Don't Miss It | April Farmer

Hey everybody, I'm so excited to be here.

Welcome to Palm Sunday.

Oh my goodness, for everybody in the room, glad you're here.

I mean, the party is just amazing to me.

This celebration, this energy that you feel in the room, wherever you are, I pray you feel the energy.

And that's just not people and bodies and heat and sweat and funk.

It's not that.

It's the presence of the Lord.

The Bible tells us where two or three are gathered in his name.

He is in the midst.

So wherever you are, the Spirit of the Lord is in the midst.

So I pray you're experiencing and you dive in and you step in.

For all of you here, those at Missouri City and West End and all of our brothers at the Ramsey Unit.

We are so excited to be able to worship with you today.

This is already an amazing day.

It's a beautiful day.

And today is special.

Number one, because we're breathing, but this is the top of what we call Holy Week.

And so as we embark upon all that's going to happen this week, I was prayerful.

And if I had to put a title to the message I want to share today, it simply says, Don't miss it.

Don't miss it.

I'm going to pray real fast.

Father in heaven, I glorify your name.

I give you all praise and honor because you deserve every bit of it.

Father, we ask right now that you would give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see, and give us a mind and a heart that's willing to receive and respond to whatever it is you want to pour out on us today.

We thank you for this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So as we all know, next Sunday is Easter Sunday, and we're all pretty excited.

I hear some woos in the house.

Here we're all pretty excited about Easter.

It's next week, and for many of us, it's very familiar.

We know what Easter's about, but for some of you in the room, I don't want to take for granted that, you know, Easter's new.

You know, somebody just invited you to church, or, you know, you're new to faith and you didn't grow up celebrating Easter.

Um, but for most of us, it's pretty familiar, and it's this week of celebration that starts today and culminates on Sunday, but it's this time when we remember what Christ has done for us.

And many of us have childhood memories about Easter.

Lord knows I have plenty.

You know, one of my favorite things about Easter, we used to have Easter plays when I was growing up.

Anybody else ever had to memorize an Easter speech?

Or maybe that was just black folks' church.

I don't know.

I had to do an Easter speech almost every year.

And we had these plays, these very creative plays, and I had to put on, you know, uh um sheets from the bed to kind of make me look like I was an Israelite, and you had, you know, your little robes, and you put the the pillowcase on your hair because we were black, we didn't have long hair.

And so we had to put something on our hair to make us look like we were disciples, and you had to be Jesus following and all this other kind of stuff.

It was fun.

But my favorite part about Easter, no, no lie, I know this isn't real Christian, but my grandmother made me a new Easter dress every year.

And I so looked forward to seeing what color Nana picked for me that I could put on my little socks and my shoes and enjoy Easter and then rip it all up playing in the parking lot after service on Sunday and getting them open when I got home from messing up my clothes.

But so many memories, and lots of you may have those same memories.

But today marks what we call Palm Sunday.

And Palm Sunday simply commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.

As this week began, he made what they call the triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem.

And for many of you, it's probably familiar as it is for me.

But as I was studying to teach today, I came across something that really threw me.

It's like, oh my gosh, how did I not see this?

And I want to share that with you today.

So we're gonna dive right into the scripture that talks about this entry into Jerusalem that Jesus made on the Sunday before he was crucified.

So we're gonna take a look at Luke chapter 19, verse 29.

Luke 19:29

It says, As he approached Bethpage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.

Untie it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it, say the Lord needs it.

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.

As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt?

They replied, The Lord needs it.

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it.

This is a great place to pause.

I want you to know that this wasn't uh uh spontaneous.

This wasn't just Jesus thinking, Hmm, okay, I'm here now.

How am I supposed to get from here, the Mount of Olives, down to Jerusalem?

No.

Jesus had this prepared.

Jesus had already made intentional preparations for this entry.

He had sent his disciples ahead to look for a cult.

And a cult specifically, I had to look it up.

It's an untamed, untamed young male donkey, like in Shrek.

But he don't make waffles.

But this was a never-before ridden donkey, which in that culture made it set apart for sacred purpose, for sacred use.

And instead of a war horse, which is what you might think a king would enter into his city on, Jesus chose a humble animal.

