back to indexBerean Community Church 4.05 Sunday Service
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♪ Where I wanna offer my soul and my mind and strength ♪ 00:05:52.340 |
♪ To live a life worthy of the one who called my name ♪ 00:08:45.480 |
♪ I give my life for the glory of Your name ♪ 00:09:47.060 |
- Well, good morning, Bering Community Church, 00:09:53.060 |
and whoever else is joining us this Sunday morning. 00:09:56.060 |
This is our third Sunday of doing this online, 00:10:06.060 |
We were hoping that we would be able to come back by Easter, 00:10:16.060 |
But, you know, by God's grace, we have this technology, 00:10:21.060 |
and Christians all over the world are able to 00:10:25.060 |
And although we are in our own rooms and houses 00:10:30.060 |
worshiping separately from the body of Christ, 00:10:35.060 |
because there are people in parts of the world 00:10:40.060 |
And again, I've shared with our Berean church 00:10:48.060 |
but they don't have the kind of internet connection 00:10:51.060 |
to be able to connect with their parishioners 00:11:06.060 |
that they'd be able to come out of their houses 00:11:09.060 |
and again, to be able to go to the grocery stores. 00:11:20.060 |
I want to give a shout out to some of the birthdays 00:11:33.060 |
and helped the parents and worshiped together, 00:11:36.060 |
and the parents text me that you guys did that 00:11:44.060 |
So I want to really encourage you, the young ones, 00:11:55.060 |
is celebrating his birthday, I think it is today. 00:12:09.060 |
These young ones are all celebrating birthdays this week, 00:12:14.060 |
And if I, for some reason, didn't mention you, 00:12:18.060 |
and I'll make sure that we cover him or her next week. 00:12:22.060 |
We have just a few announcements before we get started. 00:12:38.060 |
This is not a replacement of the members meeting 00:13:03.060 |
It's going to last about 45 minutes up to an hour, 00:13:20.060 |
and obviously all of this is going to be going online. 00:13:38.060 |
and for Easter, celebrating his resurrection, 00:13:41.060 |
we want all of the church to be able to follow along 00:13:53.060 |
and then maybe about a 20 to 30 minute devotion 00:14:04.060 |
it'll be about a 40 minute devotion each day, 00:14:18.060 |
obviously because we're not able to come together, 00:14:20.060 |
and I know some of you guys have asked questions 00:14:25.060 |
We want to answer that question in our members meeting, 00:14:31.060 |
We will save that until we are able to come back. 00:14:38.060 |
but this Friday, we will be having normal service, 00:14:41.060 |
and I want to encourage you to invite your friends 00:15:01.060 |
Maybe we can share the gospel with more people 00:15:09.060 |
Sunday morning, we won't be having early rise service, 00:15:12.060 |
but we will be having our regular Easter Sunday service 00:15:31.060 |
but we do encourage you to continue to keep in touch, 00:15:35.060 |
even though you may not be having regular Bible study. 00:15:46.060 |
but regular Bible study will be postponed until next week. 00:15:52.060 |
Okay, at this time, we want to take some time 00:15:57.060 |
we are doing this, and we're asking all of you, 00:16:01.060 |
again, those of you who are going to be giving the offering, 00:16:11.060 |
we want to give together as a part of our worship, 00:16:23.060 |
we thank you for the provisions that you've given us, 00:16:39.060 |
not our circumstance, that ultimately, Lord God, 00:16:43.060 |
that all of this will be an opportunity for us 00:16:48.060 |
We pray, Father, for those who are participating 00:16:52.060 |
with us online, that you would watch over them, 00:16:55.060 |
strengthen them, and especially for the parents 00:17:07.060 |
We pray, Father God, that the offering that we give, 00:18:46.060 |
♪ On the mount, on the mount of crucifixion ♪ 00:19:26.060 |
♪ Here is love, here is love that conquered evil ♪ 00:22:50.060 |
♪ You alone were broken on the altar of love ♪ 00:22:55.060 |
♪ Precious lamb, our freedom's in your blood ♪ 00:23:58.060 |
♪ Lord of love, your kindness draws me near ♪ 00:25:06.060 |
♪ You are worthy, you are worthy of all my praise ♪ 00:25:32.060 |
♪ You are worthy, you are worthy of all my praise ♪ 00:26:36.060 |
and walk with us through a new hymn together, 00:26:49.060 |
What is our confidence that our souls to him belong? 00:27:08.060 |
Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope in life and death. 00:27:13.060 |
Verse two, what truth can calm the troubled soul? 00:27:59.060 |
So this hymn, Christ, our hope in life and death, 00:28:07.060 |
who has conquered death and guaranteed our future 00:32:44.060 |
As you can see up here, for the kids, what is this? 00:32:50.060 |
I went all the way to Jerusalem to get one of these so I can use this as a prop. 00:32:55.060 |
Or I went outside and just ruined one of our trees. 00:33:01.060 |
And the reason why it's called Palm Sunday is because this is the day that we remember Christ coming into Jerusalem. 00:33:08.060 |
And preparing his last day that he may go be crucified on the cross on Friday. 00:33:15.060 |
It's called Palm Sunday because the crowds were shaking the palm branches and laying it on the ground. 00:33:22.060 |
For the path that Jesus was taking along with the cloak. 00:33:25.060 |
And so I'll explain the meaning behind the Palm Sunday during the sermon. 00:33:31.060 |
It's just to remind us of what day it is today. 00:33:33.060 |
The text that I want to jump off of, I'm actually going to be going back and forth through the four different texts in the Gospels. 00:33:41.060 |
As I mentioned last week, the feeding of the 5,000 is the only two of miracles that are mentioned in the four Gospels. 00:33:48.060 |
And the triumphal entry, again, not as a miracle but as an event of Christ is mentioned in all four Gospels because of the significance behind it. 00:33:57.060 |
I'm going to be reading from Luke chapter 19 verse 28 to verse 37. 00:34:07.060 |
After he had said these things, he was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 00:34:11.060 |
