This morning we continue our journey into this year, focusing on making “Intentional Progress.” I shared six steps to intentional progress with you, and I will continue to walk through them over the next few months. As a reminder, here are the six steps.
Here are the steps again:
1. Pray/Discern
2. Plan/Prepare
3. Wait/Discern God’s Timing
4. Execute/Measure Progress
5. Wait/Faith & Patience
6. Receive When Harvest Time Comes
In this series, we have sought to glean life lessons from Jesus. We looked at John 5, 6, 8, 12, and 14-17. We then crossed over into chapter 18. I will pick up the story of Jesus where we left off.
(Read John 18:29-37)
In our last message, we saw how Annas and Caiaphas questioned Jesus all night. All their efforts proved fruitless. They could not prove that Jesus did anything wrong. But despite their lack of evidence, they still took Jesus Roman governor’s palace on some trumped-up charges early in the morning. After Pilate came out to meet the Jews, he asked, “What is your charge against this man?” And just like I have been telling you, they did not provide an honest answer or an actual change. The Jews responded, “We wouldn’t have handed him over to you if he weren’t a criminal!” Pilate saw right through it, so he replied, “Then take him away and judge him by your own law.” But Pilate underestimated how angry these men were with Jesus. They responded, “Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone.”
I am sure Pilate was somewhat taken aback by the fact that the Jews wanted Jesus dead, so he decided to spend some one-on-one time with Jesus. Pilate asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus only said what the Father told Him to say, which is why His answers were always full of wisdom. Instead of answering the question, Jesus responded with a question, asking, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate retorted, “Am I a Jew?” The governor went on to say, “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?” Once again, Jesus never incriminated Himself.
Jesus responded, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” Pilate keyed in on the fact that Jesus spoke of a Kingdom. Pilate responded, “So you are a king?” But Jesus never claimed to be anything. He let others speak for Him. Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” As you can see, Pilate was getting nowhere with Jesus. We will stop here for today.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The enemy will attempt to twist the truth against you.
We all know satan is wicked. I will elaborate on the word “wicked.” Wicker furniture is made from twisted wood. Picture the twists in your mind for a moment. This gives us an image of how satan will twist the truth against you. This is how Jesus was convicted on trumped-up charges.
— The Jewish leaders never gave an actual charge to Pilate when referring to Jesus.
— Pilate attempted to question Jesus Himself, but the governor could not find Jesus guilty of anything.
— The only sinless man to ever live was drug from mock-trail to mock-trail, in the middle of the night, and then brought before a Roman governor to be sentenced to death, without any actual charges, without any eye-witnesses, and without Jesus ever doing anything wrong.
— The good news is that Jesus was only convicted because He allowed it. After all, it was part of His purpose.
— While satan is wicked, and he will seek to twist the truth against you, the Father will not allow the lies of the wicked to triumph over you.
— No weapon formed against you shall prosper (Isa 54:17). Now, you may say, “Hold on for a minute, Rick, it looks like the weapons formed against Jesus prospered.” To which I would respond, “Well, not really! God allowed the weapons formed against Jesus to move forward, because the attacks were taking Jesus down the path to His destiny.” Therefore, I say to you, if the weapon you are facing looks like it is prospering, then it must not be against you. In the end, it will work out for your good!
— The wicked attacks of the enemy, especially those made in the dark, will come to the light. And in the end, God will take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it around for your good!
— You will be lied on, talked about, attacked, and mistreated, but by the grace of God, none of the attacks will be able to stop you. Every attempt of slander, every attempted defamation of character, and every attack against the good name God has given you will fall short, just as long as you maintain your position in Christ Jesus.
— As you are walking with God, He will not always stop the attacks or the attackers, but what He will do is stop their effectiveness against you. The attacks will come. The attackers will raise their ugly heads. But nothing can stop you because God’s purpose on your life is stronger than any poison against you. So rest easy; the best is yet to come! And if the attacks keep coming, then get excited! Your assignment must be SO BIG that you are drawing uncommon attention from the enemy. This means the impact you are called to make in this world is exceptional and extraordinary. God chose you to do something that far exceeds your wildest imagination. Greater is coming for you!
2. The Father will give you what to say in every situation.
Even though Jesus was illegally arrested and falsely accused, He did not get upset, and He carefully responded as the Father gave Him the words to say. You can do the same thing.
