard about it, and you don't believe you can do it, because you ain't never been taught what you got. So, to you in your mind, this is gonna sound ridiculous.
I mean, when I say unclean spirits it sounds ridiculous. You probably know somebody who has some unclean spirits. In fact, you might have had a couple of unclean spirits yourself. I ain't got time to talk to you about what unclean spirits are, but the biggest thing the devil has been able to accomplish is to get people not to believe that he exists. They're preaching that right now. They're preaching it right now. "Ain't no such thing as no devil. Ain't no such thing as an unclean spirit". Oh, oh, that's wrong. I cast 'em out, it's wrong.
You have to recognize 'em before you know, you know, understand that they're unclean. Because you could be around something unclean and you'll just think, "Well, you know, somebody's just got drama in their life". And it could be deeper than that. And people who know it can deal with it, but people who don't know it tolerate it. They tolerate it as they just got a mental problem, or something going on, and I used to work in a mental hospital where I used to see it all the time.
And sometimes when, you know, we couldn't figure out what was going on, I'd sneak around the corner and the room was dark, and the guy's sitting there, I mean, he's totally demon-possessed, and he turned around, he says, "I know you," I said, "Shh, I know, now come out in the name of Jesus". And they'd get to going around and doing that, and then, "What happened to me, what happened"? They had no idea what was going on.
Now, this sounds utterly ridiculous to you who have never heard it before. I pray to God that a couple of them would just manifest today, so we can do a show and tell. That by me talking about it, that some of 'em just, "Grr," and then, if they do, I can just do a little show and tell. Come on now here, mister devil. And you sittin' around here scared or afraid of "The Exorcist", and I won't see that movie, that's scared me. You have nothing, a child of God who knows he's got power ain't never got to be afraid of no devil nowhere.
"Well, he made the plate move off the table". You can do that, too, just throw it. "And when he had called unto his twelve disciples, he gave them power," "He gave them power". Now, this is authority. He gave them authority, or a right to command, "Unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease".
Now, let's look at power just for a moment. You've heard me share this illustration. Georgia Power is the power company here in Georgia that's responsible for providing power to our homes. They are responsible for making sure, that is if you have paid your bill, they are responsible for making sure that power is available for your house. How many of you understand that? But how many of you know it is not their responsibility to come to your house, to come to a dark room, and turn the switch on? That is your responsibility. They provide the power, you turn the switch on.
How do you think they will respond if you called them up, "You know, 9-1-1, could you give me Georgia Power"? "Yes, who is this"? "Well, my room dark. Can you send somebody out here to turn the switch on"? They gonna say, "What? Man, we don't do that. We supply the power, and we can see, according to our instruments, you have the power, all you gotta do now, you got to flip the switch". If you don't flip the switch, you will not access what's already been made available to you.
Same thing is true with God. He has provided the power, but he's not gonna come down and flip the switch. If you don't flip the switch, darkness will still be there, but the whole time, you're in darkness, all you had to do was flip the switch to access the power. How many situations have you been in, the power has been made available, but you didn't access the power by flipping the switch? Turn to your neighbor and say, "It's time to flip the switch". Say this out loud, "It's God's power, but I have to turn it on". The power belongs to him, but I've got to flip the switch. Does everybody understand that? So, first of all, I'm telling you that if you're a born-again Christian, power has been made available to you. Somebody says, "Well, I've never seen it". It's 'cause you hadn't turned it on. You hadn't turned it on. You hadn't turned it on. You hadn't turned it on.
I was leaving South Carolina on Friday, I believe, after we finished the meeting there, and we didn't know if we could take off or not. The pilot got down there, and he says, "I'm just gonna shoot the radar and see if something come up", and they said, "Now, it's gonna probably be rough," and it's gonna be that, and all that kinda stuff, and I just said a little short prayer. I said, "Father, now we have authority. Now, I can just sit here and listen to him, or I can just flip the switch on. In the name of Jesus, I just thank you, Lord, that all will be well. You're gonna give us a great ride home, and there'll be no trouble at all, all is well".