When he approached Bethphage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet. 00:34:16.060 |
He sent two of his disciples saying, "Go into the village ahead of you. 00:34:19.060 |
There as you enter, you will find a cult tied on which no one yet has ever sat. 00:34:27.060 |
If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say to them, 'The Lord has need of it.' 00:34:32.060 |
So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 00:34:37.060 |
As they were untying the cult, its owner said to them, 'Why are you untying the cult?' 00:34:44.060 |
They brought it to Jesus and they threw their coats on the cult and put Jesus on it. 00:34:49.060 |
As he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. 00:34:52.060 |
As soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, 00:34:55.060 |
the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. 00:35:08.060 |
Gracious Father, we pray that you would ordain this time, that your word would go forth. 00:35:13.060 |
We pray that you would make our hearts fertile. 00:35:25.060 |
We desire to have greater conviction, Lord God, of your presence in our lives. 00:35:30.060 |
We pray that the worship that we give, the offering, the time that we spend, Father God, 00:35:37.060 |
diving into your word would cause us to be better prepared for what we will celebrate this week. 00:35:45.060 |
You know, as you know, all the craziness that's going on, I don't know about you, but I've been watching the brief that the president and the doctors have been giving each day. 00:35:56.060 |
Sometimes in the middle of the day they would give the latest numbers, how it's spreading, what's going on with the economy. 00:36:04.060 |
And obviously if you watch the news, there's a lot of things going on that's changing every single day. 00:36:12.060 |
But along with that, I think every single one of us, the reason why we are eager to hear from the leaders is because we want to see how they are directing us. 00:36:22.060 |
And a lot of times our anxieties or our comfort may directly come to what kind of confidence we have of our leadership. 00:36:30.060 |
If you happen to have no confidence in the leadership, then you're probably more anxious than other people. 00:36:36.060 |
Because every decision that's being made, you're going to be questioning them. 00:36:40.060 |
Why are they doing that? Are they just doing it for their political gain? 00:36:44.060 |
Whatever news that may be coming out, do I trust these people? Do they care about us? 00:36:50.060 |
How we feel at this time in our anxiety level, in many ways is directly tied to who we trust. 00:36:59.060 |
I remember when I was young, the only person that I felt comfortable when I was driving, not driving, when I was on the passenger side, 00:37:08.060 |
where I felt comfortable enough to fall asleep was my older brother. 00:37:11.060 |
For whatever reason, whether it was my friends or whether it was my parents, I would always get anxious. 00:37:17.060 |
And as soon as I started falling asleep, I would jolt right back up because in my mind I imagined something's going to happen. 00:37:24.060 |
And I never felt comfortable. But for whatever the reason, whenever my older brother drove, I felt comfortable and I would just pass out. 00:37:31.060 |
I'm in good hands. And I think part of the reason why I felt that way is because when I was a little kid, 00:37:37.060 |
my older brother was the one who, like in the neighborhood, whatever bullies that there were in the neighborhood 00:37:46.060 |
wouldn't touch me because they were afraid of my older brother. 00:37:49.060 |
So I was able to roam around freely in the neighborhood because they'd say, "Oh, that's Paul." 00:37:54.060 |
Or he had a Korean name at that time, but that's Paul's younger brother. 00:37:58.060 |
And so I'm thinking maybe that's the reason, since I was a young kid, that I just felt more comfortable in my brother's hands. 00:38:06.060 |
But right now, and again, like who do we feel confident? Who is our leader? 00:38:13.060 |
Obviously, we've been talking about Jesus' identity, right? His, the great I am. 00:38:18.060 |
And each one of the I am statements are trying to correct and to redirect the direction of the nation of Israel. 00:38:26.060 |
Is He simply a means to where we truly find refuge? 00:38:31.060 |
If our refuge is financial security, then we're praying now to Jesus that our primary concern is that He would make our business stable. 00:38:41.060 |
That I'd be able to find a good job. That none of our kids would get sick. 00:38:46.060 |
And we are clinging to Christ because He's the means to get to that goal, whatever that goal may be. 00:38:53.060 |
But the I am statements are redirecting us, saying that ultimately He is the goal. 00:38:59.060 |
Sometimes the hardships in our lives are brought to us so that we may come to recognize that whatever brings us to Him is the means. 00:39:08.060 |
Sometimes they're good stuff. Sometimes it's events like this that causes us to see Him in a different light. 00:39:14.060 |
Well, today, it's one thing for Jesus to say who He is. It's another thing to observe it. 00:39:20.060 |
And I think when we look at Jesus' last week of His life, every part of it reveals a certain aspect of His character. 00:39:27.060 |
And I think this triumphal entry really highlights, to me, the love of Christ. 00:39:33.060 |
We know that God is holy. We also know that the Bible says that He is love. 00:39:38.060 |
It's one thing to imagine what His love looks like. It's another thing to actually see it. 00:39:43.060 |
So what I want to do this morning is highlight the three different aspects of love, God's love, that we can observe through this Palm Sunday. 00:39:53.060 |
So if you look at the outline, there's three outlines, and then you'll see in the outline it says God is, and then I left it blank, okay, so that you guys can just know that this is what we're going through. 00:40:04.060 |
