April 15, 2025 • 39 mins
The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday reveals a profound spiritual truth—we can declare His victory even before we see it manifest in our circumstances. As the crowd laid palm branches and personal cloaks before Jesus, they were making powerful declarations about His worth and identity as the promised Messiah.
Those palm fronds weren't just convenient decorations; in the scorching Middle Eastern climate, they represented precious shade. By cutting and laying them down, people demonstrated that Jesus was worth more than their comfort. Similarly, their cloaks represented social status and personal identity—laying these down showed a willingness to surrender everything for Christ. These weren't empty gestures but heartfelt expressions of worship flowing from deep conviction about who Jesus was.
This Palm Sunday message challenges us to examine what we're declaring through our worship. Are we lifting high the name of Jesus with the same enthusiasm we show for sports teams or entertainment? Are we making declarative statements about His victory over our circumstances, regardless of what we can currently see? The crowd's cries of "Hosanna to the Son of David" recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy, even though they didn't fully understand the spiritual nature of His kingdom.
The cleansing of the temple further illustrates how Jesus makes room for holy purposes. By driving out those who had commercialized worship, He created space for healing the blind and lame. Similarly, He wants to clear away anything in our lives that hinders His work of restoration and transformation. When we align our hearts with His purposes, we position ourselves to experience His blessing and provision in supernatural ways.
Ready to declare Christ's victory over every area of your life? Join us for Holy Week services including Good Friday reflections and Easter Sunday celebrations. Let's proclaim together that Jesus is Lord over every circumstance, every challenge, and every broken place in our world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen.
Today is Palm Sunday, and sowe're excited about that,
because it's an opportunity forus to declare the victory of
Jesus as he becomes the Messiahcoming into the city in
Jerusalem.
And so that's what we'retalking about today is this idea
of declaring the victory ofwhat Jesus has already
accomplished on our behalf.
Did you know?
(00:21):
That's exactly what this means.
As he came into the city allthose years ago, he became the
sacrifice for us all and he wastaking on the weight, the sin,
of the world.
But as he came into the city,they were celebrating the
arrival of the promised Messiah.
They were celebrating that hehad arrived, that all the
promises, all the propheticwords that have been coven by
(00:41):
the prophets were coming toculmination in Jesus.
And so they're declaring thatmoment and that's what we get an
opportunity to do as well thatwe make a declarative statement
saying Jesus, we are victoriousin you because you are already
victorious.
How many people know what I'mtalking about?
And as the children of God,then we declare your victory
(01:02):
over everything, over hell anddeath and the grave.
And so today is a day to get todeclare those things and to
establish who Jesus is, toworship him with all that we
have Amen.
Now I was thinking about thisidea of making a banner and
declaring it.
And I grew up and I was adrummer and so I love making a
(01:22):
bunch of racket and a bunch ofnoise and you know, it's like
how my parents didn't make melive outside with the drum, I
don't know, but I survived.
And so I was drum line and sowe would drum all the time, we
practice all the time and man,we're going after it.
It's bop, bop, bop, bop, bop,bop, bop.
You know drumming, doing allthe practices, and we had a
really good band.
It was a really big band.
We had a big drum section andso we would practice all the
(01:45):
time doing formations and we'remarching and we're drumming, and
you had to look the part, youhad to keep it together, keep it
still and keep all yoursticking correct, and it was
really fun.
It was really loud, I reallyliked it, and so it was fun.
But one of the things that was adrawback was that our band also
had a flag line.
Now, I'm not against the flagline.
I think the flag line does agreat job.
(02:05):
They're very demonstrative,they're doing cool movements and
stuff.
But the problem was is that ourdirector put the flag line right
in front of us and they also,for some reason, decided that
everybody on the flag lineneeded to wear spandex.
And about 90% of the people,including me, definitely should
(02:28):
not have been wearing spandex,but they were anyway.
And so we're trying not to lookat that and also not look at
our feet as we're marching andtry to pay attention to your
sticking, and I'm like this is aproblem.
And then there's a guy behindus who's very uncomfortable
about his girlfriend was on theflag line.
He's like don't look at her.
We're like we're not looking ather, man, we're trying to drum.
(02:49):
And then meanwhile they're likedoing the flag, rocking the
spandex.
We're like this is not right,man, this is not right.
But you can see why they woulddo it.
I mean it made a lot of effect.
I mean they have these bigflags, they're waving, and you
know we're sports fans.
You know I support PSG from ourtime in Paris and we became
champions this year of League On, so you could see where they
(03:11):
would use the flag.
They would use this to declareall that they had accomplished.
So they're saying listen, weare champions, we have done this
thing, and so they have thismassive flags that they're right
in the front of everybody who'swatching the game, but nobody
cares, because this is our teamand this is our statement about
our team.
See, it's this idea of like,hey, what are you proclaiming,
(03:32):
what are you declaring out toother people.
I think about this as we talkabout.
Declaration is that it's abanner that we talk about this
thing.
That's a statement that we'remaking as we worship things.
You know, I'm a sports fan.
Like I said, I cheer.
I'm like cheering.
You can see, in my house I'llcheer at my TV.
Let's go.
I know they can't hear me, butin spirit they're gonna do
(03:54):
faster or do better or make theputt or whatever's going on.
You know what I mean.
And for them and you see thisso often as people celebrate
this is one of the players fromour team.
He's excited man, they'rewinning and what does he do?
He takes his country flag andhe's running around with his
country flag.
Why?
Because that's where he's from.
It's a declarative statementsaying, hey, I'm celebrating,
(04:16):
I'm also a part of this groupright here too, this is also my
nation, I'm representing them,I'm a champion of this team, but
I'm also a champion from this,and so that's what they're
declaring with their actions.
And that's what we're doing too.
As we worship and cheer forthings is that we are also
declaring stuff.
We're worshiping things, if youwill, and so when we talk about
(04:37):
things, about our attitude andour perspective as we're
worshiping the Lord, then ifwe're demonstrative in cheering
for sports, we better bedemonstrative in cheering for
the Lord, and I understandpeople that are reserved.
I respect that because you'redoing something inside, but I
would challenge you that ifyou're doing other things, other
places, then you would have itall be the same, that you would
be one that cheers for the Lordlouder than what you cheer for
(05:01):
your team, because one of themis eternal and the other one
might have a star as their logofor their football team.
So you get the idea.
I'm gonna move on America.
So you see, I'm also a big fanof action movies, and one of the
action movies that I reallyliked is the Patriot, and in the
(05:21):
Patriot, the thing is they'rebattling for the independence of
America, and it's this conceptthat really hasn't been
cauterized, it hasn't beenestablished yet, and so they're
fighting these big battles, andthe narrative here, with Mel
Gibson's character is that thebanner, the flag it falls, and
so he takes up the flag to liftthe flag back up and declare
(05:44):
that we are still in the fight.
Do not give up the idea.
The dream is still alive, weare still moving forward, we are
still going after these thingsthat we believe in, that we're
fighting for.
He's raising up a standard thatsays this is what we're doing,
this is what we're about.
Do not give up and see, asChrist followers, we have that
(06:07):
standard.
It's called the cross, and sothe cross for us is the standard
for all time, saying that oursins have been forgiven.
Here is the freedom we'reexperiencing.
Here is the great cost that itcosts Jesus.
He took on all of our sin andall of our brokenness and all of
our hurt, all of our crusheddreams.
He took on all of our sin andall of our brokenness and all of
our hurt, all of our crusheddreams.
He took all of it to the crossand died once and for all so we
(06:30):
could be made whole in the nameof Jesus Christ.
So when we see the cross, wesee freedom and we see
forgiveness and we see a futurethat is in him.
We are victorious because webelong to Jesus.
We are victorious because webelong to Jesus, and so when we
start declaring victory, we'redoing so as a worship of him.
(06:50):
With all that we do, when welive the way of the cross every
day, we're doing so as anexample of what it means to lift
up the name of Christ.
Today, as we look at PalmSunday, we look at these palm
fronds and it doesn't mean a lotto us on the face, but see, in
their day it meant a lot andwe'll go into it today.
But this idea was that they weretaking something significant
(07:14):
and they were using it as abanner.
They were using it as astandard.
They're using it as somethingto declare the Messiah has come,
he's arrived, he's here, and,friends that I also declare
Hosanna, I worship him, I'mdeclaring his victory as the
Messiah, the one that's going tochange everything for me.
(07:37):
And just like they did 2,000years ago in celebrating the
Lord today, we also worship himin this way today, saying, lord,
that you are Lord over everycircumstance of my life, over
everything I'm facing, overevery situation.
Lord, you are alreadyvictorious, you already have the
victory.
We declare the victory and webelong to you because we are the
(07:59):
children of God.
And so, friends, today, as welook at Palm Sunday, we rejoice
because the Lord is on our sideand he is for us Amen.
