Sunday 03 • 01 • 20

Good morning, CTK. I hope my voice is clear for you. Someone pointed out to me that I sounded like my voice was going out, but I didn't scream or anything, so I hope it's been clear.

If you're visiting with us for the first time, my name is Russell McCutcheon, and I have the honor and the privilege of standing before you this morning, opening God's word to proclaim His truth. Also, if you're visiting for the first time, we're in a series called "The Witnesses to the Cross." This morning we're going to be in John chapter 18, looking at verses 28 through 38A—the first part of that passage.

Let's read together what God's word says:

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves, so Pilate came out to them and said, "What charge do you bring against this man?" We wouldn't have handed him over to you, they replied. Pilate told them, "You take him and judge him according to your law." "It's not legal for us to put anyone to death," the Jews declared. They said this so that Jesus's words might be fulfilled, indicating what kind of death he was going to die. Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?" "I'm not a Jew, am I?" Pilate replied. "Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" "My kingdom is not of this world," said Jesus. "If my kingdom were of this world... Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." "What is truth?" said Pilate. — John 18:28-38A

Father, this question that Pilate posed to Jesus—"What is truth?"—it's a question I feel that many people around the globe are asking. We have turned truth into something subjective, meaning we think that we could determine what truth is and what is not. But I thank you that you are the standard of truth, Lord Jesus. And as we are here this morning looking at a very tough part of Scripture—one that, as Christians, even though we know it's tough, we celebrate—I pray that we could see the thread of redemption in this for us. Lord, speak to us by Your Spirit. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to obey. In Christ's name, Amen.

What Kingdom Are We Really Looking For?

What kingdom are we really looking for? I was thinking about that question because over the last couple of months, as Americans, we have been mired in impeachment hearings. Don't worry, don't get tense—I'm not about to give a political message. But we have been steeped in it, determining whether the president would be impeached or not.

One thing I noticed that was interesting is that there are people in government. When stuff like this happens, they are sitting back and they're waiting to see what's going to happen because they are going to make a decision on whether our president at the time is guilty or innocent. But even with that taking place, you and I in our spaces—we were sitting as jury as well. We can be in our houses watching TV. I don't care what side you're on. You'll be thinking that the president is innocent: "Why are they doing this?" We are arguing like he's innocent, and then you have people on the other side saying, "No, he's guilty." And it's not just in our own homes. We could go to a Whole Foods or Harris Teeter. We can be at the park and maybe hear people begin to talk about this. It's conversation everywhere. You can get in the car. If you listen to a lot of talk radio, whatever is blaring through our speakers—we just heard it everywhere, and we are trying to determine: Is the president innocent or guilty?

But I think there's a bigger question that we must ask as believers, and that question is: Where do we place our confidence? Are we placing our confidence in a democratic system of government, believing that it would give us the utopia that we are looking for? Or are we trusting in a totally different kingdom? What story are we buying into? Do you buy into the story of empire?

Now, when I say the story of empire, let me define this. This is the story of power. The story of power meaning: if you are in my way to what I'm trying to get to, I will squash you by whatever means I need to do that, because my goal is there and you are a hindrance to my goal. See, when it comes to the story of empire, life is cheap and the sacrifice of others is acceptable. People are expendable. What people am I talking about?

Specifically, I'm looking at the poor, the refugee, the foreigner or alien, the orphan, and the elderly. People like this are expendable. They may be sucking up too much air and they're in the way of my goal. And because of who they are, I know it's hard, but we can remove them. We can even—I have a family member that's in prison—but we can look at them and even though we know that prisoners are made in the image of God, my disposition toward them is like, "You're worthless. You've created a crime. We need to remove you."

The truth is, if we buy into the story of empire, we have bought into the wrong story. But there is another story that scripture gives us, and it's the story of shalom.

The Story of Shalom

What is the story of shalom? Let me back up. What does shalom mean? This is a Hebrew word for peace, and it points to a quality of human life given by God as a blessing of salvation. It speaks of completeness. It speaks of wholeness. It speaks of prosperity. When I speak of prosperity, I'm not talking primarily about finances, but I'm talking about a comprehensiveness to wholeness and completeness in the life of one who trusts in God.

