https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/By-What-Power.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Acts 4:1-12<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. There is a appeal to being your own boss, to do your own thing, and not answer to anyone<\/p>\n
A. You can see it during the times of the Judges – Judges 21:25<\/p>\n 1. Yet, it is a period marked by the Israelites’ behavior going from bad to\nworse to wretched\n B. It remains popular with young adults who gain the ability to make decisions and\nso rebel against the idea that there are limits to what they can decide.\n
II. However, those in power have different ideas<\/p>\n
A. People with power tend to want to hold onto their power<\/p>\n B. As the teachings of Christ spread, the Jewish rulers demanded to know how the\napostles had the right to teach their doctrine and do miracles – Acts 4:7\n
C. What were they asking?<\/p>\n
1. Power: dunamei<\/i> – force, strength, power<\/p>\n
a. The power being demonstrated could not have originated in men.<\/p>\n b. Jesus demonstrated power that could only originated with God –\nActs 2:22\n
c. It meant that God was backing Jesus and his message – John 3:2<\/p>\n
d. Jesus had promised his disciples power – Acts 1:8<\/p>\n
e. They preached with power – I Corinthians 2:4-5<\/p>\n f. Thus, the Jewish leaders were asking who is the authority behind\nthe miracles they were doing.\n
2. Name: <\/p>\n
a. The authority backing their teaching<\/p>\n b. Jesus stated that he came with the given authority of his Father –\nJohn 5:43\n
(1) Notice that some claim no greater authority than themselves<\/p>\n c. Jesus promised the disciples that they would be able act with his\ndelegated authority – Mark 16:17\n
(1) They had but to appeal to his authority – John 14:13-14<\/p>\n d. Thus, the Jewish leaders were asking who gave them the right to\nteach as they were teaching\n
D. The answer to both questions was Jesus – Acts 4:10<\/p>\n 1. They were not promoting their own agenda but acting as Jesus had\nauthorized.\n E. Simon saw Peter and John giving the power of the Holy Spirit to new Christians\nand he desired that authority – Acts 8:17-19\n
1. Authority: exousia<\/i> – authority, right, power<\/p>\n
2. But authority is not bought. It is granted by the one in power – Acts 8:20-23<\/p>\n
III. The Need for Authority<\/p>\n A. Suppose you stop at a rest area and enter the building. You see two doors, one is\nmarked “Restrooms” and the other “Authorized Personnel.” \n 1. You immediately know that you are not permitted to enter the door\nmarked “Authorized Personnel” because you have not been given the\nauthority to enter.\n 2. Notice also that the sign doesn’t explicitly state who may not enter. It only\nspecifies who may enter and that is sufficient.\n 3. When you enter the “Restrooms” door, you again see signs with an icon of\na man pointing in one direction and a women pointing in another.\n a. Once again, even though the word “only” doesn’t appear and it\nmay not even say “man” or “woman,” yet, we know which\ndirection we are allowed to go.\n B. But when it comes Christianity, recognition of the principles of authority are\nreplaced with emotional, irrational desires to do as one wants to do.\n
C. Salvation can only gain though the one authorized to give it – Acts 4:12<\/p>\n
1. There is no other authority but Jesus<\/p>\n
2. He has inherited a more excellent authority – Hebrews 1:4<\/p>\n
3. He has the highest authority – Philippians 2:9-10 <\/p>\n D. Colossians 3:17 – What God teaches is the need for authority every aspect of our\nlives\n
1. Jesus was given all authority – Matthew 28:19<\/p>\n
2. Jesus’ authority is above all others – Ephesians 1:20-23<\/p>\n 3. All our conduct must conform to the directives of Jesus. We must have\nprior approval for our actions.\n
IV. Examples of Recognizing Authority<\/p>\n
A. Moses spoke to Pharaoh in God’s name – Exodus 5:23<\/p>\n
1. He spoke God’s words to Pharaoh. He said only what God wanted said.<\/p>\n
B. Nadab and Abihu offer incense in an unauthorized way – Leviticus 10:1-2<\/p>\n
1. They acted in a way God had not commanded<\/p>\n
2. As a result their actions did not honor God – Leviticus 10:3<\/p>\n
C. Uzzah was struck dead for trying to steady the ark – II Samuel 6:6<\/p>\n
1. He was struck down for his irreverence – II Samuel 6:7<\/p>\n
2. They had not followed God’s orders – I Chronicles 15:13<\/p>\n a. They had not carried the ark as God’s law stated. Thus, they did\nnot act in the name of the Lord.\n
b. By doing it their own way, they showed no respect for God<\/p>\n
D. A centurion’s comment on the need for authority – Matthew 8:9<\/p>\n
E. The Jewish leaders questioned Jesus’ authority – Matthew 21:23<\/p>\n
