Two themes really emerge when reading through Matthew’s gospel—authority (we’ll cover in Part 1) and faith (we’ll address in Part 2). Matthew stresses Jesus’ own God-given, God-appointed authority. People were amazed and stunned at this; how Jesus taught, cast out demons, healed the sick, and even nature was subject to His authority! Jesus then delegated this spiritual authority to his twelve disciples; sending them out to do the very things that He himself does. Within the “Great Commission,” Jesus also extends that empowering to every disciple including you and I. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go out and make disciples…” How does spiritual authority go hand-in-hand with our faith?