TIME | Part 1 | Palm Sunday | The Difference Between Time and Timing

Hallelujah.

Praise on the church. How we feeling

today?

>> You guys alive?

>> You ready for the word?

>> Praise the Lord. Hey, it's Palm Sunday.

That's exciting. Uh you guys got uh palm

branches. Man, we went old school. Look

at these. I got one right here. Come on,

let me see them. Come on, let's do it.

Let's go. Hosana.

>> Oh my goodness. We're having church now.

Praise the Lord. Hey, Palm Sunday is, as

many of us know, kind of the leadup to

Resurrection Sunday. And that's the good

news of the message, isn't it?

Resurrection Sunday is coming. And uh

today, we want to dig in a little bit.

And I'm going to ask you to pray with

me. Father, we thank you, Lord. God, for

revival on the inside,

Lord, what the enemy meant for evil,

God, you're turning and using for good

in this moment. And so, Father, by the

authority you've given me in Jesus'

name, Father, we bind all opposing

forces, all enemies, all distractions.

And father, at this moment, Lord, we

pray that we would hear from our father.

That we would hear from heaven, God,

with divine revelation, with insight,

Lord, with encouragement to serve you

well.

So, Father, I thank you, Lord, for

allowing us, God, to hear you through

the preaching of the word. Bless it now

in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, hey, we're kicking off a new

series today and it's called time and I

want to talk uh about time today and

really about timing today. Uh time is an

interesting thing especially in our

culture. It's one of those things that

uh we're all fighting for more of it.

Anyone in here uh get so busy and you

go, "Man, I wish there were some more

hours in the day." Like I could use a a

good 40hour day to get some stuff done.

Right. I could use a couple extra days

in this week because I got so much. And

one of the things that I experience is I

have I'll look at my calendar and I get

intimidated because maybe we got four

kids and and ministry and all the stuff

going on and then the unexpected and uh

I'm going uh man there's there's more to

do than humanly possible.

You ever felt that? Man, time uh in our

culture is kind of an issue. Everybody's

running out of it. And here's what I

found is that everybody's giving their

time to something.

A lot of times we're giving our time to

something that doesn't deserve it. Amen.

Uh anyone ever uh if you want to let me

say this. If you if you want to feel

really bad about yourself, uh go in your

phone and see how much time you spent

staring at a screen. You ever do that?

And you're just like, "What? That many

hours?" Like that's bizarre. And then

when I compare that about the the

spiritual things or the healthy things

or the God things that I've given my

time to, then I really start to feel

like a bum.

Right? Y'all being too quiet this

morning. Time to wake up, man. We need

to get some espresso happening in the

house of God.

Hallelujah.

Time.

I want to before we dive in too deep,

I want to say this. Giving your time to

Jesus is different than giving your

heart to Jesus.

They're just not the same thing. We

confuse it in our culture. Sometimes we

confuse it in our minds.

If you're taking notes, you can write

that down. Giving Jesus your time is not

the same thing as giving Jesus your

heart.

You know, I think about uh I like to

read the Bible. Anyone in here?

Thing I do. Kind of fun. Um and I think

about uh a man in scripture uh that

spent a lot of time with Jesus. Uh he

walked with Jesus for around three

years. He saw the miracles that Jesus

performed. He heard the sermons that

Jesus preached. And that same man that

spent all that time serving Jesus

betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver.

Uh if you haven't read about it, his

name is Judas.

Um isn't it interesting that there's so

many uh biblical names that we still

have today? John and Matthew and all.

Nobody names their kid Judas.

Yeah. Uh if you're thinking of baby

names, I'd leave that one off the list.

But Judas is proof that you can give

Jesus your time and still completely

miss him.

So we're talking about time. What makes

the difference?

Hear this. You can be in the room and

not be in relationship.

You can be in church

faithfully

serving and not be in surrender.

There there's a huge difference between

giving Jesus my time and giving Jesus my

heart. I want you to see from scripture

really from the New Testament mentality.

Two different words that we see used for

our one word time.

One is from Kronos

chronological.

