back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Worship Service 3.28.2021
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Good morning church family, happy Lord's Day. 00:11:55.000 |
Also happy Palm Sunday as we come before our God, the week before Easter Sunday. 00:12:02.000 |
We're going to be talking through why we're here, what our God deserves in our worship, and we're going to sing this first hymn, "Jesus Paid It All." 00:16:16.000 |
All right, good morning. Welcome to Breen Community Church's service. Those of 00:16:23.000 |
you online as well. Let me cover over a few announcements. We have a busy week 00:16:28.280 |
this week. We have Easter, Easter week. So normally throughout this year, I mean throughout 00:16:34.520 |
the this time of the year. Today is Palm Sunday. It's going to kick off the Passion Week and then 00:16:40.120 |
each day, Monday through Thursday, we're going to be having nightly devotions at 7 30 p.m to 8 30. 00:16:45.880 |
And so there's going to be one of the pastors or the leaders are going to be going over what Jesus 00:16:50.040 |
did that day, Monday through Thursday. And then there's going to be some testimonies and so we're 00:16:54.680 |
going to have normal worship. We're going to do this live, meaning that we're going to have people 00:16:58.760 |
join here and then those of you who can't make it, we will also have live stream. So we're going to 00:17:03.240 |
try to distance ourselves. If it gets too big, we're going to have people outside as well. 00:17:07.000 |
So this is going on from Monday, Thursday, Monday through Thursday and then Saturday, 00:17:12.600 |
sorry, Friday, we're going to be having Good Friday service from 7 30 to 9 p.m. And again, 00:17:17.480 |
we are expecting a larger number. So we'll be people here outside and possibly even upstairs. 00:17:23.480 |
We're going to be doing that this Friday and we're going to be having communion to remember Christ's 00:17:28.440 |
death and suffering for us. And then early rise service next Sunday. We weren't able to do this 00:17:35.240 |
last year because of the pandemic, but we are going to be having our normal early rise service at 6 a.m 00:17:41.320 |
on the courtyard. Please try to come a little bit earlier because we're going to start right at 6 a.m 00:17:46.280 |
and the service isn't going to be lasting, you know, a long time. So if you come 10, 15 minutes 00:17:51.720 |
late, you're going to miss a good chunk of the service. So try to come a little bit earlier, 00:17:55.000 |
maybe about 10 minutes before, and then we're going to start the service right at 6 a.m. Okay. 00:17:59.960 |
And that'll give you plenty of time afterwards to go home, take a nap or to go out and eat and 00:18:04.440 |
come back. Okay. If you're going to come to the earlier, the earlier service at nine o'clock. So 00:18:09.320 |
again, in order to do that, we need a few more volunteers for Good Friday parking. 00:18:15.400 |
So the parking team has asked if we can get a few more people to volunteer, come a little bit 00:18:19.960 |
earlier and direct traffic that day and also for Easter Sunday service as well. So if you are able 00:18:25.960 |
to sign up, come a little bit earlier to help with that, please let them know. And again, the signup 00:18:30.920 |
sheets will be on the Facebook or you can ask one of the welcome team members and they'll be able to 00:18:35.160 |
direct you toward the right place. And again, another one, a Berean membership class. So if 00:18:41.880 |
you are applying to become a member and this is not a, you know, basic Christianity class, but a 00:18:46.520 |
Berean membership class, the new one is going to be starting on April 18th. So it's going to be in 00:18:52.280 |
a few weeks. It happens on Sunday morning upstairs and at nine to 1030 a.m. for eight weeks. So if 00:19:00.680 |
you are interested in becoming a member or you know someone that, that wants to take that class 00:19:04.520 |
to become a member, contact Pastor Nate and his email, again, I have it, but you don't have it, 00:19:11.000 |
but it'd be on Facebook. Just let them know. And again, let the welcome team know and they'll 00:19:15.480 |
direct you to the right place to do that. Okay. All right. So after I pray for the offering, 00:19:21.240 |
we have our brother, Brian Lee, who's going to come and give his testimony. He'll be baptized 00:19:26.280 |
this morning. Okay. Let's pray for the offering. Again, those of you who are online and those of 00:19:30.760 |
you who are here, you can give electronically and then the physical offering box is in the 00:19:34.200 |
back over there. Okay. All right. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray and invite you, Lord God, 00:19:44.920 |
asking you to mold us, renew us, strengthen us and revive us. We thank you for what this week 00:19:53.240 |
represents for all of us. Help us, Lord God, not to simply participate, Lord, in a religious manner 00:20:00.280 |
or out of duty, but I pray that you would renew our hearts, renew our commitment, and that every 00:20:07.240 |
part of what we do would cause us, Lord God, to be softened, that we may be molded as you are the 00:20:11.800 |
powder and we are the clay. We ask, Lord, that you would anoint even our offering. Help us to give it 00:20:18.280 |
to you as an act of worship, act of surrender, acknowledging your lordship over our lives. 00:20:23.560 |
It may be multiplied for your use that the gospel may continue to spread and that more and more 00:20:29.800 |
people may know what you have done for us. So we pray for grace and guidance. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:20:59.000 |
Church family, let's all rise together as we come before God and singing. 00:21:17.880 |
Lord, you're calling me to come and behold the wondrous cross to explore the depths of grace 00:21:28.840 |
came to me at such a cost where your boundless love conquered my boundless sin 00:21:41.640 |
and mercy's arms are open wide my heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of 00:21:54.440 |
Calvary but every breath or how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me Lord take me deeper 00:22:25.480 |
singer's final eternal joy in the triumph of your wings by our savior's cruising flow holy wrath 00:22:40.920 |
has been relieved and your saints below join with your saints alone rejoicing in the risen lamb 00:22:56.600 |