Now, if we haven't met my nameis Jay it's a blessing to be
here and to be able to worshiptogether in this community of
faith.
We'll say this not all of usknow that we are still on a
(08:22):
journey in following Jesus.
None of us has arrived, and sowe use this imagery of Jesus
walking with his disciplesbecause that's who we are, that
none of us are perfect.
All of us are in need of asavior.
So we're still following Jesusevery day, whenever we're
walking after him, it's ourambition to be more like Jesus,
(08:42):
and so whenever we're doing thatas individuals, we also
collectively are those who wantto love God and make disciples
and reach the world, and that'swhy we give generously to
kingdom builders.
It's why we're intentional tobe in life groups.
It's why we connect and growand serve together.
It's because that's who we areis that we're on this mission to
be more like him.
So, as we look at this PalmSunday idea and this narrative,
(09:06):
we pick up here where Jesus isnow riding this donkey into the
city to go and become thesacrifice for us all.
And you can think about thatimagery we talked about it in
the past where Jesus he goes andhe has this donkey that he's
riding in on.
And you could see thisdepiction of it here from the
chosen, where Jesus is ridinginto the city.
(09:31):
And it's specific because he'snot coming in on a war horse
like the Caesars would do, orpulled in a chariot like others
of notoriety, or even held up onposts and carried in by people
like some would do.
No, he's coming in as a humbleservant of his purpose.
He's coming in not as the lionof Judah, which is what he is.
He's the conquering king whowill rule forever.
(09:52):
He's the creator God who wasthere in the beginning.
In the beginning was the word.
He was there.
He emptied himself of all ofthat to become the sacrifice,
the lamb of God, who's nowriding this donkey to become the
sacrifice for us all.
And see even his disciples whowere walking with him.
(10:13):
They didn't understand all theweight of what they were dealing
with as they walked into thecity.
They'd already been followinghim, they'd already had Passover
meals with Jesus.
Now they're coming into thecity.
But something is different,because people are anticipating
his arrival and the city startsto stir and they start to get
wound up because they're excited.
(10:34):
Jesus is arriving, he's cominginto Jerusalem for Passover.
He is the Messiah.
He's gonna set everythingcorrect.
He's the one they've talkedabout forever.
So they go out and they startto grab the branches, they start
to take them off the trees,they start to pass them to each
other and it says that they wereusing them, that they were
waving them, that they werelaying them down at his feet,
(10:55):
that they were taking off theirvery cloaks to do the same.
It picks up here in scriptureof your Bible your tablet, your
phone this morning, we.
It picks up here in scriptureof your Bible your tablet, your
phone this morning.
We're gonna be walking a littlebit through Matthew 21.
It says in verse eight most ofthe crowd spread their cloaks on
the road and others cutbranches from the trees and
(11:16):
spread them on the road.
You know we talked about in thepast this idea of cloaks.
It's very much what itestablished who a person was.
It showed their kind of theirstatus, on how nice your garment
was.
You know whether or not youwere a shepherd out in the field
and you smelled like sheep ornot, you know, or if you were
nice and put together and piousand all this other stuff, and
(11:37):
you had real fancy clothes, itwas very important, so it was
very much what they had.
So what they're doing, bylaying their cloaks down on the
floor, they're laying theirgarments down on the floor in
front of Jesus is it's a sign ofworth?
It's a sign of his worth andwho he is, that they'll give
everything they have, even thevery thing that gives them
(11:59):
status, and they'll lay thatdown in front of Jesus.
They'll take it off themselves.
It's like what he was sayingabout turning the other cheek
and about giving your cloak andtunic too.
It's about going the extra mile, about giving from your heart.
And see, that's what happenswith the branches too, man.
(12:19):
You think about branches,branches, you know, to us it's
like, okay, no big deal, we goand have to pay the tree trimmer
to do the branches.
But that's not how it was backthen, man, branches are vital
because the Middle East is likehere, it's hot baby.
That means that any piece ofshade super valuable.
And I know you guys, man, youguys will park way off into a
(12:40):
parking lot to be under onelittle stick of shade, one
little stick.
Into a parking lot to be underone little stick of shade, one
little stick.
You're like I got it.
I got the shade.
You back in.
You know you're willing tochance the birds defecating on
your car right Just for theshade.
And they're literally takingthe shade, they're taking
something precious and they'retaking those down to lay in
front of him saying you areworth more.
We lay all of this at your feetand see, it wasn't about the
(13:04):
cloaks and it wasn't reallyabout the branches, it was
really about their heart.
See, whenever we start talkingabout things people get wrapped
up about, oh, it's about theywant this, they want money or
they want these other things.
No, friends, he wants yourheart.
That's what God wants as asteward of all these things.
That's what makes us up is thatwe have our time, our talent,
(13:26):
our testimony, our treasury andwe're given these things.
To be a steward over that meansto look after them, and as we
do that, then it means that wewant to be those who are giving
all of these things to the Lord.
Now, so often we don't do that.
We actually maybe give them oneor two.
So maybe we're someone that itgives them of our treasury, but
we won't really give them ourtime, we won't really use our
(13:47):
testimony and we definitelyaren't using our talent, because
I'm too busy for that.
Or maybe, man, I'm serving alot, I'm using my time and using
the other part of who I am andmy blessings and all that God
has given me.
But I don't really want to give.
I'm already given a lot of time.
See, god is like that's great.
(14:09):
I don't care about your stuff,I want your heart, and when I
have your heart, then all therest of the stuff is on the
table because it won't matter toyou, because I can give you
more of all of that.
In fact, I'm the one that evendictates your time when you come
see me face to face.
So if you want to use your timefor God, it's time well spent
(14:29):
because it's time that's eternal.
So if you want to use your timefor God, it's time well spent
because it's time that's eternal.
So as we talk about the worshipof God and we start laying
things at his feet, it's reallya heart issue on what we're
doing and how we're worshipingthe Lord with all that we have.
So as they lay down theircloaks in front of the donkey
who's walking on them, as theylay down the shade, the branches
(14:50):
, as they lay them in front ofhim, it's a declaration.
It's like what they would dofor a conquering king.
They're laying them in front ofJesus, saying the Messiah has
arrived.
You could see him walking inand how that would be taken.
They're excited.
There's a buzz in the city,there's an excitement that's
there.
Then it picks up here inscripture.
It starts to talk about whatthey said Matthew 21, nine.
(15:13):
It says and the crowds thatwent before him and that follow
him were shouting Hosanna to theson of David, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna, in the highest.
They're declaring who Jesus is.
They're worshiping him.
And it says this whenever welook at Hosanna we're like okay,
what does that mean?
The translation is somethinglike pray, save us.
(15:36):
It's a declarative statement toJesus, saying Lord, save us, be
our salvation, be our Messiah.
And it's not just that, butit's also a praise.
It's the way they're saying it.
They're declaring it to him,saying save us.
Oh Lord, you are our salvation,you are our strength.
(15:57):
It's also an idea of joy.
It comes from inside of them.
It's this declarative thing ofjoy saying Lord, you are our joy
.
It is you that we have hope in.
Lord, help us, come to us, cometo us, lord, help us, come to
us.
(16:18):
We see this so clearly becausewhat they say about him, they
call him the son of David, andthe son of David is very
specific because it talks abouthis heritage.
It comes about where Jesus isdown from his lineage, and the
beginning of the Gospels talksabout this.
From the very beginning it saysthis lineage and most of us
(16:39):
want to skip right over thatbecause it's a lot of names.
We can't pronounce most of themand I made you come up and read
them on a microphone, you'd beterrified because it's hard to
say, even as a pastor.
I'm like and you know the story, it's a and Mary and Joseph and
then Jesus.
Right, I'm like there was Davidand there was a and then Jesus.
And the reason is because it'stough man, it's like it's a big
(17:01):
thing.
But that's really important tothem because this is the
promises that were made by theprophet, that the prophecy was
saying this is gonna come downthis line of David.
Guess what?
In the meantime the Assyriansstole half of them, and then the
Babylonians stole a bunch ofthem, and then they had to come
back to Jerusalem, and so thelineage of David was not in
command.
The lineage of David is not theking there, it's someone set up
(17:23):
by the Romans.
They think Jesus is coming tooverthrow the Romans and
liberate that and become theking himself.
They're celebrating him becausehe's coming in.
They think he's gonna overthrowthe whole thing.
He is, but he's overthrowing itfor everybody, not just for
them.
So the son of David becomes adeclarative statement and saying
that the promise that happensthere, the son of David, goes
(17:44):
all the way back to the firstpromises that God made to
Abraham, all the way back inGenesis 12, when the Lord is
saying to Abraham and callinghim out leave your family, your
father's house, go to the placeI will show you.
He had to take a step of faith.