It's our calendar. It's our watch. Oh

man, I got to be there at this certain

time. It's that uh thing that we're

stuck in. You guys know that God is

beyond time. God is not bound with the

confines of time, but we are and we feel

that, right? So, so Kronos is that that

calendar, that hour, that minute, that

second time clock that keeps ticking

whether we like it or not. But there's

another word in the New Testament that's

used for time. It's called chyros.

Say chyros.

Chyros is really

different. Now Judas had Kronos time

with Jesus. Three years of it, but

Chyros is completely different. It's

really related to Jesus himself. It's an

appointed time of the Lord. It's a

specific time that heaven steps out of

that reality and into our reality. It's

when God shows up. Have you had those

moments?

Man, I hope you have

a God encounter.

Mark Mark 1:15 says, "The time the

Mark 1:15

chyros is fulfilled and the kingdom of

God is at hand. Repent and believe in

the gospel."

Romans 5:6

Romans 5:6

says this, "For while we were still weak

at the right time, at the right chyros,

Christ died for the ungodly." There's

been some Chyros moments that we see.

Those scriptures aren't on the screen

because uh I threw those in between

services.

Galatians 4 says, "But when the fullness

of time, Chyros, had come, God sent

forth his son." What we're looking at at

Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday are

those chyros moments. Amen. God's

appointed time. What we're looking at

when we surrender ourselves to him is

that God has these chyros moments

in our lives. I'm less concerned with my

calendar and more concerned with God's

calendar. That's what salvation looks

like. Amen.

When God shows up, everything changes.

That's the good news. And Chyros isn't

about how much time you give.

Amen.

It's about how much heart you surrender.

That's really what Palm Sunday is all

about.

It's about a city

that gave Jesus a Kronos moment in time.

Just a moment. They had Jesus right in

front of them at the right time and

still by 5 days later they missed him.

It It's really about people who gave

Jesus a moment on their calendar but

never gave Jesus

their hearts

and completely missed the Chyros moment.

It's interesting that

God had been building towards this

moment for thousands of years

and they missed it.

You can give Jesus a moment in time

still completely miss him and they did

it with energy. They were worshiping

God.

Hosanna

was actually Hosana. Hosana, save me.

Save me. And these these palm branches

were like the like the flag. It's a

political rally for them. I guess waving

our little American flag.

Save us. Save us. But it was really with

good intentions

and with a type of praise for Jesus. And

in this walk that we have with Christ,

we can wave our palm branches. We can

worship the loudest, scream the loudest,

and still be the person on Friday who

yells, "Crucify him!" How do we go from

such an emotional state of praise,

loving God,

to five days later

yelling, "Murder that man! Kill him!

nail him to the tree. Give us give us

Barabus, this this vile, filthy,

disgusting criminal, and take that guy

and kill him. How do we go from that?

It's because we're not stepping into the

Chyros moment, and we're living in our

Kronos timeline.

We never do that, do we?

It's the danger of a crowd that loves

the moment but resists the king.

I don't want that to be us.

Say time.

It was interesting. A few months ago, we

were walking through Meyer and uh came

to the checkout and uh

saw this magazine rack hanging there and

I was like, man, I know that guy, right?

That's my buddy. That's my Jesus, right?

So, I picked it up, kind of flipping

through it and uh man, the price of

magazines have gone up. Yeah. 15 bucks

for a magazine. I know. I was offended,

but it was Jesus, so I bought it.

That was my offering over and above my

tithe. I 15 bucks for for Jesus. But he

made the cover. And uh it's interesting

that I found out that Jesus made the

cover three times of major magazines in

the last year. Time magazine. Look at

this one. life.

And it's not just the the cover, man.

You flip through it. It's got all the

good Jesus stuff in it. You know, it's a

story of Jesus. I don't have it, but

Newsweek, another major outlet, had

Jesus on the cover. And uh, man, they're

catching the trend. You know, there's

this little Gen Z revival that's being

talked about and and a shift in culture

a little bit, which I, man, I'm in favor

of, but you know, media is trying to

kind of be culturally relevant.