The gospel is a message of shalom, or peace, and it comes from God alone. Shalom is not simply the state of an individual. Now, I need to say that to us in the West that are very individualized. We tend to think about even Christianity—how we talk about it is "my faith in Jesus," which it is a personal faith, but it just stays there. We don't think about our faith in the context of others.

Shalom is not just for the individual, but it's for the corporate. It's from human to human, nation to nation, and the relationship from God to man. It carries the idea of harmony and communion between two covenant partners, especially between God and man. Where shalom is absent, there is a breakdown of that relationship.

When we buy into the story of shalom, which we have in the biblical narrative, we are buying into a story that seeks to bring peace or shalom to chaos. Everything will be brought back into its proper place. If you just read scripture and see how God is moving, He has taken what is broken and He is restoring it. Shalom. He is bringing peace to that situation. That's why Jesus came to this Earth.

Listen to what God's word says in Isaiah chapter 50, verse 10:

Though the mountains move and the hills shake, I don't know about you, but if I see a mountain shake, something's going to be wrong there. But God says, even if the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you and my covenant of peace will not be shaken, says your compassionate Lord. — Isaiah 50:10

Every day God gives us, we get an opportunity to choose what kingdom we buy into. Is it the story of empire or the kingdom? That is a story of fear. It's a story of fear. But if we buy into the story of shalom or God's kingdom, this is a story of peace, of restoration, and wholeness. And Jesus embodies this in totality.

I've used this a few times, but I just love what Paul gives us in Ephesians chapter two, showing that because of Jesus, we have peace with God and we have peace with one another. He says in chapter two of Ephesians, verses 14 to 20:

For he, speaking of Jesus, is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations so that he might create himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, by which he put the hostility to death. He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. — Ephesians 2:14-20

This morning, the main thought I want to put before us as we look at this text in John chapter 18 is this: Jesus, the true judge, is putting two kingdoms on trial, and we are the jury. Jesus, the true judge, is putting two kingdoms on trial, and we are the jury.

In other words, what is our decision on what kingdom is the right kingdom? I know all of us sitting here will try to answer that God's kingdom is, but let's really examine our hearts to see if that's what comes out. What is our verdict?

Just like the Jewish religious leaders, we have to determine if we will side with the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of God that is not of this world.

So as we continue to walk through this series that we've entitled "Witnesses to the Cross," we're going to look at primarily two points.

We're going to start with looking at groups like the Jewish authorities and try to see what would they really be afraid of? What was taking place with them? Why were they doing what they were doing? And Pilate, who was ruling, who was trying to do things by the book, by the law, but he's confused. Because he's looking at Jesus and he is king, but he doesn't look like a king. He looks like a peasant. Both the Jewish authorities and Pilate are functioning under this world's kingdom.

So we're going to look at how the world kingdom functions, but we gotta finish with Jesus. We don't come together on any Sunday and not get to Jesus. We want to look at Jesus and his kingdom and see how it functions. Why is it an upside down kingdom? Jesus said, "I could do this. I love what Jesus says—if I want to, I can call down and I got 12 legions of angels ready to fight right now. I could do that if I want to, but my kingdom is not of this world." Why would he do that? So we want to look at how the world kingdom functions and we want to look at Jesus and his kingdom and how it functions.

Empire versus Shalom

This morning, I want to speak from this subject: Empire versus Shalom. Empire versus Shalom. So let's look at how the world kingdom functions.

The text begins in John chapter 18, verse 28, and it says:

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. — John 18:28

Now, the first question I must ask is: who is the "they"? Often when I read scripture, I just run through it because when I'm familiar with a specific section of scripture, I assume that I already know it. But I don't know if we ever asked the questions about who is this scripture talking about? Who is John, the writer, the apostle, the one who followed Jesus? Who is he talking about? Well, that "they" here are the Jewish authorities of the Sanhedrin under the leadership of Caiaphas.

