Welcome to church. Welcome to Kings. It’s great to have you here today. Please feel free to take a seat. And for those that I haven’t met, my name is Scott.
I was saved and raised in this house. I’ve been here for a long time now. Gone through the school. Many of you in the room to thank for that. It’s an honour to share this word.
A word that for those of you a couple of weeks ago in the 8:30 service you’ve heard this word but you know the answer to the word then. You know the purpose of this word. You know that the purpose of this word is to know and exalt the name of Jesus. So as we preach this word this morning even if you’ve heard it before. Can I encourage you to engage? We don’t lose anything in lifting up the name of Jesus.
We don’t lose anything in honouring him. In empowering him and placing him where he needs to be. Which is on the throne. For those that haven’t heard this message, I want to come back to the the series that we’ve been talking about which is on the weapons of our warfare. We know from two Corinthians that the weapons of our warfare, they’re not carnal but they’re mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.
But I want you to know that that scripture doesn’t say the weapons of the priest’s warfare, of the Levites. He says it’s of our warfare. The purpose of this series has been to equip you. For you to know how to face the challenges, for you to know how to cast the mountain aside, for you to know how to be empowered in the spirit of God. Take on any challenge that you may face.
This is a call to you to engage in the spirit. And it will change your life if you start to engage it in that way and I think it’s no mistake as well if we think back to last week and hearing Trichelle’s testimony. The conviction, the empowerment of how I can make a difference in my community and actually change lives and change legacies and change cities. Not a mistake as well that Pastor Shell comes up today to tell us what that arm is doing in the community. As we come to Christmas there’s always these opportunities for people around the street, around our workplace, even family members.
There’s something about this time where people’s attention is drawn to Jesus. You and I as the church, we need to make the most of that. But we can only do it truly in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the only thing that can convict and change. When we take up the weapons of our warfare, we can truly see change in our communities.
And I’m excited about this because every single of us can leave here this morning empowered with confidence knowing the authority that God has given us to make change in circumstances and situations. Every single one of you can be an active player in God’s plan. Every single one of you. And that’s my hope this morning that you leave here with confidence knowing whose authority you stand on. What you can do feeling the strength and the conviction to say I can make a difference.
I can see change by the power of God. The circumstance you may have been facing for years or generations. Today can be the day that that line is drawn in the sand and it no longer affects you. By the power of the name of Jesus. This morning my prayer is that we are encouraged and emboldened to stand in the authority that was given to us.
And I think about this often when we come to pray. I share this. I’ve got 11 nieces and nephews. They’re beautiful little children and they’re learning how to pray. And I love listening to their prayers.
In their innocence. They say really fun things. In a prayer. One of my nephews thank God for oxygen. And I thought that’s fair.
I haven’t done that in a while. Good on him. Good on him. I love hearing their prayers. They’ll say something like in the name of Jesus.
I thank you for nanny and Poppy and Mummy and Daddy. And Uncle Scotty. And I thank you and they list their siblings but one. In the name of Jesus amen. Thank you Jesus for my food.
Amen. Thank you Jesus for dessert and ice cream. In Jesus name amen. I love listening to their prayers. They’re innocent.
They’re to the point sometimes. But I love that they come to know the the of prayer. And I love that even children will finish a prayer by saying in the name of Jesus. But you and I I hope can remember the power and the purpose behind that. By saying something in the name of Jesus has so much more weight to it than simply a sign off to a prayer.
There’s a reason why we as the church are taught to pray in the name of Jesus. It is not the sign off to an email. There is a response, a wait, there is a purpose to us standing and speaking in the name of Jesus. And this morning, that is the purpose of this message here to say, what’s in aim. What’s in a name? When I come to the end of a prayer and say in the name of Jesus, what does it actually mean? I need to tell you that there is weight, there is power, and there is purpose behind us saying in the name of Jesus.
It is not just a ritual. There is a reason behind us saying it. And so this morning, my first, my first point to remember is that we place value on that phrase. In the name of Jesus, that we remember that it does have purpose. It does have meaning it does have value.
And when we start to realise that and start to apply it I promise you you’ll see something shift in your prayer. You’ll see something shift in your faith. You’ll see something shift in your circumstance. Because he has no choice but to respond. When we know the power of the name of Jesus.