And so he's saying Lord, I wantan heir, I want to be these
things.
The Lord's saying I will makeyou like the stars of the sky, I
(18:04):
will make you like the sand ofthe seashore, I will make these
things of you, says the Lord.
It's a promise to you for thefuture, and he saw it come
fulfilled.
But he was thinking in thephysical like these will be my
physical people that come frommy lineage, and the Lord has
done that.
Millions of people come fromAbraham, but in the same way, we
(18:24):
, the children of God, who aregrafted into his family by faith
, through the work of the HolySpirit and through the work of
Christ, we too belong to him.
We too are a fulfillment ofthose things, and so it's a
promise that's fulfilled.
But in their day, they'relooking for Jesus, they're
looking for the Messiah, they'relooking for the son of David to
arrive.
And you think about that.
(18:45):
You think about how they wereled by prophets and they were
led by all these people.
But they weren't happy withthat.
They needed a king, or so theythought.
So they picked a guy who wasstrong and handsome, named Saul,
and he was up there.
Man, that guy could have worespandex all day.
You know what I mean?
Like he was it.
He was a one, but the thing wasthe very thing that made him
(19:10):
king, which was the rule overthe people of God.
With a godly heart, he turnedaway from it, and so the Lord
took his anointing off of Sauland put it on someone who
already had the heart of worshiptowards him.
And so, even though Saul hadthe power, saul had the position
, saul had the authority to sendpeople into battle, he did not
have the anointing of God.
No, the anointing of God was ona shepherd boy out in the field
(19:36):
.
And so what the Lord saw inDavid was someone who already
had courage.
He already fought the bear, healready fought the lion.
He was the one who was alreadyworshiping him out underneath
the stars and underneath thetrees, and he's singing and he's
playing the harp, and it'sanointed because his heart is
after God.
And so, when we think aboutDavid and we think about all
(19:57):
that he did, he did it in thepower and the boldness of God.
When he faces off against thegreat giant, who everybody was
shrieking back from for many,many days, he did so in the
boldness of God and he takes onthe giant and he follows the
giant.
And then he fights thePhilistines and he has war
against them and he claims allthese people's, their lives, to
(20:17):
go and to win back Saul'sdaughter.
And he gets all these things,but he does so in the power of
God and he gives God glory thewhole way.
See, he understood that it wasabout the heart after God, and
as long as he had a heart afterGod, then there was nothing that
could stop him, because he wasin alignment with the most high
(20:42):
God.
And whenever they found the Arkof the Covenant in the temple to
bring to the temple, when theyfound the Ark of the Covenant
and they were bringing it in, hewas the one that was leading
the procession.
He, as the king, was the onethat was the biggest worshiper.
He was out in front, he wasleading the way and he was
acting a fool.
He's dancing, he's breaking itloose, he's doing the nay-nay
(21:03):
and the whole thing.
He had all of it.
And what was amazing about thatis that he didn't care, because
he had an audience of one and itwas just the Lord, just the
Lord.
He didn't care.
It wasn't his mighty men, itwasn't all these people that
were behind him carrying thething.
No, he was worshiping the Lordand his wife, who he had earned,
(21:24):
you know, the right to marryher from Saul, and she was a
princess and she becomes hisqueen and all these things.
She shames him and she was aprincess and she becomes his
queen and all these things.
She shames him.
She's like what are you doing,acting a fool?
And he's like I'll be morereckless than this because I'm
just worshiping God.
And I can tell you, man, as Iyou know, I used to love to
dance and have fun, you know, ata wedding or something,
celebrate, have a good time, andit's like these kinds of things
(21:45):
when I became a pastor.
No, no more of that.
I'm very holy and God had tochallenge that in me.
He's like are you living for meor are you trying to look like
you're holy?
Where's your heart at?
What is your heart declaring?
(22:09):
When we start to look at this,we see the declaration comes
very much in the worship of theheart.
That's what David was doing.
So when they're proclaimingthat Jesus is the son of David,
they're saying that he is in thesame heart.
He is the anointed one ofIsrael that all of the prophecy
came to tell about.
He is the one that they'redeclaring.
The word of God is beingfulfilled in Jesus.
(22:31):
So as they're celebrating himand declaring his victory, it's
before he has done any of thesethings, because he already is
victorious in who he is and wethink about that, in the way
that we live and the way that wehave our faith in him, is that
we would be in alignment withhim, so that we too would
understand the victory that Godhas for us.
See, that's why we pray theprayer of faith, is because he
(22:54):
said to pray the prayer of faith.
This week, pastor Rich wassharing a great word with our
seniors at the senior brunch andhe had us stop and anoint and
pray for people, and that'sbecause that's what the
scripture says.
And we're very thankful formedical personnel we have lots
of them in our church fordoctors and nurses and all sorts
of people that help us.
But I'll tell you this we stillcontend for the divine healing
(23:17):
in the name of Jesus Christ.
We still believe in healing andwe still believe in restoration
and we still believe inprovision.
We still believe in the opendoor and the closed door and
wisdom that comes from him, andwe pray for all those things
because we are victorious inJesus.
And that's why, when it saysblessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, we too, inalignment with him, are getting
(23:39):
the blessing of God becausewe're walking in the purpose of
God and the plan of God and weare walking out the very thing
that he's called us to do.
So we're not held back by anyother thing.
We're in alignment with him,and that's what makes it so
different from walking inalignment with God every day and
just occasionally dropping intochurch and throwing the Hail
Mary prayer at God, like pleasehelp me.
And then God, in his grace andmercy, will many times still
(24:04):
answer that prayer.
But then us in our, in ourignorance, we'll be like great,
then I'm good, I'm going to goback and do what I was doing
before, instead of no, I'm goingto come into alignment with who
God is and live in thisblessing of God that I can
experience by walking in stepwith him.
Does it mean we'll experiencehardship?
Yes, we will, everyone does.
(24:26):
It goes on the just and theunjust, but what it means is
that we'll walk in alignmentwith the blessing of God that we
count out pace.
That's why, when we starttalking about he who comes in
the name of the Lord Yahweh, theI am, who did he say?
He says tell them the I am sentyou.
And so whenever they ask Jesus,who are you, he says I am the I
(24:46):
am, and he's the one who'sdeclaring I have come for this
purpose to become the ultimatesacrifice for you.
And we can think about it asthey're waving the palm frond,
as they're declaring Hosanna andthey're calling out to him.
You can see it from Jesus'perspective, where he
understands that most of thiscrowd will turn their back on
(25:10):
him.
Where he understands that mostof this crowd will turn their
back on him.
Most of this crowd will not beat the foot of the cross.
Most of this crowd will go anddo the popular thing, but he
goes and he comes to sacrificeanyway because he loves us that
much.
He loves us even when we turnour back on him and he calls us
(25:30):
back to himself and he ismerciful many times over, and he
calls a prodigal from the farend of the places and he calls
them to himself because he lovesyou and he has a future and a
plan that's more important thananything else that you can try
to experience.
And so, friends, that's exactlywhat he wants to do in every
single person's life.
That's in that crowd and inyour life as well, that he has
(25:52):
that kind of intentionalitytowards you, that he loves you
that much, and so that's why we,as the people of God, we
respond, and we respond inworship.
We respond because our worshipis a weapon against the darkness
.
Our worship is one that'sdeclaring the victory of what
Jesus has already done.
It's declaring who he is andwhat he wants to do in us.
(26:16):
It continues for a little bithere.
It's interesting as thingsshift, but it talks about this
in scripture.
It says they said whenever heentered in Jerusalem, the city
was stirred up, saying who isthis?
And I think so often that's thequestion that people ask us is
about our experience of being aChrist follower.
Is well, who is Jesus to you,who is this for you?
(26:36):
And you have the opportunity,led by the Holy Spirit, to share
your story, your testimony, tothose who ask you and I'm not
talking about beating someoneover the head with something.
I'm talking about when promptedto answer by faith and to tell
them the story of the redemptionyou've experienced, the grace
you've experienced, the loveyou've experienced, the
(26:58):
forgiveness you've experienced.
To tell the story.
We think about Jesus, and I lovethe depiction from the Chosen
about how they portray him to beand they're talking about oh,
this is Jesus, he's a prophet,but to the crowd that
understands, he's way more thanthat.
See, he's the fulfillment, heis the Messiah.
(27:19):
In scripture it says that hegoes to the temple mount to
worship, but he's shocked bywhat he sees.
You can see the crowd of peoplethat would be there and how
they'd be there especially forPassover, to go and make all
their worship and to go and makesacrifice.
And he comes in there and he'sshocked.
It says in Matthew 21, 12,.
(27:39):
And Jesus entered the temple anddrove out all who sold and
bought in the temple and heoverturned the tables of the
money changers and the seats ofall those who sold pigeons.
