Alliance Christian Church
January 5 2025
  • Praise You Anywhere
  • I Love You Lord
  • Wonderful Words of Life

  • Power and Authority

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    Introduction
    The sword series, walking through how to read the Bible. Starting with how to read a passage. Then how to read a topic.
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    Topic we’re studying is the Holy Spirit
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    Last Week we read H.S. is associated with Life and Creation.
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    But that’s just one facet.
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    This morning, Big idea.
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    The Holy Spirit has Power and Authority.
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    Numbers 11

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    Context: Israelites traveling through the Wilderness. Complaining and Grumbling.
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    Numbers 11:4–9 NET 2nd ed.
    Now the mixed multitude who were among them craved more desirable foods, and so the Israelites wept again and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are dried up, and there is nothing at all before us except this manna!” (Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil. And when the dew came down on the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.)
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    In response to this, Moses, who has been put in charge of the people of israel, cries out to God
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    Numbers 11:10–15 NET 2nd ed.
    Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me? Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to their fathers? From where shall I get meat to give to this entire people, for they cry to me, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat!’ I am not able to bear this entire people alone, because it is too heavy for me! But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.”
    We’re dealing with a leadership Crisis. Moses is crying out to God because the Authority is too much.
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    And God responds
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    Numbers 11:16–17 NET 2nd ed.
    The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take part of the Spirit that is on you, and will put it on them, and they will bear some of the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it all by yourself.
    First of all, I want you to notice this notion of taking “some” of the spirit.
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    There are places throughout hte old testament where the spirit is talked about in this way.
    2 Kings 2:9, Mal 2:15. are both places where the spirit is talked about in this way. About there being a “portion” or “part” of the holy spirit being placed on someone.
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    This only comes up in the Old testament, and it’s going to be something we explore in later parts of the series as we go along.
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    That’s another place where we’re going to stick a pin in it, and come back to .
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    but I want you to notice that the idea being displayed here is that Moses’ authority to lead the people comes from having the holy spirit upon him.
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    And when he cries out to God , he asks for help, he tells God. “I can’t handle these people on my own.”
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    God tells him to bring elders. And he says he will put some of hte spirit that was on him, on to them as well, so that they can share both the authority, as well as the responsibility that comes along with it.
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    And then later on in chapter 11
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    Numbers 11:24–25 NET 2nd ed.
    So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He then gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.
    In this instance, it would seem that the sign of their authority, to the people, was that they prophesied. In other words, they spoke the word of God, so that the people would know, so that they would have a visible sign of the authority God had placed on them.
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    As we go through the Bible, we find that prophesy—which doesn’t neccecarily mean “predicting the future” rather, prophesy means “speaking a word from God” is heavily associated with the holy spirit.
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    Probably more than any other thing.
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    later on, Moses hears that there are other people with the spirit, prophesying, and moses replyies
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    Numbers 11:29 NET 2nd ed.
    Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
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    And so we see this in numbers chapter 11, the holy spirit is associated with authority coming from the word of God.
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    As we move on
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    Numbers 27

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    As moses is about to die, he asks god to appoint another to put in authority
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    Numbers 27:18–21 NET 2nd ed.
    The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him publicly. Then you must delegate some of your authority to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient. And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. At his command they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”
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    The NIV here even goes so far as to do some of the interpretation for you
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    Numbers 27:18 NIV
    So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him.
    The transfer of leadership, the person who is going to have earthly authority over the people of israel, is based on, who has the spirit of the lord in them.
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    Judges, we see this repeated theme, where the judge who delivers the people, who takes charge of the people, and rescues them from their own sin, in six different locations, the spirit of God rushes upon them.
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    And it empowers them to either lead the people into battle, or to defeat their enemies.
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    Judges 3:10, Othneil. Judges 6:34, Gidean. Judges 11:29, jephtha. And then 13:25, 14:6, 15:14, with Samson.
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    And notice how in all of these instances, their not perfect people after receiving the spirit.
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    The spirit Guides them, it empowers them, but eaCH of them retain the ability to mess up.
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    Moses made some major mistakes. Othneil, gidean, jephtha, sampson, all were empowered by the spirit, all were given authority by the spirit. And all of them had major flaws.
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    But the one thing they all had in commmon was that they received both power and authority not of themsevles, but from God.
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    Their authority had zero to do with them, and 100 to do with the fact that God had chosen to give them the spirit.
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    In other word, they had no authority by themselves. All of it was God’s authority.
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    Which brings us to an interesting passage, this time in the psalms.
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    Psalm 51:11 David is writing after he had an affair with bathsheba, and had uriah put in position to be killed on the battle field.
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    And he’s crying out for forgiveness.
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    Psalm 51:11 NET 2nd ed.
    Do not reject me. Do not take your holy Spirit away from me.
    Psalm 51:11 ESV
    Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
    Psalm 51:11 NIV
    Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
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    And I had always assumed in this verse that what David is talking about is his eternal salvation.
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    Until I did this study. Until I went through this study, and started reading in context.
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    And while eternal salvation IS something that holy spirit grants, that’s not hte concern David is talking about in this psalm.
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    When you go back and read the context, you find
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    1 Sam 10, Samuel goes to see Saul, and says
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    1 Samuel 10:1 NET 2nd ed.
    Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head. Samuel kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen you as leader over his inheritance.
    He says you’ll see some men with bread and goats and wine
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    And you’ll see some prophets with instruments.
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    1 Samuel 10:6 NET 2nd ed.
    Then the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.
    1 Samuel 10:6 CSB
    The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully on you, you will prophesy with them, and you will be transformed.
    Saul received the holy spirit as an annointing, as a sign, as proof that he had the authority from God to be king.
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    But saul disobeyed. And in chapter 16 we read
    Samuel, is choosing a new king for israel. And he’s going through david and david’s brothers trying to find the one god wants to be king.
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    1 Samuel 16:12–13 NET 2nd ed.
    So Jesse had him brought in. Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one.” So Samuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onward. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.
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    In psalm 51, David is not concerned so much with salvation. Though that probably plays into it.
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    But as king, he knows that his authority as king is dependent on whether or not God allows him to have that authority, or if he’s going to take the spirit from him just like he did saul ..
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    throughout the history of the israelite people the number one thing they lack is a king who is going to lead them in righteousness.
    One who is going to followe God’s laws
    who is goingt to live the way God’s king should.
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    And they keep coming up empty.
    with bad kings and bad leaders who lead the people astray.
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    And the prophet isaiah predicts that one day, israel would finally have a king from the line of david, who was going to do it right.
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    Who was going to be perftct. Unlike all of the other leaders who had the authority of the spirit going all the way back to moses.
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    Isaiah 11:1-9