1. In other words, who gave you the right to act as you chose to do?<\/p>\n 2. The answer wasn’t: “Who needs authority? As long as I’m not in direct\nviolation of a command and sincere, I can do as I want.”\n 3. Jesus instead answer that the authority could have come from men or God\nand asked the leaders to chose (which they refused)\nV. Since everything we do must come from the one in power, we are limited in what we may\ndo and say.\n
A. When we speak, speak as the oracles of God – I Peter 4:11<\/p>\n
1. What we advocate must be found in the sayings of God<\/p>\n
B. We are not to think beyond what is written – I Corinthians 4:6<\/p>\n
C. We are to examine everything carefully – I Thessalonians 5:21-22<\/p>\n D. All around us are churches who have introduced all sorts of practices not found in\nthe Scriptures\n
1. Excuses:<\/p>\n
a. “It meets our needs”<\/p>\n
b. “It gets more people involved”<\/p>\n
c. “It brings in a lot of people”<\/p>\n
d. “It generates enthusiasm”<\/p>\n
e. “It allows us to get things done”<\/p>\n
f. “We really like it”<\/p>\n
g. “It keeps our young people’s interest”<\/p>\n
h. “It creates a warm, accepting environment”<\/p>\n 2. Not that these are necessarily bad, but what is lacking is the anchor of\nauthority which must come first\n
a. Without authority from God we will drift away from the truth<\/p>\n
E. We must do what is right – Acts 10:35<\/p>\n
F. We cannot cross the boundary of what is allowed – II John 9<\/p>\n
G. There is only one way – John 14:6<\/p>\n
H. There is no other authority – Acts 4:12<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 4:1-12 I. There is a appeal to being your own boss, to do your own thing, and not answer to anyone A. You can see it during the times of the Judges – Judges 21:25 1. Yet, it is a period marked by the Israelites’ behavior going from bad to worse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[78,1659],"class_list":["post-67811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-authority","tag-power"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48256,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-god-of-judges\/","url_meta":{"origin":67811,"position":0},"title":"The God of Judges","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46925,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-abimelech-be-counted-as-a-judge-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":67811,"position":1},"title":"Should Abimelech be counted as a judge of Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am teaching the Judges to the children. My question was Abimelech really a judge? I have read both sides, and am interested to hear what your evaluation is. Thank you for your input, Jeff. Answer: \"After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39624,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-had-seen-the-great-works-of-god-in-judges-27\/","url_meta":{"origin":67811,"position":2},"title":"Who had seen the great works of God in Judges 2:7?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to ask a question about the who's who of a biblical passage. Regarding the \"who\" in Judges 2:7, who are they in this passage? Are they the same people who served the Lord in the days of Joshua and in the days of the elders who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10281,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-justices\/","url_meta":{"origin":67811,"position":3},"title":"Just Justices","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 10:22-38 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many times Jesus faced a mob set to stone him for his words. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our reading, the thing which upset them was Jesus\u2019 claim to be the Son of God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They understood that this was not a light claim, but one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63193,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-with-deborah-as-a-judge\/","url_meta":{"origin":67811,"position":4},"title":"What Do We Do with Deborah as a Judge?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Deborah is a conundrum. And we shouldn't be surprised because she is a woman! Joking aside, there is still the fact that Deborah is an aberration when it comes to judges because she is a woman. So much so is this true, that proponents on both sides\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24289,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-in-the-bible-does-it-tell-about-two-judges-ruling-at-the-same-time-one-evil-and-the-other-one-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":67811,"position":5},"title":"Where in the Bible does it tell about two judges ruling at the same time, one evil and the other one good?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where in the Bible does it tell about two judges ruling at the same time, one evil and the other one good? 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