Jesus has this righteousindignation, this anger that
comes from the Lord, becausehe's seeing how they've gone and
they turned away from theworship, which is the point to
try to make money for theirpockets, which becomes their God
(28:02):
.
So they're turning away fromthe very thing that they're
supposed to be doing to try tomake a buck off the people that
are coming in.
And they've also taken thespace that's made for those who
are coming in from the outside.
They've taken all that space upwith all of their money
changing.
So, jesus, he makes a whip anddrives them out of that place.
And I love this because there'sa righteousness to them.
(28:23):
It says it here, he addressesthem directly.
He says to them it is writtenmy house should be called a
house of prayer, but you make ita den of robbers.
See, that's what he calls us tobe as a house of prayer, and
not just a building where wemeet, but us as the people of
God and whenever we meettogether.
(28:44):
We would have a heart thatbecomes a house of prayer, a
place where he inhabits ourpraises, our hearts together.
That's why, when Jesus isdriving them out, he's very much
saying that I'm driving thisstuff out to clear the way for
what I want to do in you.
That's what he was doing inthis space.
He's clearing the way for whathe wanted to do.
In fact, it says right afterthere what he did, and you could
(29:06):
see that imagery.
It says the blind and the lamecame to him in the temple and he
healed them, friends.
He healed them, but first hehad to make room to heal them.
He had to make room for what hewanted to do and that's why he
drove all that stuff out.
That's why he'll challengestuff inside of us, because he
(29:27):
wants to get rid of all thoseother alternative motives.
He wants to have a relationshipwith you, intentional focus
with you.
That's what he wants from youthat you would live a life with
that intensity, because he has amiracle coming for you.
But you have to get rid of theother stuff and get it out of
the way.
That way he can do the healingthat he was called to do, and
that's what he does.
It says that he healed all ofthem, the lame of the way.
(29:48):
That way he could do thehealing that he was called to do
, and that's what he does.
It says that he healed all ofthem, the lame and the blind.
He restores them, he heals thembecause that's what he came to
do.
When he opened the scroll andsaid what his mission was about,
it was about this very thingthat he came to heal and to
restore, and that's why hebecame the sacrifice for us all.
(30:11):
The very end of this scripture.
It picks up and says this whenthe chief priests and the
scribes saw the wonderful thingsthat he had done and heard the
children crying out in thetemple Hosanna to the son of
David, they were indignant.
They were mad about what he wasdoing.
(30:31):
But I love what the childrenare saying, because children are
innocent, children feel it fromtheir spirit.
So they see jesus and they sayto him messiah, son of david,
you are the one.
We declare the victory for you,thanks.
We declare the victory for youthat you are the messiah.
You're the fulfillment ofeverything that we have tried,
(30:53):
that we have looked for,everything that we have looked
forward to.
You are him, and so we declarethe victory that you have.
Friends, that's our challengetoday is that we too would be
those that declare Jesus'svictory over everything in our
life, despite the circumstanceswe're dealing with, in the
middle of our difficulty, in themiddle of the thing that would
(31:13):
give us stress and keep us uplate at night.
That we give those things overto him and declare his victory
over it in the name of Jesus,and we come into alignment with
what his plan and his purpose isfor our life, and we start
living with him first and seeall the blessing of God outrun
you in what you're doing.
Whenever we live in alignmentwith him.
Friends, that's what it istoday is.
(31:35):
Will you worship him with allthat you have, so that you can
live in alignment, to declarethe victory over your life?
Today we have this opportunityto respond to the Lord.
It's a question that each oneof us has to answer.
And have you embraced Jesus?
Each one of us has to answer itfor ourself.
(31:57):
No one can do it for you, andthat's what's amazing about it
is his love and his grace for usand how he came and become the
sacrifice for all people for alltime.
And so whenever we say yes toJesus, we're embracing the
sacrifice he made for us on thecross.
I remember we talked about howthe cross is a banner for us.
It's a standard, it'sestablished.
(32:17):
All he's done for us.
He took our sin, our mistakes,our brokenness.
He's taken that onto himself sohe can restore us, so he can
forgive us, so he can become theone that bridges the gap,
because he's the holy sacrificefor the Holy Father.
Friends, the Apostle Paul, hewrites to the church at Rome.
He says this because if youconfess with your mouth that
(32:40):
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart, onebelieves and is justified.
With the mouth, one confessesand is saved.
Today is your opportunity.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus, to invite him into
(33:02):
your heart and life to make thelife change that you've been
looking for.
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom if you would.
If you just stand to your feetand bow your head right where
you're at, as Christians arepraying friends.
(33:31):
I've been praying for you.
I've been praying that youwould embrace Jesus, that you
would invite him into your heartand life, that you'd make the
life change that you're lookingfor, that you'd find the
fulfillment in the very thingthat you're looking for, the
only answer, which is Jesus.
Today, if you have thatopportunity to say yes, you have
the opportunity to invite himinto your heart and life, to say
(33:52):
Lord, forgive me of my sins.
Lord, I wanna follow you.
You've heard the challengethat's here.
You've heard his love for you,his focus for you and today's
opportunity to respond.
I challenge you today that youwould raise your hand and say,
(34:13):
pastor, that's me.
I want to be one that invitesChrist into my heart and life.
Or maybe you have made it inthe past, but you haven't been
living for God.
You need to make thatrecommitment to him Today.
That you would raise your handand say, lord, I want to invite
you into my heart and life, thatyou would raise your hand and
say, lord, I want to invite youinto my heart and life.
That you'd be the Lord of mylife not just the Savior, but
the Lord of my life.
That I would live thisintentionality, that I would
(34:37):
celebrate your victory Today asheads are bowed.
If that's you, if that's youand you want to invite Christ
into your heart and life, asheads are bowed and Christians
are praying, if you just raiseyour hand right where you're at,
say that's me, pastor, includeme today in that prayer.
I want to make a prayer tofollow Jesus, to invite him into
my heart and life.
(34:58):
You see the hand that's there.
Other people thank you Lord.
Thank you Lord.
Others in the sound of my voice.
See those hands that are comingup.
Lord, thank you.
Friends online making a decisionto follow Jesus, I'm gonna ask
everyone if they would just praythis prayer out loud after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
(35:21):
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, I pray Amen,amen.
(35:44):
Friends, we rejoice in youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus.
People that raised their handtoday praise the Lord.
Hey, that was you.
Connect with us so we can putsome materials in your hands, so
you can be successful livingfor Christ.
If you're online, message us.
We don't want you to live thislife alone.
We want you to be connected into what God has for us.
Now, all of us that are alreadyChrist followers, our challenge
(36:05):
is this that we declare thevictory over our lives of what
God has already done, that weget anything out of the way
that's fighting against what hewants to do in our lives, that
we would come to him and worshiphim with everything.
And so we open up this altar toyou today to say this that you
would draw near to God and askhim for more of his spirit, for
more of his empowerment to livethis thing out, for more of his
(36:26):
empowerment to live this thingout, to see his victory and
declare who he is in our lives.
Amen, lord, we thank you somuch and as we come to you today
, lord, we do all withintentionality.
Lord, we do with a heart thatloves you.
Lord, we declare your victoryover everything that we're
walking in.
And so, lord, we come to you asour source, as our provision,
as the God who heals, as the Godwho provides and gives wisdom,
lord, the God who directs us.
(36:47):
Lord, we thank you for allthese things and we declare your
victory over them in the nameof Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
It is that easy to invite someone, and so I want to
encourage you.
As you head out, you'll seethese Easter flyers that are out
there.
We want to be like Tyler and wewant to invite a friend, and I
just want to encourage you withthis.
There are people out there whoneed the hope of the Lord.
And just invite them.
You never know what they'll do,but they may show up and they
may have the Lord just touchtheir life, and so if you grab
some of these, pray over them,hand them out.
(37:19):
We just want to see God move inour families and our friends and
our neighborhoods.
So I want to encourage you todo that.
And also, if you're a guest andwe haven't met you yet maybe
you've been coming to the churchfor the last few months we're
having party with the pastorright after this.
It'll be on the east side ofthe building.
There's a conference room.
If you have children, grab themfirst and then come and join us
.
But we want to just be able toput a face to a name and say
(37:41):
hello, answer some questions foryou.
It's going to be a fun time andso really informal, but we just
want to take the moment to meetyou.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Amen.
It's Holy Week, so we have alot of great things that are
coming up.
This week, including GoodFriday, we'll be having a
service a little different thanwe normally do here, from seven
to eight on Friday, and it'sactually going to be a
reflections station, sodifferent than a normal service.
We'll have a worship set that'shere, but you can come and
actually just spend amount oftime if you'd like.
You don't have to stay thewhole time, but it'll be some
(38:10):
reflection stations for you tothink about the great sacrifice
of Christ has made for us and toreally take in what that is
introspection as well.