The reason I point this out is because if you are like me, you have heard it taught that the same people that cried "Hosanna, Hosanna" are the ones saying "crucify him." Not true. This is not that group that said "Hosanna, Hosanna," because if you look at all of the Gospels, you will see that the crowds love Jesus. They love when Jesus came through. There's that one scene—a couple of scenes where Jesus feeds the 5,000. We see 5,000, but if we study, that's more like 15 to 20,000 that he feeds with some sardines and some crackers, and they get full. This crowd love Jesus. But the religious leaders, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes—they cherry picked a smaller group of people and they conspired against Jesus. They conspired to put Jesus to death. This is not that larger group of Jews because they love him.

Now, even though they wanted Jesus killed, Jesus still needed to go to Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, he wanted to go to Jerusalem. God's word says:

From then on, Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed and raised the third day. — Matthew 16:21

Notice when you read the Gospels that Jesus often had a lot of confrontation with the Pharisees. When Jesus engaged the Pharisees, it did not lead to death. John chapter 3—Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee. There were other Pharisees who invited Jesus into their home and they would eat. There would be some disagreement, but it did not lead to Jesus's death. It was only until Jesus started confronting the last week of his life, confronting the chief priests, that he gets killed. Because now he is challenging their authority. And Jesus knew how he would die. That's amazing. Jesus knew exactly how he would die.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. — John 12:32

I love this because we tend to look at the Jewish authorities and Pilate and figure that they are controlling the events that's happening here. But news flash—they are controlling absolutely nothing. This is like I don't know how to play chess. If you put a chessboard in front of me, I'm gonna play it like checkers. I just don't know how to play it. But this seems like a chess match where one person thinks that they are winning, right? They're moving some stuff. But another person in the back of their mind is like, "I'm watching that. I'm watching that. You move there. I got you." This is Jesus controlling the board. Pilate and the Jewish authorities are controlling nothing.

Then, the text says that these Jewish leaders took Jesus to the governor's headquarters and then it says this in verse 28, they refused to go into the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, unable to eat the Passover. This is interesting to me because these chief priests, these Roman pawns or those siding with the Romans, they wanted to eat the Passover to celebrate the fact that God miraculously delivered the Jews from bondage in Egypt. So, they would not go into a place. Their laws or what they believe said, we cannot go into a Gentile's home because if I even enter the space that you're in, I'm going to be defiled. I'm going to become nasty and I will not have enough time to go through the ritual cleansing so that I can eat the Passover. So, they would not go in.

Here is the irony. They wanted to avoid ritual contamination so that they could eat the Passover but they had no problem exploiting the system to execute Jesus who is the Passover. They want to celebrate the Passover but there he is. Jesus says:

I am the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. — John 1:29

They don't even get it. See, for them, this was an outward show. Falsehood in these religious leaders but with Jesus, there was no falsehood and no outward show.

The text then says in verse 29, now, again, turn your eyes on. May your ears become eyes and see this. It says that Pilate came out to them because they would not come in. You will see this dance with Pilate going out, coming in, and going to Jesus. And so, this would not have bothered Pilate. This wouldn't have bothered him because he would have known that the Jews didn't want to come into a Gentile space. So, he went out to them and he begins a formal judicial hearing. He says to them, "What charges do you bring against this man?"

Now, I don't have a dog but one of the things I love about dogs is sometime they look like they get confused and when they get confused, they turn their head sideways. It's almost like the Jewish leaders here are turning their head sideways. They're probably like, "What are you talking about?" Because they would have had to go to Pilate to get the troops. Pilate would have said they had to say yes to the troops who would go and arrest Jesus. So, Pilate knew what they wanted to do with Jesus but instead of Pilate doing a backdoor deal with them, Pilate says, alright now, takes his judge's bench, goes outside, and he starts like a judge. Don't you see now? "What are the charges you bringing against them?" And like these Jewish leaders are like, "Man, we didn't come here for all of this, brother. We just want you to go and crucify him. We don't want to go through all of this. Kill him." But Pilate would not do it. So, because of that, Pilate says, "No, you go deal with him yourself. You go deal with him yourself by your law." But then they say this: "It's not right for us to put someone to death."

Is that true? All we gotta do is go to the book of Acts. They smashed Stephen. Acts chapter 7, they put him to death. History tells that and also in the book of Acts, they stoned James to death. They could put someone to death. So, it was not about death. It was a particular method that they wanted Jesus to die by.