So there's three things that we're going to be dealing with, and the first thing that I want us to pay attention to is God's love is deliberate. It's deliberate. 00:40:15.060 |
Why is this so significant? Because everything that happens this day, in fact, everything that happens in Jesus' life, but in particular this day, was carefully calculated. 00:40:28.060 |
In Zechariah 9, 9, which is the passage that all the four Gospels quote, because Jesus tells His disciples to go and get the donkey so that He can ride it in, 00:40:40.060 |
and the significance behind that was the whole nation of Israel knew that when the Messiah came that He was going to be riding in on a donkey. 00:40:48.060 |
So up to this point, Jesus was telling everyone, "It's not time, it's not time." 00:40:53.060 |
And so He might say it in private, He might tell His disciples, but He didn't publicly announce that this is who He is. 00:41:00.060 |
So for the first time, for the first time, He's making a public declaration just in case there was any doubt to His identity, He gets them to get this colt, and He was going to ride on it. 00:41:15.060 |
But it wasn't just a random colt that He found on the street. He told His disciples to go to a very specific place. 00:41:22.060 |
And then if the owner says, "What are you doing?" Tell him the master needs of it, and He said, "That's all it took." 00:41:27.060 |
He didn't say, "Well, what master? For what purpose? Who's going to pay me for this?" 00:41:31.060 |
The reason why the owner of this colt was going to say, "Okay," because it was prepared ahead of time. 00:41:37.060 |
And we don't know if Jesus went there ahead physically, we don't know if an angel visited Him, 00:41:41.060 |
we don't know if there was some prophecy over His family's life, all of His life saying, "Now you know what? We're going to be the family of this colt." 00:41:48.060 |
Messiah's going to raise this colt, that's why nobody can ride it. We don't know. 00:41:52.060 |
We don't know how it happened, but what we do know that it was prepared. 00:41:56.060 |
Even the donkey that He was going to ride was prepared. 00:42:00.060 |
In Zechariah 99 it says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. 00:42:05.060 |
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you. 00:42:10.060 |
He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." 00:42:18.060 |
But you know, this prophecy that took place over 500 years before Jesus came, was prophesied way before that. 00:42:28.060 |
All the way up to Genesis chapter 49 verse 11. 00:42:31.060 |
There was a prophecy about the King of Israel, and this is what it says. 00:42:35.060 |
"He ties His foal to the vine, and His donkey colt to the choice vine. 00:42:40.060 |
He washes His garments in wine, and His robes in the blood of grapes." 00:42:45.060 |
Now, here clearly we see the colt that it prophesied way before even Zechariah prophesied. 00:42:53.060 |
But it goes a little bit further, how His robe is going to be in blood of grapes. 00:42:57.060 |
Clearly pointing to the blood that He was going to shed. 00:43:06.060 |
"Everything that happens this week was carefully designed and planned. 00:43:11.060 |
Saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, 00:43:18.060 |
and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. 00:43:23.060 |
They will mock Him and spit on Him and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.'" 00:43:31.060 |
Every one of these things that He prophesies is found somewhere also in the Old Testament. 00:43:38.060 |
Jesus is saying, "I'm going to fulfill all of these prophecies." 00:43:44.060 |
God, Jesus didn't come on a donkey and all of a sudden the people betrayed Him, 00:43:48.060 |
and then He didn't, He didn't, you know, find a good place to hide, 00:43:52.060 |
so the leaders came early in the morning, crucified Him, His disciples scattered, 00:43:58.060 |
and against His will He was dragged to the cross. 00:44:01.060 |
That is not how the Bible portrays what happens this week. 00:44:06.060 |
Even to the betrayal of Judas, to the beating, to the crown that he wears, 00:44:13.060 |
to the Roman soldier spitting, even the spear on his side with the blood and the water gushing out, 00:44:21.060 |
even to the place where he was buried, scattering of his disciples. 00:44:25.060 |
Every part of that, the Bible prophesies that it was going to happen. 00:44:30.060 |
In fact, the Bible says there's over a hundred prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. 00:44:37.060 |
You see, the book of Ephesians chapter one, as we're studying through the book of Ephesians, 00:44:41.060 |
the first chapter lays the foundation of God's predestination, adoption, election of us. 00:44:48.060 |
If you read chapter one, there is a theme that is repeated over and over and over. 00:44:55.060 |
You may have caught it, you may not have caught it when you were studying through it, 00:44:58.060 |
but the theme that He repeats over and over in Ephesians chapter one, it was all His doing. 00:45:12.060 |
He predestined us, meaning He planned it and He fulfilled it. 00:45:16.060 |
As sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intentions of His will. 00:45:22.060 |
To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved. 00:45:36.060 |
Also, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose, 00:45:41.060 |
who works all things after the counsel of His will. 00:45:44.060 |
So if you go back and read chapter one, if there is one theme above God's election, He 00:45:51.060 |
predestined, He did all of that, it's He did it. 00:45:58.060 |
Every part of our salvation was carefully crafted and carried out. 00:46:04.060 |
But what we need to understand is, prophecy in the Bible isn't God looking down the road 00:46:12.060 |
and looking at a crystal ball and saying, "Oh, okay, that's what's going to happen." 00:46:21.060 |
He's not telling the fortune of each individual or the history of mankind that He looked down 00:46:27.060 |
at the end times and He said, "Oh, that's what's going to happen," and then He wrote 00:46:33.060 |
