A Policeman's Secret at Every Crime Scene: The Name of Jesus

Sermon outline

Every believer holds the power of attorney to use the name of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit met daily in the secret place is the edge that takes you from one level to another.

1. The rod in Moses' hand and the name of Jesus

   Moses was cornered, with the Egyptian army behind him and the Red Sea in front, and God told him to stop crying out, raise the rod and stretch out his hand. He offers it carefully as his own opinion, not as the word of God and not from the commentaries, that the rod God used to show Pharaoh His power represents the name of Jesus. There is no physical rod in the New Testament, but there is the name.

   Illustration: All night the cloud stood between the two armies, giving darkness to the Egyptians and light to Israel. He ties this to believers being the light of the world.

   “We don't have a physical rod in the New Testament, but we have the power of attorney to use the name of Jesus.”

   • Exodus 14:15-21
   • Revelation 12:11

2. You have the power of attorney to use that name

   Jesus promised that whoever believes in Him will do greater works and that He will do whatever is asked in His name. Every believer has that right, in any profession or station in life, without going through a priest and without depending on prophecy or signs. Times are pressured and we forget because our eyes are on circumstances, but God watches over His word to perform it. The church's prayers carry the same power, as when the saints prayed for Peter in prison.

   Illustration: He calls the name of Jesus a key that swings open big doors and small doors, and says he has seen miracle upon miracle, deliverance and creative miracles, by using it.

   “Signs and wonders, we should not follow. Signs and wonders should follow us.”

   • John 14:10-14
   • Jeremiah 1:12
   • Matthew 5:14
   • Acts 12:5-7
   • Mark 16:17

3. Little by little knowledge came, and the anointing grew

   He does not police his people but commends them daily to the grace of God, because the Holy Spirit is the best teacher. God will restore what the devil has stolen. He guards his own heart against pride and is careful with God's money, since Jesus the High Priest receives tithes and offerings in heaven. He asks the church not to be critical but to give people space to grow, as he needed: he came from another religion with questions nobody could answer, so he studied the Bible for himself while still in secular work.

   Illustration: As a police officer visiting crime scenes he would ask the Lord under his breath to help and guide him, and the Lord did. When you point one finger at someone, four point back at you.

   “I had success because of the name of Jesus. That was my secret and I'm sharing that with you.”

   • Proverbs 6:31
   • Hebrews 7:8
   • Romans 12:15

4. 1. Enter the secret place daily

   Make a place at home where you can close the door and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and He will go with you when you leave it. Study and degrees are good, and doctors are there to help, but the edge the believer has is help from above: the Spirit brings things to remembrance and gives wisdom the natural man does not have. Nobody taught him to be a minister; he depended on the Holy Spirit. He returns to this first key with Psalm 88:9: when you call daily, God stretches His hand towards you with uncommon favour. Righteousness is a nature imparted at the new birth, and only God can change a person.

   Illustration: When people ask him for advice and he does not know what to say, the Lord begins to speak in his heart while they are still talking, so he relies on the Holy Spirit and not on experience.

   “The Holy Spirit is the easiest relationship in my life, and you can make it so for your life.”

   • Matthew 6:6
   • John 14:26
   • Psalm 88:9

5. We never start from the top: from one level to another

   In the middle of the first key he tells his own story to encourage those who are not yet where they should be. He and Pastor Zubeda started with nothing and no inheritance, yet never begged and never went without food, and God raised them step by step. He ran from the call because every pastor he knew was poor and he wanted to be a general in the police. He honours the people whose tithes and offerings, with Pastor Wesley's knowledge of IT, have carried the gospel to the world.

   Illustration: After a night shift in his first years in uniform he had no bus fare for the second bus and walked about an hour and a half home to Phoenix. At school he queued for jam bread and black tea while wealthier children smirked. Years later a friend who had become a police general stopped his Mercedes to ask why he was handing out crusade pamphlets.

   “The only thing that starts from the top is grave digging.”

   • Psalm 47:1

6. 2. Always enter your prayer closet with expectation

   Go in expecting God to work on your behalf and to honour what you ask, as the heroes of Hebrews 11 did by faith. Do not expect bad things. Expect promotion, revelation, change, peace and joy, and expect confusion to leave. Do not listen to rumours: Jesus Himself was called names and hated. Give honour to those who taught you and to your parents, and be quick to forgive so that nothing blocks your blessing. At work you are there to do a job, not to be liked.

   Illustration: When the crowd took Jesus to the brow of the hill to throw Him off, He walked through the midst of them. He offers his opinion that God made Jesus invisible to them, because He had to lay down His life willingly on the cross.

   “Expectation is a current that flows.”

   • Hebrews 11
   • Proverbs 3:5
   • Matthew 12:24
   • Luke 4:29-30
   • Romans 13:7
   • Exodus 20:12