Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,300 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.
you see many of us the problem of us
getting along with other people is our
inability to get along with ourselves
everything visible and physical is
preceded by something invisible and
spirit the consequences we are dealing
with in our lives in our homes in our
culture we are dealing with them because
there is a gap between where God is and
where we are he wants to know that you
want him and not just wanted stuff see a
lot of folk go to church to get God
stuff but who don’t want the God who
gives it so if you’re in distress
don’t let that drive you away draw you
near when you get close and want to live
for him want to please him want to honor
him want to exalt him want to draw near
to him then heaven opens up and he lets
you find
our series has been called it’s called
igniting kingdom prayer and the purpose
of this series is connecting you with
your authority with your spiritually
endowed authority granted to you by God
if you are a believer in Jesus Christ
but for far too many of us we do not see
clearly because we do not understand
that it is our shaded view that’s
keeping us from experiencing what God
offers God wants you and me to have
Kingdom Authority Kingdom Authority may
be defined as the divinely authorized
right and responsibility delegated to
believers to act on God’s behalf in
spiritually ruling over his creation
under the lordship of Jesus Christ let
me repeat that again Kingdom Authority
is the divinely authorized right and
responsibility that’s been delegated to
believers to act on God’s vast and
spiritually ruling over his creation
underneath the lordship of Jesus Christ
my purpose today is to clarify our
sightline to clarify and hopefully help
us to clean the glasses we’re wearing
and if necessary get new ones so that we
see things clearly and therefore into
prayer with spiritual authority in
verses 15 to 18 Paul prays that they
will apprehend what they have he says in
verse 17 that God will give you a spirit
of wisdom a spirit of revelation he
prays in verse 18 that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened all that means
is so that you start seeing things as
they really are
and not as you think they are he wants
God to clarify so I want you to whisper
in your mind or with your lips as I’m
speaking to you today I simply want you
to ask God to help you see that the eyes
of your heart might be illuminated to
see clearly what this authority that you
possess
I possess we possess as believers in
fact he uses an interesting word in the
end of verse 18 which are the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the
Saints so I’m here to declare to you you
are rich he says I want you to
understand how rich you are in the
spiritual realm that you have inherited
by virtue of your faith in Jesus Christ
I know as a Christian your major concern
is when you die you will wind up in the
presence of the Lord
however on your way there God wants you
to know there are riches rights and
privileges that you can benefit from on
your way to your ultimate destination
Paul says I don’t want you to go to
heaven to see how powerful heaven is I
want you to be enlightened now about the
rights and privileges that accrue to you
and me and us based on our relationship
with Jesus Christ what God wants you to
know me to know and us to know that
there is more in there to be experienced
not just to be held in your hand but to
a be experienced he says I pray that
your eyes might be enlightened but our
problem is we’ve got fargo in our
glasses
it’s like pesticides being put on fruit
and vegetables when you put the
pesticides on the fruit and vegetables
that which was designed to be organic
has now become chemically induce
producing another kind of problem no
matter how good it tastes
many of us have put pesticide on what
God has for us and it’s contaminated it
that pesticide is called human wisdom
that is man’s point of view the human
way to go the natural way to think and
we have sprinkled pesticide on God’s
organic truth and wonder why we’re
spiritually sick even though we still
chewing on the word because it’s been
contaminated by what the Bible calls the
wisdom of man which nullifies the
manifestation illumination and
revelation of God he says I pray that
your eyes would be open that you will
become wise that you would become
knowledgeable in an experiential way of
what God wants to do because you already
have the riches in fact he says in verse
1 chapter 1 verse 3
you’ve already been blessed with all
spiritual blessings everything God is
ever gonna do for you he’s already
deposited so you already have it now
having established what he’s praying for
what you and I should be praying for
clearer glasses so that we can see he
goes a little bit further what does he
want us to see well he says verse 19
what is their surpassing greatness of