singing out my heart my heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary 00:23:05.320 |
with every breath or how I long to sing of Jesus who died one more time my heart my heart is filled 00:23:15.800 |
with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary with every breath or how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me Lord take me deeper into the glories of Calvary 00:23:50.760 |
for all eternity Lord for all eternity we will sing worthy our God has set us free to sing the glories of Calvary 00:24:09.720 |
for all eternity we will sing worthy our God has set us free to sing the glories of Calvary 00:24:58.600 |
at the cross at the cross I surrender my life I'm in of you I'm in of you where your love ran red and my sin washed white 00:25:33.480 |
there's a place where mercy reigns never down there's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide 00:25:59.480 |
where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood comes flowing down 00:26:15.480 |
at the cross at the cross I surrender my life I'm in of you I'm in of you where your love ran red and my sin washed white 00:26:49.480 |
there's a place where sin and shame are found within us where my heart is pleased with God and forgiveness 00:27:13.480 |
where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood comes flowing down 00:27:29.480 |
at the cross at the cross I surrender my life I'm in of you I'm in of you where your love ran red and my sin washed white 00:27:49.480 |
I owe all to you I owe all to you hear my hopeless cry hear our holy cry hear I bow hear I bow 00:28:09.480 |
hear your arms open wide hear you say my life hear I bow hear I bow 00:28:21.480 |
at the cross at the cross I surrender my life I'm in of you I'm in of you where your love ran red and my sin washed white 00:28:41.480 |
I owe all to you I owe all to you at the cross at the cross I surrender my life I'm in of you I'm in of you 00:29:01.480 |
where your love ran red and my sin washed white I owe all to you I owe all to you Jesus 00:29:33.480 |
hi Berean family my name is Brian Lay and I'm a fourth year at the Berean College Ministry and I'd like to share how God has worked in my life 00:29:57.480 |
so it's hard to know what life was like without knowing God because all my life I felt that God was always there I was raised in a Christian household 00:30:07.480 |
my mom would take us to church every Sunday we'd have nightly bible studies and we'd pray every night I grew up with friends and family who were Christian 00:30:17.480 |
and it felt like I was surrounded by God's love during this time I remember absorbing all the things from church and the things that my mom was teaching me 00:30:27.480 |
and I took them as truth because that was the only thing I knew I was challenged though early on that I had to make my faith my own and that this can't just be second handed for me 00:30:39.480 |
but even with that naturally I'm just a very obedient person and I like to please my parents and so even making faith my own felt a little forced as well 00:30:51.480 |
however there were times though growing up in middle school high school where I felt convicted by the gospel and God's gift of salvation 00:31:01.480 |
I remember at a retreat I thought that I felt God's love and the idea of Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross really compelled me 00:31:12.480 |
and so my eyes were really open to just sin in my life and what Jesus did on the cross 00:31:20.480 |
as growing up I didn't really see my own sin I thought just because I grew up in a Christian household that I was inherently saved but that was far from the case 00:31:33.480 |
I was a sinner and I was against God and just because I may have grew up set apart I still needed to look deep into my own sin 00:31:48.480 |
and that was kind of shown throughout high school where at my home church things changed leadership changed and every Sunday it started becoming just topical 00:32:00.480 |
and it was very devoid of scripture and bible and I knew that this was wrong I knew that at this church I wasn't being spiritually fed 00:32:09.480 |
and the only reason why I stayed was because of the friends that I had made since childhood and so even because of this I still continued to stay and I didn't even pursue God on my own 00:32:20.480 |
however I knew that as humans we would sin and I always thought that even though I was a sinner God's grace he forgives us 00:32:32.480 |
and even though that's true I neglected the importance of genuine repentance and fully surrendering myself to Jesus and that would break the cycle of sin 00:32:41.480 |
and so in college I started going to a bible teaching church but I failed to really integrate myself in the community 00:32:51.480 |
and so each Sunday I would just go receiving head knowledge of the bible and the scripture but never actually applying it in my life 00:33:00.480 |
and it wasn't until I came to Marin just this year that I really felt convicted by what God was telling me 00:33:07.480 |
that before God I stand before a righteous God and that I am fully just and through his son's sacrifice that I can now have that relationship with him 00:33:23.480 |
and that was something that I failed to connect all those years before that now talking to God is not just someone I'm speaking out just randomly or blindly 00:33:33.480 |
but I now have a relationship with him and that has been restored through Jesus' sacrifice 00:33:39.480 |
and so from that I really started to see fruit in my life where I didn't see before 00:33:46.480 |
now I have a need to spread the gospel whenever I can to any unbelieving friends or family 00:33:55.480 |
just having now I have that faith even though before in college where it was just idle and dry and I would use Christianity as a crutch 00:34:09.480 |
now I see it as my faith is unshaken I can completely devote my life to God and now I know that I am filled with the Holy Spirit 00:34:19.480 |
and not something that I'm just surrounded by just because of friends and family 00:34:24.480 |
I have now a desire to build my relationship with Jesus because I want to read intently his word 00:34:31.480 |
I know that my body was purchased by the death of Jesus and I need to submit to him through complete surrenderance and devotion to Christ 00:34:38.480 |
I want to strive to become a better brother, a better son, not just in my family but with Christ 00:34:44.480 |