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    Isaiah 11:1–9 NET 2nd ed.
    A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, a bud will sprout from his roots. The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him— a Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. He will take delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. He will treat the poor fairly and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and order the wicked to be executed. Justice will be like a belt around his waist, integrity will be like a belt around his hips. A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along. A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. A lion, like an ox, will eat straw. A baby will play over the hole of a snake; over the nest of a serpent an infant will put his hand. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.
    If there’s going to be a perfect king, if there’s going to be a king on whom the spirit lands and stays.
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    He’s going to have to have loyalty to God, obedience. Fair treatment. A love for justice, and telling the truth.
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    Peace will reign under his rule…wolf with the lamb…poetry...
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    As we turn to the new testament
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    Matthew 3:16 NET 2nd ed.
    After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.
    Mark 1:10 NET 2nd ed.
    And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
    Luke 3:22 NET 2nd ed.
    and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.”
    John 1:32 NET 2nd ed.
    Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.
    Jesus is that king. the holy spirit coming upon him like this was a sign of his kingship and his authority.
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    Matthew 12, as jesus is casting out demons, the pharisees begin to mutter amongst themselves that maybe, maybe jesus is doing so with the power and the authority of Satan.
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    But jesus replies.
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    Matthew 12:28 NET 2nd ed.
    But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.
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    The issue here, is where does Jesus authority lie, and in this context, we see taht his receiving of the holy spirit is the assurance of his power and authority
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    Acts, Jesus tells his disciples that
    Acts 1:8 NET 2nd ed.
    But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”
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    Romans 1:4 NET 2nd ed.
    who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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    In revelation, it’s the spirit of God who has authority over the seven churches.
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    I realize we’ve gone through these quickly.
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    I would love go in depth on every single passage, and spend time unpackingthe context of every single passage.
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    And as much as I can that’s my intention, but it’s difficult to do that on a sunday morning,.
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    Big idea, The holy spirit has power and authority.
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    We see that the authority portion of that, in the bible, is almost exclusively discussed either in terms of the leaders of israel, or the kings, or the messiah, or the disciples themslves.
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    The authority portion is something that seems to only be discussed in those terms. Which makes sense. Because as Christians, we all receive the holy spirit. But it’s Christ who has authority. IT’s god’s word who has authority.
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    But the empowerment portion is a lot broader.
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    And so the so what, here, in the idea that
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    This holy spirit will empower you.
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    And that the holy spirit has authority , we shouldn’t reject it, and it was placed on our king, Jesus.
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      • Numbers 11:24–25GS-NETBIBLE

      • Numbers 11:29GS-NETBIBLE

      • Numbers 27:18GS-NETBIBLE

      • Psalm 51:11GS-NETBIBLE

      • Psalm 51:11GS-NETBIBLE

      • Psalm 51:11GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Samuel 10:1GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Samuel 10:6GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Samuel 10:6GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Samuel 16:12–13GS-NETBIBLE

      • Matthew 3:16GS-NETBIBLE

      • Mark 1:10GS-NETBIBLE

      • Luke 3:22GS-NETBIBLE

      • John 1:32GS-NETBIBLE

      • Matthew 12:28GS-NETBIBLE

      • Acts 1:8GS-NETBIBLE

      • Romans 1:4GS-NETBIBLE

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