Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign Good morning.
[00:00:06] Good morning. If I have not had the opportunity to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling, I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. And I don't know if you're aware, one week from today is Easter Sunday. So that is your one week warning to get everything ready and just to be aware that this is coming. Michelle announced earlier, but I want to just reiterate, we have actually our normal service, 8:15, 9:45 and 11:15, but I would like to share a few just details with you. So number one is parking will be tight. So like if you're regularly a part of the 9:45 service, you already know if you come a few minutes late, things can be a bit challenging with parking. Next week is going to be utter insanity. So prepare your heart. And you got an email from Michelle. If you're on our email list. And there are two parking lots that we actually use every week. One is at the Metro Station, it's 0.2 miles away, so you can get your step goals in. And then the other is in Claire Oaks, which I don't know what direction I'm facing. So it's this, it's over here, but there's actually up a hill. There's a big parking lot up there and many of us park up there every week. It's also 0.2 miles. So if you do show up and there's nowhere to park, feel free to go to either of those places. And if you're willing to walk, go park up there anyways. It'll make your life probably a little bit easier than this insane parking lot. So that's number one. Number two is, I don't want to tell you to get early because we only have like 25 or 30 minutes between the services. But if, if you're like coming right on time, you very likely will be in one of our overflows. So we're just committing our hearts. No matter where we worship, we're going to worship our crucified and risen Lord, whether we're in an overflow or we're in this room. Amen. Some of you did not say amen because you're like, no, I will be in this room. That's great, that's great. Get here. But please don't set up your seat during the first service while we're still worshiping. Okay? So just there's that. The last thing I wanna say is, so if you've been a part of village for a while, this is not new for you, but maybe you've been attending in the last year or so.
[00:02:18] Every single one of you are officially greeters, because there are a ton of people that they will not go to church. But if their mom or their dad or their brother or their sister, their girlfriend or their boyfriend invite them to go on Easter, they.
[00:02:35] Which means there are a whole bunch of people who often don't want to be here, are willing to be here. And so just I want you to remember that in your faces, you're all officially greeters, and you get to represent the fact that, like, they're welcome here. We would actually love for them to hear more about God's Word and to worship with us. And so I just want to release. Olive Village Church, you are officially on the greeting ministry for the next week. And whether you're in the overflow, you're a greeter in there, whether you're walking from the Claire Oaks or Metro station, you're greeting on the way over as well. So you're officially installed in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, open up your Bibles, if you have them, to the book of Luke. We're going to be in chapter 19. And what I want to do this morning is I want to take you just on a journey through the events of Palm Sunday. And I have found that for most people, this is probably one of the most misunderstood days, especially in Holy Week. So to really understand Palm Sunday, here's a singular fact that when you understand this, kind of unlocks the entire narrative.
[00:03:42] Every single event was intentionally orchestrated by Jesus to provoke the Jewish leaders to kill him.
[00:03:54] Everything that happens on Palm Sunday is predetermined, planned, orchestrated, so that Jesus could royally upset every one of the Jewish leaders so that on Passover specifically, they would murder him for your sins and for my sins in our place. So I want to set the context of Palm Sunday, and I want to look at chapter 19, verse 28 says this. When Jesus had said these things, he went on ahead, going to Jerusalem. And when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, also called the Mount of Olives. Good job. Let's just pause here. So about one week prior to Palm Sunday, do you know what Jesus did in a little village called Bethany just outside of Jerusalem? He raised a dead guy named Lazarus.
[00:04:51] So here's what this means. In not just Jerusalem, but in the area around Jerusalem, everybody knew who Jesus was. Everybody knew where Jesus slept. Everybody knew where he was because he had an entourage of 12 disciples. And on top of that, people who Just followed him, who wanted miracles and wanted him to do something for their life. When Jesus would move from town to town, gossip would spread. Jesus is going over to this city. He's going to Bethphage, he's going over to Bethany, he's going to Jerusalem. And people would follow him because he had the ability to raise people from the dead along with many other miracles. Now, I want you to look again at verse 28. I'm going to highlight the first phrase.
[00:05:31] And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. So Luke is setting up Palm Sunday for us with some words that Jesus had just said. What are these words? And the words come from a parable that Jesus just told. It's called the parable of the Minas. A mina is basically an ancient currency. Most people familiar with the Parable of the Minus. Let me just give you a brief summary of what happens. There's an employer, a ruler, and his employees and subjects hate him. And so he leaves to go out of town. And while he's out of town, they basically plan a rebellion. He hears about it, he comes back, and he is going to end this rebellion. Luke 19, verse 27. This is the end of the parable of the Minos.