and I know that truly it's only through Christ that I can accomplish all these things 00:34:54.480 |
now looking back at my life I know that God has been sovereign everywhere 00:34:59.480 |
just from my upbringing, from where I went to church, to who I made friends with 00:35:03.480 |
I know that his perfect plan has brought me from death and into his loving presence 00:35:08.480 |
and the greatest showcase of his love I think is from Romans 5a where he says 00:35:12.480 |
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us 00:35:41.480 |
Brian, you understand when you go into the water you're united with Christ in his death 00:35:45.480 |
and when you come out you're united to his resurrected life 00:35:50.480 |
I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 00:36:09.480 |
Okay, thank you. If we can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 19 00:36:15.480 |
I want to read Luke chapter 19 verse 28 through 44 00:36:25.480 |
and then I'm not going to read it but the text that we're going to be in this morning is in Zechariah 00:36:42.480 |
After he had said these things he was going on ahead going up to Jerusalem 00:36:47.480 |
when he approached Bethphage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet 00:36:53.480 |
he sent two of the disciples saying, "Go into the village ahead of you 00:36:57.480 |
there as you enter you will find a cold tide on which no one yet has ever sat 00:37:04.480 |
if anyone asks you why are you untying it you shall say the Lord has need of it 00:37:09.480 |
so those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them 00:37:13.480 |
as they were untying the coat its owner said to them why are you untying the coat 00:37:20.480 |
they brought it to Jesus and they threw their coats on the coat and put Jesus on it 00:37:25.480 |
as he was going they were spreading their coats on the road 00:37:28.480 |
as soon as he was approaching near the descent of the mount of Olives 00:37:31.480 |
the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully 00:37:34.480 |
with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen 00:37:37.480 |
shouting blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord 00:37:42.480 |
some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him teacher rebuke your disciples 00:37:46.480 |
but Jesus answered I tell you if these become silent the stones will cry out 00:37:51.480 |
when he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and wept over it saying 00:37:55.480 |
if you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace 00:37:58.480 |
but now they have been hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you 00:38:03.480 |
when your enemies will throw a barricade against you and wrestle around you 00:38:07.480 |
and hem you in every side and they will level you to the ground 00:38:11.480 |
and your children within you and they will not leave in you one stone upon another 00:38:15.480 |
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation let's pray 00:38:19.480 |
Heavenly Father we pray for guidance we pray for your Holy Spirit to convict and lead us 00:38:31.480 |
that would cause us Lord God to see the depth of your grace and love for us 00:38:35.480 |
Lord as we begin this Passion Week with Palm Sunday 00:38:39.480 |
help us to understand what you were doing what you are doing 00:38:43.480 |
that our hearts may be surrendered to you we pray for your blessing over this time 00:38:49.480 |
you know as I've already said this is a very busy week you know 00:38:54.480 |
probably the busiest week out of the whole year for us as a church 00:38:57.480 |
because every single day we have something filled 00:39:00.480 |
and so at the end of it usually Sunday night you know we're 00:39:03.480 |
especially the pastoral staff and the leaders are pretty exhausted 00:39:06.480 |
you know and I'm sure you guys are exhausted you know Sunday morning 00:39:09.480 |
we wake up early in the morning give our devotion and 00:39:12.480 |
and then you know there's a lot of things going on this week 00:39:16.480 |
and the reason why we do this every year is because 00:39:24.480 |
you know the whole thing that we've been talking about in Hebrews 00:39:28.480 |
is our natural tendency is we get caught up and tangled with 00:39:32.480 |
you know everyday things and raising children paying bills 00:39:35.480 |
concerned about what's going on whether it's political economical 00:39:39.480 |
and so our natural tendency is to just kind of drift from God 00:39:46.480 |
things that he plays all these rituals and sacrifices and festivals 00:39:51.480 |
in order to cause them to stop break into their normal routine 00:40:01.480 |
especially this year right because the pandemic 00:40:05.480 |
you know when we survey the church when we survey what's going on outside the church 00:40:09.480 |
we hear a lot of people saying that they're fatigued they're tired they're distracted 00:40:13.480 |
and I'm sure most of you are sick and tired of being on the zoom 00:40:17.480 |
you know we're just waiting for us to get to what is it orange and then hopefully yellow 00:40:21.480 |
soon you know and then whatever normal is to get back to normal 00:40:25.480 |
so we don't have to be wearing these silly masks you know that we'd be done away with 00:40:34.480 |
and it's not just because of the pandemic our natural tendency is 00:40:38.480 |
when we are not striving after God we don't drift toward God 00:40:42.480 |
we don't sit there and get entangled and get busy and take care of our children 00:40:46.480 |
and then wake up six months later and say oh I feel this passion for Christ 00:40:50.480 |
we don't drift toward God we drift away from God 00:40:54.480 |
so if we're not deliberate about keeping our heart focused on Christ 00:40:58.480 |
if we're not deliberate about anchoring ourselves to Christ we naturally 00:41:02.480 |
have a tendency to drift and so these times are very 00:41:06.480 |
important for us in order for us to renew our first love we can go through the rituals 00:41:10.480 |
like yeah I've been coming up to Bible study I haven't missed church and I haven't done I haven't missed this 00:41:14.480 |
and I haven't missed that but again our natural tendency 00:41:18.480 |
is to to the minimum we just kind of go through the motion 00:41:22.480 |
we check out the box but at the end we find our hearts so hardened 00:41:26.480 |
