Preface

Every book begins with a question. Some questions challenge our thinking. Others challenge our hearts. The question that gave birth to this book would not leave me alone.

After completing Who Made You Judge?, I believed the conversation had reached its conclusion. That book explored our tendency to judge one another and reminded us that judgment ultimately belongs to God. Yet as I continued studying Scripture, praying, and reflecting upon the condition of the Church, another question quietly emerged.

If judgment belongs to God, then what have we done with authority?

Throughout Scripture, God entrusts people with influence, responsibility, leadership, and spiritual gifts. Yet every gift He gives is intended to glorify Him and serve others. Somewhere along the way, many have confused gifting with superiority, position with privilege, and influence with ownership.

This book is not written to attack pastors, teachers, evangelists, ministry leaders, or faithful servants of Christ. It is written to invite every believer, including myself, to examine the heart. Before we ask whether someone else has misused authority, we must first ask how we steward the authority God has entrusted to us.

Authority in the Kingdom of God never begins with a title. It begins with surrender. It is revealed through humility. It is sustained by obedience.

My prayer is that these pages will not merely answer questions but will encourage honest reflection, renewed humility, and a deeper desire to follow Jesus Christ, whose authority was always exercised in perfect righteousness, compassion, and truth.

May this book continually point beyond personalities and platforms and back to the One whose authority is eternal.