Jesus came in an unexpected way.

And in doing so, he reveals the kind of king he is.

Jesus made no happenstance or no mistakes.

He was very intentional about showing the kind of king he was going to be.

Despite what everybody might have thought he should have done, he came on a humble animal, one who comes in peace and not by force.

Unexpected, but fulfilling the prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9.

Zechariah 9:9

Seeing, O daughters of Zion, and it talks about him coming in on a cult and riding on this donkey.

And he gently control or conforms or controls the expectations, and he changes the narrative from this uh political messiah that they expected to this humble king.

I love that Jesus was in full control this entire time.

And the story continues in verse 36.

It says, As he went along, people spread their clothes on the road.

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles that they had seen.

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

Y'all, there was a party going on.

There's a celebration happening on the top of this mountain here.

And Luke is very intentional about how he describes this.

He says that the ones that are praising Jesus as King, these aren't random onlookers.

These aren't people just passing by and saying, Oh, there's a party.

Let me join in.

No, this is a multitude of his disciples.

Ones who had been following him and walking with him for all of this time.

They had seen miracle after miracle.

They had seen eyes opened up and mute mouths starting to speak.

They had seen the lame healed and even the dead risen.

They had witnessed who he was.

These were not people that were taken by surprise.

They knew who he was and they were responding to what they had seen Jesus do.

They were responding to who he truly was.

And as they laid their cloaks down on the road, they were giving him praise and honor.

This wasn't just about excitement.

This was about adoration and glorification of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the one they had been waiting on.

They knew it was him, and they received him.

They gave him reverence and honor.

And this is exactly what worship is.

Worship is our response to the presence of God, our response to the character of God, how he shows up in our lives.

So when we sing our songs of worship and praise to him, we sing it because we know that he's good.

We know that he's king.

We know that he's God.

And that's what was going on at the top of that mountain.

And as they laid the palm branches down and they laid their clothes down, this wasn't random.

This was their, they were showing homage and submission to this king.

And they actually cried out loud the psalm that they had all been raised with.

Psalm 118 says, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And this is clearly a Messianic declaration.

They weren't just saying, hey, this man is cool and we're gonna just lift him up.

No, this is the Messiah.

This is the one we have been waiting for.

But what I love about this is that they didn't just quote this verse, they actually added a word.

They said, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

This just isn't some random dude.

He is the king of kings, he is the Lord of Lords.

And in that moment, they aren't just uh uh uh saying what they know or what they believe, they're saying what they have seen to be true.

Blessed is this king, blessed is he.

I know who that is, and they are revealing their belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

Y'all, this was a big, big deal.

And the Pharisees were pissed.

If I wasn't supposed to say that word, I'm sorry.

It's a little too late now.

But they were angry, they were ticked off.

Don't miss this.

This moment of laying of palm branches and laying down their garments and Jesus riding in on a donkey.

This was all very strategic.

All of this reflects a clear prophetic picture unfolding right before their eyes.

And the Pharisees knew it.

They understood exactly what was happening.

They knew the scriptures.

These were the Pharisees.

These was this was the pumping circumstance of Israel.

These were the people who had all the authority, and they wanted everybody to honor them because they knew the scripture, to honor them because they knew how to pray right, to honor them because they were the law keepers.

They knew exactly what was happening.

And what they do next proves that they recognized that this is a public declaration of Jesus as King.

Take a look at what happens next.

Verse 39.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said, Yo, yo, yo, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Jesus, teacher, rebuke your disciples.

I love this verse.

But he says, I tell you, he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.

Hey, come on, somebody.

Y'all don't know when to shout.

Oh my gosh.

I love this.

Jesus was not holding back at all.

He was flexing.

He was like, Ha ha ha, I bet you would tell them to be quiet.

He said, these Pharisees saw this proclamation as a threat to them and they felt some type of way, but Jesus was not moved at all.

Jesus said, only the creator of the universe could respond the way he did.

Nobody could do that but Jesus.

Jesus said that creation itself would have to testify to who I am, even if these people don't.

Y'all just don't get it.

In my church growing up, I heard the saint say them all the time.

Mama won't let no cry out for me.

I'm gonna give him glory.

I'm gonna give him praise.