away from God and sometimes we get so hardened that we even 00:41:30.480 |
question do I even believe this? So we want to take 00:41:38.480 |
going over each day and I hope that what you get 00:41:42.480 |
out of it this week is not simply logically oh this is 00:41:46.480 |
what happened in history this is what he did in the first day second day third day 00:41:50.480 |
hopefully through each of these events that you recognize that Christ 00:41:54.480 |
was deliberately walking toward the cross and how each 00:41:58.480 |
one of these events led him to that point so that when we come and have communion 00:42:02.480 |
on Friday that communion that we really have a rich understanding 00:42:06.480 |
of what it is that we're participating and we're hoping that by next Sunday when we 00:42:10.480 |
come to celebrate Easter that our singing would be louder than normal 00:42:14.480 |
right that our praising would be louder than our usual way 00:42:18.480 |
of singing that hopefully it'll kind of cause us to be focused 00:42:26.480 |
today is Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is the kick off of the day where Jesus is 00:42:30.480 |
deliberately riding on his donkey headed toward Jerusalem 00:42:34.480 |
and the reason why this is so significant is up to all up to this point 00:42:38.480 |
Jesus was very very quiet about his identity even 00:42:42.480 |
though the crescendo of excitement toward him has been 00:42:46.480 |
growing and and it's it's headed toward that place 00:42:58.480 |
you know knock the first domino and in each domino that 00:43:02.480 |
again is going to that's going to fall is going to ultimately lead him toward that cross 00:43:10.480 |
in the four Gospels there's maybe about 10 to 12 major 00:43:14.480 |
events that are recorded on all four Gospels so we know that every one of these 00:43:18.480 |
events are extremely important because as you guys know 00:43:22.480 |
each one of these Gospels are different eyewitnesses different 00:43:26.480 |
testimonies where you have Matthew Mark Luke and John giving different a Jewish 00:43:30.480 |
angle a Gentile angle you know Jesus's humanity angle his deity 00:43:34.480 |
angle and so each one of these angles highlight different aspects 00:43:38.480 |
of Jesus's identity and what he has done that's why even though they're talking about the same 00:43:42.480 |
life of Jesus that you're going to hear different things so 00:43:46.480 |
when something is repeated you know it's important it was important enough 00:43:50.480 |
that they all highlighted it the triumphal entry is 00:43:54.480 |
one of those events one of those dozen events that are highlighted but among 00:43:58.480 |
the same events if you look at the four Gospels you'll notice that there 00:44:02.480 |
are certain things that one person emphasizes and certain things that another person does 00:44:10.480 |
they have they talk about different angles there's one event in the triumphal entry 00:44:14.480 |
that is mentioned in detail in all four Gospels 00:44:18.480 |
and that detail is Jesus getting the donkey and riding 00:44:26.480 |
things that could have been highlighted in him coming into Jerusalem telling his 00:44:30.480 |
disciples to go get the donkey and then to tell them what they're going to say why are 00:44:34.480 |
you taking my donkey? Well the Lord has need of it and it's all okay 00:44:42.480 |
what is the significance of this donkey that is highlighted in this detail 00:44:46.480 |
in all four Gospels so what I want to go over this morning 00:44:54.480 |
Jesus was declaring and he was fulfilling in the riding of the donkey 00:44:58.480 |
there is it is not some random event that takes place oh he came into Jerusalem 00:45:02.480 |
he just happened to be riding on a donkey there's something about this 00:45:06.480 |
riding of the donkey that was highlighted for us that we are to take some time 00:45:10.480 |
to examine carefully what is its significance so 00:45:14.480 |
first one why did he ride the donkey number one 00:45:18.480 |
Jesus rode the donkey to fulfill biblical prophecy 00:45:22.480 |
in Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 it says rejoice greatly oh daughter of Zion 00:45:26.480 |
shout in triumph oh daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you 00:45:30.480 |
he is just and endowed with salvation humble and mounted on a 00:45:34.480 |
donkey even on a colt the fold of a donkey he was fulfilling 00:45:42.480 |
to all the people who have gathered together I am that guy I am the 00:45:46.480 |
Messiah up to this point Jesus was very hush hush about his identity 00:45:50.480 |
remember every time he would fulfill a some sort of miracle he 00:45:54.480 |
would tell his disciples to keep it quiet remember the very first miracle 00:45:58.480 |
of turning water into wine Jesus tells his mother why do you 00:46:02.480 |
involve me it is not my time so up to this point 00:46:06.480 |
he would perform these miracles and people would say he must be he must be 00:46:10.480 |
but he never clearly said publicly to everybody that this is 00:46:14.480 |
who he is he kind of kept it quiet because he knew once his identity 00:46:22.480 |
it's going to lead him directly to the cross but this prophecy 00:46:26.480 |
of him riding on a donkey was not just in Zechariah in fact even 00:46:30.480 |
before that all the way up to Genesis chapter 49 verse 10 through 00:46:34.480 |
11 Jacob at the end of his life is giving blessing 00:46:38.480 |
to his 12 children and in his blessing he gets to 00:46:42.480 |
Judah and he says this the scepter shall not depart from Judah 00:46:46.480 |
in other words you're going to be a kingly line nor the ruler's staff 00:46:50.480 |
between his feet until Shiloh comes and Shiloh is 00:46:54.480 |
in reference to the Messiah and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples 00:46:58.480 |
he ties his fold to the vine and his donkey's coat to the choice 00:47:02.480 |
vine he washes his garments in wine and his robes in the blood 00:47:06.480 |
of grapes did you see that even as early as his blessing to Judah 00:47:10.480 |
it's clearly spelled out that when the Messiah comes 00:47:14.480 |
he's going to be riding on a donkey he's going to again talking about the 00:47:18.480 |
vine and the wine meaning his blood being spilled that 00:47:30.480 |
they've been saying like how are you going to recognize the Messiah well he's going to have 00:47:34.480 |
