God is in control

John chapter 19, beginning with verse 7. How nice it is to experience the Presence of the Lord as we have just experienced it right now, how nice to experience it on a day like Resurrection Sunday. It seems that in a service like Easter Sunday last week, it seems that one touched the Throne of God and for me that service was so special that even the next day and many days this week I was still enjoying that atmosphere, that move of God so beautiful.

But I am very aware that for many, Easter Sunday when we declare: Wow, the Lord has risen from the dead! It is difficult for us to cling to those statements like the one we have just declared now, that Jesus is King, that He is powerful, and when we got home, perhaps in the afternoon, I was going to say Monday morning, often not even We don't even wait until Sunday afternoon to open the doors of our apartment.

Maybe you are the only one serving God in that house, you are a pioneer of faith in your home. There are many homes that one goes to and you are the pioneer and that house is full of, only God knows what is on television, what they are listening to on the radio, what fight is taking place why do I know what, you cover up with the blood of the Lamb, many of us right? that little room is both the tabernacle and the fortress. It seems that many of you have had your little room, right?

And there, far away from this sanctuary, will you continue to make those same statements? This day the Word of God is this: no matter what you see, no matter what you hear, no matter what you experience, no matter what comes into your life, God is in control, He is still in control.

John 19 verse 7, the Jews answered Pilate: "We have a law and according to our law, he must die, because Jesus made himself the Son of God. When Pilate heard this, he was more afraid and went back into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus: where are you from?

"But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate then said to him, "Don't you speak to me? Don't you know that I have authority to crucify you and that I have authority to release you? Jesus answered, You would have no authority against me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who has given me the greatest sin has."

Merciful King: we come before Your Presence. Lord: thus I declare, as I have declared in Your Presence, as I have declared in moments that only You have been a witness, before Your people I declare that only You are King, superior, the ultimate authority and that You are in control. Now, enliven this Word, activate it, tie it to our hearts for the glory of Your Name, I plead with you in Jesus' Name.

Jesus responded in verse 11: "You would have no authority against me unless it were given to you from above." We are going to stay with what is left of this service, we are going to concentrate on what this statement says. We say amen instantly, something powerful was declaring Jesus at His trial to Pilate, his judge. You would have no authority against me if it were not given to you from above. What does the Lord mean through this Word, what does this statement mean?

First of all, know this, this is what the Word is declaring to us about this. All authority, all authority is delegated by God and from the Throne of God. What this Word declares is that God has and delegates all authority, and in fact God is in control, that is what this Word declares. That word that is translated here: authority, in Greek is the word: exousia, which means: authority. But notice that this word, and you will see it in the course of this message, is translated in different ways. Sometimes it is translated as power. In the new international version in English it is translated: "You would have no power over me".

Many times it is even interchangeable with a Greek word that you may have heard in the New Testament talking about this same concept of power, dunamis which translates "in the power of God to do thunderous things", dunamis implies raising the dead. , the opening of the eyes of the blind, the majestic power of God. This word implies something else, it implies authority and it is important to distinguish and understand it.

In classical Greek, outside of the biblical context, this word was associated with the authority exercised by a king to govern his domain, including authority over the will or decisions, or the destiny of others, in other words: control over his domain. The authority that a king has to rule and extend his interests over those he rules.

It also implies the authority that a king or a ruler delegates to his officials and representatives to carry out the will of a king over his domain. exousia implies that a king has this authority but as a king he has the ability to delegate this authority to his officials and to his representatives that he delegates throughout his domain to fulfill his agenda and his will. exousia implies both the authority that descends on the king and the authority that he has to delegate it to others.

And what does this imply? indeed it implies at least this. It implies that the authority of those who rule over Earth, here including Boston, Massachusetts, is delegated from above. The Word is very clear on this.

The Scriptures declare this in Romans 13:1, it is perhaps the best Biblical example, it is the text in which the Apostle Paul declares: "Submit every person to the exousia, to the superior authorities, because there is no authority, there is no exousia " appears twice there "but from God, and those that exist, by God have been established."

That is to say: that guard that I saw this morning at the corner of North Hampton Avenue and North Hampton Avenue directing traffic is exercising exousia that comes through his badge, but that badge is ultimately an authority delegated by God. The Lord allows men and women in authority to arrive, go up, go down, initiate, delegate, announce, deal with the machinery, press strikes, but the one in control of all that apparatus is God, it is God.

They are exercising their exousia and that is why we must honor them, we must honor them, we must pray for them. If Nero arrived on a Sunday: "Pastor, pray for us," what would Paul say? pray for Nero, literally, and we surely would because we know where authority comes from. What's more, the mere fact that they arrive seeking prayer is a vestige, even in 2015, that they acknowledge. Wait, wait, wait a minute. I need even if it's looking for votes in Roxbury, I need this blessing.