[00:06:20] The ruler says, but as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.
[00:06:31] That's the context. Verse 28. And when he said these things, now we're moving to Palm Sunday, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem for Palm Sunday. And by the way, when Jesus told the parable of the Minas, right before he was going to Jerusalem, who were the people in the parable who were going to be slaughtered? Judged?
[00:06:53] The religious leaders of Israel. And where did they live? Jerusalem. So he tells a parable about their inevitable judgment and death, and then goes right away over to Jerusalem. So, all right, with this context, we got about a week prior, Jesus is raising Lazarus from the dead. One to two days prior, he's telling these parables about the judgment of the religious leaders of Israel. He's bringing miracles, public condemnation. Crowds are coming with him. And on Palm Sunday, Jesus has come to provoke. And what I want to show you is I want to show you through this text, five ways that Jesus was provoking these evil Jewish leaders to kill him. Number one, Jesus strategically times Palm Sunday for maximum impact. This day was chosen on purpose. Verse 29. It's Palm Sunday. Jesus arrives right outside of Jerusalem, says this when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany villages outside of Jerusalem at the mount that is called Olivet. He sent two of the disciples saying, go into the village in front of you where I'm entering. Here's what you're gonna find. A colt tied on, which no one has ever sat yet. Untie it and bring it here. Okay, so why Jerusalem and why now? So we call this Palm Sunday. They didn't call this Palm Sunday. So this is actually what we're reading about. It's the very first ever Palm Sunday. And what this day actually launched was the week of, who knows it? Passover. The largest festival, the most important celebration for the nation of Israel. Jerusalem, a city of 40,000 people or so on Palm Sunday would be swelling to about 100,000. And by the end of the week, could be up to 200 or 250,000 people. And so this event was designed on this day for maximum impact and maximum public attention for what Jesus is about to do. All right, so the second way Jesus intentionally provoked Jesus, unmistakably declared himself not just as Israel's Messiah, but as Israel's true king. Look at verse 31.
[00:09:01] If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? This is the colt. You shall say this. The Lord has a need of it.
[00:09:11] So those who were sent went away, and they found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, why are you untying this colt? It's mine. What are you doing? Lay off. And they said, the Lord has need of it. So I've got two questions. Okay, number one, what is a colt? Yes, this is kind of a weird word that we don't use all the time. A colt is a young male donkey that has not been ridden usually. So it's young enough that it's not been kind of broken in.
[00:09:41] Why would. Here's my second question. Why would some random owner of a donkey give a stranger his cult? Well, the answer is actually fairly straightforward. It's because this guy knew who Lazarus was. He knew who Jesus was, and he knew who the disciples were. And Jesus was pretty popular. He's probably thinking to himself something like, oh, if Jesus needs it. Totally. I mean, I know you're going to give it back, but maybe this will put me in his good graces and maybe he'll do something for me as well. This guy almost certainly knew exactly who he was. Giving this colt, this young male donkey to. Verse 35. And they brought it, the colt, to Jesus. Throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it, and as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. Remember, nothing is accidental. Nothing is happenstance. By riding this cult, Jesus is fulfilling a very specific messianic prophecy. From the book of Zechariah 9, verse 9. I want to read this to you. Written centuries before Jesus ever came. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
[00:10:58] Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation. Is he humble and mounted on a donkey. Not just any donkey. On a colt. And not just any colt. The foal or the young donkey. The foal of a donkey.
[00:11:16] So Zechariah 99, that's probably, like, vague for most people. Maybe if you've been around church for a while, you've been at Palm Sunday, you've heard this before, you're like, yeah, but if I were to ask you quote to me Zechariah 9:9, you'd go, I don't know what it is. To be clear, if you were a Jew living in the first century, you knew exactly what Zachary99 was. Because you and your family for generations have been living under Roman tyranny. You are sick of it. And you are praying and waiting for the prophecies of a coming Messiah who is going to release you from Roman oppression and is going to give you the freedom you want. You are familiar with all the Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament. In fact, you read them closely because you want to understand who is the Messiah? What is the Messiah going to do? How are we going to be able to know when the Messiah comes? And so if you are living in the first century and you are a Jew, you know Zechariah 9:9. And when you saw Jesus on a cult show up, you knew exactly what he was communicating. There is nothing subtle about this. This is, as we say in modern politics, political red meat. They loved it. When they saw this, they were like, yes. And they were profoundly excited. And we know this from what happens in verse 37.
