Good morning church family, happy Lord's Day. Also happy Palm Sunday as we come before our God, the week before Easter Sunday. 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." All right, good morning.

Welcome to Breen Community Church's service. Those of you online as well. Let me cover over a few announcements. We have a busy week this week. We have Easter, Easter week. So normally throughout this year, I mean throughout the this time of the year. Today is Palm Sunday. It's going to kick off the Passion Week and then each day, Monday through Thursday, we're going to be having nightly devotions at 7 30 p.m to 8 30.

And so there's going to be one of the pastors or the leaders are going to be going over what Jesus did that day, Monday through Thursday. And then there's going to be some testimonies and so we're going to have normal worship. We're going to do this live, meaning that we're going to have people join here and then those of you who can't make it, we will also have live stream.

So we're going to try to distance ourselves. If it gets too big, we're going to have people outside as well. So this is going on from Monday, Thursday, Monday through Thursday and then Saturday, sorry, Friday, we're going to be having Good Friday service from 7 30 to 9 p.m.

And again, we are expecting a larger number. So we'll be people here outside and possibly even upstairs. We're going to be doing that this Friday and we're going to be having communion to remember Christ's death and suffering for us. And then early rise service next Sunday. We weren't able to do this last year because of the pandemic, but we are going to be having our normal early rise service at 6 a.m on the courtyard.

Please try to come a little bit earlier because we're going to start right at 6 a.m and the service isn't going to be lasting, you know, a long time. So if you come 10, 15 minutes late, you're going to miss a good chunk of the service. So try to come a little bit earlier, maybe about 10 minutes before, and then we're going to start the service right at 6 a.m.

Okay. And that'll give you plenty of time afterwards to go home, take a nap or to go out and eat and come back. Okay. If you're going to come to the earlier, the earlier service at nine o'clock. So again, in order to do that, we need a few more volunteers for Good Friday parking.

So the parking team has asked if we can get a few more people to volunteer, come a little bit earlier and direct traffic that day and also for Easter Sunday service as well. So if you are able to sign up, come a little bit earlier to help with that, please let them know.

And again, the signup sheets will be on the Facebook or you can ask one of the welcome team members and they'll be able to direct you toward the right place. And again, another one, a Berean membership class. So if you are applying to become a member and this is not a, you know, basic Christianity class, but a Berean membership class, the new one is going to be starting on April 18th.

So it's going to be in a few weeks. It happens on Sunday morning upstairs and at nine to 1030 a.m. for eight weeks. So if you are interested in becoming a member or you know someone that, that wants to take that class to become a member, contact Pastor Nate and his email, again, I have it, but you don't have it, but it'd be on Facebook.

Just let them know. And again, let the welcome team know and they'll direct you to the right place to do that. Okay. All right. So after I pray for the offering, we have our brother, Brian Lee, who's going to come and give his testimony. He'll be baptized this morning.

Okay. Let's pray for the offering. Again, those of you who are online and those of you who are here, you can give electronically and then the physical offering box is in the back over there. Okay. All right. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray and invite you, Lord God, asking you to mold us, renew us, strengthen us and revive us.

We thank you for what this week represents for all of us. Help us, Lord God, not to simply participate, Lord, in a religious manner or out of duty, but I pray that you would renew our hearts, renew our commitment, and that every part of what we do would cause us, Lord God, to be softened, that we may be molded as you are the powder and we are the clay.

We ask, Lord, that you would anoint even our offering. Help us to give it to you as an act of worship, act of surrender, acknowledging your lordship over our lives. It may be multiplied for your use that the gospel may continue to spread and that more and more people may know what you have done for us.

