CHRONICLES OF A KING: Palm Sunday

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Hey church, I pray that you all are doing well on this Palm Sunday.

Megan and I want to thank you so much for joining us in our home.

We're so glad that you're here, but we also want to thank you for allowing us to come into your home.

However, you're engaging this content, maybe it is on Palm Sunday with the rest of us.

Maybe it's a week or two from now.

Maybe you're just getting caught up.

Whatever that looks like for you, we want to thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your day.

Um, this this time together is going to be one that I really believe is going to be powerful.

There's gonna be times we're gonna be reading scripture, and I want to invite you that you can pause the video at any point, uh, read the scriptures out loud for yourself, making a declaration in your home for yourself.

In addition to that, it's also opportunities for us to take notes, just really lean into this.

We don't want you to just watch this, but we want you to participate with us.

Say amen.

Shout us down.

I can hear you in my spirit.

So make sure that you're tracking with us.

And Megan, this is a great season because for us, it is Palm Sunday, um, and it is uh a representation, the start of Holy Week, that that final week of the earthly ministry of Jesus.

It's one that is so powerful for us as believers and followers of Christ.

So I want to encourage you guys, stay plugged into social media, our our website, podcast, everything, every way that we try to communicate to you guys, stay connected to it because every single day we're gonna be releasing content in tandem with the ministry of Jesus in his final week.

And I really believe it's gonna be in a powerful experience as we walk with us um and Jesus through this powerful season.

So stick with us, it's gonna be incredible.

Stay plugged in.

I believe it's gonna be powerful.

So, what I want to do is I really want to just jump into the word.

I kind of want to have like almost like a Bible study vibe, so to speak.

I really want you to kind of uh do this with us.

So um, we're gonna open up in prayer, which is what we do.

Um, we want to let you know that you can do that as well in your home.

You can just pray, you can pause.

You don't have to wait for us to do it, but you can pray yourselves.

Um, but then Megan's gonna read the word of God.

We're gonna have some discussion around it, and then we're gonna pray for you at the end after we take communion.

So that's what it's gonna look like.

So, Megan, let's open up in prayer and then let's jump right in.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

And God, we we we silence our mind, God, and lean into this moment, knowing, Lord, that um that every opportunity that we engage your word, it's an opportunity for our lives to be radically changed.

So, Lord, we pray for open eyes that we can see you, open ears that we can hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So we're gonna get started and we're gonna dive into the Bible.

Yes.

Um, if you don't have it available, like we said, we're gonna put the scriptures on the screen.

Make sure you pause the video, read the scriptures out loud with your family, your friends, or if you're by yourself, you can read it out loud as well.

Amen.

All right, so it's gonna be Matthew 21, 1 through 11.

It says, When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, telling them, Go into the village ahead of you.

At once you will find a donkey tied there with her foil, untie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them and he will send them at once.

This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled.

Tell daughter Zion, see your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foil of a donkey.

The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them.

They brought the donkey and its foil, then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them.

A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road.

Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest heaven.

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, Who is this?

The crowds were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.

Okay, so that's that's powerful.

Thank you so much for sharing that.

And hopefully you guys are able to read it out loud in your homes as well.

What I what I really want to do is I want to unpack and give us some context as to what's going on.

Um, the Gospel of Matthew is incredibly powerful because like Matthew spends a lot of time showing where Jesus uh fulfills prophecy.

In fact, he quotes more from the Old Testament than any of the other uh gospels that are written because he really felt that he wanted to connect the dots between showing that Jesus um truly was the Jewish Messiah that was coming.

And so the context of this particular passage is um is actually going to be found linked to the Gospel of John because John actually gives us a glimpse of what happens before Jesus arrives here at this scene right here.

So all four Gospels account for this and they provide a different um dynamic to it.

So read all four of them because I believe it'll give you some textures and a full image of it.

But to but to give you guys some a visual of what's going on here, um, Jesus has just resurrected Lazarus from the dead.

Now, this was a profound miracle, as you can imagine, because even though in the Old Testament prophets have performed all types of miracles, even resurrecting the dead, no one had ever been resurrected from the dead after being dead for four days.

Like there were superstitions that were associated with if someone was dead for maybe a day or two, maybe even three would stretch it.

But four days, that was at the point where they were decaying.