[00:12:36] Says, as he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples, not just the 12, but all these people following him, began to rejoice and praise God. And do you guys think they were quiet about this? Nope. With a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen raising Lazarus and other miracles, saying, and this is interesting because not only are they thinking about Zechariah 9:9, but now they're going to quote Psalm 118, another Messianic Psalm. Why? Because they know all the Messianic scriptures from the Old Testament saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. Okay, if you are one of the religious leaders of Israel, are you excited about this or are you upset about this? We're going to go upset. And can we just agree for a moment that Jesus knows exactly what he's doing? Answer is yes. The third way Jesus intentionally provoked Jesus refused. The religious leaders demands to silence the crowd. Verse 39. Look who shows up. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd, they said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples. Tell them to stop this nonsense immediately. I could just see it.
[00:13:56] Attention has been gained. They showed up just like he designed in verse 40. I appreciate this verse because Jesus communicates his absolute disregard for their authority. He answers, I tell you, if these were silent, these people, the very stones would cry out. So there's two levels to this response. The first level is obvious.
[00:14:19] Pharisees, you guys are so dense, you can't even see what's happening right in front of your eyes. Like, even the rocks understand what's going on.
[00:14:30] There's also a theological level to this that, like, if you're kind of just reading this, you might miss. Right? You gotta remember that the Pharisees, they're the theologians of the day. And so in the Old Testament, there is this unique category that worships God that was created in a way that brings God glory, and it would be this creation. So, for example, Psalm 19:1, the heavens declare the glory of God. Or here's another one. The rivers clap their hands, the mountains sing together for joy. And Jesus is giving them a subtle theological dig. He's basically saying this. You, you're so dense. You're missing the fact that even if these people stopped worshiping me, creation would do what it was designed to do. Creation itself would give me glory. In other words, Pharisees, you're dense as a doornail. God is in your midst and you can't even see it.
[00:15:22] To the Pharisees, this was blasphemous.
[00:15:26] The fourth way Jesus intentionally provoked Jesus publicly predicted Jerusalem's coming judgment. Okay, if you're Jesus and this crowd of people are all affirming your true identity, you're the king, you are the Messiah.
[00:15:45] Wouldn't you imagine that Jesus would be thrilled that all these people finally see him for who he is? But that is not what happens. In verse 41, Jesus has a very unexpected emotional response to all of the things that are that are happening. Verse 41. When he drew near and he saw the city of Jerusalem, the text is this, he wept over it.
[00:16:15] People have this idea, I think, when they think of God sometimes, that he is very emotionally simple. He can only feel one thing at a time. One of the things I appreciate about the New Testament Gospel authors is, is that they really do bring you into the emotional complexity of Jesus.
[00:16:32] In the Greek language, there is a unique word for crying quietly. And then there is another completely different word for weeping uncontrollably and loudly.
[00:16:45] This is the latter. And so literally what this word means is loud wailing, or to wail or sob loudly. It communicates deep, audible, visible grief. These are not alligator tears slowly running down. This is heaving sobbing. This is the word used to describe Jewish mourning, which is not like American mourning, which is subtle or quiet or we don't want people to see us cry. They would actually use all of their body and their volume and their voice and they would weep and mourn and grieve loudly. That's what this word is referring to.
[00:17:28] And it is vital for Luke who wrote this, that every single person who is going to read this story and hear what Jesus says next, it is vital for him that you and I know the emotional context.
[00:17:45] Whatever Jesus says next, and it's going to be hard, it is not said out of a cold heart, but it's said out of a broken heart. In verse 41, Jesus, weeping and grieving, says, would that you even you had known on this day the things that make for peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes in verse 43.
[00:18:08] For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground. You and pay attention literally to these words and to the children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of your visitation.
[00:18:34] Luke wants every one of us to know without a shadow of a doubt. God does not delight in judgment.
[00:18:45] God is a just judge. And just judges will judge justly. Say that 10 times.
[00:18:52] But justice is a two sided coin of vindication and vengeance.