They give Jesus the headlines, the

special edition,

the documentary,

the trending moment. Here's the reality

is they tell you who Jesus was,

but looking through it, they don't know

who he is.

They don't know my Jesus. Amen.

Sometimes we do the same thing with

Christ in our own life.

We'll pick up the cover story, the

checkout line and flip through it, but

then we set it down and forget about it

by Tuesday.

And I love that Jesus made the cover.

Here's what I know is that a lot of

people treat Jesus that same way that he

gets the cover story. He gets the

Sunday.

He gets an hour a week if the schedule

allows.

long as we're not on a sports travel

team or something. We give them that

hour a week and uh we get on social

media and and we want to let everybody

know that we're Christians. And so we

give Jesus the cover story. Can I tell

you there's a huge difference between uh

him hitting the cover story and then him

hitting your heart and him being the

center

of your life

with those people on Palm Sunday.

Sometimes we show up, we sing the songs,

we check the box.

Too often we live like Judas

in proximity to Jesus without

transformation from Jesus. It's Kronos

Christianity.

Jesus isn't trying to get on your

calendar.

He's trying to live in your heart.

You know, we read and uh Whitney did a

phenomenal job reading Matthew's account

of Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry.

Uh

Luke gives us a little bit of a

different perspective

of what Jesus was doing

while the parade was happening. Luke

Luke 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19 and verse 41.

And when he Jesus when he drew near

and saw the city,

he wept over it.

I want you to picture a king riding in.

This would be an encouraging moment for

anyone. You're riding in and people are

praising and man people are taking their

their cloaks. We don't wear cloaks much

anymore. Anyone in here have a cloak.

Yeah. No, but they're laying their

they're laying their coats down on the

on the ground for him to come.

This really what should have been an

amazing moment that God stepped out of

heaven, became man, lived a sinless life

and is about to remove all the sins of

all mankind and have ever lived and

guarantee you eternity in heaven. Like

this this powerful moment and Jesus is

riding into his own parade

and begins to weep.

Verse 42.

He wept over it, saying,

"What would you, even you, had known on

this day the things that made for peace?

But now they're hidden from your eyes.

For the days will come upon you when

your enemies will set up a barricade

around you and surround you and hem you

in on every side,

tear you down to the ground, you and

your children within you.

And they will not leave one stone upon

another in you. Catch this. Because you

did not know the time of your

visitation.

The chyros.

They didn't recognize the chyros moment.

And here's the surrendered life. God,

what are you up to? Because I have my

thoughts. I have my plans. I have I have

my calendar. I have all of these things.

And there's a way to man that seems

right, but in the end that road leads to

death. I have all this stuff. But in the

midst of it, am I in a surrendered

lifestyle with the power of the Holy

Spirit and my relationship with God to

say, you know what? I'm going to set

that aside and say, God, what are you up

to in this?

Because that's more valuable.

The last thing I want is the king

riding into my life while I'm praising

God, riding into the parade and weeping

because I miss it.

And he's crying not because the crowd is

too loud, but because the crowd is too

shallow.

We're celebrating a moment

in time.

He came to gave them to give them a

chyros moment. Number one in your notes

this morning is that Jesus calls

followers, not fans.

Jesus calls followers,

not fans. Wouldn't that change the whole

story?

if he was on the banks of the sea and

said, "Hey, come be my fan.

Come be my fan. Come, come put me on the

cover page, man. I want to be a

celebrity in your life."

He didn't call fans. He said, "Hey,

leave everything you've got." He walked

right into where their business was,

fishermen. And he said, "Hey, come

follow me.

Come follow me." Jesus calls followers

Not fans.

See, fans can

wave the flag and praise him and yell

hosana

on Sunday and yell crucify

by Friday. Five days

from hosana to crucify. It's the same

city, the same people, the same mouth. 5

days later,

fans show up for the big moments.

Followers show up when it cost them

something.

Followers show up when it makes no

sense. Followers are devout.

Fans wave branches with

when the energy is high and followers

carry the cross when nobody else is

watching.

