We were talking about how the pattern of the Kingdom and Lordship are only seen in Heaven. We mentioned how God rules on the earth, but who does he rule through? In the political world, our president, and other presidents, have opposition. They have party opposition, media opposition, extremist, devilish, and all kinds of opposition against what the government is trying to do for good.

Jesus was very purposeful in everything that he said and did on the earth. He never did anything accidentally.  Luke 4:18-19 is the declaration of the purpose of Jesus. He came to the disciples and some others and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the good news of the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to announce release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

God has come to get us out of the ghetto. Can I use that word, “ghetto”, today? We’re getting ready to go into the ghetto of the inner city next week with Compassion Commission. We spend a lot of time there. So, if you can just use that word today as an analogy, you will see that many of us have moved out of the physical ghetto, but still live in the ghetto of our soul and our mind.

In John 18:37, Pontius Pilate is speaking and it’s only hours away from the crucifixion of the Lord. He’s talking to Jesus in the final dialogue before Jesus is put up on the cross and dies for us.  Pilate asked Jesus, “Are You a King?” Jesus hadn’t been talking, and all of a sudden his tongue is loosed. It hit a chord that Jesus couldn’t leave unattended, and he answered,

“You say correctly that I am a King. This is why I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. For this cause I came into the world.”  Jesus is saying, in a deliberate declaration, “Here’s why I’m here.” Pilate didn’t say, “Well, defend yourself.” But, all of a sudden he said, “Are you a king?” Then he says, “If you’re a king then you must have a kingdom.” Pilate, the secular apostle of the Romans, could detect and see that this man, Jesus, was not earthly related. He was heavenly related. Jesus said, “You’ve rightly said. I am a king. For this reason I was born and for this cause I came into the world.” Jesus didn’t say, “I’m the Savior, and for this reason I came.” He didn’t say that he was the deliverer.  He said, “I’m a king, and for that reason, I came.”