Embracing Jesus: Authority, Transformation, and New Kingdom Living

The emphasis here has been on the fact that Jesus is coming and being announced not just as the savior of the world, although we need him to come as the savior of the world, but he is coming and being announced as a brand new king bringing a brand new kingdom, a new way to live and move in the world, a new royalty and person, a new king to submit and to surrender to. [00:00:56]

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real Authority, quite unlike the teachers of religious law. It's interesting here that Mark doesn't record what Jesus taught, although some of the other gospel authors record that he went into the synagogue and he was given the scroll of Isaiah. [00:03:37]

There's a difference in what was experienced by the people who heard Jesus for the first time. So let me just roll through a couple of these that I've already mentioned: some different kinds of authority that we experience. The first one, as I've already mentioned, is positional Authority. [00:06:36]

Experiential Authority is important. That means that I have authority over something because I have experienced the ability to overcome a thing. Okay, so for instance, you go to the doctor's office and the doctor tells you, "Josh, you need heart surgery." Okay, well, why do I need heart surgery? [00:09:13]

Jesus comes in and instead of saying, "This is what I heard somebody say about this thing," Jesus says, "This is what is true. This is what is real. This is what is powerful and effective and can change you." And there was something in that, just like you know it, the difference between the boss who doesn't know what they're talking about and the friend who comes along and says, "Listen, I know exactly where you've been, and this is how God has helped me. Let me walk with you through that." [00:12:11]

Jesus is building a case in demonstration before all people for those to know that he isn't just a new wacko trying to claim the rights to a throne, but he is a real king with not only Power and the ability to accomplish things but an authority that's rooted in who he is. [00:13:36]

We see that Jesus has Authority even over evil spirits. If you've been a part of First Alliance for a little bit, you know that we believe that evil spirits still exist and still torment people, and we operate under Jesus's Authority in partnership with what he continues to do in the world to see people set free from the shaming and torment of evil spirits. [00:15:27]

The New Kingdom that Jesus brings into the world isn't just so that we can add on to already nice lives, but so that he can fully change us and we can experience within us the full power of Jesus healing, restoring, transforming. This is also true of Peter and John after they healed a man right after Jesus ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. [00:19:07]

We spend a lot of our lives trying to position ourselves in the right way among the right people or getting the right degree and the right training, and then maybe we'll be satisfied. But the real way that we make a difference and operate in Jesus's Kingdom, it's not that those things are bad, it's just that they're less than what Jesus wants to do in our life when we surrender and submit to him as king. [00:23:17]

Jesus has authority over evil spirits and Jesus can deliver you from the shame and torment of demons. If you find yourself experiencing this in real time in real ways, constantly distracted in worship, constantly distracted while you're reading the Bible, constantly distracted while you're trying to pray, if you find yourself with thoughts that you know are not from you and you know are not from God, you can find Freedom. [00:24:43]

Jesus has authority over sickness. What does this mean? Jesus can heal your sickness. Jesus can heal you of your sickness. This is the first time in Mark's gospel that he has healed somebody in front of his new followers. And what does she do? The fever leaves her, and she gets up and she goes, "I know what you need, a sandwich. Let me get you a sand, let me make something for you." [00:25:39]

Jesus having Authority means we submit to whatever he says. This is the invitation that these people were invited into, and they experienced the beauty of the Kingdom. They submitted themselves to the king, and the king intervened and rescued and delivered. Some of us, this is true in our life as well, right? We were trying to overcome this thing in our own effort and our own strength. [00:38:00]