So we have to remember that there is value in the name of Jesus. But we have to remember as well that you and I were given the authority to speak in his name. You and I were the authority to speak on behalf of the father through Jesus so that we can fulfill his will here on the earth. I think of this story, something that happened to me last year, a work, I was working in a research centre for those that don’t know, I’m a lecturer in politics. Don’t ask me questions.
I don’t know the answer. That’s the beautiful part of my job. Um but we were running some workshops down in Canberra and we were meant to be going down and running some trading workshops with some government officials but my director she couldn’t go. So said to me, oh could you go down to Canberra in my place? I was like, oh, yeah, sure. If you, if you need my help, I get to my desk, there’s already tickets there.
I thought, okay, we’re going. I get down to Canberra. I don’t know where the building is. I hadn’t really been there before. I’m driving to this building like, I’ll go to the third floor.
There’ll be someone there to greet you. Go to the third floor. It’s just security thing, oh no. And I go up to the desk there, everything’s frosted glass. I can’t see anything.
I don’t know what’s going on. There’s some people there at the desk. They say, who are you? I said, I’m Scott. I said, who’s that? I was like, oh, I’m here on behalf of they said, oh, absolutely, please, come on through. I, in my own strength, in my own name, had no authority to be there.
But, knowing that I was going in the name of my director who sent me, those doors opened up. Some of you are getting ahead of me. You’re so ready for it. When I go in my own strengths and in my own authority to look at this mountain that’s in front of you and I say in the name of Scott be moved. The demons will laugh.
Yes. My name carries no weight. My name carries no power. But if I say to this mountain in the name of Jesus be moved. Then suddenly the demons begin to tremble because the name not only has all power and all authority but it also has all victory.
Something happens when we start to operate in the authority that actually makes a difference. In John fourteen it reads this. Whatever you ask in my name Jesus says, that I will do, that my father may be glorified in the Son, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Scripture’s not just saying that we tap on the name of Jesus in hopes of getting a bigger prize at Christmas. This is not about accumulating our own wealth or material possession.
We speak in the name but also scripturally speak in the nature of the name that we speak on behalf of. So, when we’re speaking in the name of Jesus, we’re not just speaking in his name, we’re also speaking in his character and in his nature. That means, if I sit here on my knees, I could pray till I’m blue in the face for a billion dollars but that doesn’t necessarily line up with the nature of God but I could sit here on my knees and I could pray for the salvation of my family. I could pray for a job opportunity that is called by God. I could pray for the sick to be healed.
I could pray for deliverance and it in the name and the nature of God for that to be so. So, I start to get confident. I start to get confident in my prayer because as it says in John, anything you ask in my name and my nature that I will do, that the father will be glorified in the Son. If I pray for something that will glorify God, I can have confidence that Jesus is backing up that prayer. Yeah.
And suddenly, the tone of my prayer begins to change. I’m feeling empowered. I’m feeling like I could actually do something here because the authority has been given to me to make that prayer to glorify the father. This This requires us to actually know and be in relationship with God. I think about this actually in the image of the prodigal son.
You know the story that this son says to his father give me my inheritance now. I want to go live the good life. Offending his father really. Taking his portion of the inheritance. He goes and he blows it all on on this frivolous living.
Doing anything he can to just feel good in that temporal moment. Suddenly loses it all. Finds himself feeding in a pig’s trough and realises that the servants at his father’s house were treated better than that. Says he comes to senses and he goes back to see his father. There’s a beautiful aspect of this story where the father sees the son or runs to him and embraces him.
It speaks the beautiful restoration of our relationship with God. That we can return back to the Father no matter what was done in the past. No matter where we went to. No matter how deep in the mud we got. When we go back to our father’s house he welcomes us with open arms.
That’s one element of the story. But his response to it is not just to restore the relationship. But from Luke fifteen twenty-two, it says this, the father then says to his servants, bring out the best robe, put it on him, bring a ring to his hand, bring sandals to his feet, bring the fatted calf here, kill it, and let us eat and be merry. This my son was dead but he’s alive again. He was lost.
He is now found. All of those elements of what the father does there doesn’t just restore the son to relationship. It restores the son to authority. The robe, the ring, the sandals, all of these actually instruments which we used in those times to actually make decisions on behalf of the family. In a collective society, the son would honour the father.
