Sermon or Lesson:  How Jesus Interacted With His Disciples, Part 5 (NIV based)
[Lesson Questions included]

TITLE:  Extending Conditional Authority (To Do The Supernatural)

PASSAGES:  Matthew 10:1,8; 17:14-20; 14:14-21; 14:22-33; Mark 6:7,12,13; 9:29
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INTRO:  Have you ever been employed in a large company where a high-ranking official extended to bottom-ranking you significant authoritative power to accomplish some task?  Did that feel really good to wield that power?  Of course, the authorization for you to wield that power came with restrictions, limits, and responsibilities, which you did not set but were held accountable to comply with.  In that brief time of wielding that power, did you learn anything - about the company, about authority, about wielding power, about responsibility, about accountability to your superiors, about leadership, about submission, about restraint, and etc.?
     The focus in this study is going to be on Jesus’ teaching technique wherein He extended authority to His disciples to do the supernatural.  Let’s see what they experienced and learn more distinctive dynamics from how Jesus interacted with His disciples. 
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READ:  Matthew 10:1,8; Mark 6:7,12,13

[Lesson Question:  In His interaction with His disciples here, what is Jesus doing to His twelve disciples, how is it accomplished, in what ways does this affect them and not affect them, and what results were achieved?]

SECTION POINT:  In His interaction with His disciples here, Jesus extended authority to them to access and use some of His divine power.

- - The disciples were given authority specifically to “drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness" (Matthew 10:1), to “raise the dead”, and to “cleanse leprosy” (Matthew 10:8).
- - And Jesus grants only the twelve disciples access to on-demand use of His divine power to do these specific supernatural tasks as part of the ministry work they are assigned to do.  (Matthew 10:1)
- - Notice that the inherent nature of the disciples themselves did not change to now possess any divine power but rather they now had ongoing access to Jesus’ divine power to use at their discretion within the parameters Jesus set.
- - The results were that they obeyed the ministry tasks Jesus assigned them to do by successfully going out, preaching, driving out many demons, and healing the sick.  (Mark 6:12,13)
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READ:  Matthew 17:14-20; Mark 9:29  (cf. Mark 9:14-29)

[Lesson Question:  Why were the disciples not always successful at using the divine power they were given access to?]

SECTION POINT:  The disciples were not always successful at using the divine power they were given access to because there were restricting conditions on the use of His divine power.

- - In this event, the disciples were unable to exorcise the demon that was causing an illness in a boy; this is because they had “so little faith” and apparently they tried to accomplish this exorcism in a “perverse” or diverted manner that presumably did not align with what Jesus intended.  (Matthew 17:20,17)

“perverse” (Matthew 17:17) = Strong’s #1294 - “to distort, i.e. (figuratively) misinterpret, or (morally) corrupt”

- - Furthermore, unbeknown to the disciples, “”this kind  [of demon] can come out only by prayer””.  (Mark 9:29)
- - But the intensity of Jesus’ reaction in Matthew 17:17 implies that the disciples should have quickly realized that prayer was needed when it became evident that the demon was not being exorcised by verbal command(s).
- - It can be concluded therefore, that Jesus placed restricting conditions on the use of His divine power by His disciples, because He Himself proceeded to exorcise that demon solely by verbal command with no use of prayer.
- - Jesus wanted the disciples to revert to praying and asking God for help when it became evident that their access to divine power had been limited or restricted.
- - Other restricting conditions were that the disciples needed to believe, to have more faith, and to proceed in a proper manner that Jesus approves of, that is not perverse.  (Matthew 17:17,20)
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READ:  Matthew 14:14-21

[Lesson Question:  Why were the disciples not successful at accessing and using Jesus' divine power in this situation?]

SECTION POINT:  In this situation, the disciples failed to access and use Jesus' divine power because they did not properly respond to Jesus' implied additional authorization when He stated, "You give them something to eat."  (v.16)

- - In this situation, Jesus instructed His disciples to do the impossible, “You give them something to eat.”  (v.16)
- - This instruction would have been completely unreasonable and unjustified unless there exists within it an implied authorization to use Jesus’ divine power to feed the crowd.
- - Apparently, the disciples utterly failed to grasp the implied authorization to access and use divine power because they never even tried to access it in this situation.
- - However, Peter seems to be the only one who was starting to grasp the concept of implied additional authorization because in the very next passage in Matthew 14:22-33 he attempts to access divine power to walk on water with Jesus.  
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READ:  Matthew 14:22-33

[Lesson Question:  Even though at this time Peter seems to have gained an elementary understanding of implied additional authorization to access and use divine power, why does he initially succeed but then fail?]