So we pray for grace and guidance. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Church family, let's all rise together as we come before God and singing. Sing, "Lord, you're calling." Lord, you're calling me to come and behold the wondrous cross to explore the depths of grace came to me at such a cost where your boundless love conquered my boundless sin and mercy's arms are open wide my heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary but every breath or how I long to sing of Jesus who died for me Lord take me deeper into the glory of Calvary singer's final eternal joy in the triumph of your wings by our savior's cruising flow holy wrath has been relieved and your saints below join with your saints alone rejoicing in the risen lamb singing out my heart my heart is filled with a thousand songs proclaiming the glories of Calvary with every breath or how I long to sing of Jesus who died one more time my heart my heart is filled 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 for all eternity Lord for all eternity we will sing worthy our God has set us free to sing the glories of Calvary for all eternity we will sing worthy our God has set us free to sing the glories of Calvary 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 I owe all to you I owe all to you Jesus there's a place where mercy reigns never down there's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood comes flowing down 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 I owe all to you I owe all to you Jesus there's a place where sin and shame are found within us where my heart is pleased with God and forgiveness where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood comes flowing down 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 I owe all to you I owe all to you hear my hopeless cry hear our holy cry hear I bow hear I bow hear your arms open wide hear you say my life hear I bow hear I bow 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 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 where your love ran red and my sin washed white I owe all to you I owe all to you Jesus may be seated amen 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 and so my eyes were really open to just sin in my life and what Jesus did on the cross 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 and so in college I started going to a bible teaching church but I failed to really integrate myself in the community 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 and it wasn't until I came to Marin just this year that I really felt convicted by what God was telling me 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 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 but I now have a relationship with him and that has been restored through Jesus' sacrifice and so from that I really started to see fruit in my life where I didn't see before now I have a need to spread the gospel whenever I can to any unbelieving friends or family 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 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 and not something that I'm just surrounded by just because of friends and family I have now a desire to build my relationship with Jesus because I want to read intently his word 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 I want to strive to become a better brother, a better son, not just in my family but with Christ and I know that truly it's only through Christ that I can accomplish all these things and everything I do is for the glory of God now looking back at my life I know that God has been sovereign everywhere just from my upbringing, from where I went to church, to who I made friends with I know that his perfect plan has brought me from death and into his loving presence and the greatest showcase of his love I think is from Romans 5a where he says in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us Thank you Brian, you understand when you go into the water you're united with Christ in his death and when you come out you're united to his resurrected life I do I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit Okay, thank you.

If we can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 19 I want to read Luke chapter 19 verse 28 through 44 and then I'm not going to read it but the text that we're going to be in this morning is in Zechariah Luke chapter 19 verse 28 through 44 Reading out of the NASB After he had said these things he was going on ahead going up to Jerusalem when he approached Bethphage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet he sent two of the disciples saying, "Go into the village ahead of you there as you enter you will find a cold tide on which no one yet has ever sat untie it and bring it here if anyone asks you why are you untying it you shall say the Lord has need of it so those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them as they were untying the coat its owner said to them why are you untying the coat they said the Lord has need of it they brought it to Jesus and they threw their coats on the coat and put Jesus on it as he was going they were spreading their coats on the road as soon as he was approaching near the descent of the mount of Olives the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen shouting blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven glory in the highest some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him teacher rebuke your disciples but Jesus answered I tell you if these become silent the stones will cry out when he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and wept over it saying if you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace but now they have been hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw a barricade against you and wrestle around you and hem you in every side and they will level you to the ground and your children within you and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation let's pray Heavenly Father we pray for guidance we pray for your Holy Spirit to convict and lead us I pray that your word would make sense that would cause us Lord God to see the depth of your grace and love for us Lord as we begin this Passion Week with Palm Sunday help us to understand what you were doing what you are doing that our hearts may be surrendered to you we pray for your blessing over this time in Jesus name we pray amen you know as I've already said this is a very busy week you know probably the busiest week out of the whole year for us as a church because every single day we have something filled and so at the end of it usually Sunday night you know we're especially the pastoral staff and the leaders are pretty exhausted you know and I'm sure you guys are exhausted you know Sunday morning we wake up early in the morning give our devotion and and then you know there's a lot of things going on this week and the reason why we do this every year is because our natural tendency is to drift you know the whole thing that we've been talking about in Hebrews is our natural tendency is we get caught up and tangled with you know everyday things and raising children paying bills concerned about what's going on whether it's political economical and so our natural tendency is to just kind of drift from God so God tells the nation of Israel all these things that he plays all these rituals and sacrifices and festivals in order to cause them to stop break into their normal routine and for them to remember what God has done because their natural tendency is to forget especially this year right because the pandemic you know when we survey the church when we survey what's going on outside the church we hear a lot of people saying that they're fatigued they're tired they're distracted and I'm sure most of you are sick and tired of being on the zoom you know we're just waiting for us to get to what is it orange and then hopefully yellow soon you know and then whatever normal is to get back to normal so we don't have to be wearing these silly masks you know that we'd be done away with but in the midst of all that's been going on and it's not just because of the pandemic our natural tendency is when we are not striving after God we don't drift toward God we don't sit there and get entangled and get busy and take care of our children and then wake up six months later and say oh I feel this passion for Christ we don't drift toward God we drift away from God so if we're not deliberate about keeping our heart focused on Christ if we're not deliberate about anchoring ourselves to Christ we naturally have a tendency to drift and so these times are very important for us in order for us to renew our first love we can go through the rituals 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 and I haven't missed that but again our natural tendency is to to the minimum we just kind of go through the motion we check out the box but at the end we find our hearts so hardened away from God and sometimes we get so hardened that we even question do I even believe this?