the words of God he's going to perform some miracles but when you see a man 00:47:38.480 |
coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey you know that that is going to 00:47:42.480 |
be fulfilled so Jesus for the first time in ministry is 00:47:46.480 |
publicly declaring to everybody there I am that man 00:48:02.480 |
that he made some poor choices and maybe he shouldn't have cleansed the temple 00:48:06.480 |
and he got the you know the leaders angry and that's why they did that maybe 00:48:10.480 |
he shouldn't have chosen Judas and betray him maybe he shouldn't have been 00:48:14.480 |
praying out there at night it didn't happen to him Jesus says 00:48:18.480 |
by his own words no one takes my life I lay it down on my 00:48:22.480 |
own accord and I take it up he says he did it he 00:48:26.480 |
planned to do it in fact the Bible has over 300 different 00:48:30.480 |
prophecies about Jesus' life his disciples his birth 00:48:34.480 |
the place of birth betrayal crucifixion how he's going to be crucified 00:48:38.480 |
his resurrection over 300 prophecies that were given 00:48:42.480 |
in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled in his birth life 00:48:50.480 |
every part of what Jesus was doing was planned and was 00:48:58.480 |
23 verse 19 it says God is not man that he should lie 00:49:02.480 |
nor the son of man that he should repent has he said and will he not do it or has 00:49:10.480 |
whenever you go on a job interview right you want to know is he faithful can 00:49:14.480 |
we rely on that person does he say what he says he's going to do 00:49:18.480 |
or maybe you have friends or maybe you have people in your community 00:49:22.480 |
but if he says it you can trust him if she says it you can trust him 00:49:26.480 |
so this statement in and of itself is a beautiful 00:49:30.480 |
statement that God does what he says he's going to do 00:49:34.480 |
so without any context that statement alone is a very 00:49:38.480 |
honorable respectable character to have but when you 00:49:46.480 |
when you put that in the context of our own history that because 00:49:50.480 |
God said he will do it think about how many times 00:49:54.480 |
in Israel's history that God would have had every right to revoke 00:49:58.480 |
his promise I mean we don't have to go that far 00:50:02.480 |
every single king in Israel's history almost every single king 00:50:06.480 |
was evil and they led them astray they committed horrendous 00:50:10.480 |
acts of idolatry any part of Israel's history during the 00:50:14.480 |
kings he could have just stepped in and said that's enough 00:50:18.480 |
the book of Judges any one of those times oh maybe 00:50:22.480 |
through the desert they were faithful have you read the book of numbers 00:50:26.480 |
if you look at Israel's history from the moment that they are 00:50:34.480 |
every part of it is a list of every curse that 00:50:38.480 |
they deserve so before they go in God said if you 00:50:42.480 |
live righteously here's the blessing if you live unrighteously here's the 00:50:46.480 |
curse and so if you look at the history from that point on it's curse 00:50:50.480 |
after curse after curse after curse so when you look at 00:50:54.480 |
the statement numbers 23 verse 19 in the context of Israel's history 00:50:58.480 |
not even when they were in Egypt were they faithful not even prior to Egypt 00:51:02.480 |
were they faithful even the patriarchs if we study them carefully they weren't 00:51:10.480 |
says because I made my promise I will fulfill it 00:51:14.480 |
we don't even have to look at the Israelites look at ourselves 00:51:18.480 |
look at ourselves not only before we met Christ after we 00:51:22.480 |
met Christ when you look at your life carefully 00:51:26.480 |
like how many events in your life can you examine 00:51:30.480 |
and say you know what I didn't deserve the grace of God 00:51:34.480 |
God shouldn't have been patient with me how many times in our 00:51:38.480 |
lives could we stand before God saying you know what I did good 00:51:42.480 |
I am righteous I deserve the grace of God if we're honest 00:51:46.480 |
with ourselves we're no different than the Israelites and the only reason 00:51:50.480 |
why we celebrate this week is because God said he would be 00:51:54.480 |
faithful despite us and so everything that takes place 00:52:02.480 |
to go to the cross for our sins see this Palm 00:52:06.480 |
Sunday is the first domino that falls you know it's kind of like 00:52:10.480 |
the cat's out of the bag right like when we have 00:52:14.480 |
DTR determining the relationship those of you who are young 00:52:18.480 |
and cool and hip okay DTR when you have feelings for 00:52:22.480 |
somebody and you contemplate should I tell her should I not tell her 00:52:26.480 |
and then so when is the right time should I am I going to get rejected and so 00:52:30.480 |
you contemplate all of that and you weigh the pros and cons and you know you 00:52:34.480 |
gear up and then because you know once it comes out of your mouth you can't take it back 00:52:38.480 |
again I've shared before about how I approached 00:52:42.480 |
Esther and so I waited a year and a half of praying is it the right 00:52:46.480 |
time not right time resisting and finally she's going to go to Boston to go to some 00:52:50.480 |
college and so I thought maybe this is the right time 00:52:54.480 |
and thinking that maybe we're on the same page maybe she's dropping 00:52:58.480 |
hints and so okay okay I'm taking her and then I asked her what are you 00:53:06.480 |
right it wasn't what I wanted to hear and so there was obviously 00:53:10.480 |
misunderstanding but I remember when she said that 00:53:14.480 |
my heart just dropped because I prepared for so long 00:53:18.480 |
and it's like man if I knew that this was the 00:53:22.480 |
answer that was going to come I probably wouldn't have gone through the trouble to say this 00:53:26.480 |
but too late the cat's out of the bag so I used to 00:53:34.480 |
if a guy takes out a sword he should at least cut his toenails 00:53:42.480 |
in other words if you're ready for battle you should at least 00:53:46.480 |
cut your toenails like you should use the sword right anyway if you don't understand what that 00:53:50.480 |
means I remember him saying that and saying well the cat's 00:53:54.480 |
out of the bag might as well go forward right and so that's 00:53:58.480 |
