Power, In the Name of Jesus
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Supplication
Supplication
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Early Church in Acts
Early Church in Acts
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Notice the unneccessary details that Dr Luke gives us.
His right hand
Ankles and Feet
Begins to walk, then when he enters the temple, he’s walking and leaping!
Results in awe
11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ 26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
Peter does not take Credit for this himself. But its not only Credit he denies, its not only glory, its actually the understanding that this power is not his power. He’s not superman. He’s Peter. The same one that sank. The same one that denied.
11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
Acts 3:11-2
He is not Thor who weilds some power through his own righteous heart.
So what has changed? Whats different?
Peter is not more spiritual. He doesnt have more Holy Spirit. Thats not what it says. It might be true, but thats not the reasoning given.
What does Peter say is the key to this amazing power?
The answer is his Faith!
I wish todays sermon were more complex. I wish I had some revolutionary new thing that you would have a light bulb moment, but this is just the exact same stuff Jesus spoke about. Its not new. Its not complicated. Its not even 2000 years old, its much older.
16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
Acts 3:
Can you just imagine being there. And we would love to think we’re standing next to Peter, but in reality we’re one of the doubters standing in awe. And you wonder, man, he asked for money, they gave him life. This is like a realisation of the Gospel. They wanted something else, but they got life instead. Imagine being there in awe. And then the real bombshell:
The power comes by faith in the name and person and work of Jesus.
As faith increases, so does the gap, the measure by which God can work powerfully through you. Imagine your faith as a funnel, a funnel by which God works through you. You are the bottle neck, lets make that clear. Faith gives God more room, more bandwidth to work through you and in you. And so the biggest limiter is not the top of the cylinder, its not God, he’s willing, he’s able, the bottle neck limits the power, and Peter is saying, guys your faith is that bottleneck, the single biggest limiter of God’s capacity to work through you powerfully is actually your faith. ///// Thats great in one sense, that my sin, my religiousness, my piety, all that stuff doesnt count as much before our gracious God. But its also scary, because we often ask at MBC, where are you in the midst of this season. Why aren’t we seeing this or that. Maybe the bottle neck is too small.
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
Matthew 20:17-20
14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
Matthew 17:20-
Matthew 20:
Remember this Story? Again this is the same message .
Jesus doesnt say if you’ve done your daily devotional. If you’ve promised to not sin again, you’ll move mountains. If you’ve given your 10%, tick the good christian box. If you’ve helped the young mum or little old lady across the road or given up your seat on the train. They might all be good things to do, things we should and need to do. But they dont move mountains.
Faith does.
God doesnt look at you and say, you did great today, so tomorrow I’ll increase your Spiritual power by 10. And when you get ov
The power of the name comes by faith in it. The measure of your faith, will the measure by which God’s power is limited in your life or unlimited.
Peter is saying to the Jewish crowd, why are you surprised? Like are you kidding me? Guys this is what was promised. I mean God said would do this. Outside of the fact you murdered the author of life, don’t forget, God raised him from the dead. Moses’ prophesised about this, the same Moses who, oh by the way parted the red sea. The same God who was God of Abraham, who by Faith was found righteous before God. That same God who has worked time and time again, through the miraculous, through the supernatural, low and behold, he was the one who brought Jesus back to life.
So why are you surprised that there is power in that name?
I want to ask, do you realise the power of that Name?
That you can pray, with faith, and that God will work?
That just as Jesus had victory over sin, that you can have victory over sin, over your sin, through the name of Jesus?
That you can pray for your relationship with your spouse and God will help.
When you asked God for forgiveness, it was the power in the name of Jesus that opened the door to his Grace.
When you stand before God on that day, its the name of Jesus that has allowed your sins to be passed over.
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Right? I am with you. I am with you. Jesus is with us. Be encouraged. We follow a supernatural God. We follow the one who has victory over sin and death. I mean seriously, if we believe this stuff, why are we surprised when the sick are healed. When the lame walk. Why dont we pray big prayers. Why do we think that we can easily get rich men and women into the kingdom of God? It cant be done /// Unless, we have Faith in the person, in the work at the cross and resurection, faith in the name of Jesus. If Jesus can snatch you from the cluthes of hell, ifdeath is no barrier anymore, and he can bring you into eternity with him, how much easier is it for him to work through your faith, with all power and authority.
Hear that. Faith in Jesus, it means victory over sin. That you CAN stare sin in the face, and you flee from it. It doesnt bind anymore.
I wanna add this in too, the power of
The unleashing of the power of the name of Jesus is bound up in the faith we have in it.
Here’s some simple application questions to answer:
WHat habits can you foster in your life so that you become more faithful? More hope filled?
WHat habits can you foster in your life so that you become more faithful? More hope filled?
What opportunities is God currently putting before you, where you can step out in faith?
Do you need to
What stories stories of Jesus can you become familiar with, so that you can realise the power of Jesus in your mind?
What things are holding you back from being faithful? What things in our culture, hold you back? Are you like the Rich young ruler, who’s possessions and money stymied faith?
Is your life so busy, that before we talk bandwidth, we first need to talk about the blockage in the funnel?
What can you step out in faith with? Your giving and income? Your time? Your giftings - that you know you have, but your nervous about using.
Who can you step out in faith with? Your loved ones who dont know Jesus? Your workplace evangelism? Your neighbourhood evangelism? What area of life, do you need to just say, Lord, I trust you. This is scary, and I’m out of depth, but I trust you and I know you’re with me. In the Name of Jesus.
Friends, there is enormous potential for us. But before we can see GOd’s power displayed, we first need to have faith.
Let me pray.