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  SPEAKING WITH THE AUTHORITY OF GOD
  by John Daniel Jones
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Summary: True authority comes from God and is rooted in character, not
office or position.

Topics: "Spiritual Authority", "Godly Character"
Scripture References: 1 Samuel 2:12, Matthew 28:18, John 3:27, Acts 13:2, 1 Corinthians 13:1

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DESCRIPTION
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John Daniel Jones emphasizes the importance of character in wielding
moral authority, highlighting that true power for God comes from being a
person of God. He stresses that without character, even with official
positions, one's influence is empty. Jones underscores that the ultimate
source of authority to teach and preach is God Himself, and that human
ordination merely ratifies God's ordaining. He acknowledges the value of
ordination for orderliness in the Church but emphasizes that the real
authority to preach comes from God, who can anoint individuals without
human intervention.

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CONTENT
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"By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this
authority to do these things?"

(Mark 11:28).

There is no moral authority without character. "As the man is, so is his
strength." Office in itself will never confer moral authority. The sons
of Eli had office. But they had not character. What was their influence?
Nothing; worse than nothing. Because of them men abhorred the offering
of the Lord. If we want to wield power for God, we must first of all be
ourselves men of God. To do good we must be good. Without character,
though we have all official guarantees, we are no better than sounding-
brass or a tinkling cymbal.

The ultimate source of authority to teach and preach is God. No man is
ordained unless he is ordained of God. Nobody is really "in orders"
unless he is placed in them by God. All that men can do is to ratify
God's ordaining. No man, called of God, needs human authority to speak
for Him. I have no word to say by way of disparagement of human
ordination; I have been ordained myself. I have myself been set aside by
the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. I believe that ordination
tends to orderliness in the Church. And yet I would never forget that
the real authority to preach comes from a higher source--it comes from
God. And He can and does give it to men on whom no human hands have ever
been laid. The Spirit bloweth still where He listeth, and the man
dowered with the Spirit is the man ordained of God.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/john-daniel-jones/speaking-with-the-authority-of-god/
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