The Kingdom's Contrast

So, with the world, with the world's kingdom and how it functions, those who live according to the world's kingdom does not care about doing what's right. See, the leaders of Israel, these Jewish authorities, they should have had God's heart caring for the things that God cares for. God tells his people:

You're going to be, for me, a kingdom of priests. — Exodus 19

In other words, you're going to represent me on the earth for the people. When the people want to see me, they're going to see you. This is what our relationship is like and not only that, you are going to care for the ostracized, the marginalized, the widow, and the orphan. But the chief priests didn't care about none of that. They care about how fat their pockets are going to be and if my place in life is going to remain how it is. And I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that my place in the world is not changed.

But they should have been people who were bringing shalom to chaos. See, Jesus was a threat to their way of living. My question is, is he a threat to ours? Is he a threat to our way of living? Now, I believe that most of us would say, absolutely not. But then we have to ask this question. Are we saying that because our life is smooth?

But if he presses in and changes what our lives look like, are we saying no? I've been in some circles where if it doesn't go like I want to, we call everything a demon. "Oh, devil, you get out of here." No, because this isn't fitting my paradigm. So this can't be you, Jesus, because if it was you, I know you would give me what I want. But is that how Jesus calls us to follow him?

Listen to what it says in Mark chapter eight, verses 34 to 38.

He said, calling in the crowd along with his disciples, "If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. What does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father and with the holy angels." — Mark 8:34-38

My friends, it costs something to follow Jesus. As a matter of fact, it doesn't just cost something. It costs us everything. But the religious leaders are not willing to pay this price.

After speaking with the religious leaders, now Pilate is conducting and talking with them. It's probably here that the religious leaders said he's the king of the Jews. Pilate's antennas go up. Now, talking about king soul, verse 33 says he went back into the headquarters—remember that dance?—and he goes before Jesus and he asks him straight up: "Are you the king of the Jews?"

See, Pilate didn't see him as a king. Pilate saw him as a poor peasant, but the religious leaders, these Jewish authorities, wanted Pilate to see Jesus as an insurrectionist. They wanted Pilate to see Jesus as a zealot. Who was crucifixion reserved for? Those who are trying to overthrow Rome. The two thieves on the cross, they were zealots. Barabbas was a zealot. See Jesus as a zealot, kill him. So Pilate is asking him, "Are you a king?"

But then Jesus says some beautiful words in verse 36.

"My kingdom is not from here. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews, but as it is, my kingdom is not from here." — John 18:36

See, Jesus was not concerned with being like the world. If he wanted a kingdom like the world, then he would have had some soldiers fighting for him. But he was arrested easily. The world's kingdoms seek to preserve their lives by violence and force. But Jesus's kingdom finds its origins elsewhere.

When Pilate heard this, he realized that your kingdom is not a threat to Rome. So he's innocent. But just because Jesus's kingdom at this time was not a threat doesn't mean that his kingdom was weak. No, there's nothing weak about Jesus and his kingdom, because we can see his kingdom working in the earth. When his kingdom works, people have their minds renewed and this work can't be stopped.

Picture in Picture

I found this out in the early service. I wanted for it to be like this here. How many of you remember the picture-in-picture feature on a television? You know, there was a time where you could watch one main show and have a picture pop up. I grew up watching two shows at the same time. My grandfather had that big floor model TV, and then when he wanted to watch another, he'd get a smaller TV and set it on top. So that was picture in picture when I grew up. But then it transformed and you could have this picture-in-picture feature. You could watch a main show, but then when you wanted to watch something else, you would have that picture in picture and you would pull it up—it'll be some small down here. I don't even know why. That was funky. Like, I wouldn't want to watch something big, but you could do that if you wanted to watch a movie and then maybe a sporting event. The main show covers most of the main screen. The picture in picture just allows you to get a glance at a smaller picture.

For many of us, living for the world is on the main screen. And living for the Lord is the picture in picture. But we won't say that, right? Now, I think there's some stats that say the average—and I'm not shaming anybody, so don't take it like this—but they have some stats that say Christians now average what, a little over, a little less than two times of worshiping. You know why? Because our lives are so full of so many other things, right? We fit God in when the rest of our lives, when we have margin for it, right?