I want you to know, and Taffi can attest to it, we took off, it was a smooth ride, we landed, the pilot came back afterwards, he said, "Well, I didn't expect that," and I thought, "Flip the switch". No, no, no, now some of you will think, "Oh, now that ain't the reason why it happened, it just happened".
Turn to your neighbor and say this, "Nothing just happens". Your first response is gonna be the key to how things turn out, because you have authority in your mouth, and you can open your mouth and release something crazy, or you can open your mouth and release something awesome. How are you going to flip the switch? Now, watch this, verse 7 and 8. Verse 7 and 8: "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Verse 8, here it is again, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers," wow, now please understand what he's saying. You heal the sick. Now, what have we been doing? We've been talking to God about healing the sick. We've been praying and asking God to do what he's already done.
Now, let me give you two prayers that God will never answer.
1. God will never answer a prayer where you're asking him to do what he's already done.
2. God will never answer a prayer when you ask God to do something that he told you to do.
It never will be answered. And we are so busy talking to God about our problems instead of talking to our problems about what God has already done. When was the last time you spoke to your issue, insufficiency, and you said, "In the name of Jesus, insufficiency, my God, according to Philippians, has already provided everything I'll ever need, according to his riches in glory, in Jesus's name". When have you done that? No, you won't do that, why? 'Cause in your mind, and in this world's system, that's ridiculous.
Well, you're not flipping the switch. You're letting the circumstance stay there, and it's gonna talk to you. Your circumstance will talk to you. You'll look in your wallet, and don't have no money in your wallet, your wallet say, "See there, I told you why we was broke". You let your circumstances talk to you instead of you talking to your circumstances.
Quit talking to God about what he's already done. Quit talking to God about trying to do something he's told you to do. Talk to your problems about what God has already done. I dare you to start speaking to your mountains. See, if you don't start speaking to your trouble, your trouble will speak to you. Hmm-mm, be hungry and go in the refrigerator, ain't nothin' in the refrigerator. It will talk to you loud and clear. See, things will talk to you loud and clear.
I found out Friday was national doughnut day. As soon as I landed, and when I got to Columbia, South Carolina, the first thing I went by, not a doughnut store, but it was a Krispy Kreme doughnut factory. The devil is a lie. And the red sign, the hot sign, how many of you know about that hot sign? The blood of Jesus on all of you. Oh, the hot sign was on. Listen, the hot sign's on, it's national doughnut day. Brother Chris said, "Well, you gotta celebrate". And that's what that sign was saying to me, "You gotta celebrate".
And watch this, and you get one doughnut for free. The devil's a liar. One doughnut for free, for free. I told Taffi, I said, "Maybe I can just walk from the hotel, go get that one doughnut for free, walk back, and it'll burn it all up". That's just too much trouble for one doughnut. That sign will start talking to you. And I remember one night driving down Riverdale and saw that hot sign on, and that thing said it was hot, and I heard it, I heard this.
I heard this, it said, "Creflo", and I started talking back to it, I said, "What"? It said, "Boy, you need to come on up in here, boy, you get a dozen, you get another dozen for free, man. Come on up here, you know you want to". And I said, "I believe I will". I got up in there and did just what that voice said, had two dozen of doughnuts, ate about all of 'em when I got home, on the way home. Taffi said, "Where you been"? I said, "I just been drivin' around". And she wiped my mustache, she said, "You lyin', you got sugar all on your mustache".
If you don't start talking to your problems, they will start talking to you. I said, if you don't start talking to your problems, they will start talking to you. I said, if you don't start talking to your problems, you have authority in your mouth. You have authority in your words. Don't you see there and let cancer talk to you. Don't you sit there and let debt talk to you. Don't you sit there and let unemployment talk to you. You talk to your problem about what God has already done, amen. Alright, so, now look what he says, he says now the implication is you heal the sick. You cleanse the lepers. Alright, watch this, you raise the dead. "Oh, Doc, now come on, come on," 'cause you don't believe it. The issue today is that the believers are not believing.