It's a powerful time.
Those who participated lastyear could tell you.
So bring a friend, let that bea blessing to you.
And then Sunday we have twoservices 9 and 11.
If you guys remember 11 o'clock, you're here now, so bring a
friend.
You see I have a little bit ofspace in this service, but we're
(38:30):
really getting full on thefirst service, which is great,
because next week we're going toplan to open up the balcony to
people who are going to come andbe there.
So invite some friends, letthem come and be a blessing to
worship the Lord together.
Amen.
Before we go.
(38:51):
I want to pray this blessingover us, o Lord.
Bless you and keep you.
O Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
O Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
O Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
O Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
(39:11):
those around us.
We pray all this in thepowerful name that is Jesus
Christ.
Amen, amen, know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
Amen.
Today is Palm Sunday, and sowe're excited about that,
because it's an opportunity forus to declare the victory of
Jesus as he becomes the Messiahcoming into the city in
Jerusalem.
And so that's what we'retalking about today is this idea
of declaring the victory ofwhat Jesus has already
accomplished on our behalf.
Did you know?
(00:21):
That's exactly what this means.
As he came into the city allthose years ago, he became the
sacrifice for us all and he wastaking on the weight, the sin,
of the world.
But as he came into the city,they were celebrating the
arrival of the promised Messiah.
They were celebrating that hehad arrived, that all the
promises, all the propheticwords that have been coven by
(00:41):
the prophets were coming toculmination in Jesus.
And so they're declaring thatmoment and that's what we get an
opportunity to do as well thatwe make a declarative statement
saying Jesus, we are victoriousin you because you are already
victorious.
How many people know what I'mtalking about?
And as the children of God,then we declare your victory
(01:02):
over everything, over hell anddeath and the grave.
And so today is a day to get todeclare those things and to
establish who Jesus is, toworship him with all that we
have Amen.
Now I was thinking about thisidea of making a banner and
declaring it.
And I grew up and I was adrummer and so I love making a
(01:22):
bunch of racket and a bunch ofnoise and you know, it's like
how my parents didn't make melive outside with the drum, I
don't know, but I survived.
And so I was drum line and sowe would drum all the time, we
practice all the time and man,we're going after it.
It's bop, bop, bop, bop, bop,bop, bop.
You know drumming, doing allthe practices, and we had a
really good band.
It was a really big band.
We had a big drum section andso we would practice all the
(01:45):
time doing formations and we'remarching and we're drumming, and
you had to look the part, youhad to keep it together, keep it
still and keep all yoursticking correct, and it was
really fun.
It was really loud, I reallyliked it, and so it was fun.
But one of the things that was adrawback was that our band also
had a flag line.
Now, I'm not against the flagline.
I think the flag line does agreat job.
(02:05):
They're very demonstrative,they're doing cool movements and
stuff.
But the problem was is that ourdirector put the flag line right
in front of us and they also,for some reason, decided that
everybody on the flag lineneeded to wear spandex.
And about 90% of the people,including me, definitely should
(02:28):
not have been wearing spandex,but they were anyway.
And so we're trying not to lookat that and also not look at
our feet as we're marching andtry to pay attention to your
sticking, and I'm like this is aproblem.
And then there's a guy behindus who's very uncomfortable
about his girlfriend was on theflag line.
He's like don't look at her.
We're like we're not looking ather, man, we're trying to drum.
(02:49):
And then meanwhile they're likedoing the flag, rocking the
spandex.
We're like this is not right,man, this is not right.
But you can see why they woulddo it.
I mean it made a lot of effect.
I mean they have these bigflags, they're waving, and you
know we're sports fans.
You know I support PSG from ourtime in Paris and we became
champions this year of League On, so you could see where they
(03:11):
would use the flag.
They would use this to declareall that they had accomplished.
So they're saying listen, weare champions, we have done this
thing, and so they have thismassive flags that they're right
in the front of everybody who'swatching the game, but nobody
cares, because this is our teamand this is our statement about
our team.
See, it's this idea of like,hey, what are you proclaiming,
(03:32):
what are you declaring out toother people.
I think about this as we talkabout.
Declaration is that it's abanner that we talk about this
thing.
That's a statement that we'remaking as we worship things.
You know, I'm a sports fan.
Like I said, I cheer.
I'm like cheering.
You can see, in my house I'llcheer at my TV.
Let's go.
I know they can't hear me, butin spirit they're gonna do
(03:54):
faster or do better or make theputt or whatever's going on.
You know what I mean.
And for them and you see thisso often as people celebrate
this is one of the players fromour team.
He's excited man, they'rewinning and what does he do?
He takes his country flag andhe's running around with his
country flag.
Why?
Because that's where he's from.
It's a declarative statementsaying, hey, I'm celebrating,
(04:16):
I'm also a part of this groupright here too, this is also my
nation, I'm representing them,I'm a champion of this team, but
I'm also a champion from this,and so that's what they're
declaring with their actions.
And that's what we're doing too.
As we worship and cheer forthings is that we are also
declaring stuff.
We're worshiping things, if youwill, and so when we talk about
(04:37):
things, about our attitude andour perspective as we're
worshiping the Lord, then ifwe're demonstrative in cheering
for sports, we better bedemonstrative in cheering for
the Lord, and I understandpeople that are reserved.
I respect that because you'redoing something inside, but I
would challenge you that ifyou're doing other things, other
places, then you would have itall be the same, that you would
be one that cheers for the Lordlouder than what you cheer for
(05:01):
your team, because one of themis eternal and the other one
might have a star as their logofor their football team.
So you get the idea.
I'm gonna move on America.
So you see, I'm also a big fanof action movies, and one of the
action movies that I reallyliked is the Patriot, and in the
(05:21):
Patriot, the thing is they'rebattling for the independence of
America, and it's this conceptthat really hasn't been
cauterized, it hasn't beenestablished yet, and so they're
fighting these big battles, andthe narrative here, with Mel
Gibson's character is that thebanner, the flag it falls, and
so he takes up the flag to liftthe flag back up and declare
(05:44):
that we are still in the fight.
Do not give up the idea.
The dream is still alive, weare still moving forward, we are
still going after these thingsthat we believe in, that we're
fighting for.
He's raising up a standard thatsays this is what we're doing,
this is what we're about.
Do not give up and see, asChrist followers, we have that
(06:07):
standard.
It's called the cross, and sothe cross for us is the standard
for all time, saying that oursins have been forgiven.
Here is the freedom we'reexperiencing.
Here is the great cost that itcosts Jesus.
He took on all of our sin andall of our brokenness and all of
our hurt, all of our crusheddreams.
He took on all of our sin andall of our brokenness and all of
our hurt, all of our crusheddreams.
He took all of it to the crossand died once and for all so we
(06:30):
could be made whole in the nameof Jesus Christ.
So when we see the cross, wesee freedom and we see
forgiveness and we see a futurethat is in him.
We are victorious because webelong to Jesus.
We are victorious because webelong to Jesus, and so when we
start declaring victory, we'redoing so as a worship of him.
(06:50):
With all that we do, when welive the way of the cross every
day, we're doing so as anexample of what it means to lift
up the name of Christ.
Today, as we look at PalmSunday, we look at these palm
fronds and it doesn't mean a lotto us on the face, but see, in
their day it meant a lot andwe'll go into it today.
But this idea was that they weretaking something significant
(07:14):
and they were using it as abanner.
They were using it as astandard.
They're using it as somethingto declare the Messiah has come,
he's arrived, he's here, and,friends that I also declare
Hosanna, I worship him, I'mdeclaring his victory as the
Messiah, the one that's going tochange everything for me.
(07:37):
And just like they did 2,000years ago in celebrating the
Lord today, we also worship himin this way today, saying, lord,
that you are Lord over everycircumstance of my life, over
everything I'm facing, overevery situation.
Lord, you are alreadyvictorious, you already have the
victory.
We declare the victory and webelong to you because we are the
(07:59):
children of God.
And so, friends, today, as welook at Palm Sunday, we rejoice
because the Lord is on our sideand he is for us Amen.
Now, if we haven't met my nameis Jay it's a blessing to be
here and to be able to worshiptogether in this community of
faith.
We'll say this not all of usknow that we are still on a
(08:22):
journey in following Jesus.
None of us has arrived, and sowe use this imagery of Jesus
walking with his disciplesbecause that's who we are, that
none of us are perfect.
All of us are in need of asavior.
So we're still following Jesusevery day, whenever we're
walking after him, it's ourambition to be more like Jesus,
(08:42):
and so whenever we're doing thatas individuals, we also
collectively are those who wantto love God and make disciples
and reach the world, and that'swhy we give generously to
kingdom builders.
It's why we're intentional tobe in life groups.
It's why we connect and growand serve together.
It's because that's who we areis that we're on this mission to
be more like him.