So we want to take this time this week Monday through Friday going over each day and I hope that what you get out of it this week is not simply logically oh this is what happened in history this is what he did in the first day second day third day hopefully through each of these events that you recognize that Christ was deliberately walking toward the cross and how each one of these events led him to that point so that when we come and have communion on Friday that communion that we really have a rich understanding of what it is that we're participating and we're hoping that by next Sunday when we come to celebrate Easter that our singing would be louder than normal right that our praising would be louder than our usual way of singing that hopefully it'll kind of cause us to be focused and to renew our first love toward Christ so today is Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is the kick off of the day where Jesus is deliberately riding on his donkey headed toward Jerusalem and the reason why this is so significant is up to all up to this point Jesus was very very quiet about his identity even though the crescendo of excitement toward him has been growing and and it's it's headed toward that place his riding on the donkey was a very deliberate act where he's going to start the you know knock the first domino and in each domino that again is going to that's going to fall is going to ultimately lead him toward that cross you know in the Bible in the in the four Gospels there's maybe about 10 to 12 major events that are recorded on all four Gospels so we know that every one of these events are extremely important because as you guys know each one of these Gospels are different eyewitnesses different testimonies where you have Matthew Mark Luke and John giving different a Jewish angle a Gentile angle you know Jesus's humanity angle his deity angle and so each one of these angles highlight different aspects of Jesus's identity and what he has done that's why even though they're talking about the same life of Jesus that you're going to hear different things so when something is repeated you know it's important it was important enough that they all highlighted it the triumphal entry is one of those events one of those dozen events that are highlighted but among the same events if you look at the four Gospels you'll notice that there are certain things that one person emphasizes and certain things that another person does not include this triumphal entry even though they have they talk about different angles there's one event in the triumphal entry that is mentioned in detail in all four Gospels and that detail is Jesus getting the donkey and riding that donkey into Jerusalem so all the things that could have been highlighted in him coming into Jerusalem telling his disciples to go get the donkey and then to tell them what they're going to say why are you taking my donkey?

