Personal direction from the Son of God dispatched by his Holy Spirit takes into account this "earth experience". Jesus had an earth experience. 30 years of obscurity where he went about doing what people like you and I can do earning a living, serving family, making things from wood. He worked, and lived among his home area where he had grown up from boyhood. He enjoyed relative obscurity like you and I, and drew very little attention as a person.

Following the Jordan River encounter with John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit, things were never the same for him. He was a new man on a new mission - which he completed.

JESUS WAS SHOCKED? So, I suggest, that there is nothing in terms of life or ministry that you or me would do or desire to do that would surprise him. However, while he was here, experiencing the earth, he was surprised a few times. When Jesus is surprised or caused to "marvel" I take note of what each of those things were. In the book of Matthew Chapter 8 he encounters a Centurion who draws this response. The response was because the Centurion told Jesus NOT to come to his house, that he understood that Jesus was like him in a certain respect: He saw Jesus as a man "under authority" who was able to use that authority to change things in the earth. The centurion knew the scope of his authority, and by observation and inspiration (like Simon Peter) concluded that Jesus could command anything in the earth to obey and, like his servants, it would! The Centurion knew his soldier's world in Caesar's domain and understood that Jesus would possess unlimited authority in the greater world to heal his servant. He knew that often he would just speak a word, and people would go and carry out whatever the Centurion had commanded. Even life and death commands.

The truly amazing statement from Jesus is not how this man understood authority, but how he possessed faith! Such great faith Jesus had not seen in Israel. (in his life?) Stop and get this! This is a wow. Would you like to be recorded in the Bible as someone like this? I have my list made out already, I will meet this man in heaven.

That would be a solid motivation for me, but even more would be to get the principal here, and maybe be a hero myself for figuring out a whole lot more that Jesus was trying to show the disciples by the example:

Get attached to how many times Jesus was trying to get the disciples to catch this idea that had never been taught in Israel before: Faith. He hooked this concept up with another concept that I would not have thought of connecting: Authority. Faith and authority connected here because an Italian boy saw something in the supernatural realm because he saw who Jesus was! He saw that Jesus had authority over the earthly realm because of his power in the Kingdom that had rule over Caesars!
This soldier been in conflict after conflict, and had never met anyone with power over death. He knew that Jesus represented the ONLY source for him to go to, (you know that he had tried everyone & everything else) because Jesus could change the very elements of life!
The big deal here was that he didn't even need Jesus to go and touch his servant…which Jesus was ready to do. BUT, he saw that the very words Jesus would utter would cause the result he needed! If only Jesus might agree with him for this miracle, it would be done.

This guy had the same certainty that the woman with the issue of blood demonstrated when she touched the master. But he had made a link between two principles near to the heart of Jesus….and one we should make quick.

To live life in our flesh, we need only to have a brain, a soul, and know something about what it is that we want to do. To be an ordinary human going about living without any connection to God is pretty simple. Get a good education, and follow the advice of people who know something about life, don't make big people mad, and be street smart. It is a low quality of life, but it is done all the time. If you have an encounter with Jesus, and get born again you start a whole new process: To live life as a child of God is different. It has many benefits and many obligations….most of which the church at large, the people who call themselves "Christians" never discover. When you live like this, you have the worst of both worlds!

People who live like this are constantly confused about the walk with Jesus, and are always trying to figure out "what is going on?". They spend most of their lives playing the game of life without understanding the whole picture. They have heard somewhere that they became a "new creation" but have continued to live like they are still flesh beings with flesh rules!

WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS? It is really not their fault that they live like this, because there are very good reasons why this has happened to them- mostly the church. Newly born-again people usually rely on the church for information on how to live the "Christian life". You can go to thousands of churches and get all kinds of ideas about how to live this life! The church is a product of roughly 2000 years of being battered by the world system that hates it. If you look over history, the church goes from popularity to persecution every few years. Today, in parts of the world you can get killed to name the name of Jesus. In other parts of the world, you can be idolized as a Christian leader. In the 1600s and 1700s, you could even be killed by the church itself over an idea! So, its really a miracle that in this era we even have a complete bible and open teaching about the word of God that means anything.

In this kind of environment, things get lost. The church that I was born into was mostly clueless about subjects like authority. The 1970's saw a few books being written about the subject, and with a lot of conflict within the church over the idea. Over the years, the understanding has been refined within a segment of the church- usually those who call themselves "spirit baptized". Why not the rest of the church? In my opinion, it is because having an encounter with the Holy Spirit causes ordinary born-again Christians to have a really large paradigm change. Those who chose not to include the third part of the Trinity in their life are relegated to a life of being largely dependent upon their 5 senses like the people I talked about above. They are "New Creations" with none of the equipment to live like one. God would never have them like that by intention, but the church, in its ignorance will tell them that its ok to live like that, and some even say it is actually dangerous to get involved with the Holy Spirit at all!

SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL? If you were given a uniform of a police officer without any authority to act like one, you had better never put the uniform on. Because there are expectations for someone in that uniform. You would be constantly having people to expect you to defend them, help them, or shooting at you for being a cop, and you would not have the ability to use the gun on your hip or your nightstick because you had no authority to do so! You would be better off in your underwear than in a uniform without the authority to wear it! Lots of people decide to become a police officer before they find out the problems that go along with it. The city has developed an extensive education and apprentice program just to make you aware of the expectations, liabilities, and risks that go with being a cop. When you graduate and they hand you that badge, gun and stick you better be ready to use them!

If the church was as "uniform" about preparing those who are going to wear the uniforms of righteousness we would have less casualties. But most of the church doesn't even believe that they have an enemy! Or, if they do, he is a mythical metaphorical character who has no interest in me! Well, when I received Jesus, I changed uniforms! I may not have seen it, I may not have known it, but my enemy did. And just because 80% of the church doesn't believe that they have a mortal enemy, doesn't mean that he doesn't exist.

But didn't you notice, that this enemy dwells in the same realm/dimension as the God I cannot see. I look just as crazy for serving an invisible God as I do for opposing an invisible enemy. But I know God is real! He saved me, I know His presence and He has proven himself reliable in my life. So, it only makes spiritual sense if I believe His word to me. If we take the bible as God's word to us- it will get us saved. If we take the bible as God's handbook for life- it will fill us with wisdom. If we take the bible as God's word to us - it should equip us for all of life! So, since the bible teaches us that there is an enemy, and even gives us his names…maybe, just maybe we should integrate that into our world view. When I do, I get another bonus: all kinds of unexplained events in the world begin to have a traceable source.

Now we are back to the other principle- Faith. We cannot accept our authority without an act of faith. The same verse that got us into this relationship with God will serve us on principle after principle.

Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So, this founding principle repeats itself each time we stumble upon another one of his "new" principles. To understand that God teaches authority is a rational step. To embrace the principle as a life-empowering tool given by God only makes spiritual sense. But it will cost you some faith. Most of the church lives out life here on earth as a "victim" waiting for a martyr's death. Hundreds of religious movies portray this humble fate. It appears to the casual viewer that most of the Christians were signed up by this cruel creator who expected them to just "grit it out" with a soldier's uniform and their bare hands until they get to be rescued by death or rapture. These sitting ducks get picked off by an unseen guerilla enemy at his whim and everyone says "God took them".

OK, HOW DO I CHANGE THIS? You have a God who gave you lots of choices. You had to choose to become his child. You have to choose to serve him today. You have to choose to do anything else that is in his word. The big deal is: that before the cross people had a lot fewer choices! We could argue all week about the whys of when the cross happened in the plan of time. And why people in the Old Testament lived this way or that, but the fact is the cross of Calvary did occur, and Jesus did die, and was resurrected, and eventually took his seat at the right hand of God….AND THINGS REALLY CHANGED.
This old vs. new testament life has really been a stumbling block for Christians that I have worked with over the years….
Most people who claim to be Christians will tell me that they "are just like Job" and that the Devil can walk up to God anytime he wishes and just begin to stomp all over them until God says "stop" or something. That is because that they don't know or believe that something really happened at the cross that affects them and their authority. And, something happened to our enemy. But we'll get there in a minute.

Jesus was not an empty-headed wacko when he said:
Matthew 21:21-22
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Ok, did you catch what he said? He is talking to disciples of his, giving them some glimpse of the authority that they connected to when they connected to Him. Authority over the elements of the earth. These were men who were in relationship with Jesus, who were sent by him to go without him as detailed in Luke 10 where they came back declaring "even the devils are subject to us in your name".

This is Jesus' idea of normal church. He sends us, to do His work, in His name and among the things that happen- The devils become our subjects. Probably a lot of other things happened too, like healing or people getting their sight back…but the disciples were most impressed that the devils bowed to the name of Jesus.
Jesus responds with one of his by the way "I AM" comments telling them that he was there when Lucifer (aka -The Devil, Satan) was cast out of heaven with one blast of light. He further reinforces their observation with :

"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Good scholarship would have me tell you that he also cautioned them immediately by saying:

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. This caution is what you do when you teach someone to use a ladder or shoot a gun. You tell them what to do and what not to do USING what you are teaching them to use. Jesus puts this authority into perspective because it can be exhilarating to have the elements and the enemy' s team bowing at words coming from your mouth. He wants them to keep the reason for rejoicing in the really BIG things- like having our names registered in heaven! Devils will come and go in this life, but heaven is a one-time opportunity that millions will miss out on. Keep the perspective right. Keep the focus right and the devils will be so much toast and jelly.

SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
If you are a born-again man or woman, girl or boy alive and on the planet you have a part in the Kingdom. Every aspect of your life contributes to your ability to carry out that commission. You may be called by God to do great and lofty things for him, but you probably need to live somewhere, eat regularly, wear clothes, marry someone and carry on life. This is vessel stuff. All gifts come in vessels! What do you think is easier for the enemy of God to make war on- your gift, or your vessel? I think he will choose the vessel every time. Gifts are un-predictable. God operates the gift, Satan never knows what that thing is going to do. BUT, he can predict the vessel. It wants things. Like a way to earn some money, like food, like sex, like friends, like cars, like comfort, or even a theological curiosity on and on.

So, we could conclude that the playing field your enemy will want to play on is in the area of our vessel. If he can stop us there, the game for you is mostly over. You may show up now and then on some rare occasions and sing a song or preach a message or heal someone, but for the most part you will be "contained" by the world system made to hold the rats in the maze. The key is start us into the maze as early as possible so that we will be trained to obligations, sin or bondage by the time you get old enough to be effective.

Jesus never challenged Satan's claim to rule the world system. In Luke 4 Jesus lets Satan tote him all over and never once refutes his claims or tried to stop the process. Jesus stayed on the "high ground" by simple use of the Torah (not even New Testament) and to later say that even though the wicked one was coming- he would find nothing in him.

Did you notice that Satan never returned again in person during Jesus' ministry? People tried to do all kinds of things to him -which failed. Now, let's go back to the statement in Luke: "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Check the words used here: Power over power. Consulting the scholarship of Strongs it says the these words used by Jesus carry the whole impact: I give you power (authority) to stop all of the power (force) of the enemy.

RULE OR BE RULED? The obvious character of Satan is to be a ruling force. He lost his heavenly position and was recorded as seen by Jesus "falling like lightning" to the earth. His nature has never changed, only his old position. We pick up on his story when Eve first encountered him disguised as a counseling snake in the garden. His subtle plan then was to tear away from this prized possession of God his right to rule the planet where Satan was marooned. Being a ruling creature by nature, he was never going to stand for the kind of humiliation of being ruled himself. The thought of letting this puny Adam run things and even give him a new name was revolting! The other more important objective was to hopefully somehow take a shot at God by terrorizing this new son of his. Battering man has been the favorite pass time of the snake ever since. That day in the garden, Satan fell heir to all of the planet that Adam was created to rule. When man yielded to the temptation and fell in disobedience, man became his toy to rule and torment as his subject until a date in time where the fullness of times brought about a challenger who could take back the keys himself. In the role of the servant-challenger Jesus slipped right under the radar and until the moment he showed up to demand the keys from Satan… the depth of God's plan was not clearly understood. The funny thing was, that God had been talking about it through almost every prophet that came on the scene.

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO SATAN?
I said we would come back to this: When we start reading this bible some wild things pop out: If we read this scripture in any way possible, with any professor's test or theological grid, we end up with just what it says: 1 John 3:8
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Strong's concordance defines the word destroy, just in case we intend to skip over the intent:
^a[destroy] Greek: luo (GSN-3089), to undo; loosen; release; set free; do away with Hebrews 2:10-14
¹⁰For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
¹¹For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
¹²Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
¹³And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
¹⁴Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Stop right here, look up at verse 14 again.....it says: "him that had the power of death". Are you getting the full impact of this? THE BIG ONE for man is death. And mostly, the fear of death. The fear of death is at the root of every thing that scares us. Did the writer to the Hebrews really mean what it looks like? Say it like this-"The one who had the power to kill you is out of service". Try that like " the one who had the power to kill ME has been put out of service!" (forever) How can you just sit there? Go outside and shout! Punch someone, wake them up, we're free! Oh, Oh, Now I hear the skeptic...then why are so many people still dying?

Multiple choice:
1. they don't know this
2. they don't believe this
3. they confess death, aging and hopelessness (See the page on Confession)

The prince of this world cast out?
I was just driving along, listening to the bible on tape in the car. And I heard these words "prince ….cast out". Whoa, rewind, what did he say?

John 12:28-32
²⁸Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. ²⁹The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. ³⁰Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. ³²And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Here, in this amazing passage, The Father is speaking ALOUD again affirming the glory he would do…So loud, many thought that it thundered! Jesus is saying a faith statement that will come to pass on the day he is lifted up in resurrection - that the prince of this world will be judged and cast out! But cast out of what? I prayed for days about this little statement. The only thing that he could be cast out of is what he called him: "the prince" he was not cast out of the world, but he was effectively removed from office! His position! Now, he has lost two positions- the leader of worship in heaven and the prince of this world! He has been fired once, and been replaced once. Now, he really hates us, because guess who God gave the ruling role to this time? You.
Not me? Why do you think he was sending normal people out two by two to spread the good news? You would have to be pretty full of a twisted form of pride to think you were so special as not to be included!

Ok, so let me see if I follow this-
Adam had it all
Adam lost it
Satan gained it
Jesus won it back
He gave it to his church
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to keep us from screwing it up
He expects us to do what he did
He is either crazy or he is God.

Dominion is a big responsibility maybe we should do some more study.