how we got started and I just told her well it's too late now so this is how I feel 00:54:02.480 |
and I want to marry you what do you think about that right so I went forward 00:54:06.480 |
and that's how we got here by the grace of God right 00:54:22.480 |
crowds to be stirred the leaders to pay attention because they've been trying 00:54:26.480 |
to get to him for a long time but now Jesus is saying here I am 00:54:30.480 |
and there's a reason why he goes to the temple as soon as he goes to Jerusalem because he's 00:54:34.480 |
challenging the leaders and publicly saying I'm here 00:54:42.480 |
this is Palm Sunday Jesus deliberately and willfully 00:54:46.480 |
walking into danger because he knows that this is going to lead him to the cross 00:55:06.480 |
you know people often think like Jesus is the humble servant 00:55:10.480 |
but in Zechariah 9 verse 9 and 10 it says rejoice greatly 00:55:14.480 |
O daughter of Zion shout in triumph O daughter of Jerusalem behold your king 00:55:22.480 |
coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble mounted on a donkey even 00:55:26.480 |
on a colt the fall of a donkey I will cut off the cherry from Ephraim and the 00:55:30.480 |
horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off and he will 00:55:34.480 |
speak peace to the nations and his dominion will be from sea to 00:55:46.480 |
would be riding on his horse to exemplify power and 00:55:50.480 |
authority but in times of peace the king would be riding on a 00:55:54.480 |
donkey so it wasn't unusual for a king to be on a donkey 00:56:02.480 |
when David is anointing his son Solomon to be king 00:56:06.480 |
he puts him on a donkey and parades him in 33 00:56:10.480 |
it says the king said to them David said to them take with you the servants of your lord 00:56:14.480 |
and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule and bring him 00:56:18.480 |
down to Gihon let Zadok the priest Nathan the prophet anoint him 00:56:22.480 |
there as king over Israel and blow the trumpet and say long live 00:56:26.480 |
king Solomon so it was a very common practice 00:56:30.480 |
in Israel to have the kings riding on the donkey to be anointed 00:56:34.480 |
so when Jesus came on a donkey he wasn't simply refusing his kingdom 00:56:38.480 |
he was actually declaring the king has arrived 00:56:42.480 |
he was making it very clear that that's who he is 00:56:50.480 |
very eager to make him king see they weren't resisting 00:56:54.480 |
him as a king because they wanted him to be king remember after he feeds the 5000 00:56:58.480 |
they're so enamored with him they wanted to forcefully make him king 00:57:02.480 |
so Jesus had to break away from them so they didn't have a problem 00:57:06.480 |
with making him king because they thought if they made him king 00:57:14.480 |
women who are hemorrhaging for years get healed 00:57:18.480 |
lepers who couldn't join their families were walking back into their homes 00:57:22.480 |
and able to go to the temple anybody who's hungry 00:57:26.480 |
he just breaks the bread and just give it to them and they eat you get free 00:57:34.480 |
you get to go back to the temple you're restored to your family 00:57:42.480 |
in fact when Jesus came in and he was under the trial with Pontius Pilate 00:57:46.480 |
he said they are saying that you are the king of the Jews 00:58:14.480 |
that if their king came just like Moses delivered 00:58:18.480 |
the Israelites from the Egyptians that our Messiah and our king 00:58:22.480 |
is going to come and he's going to fight for us and he's going to put us in this right place 00:58:26.480 |
but Jesus says in John 18 36 Jesus answered my kingdom is not 00:58:30.480 |
of this world if my kingdom were of this world 00:58:34.480 |
then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews 00:58:42.480 |
think about how much energy is being poured right now 00:58:46.480 |
to make this kingdom this earthly kingdom a better place 00:58:54.480 |
we need to unite and fight for these causes because we want this kingdom 00:59:02.480 |
that's exactly what the Jews were wanting and begging because they thought that when Jesus 00:59:10.480 |
whatever disenfranchisement that they felt because they were being treated as second, third, fourth 00:59:14.480 |
class citizens in the Roman kingdom so if Messiah comes 00:59:18.480 |
he's going to deliver us from that so that we can have the same benefits as the Roman citizens 00:59:22.480 |
we can go where we need to go we can have our children go to the schools that they want to go 00:59:30.480 |
and that's why they were so excited in fact the book of Matthew says 00:59:34.480 |
the excitement was so great there was a seismic stir where we get the word 00:59:42.480 |
many historians think that there were probably close to 00:59:46.480 |
two million people in Jerusalem and the way that they calculate that is 00:59:50.480 |
they have a record of how many lambs were killed during the Passover 00:59:54.480 |
and so there's ten people usually you would need one lamb for every ten 00:59:58.480 |
person and so they calculated all of it and they said it could have been 01:00:02.480 |
as many as two million if they go by the number of the lambs the lowest number 01:00:06.480 |
I've seen is somewhere around 250 to 500,000 people 01:00:10.480 |
whether you believe it's 250,000 or two million people there was a tremendous 01:00:14.480 |
number of people in Jerusalem and on top of that Jesus just healed 01:00:22.480 |
this rumor started to spread is he the Messiah is he the Messiah 01:00:26.480 |
and they said well he healed Lazarus he actually even raised somebody from the dead 01:00:38.480 |
going to overthrow the Romans and put us in the right place 01:00:46.480 |
his kingship but the problem was his kingdom is not 01:00:50.480 |
of this world see they wanted to get going remember 01:00:54.480 |
Peter himself that's what was in his mind at Gethsemane when the 01:01:02.480 |
that's what he was thinking too he took out his sword he was ready to fight he's a fisherman 01:01:10.480 |
so he swings and he misses and he cuts the ear 01:01:22.480 |
Peter was ready to fight because that's what all the Jews were thinking 01:01:26.480 |
now is it now you want me to take the sword out now 01:01:30.480 |
and Jesus said something weird that they didn't understand he who lives by the sword 01:01:34.480 |
shall die by the sword okay so we're not going to use swords 01:01:42.480 |