Well the Lord has need of it and it's all okay that's recorded in all four Gospels so what is the significance of this donkey that is highlighted in this detail in all four Gospels so what I want to go over this morning is to go over the three aspects that Jesus was declaring and he was fulfilling in the riding of the donkey there is it is not some random event that takes place oh he came into Jerusalem he just happened to be riding on a donkey there's something about this riding of the donkey that was highlighted for us that we are to take some time to examine carefully what is its significance so first one why did he ride the donkey number one Jesus rode the donkey to fulfill biblical prophecy in Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 it says rejoice greatly oh daughter of Zion shout in triumph oh daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble and mounted on a donkey even on a colt the fold of a donkey he was fulfilling that particular prophecy he was declaring to all the people who have gathered together I am that guy I am the Messiah up to this point Jesus was very hush hush about his identity remember every time he would fulfill a some sort of miracle he would tell his disciples to keep it quiet remember the very first miracle of turning water into wine Jesus tells his mother why do you involve me it is not my time so up to this point he would perform these miracles and people would say he must be he must be but he never clearly said publicly to everybody that this is who he is he kind of kept it quiet because he knew once his identity came out that the first domino falls that it's going to lead him directly to the cross but this prophecy of him riding on a donkey was not just in Zechariah in fact even before that all the way up to Genesis chapter 49 verse 10 through 11 Jacob at the end of his life is giving blessing to his 12 children and in his blessing he gets to Judah and he says this the scepter shall not depart from Judah in other words you're going to be a kingly line nor the ruler's staff between his feet until Shiloh comes and Shiloh is in reference to the Messiah and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples he ties his fold to the vine and his donkey's coat to the choice vine he washes his garments in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes did you see that even as early as his blessing to Judah it's clearly spelled out that when the Messiah comes he's going to be riding on a donkey he's going to again talking about the vine and the wine meaning his blood being spilled that he's going to come and to take his place so this was not new to the Jews they've been saying like how are you going to recognize the Messiah well he's going to have the words of God he's going to perform some miracles but when you see a man coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey you know that that is going to be fulfilled so Jesus for the first time in ministry is publicly declaring to everybody there I am that man see it was a very deliberate act what happens this week didn't happen to him he just it wasn't that he made some poor choices and maybe he shouldn't have cleansed the temple and he got the you know the leaders angry and that's why they did that maybe he shouldn't have chosen Judas and betray him maybe he shouldn't have been praying out there at night it didn't happen to him Jesus says by his own words no one takes my life I lay it down on my own accord and I take it up he says he did it he planned to do it in fact the Bible has over 300 different prophecies about Jesus' life his disciples his birth the place of birth betrayal crucifixion how he's going to be crucified his resurrection over 300 prophecies that were given in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled in his birth life ministry death and resurrection meaning every part of what Jesus was doing was planned and was very deliberate in Numbers chapter 23 verse 19 it says God is not man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent has he said and will he not do it or has he spoken and will he not make it good whenever you go on a job interview right you want to know is he faithful can we rely on that person does he say what he says he's going to do or maybe you have friends or maybe you have people in your community but if he says it you can trust him if she says it you can trust him so this statement in and of itself is a beautiful statement that God does what he says he's going to do so without any context that statement alone is a very honorable respectable character to have but when you put that in the context of Israel's history when you put that in the context of our own history that because God said he will do it think about how many times in Israel's history that God would have had every right to revoke his promise I mean we don't have to go that far every single king in Israel's history almost every single king was evil and they led them astray they committed horrendous acts of idolatry any part of Israel's history during the kings he could have just stepped in and said that's enough the book of Judges any one of those times oh maybe through the desert they were faithful have you read the book of numbers if you look at Israel's history from the moment that they are conceived until the end of the Old Testament every part of it is a list of every curse that they deserve so before they go in God said if you live righteously here's the blessing if you live unrighteously here's the curse and so if you look at the history from that point on it's curse after curse after curse after curse so when you look at the statement numbers 23 verse 19 in the context of Israel's history not even when they were in Egypt were they faithful not even prior to Egypt were they faithful even the patriarchs if we study them carefully they weren't necessarily great men and yet God says because