When God revealed to him the end times, John took what he saw and he put it down on paper. 00:46:42.060 |
When the Bible talks about God prophesying or telling us what's coming, it's because 00:46:52.060 |
Now the problem, the difference between us and God is, I can tell you, like today, we're 00:46:57.060 |
going to be having a meeting at 1 p.m. and at 1 p.m. we're going to have certain things, 00:47:03.060 |
we're going to pray for certain things, we're going to inform you of certain things, but 00:47:06.060 |
I can't guarantee you 100% that's going to happen. 00:47:10.060 |
I mean, there's good odds that's going to happen, because I don't know if I can make 00:47:20.060 |
I don't know if this meeting is too big and there's too many people showing up, if it's 00:47:27.060 |
I don't know if the power outage is going to happen. 00:47:29.060 |
I could look at that and say, "I'm hoping that it'll happen. 00:47:32.060 |
We're planning that it'll happen, but only God can say something's going to happen and 00:47:37.060 |
it happens 100% because He is able to do that." 00:47:42.060 |
So every prophecy of the Bible, when we talk about fulfilled prophecy, all it is is God 00:47:53.060 |
That we see what is happening and we recognize this was God's plan all along. 00:48:04.060 |
Jesus' death and crucifixion wasn't out of His hand. 00:48:09.060 |
Jesus actually says in John chapter 10, 17 to 18, "For this reason the Father loves me 00:48:15.060 |
because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. 00:48:19.060 |
No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my initiative. 00:48:25.060 |
I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up. 00:48:31.060 |
He said, "No, yes, I am going to be crucified by the hands of the Gentiles. 00:48:36.060 |
I will be handed over by the leaders of Israel. 00:48:41.060 |
I will be mocked and I will be forsaken by my own people." 00:48:46.060 |
But Jesus says, "No, ultimately it is I who lay down my life and it is I who take it back up." 00:48:52.060 |
So when we see the prophecies being fulfilled, we have to look at that as when you look at fine art, 00:48:59.060 |
you know, one of the first things that they always look for is authentication. 00:49:04.060 |
If Picasso is the painter, they want to make sure that his signature is there. 00:49:09.060 |
That it matches up with all the other things that he has done. 00:49:12.060 |
And so when they match it up, it could be worth a few bucks if it's an imitation, 00:49:18.060 |
or it could be worth a million dollars depending on the authentication of the author or the person who painted this picture. 00:49:30.060 |
When we see it being fulfilled, we recognize God purposed this. 00:49:36.060 |
This is what he said how he was going to do it. 00:49:39.060 |
And then when he actually does it, the purpose of that is, "Ah, it's him. 00:49:53.060 |
Zachariah and Moses was only looking at the vision that God gave them and was writing that down. 00:50:00.060 |
Ultimately, it was God himself who said to Moses, who said to Zachariah, who said to Isaiah, 00:50:06.060 |
"I am coming, and when you see these things being fulfilled, you know it was me." 00:50:13.060 |
In fact, there are so many prophecies about the last week of Jesus. 00:50:18.060 |
Even Psalm chapter 22, it is a messianic passage. 00:50:22.060 |
It's about David crying out to God for his suffering. 00:50:25.060 |
But the Jews commonly understood this as a messianic suffering. 00:50:28.060 |
But if you look at and study that passage carefully, it is the Messiah, Jesus hanging on the cross, 00:50:38.060 |
Even his very moment of suffering was prophesied in the book of Psalms hundreds and hundreds of years before. 00:50:49.060 |
Because God did not simply, randomly, choose to come and save us. 00:50:57.060 |
From the beginning of our fall, God made a plan. 00:51:04.060 |
The seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent." 00:51:10.060 |
That they may receive the law, that they may shine God, establish the tribes, 00:51:15.060 |
and have the prophets prophesy in every little detail of his birth, his life, his disciples, 00:51:23.060 |
his suffering, his rejection, his resurrection. 00:51:26.060 |
All of it, he planned, and then he devised it, and then he fulfilled it. 00:51:38.060 |
Because the only answer to why he did that is because he loved us. 00:51:48.060 |
You know, I think one of the clearest pictures that we have of this love of God is adoption. 00:51:55.060 |
And I'm very encouraged that there's many families in our church who are praying, 00:51:59.060 |
and many of you are in the process of adopting, and the people who got caught right in the 00:52:04.060 |
middle of this, you know, some of you guys were waiting, maybe in a few more months you'll 00:52:08.060 |
get news, you'll be able to go out to Korea and different parts of the world possibly 00:52:12.060 |
and pick up your children, but now you have to wait. 00:52:15.060 |
You know, even just a few months is a long time. 00:52:18.060 |
And so I remember when, you know, my own family, you know, with Philip and Mary, and they prayed 00:52:24.060 |
and waited eagerly, and they longed and was eager to pick a belly. 00:52:30.060 |
You know, the difference between an adoption and birth, and obviously every child is precious, 00:52:38.060 |
An adopted child was like, they had to save up a lot of money, had to pray, had to talk 00:52:47.060 |
And you could see the anticipation, not only of the parents, but the friends and extended 00:52:52.060 |
families just eagerly waiting because this child is so adored and loved, even before 00:53:02.060 |
See, that's the picture, that is pictured for us in the scripture about our adoption. 00:53:09.060 |
He didn't randomly come in and we were born and all of a sudden he recognized something 00:53:13.060 |
good in us and then said, "You know what, I'm going to, he's cute, she's cute, he has 00:53:21.060 |
No, the scripture tells us from the beginning, God planned to come and get us. 00:53:34.060 |