I'm gonna give him honor because he's been too good to sit on my behind and not bless him.

He's been too good and too faithful to not open up my mouth, to not grab my hands, to not lift my hands, and to not praise my gama.

He is the king of kings, he is the Lord of Lords, he is a mighty common, he is an everlasting father, he is the Prince of Peace, and I will not let a rock cry out for me.

I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall continually be on my mouth.

Come on.

Jesus said they can be quiet if they want to.

These rocks will cry out, these trees will bow in reverence and honor to me because I know who I am, and they know who I am.

Then in the midst of this amazing moment, this amazing time of celebration and all of this multitude of people lifting him up, the disciples, the 12, and everybody that was following him, in the midst of all of this beauty, this beautiful worship and praise, a tension arises.

One that many of us may miss during this Easter season.

We get excited about Easter.

But I think many of us, as I, can sometimes miss this.

On one side, there's this enormous celebration and this recognition of Jesus as the king.

But then on the other side, there are those who will reject him.

And in verse 41, this is what happens.

It says, as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.

He wept.

While all these people are giving him glory and honor and adulation and laying down palm branches and clothes and proclaiming him as king.

Jesus pauses when he sees the city of the people who bear his name.

And he weeps.

And this wasn't just a random sadness.

This wasn't Jesus thinking to himself and dropping a few gentle tears.

It says he wept over the city.

And I looked up the weep.

I was like, is this the weep?

I think is the weep.

To weep is a loud expression of grief, of mourning, of lament.

This was not a quiet moment.

While they were lifting up praises, God was crying out and weeping over the city that bore his name.

Knowing that the people that he was coming to die for would reject him.

There's three accounts in scripture of Jesus weeping.

Only three.

Lazarus, when he found out his friend Lazarus was dead, it says it's the shortest verse in scripture.

Jesus wept.

He lamented.

He cried out loud, so much so that the people around was like, Oh my, look how he loved him.

Jesus wept.

Then he wept in the garden of Gethsemane just before he was taken to be crucified and beaten and stripped and scorned for your sin and for mine.

Jesus wept in that garden as he cried out, Father, if there's any way that this cup can be taken from me, let it be taken.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

And Jesus wept.

And now, as he is being proclaimed as the King of all creation, he weeps.

Why?

I can see when your friend dies that you would weep.

I can see when you realize the pain that you are about to endure for the you to carry the sins of the world.

I get that.

Why would you cry here when you're being proclaimed as king?

Verse 41 tells us.

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.

But now it is hidden from your eyes.

Not because of what he sees, but because of what Jerusalem has missed.

What the people who bear his name have missed, what they failed to see.

If you had only known, Jesus says, what would bring you peace if you had only known.

They didn't see it.

Not just physically, but spiritually.

They didn't see it.

They were spiritually blind.

They were spiritually blind.

Just like some of us in this room right now.

We sing the songs.

We're standing here in your presence.

I mean, we sing the songs.

This is our God.

This is who He is.

Yeah, He loves us.

But we're spiritually blind.

We celebrate and we lift Him up and we come every Sunday.

We serve behind the cameras.

We serve in the production and we serve in kids' ministry and we serve in small groups and we do all the things.

We lead worship, but we miss Jesus.

And what did they fail to see?

What do some of us miss?

Our need for repentance.

And repentance is a 180 to make an abowed face and go the other direction.

Some of us are believers in Jesus, but we are not followers of Him.

We say the words, we talk the talk, but our walk is nothing.

Our lives bear no witness, no fruit.

We fail to recognize our need for repentance.

We fail to recognize the miracles that are being performed all around us just like they did.

They missed the miracles.

They didn't recognize who He was, even seeing them with their eyes, their spiritual lives were blinded.

They failed to see the prophecies being fulfilled.

They were raised in these scriptures.

Some of us have been in church our whole lives and never read the book.

And we're missing Jesus.

They failed to see the peace being delivered to them through Jesus the Christ.

And in fact, it wasn't even just a failure, it was a refusal to see it.

Because when it's right in front of your face and you just look past it, you don't want to see it.

You don't want to see Jesus.

You don't want to obey.

You feel Him telling you.

Say you're sorry.

And you refuse.