So when Jesus shows up and and and resurrects the dead, even from a point of decay, that's when they began to say, okay, this must be the Messiah.

So as you can imagine, there was like a crazy party that broke out.

They got lit.

They were all hanging out at Lazarus' um house with Mary and Martha.

They were all there chilling.

And so the Bible tells a story of how Mary comes in, she anoints Jesus, it fills the entire aroma.

Um, the aroma fills the entire home.

And that kind of like set the tone.

Right after that is now a massive crowd that was part of the funeral crowd, that is now part of that crowd that is like in amazed at what Jesus is doing.

Now that same crowd is now following Jesus and his disciples as they're preparing to come into Jerusalem.

The reason why this is so important is because in Jerusalem, there's a lot of activity there already.

There's a bunch of people there and they're um and they're preparing for Passover.

This was a very sacred holiday and festival for the Jewish people.

So there was already a lot of activity, and some scholars believe that maybe as many as two million people were all in this region.

So there's already a lot of people that were there.

There was a lot of things going on, and then you have this massive crowd that's coming with Jesus.

So in Jerusalem, they don't really have a lot of context of what happened in Bethany.

So you can kind of see this collision of crowds and culture where this one group who's got perspective of one thing and another group that doesn't quite understand, they collide together.

What I want us to know is this is that this entire text is really one that deals with preparation.

Jesus is preparing to go to the cross, he's preparing and he's about to set off a series of events that that allows the fulfillment of so many prophecies.

And I think the key thing for us is to recognize is that there's moments that we have to lean into the seasons that God is preparing us.

I wrote this down.

Preparation paves the way to purpose.

See, Jesus was preparing his disciples, he was preparing us as believers, he was making sure that we understood that preparation paves the way to purpose.

Now, now, if you're anything like me, you'll know that that I typically feel the most insecure or the most vulnerable when I don't feel prepared for something.

Yeah.

You know that all too well.

Um, whenever I don't feel prepared, um, I I typically feel more vulnerable.

I feel like there's there's something that can, uh I feel like I feel exposed.

Yeah, it's like meal prepping.

You know how when you meal prep, you're prepared for the week.

But if you come in during the week and you come home from work, you don't you don't have anything prepared.

So you try to make something up or you go out and you buy food, you know, bad food.

The gospel bird.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's glorious.

That's okay.

But everything else, we you know what I'm saying?

Like it's those moments when you don't meal prep, yeah, or when you don't adequately have anything prepared, there's a sense of panic.

Yeah, so we have these moments where God is leading us to a place to prepare us so that we don't have to feel panic when those moments come when he invites us to come into this.

So this passage is really all about preparation.

And so honestly, not only does preparation pave the way for um for provision and provide clarity and provide peace, but we also know that there's some ingredients that go with preparation.

And what I believe in this season, I believe that so for so many of us that God is preparing us for something great.

Now you may be wondering what that is, and and I wish I could give you a clear answer to that.

I believe that God is already revealing some, and for others, it may require us to kind of stand still and be patient.

But nonetheless, in this season, I believe this is a season for us to be prepared.

Yeah, and so when we look at this passage, I believe that God is kind of giving us a glimpse of some things that we can be doing to get prepared for whatever the next steps that God has for us.

Here's the first thing I want us to write down is that preparation um is connected to freedom.

Is that preparation is directly connected to freedom?

So whenever we can begin to walk in freedom, it prepares us for the next thing that God has for us.

Let me let me unpack that for a minute.

We'll see that Jesus is talking with his disciples and he sends them ahead um into this town and he tells them to go and get this um these two animals.

That there's a donkey and it's in its mother.

And so what he says is he says, I want you to go and get the animals and untie it.

Yeah.

Now, we know that at the end of the day that Jesus is simply telling them to bring him these animals so that they can be used as vessels to bring him honor and glory.

But Jesus goes through great lengths to make sure that he emphasizes that they need to be untied.

Now, I would think that those instructions are obvious by the mere fact that you say go and get it.

But he was saying that they need to be untied because I think there was something that he was trying to communicate to us, but also to them.

In other words, what he was saying is there's something that I need, but it's tied up right now.

Let's let that pause for a moment.

There's there's something that I need, but currently it's tied up.

And here's what I think that means if we look at it practically.

There are things that I believe that God needs from us, but they're tied up right now.

Yeah.

They can be tied up into the wrong things.