He didn't plan this a couple weeks before, he didn't plan this when he told the owner 00:53:41.060 |
From the book of Genesis, the Bible tells us he planned, and now he's fulfilling it. 00:53:49.060 |
You know, every single one of us, when danger hits us, the first thing we do is how can 00:53:56.060 |
You know, that's why when this thing first broke out, you know, like when are we going 00:54:02.060 |
You know, many of us ran and saying, "Oh, they're going to run out of toilet paper." 00:54:05.060 |
We have to have toilet paper, so we stocked up on that. 00:54:08.060 |
What if the supermarket shut down and we need to have food, so we stocked up on that. 00:54:16.060 |
We purchased properties based upon the crime, you know. 00:54:20.060 |
Part of the reason why Irvine is so popular and expensive is because they have low crime 00:54:24.060 |
rate and parents can send their kids to public school and feel safe. 00:54:32.060 |
Every decision that we make, we make based upon how is this going to bring more safety 00:54:40.060 |
Jesus lived his whole life knowing that he will face danger. 00:54:51.060 |
The Bible says he planned and he actually faced the crucifixion and every action that 00:54:56.060 |
he takes this week takes him closer to the cross. 00:55:01.060 |
You know, the worst thing that he would do when he enters into Jerusalem is to go to 00:55:05.060 |
the temple because that's where all the leaders who wanted to kill him was hanging out. 00:55:09.060 |
The worst thing that if he did go to the temple was to make a scene and to announce to people 00:55:19.060 |
If he was a man who was looking for security and safety, first of all, he would have never 00:55:25.060 |
He would have stayed in Galilee, maybe went further out to Turkey. 00:55:30.060 |
Instead, every part of his life was intentional and deliberate and executed because God loved 00:55:55.060 |
It says in Luke chapter 1941 that Jesus was weeping as he was writing in. 00:56:02.060 |
You have to understand this scene because there's only two places in the Bible where 00:56:15.060 |
Now there's a whole different story behind that which I'm not going to get to today, 00:56:18.060 |
but we can understand at least superficially why someone would be crying at a funeral. 00:56:28.060 |
In fact, the palm branches that people were waving, since I got my prop I got to use this 00:56:36.060 |
The reason why they were waving these palm branches is because the palm branches at that 00:56:43.060 |
So usually what they did was when soldiers would go out to battle and they win their 00:56:50.060 |
army and the soldiers would march back into town, the people would greet them in celebration 00:56:57.060 |
So when Jesus came into Jerusalem and they were waving the palm branches, they were recognizing 00:57:04.060 |
that somebody powerful was coming into town, that he was going to bring victory. 00:57:10.060 |
It's similar to, you know, when soldiers go to war and they come back or at least you 00:57:17.060 |
But if we want to celebrate and we're really excited, you know, if we're excited we'll 00:57:23.060 |
You know, if you're really excited you get confetti and throw it, you just kind of like, 00:57:27.060 |
That's the scene that we see as Jesus is coming down, coming into Jerusalem. 00:57:33.060 |
In fact, in the Gospel of Matthew, he said that the crowd was stirred. 00:57:42.060 |
And you can already tell what that word means is where we get the word seismic, earthquake. 00:57:49.060 |
In fact, this took place during Passover and by the number of lambs that they have record 00:57:56.060 |
of that was sacrificed at the temple at that time, they believe that the number of people 00:58:01.060 |
that possibly could have been in Jerusalem at that time was over 1.5 million people. 00:58:07.060 |
Now, I don't think it was 1.5 million people greeting Jesus, but this was not any normal 00:58:15.060 |
This was probably the biggest crowd that Jesus has seen. 00:58:18.060 |
There were rumors about Jesus raising Lazarus, it was a very prominent family. 00:58:30.060 |
I mean, this man just raised Lazarus, how are we going to get rid of this guy now? 00:58:35.060 |
So you can imagine the electricity and yet, right in the middle of that, we see Jesus 00:58:43.060 |
You know what's interesting to me when I read that? 00:58:44.980 |
Is that there is no explanation, there's no description of the disciples coming to Jesus 00:58:57.260 |
I can imagine the disciples were thinking that when they come into Jerusalem that this 00:59:02.580 |
And that's why they were constantly asking, "When the kingdom comes, when these people 00:59:07.020 |
finally recognize who you are like we have, and they come and they make you king, who's 00:59:12.660 |
going to sit on the left and who's going to sit on the right?" 00:59:15.380 |
I'll bet you the disciples were elated over this. 00:59:19.700 |
And there's no description, there's no mention of this, of the disciples like, "What is he 00:59:28.500 |
After everything was done, Jesus was resurrected, maybe after the ascension, Jesus cried. 00:59:33.700 |
Remember when Jesus cried at that, when he was coming down? 00:59:38.820 |
You know, just like in any other, they didn't understand. 00:59:41.540 |
They were too afraid to ask because every time they asked, Jesus would say, "Why didn't 00:59:51.180 |
So my guess is they were probably afraid to ask and it wasn't until after the resurrection 01:00:02.060 |
In the midst of probably one of the biggest parade that Israel has seen, Jesus, the one 01:00:11.140 |
And it's kind of like you're in a birthday party and everybody's singing "Happy Birthday," 01:00:15.500 |
confetti falling everywhere, and the guy who's supposed to blow out the candy is just weeping. 01:00:20.100 |
And everybody just ignores him because they want the cake. 01:00:26.260 |
This is the best cake that they're going to ever have. 01:00:29.380 |
So the person that they're celebrating is weeping, but they're just eager to get to 01:00:35.580 |
Jesus is weeping, they're not asking what's going on. 01:00:40.220 |