we're about to fight right we have our general we have our king 01:01:58.480 |
I don't need you I will bring angels of my own 01:02:02.480 |
and wipe them out I don't need a tiny sword that can't 01:02:06.480 |
even hit the middle of the head and cut off people's ears I don't need soldiers like you 01:02:14.480 |
that I came to fight for Colossians 1.13 for he 01:02:18.480 |
rescued us from the domain of darkness transferred us to the kingdom of his 01:02:22.480 |
beloved son we're in the kingdom of his beloved son he's our king now 01:02:30.480 |
are a part of is already perfect because we have the 01:02:34.480 |
perfect ruler this kingdom is already economically perfect 01:02:38.480 |
because he's our ruler the only problem that we have is 01:02:42.480 |
we keep reaching back to the old kingdom we keep wanting to live in both 01:02:46.480 |
kingdoms but Jesus says I have come to establish my kingdom 01:02:50.480 |
Hebrews 4.16 it says therefore let us draw near with the confidence to the throne 01:02:54.480 |
of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace and help of need 01:02:58.480 |
notice here he says to draw near to what to the throne 01:03:18.480 |
greatest need for us for our children for our future is to make the right decision 01:03:22.480 |
have the right leaders have the right people have the right family and if we do that 01:03:30.480 |
do you remember in 1st Samuel chapter 8 verse 7 where the Israelites 01:03:34.480 |
are demanding a king for themselves and Samuel is offended by that 01:03:42.480 |
but said no all of our problem is because we don't have a king like they do 01:03:46.480 |
if we had the king that they had we wouldn't have this 01:03:50.480 |
problem so they demanded to have a king of their own and God says to Samuel 01:03:54.480 |
in verse 7 the Lord said to Samuel listen to the voice of people in regard to all 01:03:58.480 |
that they say to you for they have not rejected you but they have rejected 01:04:10.480 |
because the kingdom that they were thinking about and they thought the solution was 01:04:14.480 |
that somehow God helped us to get the king that we want 01:04:22.480 |
these are the things this is what I think is going to make me happy and then we come to Jesus 01:04:26.480 |
like please help me help me pay my bills help me 01:04:30.480 |
have peace help me for my family help me to do this and Jesus becomes nothing more 01:04:34.480 |
than a cosmic bellhop that comes and is just waiting to serve us 01:04:38.480 |
he's a holy servant just waiting what do you want 01:04:42.480 |
oh what's going on oh you're sad are you hungry 01:04:50.480 |
and that's what the riding of the donkey was I am the king 01:05:10.480 |
because he saves us he just comes to save us he just forgives 01:05:22.480 |
but the king does a savior does not ask for obedience 01:05:34.480 |
not know the savior Jesus because they are the same person 01:05:46.480 |
embrace Jesus as my servant and he serves me and he loves me 01:05:50.480 |
cares for me and then you know nothing about the kingship of Christ 01:06:02.480 |
third and finally Jesus rode the donkey to ultimately 01:06:06.480 |
bring peace in Zechariah 9 10 it says I will cut off 01:06:10.480 |
the chariots from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war 01:06:14.480 |
will be cut off and he will speak peace to the nations 01:06:18.480 |
he's going to come as a king humbled on a donkey but the 01:06:22.480 |
purpose of all of this he says is to bring peace in fact 01:06:30.480 |
this prophecy of the coming Messiah he says the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the rulers 01:06:34.480 |
sat between his feet until Shiloh comes and the word Shiloh in Hebrew 01:06:42.480 |
in Isaiah Jesus is called the prince of peace 01:06:54.480 |
they wanted peace in fact they wanted it so much 01:06:58.480 |
that every time they greeted each other they would say Shalom 01:07:02.480 |
Shalom to you and then the person receiving that will say again 01:07:06.480 |
Shalom to you and so for generations after generations 01:07:10.480 |
they would say peace peace but the word Shalom means more than simple 01:07:18.480 |
brings peace when he gives you peace that there's going to be wholeness 01:07:22.480 |
whatever is broken is going to be mended whatever 01:07:26.480 |
has gone wrong is going to be fixed it means to be complete 01:07:34.480 |
is that the Muslim world they greet each other in similar fashion 01:07:38.480 |
if you have any Muslim friends the way they greet you is 01:07:46.480 |
that's what it says Asalam Malekko basically means peace be unto you 01:07:50.480 |
and then the person receiving that will say Malekko Asalam 01:07:58.480 |
so that's the way that the Muslim world greets each other 01:08:02.480 |
so the Jews would greet each other say Shalom and the Muslims will greet each other by saying 01:08:10.480 |
is that even though we you and I may not say peace unto you when we say 01:08:14.480 |
happy new year or happy birthday right blessings to you 01:08:22.480 |
to be whole we want whatever has gone wrong to be fixed 01:08:26.480 |
if you are sick to be healed if you're having financial problems 01:08:30.480 |
hopefully in the new year God will bless you with money 01:08:38.480 |
that's what we mean Shalom and that's what they mean when they say Shalom 01:08:42.480 |
and the irony of all of this is that as they were desperately waiting 01:08:46.480 |
for the king and as they were desperately waiting for 01:08:54.480 |
as Jesus is riding on the donkey with the seismic stir 01:08:58.480 |
of possibly up to 2 million people waving the palm branches receiving 01:09:06.480 |
41 when he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and wept 01:09:14.480 |
even you the things which make for peace but now they have been 01:09:38.480 |
you think man if I just make money and I don't want to have the 01:09:42.480 |
turmoil that my parents went through so if I can just have a 01:09:46.480 |
successful business I will have peace if my children 01:09:50.480 |
go to the right school under the right politicians 01:09:58.480 |
if I just had the right friends right environment 01:10:02.480 |
the right neighborhood and the right house I will have peace 01:10:06.480 |
and so we strive from place to place and there is so much 01:10:10.480 |
talk right now about going to different states to find peace 01:10:14.480 |
