King Jesus

[0:00] Daniel chapter 7, verse 14. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him.

[0:12] His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. And we would just sing a song about from every nation and tongue.

[0:27] And here it goes right along with our scripture today. It says that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. Amen. And then in John chapter 18, and obviously before I move on to the next scripture, I just want to point out that Daniel, this is a prophecy of a future kingdom.

[0:47] We learned about it in the seven weeks that we did the end time, the last days. And we know that that's speaking of the kingdom that Jesus is going to establish on the earth at some point in the future, end times.

[0:59] But God's already building his kingdom right now. And it's going to be consisting of all people, all nations, all languages that serve him.

[1:11] Amen. It's going to be an everlasting kingdom. And so let's go to John chapter 18, verse 33 through 37. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews?

[1:28] Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me.

[1:44] What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then should my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

[1:58] But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.

[2:15] Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Amen. So today I just, I want to give a thought that's been, that I've been burdened with by the Lord. And that is, this title is just King Jesus.

[2:28] King Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you God for this, this word. God, help us understand the idea of King Jesus. Help us understand that your kingdom that you're building, Lord.

[2:40] Help us, give us, give us understanding, Lord. Let your word have free course into our hearts and minds and spirits today. God, I pray, Lord, that it comes with anointing. God, bless me and my, anoint my lips to deliver your word.

[2:53] And God, let me, my words be your words today, Jesus. God, let my words flow. God, through the, let the spirit flow through me today. And these words be your words.

[3:03] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen, amen. You may be seated. Amen. This is a message that I would say is a bit difficult to preach.

[3:22] I'd much rather be preaching something else, I think. But the Lord has definitely burdened me with this. And so I'm trying to be a good servant of him and deliver the word to us that we need in this hour.

[3:35] Everyone was expecting Jesus to set up some sort of earthly kingdom. And we, we just came out of Christmas and we read the, the Christmas story and nativity and all these things.

[3:49] And, and so, you know, from the very beginning, Jesus was just probably about miles age. And when the wise men that came from the east came to bring Jesus gifts, and they knew through prophecies that he was to be a king.

[4:09] And they thought Jesus was born to set up his kingdom on earth. And the scripture says, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he that is born the king of the Jews?

[4:22] For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. And they're telling this to King Herod. King Herod thought that Jesus was going to try to set up a kingdom on the earth.

[4:35] And that threatened his throne and his power. The Bible says that when Herod, the king, had heard these things, he was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him.

[4:47] And Herod told the wise men, go and search diligently for the young child. And when you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also.

[4:58] And we know that that was a lie. King Herod had no intention of, of going and worshiping King Jesus. Herod had more sinister plans in mind.

[5:11] And as we know, we know this because when the wise men were then warned of in a dream that they would not go back in their country the same way they came and go back to Herod.

[5:23] But they would have to go and return another way. And what did Herod do? In Matthew chapter 2 verse 16, it says, And so this is known as the massacre of the innocents.

[5:51] And it's a dark episode in the Christmas story, for sure. And Herod thought that Jesus would set up his kingdom on earth. And then out of jealousy of his own throne and position, he tried to murder Jesus.

[6:07] And we know he failed. But in trying, he was willing and did murder many innocent children. And so we see that the wise men thought Jesus would set up his kingdom on earth.

[6:18] And so did King Herod. And then we fast forward about 30 years. And the disciples themselves also desired and thought Jesus was there in that moment to set up his kingdom on earth at that time.

[6:35] Luke chapter 19 verse 11 says, And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, speaking of Jesus, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, meaning he was close to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

[6:50] And so scriptures teach us and clearly indicate that the disciples thought that Jesus was there to restore the kingdom to Israel. They were under Roman occupation.

[7:03] And obviously they didn't like that. And they were expecting the Messiah to come and restore the kingdom to them, expecting an earthly reign to come about immediately so that they would be delivered from the bondage of Rome.

[7:17] In Acts chapter 1 verse 6 we find, When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

[7:29] And so this question, it came after Jesus' right before his ascension, after the resurrection, he had spent 40 days speaking. The Bible says in Acts chapter 1 and 2 that he was speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, But they weren't getting it.

[7:47] They only heard what they wanted to hear. They only expected what they wanted. And they desired an immediate fix to their situation. They were expecting an immediate deliverance from the Roman rule and an immediate restoration of Israel's kingdom.

[8:05] Amen. Even the Pharisees and the chief priests that delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate thought and expected that Jesus was there to set up his kingdom.

[8:17] We read in our opening scriptures, here Jesus is standing before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor appointed by Caesar, who is questioning him about his kingship.