There's a big difference between fans

and followers and our consumer culture

and our western consumer style

Christianity has a tendency or the

ability to create fans of Jesus and not

followers of Jesus.

I don't want to be just a fan.

Anyone in here fans of sports teams?

Yeah. Couple sports people. Um I've

followed some teams that it was awful

hard to be their fan.

Uh Detroit Lions. It's a little bit of

an issue over the years to keep up with

Detroit. I'm like, "Guys, what are we

doing with our lives, man?

Well, we get excited and we're more

faithful to a team

when they're doing what we want them to

do.

When they're winning.

When it seems like they're winning.

Fans give Jesus a Sunday.

Followers give Jesus their lives.

Here's

what I've watched over 20 years of

ministry is sometimes even what we call

a salvation moment for a person

can be really caught up with emotion

similar to that Palm Sunday experience

where man the lighting was just right.

Pastor Mark sang that perfect song.

man, that keyboard was just beautiful

and and the and the words that the

pastor said and and it kind of creates

this emotional experience, right?

And so we don't know any different. we

go pray the prayer.

What I've watched is sometimes when we

pray it just from a heart of emotion

that we're caught up in the moment in

the Kronos that we're the same ones 5

days later yelling crucify or let me say

this we're trying to kill Jesus all over

again by running back to our old sin

life like Jesus didn't transform our

heart and cleanse us from all

unrighteousness and wash us in the blood

of Jesus Christ. Nothing changed.

Preaching a little bit this morning.

Emotional Christianity is not the same

as surrendered Christianity.

Emotional Christianity is not the same

as surrendered Christianity. Now listen,

surrendered Christianity

can have some emotion with it. I I hope

that you're surrendered in such a way as

that you feel something when you

worship. I hope there's some emotion

there. But years ago, I was spent a lot

of time in the charismatic movement

where everything was the moment,

everything was the energy, everything

was the emotion and and I pastored a lot

of people and you know, they would in

Sunday experiences, my goodness, they

were just oh flamboyantly emotional. You

guys been in charismatic church? Some of

them laid out on the floor and sometimes

it gets you get the energy going. People

start wiggling.

Yeah. Or they get loud. They have a loud

expression of speaking in tongues or

whatever the whatever the emotional

thing is. And I'm pastoring these people

and I'm going, "Man, uh, Monday through

Saturday, you sin like the devil and

you're the most emotional person on

Sunday morning. I think we've missed

something." Amen. And I think I think

somehow our our emotional Christianity

uh persuaded us that we're saved

somehow.

He who the son sets free is free indeed.

I'm no longer bound by sin. I'm no

longer bound by addiction. I'm no longer

caught up in the things that I used to

get caught up in. Now listen, we we get

saved and there's a disciplehip process.

Sometimes there's some residue and God's

working some things out of us. But can I

tell you that if that if you

surrendered, your life will never be the

same, you won't go back.

They wanted

the king without the kingdom.

people on Palm Sunday, they wanted that

humble king. Man, that looked attractive

to them,

but they didn't want the kingdom of

humility

to be in them.

Singing loud in church is not the same

as obedience on Monday morning.

Putting Jesus on your social media,

quoting the scriptures, sharing the real

is not the same as letting him be Lord

of your life.

Fans want a moment with Jesus. Followers

want a life with Jesus.

Which one are you?

Number two in your notes. Jesus is the

moment inside your moment.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?

It's the chyros inside your Kronos.

It's I have a timeline,

but somehow Jesus showed up in that

timeline and there was a moment.

And here's where it starts to get a

little bit personal.

Uh, Palm Sunday is a Chyros moment. You

know, this week was circled on heaven's

calendar thousands of years before it

happened. This wasn't just like, "Oh,

okay. Let's grab a donkey and go to

town."

Thousands of years. This has been

circled on God's calendar that this is

the fullness of time. This is the

appointed time for for the for the

redeemer of all mankind to enter into

the city.

The chyros entered the timeline of

manhood.

This was circled on heaven's calendar

before Rome even existed,

before Jerusalem was even built,

before Abraham took his first breath.

God had been building towards this

moment. The prophecy that's quoted there

is from Zechariah. It was written 500

years earlier before Jesus sat on the

donkey.

