Our oldest daughter, Debbie, was just learning to drive in March of 1983. Helen, Debbie, and Michelle were in the car. Debbie was driving. As they traveled east on the blacktop, a car passed, and Debbie edged the car over to the right. As she did, the right front tire went off the pavement.
At the point where Debbie tried to turn back onto the pavement, there was a deep rut. She turned the steering wheel too hard. The car swerved sharply to the left and then careened to the right out of control. It shot across the end of a driveway and headed straight toward an electric pole only ten feet away.
The scene was set for a fatal accident…
Jesus Gives Us His Authority
Easter morning had come. With it came the exciting news that Jesus had risen from the dead and was alive forevermore. The disciples were instructed to go to Galilee where Jesus would meet with them. They came to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
Jesus came and spoke to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” The Greek word exousia means to have the ability, the strength, the power of rule and government. It is the power of one whose will and commands must be obeyed by others. That is the authority that was given to Jesus.
“Go therefore,” Jesus added, “make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you all the days – perpetually, uniformly and on every occasion- to the close and completion of the age, the end of this period of time.”
If you had been there when those words were spoken, you would have understood exactly what they meant. You would have understood, and you would have been excited out of your socks! As a matter of fact, when you read the accounts, you find that the whole city of Jerusalem was excited out of its socks!
What am I talking about? And what happened to Debbie and the car?
The Power of Attorney
E.W. Kenyon, in his book The Wonderful Name of Jesus, writes:
Several years ago, I was holding meetings in a city in Tennessee. One afternoon, while giving an address on “The
Name of Jesus,” a lawyer interrupted me, asking:
“Do you mean to say that Jesus gave us the Power of Attorney,’ the legal right to use His Name?”
I said to him, “Brother, you are a lawyer and I am a layman. Tell me – did Jesus give us the Power of Attorney?”
He said, “If language means anything, then Jesus gave to the church the Power of Attorney.”
Then I asked him, “What is the value of this Power of Attorney?”
He answered, “It depends upon how much there is back of it, how much authority, how much power this Name represents.”
Tradition vs. The Bible
There are attitudes and beliefs among Christians that disturb and distress me. These beliefs and attitudes are not based on Scripture. A lot of them are hand-me-down traditions. All of them are excuses for the lack of power, lack of faith, and lack of results among Christians and churches.
If the church were the power-generating facility it should be, it would be adding thousands of members daily, instead of losing members daily. It uses the term, God’s will, to excuse its lack of faith. It claims that miracles, signs, and wonders passed away with the apostles, to excuse its lack of power.
Yet all the time, right under our noses, in the pages of the Bible are all the explanations and instructions we need to know in order to duplicate the exciting miracles, signs, and wonders of those first days after Pentecost.
I am asking you to set aside all you have been taught, all the traditions, all the explanations about why the church today isn’t like the church in the Book of Acts. I am asking you to look at the Scriptures in a new way, a fresh way. Try to walk in the disciples’ shoes to see what they saw and to know what they know.
How much power, how much authority does Jesus’ name represent? Let’s turn to the Book of Acts and see how much power and authority it meant to the disciples. The first instance comes on the day of Pentecost.
Authority in the Early Church
They had been told to stay in Jerusalem until they were empowered by the baptism with the Holy Spirit. They would receive dynamite power, that is, ability and might. With this dynamite power and the power of attorney they had already received, they were to be Jesus’ witnesses, starting in Jerusalem and going out to the ends of the earth.
About 120 of them were gathered together when that power hit them. It hit them and it shook all Jerusalem. People from every nation under heaven were in Jerusalem. They heard the sound like the blowing of a violent wind. When they got to the place where the 120 were gathered, they stopped in amazement. Each one of them, from all the different nations, heard their own language being spoken.
They couldn’t believe their ears. The speakers were Galileans, and yet the hearers were hearing God being praised in their own native tongue. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some made fun of them, and said, “Ah, they’re just drunk!”