I believe that God sometimes wants our time, but our time is tied up into toxic relationships.

I believe that there are times that God wants our resources, but our resources are tied up into things that will not allow us to truly be able to be obedient to the things that God is calling us to do.

I wrote this down, I want you guys to put this in your spirit.

We are only as useful as our freedom.

We're only as useful as our freedom.

In other words, our our freedom it really does determine our ability to have impact in anything that God invites us to be a part of.

We're only as useful as our freedom.

And watch this.

As long as we are tied to the world, we won't be free in the kingdom.

That's that's something.

Say that.

I'll say it again.

As long as we are tied to the world, we won't be free in the kingdom.

I think that there are times, Megan, and I think we've seen it ourselves, where we've seen moments where God will bring you to a standstill so that you can see that you're still standing in the same spot.

Wow.

Sometimes we have this illusion of progress.

It's almost like being on a treadmill.

You can have a lot of energy, you can burn a lot of calories, but at the end of the day, we haven't made and haven't taken any ground.

And a lot of times in our lives, we are so busy with doing so many things that we feel like our busyness is a reflection of fruitfulness, but at the end of the day, we don't really produce any fruit that's really life-giving.

Yeah, I think I've seen that too.

Like, um, I I've talked with people um during this uh virus and being in quarantine.

And for so many things, you know, them being tied into the house was very hard for them.

They felt like they were in bondage, even though it's like, no, this is freedom for you.

You can rest in Jesus, you don't have to focus on as much stuff as you used to do, or you might, you know, uh, but it is a time and a place of rest is a lot of times when we want to experience freedom.

Absolutely.

Um, it gives us a time of rest.

Yeah.

I mean, because the thing is sometimes we're tied to so many things that we can't even be free with our family.

Yeah.

We can be tied to work and we're not we're not free to to do the things of the kingdom.

It's just understanding that there's this balance.

And what I love about it is that even though Jesus provides this instruction, what's beautiful is that um is that the the donkeys they weren't responsible for untying themselves.

Yeah, I think that is so crucial because I know that there's been seasons of my life where I've looked at the word of God and I've received the instructions of God and I've tried to do it all in my own strength.

But the Bible says that he sent two disciples, two messengers, two vessels to help him, um, to help them untie the thing that was once bound.

Yeah, I want someone to hear me right now.

Maybe those friends that are getting on your nerves and asking you, why are you still in that toxic relationship?

Why are you still dealing with this scenario?

Why are you still dealing with this individual that you know that doesn't value you, that's not leading you to a place of calling and purpose?

Maybe they're not all up in your business as much as you think they are.

Maybe they're the messengers that God sent into your life to help you to get untied from something that's going to keep you from moving forward.

That's good.

I think that's the thing that we have to be mindful of and use our discernment is that maybe that God is sending people, messages, moments into our lives to reveal to us areas where we're stagnated, but we have the illusion of progress just because we are panting for our breath.

God wants us to change our scenery, and I believe that He realizes that we have to get untied from some things in order for us to do it.

Here's the other thing that I believe that we're seeing in the dynamics of this passage is we see that obedience is such a key ingredient for preparation, that if we truly are obedient, then that's going to help us to be more prepared.

Now, let's let's look at this for a moment from a very practical lens.

Because if you think about it, Jesus, in essence, is is telling his disciples to commit like grand theft auto, minus the carjackings.

Like what I'm saying, yeah.

What I'm saying is, watch this.

Like those were vessels that were used like for transport.

Like it helped people to move around, it helped them to move resources around.

It was moved, it was used for people to go from town to town.

So Jesus is telling them, go into this town, untie this vehicle, this vessel, and bring it back to me.

And what's powerful about this is that as Jesus is telling them to do that, we don't get any indication that they hesitated at all.

And and since it's not in the text, I gotta believe that they just responded.

There's no delay that's even seen.

Now, if it's me, I'm probably gonna ask Jesus, like, man, are you sure?

Like, I like how do I know?

Give me all the side.

Yeah, give me, give me all the signs, like, can you make sure that this is what you're telling me to do?

But they just stepped out and did it.

And and I believe that at this point in the life and ministry of Jesus, maybe they've seen enough.

Yeah, maybe they've seen Jesus do so many things that they could go for with the confidence of saying, Man, this is the same Jesus that I heard him tell Peter to walk on water, and Peter walked on water.