It said, "See your king comes to you

gentle riding on a donkey." 500 years

before it happened, God had an appointed

time.

Do you know that God's timing is never

accidental?

500 years is a long time

to wait.

Sometimes

we're waiting on God, waiting and

waiting and waiting.

And God goes, "Not not yet, son.

Not yet." Because I have an appointed

time. And if you'll put your faith in

me, if you'll just trust me with it, I

promise it's better than your timeline.

I I don't know about you, but I I'm

snappy. I like things now. Anyone?

Especially when I'm praying stuff,

especially when it's a noble thing. I'm

just like, I think God should just do

that now, right? I think we should have

a bigger building now

because we're a little it's a little

tight around here, right? All these

different things. I think, you know, if

I'm going through a struggle or need

need financial reality, okay, God,

yeah, I'll even spiritualize it. You

said you'll never leave me nor forsake

me, God. And I'm

God says, "Yeah, it's coming.

Just wait on me. They that wait upon the

Lord shall renew their strength. They

shall mount up with wings as eagles.

They shall run and not be weary. They

shall walk and not faint. Oh, you read

you guys read it, too.

God's timing is never accidental.

Jesus weeps as he's riding into the

procession

because the city couldn't recognize

their chyros inside of their Kronos.

They couldn't recognize God's calendar,

God's moment.

Ecclesiastes 3 is

about time.

Every time I think about it, I think of

the old 60s song. There is a season

turn. I won't sing for you.

Too late. There's a time and a season

for everything. Do you know that it says

God will make all things beautiful in

his time?

In his time, not your time. Say God's

timing.

They're so busy trying to get God to fit

into their plan

that they miss the plan that God had for

them. And we do the same thing. Come to

Jesus with our list. Fix the marriage

now.

Fix the money issue now, Lord. I need

money now.

I want to fix the health issue. I want

to be healed now.

Take the addiction away now. Open the

door

now. Move on my timeline, my way, my

plan.

And here's the reality. When the answer

doesn't come on our schedule, what do we

do?

Secretly, sometimes we get offended with

God.

M you don't want to say it out loud, but

I've been there going, God, I gave you

my life. I surrendered my life to you.

I'm serving you. Giving you everything.

I'm faithful to you. And I'm asking for

that we get selfish. I'm asking for this

one thing, God, and you won't do it.

You ever scream at God, cry, yell at

God? Yeah.

We're like little toddlers throwing our

temper tantrums sometimes in prayer,

aren't we?

We get offended. We get cold. We start

showing up less.

We start trusting less.

We still have the

branch in our hand. We're still singing

the song, but inside we've quietly

indicted God. You didn't do what I

thought you would do when I thought you

would do it.

So,

I'll still serve you, but emotionally

I'm keeping one foot in and one foot out

until you prove you're worth it.

I think it's important to

name that, recognize that within

ourselves. We're all humans,

right?

Sometimes what we're calling doubt or a

season of spiritual dryness,

it's just a season

is often offense with God's timing.

Here's the word for today.

Faith is trusting God's timing. Offense

is punishing God for not obeying your

timing.

Faith is trusting God's timing.

Offense is punishing God for not obeying

yours.

We all know what the flesh sounds like.

I want what I want when I want it.

We'll wrap that up in Christianity

and we'll turn it in as part of our

prayer life because it's noble

aspirations. God, I want it and I want

it now. I want what I want when I want

it. And I want it on my Kronos. I want

it on my timeline. Salvation looks like

this. I want what he wants when he wants

it. And Lord, I'm going to be faithful

until you show up. And I'm going to

praise you and I'm going to love you and

I'm going to serve you. Even though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of

death, I'll fear no evil because I know

that you're with me. And I know that

your rod and your staff protect me. And

and Lord, if you want me to walk through

this for the for however long, if it's

if it's all the way till the end until I

meet you face to face, Lord, I'll go

through what you want me to go through.

That's salvation. That's surrender.

I tried to pray, pastor, and he just

didn't he didn't answer me.

