The real issue is not the lack of knowledge. I think the real issue is the lack of will and that brings us to positioning ourself under the authority of the Lord. Come on, this is what this is about. I think it's exciting. I think it's absolutely exciting. It's the great thing I've ever heard. You know, fantastic, we've got a great thing that we can do, see? Have a look at this, Matthew 8. I better move or I'll run out of time. Matthew 8:5, look at this. Here's a centurion and when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him; Lord, my servant is at home paralysed, dreadfully tormented. Jesus said I will come and heal him. He said no Lord, I'm not worthy You should come under my roof. Only speak a word and my servant will be healed. He said now, so he says because I'm a man under authority and I say to this one go and he goes, and this one come and he comes, he said say only the word and my servant shall be healed. Isn't that amazing?
Here's a man who recognised authority. Why did he recognise authority? Because he himself was a man under authority. He had a commander over him and he had soldiers under him. He understood chain of command. He said do this, it'll happen. He looked at Jesus and because he was a man who understood the principles of authority, he saw Jesus as under authority. He's got power. If He just gives a word it'll happen. And Jesus said whoa, what great faith. It takes great faith to trust that the invisible God works through people who represent Him. We all know that God does stuff, but actually God works through people and see, so it takes great faith. It takes something in our heart to understand that authority is always - God's authority is always reflected through people, and that how we respond to people actually recognising Jesus released the miracle power to go, recognising His authority enabled Him to operate.
When Jesus was not recognised His authority didn't operate, so He was a man under authority. So we see here that - notice this - that religious people will acknowledge God can do something, but they've always got authority issues and they can never see anything happen, because if I'm to see something come from heaven I have to position myself under the authority of God so I can operate in authority. Now you're going to learn a lot of things in this course, but let me just tell you one thing you need to see. There is a purpose for learning about being under authority. Here's the purpose: It's not just about you being protected. It's much, much more than that. It's about you being able to function like God called you to function. It's about being able to represent God and see God's blessing flow in your life like He intended. How can you do it? You can't operate - see I've had people say lay hands on me so I can have double the anointing you have. I said that's a lot of nonsense, forget it. I'm not going to do it.
They say why? I say well if I wanted double anointing why would I give you double anointing? I want it myself. Double - I've never heard of such a thing. I said here's why I won't, I said because you've got no heart to serve people and the anointing is always to serve people and advance the kingdom of God. It's not about you having an ego trip. Okay, here's the last thing I'll just share here, just carry on in Matthew 16 now. I want to just show you something else. Now remember Peter's got this revelation on the king, he's got the revelation on the kingdom and the church. Now look at this. He really missed out big time here, because he misses on the nature of the kingdom. Now notice this. Jesus said to His disciples - verse 21 - He's going to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. So Jesus began to talk about the future. He said listen boys, I'm off to Jerusalem and I'm going to suffer. They're going to badly treat Me. They'll kill Me but I'll be alright, I'll rise up on the third day.