his power toward us who believe so guess
what he wants you to see he wants you to
see his power he wants you not to talk
about it
brag about it he wants you to see it he
doesn’t want you just saying God is
omnipotent he wants you to see it he
says that I’m praying that you’ll see
the surpassing greatness blow your mind
power toward us who believe these are in
accordance with the working of the
strength of his might he says God wants
to show you his muscles God wants to
show you his potency
God wants you to experience his power he
wants you to see him show off his power
demonstrate his power not just
theologizing about his power well how
big is this power well he tells you
which verse 20 he brought about in
Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in
heavenly places far above rule authority
power and Dominion every name that is
named not only in this age but in the
age to come
Wow guess what kind of power God wants
you and me as believers if you are
believer this applies to you to
experience in your life he wants you to
experience here it is resurrection power
he wants you to see the power that
reverses things that can take things
that are dead and make them alive
take things that are bad and make them
good take defeat and make victory take
loss and wind up with gains he wants you
to see watch this that he can change the
natural order of things resurrection is
changing the natural order of things
now that’s going to happen to you and me
physically like it happened to Jesus
when we’re given our new bodies at the
resurrection but he’s not talking about
when believers die he’s talking about
why we’re still alive he says I want you
to see it now I want you to put on
glasses so that you get to see
resurrection power now let’s go a little
deeper when he raised Jesus from the
dead it says that Jesus being raised
seated him at his right hand in heavenly
places Jesus rose on Sunday then he
ascended 40 days later through the
clouds into heaven where he sat down
now you said you sit down when you
finish something okay the Bible says he
sat down
on the right hand of the Father the
father’s right hand is his power hand
okay when the Bible talks about the
right hand of God it’s talking about his
power so he sat in the seat of power
Hebrews calls it the throne so he’s
sitting in a powerful seat on a powerful
throne because he’s a powerful person so
now the reversal of fortune from Friday
to Sunday led to be Ascension which led
to him being seated on a throne who sits
on a throne a king sits on a throne
so Jesus Christ is ruling stay with me
here Jesus Christ is in a ruling
position having experienced the physical
resurrection from the dead but where
exactly is this throne he tells you he
says this throne is located in heavenly
places heavenly places is a euphemism
for the spiritual realm and he sits high
above it says all rule and all authority
don’t miss that high above all rule and
all authority well wait a minute that
means he cannot be overruled
because everything he rules over is
underneath him because he sits high
above ruling authority that’s angels and
every name that is named that’s humans
Jesus Christ is now ruling from heaven
for the benefit of history and he cannot
be overruled but he possesses veto power
because why he can’t be overruled any
attempt to overrule him he can veto
because he sits above them just like
courts can veto other courts because
they sit above them so he wants your
eyes to be open that you got this wealth
available to you to experience his power
and that power is demonstrated in the
person of Christ Hebrews chapter 2 verse
14 which says that ng
his death and resurrection Satan was
defeated so let’s get this straight you
cannot now be defeated by Satan unless
he’s allowed to do it and he does it now
by deception because Jesus took away his
fangs ok Bible says he took away the
power of death
so Satan L must trick us to defeat us
he can’t just overpowers to defeat us if
you’re a believer in Jesus Christ he’s
got to dupe you that’s why he wants your
eyes my eyes to be open that Satan is
now under Jesus’s feet I studied the
Bible in college for four years and
studied the Bible for four years better
than his master’s degree another 40
inevitable doctoral degree then I’ve
been preaching all of these years and
I’m still learning new things from this
awesome inexhaustibility a little game
that’s why I’m so excited about the 2018
Study Bible and its accompanying works
but Tony Evans Bible commentary it will
take all of this training and this
teaching and make it available to you to
understand utilize and apply God’s most
powerful
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look at chapter two verse six I’m a
reverse for six but God being Richard
mercy because of his great love with
which he loved us even when we were dead
in our transgressions made us alive
together with Christ by grace have you