Prayed yesterday

for something that you want.

now.

And not only does he not answer it on my

timeline, he doesn't answer it the way

that I want him to answer it.

Prayed for patience. Man, I wanted God

to show up, wave his little staff over

my head and poof, I have patience.

I was an impatient person. I still

struggle with it because I I I like

things now, right? struggle with

patience, especially in traffic in Fort

Wayne.

Anyone?

>> Yeah.

Feel like I'm doing pretty good till I

get behind Bula in her Buick and she's

going in the left lane the same speed as

the semi in the right lane.

Okay,

it's confession time. Thank you for

letting me share. I feel closer to you

now.

Thank you.

But I prayed for patience and God didn't

wave something over me and give me

patience like I wanted for years. I

waited in lines.

I waited here. I was just my my patience

was challenged. And what would have

normally been a a simple thing in my in

my Kronos and this and God says, "Man,

you want patience? There's only one way

for me to give it to you and it's going

to take a little bit of time.

Patience. It's going to take some

patience to get some patience. And I'm

going, God, I don't like this method

that you're using. If you could just I

know you're capable. If you could just

touch me

and I'm patient, we'd all get along,

right?

Deliverance, freedom from different

things.

I knew that it wasn't something that God

wanted in my life. And I'm going, "All

right, let's get rid of this thing." So,

God, take it from me. And God goes,

"Yeah, I'm going to let you feel it for

a little while. You're going to get to

crucify your flesh with its affections

and lust. You're going to get to say no

for a while. You're going to get to be

face to face with temptation and

struggle. And and the grace of God that

I put in you is going to be sufficient

for that thing." And I go, "God, that's

not the way that I wanted to do it.

What does salvation look like?"

Flesh says, "I want what I want when I

want it.

Maturity sounds like this. I want what

he wants when he wants it. Even when I

don't understand.

Do you guys know that the enemy knows

your prayer list?

He knows what you want. He knows what

you're asking God for. All those good

desires that you have for the healing,

for the marriage, for the breakthrough.

Here's what the enemy will do.

You're praying for this thing and the

enemy will sneak in and attach a

timeline to it that God never agreed to.

Because if the devil can't keep you lost

deep in sin,

he'll try to bind you up while you're

serving God. And the enemy wants to get

you offended. Anything to separate you

from God. Anything for you to lose your

passion and your desire and your praise

and your worship. Anything to get that

that separation, he'll do it. And he'll

come behind every prayer, every noble

desire, and he'll attach a timeline to

it that God never agreed to. And when it

doesn't meet the timeline, he'll come

whisper in your ear. See?

See?

Telling on the devil today.

Yeah.

Putting him on blast. Take that, devil.

When God moves differently than we had

hoped or slower

or moves in a way that we didn't expect,

we can easily feel betrayed. Can Can we

just tell the truth in church? Who's

felt betrayed by God?

It's got to be the most absurd thing

that we could ever say. The sentence

doesn't even make sense.

God didn't betray you. God blessed you.

He's never late.

He's never absent.

And can I say this? He's never done with

you. He's for you. He's just not on your

clock, on your timeline.

God operates

in Chyros.

1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourself so

1 Peter 5:6

that at the proper chyros, at the proper

time, he may exalt you."

Humble yourself so at the right God-app

appointed time, God will lift you up.

The question isn't, why hasn't God

moved?

The question is, is am I willing to

trust him in the waiting?

What are you waiting on?

Well, keep waiting.

Amen.

And don't try to fill it with a

substitute because God will show up at

the appointed time.

Number three in your notes is two

parades and one question.

It's a lesser known fact about Palm

Sunday

that there were actually two processions

into Jerusalem that day. The one we read

about is Jesus coming in on the donkey.

But at the same time there was a and

Jesus was coming in on the eastern side

of the city. On the western side of the

city

the governor Pontius Pilate was riding

in with his own military procession

riding into Jerusalem. Looked radically

different from what we see Jesus doing.

This one had war horses.

It had Roman soldiers.

They had their leather armor with their

swords

and their spears.