I made my promise I will fulfill it we don't even have to look at the Israelites look at ourselves look at ourselves not only before we met Christ after we met Christ when you look at your life carefully like how many events in your life can you examine and say you know what I didn't deserve the grace of God God shouldn't have been patient with me how many times in our lives could we stand before God saying you know what I did good I am righteous I deserve the grace of God if we're honest with ourselves we're no different than the Israelites and the only reason why we celebrate this week is because God said he would be faithful despite us and so everything that takes place in this week is God's intentional plan to go to the cross for our sins see this Palm Sunday is the first domino that falls you know it's kind of like the cat's out of the bag right like when we have DTR determining the relationship those of you who are young and cool and hip okay DTR when you have feelings for somebody and you contemplate should I tell her should I not tell her and then so when is the right time should I am I going to get rejected and so you contemplate all of that and you weigh the pros and cons and you know you gear up and then because you know once it comes out of your mouth you can't take it back again I've shared before about how I approached Esther and so I waited a year and a half of praying is it the right time not right time resisting and finally she's going to go to Boston to go to some college and so I thought maybe this is the right time and thinking that maybe we're on the same page maybe she's dropping hints and so okay okay I'm taking her and then I asked her what are you thinking about me and she's like a brother right it wasn't what I wanted to hear and so there was obviously misunderstanding but I remember when she said that my heart just dropped because I prepared for so long and it's like man if I knew that this was the answer that was going to come I probably wouldn't have gone through the trouble to say this but too late the cat's out of the bag so I used to have a discipler he used to always say if a guy takes out a sword he should at least cut his toenails you have to like let it sink in okay in other words if you're ready for battle you should at least cut your toenails like you should use the sword right anyway if you don't understand what that means I remember him saying that and saying well the cat's out of the bag might as well go forward right and so that's how we got started and I just told her well it's too late now so this is how I feel and I want to marry you what do you think about that right so I went forward and that's how we got here by the grace of God right so this Palm Sunday is God deliberately knocking down the first domino and this is going to cause the crowds to be stirred the leaders to pay attention because they've been trying to get to him for a long time but now Jesus is saying here I am and there's a reason why he goes to the temple as soon as he goes to Jerusalem because he's challenging the leaders and publicly saying I'm here you've been looking for me I'm here this is Palm Sunday Jesus deliberately and willfully walking into danger because he knows that this is going to lead him to the cross he's riding on this donkey to fulfill that promise that prophecy to let people know that it's time secondly Jesus rode the donkey to establish his kingdom you know people often think like Jesus is the humble servant but in Zechariah 9 verse 9 and 10 it says rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion shout in triumph O daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you your king is coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble mounted on a donkey even on a colt the fall of a donkey I will cut off the cherry from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off and he will speak peace to the nations and his dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to ends of the earth see during times of war typically the king would be riding on his horse to exemplify power and authority but in times of peace the king would be riding on a donkey so it wasn't unusual for a king to be on a donkey in fact in 1st King chapter 133-34 when David is anointing his son Solomon to be king he puts him on a donkey and parades him in 33 it says the king said to them David said to them take with you the servants of your lord and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule and bring him down to Gihon let Zadok the priest Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel and blow the trumpet and say long live king Solomon so it was a very common practice in Israel to have the kings riding on the donkey to be anointed so when Jesus came on a donkey he wasn't simply refusing his kingdom he was actually declaring the king has arrived he was making it very clear that that's who he is you have to understand that the people were very eager to make him king see they weren't resisting him as a king because they wanted him to be king remember after he feeds the 5000 they're so enamored with him they wanted to forcefully make him king so Jesus had to break away from them so they didn't have a problem with making him king because they thought if they made him king I mean he's opening the eyes of blind people women who are hemorrhaging for years get healed lepers who couldn't join their families were walking back into their homes and able to go to the temple anybody who's hungry he just breaks the bread and just give it to them and they eat you get free Medicare you get free food you get to go back to the temple you're restored to your family I mean if this guy's our king we're set in fact when Jesus came in and he was under the trial with Pontius Pilate he said they are saying that you are the king of the Jews are you he and Jesus says it is as you say Jesus was not