This is the same Jesus that just a few days ago we've heard him to tell Lazarus to come out of a grave, and he came out of a grave just at his word.

This is the same Jesus that we saw that healed Peter's mother, uh mother-in-law from a fever.

We've seen Jesus do so many things.

So I think that maybe they've seen so much that it allowed them to trust what God was asking them to do.

Here's what I believe: I believe that when you've seen God do so much things in your past, it allows him to trust, it allows you to trust him with your future.

Yeah.

Megan, I know that you and I, we've seen God do some incredible things in our lives that in the past that can sustain us even now.

Yeah, I mean, um several years ago, you had got into a car accident and um had to stop working, and because of the injuries that you sustained, um I just remember that you can you weren't going to be able to return back to that job.

And so even during that time, it was hard.

You know, I had to get up for work, you know, we still had small children, and I knew you were limited in what you could do for the kids when they return home.

So everything fell on my shoulders, but I never once complained.

I knew the state that he was in, and God just continued to show up.

Not only like sometimes he would like our fun, we didn't know how the bills were gonna get paid.

Um, it didn't add up on my checks.

Um, and God just always worked it out.

He made sure we always had food, we always had a roof over our head, and he made sure he took care of us, even though the numbers didn't add up.

And so, even trusting him in that when we see other seasons that get hard in our life, we tend to rely on the things of the past and the current that God has moved in that has been miraculous.

Absolutely.

Nothing short of miraculous.

Let me ask you this though.

Do you remember when that guy tried me?

So I got into a car accident, my back's all jacked up.

The insurance companies were investigating me because they thought that maybe I was faking, but jokes on them, they still had to pay me.

Um anyway, so everything, everything was moving forward, but I remember like across from where we used to live at.

Remember we used to have like that farmer's market?

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, they followed you to the but yes, they showed up at the supermarket.

No, no, no.

Let me the other thing.

So remember when we were across the street, and um, and so we were buying some fruit, and we were buying like like cantaloupes and watermelons and all that stuff.

Yeah.

And so we're standing there, and I'm aware that like we're being investigated.

And so as we're standing there, like the guy that was like kind of bringing us up, he was like, Oh, you gonna make her carry that?

Remember that whole deal?

And I was like, I felt so tried, I felt so tested.

Like, I was like, yo, how are you gonna come from my life like that?

If I think cameras is on me, son, I'll put in work, I'll lay hands up anyway.

Here's here's here's the point.

Here's the point.

Watch this.

Like Megan and I, we've seen God move in our lives in so many different ways in the past that when there's questions in the future, we can rely on the faithfulness of God.

Yeah, that's what we're able to do.

I want to read this passage to us that I think can be an encouragement for us.

It's Psalm 37 and it's um it's verse 25.

It's gonna come up on the screen.

I want you to pause it, read it out loud because I think that this can be an encouragement for you.

But here's what it says I have been young and now I am old, and yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

Listen to me.

What the writer is saying is that I've seen God do way too many things in the past for me to think that he's not gonna be faithful in my future.

And I want you right now to look in the rearview mirror of your life and think about the time that God delivered you when you used to have addiction.

Think about the time when God delivered you when you didn't have a job before.

Think about the time when God healed that family member and you didn't know how he was gonna do it.

The same God that did it then is the same God that is with you now, is the same God that you know that's gonna get you into your future.

Don't allow the enemy of your soul to make you believe that somehow God has forgotten about you.

I have been young and now I am old.

We are old.

But I know that I have never seen the righteous people who are in right standing with God forsaken.

God sees you, he has not forgotten you, and he will get you through this.

That is a promise from the word of God.

I want you to write this down that your challenge today becomes a thing that you talk about conquering tomorrow.

Your challenge today becomes a thing that you talk about.

It's like I'm more than a conqueror.

In order to be a conqueror, that means that you had to have a challenge today.

But your challenge today will become the thing that you talked about conquering tomorrow.

You'll say, I remember when I went through this season, the same way that we talked about that season.

It was tough.

But on the other side of it, that's what allows you to have that declaration of saying that I am more than a conqueror.

Here's the next thing that I see in this passage is that Jesus not only gives them directions on where they're supposed to go, but he tells them what they're supposed to say.

Yeah.