[8:27] After the Jews accused him of claiming to be king in an opposition to Caesar. And Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

[8:38] And it is in this moment of the questioning that Jesus explains that his kingdom is not of this world. He said, for if it were an earthly kingdom, his servants would fight to prevent his arrest.

[8:52] And so Pilate then asked Jesus directly if he is a king. So you are a king. You're saying that you are a king then, but just not of this world. To which Jesus says he was born and came into the world for this very purpose, and that's to bear witness unto the truth, and that everyone who is of the truth heareth his voice.

[9:13] Amen. I'm so thankful today that we are people of the truth. Amen. We know who Jesus is. He's King Jesus. Amen. Amen. I'm so thankful that I'm not lost in spiritual darkness somewhere.

[9:26] I'm so thankful that we have a revelation of who Jesus is. Amen. Amen. And that he's building his kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom that's not of this world.

[9:38] Amen. And so we have everyone expecting this earthly kingdom, but it's here that scripture is revealed to us. It's a spiritual nature. Jesus' kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and that is that his kingship is not from an earthly rule, but a spiritual rule.

[9:57] And scripture's teaching us that true allegiance to King Jesus comes through hearing and receiving truth. Amen. I'm so glad that I heard and received truth. I'm so glad that you have heard and received truth.

[10:09] We read it in John chapter 18, 33. It says, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews.

[10:20] And then notice with me, it says, but now is my kingdom not from hence. So it does leave us with a hope that there will be the kingdom established. He said, but now, okay, and we're living in this church age.

[10:34] We're living, the birth of the church happened in Acts chapter 2, and we're in that same dimension of time. We're in the church age right now. And it's, but now is my kingdom not from hence.

[10:46] Okay. For right now, the kingdom of God is not to be set up on earth. It is a spiritual kingdom. Amen. His kingdom is not at this time an earthly kingdom.

[10:57] It's a spiritual heavenly kingdom. But everyone assumed and believed that he had come to establish his kingdom on earth at that time. Each one of them expected Jesus to set up a kingdom on earth and to be king.

[11:11] And each one had their own reaction out of self-interest and self-will. Everyone to them, the wise men, King Herod, Pontius Pilate, disciples, the Jews, in general, the Pharisees, the high priests, all prioritized and got their mind on if Jesus is king, how does that affect me in my life?

[11:35] What benefits or issues does that create for me in my life? And we see all their reactions in those brief little stories that I told you. And the fact of the matter is we still deal with these, I guess, misguided thought processes about the kingdom of God and about King Jesus.

[11:58] And so I'm here to preach to us today. This is my assignment today. We too, whether realizing it or not, are more concerned about if Jesus does become my king, how does that affect my life and what I'm dealing with right now?

[12:14] It's still a thing that we are considering and thinking about as people today. Because the majority of our focus, the majority of our efforts, the majority of our time and attention and resources are used up advancing some form of our personal earthly kingdom.

[12:35] If we're honest with ourselves today, we would say that. And if we're honest with ourselves today, we would have to admit it, that we are more earthly kingdom minded than we are spiritually kingdom minded.

[12:50] It's just natural for us because we're in the flesh. We're in the world right now. We perceive in the natural. We perceive in the physical.

[13:00] And we have to understand there is a spiritual realm that's equal to or greater than the physical realm that we can perceive so well. And it's harder for us to perceive the spiritual.

[13:12] OK. And our priorities are really mostly about just building up something that is not spiritual in nature. In fact, it gets worse. We not only are earthly kingdom minded and focused, we make ourselves the king of our little kingdoms we're trying to build in our life.

[13:29] And we can spend our whole lives trying to build up our little kingdom. Amen. And we can tell by the prayers that we pray. And what kind of we should think about think about our last few times we went to the Lord in prayer.

[13:44] What were we praying about? Lord Jesus, I pray that you bless my finances. Lord Jesus, I pray, Lord, give us protection. Give us, keep us safe.

[13:55] Lord Jesus, bless us. Lord Jesus, help us. And these are common prayers. And there's nothing wrong with praying these prayers. I'm not saying don't pray these prayers. But it can give light if we really reflect on what our prayer life is like and what is it that we're asking for.

[14:10] It can help us look and understand what we're focused on. But how many prayers are we praying? King Jesus, show me your will for my life.

[14:21] King Jesus, show me not just your will for my life, but what is your will for your kingdom? I want to be a part of your kingdom. What needs to be done in your kingdom?

[14:33] King Jesus, direct my paths. God, direct me. Lord, lead me. Guide me. You know, is it kingdom minded or is it our kingdom minded? Is it his kingdom minded or is it our kingdom minded?