been saved and raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus and did you just
see what I just read were your eyes open
I don’t believe it I don’t believe it I
got to read it again but God being rich
in mercy because of his great love with
which he loved us even when we were dead
in our transgressions made us alive
together with Christ by grace you have
been saved and raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus so guess what
Jesus is not the only one in heaven
somebody’s with him together with him
not only are there folks with him and
together with him they are seated beside
him it says seated with him and they are
together with him seated with him in the
same location as him heavenly places
heavenly places is the spiritual realm
so guess what Paul is praying that you
and I and we understand you here but
you’re not here he says you have been
relocated spiritually even though you
are physically located right here right
now in church he says because if you are
saved you die with him were raised with
him were seated with him in the heavenly
places so here’s the problem
if you are seeing it with him in
heavenly places but you’re operating
from earthly places then you’re
functioning from the wrong location so
the reason many of us are not seeing the
power is we’re operating from the wrong
location
we’re seated in heaven because that’s
where the power is but we’re operating
on earth and there’s no power there he
says but if you learn to operate from
where you are truly seated which is in
heavenly places you’re looking at things
totally different because you’re looking
at it from God’s perspective not from
man’s perspective he says you are seated
with him authority works where Jesus
Christ rules where his jurisdiction
exists and we do it all the time don’t
they call it zoom teleconferencing see
you can be in Dallas and be in a meeting
in Chicago without ever leaving Dallas
because technology has set it up that
you can really be in Chicago and never
leave Dallas because the way technology
has happened is that connections are
made between a place you aren’t to put
you there while you still aren’t there
so yeah it’s a great Dallas but you’re
in the meeting in Chicago because
technology has put you in two places at
one time
now before man ever created all this
techy stuff God had a spiritual system
in place to connect us from Earth to
heaven without leaving your location and
that spiritual connection point has
every believer in heaven while they
never leave the premises on earth the
problem is we get so used to earth that
we never connect the spiritual
technology to heaven and wind up with
the limitations of Earth and therefore
don’t see the authority and the power
that God has granted believers to
experience
so why don’t you get to experience this
okay here it is
notice verse 22 and he put all things in
subjection under his feet and gave him
his head of all things to the church
which is his body the fullness of him
who fills all in all
here it is you will not see the
connection open up in the screen come on
up there in heavenly places where you
are down here on earthly places where
you sit unless you are under Jesus’s
feet you have to be under its feet God
has placed all things under his Jesus’s
feet that means under his authority
under his control under his rule and the
one issue that must be settled is the
lordship of Jesus Christ over every area
of life that that issue must get settled
when you trust Christ for the
forgiveness of sins you’re now on your
way to heaven but when you submit to the
lordship or the rulership of Jesus
Christ over every area of your life
that’s when heaven can visit you and
heaven will not visit you if you’re not
under his feet let me read to you right
now Romans 14 about the lordship of
Jesus Christ here’s what it says in
verses 7 through 9 for not one of us
lives for himself
and that one dies for himself for if we
live we live for the Lord and if we die
we die for the Lord therefore whether we
live or die we are the Lord’s for to
this in Christ died and lived again that
he might be Lord both of the Dead and of
the living until he is Lord he uses the
word Lord four times in those verses
until he is master ruler final
decision-maker dictator meaning you’re
under
foot you know when somebody puts their
foot on somebody they want to hold him
down okay
unless God can hold you down unless you
are willing to say yes Lord to his
authority unless you and I are willing
to say I am NOT my own I’ve been bought
with a price and that buying with a
price
covers all of my life my personal life
my financial life my attitudinal life my
relational life it covers all of my life
cuz I am NOT my own he says I want to be
Lord while you’re living and when you
did I don’t want to just be Lord when it
comes time to go to heaven I want to be
Lord on your way there until he we are
under his feet we will not see his
authority being manifested in our
experience we won’t see his power we