So, as we look at this PalmSunday idea and this narrative,
(09:06):
we pick up here where Jesus isnow riding this donkey into the
city to go and become thesacrifice for us all.
And you can think about thatimagery we talked about it in
the past where Jesus he goes andhe has this donkey that he's
riding in on.
And you could see thisdepiction of it here from the
chosen, where Jesus is ridinginto the city.
(09:31):
And it's specific because he'snot coming in on a war horse
like the Caesars would do, orpulled in a chariot like others
of notoriety, or even held up onposts and carried in by people
like some would do.
No, he's coming in as a humbleservant of his purpose.
He's coming in not as the lionof Judah, which is what he is.
He's the conquering king whowill rule forever.
(09:52):
He's the creator God who wasthere in the beginning.
In the beginning was the word.
He was there.
He emptied himself of all ofthat to become the sacrifice,
the lamb of God, who's nowriding this donkey to become the
sacrifice for us all.
And see even his disciples whowere walking with him.
(10:13):
They didn't understand all theweight of what they were dealing
with as they walked into thecity.
They'd already been followinghim, they'd already had Passover
meals with Jesus.
Now they're coming into thecity.
But something is different,because people are anticipating
his arrival and the city startsto stir and they start to get
wound up because they're excited.
(10:34):
Jesus is arriving, he's cominginto Jerusalem for Passover.
He is the Messiah.
He's gonna set everythingcorrect.
He's the one they've talkedabout forever.
So they go out and they startto grab the branches, they start
to take them off the trees,they start to pass them to each
other and it says that they wereusing them, that they were
waving them, that they werelaying them down at his feet,
(10:55):
that they were taking off theirvery cloaks to do the same.
It picks up here in scriptureof your Bible your tablet, your
phone this morning, we.
It picks up here in scriptureof your Bible your tablet, your
phone this morning.
We're gonna be walking a littlebit through Matthew 21.
It says in verse eight most ofthe crowd spread their cloaks on
the road and others cutbranches from the trees and
(11:16):
spread them on the road.
You know we talked about in thepast this idea of cloaks.
It's very much what itestablished who a person was.
It showed their kind of theirstatus, on how nice your garment
was.
You know whether or not youwere a shepherd out in the field
and you smelled like sheep ornot, you know, or if you were
nice and put together and piousand all this other stuff, and
(11:37):
you had real fancy clothes, itwas very important, so it was
very much what they had.
So what they're doing, bylaying their cloaks down on the
floor, they're laying theirgarments down on the floor in
front of Jesus is it's a sign ofworth?
It's a sign of his worth andwho he is, that they'll give
everything they have, even thevery thing that gives them
(11:59):
status, and they'll lay thatdown in front of Jesus.
They'll take it off themselves.
It's like what he was sayingabout turning the other cheek
and about giving your cloak andtunic too.
It's about going the extra mile, about giving from your heart.
And see, that's what happenswith the branches too, man.
(12:19):
You think about branches,branches, you know, to us it's
like, okay, no big deal, we goand have to pay the tree trimmer
to do the branches.
But that's not how it was backthen, man, branches are vital
because the Middle East is likehere, it's hot baby.
That means that any piece ofshade super valuable.
And I know you guys, man, youguys will park way off into a
(12:40):
parking lot to be under onelittle stick of shade, one
little stick.
Into a parking lot to be underone little stick of shade, one
little stick.
You're like I got it.
I got the shade.
You back in.
You know you're willing tochance the birds defecating on
your car right Just for theshade.
And they're literally takingthe shade, they're taking
something precious and they'retaking those down to lay in
front of him saying you areworth more.
We lay all of this at your feetand see, it wasn't about the
(13:04):
cloaks and it wasn't reallyabout the branches, it was
really about their heart.
See, whenever we start talkingabout things people get wrapped
up about, oh, it's about theywant this, they want money or
they want these other things.
No, friends, he wants yourheart.
That's what God wants as asteward of all these things.
That's what makes us up is thatwe have our time, our talent,
(13:26):
our testimony, our treasury andwe're given these things.
To be a steward over that meansto look after them, and as we
do that, then it means that wewant to be those who are giving
all of these things to the Lord.
Now, so often we don't do that.
We actually maybe give them oneor two.
So maybe we're someone that itgives them of our treasury, but
we won't really give them ourtime, we won't really use our
(13:47):
testimony and we definitelyaren't using our talent, because
I'm too busy for that.
Or maybe, man, I'm serving alot, I'm using my time and using
the other part of who I am andmy blessings and all that God
has given me.
But I don't really want to give.
I'm already given a lot of time.
See, god is like that's great.
(14:09):
I don't care about your stuff,I want your heart, and when I
have your heart, then all therest of the stuff is on the
table because it won't matter toyou, because I can give you
more of all of that.
In fact, I'm the one that evendictates your time when you come
see me face to face.
So if you want to use your timefor God, it's time well spent
(14:29):
because it's time that's eternal.
So if you want to use your timefor God, it's time well spent
because it's time that's eternal.
So as we talk about the worshipof God and we start laying
things at his feet, it's reallya heart issue on what we're
doing and how we're worshipingthe Lord with all that we have.
So as they lay down theircloaks in front of the donkey
who's walking on them, as theylay down the shade, the branches
(14:50):
, as they lay them in front ofhim, it's a declaration.
It's like what they would dofor a conquering king.
They're laying them in front ofJesus, saying the Messiah has
arrived.
You could see him walking inand how that would be taken.
They're excited.
There's a buzz in the city,there's an excitement that's
there.
Then it picks up here inscripture.
It starts to talk about whatthey said Matthew 21, nine.
(15:13):
It says and the crowds thatwent before him and that follow
him were shouting Hosanna to theson of David, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna, in the highest.
They're declaring who Jesus is.
They're worshiping him.
And it says this whenever welook at Hosanna we're like okay,
what does that mean?
The translation is somethinglike pray, save us.
(15:36):
It's a declarative statement toJesus, saying Lord, save us, be
our salvation, be our Messiah.
And it's not just that, butit's also a praise.
It's the way they're saying it.
They're declaring it to him,saying save us.
Oh Lord, you are our salvation,you are our strength.
(15:57):
It's also an idea of joy.
It comes from inside of them.
It's this declarative thing ofjoy saying Lord, you are our joy
.
It is you that we have hope in.
Lord, help us, come to us, cometo us, lord, help us, come to
us.
(16:18):
We see this so clearly becausewhat they say about him, they
call him the son of David, andthe son of David is very
specific because it talks abouthis heritage.
It comes about where Jesus isdown from his lineage, and the
beginning of the Gospels talksabout this.
From the very beginning it saysthis lineage and most of us
(16:39):
want to skip right over thatbecause it's a lot of names.
We can't pronounce most of themand I made you come up and read
them on a microphone, you'd beterrified because it's hard to
say, even as a pastor.
I'm like and you know the story, it's a and Mary and Joseph and
then Jesus.
Right, I'm like there was Davidand there was a and then Jesus.
And the reason is because it'stough man, it's like it's a big
(17:01):
thing.
But that's really important tothem because this is the
promises that were made by theprophet, that the prophecy was
saying this is gonna come downthis line of David.
Guess what?
In the meantime the Assyriansstole half of them, and then the
Babylonians stole a bunch ofthem, and then they had to come
back to Jerusalem, and so thelineage of David was not in
command.
The lineage of David is not theking there, it's someone set up
(17:23):
by the Romans.
They think Jesus is coming tooverthrow the Romans and
liberate that and become theking himself.
They're celebrating him becausehe's coming in.
They think he's gonna overthrowthe whole thing.
He is, but he's overthrowing itfor everybody, not just for
them.
So the son of David becomes adeclarative statement and saying
that the promise that happensthere, the son of David, goes
(17:44):
all the way back to the firstpromises that God made to
Abraham, all the way back inGenesis 12, when the Lord is
saying to Abraham and callinghim out leave your family, your
father's house, go to the placeI will show you.
He had to take a step of faith.
And so he's saying Lord, I wantan heir, I want to be these
things.
The Lord's saying I will makeyou like the stars of the sky, I
(18:04):
will make you like the sand ofthe seashore, I will make these
things of you, says the Lord.
It's a promise to you for thefuture, and he saw it come
fulfilled.
But he was thinking in thephysical like these will be my
physical people that come frommy lineage, and the Lord has
done that.
Millions of people come fromAbraham, but in the same way, we
(18:24):
, the children of God, who aregrafted into his family by faith
, through the work of the HolySpirit and through the work of
Christ, we too belong to him.
We too are a fulfillment ofthose things, and so it's a
promise that's fulfilled.
But in their day, they'relooking for Jesus, they're
looking for the Messiah, they'relooking for the son of David to
arrive.
And you think about that.