Now this is this is powerful because what Jesus is saying to his disciples is that, hey, if anybody says anything to you, tell them that the Lord has need of it.

Yeah, that's a that's a powerful phrase.

Um, but at the same time, it's it's a little bit of an enigma.

Because again, if you're looking at it from a logical standpoint, if someone confronts you, they're asking you, hey, what are you doing?

That's that's my that's those are my animals, or what are you doing?

That's that's my neighbor's animals.

Like, what are you doing getting involved in this?

But the response was the Lord has need of them.

Now, here's the thing that some scholars believe.

Some scholars believe that there's one of two scenarios, that either on the other end of that statement, that the owner of those vessels, that they had that God had already begun to work on their heart, maybe it was in a dream, maybe it was in a vision, and that the moment that they saw someone untying their stuff and they asked a question, that they would hear this phrase that allowed them to know, oh, okay, this is what God had been stirring in my heart this whole time.

Go for it.

Other people believe that maybe that Jesus had already prearranged this and that somehow there that was like the code word.

Now, none of us, we really don't know what that is, but what I'll tell you is I believe that their obedience was the password.

That somehow, if they were obedient, that would be the password that would allow them to grab a hold of the thing that God has for them.

I want us to get a hold of that.

What if your obedience was the password that allowed you to get on the other side of that door?

From a distance, it may not look like we're ever going to get a hold of it.

From a distance, we may not know that when God gives you that instruction to step into that space, we're saying to ourselves, that makes any sense, that makes no sense whatsoever.

But we don't know if God has been stirring the heart of that other person.

You may find out that there's a place that is not hiring right now.

But maybe at the word of God, God tells you to go and put it into application.

And in our mind we can say, but no, they're not hiring.

But you don't know that maybe God is stirring the heart of that hiring manager that when they see you, that they're going to say, No, the the Lord has need of him and they're going to invite you to come in.

That is the power of the God that we serve.

Understanding that he is able to turn the hearts of kings and he can allow things to move in any direction that way he will have it.

I believe that our obedience is the password.

There are times that I think this, Megan.

I believe that sometimes we are waiting for a move of God, but God is just waiting for us to move.

That God is just waiting for us to move.

It's kind of like when we go into a grocery store, like from a distance, the door is closed.

But when we step on the mat, when we put our weight on the mat, then what was once closed becomes open to us.

Your obedience is the password that gives you a breakthrough into the kingdom.

I don't want us to be dependent on our observations because sometimes our observations are limited.

Yeah.

But I mean, you know, when you're thinking about the scripture and um, you know, faith scriptures, it talks about um faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen in Hebrews 11.

And I'm telling you, like that scripture alone realize that even though you don't see everything that's gonna happen, you have to trust and believe on the other side that God's gonna do it.

And um, even though you don't see it, he's working.

Amen.

That song has been so strong for this season.

Um, even when I don't feel it, he's working.

God is always working things behind the scenes, and sometimes we don't see.

What's on the other side and how powerful that's gonna be.

But you know, in the moments of this, right in the right now, God is still working, and so we can just trust and believe in that.

Amen.

And I hope that encourages some of us.

Megan, I remember when we got um uh a new vehicle and like the um we had like little key fob that's in your pocket.

And so from a distance, it it won't work.

I remember sometimes that Caleb would get ahead of me and he was like, Dad, the door is locked.

But the moment that I got close enough, somehow I don't know how all that technology works, but when I was in proximity to it, then it began to unlock.

If we're not careful, we'll begin to forecast that no, the door is closed.

Yeah, that door is locked.

But if we can step in obedience, if we can walk into it, then maybe when we get in proximity to the place that God has called us to be, what was once locked can become open for us.

Yeah, this is a powerful moment that when the disciples were obedient to what God told them to do, that what was once tied up was now freed up.

And I believe that same thing can happen for many of us.

Here's a question that I have for us, though.

What is it that the Lord needs from you right now?

Because that was the phrase, the Lord, the Lord has need of it.

What does the Lord have need of you right now?

Because I think right now that when we have needs, it's hard to even comprehend that God will need something else from us.

Yeah.

But here's what I believe.

I believe that you can't allow the crisis to turn you into a hoarder.

We can't.

Because I think it's moments like this that we have opportunities to step into space to be a blessing to so many different people.