You’d work in your family business. You’d represent your farm, you’d represent your community. Whatever it might be. But these were symbols of how you could actually make transactions on behalf of the father. Typically in that society your class, your level of, of, of distinction in society was designated by the robe that you wore.
From the beggar on the street, the robe as a license for them to actually beg. All the way to nobility. The robe indicated where you sat in society. The robe he put on his son here returned him to a family status. The ring on his hand if you think of signet rings often there’d be some sort of emblem or crest.
You’d press that down and wax as a signature for a deal. But the sandal as well not only does it symbolise peace. Not only does it symbolise direction but often in these times it was also used as a way to transaction. We see this occur with Ruth. We actually see in some customs in marketplaces in ancient ancient Jewish times that if it was like an auction, you’d throw your sandal into a ring to make a purchase.
Everything that the father did there restored the son not only to relationship but to a position where the son could now act and operate on the father’s behalf. One level is relationship but the other one’s responsibility. He brings the son back to authority and gives regardless of what he just did. The father would have known what happened. He ran out of money.
The father knows that it wasn’t good. But the father restored him not just to relationship but to authority. And he does the same thing for you and for I. If we go back to the great commission, Jesus speaks to his disciples and he says, all authority has been given to me in heaven, in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and teach them everything that I have commanded you.
And Lord, I’m with you even to the ends of the age. Jesus gives us his authority on his behalf so we can now fulfill the perfect will of God on this earth in his place. We need to member the power and the weight of what the name of Jesus is but you need to remember that he gave you the authority now to speak on his behalf. And if I can pause on this for a moment I know that this is something right now that a lot of people in our church will be confronted with. Maybe you don’t feel like you have the skills.
Maybe you don’t feel like you have the credibility in your history and your background. Maybe you don’t feel like you’ve cleaned yourself up enough. Well I’m sorry God has given you the authority. He has made you righteous. He has made you worthy.
He has empowered you. It’s not on your criteria. If you have given yourself fully over to Jesus and you are on that path and that process of that beautiful sanctification with the Holy Spirit that he has given you. Authority. We need to lean into the fact that God chose me work for him.
I didn’t choose myself. It is not based on my works. My works are filthy filthy rags to him. But under the power of the Holy Spirit in salvation with Jesus the works I commit now do something powerful. The authority I step into is not designed by me nor designated by me.
I didn’t win the right to be in authority for Jesus. I didn’t climb myself up a promotion ladder. No. Jesus made me worthy. Jesus made me righteous.
Jesus saved me. Jesus gave me his authority and so he also empowered me to act on his behalf. If the issue here is confidence, then the only thing I can say is you need to get over yourself because he gave you the authority. You don’t need to confidence in yourself, that will fail. But you can find confidence in Jesus who chose you.
Jesus who made you worthy. Jesus who empowered you. And when you start to lean into that, when you rest in that, there’s the confidence you need. The strength that comes by knowing it is only by the spirit of God. And the third point to this is to remember that there’s value in the name.
It’s to remember that you were actually given authority to use the name. But finally it’s to remember that there’s power in the name that you say. Again, I’m just so glad I don’t answer my prayers with in the name of Scott. It’s just useless. What do I what power do I have in myself? I don’t own a cattle on a thousand hills.
I don’t have the capacity myself to heal the sick or to to cast out demons. But when the power of Jesus comes upon me, then something shifts and something changes. It’s not in the name of me. It’s in the name of Jesus. What does this look like? In Mark sixteen, it says this, that these are signs that will follow them who believe.
In my name, they will cast out demons. In my name, they will speak with new tongues. In my name, they will take up serpents. If they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. In my name, they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
In my name, these are the things that will follow him who believes. These are the signs and the wonders that will follow him who believes. Not the pastor, not just the priest, you. These are the signs that will follow you. If you believe and can actually stand in the authority that God has given you to fulfil his will on this earth.
These are the signs that can follow you. As I said earlier, when we pray in the name, we don’t just pray in the physical name of something, we pray in the nature of someone as well. So when I say in the name of Jesus, I’m not just saying Jesus as in the title, Jesus, I’m saying everything that he ever was or did, or promised to be, I am praying in that name. So I want you to for a moment through scripture when Jesus lived his life. Who did he say that he is? Because that is the name that you are praying in.