— If you allow yourself to get emotional and upset, you will not be in a position to hear from God, and you will invariably say the wrong things. But if you hold your peace, you keep your composure, and you listen to the Holy Spirit, you will know what to say and how to say it.
— In Matthew 10, Jesus sent out a group of disciples to perform the miracles He was performing. Up to this point, Jesus was the one being used of the Father. Jesus sent them out to do what He was doing.
In this passage, Jesus said, “Be careful! There are people who will arrest you and take you to be judged. They will whip you in their synagogues. You will be taken to stand before governors and kings. People will do this to you because you follow me. You will tell about me to those kings and governors and to the non-Jewish people. When you are arrested, don’t worry about what to say or how you should say it. At that time you will be given the words to say. It will not really be you speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:17-20).
When you walk with God, you allow the peace of God to fill your heart and the Spirit of God to be your guide, He will give you the words, and He will perform the work in, with, and through your life. No matter the situation you find yourself in, you will always have a wise answer because you will walk in wisdom from above.
— The Holy Spirit can give you wisdom that exceeds your education and experience.
— If you ever find yourself in a bind, you know the pressure is on, and you don’t know what to do, please take a moment to pause and attune your heart to the Holy Spirit. As He did with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say, and His wisdom is always perfect.
— I want you to think about Jesus (the Son of God, who came as the son of men, so the sons of men could become the sons of God), and how He always knew what to say and how to say. Jesus was never stumped by any situation. He was never dumbfounded. He was never at a loss for words. He was never overwhelmed. He had grace and wisdom for every situation, and He is an example OF you. He is not just an example FOR you. He is an example OF you.
— When you think of Jesus, think of yourself. When you consider Jesus, consider the perfect picture of your own life. As Jesus is, so are you in this world. God is ON you, IN you, WITH you, and FOR you. You are never without help; therefore, you are never without hope. You are never overwhelmed. You are never without words. You are never without wisdom. No matter the situation, the pressure, the level of opposition, or the supposed pain, God lives IN YOU! He will give you the words, and He will perform the work. He gives you perfect wisdom. He can give you revelation that far exceeds your education. So never fear! Perfect wisdom is available to you every day, for every situation. Walk into this day knowing and believing this truth!
3. You have the grace to maintain your peace during extremely challenging circumstances.
My mantra is #TheGraceLife. I keep teaching and preaching about the grace of God becuase it has changed everything about my life. There are two aspects of God’s grace I teach on: 1) Grace where you don’t do, and 2) The grace to do. In the first, you do nothing, and the unmerited favor of God goes before you to bless you in ways you do not deserve. In the second, God puts His super on your natural, and you are empowered to do what you could never do without God.
— One of the things I want to note about Jesus in our passage is that He was never flustered while they were dragging Him from mock trial to mock trial. He maintained His peace every step of the way.
— The Hebrew word for peace is the word shalom. One definition is: nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. Even though Jesus was facing all sorts of earthly pressure, He was complete, intact, and at peace on the inside.
— As I meditated on this point, the Father led me to ask you to ask yourself a series of questions when you are facing difficult times. You may be facing a major challenge this morning. Here are the questions:
What has changed?
What remains the same?
Although there are things happening to me and around me, have these things actually changed anything of significance?
Does God still love me?
Does God still have plans for me?
Is God still with me?
Consider your answers to these questions and then say to yourself, “If God is still God, if He is still on the throne, if He still has plans for me, and He will never give up on me, then what do I have to stress over? I should not allow what I am facing to rob me of my peace!“
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about the amazing life of Jesus, Your Son. Jesus was illegally detained, falsely accused, violently assaulted, and endlessly questioned, but He never once allowed His emotions to get the best of Him. He never lost His peace. Jesus remained calm, He held His tongue, and He only spoke what You gave Him to say. I learn from Jesus. I know I have a real enemy, and I know He will come up against me in real ways. The enemy will twist words, twist the truth, and twist situations, all in an attempt to make me look bad and to cause me to step outside of Your love. But by faith, I declare that I will be just like Jesus. I maintain my peace, remain in divine love, hold my tongue, and only say what You give me to say. That way, I will not be ensnared by my own words. Like Jesus, I will face challenges on the road to fulfilling my destiny, and like Jesus, I will come out on top every time because of Your grace. The enemy may attack me, but I shall not be moved. GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