They had the drums playing the cadence

creating the emotion, the sign of

dominance and power and authority.

Jesus is riding in from the east.

This little donkey. You guys ever seen a

grown man on a donkey?

Hey, Pontius Pilates, I I can only

imagine on this beautiful steed, you

know, with the flowing hair and and he's

riding in standing tall in his in his

uniform. And then here's Jesus in his

robe and his leather sandals. I wonder

how close his feet were to the ground,

you know, riding in on this donkey with

uh some disciples. I think those dudes

look like some riff raff,

simple fishermen walking with them.

Sometimes

a lot of times in the inside of us

there are two processions happening at

the same time.

There's the low humble

meek Jesus with the actual solution and

then there's this flesh show of power.

Which one will you worship?

Which one will you praise? We often have

two choices in life.

And sometimes it's in those exact

moments that we're facing the greatest

trials or the greatest decisions.

It's two parades, two kings, two

completely different visions of what it

means to have power.

Jesus says, "Take the low road. Be

humble. and I'm your power.

Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 says this.

Philippians 2:5

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

I think that's the most challenging text

in the entire Bible.

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus

who being in very nature God did not

consider equality with God something to

be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness, and being

found in appearance as a man, he humbled

himself. Say humbled. He humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death,

even death on a cross. Therefore, God

exalted him to the highest place and

gave him the name that is above every

name.

You know, no matter what life throws at

you, can I give you the encouragement?

Ride in on the donkey.

Amen.

Ride in on the donkey. Take the low

road. Take the path of humility. But

whatever it is,

how often we have circumstances and we

get on our on our trusty steed with all

of our best resources, our best little

soldiers of manipulation or a show of

force or whatever that is. And man, man,

I I just hearing this, man, we need to

we need to lay that procession aside and

we need to get on that donkey having the

same mind as that of Christ Jesus and

take the low road.

Every situation at work,

every tension

at home,

always face that moment where your flesh

wants to ride in on a waror.

Look at your neighbor and say, "Ride the

donkey."

Not like at the 90s dance party. We're

not riding those donkeys.

right in on the humble,

lowly, meek

atmosphere of humility.

See, the crowd wanted a humble king, but

they didn't want the kingdom of

humility.

Too often we want the king without the

kingdom.

Here's what it looks like in 2026.

You want Jesus to fix your marriage,

but you won't serve your spouse when

it's inconvenient.

You want Jesus to open financial doors

and financial blessing,

but you refuse to honor him with the

first of all that he's given you.

You want Jesus to deliver you from

addiction,

but you won't die to the comforts that

keep feeding it.

You want a king

who rules your enemies,

but not your appetite.

Jesus says, "That's not how my kingdom

works.

That's not how it works. God is not a

genie in a bottle. You don't come make

your wish and he appears.

You're abandoning

everything else to serve him in his

kingdom on his timeline.

Master whatever you want. Master

whenever you want it.

The kingdom of God starts on the inside

of you. It's not a location that we'll

go to someday.

God says, "When I'm king of your heart,

I'll be king of your time, king of your

habits, king even of your secret life."

And in that surrender, everything else

starts to come into order.

Jesus said this in Matthew 6:33. He

Matthew 6:33

said, "But seek ye first

the kingdom of God."

Let's pause for a minute.

Jesus didn't say seek ye first the king.

He says seek ye first top priority the

kingdom of God. This messing with your

theology a little bit. Seek ye first the

kingdom of God. What is the culture of

the kingdom?

See the people on Palm Sunday wanted the

king without the kingdom. But salvation

is wanting the kingdom and the king.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness,

and all these things shall be added unto

you.

Lord, I'm hungry not only for you, but

also for your kingdom, for your culture,

for your timing, for your atmosphere.

Let me close by giving you three moves

that you can make today.

And I'll ask the worship team to join me

up here.

Number

one is move Jesus from the cover story

to the center of your life.

Stop giving Jesus the leftovers of your

week.

Begin to give him the first fruits. Let

me ask this. If Jesus opened your

calendar right now, would he feel like

Lord or would he feel like a guest?