[14:45] And so, see, we're oftentimes like children. And we're like children because we're always convinced that the right thing for us is something sweet and something more.

[14:56] It's not just me. And it is me. But it's not just me. Children will always choose sugar over vegetables.

[15:10] And there's a lot of adults like that, too. Children are never content and always want more or something else, right? And a good parent doesn't give in to those things.

[15:25] I wasn't a good parent. A good parent will say no. But we don't like it when my personal kingdom prayers aren't getting answered.

[15:39] So most of us, you know, we're like children. We want more money. We want more house. We want more car. We want more job. We want more clothes. We want more things. More and more and more and more stuff.

[15:50] More and more, right? And that becomes our focus and that takes up our efforts and it consumes our time and our resources. And everything goes into acquiring these material things, you know, for our little kingdoms, our little earthly kingdom stuff.

[16:03] And it has nothing at all to do with the spiritual kingdom where Jesus is king. Where Jesus is king. When Jesus is king and you are spiritual kingdom focused as you should be, then the desire for the acquiring of material things is less.

[16:20] Falling after his will for your life will bring less tangible things. And so we, you know, we don't. Because we're after tangible things.

[16:32] But there will be great rewards in the eternal everlasting kingdom to come if you let Jesus be king and you focus and put your efforts into his kingdom right now.

[16:44] Amen. Amen. So what do we find our greatest pleasure in? What do we find our greatest joy in doing?

[16:56] What is it that gives us our greatest satisfaction? Who or what brings you exquisite enjoyment? In other words, I'm asking you, what is your delight?

[17:11] What is your delight? Because the Hebrew word for delight means all those things. Exquisite enjoyment. The great, what gives us the greatest satisfaction, the greatest pleasure, the greatest joy in doing who or what.

[17:25] That is our delight. So what should we delight ourselves in? Psalm 37 verse 4 says, Delight thyselves also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

[17:39] When we find our greatest joy and pleasure in the Lord and his kingdom and King Jesus, making him our delight, then we will grant, he will grant us the desires that are in our hearts.

[17:52] Why? Because those desires will be shaped and formed and purified by our delight in him. And so notice with me, delight in the scripture comes before desire.

[18:05] It says, delight thyselves also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of your heart. Delight comes before desire. What are you delighting in?

[18:15] Delight in. Whatever you delight yourself in is where you pursue and desire after. And what we delight in is our choice. There's no choice in the fact that what we're delighting in is where the desires of our heart is going to be.

[18:32] That comes automatically. But what we do have the choice in is what are we delighting in. What we delight in is our choice, and what we choose to delight in becomes our desire.

[18:43] True satisfaction and fulfilled desires come through delighting in King Jesus, rather than in the things of the world for our own personal kingdom building. I choose what I delight myself in, which leads to my desires.

[18:58] If I choose to delight myself in King Jesus and his kingdom, then my desires will be for the everlasting kingdom that he is building. It really comes down to who you make the king in your life.

[19:13] And you can tell who your king is by whose will is controlling your life. Whose will is controlling your decisions that you're making today, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

[19:27] The will of King Jesus or the will of King you? When we read the Lord's Prayer, Jesus told us how to pray. He said, Thy kingdom come.

[19:39] Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. And see, we're confusing the thy with the my. And we shouldn't be confusing the thy with the my.

[19:50] We need to get a revelation understanding of thy. His kingdom involves his will. My kingdom involves my will. And our will has to be in submission.

[20:02] Amen. When the man Christ Jesus was praying to the eternal spirit of God that was inside of him, it was obvious the flesh did not want to be crucified on that cross.

[20:16] But we know that his prayer was not, his prayer wasn't, you know, let my will be done. He said, not my will, but thy will be done. Right?

[20:27] So we have to get a revelation between thy and my. Luke 9 and 23 and 24 says, And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

[20:41] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. See, the things about crosses is they're, they're, they're, they're, we look at a cross today and we see grace, mercy, hope, and all the things because of the cross.

[21:00] As Christians, that's what we see a cross as. But we have to remember the cross was an instrument of death. It was something the Romans used to execute people in a horrific way. It was a torture device.

[21:14] And Jesus surrendered to the cross. And he was crucified. He allowed himself to, that was his whole purpose at that time was to, to come and undo the works of, of the devil and undo sin and give us a way out of sin.

[21:29] And he showed us the way to save our lives. And so our problems today and what I'm preaching about to try to fix today is that we have too many people that have their feet nailed to the cross and one hand nailed to the cross.

[21:46] But then we got our other hand that's loose and unsubmitted to God. It's like we're trying hard and we're doing fairly well, we think, and we feel like we're doing enough.