For by the way this word implies earthly authority. But this statement is not limited to natural authority or political power. All natural and supernatural authority, all authority owes its existence to God, to God. The Scriptures establish Jesus as the Creator and Sustainer, the Lord of time and space with all authority over all created beings. A complete, last, supreme exousia and that is scattered throughout the Gospel, my brother. The entire Gospel of John, this is a very important theme of the evangelist John in particular.

Do you remember that several weeks ago I brought you a message about the priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17? Verse 2 of that chapter, John 17:2, the Lord begins, I shared with you, with several statements, do you remember? there are declarations and petitions, and in one of these declarations the Lord says to the Father: "Father, glorify yourself, now has come so that Your Son may be glorified" says verse 6 "as you have given him power, you have given him exousia over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you gave them." A short but powerful statement.

What is Jesus saying? They don't see what Jesus says. The Father has given him authority, he has given him exousia over all flesh, the dead, the living, yet to be born, heavenly and supernatural, over all flesh and that in Him resides exousia, the authority to extend eternal life, do you know what it is? it's? to you eternal life and perhaps not to you, that is what we mean by exousia, with authority. An authority, there is no way, that opens and closes the book of authority, it needs, that is a supreme authority over all creation for all eternity.

And as King Jesus delegates His authority as stated in this Word, exousia is also delegated authority, and as King Jesus delegates His authority to His servants who do His Will on Earth. Even in John's first statements in John chapter 1, the evangelist John is very clear about this.

In verse 10, John chapter 1 verse 10 John states, "He was in the world, and the world was made through him." Again, the idea of Jesus as the Creator and Sustainer, "the world was made by Him." He is walking, the Creator of the world, walking on the face of the Earth "but the world did not know him" like Pilate "where do you come from, who are you?" the world did not know its Creator.

"He came to his own" the Jews "and his own did not receive him" in fact, they handed him over to Pilate, they handed him over to be crucified. But there is a very important but here: "but to all those who received him, to those who believe in the Name of Jesus, to those who believe in His Name, he gave power, he gave them exousia" he delegated authority, "he gave them power to become children of God, which were begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of man, but of God." Are following?

What is the Word saying here? As Caesar delegates authority to Pilate to represent the interests of Rome in Judea, so Jesus pours out His authority, delegates His exousia to the children of God to extend the interests of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Those of us who receive the Name of Jesus, those of us who bow under His authority and acknowledge Him as King, walk this Earth clothed with the Most High God, to whom He answers for your life, for my little ones, His representatives, His officers. It is not a small thing that you carry because you are a child of God. For this reason, Jesus assures us paraphrasing here, no matter what you see, never forget that I have the authority, never forget that I have the authority.

Again in John, John chapter 16 verse 33, a verse that I visit a lot, that we know a lot about, but this verse, interestingly, is the last piece of advice that Jesus gives to His disciples before His priestly prayer, before directing His words to the Father. and from there entering into all this drama of the crucifixion, this was the last advice he gave them, He told them: These things, everything that you have heard, not only today but in recent years, these things I have spoken to you to that in Me you have peace. In the world you will have affliction but do not fear; I have overcome the world.

It doesn't matter what you see tonight, it doesn't matter what you see tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon, it doesn't matter what you see that Saturday, it doesn't matter what you see on Sunday, it doesn't end with the cross, I I'm in control Have authority and we say that and, I could already with that I could conclude this message but this is the detail: sometimes it is difficult to appreciate that God is in control, frankly. Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate the Power of God and that God is in control when we are confronted by the power of evil and the power of the world. It's hard.

It's hard to keep believing that God is in control when I live in a very quote-unquote "real" world. It is difficult because this is a struggle of each person who cries out to the Lord as their King, sooner or later we are going to walk this valley.

Know this first. This concept of exousia, this concept of authority is not limited to the Kingdom of God. The Word declares that we were, listen to this, "Liberated from the power" that is, from the exousia of darkness in the Book of Colossians, the same Word, there is authority there. The enemy exercises a level of authority that the Lord himself allows him.

The Word declares, it warns us that "We do not have a fight against blood or flesh, but against principalities, against powers" exousia, "against the rulers of the darkness of this century, against hosts of wickedness in the heavenly regions" that is the fight, and of course, like a supernatural struggle, it is hidden from view, but you, Pastor: this struggle manifests itself very really for me when we see "reality" in quotes, right?