and if we are not careful if we are not careful we will 01:10:18.480 |
fall under the same delusion as the Jews as they were waiting 01:10:22.480 |
for the king and wanting so much to have peace thinking that somehow 01:10:26.480 |
if they change if they move the puzzles around and bought the 01:10:30.480 |
house in the right place and went to the right area our children would have peace 01:10:34.480 |
I would have peace I would be able to worship God in peace raise our children in peace 01:10:42.480 |
in the middle of seeking peace they completely 01:11:02.480 |
sacrifice Isaiah and we know this whole event 01:11:06.480 |
is a fulfillment of that promise as Abraham takes up the 01:11:10.480 |
knife to strike him down just as God told him to 01:11:18.480 |
and that is exactly what he is doing this week he is fulfilling 01:11:22.480 |
that promise that he made and he will take the place of 01:11:30.480 |
in Genesis chapter 22 verse 3 it says this so Abraham rose early 01:11:34.480 |
in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him 01:11:54.480 |
specific fulfillment of his will it wasn't just simply to him 01:12:02.480 |
peace that only he could bring in Ephesians 2 17 01:12:06.480 |
he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who 01:12:14.480 |
talking about the gospel your feet will be preparation for the gospel of 01:12:22.480 |
year or two years we have been hearing that phrase no 01:12:30.480 |
and we are hearing it we are reading it declaring it people are united for this 01:12:38.480 |
because that is exactly what the Jews were doing 01:12:46.480 |
that if their king came that he was going to fix 01:12:50.480 |
the government he was going to fix the economy he was going to 01:12:54.480 |
fix their family he was going to fix their future he was going to fix 01:12:58.480 |
their standing he was going to fix their temple yet 01:13:02.480 |
in the midst of all of that they completely missed him 01:13:06.480 |
Jesus says in John 14 27 peace I leave with you 01:13:10.480 |
my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you 01:13:14.480 |
do not let your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful 01:13:30.480 |
recalibrate our hearts because our natural tendency my bet is 01:13:34.480 |
there is not a single person in here who doesn't have some sort of turmoil in your heart 01:13:40.480 |
there is not a single person in here that doesn't have something to grieve over there is not a single 01:13:44.480 |
person in here that doesn't have something to pray desperately over 01:13:52.480 |
but where do you find this peace do you believe 01:13:56.480 |
that Jesus is our peace do you believe that Jesus 01:14:00.480 |
is the prince of peace so we pray that this week 01:14:04.480 |
as we go over the details of what happened every day 01:14:08.480 |
that we don't look to man for answers we don't look to government for answers we don't look to organizations 01:14:12.480 |
for answers we don't hold hands and say you know we're going to finally get the justice that we deserve 01:14:20.480 |
who can actually declare desire or demand justice 01:14:32.480 |
it is not justice that you and I desire it is mercy 01:14:36.480 |
and that's exactly what Jesus came to do to give us mercy 01:14:44.480 |
and I want to read a portion of this hymn that you guys 01:14:52.480 |
you know the story behind Horatio Spafford who was a 01:14:56.480 |
famous and very successful attorney who made a lot of money 01:15:00.480 |
and he turned that money into more money by purchasing all this property so he became a very 01:15:04.480 |
wealthy man but there was a huge fire that broke out in Chicago and he lost 01:15:08.480 |
everything overnight being distraught he sent his family 01:15:12.480 |
his four girls and his wife over to England so that possibly he could start over 01:15:20.480 |
has a shipwreck and all four of his girls died 01:15:24.480 |
and only his wife survived she ends up going to England 01:15:36.480 |
bereavement he gets on a boat to go join his wife to comfort her 01:15:40.480 |
and on his journey riding the boat they were crossing 01:15:44.480 |
exactly the same place where his daughters died and on the 01:15:48.480 |
intercom the captain of the boat said this is where that other 01:15:52.480 |
boat sank and as he was looking upon the waters he wrote 01:15:56.480 |
this hymn and in this hymn he says when peace like 01:16:00.480 |
a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea 01:16:04.480 |
billows roll whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say 01:16:08.480 |
it is well with my soul it is well with my soul 01:16:20.480 |
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood 01:16:24.480 |
for my soul it is well with my soul it is well 01:16:36.480 |
is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord 01:16:40.480 |
oh my soul it is well it is well with my soul it is well 01:17:08.480 |
who has found peace in Christ can write these words 01:17:16.480 |
write in a situation that he is in it is well 01:17:24.480 |
you well what do you think is going to make you well 01:17:32.480 |
I pray that each one of us would take this week 01:17:36.480 |
deliberately to walk through the steps as he goes to the cross 01:17:44.480 |
so why don't we all stand up together we're going to sing this song together 01:20:34.480 |
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought 01:22:53.480 |
You know the temptations, Lord God, that we are struggling with. 01:22:57.480 |
You know, Father God, what we are entangled in. 01:23:01.480 |
Help us, Lord, especially this week, to be anchored in Christ. 01:23:06.480 |
Help us, Lord, to be determined to follow you and you alone. 01:23:10.480 |
Help us, Lord, as a church, to recognize, Lord, 01:23:14.480 |
that our life is like a mist that comes and goes, 01:23:17.480 |
that we would not invest, Lord God, in short-term goals, but for eternity. 01:23:22.480 |
Help us to see the darkness around us and not to be in despair, 01:23:26.480 |
but to recognize the work that you have placed us in 01:23:29.480 |
so that we may be the light, and the darker that it gets, 01:23:33.480 |
that we would see a greater need, Lord God, for the gospel. 01:23:37.480 |
So we pray that you would awaken us, open our eyes, soften our hearts. 01:23:42.480 |
Help us to see your great, deliberate love that you've poured upon us, 01:23:46.480 |
that Christ would be established, loved, adored, and worshipped, and obeyed.