[00:18:57] And whenever there is justice, there is vindication for those who were wronged and there is vengeance for those who did the wrong. Now, 37 years after this, judgment would come to the city of Jerusalem and Rome would obliterate the city, tear it to the ground and kill tens of thousands of people. They would literally run for the hills for their lives and then be slaughtered in the process. What's striking is here's what I would imagine. What I would imagine is that if. If Jesus is going to be crucified and killed, I would imagine that this would infuriate him so much that he would have executed judgment on the people of Israel and of the city of Jerusalem immediately. He waited 37 years to execute judgment. And even in this moment, what you're getting is this beautiful picture of the patience of God to execute wrath and judgment. Now in this moment, I would like to say the hard truth, and I think this is a truth that Luke wants Every single person who reads this book understand, if you mess with Jesus, he will destroy you, but he does not want to.
[00:20:15] He will give you every single out possible.
[00:20:21] You will have every opportunity to make things right. There will not be one person at the final judgment who says, I didn't know. You didn't give me enough information. You didn't give me what I needed. Nobody will be able to accuse Jesus of injustice at the final judgment. And Jesus is patient and waiting. Every single day that a person is alive and does not tell God they're sorry and become a follower of Jesus is another day of his grace and his patience.
[00:20:58] Now here's what's striking about what is actually happening. I want to come back to Palm Sunday. Like, what is going on? You have a bunch of people worshiping Jesus, acknowledging that he's the Messiah and the king. And you would think that Jesus would not be weeping over what they're doing.
[00:21:18] You would think that he would be thrilled. But Jesus knows something that. That they probably don't know. In that moment.
[00:21:26] Jesus knew that their worship was contingent.
[00:21:31] It was contingent on Jesus agreeing with their doctrine. It was contingent on Jesus doing what they wanted. It was contingent on Jesus making their lives better. I mean, these are going to be the very same people that when they realize that Jesus isn't convincing, convenient that they are going to shall crucify him.
[00:21:50] And so here's what Jesus knows. He's looking at these people who are worshiping him. And he knows that it is not unconditional worship. It is contingent worship. And he knows that these same people are only applauding him because they think he's coming to free them from Roman oppression. And when Jesus doesn't perform and dance and do all the things that they expected him to do, they're like, you know what? You didn't meet my expectations. We're absolutely done with you. Here's what Jesus knew about their hearts. The cry of their heart was, jesus, give us what we want, or we'll destroy you.
[00:22:27] And so he immediately sees through this. Now, we have no indication that when he is weeping and speaking words of judgment over Jerusalem and the nation of Israel that this is quiet. It. It appears to be heard and seen by everybody in proximity. Which brings us to the fifth way that Jesus intentionally provoked. Jesus culminated this donkey ride by publicly cleansing the temple. So when most people think about the triumphal entry is what we call it sometimes, or Palm Sunday, or Jesus riding in a donkey, most people have this idea that it's all happening outside side of the city, but Jesus actually rides this animal right into the city. He goes through the eastern gate, down the road, through the crowds to the temple. And then here's what happens in verse 45, and it says that Jesus entered the temple and he began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. Now, I want to be clear also, this is more political red meat. All of the people who are being ripped off, which is the majority of the people, and all of the people who are poor and broke were like, yeah, Jesus, you tell them, turn the tables over. And like, they were thrilled. But guess who was also very upset at this. The guys who actually ran the temple and all of this. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests, the political leaders. I want to say this again. Jesus did not come to Jerusalem on the week of Passover, and especially on Palm Sunday, to be subtle. Jesus came to provoke all of these religious leaders to murder him so that his blood could pay the price for our sins in our place.