That is the name that you are praying in. If someone comes to me and they’re unwell, there’s some sort of physical ailment and I’m there to pray for healing. I am so grateful that I’m praying in the name of the healer. I’m not praying in the name of me. I’m praying in the name of the great physician.
Someone comes up to me with spiritual torment, some sort of mental health condition. I am praying in the name of the prince of peace. So, when we start to pray in the name of Jesus. We are also praying in the nature of Jesus. We get to rely on every bit of his power.
Every bit of his personhood. Everything he is we are now praying into. That is the power that backs up the prayer. And suddenly my confidence begins to rise again. Not only do I know I have the authority to pray in the name of Jesus, but I can pray with all of the power that comes in that name.
It’s on Jesus then to respond. He tells me he is our bread of life. He tells me he is the light in the darkness. He tells me he is my door, my gate, my path. He tells me that he is our good shepherd.
He tells me he is the resurrection. He tells me he is the life. He tells me he is the way. He tells me he is the truth. He tells me he is the true vine.
He is my salvation. My everlasting life. He is my redeemer. He is my joy. He is my mediator.
We could go on for hours about every single thing that Jesus does and says he is and will do. That is the power that you pray into. That is the power and the authority that you can step into when we truly know what we mean when we say in the name of Jesus. My hope is that this changes your approach to prayer. We’ve been speaking about spiritual warfare.
From this day forward can I encourage you? If you have given your life to Christ and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, you have the authority to say in the name of Jesus and it can be done. I hope that changes your prayer, changes your faith, changes your confidence. If we look to Mark eleven, Jesus says, to have faith in God, assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he said will be done, he’ll have whatever he says. So therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, you will have them. So, I ask you then this morning, what is that mountain that sits in front of you? What is it? The world right now is an anxious world.
It’s a world of violence, fear, doubt, but in the kingdom of God is peace. In the kingdom of God is strength. In the kingdom of God, there is provision. But that doesn’t mean your world right now isn’t shaken by something. A health report, issues finding work, piling up bills an issue with a family member you can’t just seem to resolve.
Whatever it is that mountain that sits in front of you. Be encouraged by the words of Jesus that if you say to that mountain in the name of Jesus be moved and you have faith in your heart because you have the authority to speak in behalf of the name of Jesus. And you have confidence in your spirit because you know the power of Jesus backs up that prayer then say to that mountain be moved and be cast in the sea. And it shall be done. This morning, that is my prayer for you.
That you begin to take on that mantle. You begin to have that prayer. Interestingly enough, this is something that Trichelle said last week at the 830 service. She came up and she said, during the worship, I just feel there’s people in this room that need to declare in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, there’s something that needs to change and I need to declare it in the name of Jesus.
Trichelle said that prophetically last week and it’s coming off the back of us working in this series on the weapons of our warfare. She’s come over from Africa doesn’t know what these messages are. But if the Holy Spirit is confirmed week after week after week that it’s time for you as the church to rise up in the authority that Jesus has given you to see breakthrough and change then maybe he’s not joking. Maybe the time is now for you to rise up and take the authority of the name of Jesus and speak to the mountain and see it be moved. Maybe the time is now.
I’d suggest that it is. But what we’re seeing in the world right now we cannot afford to let a minute go past without us being effective in what we’re doing. And it’s not just here church, it’s wherever you put your foot. God has asked you to represent him, to fulfil his will. That is where your mission is, that is where your call is.
So, do it faithfully and full of the fire of God. Knowing that you can change whatever situation you find yourself in. I said this a couple of weeks ago at the age thirty. This is actually the ending to that story. A few weeks ago, I received an email from a student who was at the end of their degree but had been suffering some really significant mental health challenges.
We’ve seen these before in this student. It was a very challenging time for them. She contacted me and said I can’t do this. I don’t know if I can do this. The contents of the email were quite confronting.
Essentially saying at the end I don’t think I’m worthy for my daughters to see me here anymore. I got that email about one in the morning. And obviously I’m confronted here now. He’s a student of mine who has essentially written what could be shelters a suicide night. And I begin to pray.
Obviously in the days to come I follow the procedures and protocols. But something in that moment causes me to pray. The last conversation I had with that student she told me how much she hates the church. An institutionalised religion and believes that any form of chaplaincy in school should be banned. That’s the last conversation had with her.