[21:59] We got our feet and one hand to the cross, but we're, we're not willing to really fully submit to, to that cross. And that is a miserable way to live life because the world's coming against you because you're trying to a certain extent, right?

[22:17] But then you're not fully in, so then you're not reaping all the benefits and blessings of the Lord. And so that's a miserable place to be, half crucified, just there.

[22:28] Amen. We need to go all in with Jesus, King Jesus. Amen. It's, and what that is, is it's a convenient and conditional surrender. Not a real surrender, meaning I'll surrender this and that as long as everything is going okay.

[22:45] But as soon as it gets hard, then I, I'm going to take a step back. It's a convenient, conditional surrender. Now, now you see it and now you don't kind of surrender.

[22:57] It's like, it's like Halloween on Sundays. Everyone's dressing up like they're surrendered. But King Jesus doesn't, he didn't play that game.

[23:11] Amen. He didn't play the now you see it, now you don't surrender game. He, he fully submitted to the cross. He, he willingly, he could have called, the Bible says he could have called legions of angels.

[23:23] But he did it for us. Amen. We don't want that very conditional, very convenient, only submitting to King Jesus when things are going well type of surrender.

[23:39] Our delight needs to be in fully submitting to King Jesus and to the kingdom. The wise men's delight was in their own kingdom of astrology, studying the stars.

[23:51] And their desire was to meet the newborn king and give Jesus some gifts. But then they were on their way, never to be seen from or heard again. Herod and Pontius Pilate and the chief priests all had their delight in their positions of power and influence in their earthly kingdoms.

[24:06] And their desire was to kill anyone that would threaten their positions in power and their thrones. And the disciples' delight was in the idea of being free from Rome and having an easy life without burdens.

[24:18] And their desire was having their own earthly kingdom established in Israel. And at first they couldn't see the big picture. King Jesus was establishing an eternal spiritual kingdom.

[24:29] King Jesus was establishing an eternal kingdom. So what level of surrender do we have today? That's the question of this service today is what is our delight today? And I agree with Pastor Hanks from last week.

[24:42] And I'll add a little bit to it. He mentioned about the clay and the potter. How God forms us.

[24:56] And he's the one that formed us. And the world thinks that they can question the potter. They're the clay. They didn't create themselves.

[25:09] We have a creator that created us. And it's a worldly carnal mindset that questions the potter. How can the clay that's being formed to the potter's desires question the potter about how you're designing?

[25:23] I don't like how you designed me. I don't like how you made me. That's not really an option. People that try to change who they are from what God, their creator, formed them to be are.

[25:35] It's the spirit of flesh and worldliness. And across all the varying degrees of the clay questioning and rebelling against the potter. Or you have a born-again Christian that doesn't serve their God-intended purpose in the kingdom of God.

[25:49] And that's at the very minimal beginning of this spirit of rebelling against the potter. As we have someone that's partially crucified over here that isn't willing or questioning their calling and questioning their place and serving in the kingdom of God.

[26:11] Amen. You know, I've preached it many times already this year. I believe every one of us is called by God. It has a purpose in the kingdom of God. God's gifted us with spiritual things for his kingdom.

[26:24] We all have talents and things that God has put into us, experiences he's given us through our lives that all is supposed to be used for the kingdom of God. Amen. Everybody is part of the body of Christ.

[26:35] We're all members, individual members, but we're all part of the same body. Just like the ear is different than the nose and different than the knee and the toe. It's all different, but it's all the same one body.

[26:46] Amen. But everything is needed to be in its rightful place and position in the body for it to be effective. And I believe every single one of you here today is a member of the body of Christ. And it's important that you find your ministry, your role, your responsibility in the kingdom of God.

[27:02] Amen. Together, serving and winning. Right? And so at the very beginning of this, on this line, this plane of rebellion against the potter is the Christian, the born-again believer that doesn't find their place in the kingdom of God.

[27:26] Their way to serve in the kingdom of God with their talents and treasures that God gave them. And at the other end, on the opposite end of the spectrum, but it's the same line, the same plane, the same idea, the same spirit.

[27:39] At the very farther end, at the max level, you have people having surgeries to literally change their physical nature and trying to identify as something else.

[27:50] But that sounds, that doesn't sound like anything a Christian would be. But I'm telling you, it's the same line of thought. There's not a lot of difference between a born-again Christian that refuses to do what God's called them to do versus someone that's, I'm tired of being a guy.

[28:11] I think I'm going to be a woman now. And I'm going to go get some surgeries. And I'm going to wear a dress. That's not how God created me. And we could look at that as very extreme.