[00:24:19] Now, what I want to do is I want to. I want to show you this journey from a little bit different perspective. I want to show it to you from a geographical perspective. So this journey, here's a map that kind of gives you the visual of it. But the journey took. It was about 1 1/2 to 2 miles from the Mount of Olives all the way into the Temple. Okay? And so I want to show you this. So Bethany and Bethphage, they're about a mile apart. And Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was, that's another mile. And it's. The reason it's a mile is because of the terrain. And. And then what would happen is they would. Before he got into the temple, he had to go into the Kidron Valley. Now, I want to show you this from a topographical map because this is, I think, striking so Jesus starts on Palm Sunday at the Mount of Olives and the elevation is roughly 2600ft and the terrain is rocky and it is steep and he's on an animal. He then is going to go into the Kidron valley, which is 700ft decline and it's not a long distance. So he's going to go 700ft into the Kidron Valley, which by the way is also known as a metaphorically for the Israelites as a valley of judgment, a valley of slavery, slaughter, a valley where God executes judgment on the people of Israel. So he goes into the Kidron Valley and then he goes up 500 more feet to the temple, which is at 2400ft elevation. And so what I want you to understand is this is about a one to two hour journey through steep terrain and into the Kidron Valley and then back up to Jerusalem. And then he enters into the actual city through what's called the Eastern gate. It's about 50 or 100ft to the actual temple complex. Now the area that he would have gone into the temple was massive, about 35 acres. Okay, so this is not a small area. And so when Jesus makes a ruckus, it a draws attention. And then when there's this kind of attention, what happens? People come from all over the place and then they wanna see like, what are these shenanigans? What is going on?
[00:26:18] All of this had the intended effect. And I wanna show you what the Book of Mark says about this. Mark 11:18. The chief priests and the scribes, they heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him.
[00:26:37] Everything on this day was intentionally designed to provoke the religious leaders so that they would kill him. Now this day ends and now we got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Jesus is not done. So I want to read to you my top 10 list of what Jesus did on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday just to further incite and provoke and to make sure that by the time Good Friday comes, they are going to murder him. So over the next week, here's all the things, top 10 things that Jesus did to provoke. Jesus taught multiple parables that publicly exposed and condemned the chief priests, the elders and the scribes for murdering prophets and plotting to kill Jesus. Okay, so you're gonna find there's all these religious groups, he goes after them as a whole, and then he has all of these events set up to actually go after each group of leaders individually and to humiliate and to expose them. Number two, Jesus publicly exposes the evil hypocrisy greed and fake holiness of the scribes specifically. This is a group of people who are responsible for the word of God and for writing it down. And so he's exposing their evil and hypocrisy. Number three, Jesus publicly debated with and embarrassed the Sadducees. You guys remember the Sadducees. They were sad, you see, because they didn't believe in a resurrection. And so he's debating them publicly, absolutely humiliating them. So now the Sadducees, Sadducees, who is basically a theological, religious and political group in Israel, they now are really upset at him. Number four, he publicly rebukes silence and embarrassed then the Pharisees. They're the theologians of the day, and he made them to look like theological fools and then expose them as spiritual frauds, not privately, but publicly so that everybody could see it. Number five, he publicly schooled and humiliated, in one instance, the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and elders together as they debated theological issues showed them to be frauds, not knowing the word of God and extorting people.
[00:28:41] Number six, separate occasion, Jesus pronounced seven damning woes on the scribes and Pharisees together, exposing the hidden evil secrets they were doing behind the scenes that nobody knew about. Number seven, Jesus publicly rebuked the rich for their meager offerings. And he's like, all right, who are the most influential people here? If I have to tick off everybody so that they murder me, I'm going to get the scribes, I'm going to get the chief priests. I'm going to get the Pharisees and get the Sadducees. I'm going to get the Sanhedrin. We got to go after the rich people who are funding them, so we go after them. Number eight, Jesus again tells, foretells about the imminent destruction of the temple, communicating that the reason God is going to do it is because of all of their failed leadership.
[00:29:23] And then, number 10, he proclaimed he was the Son of God, which was enough for them to say blasphemy. How dare you. Jesus's mission was to be killed on Passover. He set his face to Jerusalem, and then he did everything that he did so that he could antagonize and provoke all of these people to murder him. And what I love. What I love is that somehow everything he did was sinless and holy. So that by the time Friday came, he was able to be crucified as the sinless substitute Lamb of God for our sins in our place.
[00:30:02] If. If I did half the things that Jesus did it probably would be sin for me. Perka being God is. He is the judge. He knows everything. He sees right through hearts and motivations, and everything he did was holy. Now, for the first time in village church history that I can remember, I only have one. So what?
[00:30:21] I know. You're like, prove it.
[00:30:24] Okay, we're gonna do it. All right. And it's not even a long one. Some of you are like, it's probably half the sermon. I hear you. I know what you're thinking. Okay.
[00:30:36] We have the privilege to redeem these symbols and to truly worship Jesus as our Messiah. Now, it's our tradition. We have palm branches and we sing the song Hosanna. And so if you didn't, by the way, get those. We have some time. We're going to pray. When we sing, you can go out of the foyer, grab them, come back in. Make sure you have those first. I want to talk about the word hosanna. Hosanna means nothing to most people, but literally, hosanna means God, Yahweh, save us.