But by his own words he describes, he says in verse 42 of Luke chapter 19, "If you had 01:00:45.980 |
known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, now they have been hidden 01:00:51.300 |
from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade 01:00:56.100 |
against you and surround you and hem you on every side. 01:01:00.020 |
And they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not 01:01:03.660 |
leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." 01:01:12.260 |
I remember years ago, you know, we were coming out of China and one year SARS broke out, 01:01:19.020 |
you know, in China and maybe about a month before we were supposed to go, we got information 01:01:25.540 |
from our denomination saying, "You guys can't get in there. 01:01:27.700 |
China is not allowing anybody from outside to come in because of this outbreak." 01:01:31.780 |
So we ended up scrambling and last minute we ended up going to Romania. 01:01:37.420 |
And so our ministry is different in Romania because we can't speak their language, so 01:01:41.220 |
we made it into this presentation and at that time, you know, body worship at our church 01:01:47.780 |
So we had, you know, some of our ladies and the guys, we practiced body worship and then 01:01:52.700 |
we gave a short sermon and so we have this skit presentation that we prepared. 01:01:56.020 |
We were eager to go to Romania and I remember the very first church that we went to, you 01:02:01.620 |
know, our ladies were doing the, you know, the body worship and give a short testimony 01:02:05.940 |
and I saw a lady way in the back and this is probably about a group of about 200 people 01:02:13.620 |
And she was weeping and crying and saying something and the whole time I was thinking, 01:02:21.220 |
She must have, I mean we can't speak the language but clearly she understands the Holy 01:02:26.420 |
And so after it was over, I went to one of the translators and said, "Hey, I saw that 01:02:41.740 |
Because it's the complete opposite of what I was thinking. 01:02:46.060 |
She said, "How can they do this in the church?" 01:02:51.060 |
Romania is such a, it's such a conservative, you know, and we got rebuked for smiling up 01:02:59.220 |
And I remember that just deflated everything that I, I was so excited. 01:03:02.980 |
We had, we had seven more days of this, you know, and I couldn't tell our team because 01:03:09.180 |
if I told our team, because it was the very first church, like every church we go to, 01:03:12.300 |
they're going to, people are going to hate us. 01:03:13.300 |
But we're going to do it anyway because we're here, so let's do it, right? 01:03:17.020 |
I kept it to myself until after it was over and I told them what happened. 01:03:20.740 |
But it completely deflated everything, right? 01:03:25.660 |
Imagine this, imagine this party, this, this huge celebration and Jesus is saying, "You 01:03:37.820 |
What they were seeking and what Jesus was seeing was not just different. 01:03:46.900 |
It was going to crash big time and Jesus says, and it's fulfilled in AD 70, that the Romans 01:03:53.400 |
came in and completely destroyed the temple, never to be established again, at least in 01:04:00.980 |
And Israel, as an official nation, basically disappears. 01:04:05.820 |
He appears a couple thousand years later to fulfill God's promise, but they completely 01:04:18.260 |
If that was the case and He knew that they were going to reject Him, why walk in knowing 01:04:25.940 |
Knowing that they would reject Him, the very people that He loved and cared for? 01:04:34.540 |
You know in Luke chapter 15, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and because He was hanging out 01:04:39.900 |
with sinners, He said, "How can you, if you're a rabbi, how can you be hanging around with 01:04:44.100 |
And Jesus gives three parables and the first one is the lost sheep. 01:04:47.820 |
In the lost sheep, you have out of the hundred, one sheep strays, the shepherd goes after 01:04:56.720 |
And then He has the parable of the lost coin, same thing. 01:05:00.300 |
Loses a coin, sweeps the whole house until they find the lost coin and then they celebrate. 01:05:06.580 |
And then the prodigal son, the lost son is mentioned. 01:05:11.500 |
But what's different about the lost son is, he's not searching. 01:05:19.620 |
He said, "My life will be so much better and I know you have money and that's all I need. 01:05:27.500 |
The father actually gives him his portion, he goes out and he squanders it and it's only 01:05:31.700 |
when he is living in squalor, he wasted all of his money and realizes that it would be 01:05:36.420 |
better to be his father's servant than to be his son. 01:05:39.960 |
So with his tail behind, you know, with his tail under his knees, I forgot what that's 01:05:47.660 |
-- between his legs, okay, I'm a fop, alright. 01:05:54.100 |
So between his legs he comes crawling back in and the father is eagerly waiting, eagerly 01:06:03.380 |
He sees his son way off in the yonder and he goes out and grabs him, hugs him, puts 01:06:09.020 |
his cloak back on, puts his slippers back on, he ran back in and celebrates. 01:06:13.720 |
And obviously the older brother is like, "Man, I've done nothing, you know, I didn't do all 01:06:20.280 |
But the point of the whole story is his father released him because the only way to get him 01:06:34.500 |
The reason why he didn't reject him is because he knew. 01:06:37.660 |
Even though as he was weeping over them, knowing the judgment that was coming, he knew that 01:06:44.100 |
he had to wait until his resurrection, until they repent to come back to him. 01:06:50.260 |
Isaiah 49, 15 says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion in the 01:06:58.140 |
Even these they may forget but I will not forget you." 01:07:08.820 |
And over again the Bible tells us that he did what he did because he had compassion. 01:07:14.100 |
Matthew 9, 36, "Seeing the people he felt compassion for them because they were distressed 01:07:19.460 |