And so the things on the main screen for us can be: my kids have to be here, I'm tired, I gotta work. The things of life are on the main screen, and then I fit God in over here in the picture and picture. So I come to worship sometime, and when I come to worship, the songs are good. Praise Jesus. I love singing those songs. I know Jesus loves me. I partake of his body broken and his blood shed. Yes, Jesus. Thank you for dying for me. I leave from here and I tell people, I tell my wife, the sermon was good. The pastor preached today. I love seeing God's people. But then my life goes right back to living for my own self, my luxuries, my comfort.

So ask yourself this question. I will start with me. Russell, are you willing to forsake the way of your thinking and your way of doing things and come to God with an open hand and say, even though I don't understand what you're doing, Lord, here is my life. Use it as you see fit. Reorient my life. May I have on my heart what you have on your heart. May I say with Isaiah—after he saw the Lord high and lifted up—may I then say, Lord, send me. When God says, "Who will go for me?" Lord, send me, even if it means I'm going into a difficult space. Send me because I want to be obedient. When I am obedient to you, living for your way of thinking and your way of doing things, I sense your pleasure. I sense your presence with me. I don't want, Lord God, you to be the picture and picture of my life. The world's kingdom lives for itself. But then we encounter the kingdom of Jesus.

Pilate's Question

See, Pilate knew that the Jews were jealous of Jesus, but Pilate didn't see him as a king. So again, he asks him in verse 33: Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him in verse 34:

Are you asking this on your own or have others told you about me? — John 18:34

I love this. I love this. Now, I know there are many theologians who can speak of this a lot better than I can, but here I see an invitation. I see an invitation from Jesus to Pilate. Are you asking this on your own, brother? You want to really know me? We can get down here. Yeah, I'm going to die, but this is important, right? Because something's here. Or are you asking on your own, or are you asking because they said it?

You know, Pilate says, am I a Jew? It's another angle here in this crazy trial that's given to us in Matthew chapter 27, verse 19:

While he, Pilate, was sitting on the judge's bench, his wife sent word to him and said, "Have nothing to do with this righteous man. For today, I've suffered terribly in a dream because of him." — Matthew 27:19

The reason I love this is because I believe there's no one outside of the reach of God. No one. Not even the worst of sinners. However we would categorize sin—the worst of murderers, the worst of adulterers, the worst of liars. Because Jesus died, there is no one outside of his reach. Not even a Roman ruler, Pilate. And I believe that Jesus has given him an opportunity. What say you, brother? Do you want to go more into this conversation? He's inviting, I believe, Pilate to trust him. But the question is, how did Jesus get here?

We kind of mention this. Last week we said that on Earth, Jesus directed his teachings directly at the chief priests, and he's calling them out. I don't know about y'all, but I don't like to be called out. If you call me out, I'm probably going to get defensive first, and I'm going to try to turn it back on you to tell you why you are wrong in your assessment of me. Jesus is coming at these chief priests hard. But I have to believe he's also trying to expose—like, you're thinking wrongly about this—but he is calling them out, and they got angry. And I have to believe this too: around feasts, Roman soldiers and generals would be in Jerusalem thick because they were trying to see if there was going to be a disturbance. So the zealots, the Jews, are probably in the corner with their little daggers like, we're ready to go down. Who's about to try to overthrow Rome today? As I shouldn't say this, but it's in my mind—like Master P, I'm about it, about it. Like, I'm ready. So if Jesus you started, I'm pulling out my shank and it's going down. They're ready to remove Roman rule.

But again, Jesus says in verse 36—he told Peter, man, put your sword up, brother. My kingdom is not from here. I'm not about to do what I'm going to do through force. No, no, put it away. Put it away. His kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. His kingdom is not like the world's kingdom.

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news." — Mark 1:14

Notice what he says here—that Jesus went to Galilee proclaiming the good news. What is the good news? That God came to Earth in Christ and Christ lived the life that you and I should have lived. He lived it perfectly. And if you saw Jesus moving about in the gospels, you will see him engaging certain people. You will see him go into the synagogue and begin preaching, and demons would cry out. "Why are you here? What do you have to do with us?" And Jesus said, "Man, come out," and the demons would leave and the man would be made whole.