Today can be the day

to make that surrender. To give him your

life,

to give him your everything.

What's the greatest commandment in the

Bible?

To love the Lord thy God with all thy

heart, all thy soul, with all thy mind,

with all thy strength.

So the entire law can be summed up in

that.

It's not about serving God with the

rules and the religion and the

regulations.

It's about surrendering

your heart, mind, and soul to him with

all of your strength.

Number two is to move from offense

to trust.

I feel like God's digging deep in

someone here today

about the offense that you've held.

Something that you thought God should

have done, but he didn't show up in the

way that you had hoped.

And I ask you to do something brave

spiritually and begin to name that

thing. What is it?

What is it?

that I was offended with God about

believe that today is the day of

surrender

and today can be a chyros moment

not just another day on the calendar.

One scripture says that your chyros is

now.

This can be the moment

where your calendar and your clock and

everything gets set aside and you say,

"God, what are you up to in my life

right now?

Father, I want to be on your schedule. I

want to be on your timeline.

And Lord, I don't want to miss it.

I don't want to miss it.

was thinking about life in the '9s

before we had cell phones. Remember,

you'd make plans with a friend who's old

enough to be with me here. Make plans

with a friend and let's say it was

Friday night. We're going to meet at

such and such place. You hadn't talked

to him since Monday

and you didn't get the text, the

reminder, the no alarm going off on your

phone, nothing like that. You said you

were going to be there Friday

and you were there Friday.

This bizarre thing.

I think about those moments when

something happened and you ever show up

to a place and they weren't there and we

were just Yeah. Yeah, I look back, we

were just lost humans. Couldn't text,

couldn't find out. You'd have to wait

till you accidentally saw them the next

time and be like, "Dude, where were you

Friday night,

right?

Missed the moment.

Missed that piece on the timeline. I I

don't want to have that experience with

God. I don't want to be so busy in my

chronological time. I I don't want to be

so caught up in plans and all these

different things that I'm missing the

chyros moments in my life because God

has an appointed time for you, for

breakthrough,

for freedom, for blessing.

Surrender.

Number three is move from spectator

to surrendered.

Christianity is not a spectator sport.

It's not a cover story.

I've lived long enough

to know that life is short.

I've lived long enough to know that

tomorrow isn't promised. Do you want to

know the reality? There's some in this

room that will not be here for Palm

Sunday 2027.

Do you know that they can all end in a

moment?

I've had too many friends and done too

many funerals that thought they had more

time

and they went off and died in their sin.

And the only thing we left here on this

earth could do is stand next to the

casket and weep. I've had friends that

have died that I've been livid with.

upset with

because they threw it all away. And my

hope is that they made it in. But all

signs point to they didn't.

Chyros moment because tomorrow's not

promised. Today can be the day we're

going to end this service and our

worship, our worship team is going to

play and our prayer team is going to be

up here and I'm going to ask you to not

miss your moment. There's something that

God is speaking to you. There's

something that God is revealing to you.

Maybe it's salvation. Maybe you're

going, "Man, I I I don't even think I've

surrendered in the way that you're

talking about, pastor."

Let today be that day. And I promise if

you surrender and give your life to

Jesus, he becomes Lord of your life,

you'll have the most amazing Good Friday

and the most exhilarating resurrection

Sunday that you've ever experienced in

your life. Let's stand to our feet all

over this house.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for a

revelation of truth and understanding

and insight. But Father, I'm thankful

more for you being our father and

sitting and speaking plain to us today.

God, I pray, Lord, that every soul under

the sound of my voice would respond to

exactly what your Holy Spirit is doing

in their lives.

Father, I pray that today is the day

that we don't miss our moment.

Father, I pray even past this moment in

time, Father, I pray in the weeks to

come, the months to come, in the

lifestyle that we live, that we keep up

with your chyros moments.

Father, that your moments are more

supreme on our calendar

than our own moments.

So father bless each one. I pray

Lord I pray that your will is

accomplished in this time in the hearts

of your people in Jesus name.

Amen.

We're going to open the altars. I want

to encourage you. This altar is for

everyone.

Won't you come?