and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." 01:07:22.020 |
Matthew 14, 14, "When he went ashore he saw the great crowd and he had compassion on them 01:07:30.700 |
Matthew 15, 32, "Defeating of the five thousand, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 01:07:36.380 |
'I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have 01:07:40.860 |
nothing to eat and I am unwilling to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way.'" 01:07:48.060 |
Just in case any of us thinks that Jesus didn't care whether they ate or not. 01:07:52.800 |
Because Jesus said, "You're coming to me because you ate the bread." 01:07:57.380 |
It wasn't because Jesus didn't care that they were hungry. 01:08:01.420 |
It says he fed them because he was compassionate. 01:08:04.740 |
Their problem was they thought that if they ate that they've arrived to their destination. 01:08:22.060 |
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Isaiah 42, 3 where Jesus quotes in the synagogue 01:08:28.260 |
in the beginning of his ministry and he says, "A bruised reed he will not break and a dimly 01:08:45.980 |
No amount of love of your husband, your wife, your mother, your father, your best friend 01:08:53.380 |
can be as patient with us as God has been with sinners. 01:09:02.780 |
Jesus came into Jerusalem knowing he would be rejected, weeping over the sins of his 01:09:19.300 |
When he came in the people were shouting "Hosanna!" 01:09:22.340 |
And the word "Hosanna" literally means to save us. 01:09:24.980 |
But what they were yelling was not save us from our sins. 01:09:35.940 |
Save us so that we may become the great nation. 01:09:48.620 |
And "Shalom" had deep theological meaning behind it. 01:09:54.100 |
All throughout the Old Testament we are told that God will bring peace. 01:09:59.140 |
So they quoted this, you know, basically they were saying "Shalom." 01:10:07.740 |
Kind of like when somebody sneezes we say "God bless you." 01:10:11.020 |
It was their way of saying God bless you, God bless you. 01:10:13.300 |
But their idea of blessing was no different than the world. 01:10:21.500 |
The law that God gave them was to reveal their sins so that sin may become utterly sinful. 01:10:34.860 |
But in the midst of all of this Jesus is weeping. 01:10:38.220 |
He says judgment is coming because you did not know. 01:10:40.900 |
He says only in verse 42, if you had known in this day, even you the things which make 01:10:49.020 |
Yes, God promised peace when the Messiah came. 01:10:53.580 |
The donkey that he rode to come in signified that peace. 01:10:58.980 |
But the peace that they were looking for and the peace that they wanted was on a collision 01:11:05.300 |
Jesus says in John 8 36, so if the Son makes you free you will be free indeed. 01:11:14.820 |
But again their idea of freedom was freedom from tyranny of the Romans. 01:11:20.780 |
As soon as they realized that Jesus wasn't going to fulfill their longing, they didn't 01:11:29.980 |
But Jesus during his ministry made it clear to his disciples, John 14 27, peace I leave 01:11:36.580 |
with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. 01:11:43.300 |
The power of his love, people who are recipients of this love have peace. 01:11:50.300 |
Even in the midst of storm, even if we lose our jobs, even if we get sick, even if we 01:12:05.520 |
So whatever we miss out on here, it's just temporary anyway. 01:12:11.140 |
So the biggest problem that we've had, we've had our own sins, the consequence of our sins, 01:12:18.140 |
he was crucified on the cross with Jesus Christ. 01:12:21.220 |
And that's what he means when he says, my peace I give unto you. 01:12:23.820 |
And it's a peace that the world does not understand. 01:12:26.980 |
This is a peace that will only come when we have peace with God. 01:12:32.340 |
That's why in the Bible, in the New Testament, in the church, the common greeting in the 01:12:47.460 |
The New Testament believers and apostles were saying no, shalom. 01:12:52.140 |
This shalom is going to come by the grace of God. 01:12:56.940 |
And that's what he was referring to on the cross, his death and resurrection. 01:13:00.700 |
We will never have peace of God until we have peace with God. 01:13:10.480 |
In Philippians 4, 11-13, apostle Paul, sitting in prison, possibly, possibly this prison 01:13:20.400 |
And he says this, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever 01:13:27.340 |
Now when he says I have learned the secret of being content, he's not talking about deep 01:13:32.360 |
He's not talking about going to woods and focusing on an object and you know, and saying 01:13:37.680 |
like meditate and you know, like tap into your inner self and find peace. 01:13:43.120 |
It wasn't something that he learned from you know, like discipleship and going to some 01:13:49.960 |
He's talking about his connection with Christ. 01:13:52.120 |
I have learned the secret of being content in every circumstance. 01:13:56.580 |
I know how to get along in humble means, which he is in now. 01:14:00.880 |
I also know how to live in prosperity, which he used to live. 01:14:05.520 |
And many prosperous people were supporting his ministry. 01:14:09.760 |
In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, 01:14:14.160 |
both of having abundance and suffering in need. 01:14:16.840 |
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 01:14:20.360 |
You know, I bet you many of you who are sports fans know that verse very well. 01:14:24.240 |
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 01:14:26.560 |
Seth Curry has that on his Philippians 4, 13. 01:14:29.240 |
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 01:14:32.160 |
That passage was not about dominating your opponents in the basketball court. 01:14:37.200 |
That's not about CEOs of companies saying that our company is going to dominate this 01:14:42.200 |
Apostle Paul is talking about finding contentment in Christ that supersedes every other contentment. 01:14:50.520 |
So whether the storm comes or whether we are in peace according to the world, whether the 01:14:56.900 |