I talked to a good friend of mine just yesterday, and he was telling me how um how his wife was just recently furloughed and how it's a good chance that he will be furloughed probably in the very near future.

But he was so encouraging, and it was encouraging to me.

He was so positive.

He's like, Keith, you know, I'm really looking for opportunities to be an encouragement.

If you know anyone that needs prayer, if you know anybody that needs the resources, I don't have a whole lot, but what I do have, and if God has given us an abundance, I'll be glad to share it.

And I remember saying to him, I'm like, man, like, but aren't you aren't you trying to like keep everything close?

Like, you know that this could be an inevitability.

But he said, no, like this is God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing for others.

Of course, I'm gonna make sure that I have what I need, but do I really need to have 180 rolls of toilet paper?

I mean, do we do we do I do I need that?

But here's the thing crisis can activate this panic that turns us into hoarders.

But our God is rich in mercies.

Yeah, so what that means is that if the same God that is providing for you is the same, the Bible says, give us this day our daily bread, God's gonna give you what you need, but maybe God has given you more than what you need so that you can be a blessing to someone who has needs themselves.

So my question is, what is it, what is it that the Lord needs from you?

Does the Lord need for you to extend a kind word even though you don't feel even though you don't feel like it?

Does God does he need you to pray for somebody when you yourself need prayer?

Does God need you to be generous to someone even when you feel like you need to grab a hold of everything that you got because you don't know what tomorrow may hold?

I I know that it's not always easy, but I truly believe that it's in moments like this that we can step in and we can begin to recognize the needs of our people that are around us and be a blessing in the body of Christ.

And this is what it means to let our light shine in every single situation.

Our God is rich in mercy, he will supply all your needs.

Recognize and take inventory of what you have and be sensitive to what God is leading you to do, because maybe on the other side of your obedience is your breakthrough.

I truly do believe that with all of my heart.

What I what I love with this, Megan, is after they bring the animals in, the Bible says that they they put their cloaks on top of the animal, they set Jesus on top of it, and people start laying down their coats, they start bringing out the palm branches, and it's really a huge celebration that is fit for a king.

Like it really is.

It's one that would be typically given to a king who just came back from a conquest, he's successful in battle, which is a paradox because here is Jesus coming in in a posture of peace, but they're giving him the honor that he would that they would give to a person who came back from war.

Yeah, it's Jesus showing once again that it doesn't require me to, I'm not gonna do things the way that you think that I'm gonna do it.

And I love the way that they surrendered what they have.

Yeah.

That these people were not people who were uh filled with a great deal of wealth, but they took the cloaks, they took their covering.

Those coats represented, you know, the coat of many colors with Joseph.

Like sometimes that coat was a uh a representation of prestige, of value.

Sometimes the coats were a reflection of your job, your status.

But what it's saying is that they laid it so that Jesus could travel over top of it.

I wonder what it would look like if we became a type of people that no matter where we are in our lives, no matter how successful we are, we are willing to lay it at the feet of Jesus and allow him to walk on top of it.

I think this is why it's so powerful in the book of Revelation where it talks about the elders and how they take their crowns and lay it at the foot of Jesus, that even in heaven, my best accomplishment is nothing more than something for Jesus to walk on top of.

Yeah, but it's amazing that we know that God is allowing us and inviting us to be a part of this process of knowing that we can surrender what we have to Jesus.

I want us to be encouraged in this in this season that not only do we have to trust in his ways, but we have to trust in the way that he wants to do it.

That's hard.

We have to trust in the way that he wants to do it.

Yeah, there's a lot of times that there's a way that we want things to get done, but we have to trust in his ways, but we have to trust the way that he's going to do it.

And they offered up this powerful praise.

So not only do we have to trust in his way, but we have to trust in his ways.

Yes.

We have to trust in the ways that he wants to do it.

And sometimes that's not easy.

No, and that requires total surrender.

Absolutely.

Surrender of the way that we want to do it, surrender of the way, like you said, um, of how we think he should do it.

Yep.

And that's the and that's the challenge.

And I think all of us find ourselves at that place.

But what we see that surrender was they surrender what they had.

They had to surrender the way that they expected it to be done because they wanted him to come in as a as a military um as a military dominant um leader who was taking over Rome, but he was coming in as a lamb led to the slaughter.

He was coming in to provide something for them that they didn't even know that they needed.

And so not only did they surrender that, but they also had to surrender praise.