And you keep that bitterness and that tension in your home for weeks.

You refuse to submit to a decision that was made that wasn't yours to make.

But you whine and you moan and you complain and you bicker and you tell other people and you gossip.

And the Holy Spirit's like, hey, I'm right here.

Can you just do this my way?

Mm-mm.

I give to this church.

I serve every week.

And you hold a grudge.

Maybe if that's not you, just keep straight.

Just keep looking this way.

They refuse to see it.

And now, because of that refusal, the truth was hidden from them.

And I don't know, sometimes we miss this when we consistently refuse the wisdom of God, our hearts get hard.

It can be right there, and you just blind as a bat.

Eyes wide open and can't see a thing.

And Jesus prophesies what will happen because of their willful blindness.

Verse 43, he tells them the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.

They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls, generational.

They will not leave one stone on another.

Why?

Because you did not recognize the time of the coming, the time of God's coming to you.

You didn't recognize it.

Instead of surrender, they chose resistance.

Instead of receiving peace, they pursued control.

And that path led to destruction.

It literally happened.

That prophecy that Jesus made happened in 70 AD.

It's fact.

You can look it up.

All of this is a true story.

This is not a fable.

This is not a myth.

This happened.

And it was the real consequence of a rejection of the one who came to save.

They missed it.

Don't you miss it?

This is what God has to say today.

I know Easter Sunday is coming, but don't let yourself be caught up in the celebration and then be the one at the cross saying, crucify him.

The same ones that laid palm branches.

Four days later, we're down there with the Pharisees saying, Yes, give us Barabbas and crucify him.

Because we don't want to stand out in this crowd.

We don't want to be set apart.

We don't want people to unfriend us.

When he's dying for us, don't miss it.

When Jesus says, if you had only known in verse 41, he's not talking about a lack of information.

He is exposing spiritual blindness rooted in resistance.

The Holy Spirit is knocking, and some of us are resisting.

They missed it.

Don't you miss it.

If you don't hear anything else I say today, don't you miss Jesus.

Don't you miss Jesus?

Buy your outfit, but don't miss Jesus.

Prepare for the people, but don't miss Jesus.

Bake your best meal, but don't miss Jesus.

There's many of us in the room today that are believers in Jesus.

And some of us are followers of Jesus, but some of us are laying in between that.

And I'm gonna say and just give it to you like it's in my heart to say.

Some of us need to repent.

Some of us have walked away from the faith.

We faking it.

And God says, don't miss me.

Because you know what I know?

As a pastor of care at my church, I see people and I manage and help direct funerals all the time.

I have family members who pass.

My father-in-law on January 5th was walking across the street and a car hit him.

Gone, just like that.

Unexpected.

We had just celebrated Christmas and now my dad is gone.

It is coming to each and every one of us.

It is appointed to all of us somehow somehow to die.

I'm sorry.

It's not comfortable.

We don't like it.

We don't have a choice.

But what we do have a choice about is where we end up when we go.

So there is an invitation for all of us here today.

For those of us that are following Jesus and we are walked away, we're slipping.

Revelation 3:20.

Revelation 3:20

God is speaking to a church of people who have drifted.

And he says to them, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock.

I'm knocking at your door.

God is knocking on somebody's door in this place today.

You are faking it and you know it.

You come, you say you do, but you have not let Jesus in.

I beseech you today, don't miss it.

He's knocking at your door, but he hasn't walked away.

But we have slowly closed the door on him.

We've told him, You can have this much of me, but not all.

And Jesus says, I need all of you.

I want to be in every area of your life so that your life can be fully transformed and you can demonstrate the kingdom here on earth before your time is up.

Because I would not want any of us to stand before God and say, Father, I prophesied in your name.

Father, I served in kids' ministry.

Father, I came to church every week.

Father, I even told people about you, and he looks at you and says, I'm sorry, baby, I don't know you.

I don't want that for us.

And God does not want that for us.

Jesus died, so that would never have to happen for any of us.

And maybe that's you today.

You've become comfortable in your faith, or you've become distracted, or self-sufficient.

I got this.

It's possible to look like we have everything totally together spiritually and still be distant from God.

Don't let that be you.

Don't miss it.

Don't miss his invitation to you.