forsaking his kingship Jesus says it's actually publicly declaring I am the king but the problem is what they wanted from their king was to come and fight for them because they thought that if their king came just like Moses delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians that our Messiah and our king is going to come and he's going to fight for us and he's going to put us in this right place but Jesus says in John 18 36 Jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews but as it is my kingdom is not of this world think about how much energy is being poured right now to make this kingdom this earthly kingdom a better place because we think if we if we love Jesus we need to unite and fight for these causes because we want this kingdom to be the place that we want to live that's exactly what the Jews were wanting and begging because they thought that when Jesus came whatever oppression that they felt whatever disenfranchisement that they felt because they were being treated as second, third, fourth class citizens in the Roman kingdom so if Messiah comes he's going to deliver us from that so that we can have the same benefits as the Roman citizens we can go where we need to go we can have our children go to the schools that they want to go so we need the Messiah to make this right and that's why they were so excited in fact the book of Matthew says the excitement was so great there was a seismic stir where we get the word seismology an earthquake in fact they said many historians think that there were probably close to two million people in Jerusalem and the way that they calculate that is they have a record of how many lambs were killed during the Passover and so there's ten people usually you would need one lamb for every ten person and so they calculated all of it and they said it could have been as many as two million if they go by the number of the lambs the lowest number I've seen is somewhere around 250 to 500,000 people whether you believe it's 250,000 or two million people there was a tremendous number of people in Jerusalem and on top of that Jesus just healed Lazarus a very prominent person and so this rumor started to spread is he the Messiah is he the Messiah and they said well he healed Lazarus he actually even raised somebody from the dead so all these people came into town thinking finally our king is coming and he's going to overthrow the Romans and put us in the right place see Jesus came and he wasn't resisting his kingship but the problem was his kingdom is not of this world see they wanted to get going remember Peter himself that's what was in his mind at Gethsemane when the guards of the temple came remember Peter that's what he was thinking too he took out his sword he was ready to fight he's a fisherman he doesn't know how to wield a sword right so he swings and he misses and he cuts the ear it's very comical and all it says is Jesus picked it up and put it back on Peter was ready to fight because that's what all the Jews were thinking now is it now you want me to take the sword out now and Jesus said something weird that they didn't understand he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword okay so we're not going to use swords maybe spears like what what are we we're about to fight right we have our general we have our king they didn't understand and when Jesus said if this was my kingdom I don't need you you guys can't even get along I don't need you I will bring angels of my own and wipe them out I don't need a tiny sword that can't even hit the middle of the head and cut off people's ears I don't need soldiers like you he said but this is not my kingdom that I came to fight for Colossians 1.13 for he rescued us from the domain of darkness transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son we're in the kingdom of his beloved son he's our king now see this kingdom that we are a part of is already perfect because we have the perfect ruler this kingdom is already economically perfect because he's our ruler the only problem that we have is we keep reaching back to the old kingdom we keep wanting to live in both kingdoms but Jesus says I have come to establish my kingdom Hebrews 4.16 it says therefore let us draw near with the confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace and help of need notice here he says to draw near to what to the throne of grace to the kingdom where our Lord reigns we get into so much trouble because we think that the greatest need of our generation greatest need for us for our children for our future is to make the right decision have the right leaders have the right people have the right family and if we do that then we will be good do you remember in 1st Samuel chapter 8 verse 7 where the Israelites are demanding a king for themselves and Samuel is offended by that because God was ruling through his prophets but said no all of our problem is because we don't have a king like they do if we had the king that they had we wouldn't have this problem so they demanded to have a king of their own and God says to Samuel in verse 7 the Lord said to Samuel listen to the voice of people in regard to all that they say to you for they have not rejected you but they have rejected me from being king over them this is why they miss Jesus because the kingdom that they were thinking about and they thought the solution was that somehow God helped us to get the king that we want sometimes we think of lordship as we these are the things this is what I think is going to make me happy and then we come to Jesus like please help me help me pay my bills help me have peace help me for my family help me to do this and Jesus becomes nothing more than a cosmic bellhop that comes and is just waiting to serve us he's a holy servant just waiting what do you want oh what's going on oh you're sad are you hungry he came to establish his kingdom and that's what