You know, the Bible talks about how we offer the sacrifice of praise.

And so the Bible says that they lifted up these words, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

Um, glory to the to the to the king.

It's a powerful phrase because Hosanna, it really means save us, save now.

It was a it was a declaration of, it was a declaration of we need you to move in the midst of our situation.

Now, it's a reflection of what is found in Psalms 113 through 118.

It's called the halal.

And what that is, is that's a that's a messianic praise that's directly connected to the coming Messiah.

Now, they would often sing this during Passover, they would sing it during the Feast of Tabernacles.

However, it's not a coincidence that they're singing it now before Jesus comes into this environment.

In other words, they were making a connection that Jesus truly is the Messiah.

Jesus truly is going to be the King of King and the Lords of Lords.

And what I love, Megan, is the passage takes great detail to make sure that we understand that there's a group of people in front of Jesus, and there's a group of people behind him.

They were saying Hosanna before him.

In other words, they were praising him before he got there, and they were praising him after he arrived.

I want someone to catch on to that, so I'm gonna say that again.

They were praising before he got there, and they were praising after he arrived there.

Somebody in there is catching it right now.

I can feel it right now, that they were praising before he got there.

What would our lives look like if we gave God praise before he moved?

What would it look like if we gave God praise before he showed up?

What would it look like if we praised God before we got the breakthrough?

What would it look like if we praised God before we got the miracle?

What would it look like if we praised God before this pandemic was over, before we knew when we were going back to work, before we got our next paycheck, that we praised God in advance?

I love the idea that it says that they were praising before Jesus even showed up.

I truly believe this.

I believe that our praise ushers in the presence of God.

I believe that when the Bible talks about how he inhabits the praises of his people, that when we begin to praise God even before we even see the results that we're looking for, that it ushers in the presence of God, and then we have an opportunity to see the lion from the tribe of Judah show up on our behalf and to begin to make the enemy flee.

Listen to me, church.

Don't wait for God to do it before you praise.

You praise him now because your praise may be the very thing that leads you to victory.

This is why when they were going to battle, they would say, send Judah first.

Yeah, send your praise first because your praise can confuse the enemy.

Yeah.

Maybe the enemy is closing in on your mind right now.

Maybe he's closing in on your finances right now.

Maybe he's closing in on your family.

There's a lot of ways that the enemy can close in.

But I dare you to start praising God when you get that negative report from the doctor's office.

It's going to confuse the enemy.

I dare you to praise God when you find out that you got laid off.

I'm not talking about being someone who's not in tune with the reality of what that means, but it means that I'm inviting God into this situation because, as David says, the battle is not mine, but it's the Lord's.

It's understanding that God is with me every single step of the way.

That's my encouragement for all of us is that we praise God, knowing that He's gonna move on our behalf.

This praise was one of an invitation.

It was also one that was that had to acknowledge that there's gonna be moments that we're gonna have to surrender our ways, as we were talking about earlier, Megan.

Yeah.

Those moments when we realized that maybe there's moments that we want Jesus to move in the way that we want him to move, but he has bigger plans for us.

Here's what I see in this text.

They wanted freedom from Roman bondage, but Jesus wanted to provide them freedom from death itself.

What if the things that we're praying and asking God for are just too limited?

We're asking God to deliver us from a circumstance, but God wants to deliver us so that we never have to deal with that circumstance again.

And it may require it to take on a form that we weren't necessarily looking forward to, but nonetheless we're gonna truly be delivered in.

Sometimes the fruit is the thing that causes us to cry out, but God wants to speak to the root of it all.

When we invite God into our situation, we have to trust the way that He wants to address it.

Jesus shows up, and what the Bible says is that the entire city was shaken.

It was stirred.

Even other passages will often render that statement as being that the city was turned upside down.

You know, Megan, I think that it is truly impossible for Jesus to show up and for everything to be the same.

Yeah.

I think it's impossible for Jesus to truly show up in our lives and our lives to remain the same.

I'll say it this way: dead things can't stay the same when life shows up.

Darkness can't stay the same when light shows up.

That sickness doesn't stay the same when the healing shows up.

We need to stop trying to be the same when God wants to bring about change.

We need to stop trying to find a way to get back to the way that things were when God wants to take us to a place that we've never been.

I can say that again.