Amen Pastor, all that you have just declared, those songs, glory to God, wooo! but when I confront "reality" and it is confronting faith, glory to God. You declare God is in control amen! I'm going to say it for you. You declare: God is in control, amen Pastor! but when I watch the news, hahahaaa, I see that the world, instead of getting better, things are going from bad to worse. Instead of the world getting better things go from bad to worse.

The violence does not stop, I do not trust sending my children to a public school, I fear what they are going to teach there, they are killing Christians with impunity and in my own life, I am about to lose my job, we are going to lose the house, our hope to be documented has gone windy. Thats the reality. When we face reality we find it hard to believe that God is in control, that's the point. That is why I have not finished with this statement, because that is the strength, that is the challenge. Praise God for His Word.

We see here in this confrontation in John 18, John 19, we see this fight represented, using legal English, "hearing" that even those who have just arrived from anywhere is one of the first words in English that we learn, right? "hearing" this audience between Pilate and Jesus. This encounter between the power of the world represented by Pilate, and the Power of God represented by Jesus, hearing.

My brothers: I think we all know hearings, I think we all know legal appearances, a lawyer who has been, who has sat down and has also sat there, tells you, we feel right, how do you feel in those hearings What does it give you when you know you have to appear before a judge for whatever? We feel so fragile and defenseless, right? before these human beings and their cold and incomprehensible systems on which so many important things depend, so much depends on these audiences; Will they give me the visa, will they deport me, will they give me the papers, will they forgive me for eating that light, will they give me permission to build the sanctuary or the connector? Do you want to see your Pastor cry? talk to Roberto about BRE and have to go. He fasts and prays, and looks for the Power of God when he goes to those meetings.

It is one more case for them, it is your life that they are deciding. What Jesus is experiencing is His hearing, and we would like to think that these judges are endowed with a super gifted intelligence, that they do not eat or sleep, or use the bathroom like any other human being, but they are human; I know because I have used the bathroom with them, I know (laughs). And many are very intelligent and take their responsibility very seriously. There are judges that I have come to admire, but others like Pontius Pilate owe their position to someone they know. True to this day, a political favor.

But equally, suddenly here is Pilate for a favor that the emperor owed him, a relative, the prize was him being governor of Judea, now clothed with exousia, with authority, judging the case of Jesus. Look how life is.

Do you see this scene? It is important that they can broadcast this scene and convey there how you feel when you are in front of the powers of this world, because apparently it is a confrontation between powers, pathetically unequal authorities, pathetically unequal. Here we have Pilate, Pilate is in Jerusalem to bring order during Passover, a time that was known as one of rebel attacks on Rome, and he has at his disposal access to between two thousand and three thousand Roman soldiers and cavalry as well as access to Rome. . Authority, exousia.

And here an accused, the Son of God, handcuffed, alone, abandoned by His followers, did not seem at all the rebellious or violent guerrilla that he expected according to the charges that he had been given.

By the way, we would call this hearing in English an arrangement, a hearing to declare criminal charges against a defendant. And that's why in John chapter 18 verse 29 he asks, "what accusation do you bring against this man?" and if there were no charges, his responsibility as governor of Judea, the Roman governor, was to throw out the case, dismiss him because he has no authority to hear the case if there are no charges that fit under the law code of Rome. It seems that all the cards, all the options are in whose hands? Pilate, right?

Doesn't it always seem that way with us too, always uneven, the power of the world confronting the Power of God? Let's be real, you don't get that idea? And by the way, Pilate feels this comparison so unequal and he begins this audience with such arrogance, with such arrogance.

He looks at the charges, he looks at the charges, he looks at the defendant, he looks at the charges, he looks at the defendant, maybe he looks at the guards and bailiffs, and he looks at him again and asks, "Are you the King of the Jews? " he asked it several times as if to say: are you kidding me? Are you the King of the Jews? eat on. And he asked the Lord several times and the Lord, did you see that he didn't answer him at first? As if to say: you don't want to know, you really don't want to know the answer to that. You really don't want the answer to that.

But he insisted and by insisting he was not prepared for Jesus' answer: "My Kingdom is not of this world." My Kingdom is not from here. Pilate, at least at first, did not understand this and know this: the world does not understand and will not understand the Power of God, do not expect it to understand the Power of God. The world will not understand and without understanding the Power of God look to the power of God, to those to whom the Power of God is delegated with arrogance and contempt.

Did you register for this army of God? Know that you have come close to a guerrilla faction, that you do not receive much respect, that no, the world will never recognize the Power of God, the world will always see the Power of God with an arrogance: "Church, I can kill you, Church, I can destroy you", an arrogance.