SECTION POINT:  In this situation, despite Peter's initial success at accessing and using authorized divine power, Jesus withdrew authorization in the middle of its use because Peter no longer met the unspecified restricting condition of not only having but maintaining adequate faith.

- -In this situation, only Peter realizes that perhaps in a subliminal way Jesus may be creating a situation wherein Jesus may be offering His disciples an opportunity to access His divine power to walk on water.
- - So Peter requests confirmation for the granting of specific authorization to walk on water, which was a wise step for Peter to take, and evidence supports that Jesus was agreeable and approving of such a request for confirmation of authorization.  (vv.28-29)
- - From that granted additional authorization, Peter then proceeds by active faith to access and use the authorized divine power successfully, at first.  (vv.28-29)
- - However, thereupon failing to properly continue to meet an unspecified restricting condition of not only having but maintaining adequate faith, Peter begins to sink and vocalizes to Jesus a desperate plea for direct immediate intervention for rescue.  (vv.30-31)
- - It can be concluded from this account that Jesus withdrew authorization to access His divine power right in the middle of its use because a condition for its use was no longer being met.
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BIG IDEA:  Accessing the use of God’s divine power in an attempt to achieve supernatural results requires both authorization from Him and the meeting of all of His restricting conditions.

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CONCLUSIONS:

- -God’s divine power is necessary to accomplish the miraculous healings and exorcisms; the disciples in themselves did not possess that kind of power.
- -God can and does withdraw or withhold the use of His divine power when required conditions are not being met.
- - To successfully access and use God’s divine power therefore, it is necessary to determine what kinds of use He is willing to authorize, what all of His explicit and implicit restricting conditions are, and whether or not all of these conditions are being continuously met properly.  Logically, additional Bible training, deductive reasoning, and trial-and-error experience may be required to ascertain all of God’s restricting conditions.
- - Failure to successfully access and use authorized divine power may be a fertile environment in which to learn something God wants to teach.
- - Jesus experienced and vocalized perplexity, disapproval, and reproof towards the disciples when they failed to adequately utilize and properly apply what they had been taught.
- - Opportunities to access and use authorized divine power may arrive unexpectedly, and be difficult to identify at the time they are occurring with little time for extensive contemplation of what course of action to take.
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IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS: 

- - Does God still authorize access and use of His divine power by humans today in their attempts to achieve supernatural results?  (Hint: see 1 Corinthians 13:9-10; Acts 14:3; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18; John 8:31-36)
- - Certainly, many people try and many people make the claim that they can indeed successfully do instantaneous miracle healings and do complete exorcisms by a single verbal command, but what do immediate close examination and later follow-up investigation of their supposed supernatural activities reveal?
- - i.e. - Are their supposed supernatural activities producing authentic supernatural results as claimed?

- - Can the Kingdom of Darkness counterfeit God’s genuine authorized access and use of His divine power?
- - If so, in what ways or forms is the Kingdom of Darkness achieving successes in this regard today?

- - Is it possible for believers to assume and try to use God’s divine power that has not actually been granted by God?
- - And if so, in what ways are believers today doing their inauthentic supposedly-divinely-empowered activities?
- - Do believers employ deception techniques to mask the inauthenticity of their supposed supernatural activities?

- - From the evidence or lack of credible evidence apparent today, instead of allowing full access on-demand to unlimited power in certain specific areas like that the Twelve Disciples had, does God instead now allow only limited access to divine power and for more limited types of conditions, yielding either limited, or occasional, or no supernatural results?
- - If so, in what ways and with what restricting conditions?
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Works Cited:
Bible. “The Holy Bible: New International Version.” The Bible Library CD‑ROM. Oklahoma City, OK: Ellis Enterprises, 1988.

“Strong's Greek Dictionary”. The Bible Library CD‑ROM. Oklahoma City, OK: Ellis Enterprises, 1988.
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