A woman is bent over for all these years, and Jesus says to this woman, "Woman, you are loosed," and this woman now stands erect. A woman who has been bleeding for years touches Jesus, touches the hem of his robe, and the bleeding stops. And Jesus looks at her and says, "Woman, your faith has made you well."

But Jesus is on his way to a man's house whose daughter was sick. But then, because he got held up, they came and said, "Man, leave him alone. She's dead." Jesus said, "She ain't dead. She is not dead. Let's go. We've got work to do." And people come out saying, "Why, God, they making all this noise? Why y'all crying like this? Because Jesus is the resurrection and the life."

So he can look at this woman and say, "She is not dead." So he goes into the room and says, "Now, put them out of here, Peter. Y'all come here, John. Y'all come here with the brother." And he looks at this little girl and says, "Get up." She stands up. He says, "Give her something to eat." When the kingdom of God infuses our life, stuff has to change, and it doesn't look like the world's kingdom. It's not by force. It's by his spirit. He makes things happen.

He comes near to us just like he does those people in scripture—like the woman at the well whose life was raggedy. And so much so, when Jesus is in her life, she says, "Don't leave. I need to go and tell some folk about who you are." And Jesus comes to the Samaritans and he rocks their world. Or Zacchaeus, who works for the Romans. Jesus says to him, "Today, I gotta be at your house." And Zacchaeus is so thrown off. He says, "Man, I'll give half of what I have. If I've defrauded anybody, I'll give it back. I see you rightly."

But not only did Jesus come to live the perfect life—because that's not all of the gospel. The rest of it is that he came to give his life as a ransom for many. In other words, Jesus came to die. And when we see this trial, guess who belonged before Pilate? Who belonged before Pilate? I belonged before Pilate. But he is substituting himself for me. Saying, "Russell, instead of you coming here, I got you. I will be in this place because what I need to do, you cannot do. This is good news. This is good news."

So Pilate—I'm almost done, y'all—Pilate cannot comprehend when Jesus speaks of the kingdom because his paradigm for kingdom looked like what Rome had. And so as they continue to talk, Jesus says in verse 37, "I was born for this and I have come into the world for this to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."

Here, Jesus speaks of his incarnation.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh. — John 1:1, 14

His move from glory with the Father to this low land of sorrow. He came to manifest his glory. He came as a king to testify to the truth because this world kingdom that's infected by sin has lied to us. This world kingdom has lied to us. Jesus came to testify to the truth, and it's not just merely intellectual truth. This is the self-disclosure of God in Christ, who is the truth.

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." — John 14:6

Notice Jesus does not say, "I am a way, a truth, or a life." "I am the way, the truth, the life." Jesus doesn't just rule in heaven. He rules both heaven and earth. Pilate couldn't understand this.

The agenda of his kingdom is the visible manifestation of that comprehensive rule over every area of life. My friends, I can tell you that if you will come to Jesus, everything will be alright. That you won't have any more difficulty. You won't have any more pain, any more sorrow. I could tell you that, and if I told you that, you will probably smile. You will probably jump for joy. You will probably be so high, like, "Oh, my worries are over."

But the problem is I can't tell you that. I can't. But what I can tell you will change the way you view life's storms when you fully grasp it. I want you to know that God never allows anything in your life that he does not promise to use for good if you are one of his children and living according to his purposes. One of the things that has rocked me, and I continue to say it to this day: God does not waste any of your experiences. Not one.

Because his word tells us in Romans eight twenty-eight, Paul says:

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. — Romans 8:28

All things. If you will make Jesus your focus, he will make his love both your comfort and your strength. Place your eyes on him because he loves you and is for you.

So I end with this question again. What is your decision? What decision will you make as jury at this trial? Will you believe Jesus or will you side with the world kingdom? What is your verdict?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we praise you and thank you. Again, Pilate said, "What is truth?" But the more we come to your word, we see that you are truth, the way, the truth, and the life. I pray that we would have your heart as we engage in this world seeking to bring shalom to chaos. Use us. You use your people in this world. So, Lord, we are trusting you by your spirit to do it in Christ's name. Amen.