He's calling, he's knocking.

Will you respond to him today?

He wants to give you a fresh wind.

He wants to restore unto you the joy of your salvation.

Will you let him in today?

Don't miss this moment.

Don't miss his voice.

Don't miss this invitation to come back to the Father.

To come back to your first love, to draw close again to your Lord and Savior.

If you're drifting, if your heart feels distant, if if if if you feel like you're just going through the motions, today is the day for you.

Don't wait till next Sunday.

Do it now.

He's knocking.

Open your door.

Open the door of your heart and let him in.

And if you're here in this room today and you've never asked Jesus into your heart, there's an invitation for you today, too.

And it's simple.

Don't miss Jesus.

Don't miss him.

Tomorrow is not promised.

Don't miss Jesus.

Hebrews 3 and 15, it says today, right now, in this moment, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart.

Don't close him off so much.

Well at one, at some point, it's just you just don't hear it anymore.

Don't let that be you.

Now is the time.

Today is the day.

He sees you fully, he knows everything.

He knows all about you.

He knows you fully and completely, and still he says, baby, please, I died just for you.

Will you let me in today?

The Bible says, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of every one of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you can be saved.

You will be saved.

He wants to forgive.

It's already been completed.

Step in.

Let him restore you and make you new.

We watch the baptism stories today.

There's so many happening today.

And that could be you.

If you want to give your life to Jesus today, simply say, Father, I know I am a sinner in need of a savior.

I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from all of my unrighteousness.

Father, and I invite you to come live on the inside of me, transform my life, and help me to walk out this life daily with you so that I can be an example of how wonderful and how amazing you are.

And we will take you to the water today.

Right after this service.

Whatever campus you're at, if you want to get baptized, some of you can get it done today.

For some of you, you'll have to register and catch the next one.

But don't let it pass you by.

And this is not about religion, this is about relationship.

Forget all the stuff, the nonsense you see on TV.

Cut it off.

And read the book.

Today, if you hear him knocking, respond.

Respond to him.

We're gonna have a lot of people here next week.

Not just here at River Point and wherever you're watching from, but all around the world.

All the creasers are coming.

They're Christmas and Easter people.

They're all coming next week.

They're all gonna be here.

And my prayer is that they make it to next week.

Some won't.

For some of you in this room today, you know who you're inviting.

Or you've already invited them.

Don't wait till next Sunday to tell them about Jesus.

Why not tell them today?

Why not invite them now?

And if you're resisting, stop resisting.

That tug you feel is a holy and righteous God.

And he wants to transform your life.

They missed it.

Don't you miss it?

Let me pray for us.

Father in heaven, you are a glorious and magnificent God, and we bless your holy and righteous name.

You are a truth worth talking about.

You are a God worth sharing.

You are a God.

You are the God, the one and only way to eternal life.

And we are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.

So, Father, today, as you are knocking on doors of hearts of people that have drifted, I pray, Lord, that we open the door and let you in to whatever area we've resisted you in, to whatever area we've blocked you out of, Lord.

Help us to open the door.

We don't have to think about it.

Help us to just do it, to respond, to take that step of faith and say, Yes, Lord, I repent and I will follow you in that direction.

I will turn about and do the right thing and allow you to be fully Lord of my life.

And God, for those that are questioning and that know they feel you saying, Come unto me.

Lord, I pray that you would bring salvation to every soul that has not received you in this place today, right now.

And I pray that they have the boldness to even come down at the end of service.

There will be prayer team people here, God.

They're here to pray for them.

I pray that they come down.

I pray that they receive you, and then I pray they go out and get in that water.

There's clothes for them, they have no excuse.

We can give them everything they need to get it done today, God.

I pray that none of us delay any further.

That we will not be counted in the ones that missed Jesus.

Thank you for the breath in our lungs and the opportunity that you give us at every moment to say yes to you.

And I thank you, Father God, for the victory of the cross.

I thank you, Father God, that we have hope in you, that we have life in you, that we find salvation in you, and that none of us can leave this place the same way that we came.

Transform us and make us all new.

Refresh us however we need.

And we'll be sure to make sure you get all praise, glory, and honor.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

I love you.

God bless you.

We'll see you next week.