Knows? everyone who said that is six feet underground. Pilate no longer exists, Caesar no longer exists, the Roman Empire no longer exists, none of that exists. The Church of Jesus Christ here is very happy alive and kicking, growing, growing, covering the world, the blood of the martyrs only makes us grow more, it only adds anointing to us. They don't understand this!

"I can kill you, I can destroy you." Come next week because the Church, the Lion of Judah Congregation will have its service next week, next month, next year until Christ comes, until our King appears, we are here to stay! but they will not understand this, at first.

But something happens here. Something happens that Pilate who starts out so sure of himself, so arrogant, ends up perplexed and frightened in a few verses, nothing happens according to his plan. Imagine, it's Easter day. He is introduced to him, he is supposed to be a dangerous rebel, he looks at him and whatever it is, he is not dangerous, and I am very sure that he is not going to give me any trouble, he's not going to be any trouble, and I have too, a lot to do today, let me get out of this case at once, dismiss this case; I know Pilate. I have been in front of Pilate (laughs).

By the way: he knows he has no authority under Roman law but he doesn't dare to let Jesus go for fear of the leaders, he's stuck. Everything he does to get out of this, every door closes. First, he gives the Jews a choice, and who do the Jews choose? Barabbas, that wasn't supposed to happen, we'll talk about that later. Then he subjects Jesus to lashes that in fact should have killed him, they should have killed him, but Jesus survived, he was there fresh and waiting for His cross.

At the end of the day, after all his attempts, I imagine Pilate asking: but come here, this is the one who is in charge here. I don't know how but this one is in control. I don't understand how but everything is like he is, what's going on here? What am I dealing with? and looking at Jesus he will think that and finally what makes him tremble is hearing that on behalf of the Jews he made himself the Son of God, when Pilate heard this he was more afraid.

He might not have been a Jew but he was a Greek-Roman and those people at least believed that their gods occasionally appeared among men, walking among men, they believed in a form of incarnation and he would say: but Come here, what if He is... Son of God? I think the only one who believed it was him.

And he enters and asks Pilate, sorry verse 9 of John 19: "And he entered the hall again and said to Jesus: where are you from?" I mean, what planet? What celestial region are you from?

Know? When you are confronted with a very hostile and concrete world, it is true, it is hard for you to believe that God is involved, that God is in control. Good Pastor, then how is the Power of God manifested in this sense? Good question because we are talking about an invisible power and the ways in which the Power of God will manifest will also require your faith, but know this: they are concrete.

First of all, how does the Power of God manifest itself here and in your life when you are confronted by the world? Firstly, the authority of God is manifested in His Presence. God's authority is manifested in His Presence. Something happens when we are in the Presence of the Lord.

The more Pilate was exposed to the Presence of Jesus Christ, the more he realized that an authority different and vastly superior to his dwelt in Jesus, and the same thing has happened here in this sanctuary and in the other sanctuary, the original sanctuary. Political officials, elected officials have arrived here and here they arrive, and as I have said: we are going to welcome them, we are going to receive them, here they sit, but something happens, but something happens.

Some of them, one in particular, told me: Pastor, that place scares me, that place scares me, what do you mean? These people, my brothers, may not know the vocabulary of the Church, but they know power, they traffic in power. They are used to power, they smell power and when they get here they feel that there is a Presence, a Power and they recognize that it exists, and that they can't identify it, they can't bottle it, they can't put it in their pocket. and use it for their campaign but what's more, they are below this power and it scares them.

They arrive, old people, young people, children come down these ships and dance but they do not come to shake hands with the councilor, the representative or the governor, they turn their backs on them and bless the King who lives, they bless the Lord, ministering to the Lord. They are not used to it, they do not understand it.

May it always be so here. Same brother: cultivate the Presence of God. In that little room that is your fortress, cultivate the Presence of God, invoke the Presence of God, proclaim the Presence of God. At work, when things get hot, play your little music or suggest a Word, warm up the party with a: Glory to God. Cultivate the Presence of God, do not miss the adoration, don't miss the praise, come and be nourished. Fill your head, fill your heart with declarations of the Presence of the Lord, fill yourselves with the Word of the Lord so that when you are before your Pilates you are clothed with exousia, invisible authority.

They do not understand it and they will look at you as perplexed as they looked at Jesus, as they looked at Stephen, as they looked at Peter, as they looked at Paul, they will also look at you, too, it is the same authority first, and second, glory to God for those glory to gods because maybe this is not going to like it. God's authority is manifested in His Word being fulfilled in your life, in His promises being fulfilled in your life despite what you have experienced.