[28:23] But I'm telling you, it's the same line, just on a different end of the spectrum. And so I'm just trying to bring awareness to that today. We need to find our place in the body of Christ. We need to commit to being a part of the body of Christ and the kingdom of God and let King Jesus rule.

[28:39] Amen. Amen. God created me for this, but I'm not going to do this. I'm going to be there instead. It's just, it's not good. And so, going back to children, let me tell you, let me tell you a little bit about strong-willed children, and I'm almost done.

[29:00] Strong-willed children are difficult to deal with. And there comes a point in a parent's life that if they don't figure that out, it can become a lot of problems.

[29:18] A child's will has to be broken. It does. It sounds so bad, and it sounds against everything the world will teach you. You know, let someone be who the, you know, you need to be you and all this stuff that the world teaches us.

[29:32] A child's will has to be broken, but without breaking their spirit. I'm not talking about breaking their spirit. I'm talking about breaking that childish will, that stubborn will that children sometimes have.

[29:44] And that's a hard thing to do. It's not something I was good at as a parent. And trying not to break their spirit, but break the will.

[29:55] But it is necessary, because an unbroken will leads to a broken life. If we can't figure out how to conquer our self-will, it's going to lead to a broken life.

[30:11] Prisons today are filled with people with unbroken, strong wills. Their own misguided ideas, their own misguided will led them into captivity.

[30:23] Let's all stand. I just have a question for us today. Is there anyone here planning on going out and catching monkeys after church?

[30:44] Anyone planning on going out and catching monkeys after church? Because I have some advice for you if you are. There's several ways you can catch a monkey.

[30:56] But the easiest way, and the most successful way, is to take a coconut and hollow it out. Have a hole in it just big enough for the monkey's hand to fit into.

[31:09] And then you take that coconut, and you anchor it to a tree, to the ground. And you put food in it. You put bananas in it, or rice or something.

[31:22] And then the monkey comes sniffing around looking for that food. And puts his hand in there, and reaches in, and grips the food.

[31:32] But then, with that fist, he can't pull, the monkey can't get his hand out of the coconut. And then, the monkey is now stuck there as long as he's gripping that food.

[31:49] This is real. You can look it up online. I did. And the monkey's stuck here. And all the monkey has to do is release what he's got his grip on, and then he can go free.

[32:05] And so, but monkeys are so stubborn that once they have that food, they will not let it go. And even as the humans are coming, and they see the humans coming, and they really want to get away, but they're unwilling to let go of what's in their hand to escape that.

[32:25] And then it's an easy thing for the humans to capture the monkey. And so, what they're not willing to let go basically leads to their captivity.

[32:39] And I feel like that's our message today, if I can relate it to monkeys. And that is, today, I'm here to preach to us that it's time for us to let go of some things that we're gripping onto that has caught us.

[32:57] Okay? That we can't be trying to grip onto something that has nothing to do with the will of God for our lives. And it's time to let go and be freed.

[33:10] Because whether you realize it or not, if you are not in the will of God, you are incarcerated in a prison of self-will. If our will is not in submission to God's will, then we are incarcerated in this prison of self-will, and it's not going to take us anywhere.

[33:27] It's not going to take us where God wants us to go. It's not going to take us where God wants us to be, and it's a prison of self-will. There's no hope for the eternal kingdom of God in a prison of self-will.

[33:39] And so, you may get to be king in that kingdom of self-will, but it's only leading you into eternal and spiritual captivity. And so, my plea today is make Jesus king.

[33:52] Free yourself today. Let go today. Don't be a captive of your own strong wills. Let your delight be in submitting to King Jesus.

[34:04] Amen. And delight in the things of the Lord. Amen. It's time that we let go of some things that we've been holding on to. We've got the feet crucified.

[34:14] We've got the hand crucified. And we've got our hand in a coconut over here gripped onto something that we're unwilling to let go of. And fully submit to the will of God in our lives.

[34:26] And so, that's the call that God has for us today. It's just think. Let's find a place to pray and connect to God before we leave. Think about the word that God has brought to us today.

[34:39] And let's just check and make sure that, well, God, what is it, Lord, that I'm not seeing? What is it that I haven't let go of yet? Reveal it to me today, God. That I could release that and not be captured and put into a prison of self-will.

[34:55] And so, that's what I want us to do today before we leave today. Let's connect the word that's been preached to our hearts today. And let's find a place to pray and ask God to help us break free of these things that's binding us and imprisoning us.

[35:10] God, help us, Lord Jesus. God, understand, Lord, what your will is for our life. Lord Jesus, help us, God, delight in you.