the riding of the donkey was I am the king see if we're not careful we embrace Jesus as our savior but we reject him as our king because a savior doesn't demand undivided loyalty because he saves us he just comes to save us he just forgives us but a king does a savior does not judge your spending habits but the king does a savior does not ask for obedience but the king does if you do not know king Jesus you may not know the savior Jesus because they are the same person you don't embrace the cross and then reject his kingdom you don't embrace Jesus as my servant and he serves me and he loves me cares for me and then you know nothing about the kingship of Christ see the donkey represented his kingship to establish his throne third and finally Jesus rode the donkey to ultimately bring peace in Zechariah 9 10 it says I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off and he will speak peace to the nations he's going to come as a king humbled on a donkey but the purpose of all of this he says is to bring peace in fact remember when I read Genesis 49 10 this prophecy of the coming Messiah he says the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the rulers sat between his feet until Shiloh comes and the word Shiloh in Hebrew means tranquility peace in Isaiah Jesus is called the prince of peace the irony of all of this is that that's exactly what the Jews wanted they wanted peace in fact they wanted it so much that every time they greeted each other they would say Shalom Shalom to you and then the person receiving that will say again Shalom to you and so for generations after generations they would say peace peace but the word Shalom means more than simple peace it was understood that when God brings peace when he gives you peace that there's going to be wholeness whatever is broken is going to be mended whatever has gone wrong is going to be fixed it means to be complete to be whole you know what's interesting is that the Muslim world they greet each other in similar fashion if you have any Muslim friends the way they greet you is Malekka Asalam right oh Asalam Malekko that's what it says Asalam Malekko basically means peace be unto you and then the person receiving that will say Malekko Asalam meaning unto you peace in reverse so that's the way that the Muslim world greets each other so the Jews would greet each other say Shalom and the Muslims will greet each other by saying peace unto you and the irony of all of this is that even though we you and I may not say peace unto you when we say happy new year or happy birthday right blessings to you we mean the same thing like we want to be whole we want whatever has gone wrong to be fixed if you are sick to be healed if you're having financial problems hopefully in the new year God will bless you with money whatever has gone wrong God bless you and so that's what we mean Shalom and that's what they mean when they say Shalom and the irony of all of this is that as they were desperately waiting for the king and as they were desperately waiting for peace in Luke chapter 19 41 to 42 as Jesus is riding on the donkey with the seismic stir of possibly up to 2 million people waving the palm branches receiving their king we find Jesus weeping in verse 41 when he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and wept over it saying if you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace but now they have been hidden from your eyes what they have desperately so wanted they completely missed and they ended up crucifying him so much of our lives is seeking peace if you came from a poor family you think man if I just make money and I don't want to have the turmoil that my parents went through so if I can just have a successful business I will have peace if my children go to the right school under the right politicians I would have peace if I just had the right friends right environment the right neighborhood and the right house I will have peace and so we strive from place to place and there is so much talk right now about going to different states to find peace and if we are not careful if we are not careful we will fall under the same delusion as the Jews as they were waiting for the king and wanting so much to have peace thinking that somehow if they change if they move the puzzles around and bought the house in the right place and went to the right area our children would have peace I would have peace I would be able to worship God in peace raise our children in peace retire in peace in the middle of seeking peace they completely missed the prince of peace you remember in Genesis chapter 22 where Isaiah is called or Abraham is called to sacrifice Isaiah and we know this whole event is a fulfillment of that promise as Abraham takes up the knife to strike him down just as God told him to God says stop and he says I will provide and that is exactly what he is doing this week he is fulfilling that promise that he made and he will take the place of Isaac to be that sacrifice in Genesis chapter 22 verse 3 it says this so Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son Isaac rode that donkey to go to the cross see him being on that donkey not only represented his public and specific fulfillment of his will it wasn't just simply to him to declare his kingship it was to bring peace that only he could bring in Ephesians 2 17 he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near again in Ephesians 6 15 talking about the gospel your feet will be preparation for the gospel of peace in the last year or two years we have been hearing that phrase no justice no peace no justice no peace and we are hearing it we are reading it declaring it people are united for this purpose but be careful because that is exactly what the Jews were doing because they thought that if their king came that he was going to fix the government he was going to fix the economy he was going to fix