(18:45):
You think about how they wereled by prophets and they were
led by all these people.
But they weren't happy withthat.
They needed a king, or so theythought.
So they picked a guy who wasstrong and handsome, named Saul,
and he was up there.
Man, that guy could have worespandex all day.
You know what I mean?
Like he was it.
He was a one, but the thing wasthe very thing that made him
(19:10):
king, which was the rule overthe people of God.
With a godly heart, he turnedaway from it, and so the Lord
took his anointing off of Sauland put it on someone who
already had the heart of worshiptowards him.
And so, even though Saul hadthe power, saul had the position
, saul had the authority to sendpeople into battle, he did not
have the anointing of God.
No, the anointing of God was ona shepherd boy out in the field
(19:36):
.
And so what the Lord saw inDavid was someone who already
had courage.
He already fought the bear, healready fought the lion.
He was the one who was alreadyworshiping him out underneath
the stars and underneath thetrees, and he's singing and he's
playing the harp, and it'sanointed because his heart is
after God.
And so, when we think aboutDavid and we think about all
(19:57):
that he did, he did it in thepower and the boldness of God.
When he faces off against thegreat giant, who everybody was
shrieking back from for many,many days, he did so in the
boldness of God and he takes onthe giant and he follows the
giant.
And then he fights thePhilistines and he has war
against them and he claims allthese people's, their lives, to
(20:17):
go and to win back Saul'sdaughter.
And he gets all these things,but he does so in the power of
God and he gives God glory thewhole way.
See, he understood that it wasabout the heart after God, and
as long as he had a heart afterGod, then there was nothing that
could stop him, because he wasin alignment with the most high
(20:42):
God.
And whenever they found the Arkof the Covenant in the temple to
bring to the temple, when theyfound the Ark of the Covenant
and they were bringing it in, hewas the one that was leading
the procession.
He, as the king, was the onethat was the biggest worshiper.
He was out in front, he wasleading the way and he was
acting a fool.
He's dancing, he's breaking itloose, he's doing the nay-nay
(21:03):
and the whole thing.
He had all of it.
And what was amazing about thatis that he didn't care, because
he had an audience of one and itwas just the Lord, just the
Lord.
He didn't care.
It wasn't his mighty men, itwasn't all these people that
were behind him carrying thething.
No, he was worshiping the Lordand his wife, who he had earned,
(21:24):
you know, the right to marryher from Saul, and she was a
princess and she becomes hisqueen and all these things.
She shames him and she was aprincess and she becomes his
queen and all these things.
She shames him.
She's like what are you doing,acting a fool?
And he's like I'll be morereckless than this because I'm
just worshiping God.
And I can tell you, man, as Iyou know, I used to love to
dance and have fun, you know, ata wedding or something,
celebrate, have a good time, andit's like these kinds of things
(21:45):
when I became a pastor.
No, no more of that.
I'm very holy and God had tochallenge that in me.
He's like are you living for meor are you trying to look like
you're holy?
Where's your heart at?
What is your heart declaring?
(22:09):
When we start to look at this,we see the declaration comes
very much in the worship of theheart.
That's what David was doing.
So when they're proclaimingthat Jesus is the son of David,
they're saying that he is in thesame heart.
He is the anointed one ofIsrael that all of the prophecy
came to tell about.
He is the one that they'redeclaring.
The word of God is beingfulfilled in Jesus.
(22:31):
So as they're celebrating himand declaring his victory, it's
before he has done any of thesethings, because he already is
victorious in who he is and wethink about that, in the way
that we live and the way that wehave our faith in him, is that
we would be in alignment withhim, so that we too would
understand the victory that Godhas for us.
See, that's why we pray theprayer of faith, is because he
(22:54):
said to pray the prayer of faith.
This week, pastor Rich wassharing a great word with our
seniors at the senior brunch andhe had us stop and anoint and
pray for people, and that'sbecause that's what the
scripture says.
And we're very thankful formedical personnel we have lots
of them in our church fordoctors and nurses and all sorts
of people that help us.
But I'll tell you this we stillcontend for the divine healing
(23:17):
in the name of Jesus Christ.
We still believe in healing andwe still believe in restoration
and we still believe inprovision.
We still believe in the opendoor and the closed door and
wisdom that comes from him, andwe pray for all those things
because we are victorious inJesus.
And that's why, when it saysblessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, we too, inalignment with him, are getting
(23:39):
the blessing of God becausewe're walking in the purpose of
God and the plan of God and weare walking out the very thing
that he's called us to do.
So we're not held back by anyother thing.
We're in alignment with him,and that's what makes it so
different from walking inalignment with God every day and
just occasionally dropping intochurch and throwing the Hail
Mary prayer at God, like pleasehelp me.
And then God, in his grace andmercy, will many times still
(24:04):
answer that prayer.
But then us in our, in ourignorance, we'll be like great,
then I'm good, I'm going to goback and do what I was doing
before, instead of no, I'm goingto come into alignment with who
God is and live in thisblessing of God that I can
experience by walking in stepwith him.
Does it mean we'll experiencehardship?
Yes, we will, everyone does.
(24:26):
It goes on the just and theunjust, but what it means is
that we'll walk in alignmentwith the blessing of God that we
count out pace.
That's why, when we starttalking about he who comes in
the name of the Lord Yahweh, theI am, who did he say?
He says tell them the I am sentyou.
And so whenever they ask Jesus,who are you, he says I am the I
(24:46):
am, and he's the one who'sdeclaring I have come for this
purpose to become the ultimatesacrifice for you.
And we can think about it asthey're waving the palm frond,
as they're declaring Hosanna andthey're calling out to him.
You can see it from Jesus'perspective, where he
understands that most of thiscrowd will turn their back on
(25:10):
him.
Where he understands that mostof this crowd will turn their
back on him.
Most of this crowd will not beat the foot of the cross.
Most of this crowd will go anddo the popular thing, but he
goes and he comes to sacrificeanyway because he loves us that
much.
He loves us even when we turnour back on him and he calls us
(25:30):
back to himself and he ismerciful many times over, and he
calls a prodigal from the farend of the places and he calls
them to himself because he lovesyou and he has a future and a
plan that's more important thananything else that you can try
to experience.
And so, friends, that's exactlywhat he wants to do in every
single person's life.
That's in that crowd and inyour life as well, that he has
(25:52):
that kind of intentionalitytowards you, that he loves you
that much, and so that's why we,as the people of God, we
respond, and we respond inworship.
We respond because our worshipis a weapon against the darkness
.
Our worship is one that'sdeclaring the victory of what
Jesus has already done.
It's declaring who he is andwhat he wants to do in us.
(26:16):
It continues for a little bithere.
It's interesting as thingsshift, but it talks about this
in scripture.
It says they said whenever heentered in Jerusalem, the city
was stirred up, saying who isthis?
And I think so often that's thequestion that people ask us is
about our experience of being aChrist follower.
Is well, who is Jesus to you,who is this for you?
(26:36):
And you have the opportunity,led by the Holy Spirit, to share
your story, your testimony, tothose who ask you and I'm not
talking about beating someoneover the head with something.
I'm talking about when promptedto answer by faith and to tell
them the story of the redemptionyou've experienced, the grace
you've experienced, the loveyou've experienced, the
(26:58):
forgiveness you've experienced.
To tell the story.
We think about Jesus, and I lovethe depiction from the Chosen
about how they portray him to beand they're talking about oh,
this is Jesus, he's a prophet,but to the crowd that
understands, he's way more thanthat.
See, he's the fulfillment, heis the Messiah.
(27:19):
In scripture it says that hegoes to the temple mount to
worship, but he's shocked bywhat he sees.
You can see the crowd of peoplethat would be there and how
they'd be there especially forPassover, to go and make all
their worship and to go and makesacrifice.
And he comes in there and he'sshocked.
It says in Matthew 21, 12,.
(27:39):
And Jesus entered the temple anddrove out all who sold and
bought in the temple and heoverturned the tables of the
money changers and the seats ofall those who sold pigeons.
Jesus has this righteousindignation, this anger that
comes from the Lord, becausehe's seeing how they've gone and
they turned away from theworship, which is the point to
try to make money for theirpockets, which becomes their God
(28:02):
.
So they're turning away fromthe very thing that they're
supposed to be doing to try tomake a buck off the people that
are coming in.
And they've also taken thespace that's made for those who
are coming in from the outside.
They've taken all that space upwith all of their money
changing.
So, jesus, he makes a whip anddrives them out of that place.
And I love this because there'sa righteousness to them.
(28:23):
It says it here, he addressesthem directly.
He says to them it is writtenmy house should be called a
house of prayer, but you make ita den of robbers.
See, that's what he calls us tobe as a house of prayer, and
not just a building where wemeet, but us as the people of
God and whenever we meettogether.