Peter stood up and raised his voice. When he did, the crowd stopped talking and listened. Can you imagine the power and authority that radiated out from Peter? Have you ever tried to get a room full of noisy children to stop talking and listen to you?
Remember, this is Peter talking. Peter was so scared he denied knowing Jesus, Peter who was more at home talking to fish than to people. This is Peter, talking now with great eloquence, quoting the scriptures, talking with persuasive force, power, and authority.
(Acts 2:22, 36 NIV) “Jesus of Nazareth,” Peter told them, “was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know…. Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
So forceful was Peter, so powerful the power that radiated out from him, that the people were cut to the heart and asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
That day 3,000 were added to the 120. Acts 2:43 NIV “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” They knew what they got when Jesus gave them the power of attorney to use His Name. They spoke and they commanded in the Name of Jesus, and it was done.
Using Jesus' Name
In John 16:23-24 NCV, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Jesus has given us the unqualified use of His Name. He declares that the prayer, prayed in His Name, will receive His special attention.
Jesus says, “You ask of the Father in My Name; I will endorse that, and the Father will give it to you.” He has given us the legal right to use His Name.
Healings and Miracles in the Name of Jesus
There was a man crippled from birth. This day, like every day he was being carried to the temple gate, called Beautiful, to beg from those going into the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple he asked them for money.
Peter and John stopped, looked at the man, and said, “Look at us.” The cripple expected to receive some money. Peter did not pray. Peter did not ask God to heal the man, What Peter did do was use his power of attorney to use Jesus’ Name.
Acts 3:6 NIV Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” What did Peter have? He had the power of attorney to use Jesus’ Name. That is exactly what he did. He commanded the man to walk in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
There was quite a crowd of onlookers who saw this. Word spread quickly and people came running from all over. The people were astonished. Peter looked at the crowd and listened to their comments.
“Men of Israel,” he said, “why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” Peter went on to remind them that they had disowned Jesus and handed Him over to be killed. But God raised him from the dead.
Acts 3:16 NIV “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”
Very seldom is any mention made of prayers being made. These believers knew what they had in the power of attorney to use Jesus’ Name. They did not stop and pray and ask God to do what had been put in their hands to do. In their hands had been put the authority to speak the word. And speak the word they did.
Acts 5:12, 15-16 NIV “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people…. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.”
Stephen was one of the seven chosen to help with the daily distribution of food. He did more than distribute food. Acts 6:8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.”
About this time things started to get tough. After preaching a whale of a sermon, Stephen was stoned to death. A fellow by the name of Saul got permission to hunt down the Christians and kill them. The result was Acts 8:1 “. all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Acts 8:4-8 NIV “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So, there was great joy in that city.”
Again, no mention is made of prayer. They simply used their power of attorney to use Jesus’ Name. Even Saul, who started the persecution, was given the power of attorney to use Jesus’ Name. Saul, whose name was changed to Paul, was in Iconium with Barnabas. Acts 14:3 NIV “Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
Now...What Happened to Debbie?
How much power and authority is there in the name of Jesus? Enough to do miracles.
As the car headed for the electric pole Helen shouted out “JESUS!” That was all the time she had. It just rose up within her. What happened then can only be described as a miracle – a miracle dug into the ground to show what happened.
In midair, the car turned to the left and slid between the guide wire and electric pole, doing a minimum amount of damage. When you looked at the ground, you could see the scrape mark the car made as it headed straight for the pole. Next, you could see another scrape mark showing that, in the air, the car had been turned to the left, and then hit the ground again.
How much power and authority is there in the name of Jesus? We haven’t gotten past the title page. But if just one person reading this begins to get the revelation of it, it will begin to spread to everyone. Then this church will begin to do exploits and signs and wonders.
To get to that point, we have to study. Having the knowledge in our heads is not enough.
It must get from our heads down into our hearts. It gets there by studying and by meditating on what the Bible says about the Name of Jesus.