won’t see change see cuz that look the
way you know that this Christian thing
is working is God demonstrates his power
said when Jesus was on earth how did
they know he was the Messiah because of
his powerful demonstrations okay so if
you really want to know how real he is
plug in to his power but you can’t plug
into his power lets you under his foot
you’ve got to be under his authority in
other words he must have the right to
veto you he must have the right to
overrule you he must have the right to
dictate to you he must have the right to
consume you because he died and rose to
be Lord not just to be Savior he died
and rose to take you to heaven but also
rule you on earth and if you want to see
his rule on earth then he must be lord
over all of life the problem the day is
we have am/fm Christians they switch
frequencies
you see they heavenly on Sunday then
they go secular on Monday you see they
they keep switching frequencies back and
forth and wonder why they don’t get to
hear the whole two
because they keep switching frequencies
and God says I ain’t gonna let you to
time in now you have to decide if I am
Lord or if I am NOT now if I am Lord
that means final say-so veto power and
then when it comes time me to do
something I don’t have to go far said
you sit next to me I can just turn
because you already sit next to me in
the spiritual realm but if you’re not
operating from that realm you don’t even
hear him talking you don’t see the
riches you don’t experience the power
and Jesus just becomes a religious
experience that encourages you that
inspires you but you never see the
authority the overruling but I will tell
you this there’s nothing like seeing it
because when it when he when he shows up
and you get to see it and you get to say
whoa I just saw God doing I just saw God
you’ll switch on me I just saw God take
something dead and raise it from the
green eyes I just saw that I was dying
in this situation dying with this
problem dying with the resources down it
and I just saw God flip the natural
order of things
see then you all have to lean on
somebody else’s testimony cuz you’ll be
able to say I’ve seen it with my own
eyes
so right now in closing I want to switch
a word I want to switch a word I want to
change out a word okay now the word I
want to change out is a great word it’s
a good word but it’s a problem word but
it’s a natural word the word I want to
switch out is the word commitment see we
call them people to make a commitment
there’s a problem with a good word the
problem with the word commitment is you
still in control see when you make a
commitment you’re in control like like
we committed to lose the weight we
gained over Christmas we committed we
committed I’m going on a diet and I’m
gonna lose that way we committed to
start working out
and our commitment began to wane not
because we weren’t sincere but we were
in control and when the control got weak
the commitment got weak so I want to
switch the word up I want to switch the
word out from commitment to surrender
see see if a man holds the gun up and
says put your hands up he just dropped
commitment
I don’t need commitment I’m surrendering
I’m throwing my hands up ain’t thinking
about it I ain’t going in to do I really
want to commit do I really want to do
this I you know why cuz somebody else is
in control somebody else got the gun
said sit down
you don’t have to tell me twice I’m
gonna sit down why cuz I’m not in
control you know what you do when you
surrender what you told you see cuz when
you surrender somebody else is in
control somebody else is calling the
shots
so commitment is a great word but we’ve
we get shaky with commitment so let’s go
to surrender so that it’s not up to us
is whatever you say boss you’re the boss
man whatever you say
yes sir I surrender I hold up my hands
cuz you’re the authority cuz now it
doesn’t depend on my commitment it
depends on my obedience to the authority
who’s telling me what to do
so I surrender and once you surrender
helping wakes up and say we got one we
got one who’s ready to see my power and
my authority
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as Christians we’ve been seated with
Jesus Christ in heavenly places Jesus
died on Friday he rose on Sunday with
all authority that authority for history
has been designated to Christ by his
father but we are seated with him so we
get to share in the authority that’s
been given to Christ that he delegates
to us when we’re operating in the will
of God
boy there that that ought to reins up
excitement in your soul that Jesus wants
to share his authority with you getting
to know Jesus piggybacking off of his
authority for your benefit in history in
time and space and not have to wait to
heaven to see it ah that’s an exciting
exciting thought let’s make it more than
a thought let’s make it a reality
Jesus is Authority he shares with his
disciples make sure you want
[Music]
[Applause]
you
you