(28:44):
We would have a heart thatbecomes a house of prayer, a
place where he inhabits ourpraises, our hearts together.
That's why, when Jesus isdriving them out, he's very much
saying that I'm driving thisstuff out to clear the way for
what I want to do in you.
That's what he was doing inthis space.
He's clearing the way for whathe wanted to do.
In fact, it says right afterthere what he did, and you could
(29:06):
see that imagery.
It says the blind and the lamecame to him in the temple and he
healed them, friends.
He healed them, but first hehad to make room to heal them.
He had to make room for what hewanted to do and that's why he
drove all that stuff out.
That's why he'll challengestuff inside of us, because he
(29:27):
wants to get rid of all thoseother alternative motives.
He wants to have a relationshipwith you, intentional focus
with you.
That's what he wants from youthat you would live a life with
that intensity, because he has amiracle coming for you.
But you have to get rid of theother stuff and get it out of
the way.
That way he can do the healingthat he was called to do, and
that's what he does.
It says that he healed all ofthem, the lame of the way.
(29:48):
That way he could do thehealing that he was called to do
, and that's what he does.
It says that he healed all ofthem, the lame and the blind.
He restores them, he heals thembecause that's what he came to
do.
When he opened the scroll andsaid what his mission was about,
it was about this very thingthat he came to heal and to
restore, and that's why hebecame the sacrifice for us all.
(30:11):
The very end of this scripture.
It picks up and says this whenthe chief priests and the
scribes saw the wonderful thingsthat he had done and heard the
children crying out in thetemple Hosanna to the son of
David, they were indignant.
They were mad about what he wasdoing.
(30:31):
But I love what the childrenare saying, because children are
innocent, children feel it fromtheir spirit.
So they see jesus and they sayto him messiah, son of david,
you are the one.
We declare the victory for you,thanks.
We declare the victory for youthat you are the messiah.
You're the fulfillment ofeverything that we have tried,
(30:53):
that we have looked for,everything that we have looked
forward to.
You are him, and so we declarethe victory that you have.
Friends, that's our challengetoday is that we too would be
those that declare Jesus'svictory over everything in our
life, despite the circumstanceswe're dealing with, in the
middle of our difficulty, in themiddle of the thing that would
(31:13):
give us stress and keep us uplate at night.
That we give those things overto him and declare his victory
over it in the name of Jesus,and we come into alignment with
what his plan and his purpose isfor our life, and we start
living with him first and seeall the blessing of God outrun
you in what you're doing.
Whenever we live in alignmentwith him.
Friends, that's what it istoday is.
(31:35):
Will you worship him with allthat you have, so that you can
live in alignment, to declarethe victory over your life?
Today we have this opportunityto respond to the Lord.
It's a question that each oneof us has to answer.
And have you embraced Jesus?
Each one of us has to answer itfor ourself.
(31:57):
No one can do it for you, andthat's what's amazing about it
is his love and his grace for usand how he came and become the
sacrifice for all people for alltime.
And so whenever we say yes toJesus, we're embracing the
sacrifice he made for us on thecross.
I remember we talked about howthe cross is a banner for us.
It's a standard, it'sestablished.
(32:17):
All he's done for us.
He took our sin, our mistakes,our brokenness.
He's taken that onto himself sohe can restore us, so he can
forgive us, so he can become theone that bridges the gap,
because he's the holy sacrificefor the Holy Father.
Friends, the Apostle Paul, hewrites to the church at Rome.
He says this because if youconfess with your mouth that
(32:40):
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart, onebelieves and is justified.
With the mouth, one confessesand is saved.
Today is your opportunity.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus, to invite him into
(33:02):
your heart and life to make thelife change that you've been
looking for.
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom if you would.
If you just stand to your feetand bow your head right where
you're at, as Christians arepraying friends.
(33:31):
I've been praying for you.
I've been praying that youwould embrace Jesus, that you
would invite him into your heartand life, that you'd make the
life change that you're lookingfor, that you'd find the
fulfillment in the very thingthat you're looking for, the
only answer, which is Jesus.
Today, if you have thatopportunity to say yes, you have
the opportunity to invite himinto your heart and life, to say
(33:52):
Lord, forgive me of my sins.
Lord, I wanna follow you.
You've heard the challengethat's here.
You've heard his love for you,his focus for you and today's
opportunity to respond.
I challenge you today that youwould raise your hand and say,
(34:13):
pastor, that's me.
I want to be one that invitesChrist into my heart and life.
Or maybe you have made it inthe past, but you haven't been
living for God.
You need to make thatrecommitment to him Today.
That you would raise your handand say, lord, I want to invite
you into my heart and life, thatyou would raise your hand and
say, lord, I want to invite youinto my heart and life.
That you'd be the Lord of mylife not just the Savior, but
the Lord of my life.
That I would live thisintentionality, that I would
(34:37):
celebrate your victory Today asheads are bowed.
If that's you, if that's youand you want to invite Christ
into your heart and life, asheads are bowed and Christians
are praying, if you just raiseyour hand right where you're at,
say that's me, pastor, includeme today in that prayer.
I want to make a prayer tofollow Jesus, to invite him into
my heart and life.
(34:58):
You see the hand that's there.
Other people thank you Lord.
Thank you Lord.
Others in the sound of my voice.
See those hands that are comingup.
Lord, thank you.
Friends online making a decisionto follow Jesus, I'm gonna ask
everyone if they would just praythis prayer out loud after me.
Lord, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
(35:21):
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name, I pray Amen,amen.
(35:44):
Friends, we rejoice in youmaking a decision to follow
Jesus.
People that raised their handtoday praise the Lord.
Hey, that was you.
Connect with us so we can putsome materials in your hands, so
you can be successful livingfor Christ.
If you're online, message us.
We don't want you to live thislife alone.
We want you to be connected into what God has for us.
Now, all of us that are alreadyChrist followers, our challenge
(36:05):
is this that we declare thevictory over our lives of what
God has already done, that weget anything out of the way
that's fighting against what hewants to do in our lives, that
we would come to him and worshiphim with everything.
And so we open up this altar toyou today to say this that you
would draw near to God and askhim for more of his spirit, for
more of his empowerment to livethis thing out, for more of his
(36:26):
empowerment to live this thingout, to see his victory and
declare who he is in our lives.
Amen, lord, we thank you somuch and as we come to you today
, lord, we do all withintentionality.
Lord, we do with a heart thatloves you.
Lord, we declare your victoryover everything that we're
walking in.
And so, lord, we come to you asour source, as our provision,
as the God who heals, as the Godwho provides and gives wisdom,
lord, the God who directs us.
(36:47):
Lord, we thank you for allthese things and we declare your
victory over them in the nameof Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
It is that easy to invite someone, and so I want to
encourage you.
As you head out, you'll seethese Easter flyers that are out
there.
We want to be like Tyler and wewant to invite a friend, and I
just want to encourage you withthis.
There are people out there whoneed the hope of the Lord.
And just invite them.
You never know what they'll do,but they may show up and they
may have the Lord just touchtheir life, and so if you grab
some of these, pray over them,hand them out.
(37:19):
We just want to see God move inour families and our friends and
our neighborhoods.
So I want to encourage you todo that.
And also, if you're a guest andwe haven't met you yet maybe
you've been coming to the churchfor the last few months we're
having party with the pastorright after this.
It'll be on the east side ofthe building.
There's a conference room.
If you have children, grab themfirst and then come and join us
.
But we want to just be able toput a face to a name and say
(37:41):
hello, answer some questions foryou.
It's going to be a fun time andso really informal, but we just
want to take the moment to meetyou.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Amen.
It's Holy Week, so we have alot of great things that are
coming up.
This week, including GoodFriday, we'll be having a
service a little different thanwe normally do here, from seven
to eight on Friday, and it'sactually going to be a
reflections station, sodifferent than a normal service.
We'll have a worship set that'shere, but you can come and
actually just spend amount oftime if you'd like.
You don't have to stay thewhole time, but it'll be some
(38:10):
reflection stations for you tothink about the great sacrifice
of Christ has made for us and toreally take in what that is
introspection as well.
It's a powerful time.
Those who participated lastyear could tell you.
So bring a friend, let that bea blessing to you.
And then Sunday we have twoservices 9 and 11.
If you guys remember 11 o'clock, you're here now, so bring a
friend.
You see I have a little bit ofspace in this service, but we're
(38:30):
really getting full on thefirst service, which is great,
because next week we're going toplan to open up the balcony to
people who are going to come andbe there.
So invite some friends, letthem come and be a blessing to
worship the Lord together.
Amen.
Before we go.
(38:51):
I want to pray this blessingover us, o Lord.
Bless you and keep you.
O Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
O Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
O Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
O Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love out to
(39:11):
those around us.
We pray all this in thepowerful name that is Jesus
Christ.
Amen, amen, know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
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