pestilence passes us or whether it visits us, whether our business does well or it doesn't 01:15:04.300 |
do well, I have learned the secret of being content. 01:15:09.320 |
And that's the powerful love of Jesus Christ. 01:15:13.940 |
And this is the love that the world cannot understand. 01:15:18.000 |
That's why he says when we are anxious in Philippians 4, 6, and 7 to pray, to come to 01:15:23.940 |
But in everything by prayer and suffocation, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made 01:15:28.860 |
And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension that the world does not understand will guard 01:15:38.500 |
Again let me read a final passage of encouragement, 2 Corinthians 4, 7-12. 01:15:44.700 |
This powerful love of Christ, what it does to people who are completely, completely connected 01:15:53.860 |
Paul says in describing his life after meeting Christ, the secret that he's talking about 01:15:58.500 |
in Philippians, 2 Corinthians 4, 7-12, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." 01:16:04.580 |
In other words, it may seem common, it doesn't seem like a big deal. 01:16:13.620 |
So that the surpassing greatness of the power of the will of God and not from ourselves, 01:16:27.180 |
We're perplexed, meaning Apostle Paul doesn't understand everything. 01:16:31.540 |
And there's a lot of things that happen in the world that we don't understand either. 01:16:36.540 |
Paul says he is perplexed but not in despair. 01:16:47.500 |
Always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may 01:16:55.780 |
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the 01:17:00.980 |
life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 01:17:13.380 |
God's love is deliberate, God's love is patient, and God's love is powerful. 01:17:20.540 |
So I pray that during this season of anxiety and uncertainty that Christ would truly become 01:17:32.180 |
We sang this last week but I want to - I asked the praise team to sing it one more time because 01:17:40.980 |
It is well with my soul and I ask that when we sing it that it would truly be our confession. 01:17:48.660 |
And I know there's a lot of you who are very anxious because you're at the hospitals and 01:17:53.380 |
you're being exposed to this virus that's going on, the uncertainties of what's happening. 01:18:01.220 |
Some of you just started a business and you're really suffering. 01:18:07.980 |
Some of you I've been hearing through the grapevine have been laid off and we don't 01:18:12.180 |
know if it's going to be a furlough, we don't know when this goes back, what the economy 01:18:17.340 |
Right now there's a lot of anxiousness and uncertainty. 01:18:23.380 |
The man who wrote it, Horatio Spafford, was a man who knew suffering very intimately. 01:18:29.060 |
You know there was a great fire in Chicago that wiped out his business and he was facing 01:18:33.980 |
possibly losing everything that he had and he planned, after that he planned a trip with 01:18:41.540 |
his family or to go and took a boat and he sent his family ahead and a great storm came 01:18:47.500 |
and took out his family and only his wife was saved from that. 01:18:53.460 |
I mean he suffered greatly and he received a letter from his wife and his wife started 01:19:03.860 |
So you can imagine the pain that this man was in. 01:19:08.060 |
He was in a circumstance where he could have easily asked, "Why? 01:19:13.140 |
I mean he was a man of God and yet why would you do this to me? 01:19:24.040 |
And so look at the words that he pens to describe a man who's been affected by God's deliberate, 01:19:34.980 |
When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever 01:19:41.260 |
my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. 01:19:48.700 |
Verse two, though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let the blessed assurance 01:19:55.780 |
control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my 01:20:03.380 |
Verse three, my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the 01:20:08.380 |
whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. 01:20:12.700 |
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul. 01:20:21.100 |
Heavenly Father we pray that this Palm Sunday that we would not simply spend it like any 01:20:28.260 |
other week, any other Sunday, but help us Lord God to join the chorus of millions and 01:20:37.060 |
millions of Christians around the world remembering what you have done for us. 01:20:42.980 |
I pray Lord God that your love would convict us, revive us, renew us and that through all 01:20:50.260 |
that is happening now that you would bring revival, a greater affection for your name, 01:20:56.940 |
greater anchoring toward Christ may result from all of this. 01:21:27.660 |
When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, 01:21:49.660 |
whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. 01:22:17.660 |
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, 01:22:28.660 |
let this bless the surest control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate 01:23:23.660 |
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole, 01:23:46.660 |
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. 01:23:56.660 |
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. 01:24:31.660 |
And Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sighed, 01:24:53.660 |
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend. 01:25:56.660 |
Heavenly Father, as we walk through this last week of Christ, 01:26:03.660 |
help us, Lord God, to engage our heart, our mind, 01:26:08.660 |
whether we are busy working or whether we are home. 01:26:12.660 |
Help us, Lord God, to gaze our eyes upon Christ. 01:26:17.660 |
I pray the things that you've already implanted in our hearts, 01:26:20.660 |
help us to meditate through it, not just waiting for this to end, 01:26:25.660 |
but to contemplate deeply why you have allowed this to begin with. 01:26:35.660 |
I pray that at the end of this, if it is your will,