their family he was going to fix their future he was going to fix their standing he was going to fix their temple yet in the midst of all of that they completely missed him Jesus says in John 14 27 peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you do not let your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful you cannot have the peace of God without the peace with God so this week is to get us to be recalibrated recalibrate our hearts because our natural tendency my bet is there is not a single person in here who doesn't have some sort of turmoil in your heart there is not a single person in here that doesn't have something to grieve over there is not a single person in here that doesn't have something to pray desperately over whether we are actually doing that or not but where do you find this peace do you believe that Jesus is our peace do you believe that Jesus is the prince of peace so we pray that this week as we go over the details of what happened every day that we don't look to man for answers we don't look to government for answers we don't look to organizations for answers we don't hold hands and say you know we're going to finally get the justice that we deserve because the only person who can actually declare desire or demand justice is Jesus Christ a sinner who demands justice is demanding punishment it is not justice that you and I desire it is mercy and that's exactly what Jesus came to do to give us mercy I'm going to ask the praise team to come up and I want to read a portion of this hymn that you guys all know very well it is well with my soul you know the story behind Horatio Spafford who was a famous and very successful attorney who made a lot of money and he turned that money into more money by purchasing all this property so he became a very wealthy man but there was a huge fire that broke out in Chicago and he lost everything overnight being distraught he sent his family his four girls and his wife over to England so that possibly he could start over over there but on this journey the ship has a shipwreck and all four of his girls died and only his wife survived she ends up going to England and sends him a wire saying all is lost all four of our children are gone in his bereavement he gets on a boat to go join his wife to comfort her and on his journey riding the boat they were crossing exactly the same place where his daughters died and on the intercom the captain of the boat said this is where that other boat sank and as he was looking upon the waters he wrote this hymn and in this hymn he says when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say it is well with my soul it is well with my soul though Satan should buffet though trials should come let this best assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul it is well with my soul it is well my sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul it is well it is well with my soul it is well how can a human being write this in the situation that he was in watching over the very waters where his four beloved daughters drowned to say it is well with my soul it is well with my soul only a man who has found peace in Christ can write these words these aren't words that a natural man can write in a situation that he is in it is well with my soul it is well what makes you well what do you think is going to make you well what are you pursuing because you want peace I pray that each one of us would take this week deliberately to walk through the steps as he goes to the cross and recognize that this is why he came so why don't we all stand up together we're going to sing this song together When peace like a river Water hanketh my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well with my soul It is well With my soul It is well, it is well with my soul Though Satan should buffet Though trial should come Let this blest assurance unfold That Christ has regarded My helpless estate And has shed his own blood for my soul It is well With my soul It is well, it is well with my soul My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought My sin not in part but the whole Is nailed to the cross And I beg no more Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Oh my soul, say Lord haste the day When the figs shall be sown The clouds be rolled back as a scroll The floods shall be towns The floods shall be towns And the Lord shall descend In my soul It is well With my soul It is well With my soul It is well It is well with my soul Heavenly Father, you know where we're at.

You know our tendency to drift. You know the temptations, Lord God, that we are struggling with. You know, Father God, what we are entangled in. Help us, Lord, especially this week, to be anchored in Christ. Help us, Lord, to be determined to follow you and you alone. Help us, Lord, as a church, to recognize, Lord, that our life is like a mist that comes and goes, that we would not invest, Lord God, in short-term goals, but for eternity.

Help us to see the darkness around us and not to be in despair, but to recognize the work that you have placed us in so that we may be the light, and the darker that it gets, that we would see a greater need, Lord God, for the gospel. So we pray that you would awaken us, open our eyes, soften our hearts.

Help us to see your great, deliberate love that you've poured upon us, that Christ would be established, loved, adored, and worshipped, and obeyed. Use this week, Lord God, for this purpose. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God sent his Son They called him Jesus He came to love Healed and forgave He lived and died To buy my poverty An empty grave is there to My Savior live Because he lives I can face tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because he lives Just because he lives Just because he lives Just because he lives Just because he lives Just because he lives Just because he lives