And why wouldn't you like this? to discover this you have to give up something. Maybe you have to abandon the idea of writing your own story, that it ends in your own way, that in the end there comes a magical ending and that the cavalry arrives to rescue you, maybe that is not the story that God has for you; May be. The cavalry has come to me and sometimes not.

Sometimes the endings of history that bring glory to God surprise us but are not what we would expect. Perhaps for the glory of God to be manifested God allows the world, for a moment, to exercise its power and get away with it, it happened to Jesus.

Chapter 19 begins with: "So then Pilate took" a human being, "Jesus" the King of glory "and scourged him", meditate on that for a moment. A human being whipping Jesus, the world whipping the Kingdom of God. What's more, Pilate ends up handing over Jesus to be crucified. But the story does not end there my brother.

Jesus was orchestrating events for His Glory, He was in control. In that whole scene He was in control. The cross is not the end, death is not the end, but to know this, to discover this you have to reach the end, you have to reach the edge of death, maybe even die I'm sorry, and believe that God is in control. Even if you see the body of your inert savior, still believe that God raises the dead, that He has exousia, has authority over death and death cannot stop Him or the children of God. That costs, that costs.

Like this morning and this was the time when I was not prepared to preach, after a dozen years one more or less gets to know a Congregation and I see heroes here, I see people who have seen the Glory of God, that the Glory of God comes out of their pores. Many of them are not the ones one hears about the most, they worship the Lord perhaps with a dignity and reserved, but they have seen battles. They have prayed to him: Lord please take this cup from me and the Lord has said: No, this time the cross touches you but do not worry, My Glory is behind. Don't get impatient, don't throw in the towel, don't despair. Behind that cross, servant of God, servant of God, behind that cross.

Maybe your husband or wife will be deported. Maybe your son will end up in jail. Perhaps the diagnosis is negative and they give you five months to live, each of these cases is not an example that I pluck from heaven; I'm looking at it, they're alive.

But you know what else I've seen? in those same cases and that is the glorious thing, and what you can lose if you stop believing that God is in control. Because here is the cross and although one suffers here, and although your hope is buried here, two, three, maybe four years later I see families here united, I see the same people here, prosperous. I see people here people who were evicted but not five months, five years later here they are dancing before the Presence of God in victory because God is in control, and no weapon is formed against you who are his son, his daughter whom He has extended His authority, no weapon formed against you will prosper, but you have to believe it and hold on to that truth no matter what you see, what you hear, what you feel, what they tell you, what they diagnose you, what the lawyer tells you , what the judge tells you, what your husband tells you, what your children tell you, you declare in your heart and do not stop declaring that God is in control! don't give up, don't give up.

The Kingdom of God makes strength and the brave. The Lord is creating a fiery race, the Lord is raising an unstoppable army. The Lord is raising up a people that sees the world and hears the news, and lowers its face and says: what do you say, Lord? because You are in control, that is what is at stake.

There is an eternity at stake, there is a spiritual war at stake, there are universes that we have not yet seen that the Lord is creating for you to govern, that is still at stake. These sufferings said Paul and excuse me for paraphrasing, you can compare these slight sufferings that we go through with the glory that awaits you, with the glory that awaits you, it is incomparable. Let's lower our faces. Hallelujah Jesus.

I'm going to make a call. My brothers, maybe there is someone here who, this all sounds very nice but you may be away from this because your life is an abyss, you feel that nobody is in control. Maybe you even use the Name of Jesus, you were raised in a Christian home but this is not your vocabulary and you know it.

I know what it is to suffer but for the one who suffers in Christ, the night will have its tears but the dawn will bring its joy. Suffering without Christ is suffering without Jesus, it is an abyss, I can see it, it is being carried like a leaf with the wind, without purpose. We keep saying: what was that thing for, what was this for? and the answer is the same: it is Christ, it is Christ.

If that's you and you want to meet this Jesus and receive His coverage, and receive His authority, His exousia on this day and you haven't done it before, I invite you to raise your hand, if that's you, I invite you to raise your hand and receive this authority. Amen, amen.

Let's stand up people of God. Now I invite you, receive the Grace of the Lord now, you know who you are. I am going to be very economical in this call. This morning some came up to me and said: Pastor, I am living this and this and this, it is like part of my life, know: the Lord hears, the Lord knows, the Lord is with you, extend your hand and receive this blessing, this grace from the Lord.

Lord: in the Name of Jesus we declare Your authority over Your children, we declare Master, we declare. I bind and neutralize in the Name of Jesus any voice of the enemy Lord who wants them to give up hope or give up Lord the fact that You are reigning over their life, in the Name of Jesus I cover them with the blood of the Lamb and declare Your victory over their lives, in Jesus Name, amen.