[00:31:11] When they say hosanna, it is a desperate plea for salvation.
[00:31:17] When the believer says hosanna, here's what we mean. We mean God has saved us. It's a declaration of praise that our God has done for us what we could not do for ourself. And then there's this phrase hosanna in the highest. And this means that God save us completely. Or if you are already somebody who's trusted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, what you are saying is this. By the blood of Christ, God, you have saved us completely to the uttermost. You have absolutely succeeded in your job of saving me from my sins once and for all and forever.
[00:31:57] The second symbol that we have here is the palms. And the palms were a heated political and cultural symbol. And so the palms, what they reflected was this desire for freedom. So it became a symbol that wherever you saw the palms, was basically sort of an insurrectionist way of saying, one day the Lord is going to come free us from Roman tyranny. The best analogy I could get is if China took over the United States of America and they tried to destroy all of our American flags, and then people started making them, and they would start putting them on their house. These would be, like signs of rebellion and insurrection. That's sort of what it was like for the Israelites to have palm branches. So for the crowds, when they have the palms, this is a sign of a revolution, and they are excited about it. Jesus is going to come and help them Overthrow Rome and their tyranny. For the religious leaders, the palms were pure rebellion. Rebellion against their leadership, rebellion against Rome. For the Romans, the. The palms were a symbol of insurrection that needed to be destroyed immediately. But for the true disciples, palms were a symbol of salvation. And so every year we wave our palms and we sing hosanna. God, you have saved us. And we hold up the palm as a symbol of what you have purchased for us is freedom from sin. It is freedom to be in relationship with you, freedom to have full access to you. We wave them as a declaration that we are saved and we are free from everything that sin has tried to destroy in us. Now this will be. If Jesus comes back this afternoon, this will not be your last Palm Sunday. I don't know if you knew this, but in the book of Revelation, chapter seven, I want to read this to you. There is a Palm Sunday, if you will, when Jesus gathers together all of the saints all throughout history, from every tribe, tongue, nation and language to worship him. And I want you to listen to this. John says, behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Now, if you are here and you have never trusted in Christ, if you are here and you've never come to God and said, I have sinned against you, I am sorry, I believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Here's what waving the palm branch and singing Hosanna in the highest would mean for you. If you are ready to trust in him. This is a non verbal way of saying, save me. I believe you. I trust in you. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and was raised again from the dead. If you have never done that and right now you are ready to trust in Christ, well, you go get a palm branch and you wave it and this is your declaration to say, I'm a sinner, God saved me. I believe that Jesus blood is potent enough to cover my sins in my place.
[00:35:15] And if that is a decision you make, please come talk to one of us. We would just love to encourage you and help you take a next step in your relationship with Christ. And if you are here and you have already trusted in Jesus, waving these palm branches and singing Hosanna in the highest is a declaration of you are our God, you are our Savior, you have purchased our freedom and we worship you and you alone. So I want to take a moment, I want to pray for all of us, and then we are going to sing and you're going to wave your palm branches and if you're a kid, there's an adult in front of you, just tickle their ears. It's going to be epically hilarious.
[00:35:51] After, by the way, after we sing the first song, we're going to have a bunch of kids come in and they're going to lead us in one more song of worship. Sound good? Awesome. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. I thank you that.
[00:36:06] Thank you for how if all we've ever heard is kind of Sunday school Jesus, how unexpected, how moving, how strong, how courageous, how bold, how determined Jesus you really are.
[00:36:20] I just thank you for your resolute, your resolve to set your face to Jerusalem, to die, to take on your body, soul and emotions, the fullness of the judgment, the wrath of God for our sins in our place. And so, Jesus, thank you for what you have done. Would you this week, well up inside of us more gratitude for what we have received because of what you've done for us? Lord, if there's just anybody listening that doesn't quite know what to do with Jesus, God, I pray you would reveal yourself, the truth of who Jesus is, what all of this Holy Week even means in the first place. You would reveal that in such a way that it is just so unmistakably clear. And Lord, would you give them the courage to tell you they're sorry to believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Lord, it is our joy and honor, our privilege to worship you, to wave palm branches like we're going to do in heaven. We love you. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