Couple of days later, in a point of darkness and despair, for some reason, she emails me I begin to pray. I’ll go to war on her behalf. She doesn’t know how to carry those weapons yet. I’ll go to war on her behalf. I’ll fight for her.
I’ll pray for her. I’ll believe for her. And just 2 days, I was doing so well. I was doing so well. Two days ago, she emailed me saying she’s qualified to graduate with distinction and she’s asked for me to to the graduation ceremony because she wants a photo with me and her daughters.
I need you to know when I’m in my lecture theatre and I’m teaching on structural neo-realist theory, I can’t speak, I can’t preach. I’m not allowed to sit there and proclaim the name of Jesus. But I’ll do it in my kindness. I will do it in my joy, I will do it in my love, I will do it in whatever way I can. And I don’t know what seed gets planted.
I don’t know what seed will ever be planted. But my obedience to God is in that moment to be the best reflection of his light and his love and his freedom that I can. I don’t know why in her dark moment she chose to email me. But I thank God that I saw it. And for some reason I was awake.
And for some reason I could go to war on her behalf. Because she is now going to step into something else. And you know what? I might not talk to her again. But as it says in the word of God one man will plant. Another will water.
But God will bring the increase. I do not have the answer to every question. But my obedience is to my next step. What has God asked me to do now? What has God asked me to do with this member of my what has God asked me to do in my workplace? What has God asked me to do this week? It is not about knowing every answer to every question. But whatever is in your hand right now, take it up in the power of Jesus.
That you can stand in the name of Jesus and speak with the authority of the name of Jesus. Cast down that mountain. He has given you all authority to do so. All authority to do so. It is your turn to cast down that mountain.
It is your to cast down that mountain. It is your time to take upon that robe, that mantle of authority that Jesus gave you, to stand in confidence upon the name of Jesus, which he knows, and to speak boldly and proclaim the power of the name of Jesus. I’m so sorry for waking up that baby. Amen. To finish church.
Philippians two verses nine to eleven. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. There is no power, no principality, no darkness that will ever overtake our Jesus. There is no power that will ever take him off his throne.
There is nothing above the earth, on the earth, or under the earth that will take away the victory that has already been won. There is nothing on the earth, above the earth or under the earth that will take away the power that you have been given. There is nothing above the earth on the earth or under the earth that can put that mountain back in place. If you stand in the name of Jesus and declare it is done. I want to see our church with full confidence.
I want to see our church with full confidence because it’s not on my power, not on my might, but by the spirit of the Lord. I’m so blessed that week after week, there’s something that’s shifted in this church at every service That 5 PM became a beautiful service for us to rest in the presence of God and then, we started to see families coming in. Couple of weeks ago, seeing so many people baptized. For weeks, we’re seeing this altar filled during worship. I remember a few weeks ago, someone came up.
During that time and said, I need to be saved. Not a single word had been preached but from the presence of the praise songs, they came forward and gave their heart to the Lord We’ve seen miracles. We’ve seen testimonies but even still there are breakthroughs yet to occur. There are prayers that we are still praying for. There are promises that are still to be fulfilled.
Church, it is your time. To stand in confidence and the authority that he has given you. To declare that that mountain be moved. What an effective church will have. When all of our members lean into that authority that they’ve been given.
This morning for us to close the service As you know I I’m an educator. I’d like to finish with a practical exam. I don’t want us to finish without us empowering something in you. Emboldening something in you. Lighting a fire in you.
So could I ask you this morning to stand to your feet? And I’m going to ask us to do something that you might not do often. But I want you, you, to pray for your mountain. I want you to pray in the name of Jesus. I want you to look at that thing that might have been attacking your family, coming against your children, coming against that organization. And I want you to say this morning, in the name of Jesus, but believe it.
Believe it with confidence that you have the authority to speak on his behalf, and you have the anointing and the power to back up that request. Because it is in the name of Jesus. If you haven’t done this before, I want to encourage you, that’s all you need to say Whatever that mountain is, Jesus, I’m praying for healing in your name, in your name, in your name, and it might take a while but you keep pressing until you feel something shift in your spirit, until you feel something break over your shoulders, that you can say, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, and start to believe that he is moving, he is active, and he is powerful.