We need to stop trying to ask God to take us back to the way that things were when God's trying to take us to a place that we've never been.

It's impossible for us to truly have an encounter with Jesus and for things to go back to being the same.

The Bible says that we're always moving forward.

We go from glory to glory.

Yeah.

We go to another level, and when Jesus shows up in this town, it changes everything.

We sing those songs that Jesus changes everything.

So why are we trying to be the same?

Yeah.

What if this season is meant to bring us to a place where God wants to change us into something that we never knew that was inside of us in the first place?

A lot of times the pressure comes on, but what's inside of us comes out of us.

But a lot of times what's on the inside of us can't come out of us until the pressure comes around us.

I believe that God is activating changing every single one of us, changing the way that we see the world, changing the way that we see the word of God, changing the way that we see one another, changing the way that we see our family, even changing the way that we see church.

There's some of us that we look at church as one of these casual things that we attend from now, from now and then.

But when you find those moments where we have to re-reevaluate our lives and we can't engage it the way that we used to, we miss our community.

That when the doors of a church open up again, and believe me, they will, the church is going to be filled because it's going to activate revival inside of us.

You're going to see people serving who've never served before.

People are going to be showing up that have never showed up before.

Why?

Because whenever we have these moments that Jesus shows up and the healing takes place, it should activate a revival inside of all of us.

That is what I'm excited about.

But it can start right now in your homes.

Megan, after all this took place, there was like this confusion because, as we talked about, there were the two crowds.

There was a crowd that was in Jerusalem that really didn't know what was going on, but then there was a crowd that was coming in, riding this wave, saying Hosanna, and they were just, they were, they were just on 10.

So what the people in Jerusalem said, who is this?

Like what is going on?

Like y'all are treating this man like he's a king.

Like, is is he is he the Messiah?

Like I've we've heard some stories about him, but is this is this the guy?

And so what's interesting is the response that was provided.

They said, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth.

And and what I'll tell you is there that was a truth, but it was a partial truth.

Because not only was Jesus the prophet, but Jesus was also the priest, the one who was making intercession for the people of God.

But not only was he a priest, but he's also a king.

We know that Jesus has this threefold assignment of being a prophet, a priest, and a king.

But unfortunately, I think that we're so comfortable with allowing him to be the prophet and the priest.

Yes, Lord, please speak into my life.

Yes, Lord, please do the work in my life.

But many of us don't allow him to truly be the king of our lives.

But what Jesus is asking us to do in these moments is like, please don't let me just speak into your life, but not let me have access to actually change your life.

Don't let me just do the work that you couldn't do on your own by dying on a cross, but you want to continue to do the behavior which caused me to have to die on a cross in the first place.

No, he's saying, let me be the king of your life, which requires an act of loyalty from you.

It requires an active demonstration.

It's going to require you to change the way that you do things so that way you can truly be a follower of me.

That's the power of all of this stuff.

Don't just let Jesus speak into your life, let him be the Lord of it.

Yeah.

I've once heard it said this way if Jesus isn't the Lord of all, then he's not really the Lord at all.

What are the areas of your life that Jesus is not the Lord of right now?

Is he not the Lord of your of your resources?

And I know that it's tight right now.

We we get that.

But is but is he is he lord?

Do you look at him as your provider?

Is he is he the lord of your relationships?

Are you really putting him first in your relationships in the places that you that you spend time in?

Remember, what you invest in will invest in you.

So if you're investing into God-centered environments, then those environments are going to invest into you.

But if we find ourselves investing in things that don't have the return, that doesn't bring life, it's gonna lead you to a place of darkness.

These are questions that I want us to ponder.

Here's a couple other things I want us to think about.

What are the things that Jesus wants us to get free from?

Those things that maybe we're tied up to.

The things that maybe we have the illusion of progress, but the truth of the matter is we're at a complete standstill.

I believe that this is a great time for us to take inventory and ask ourselves, God, what is it that you want me to get untied from?

Another question I think we can simply ask this: what is it that Jesus needs for me in this season?

Even in a season of apparent scarcity, there's still an opportunity for me to step into a moment and be generous to someone, giving a kind word, shooting a text message, or maybe even providing something that I know that someone is in desperate need of.

God is rich in mercy, He's blessed us with an abundance.

The Bible tells us that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but God came to give us life and life to the fullest, a life of abundance.

We don't have to live a scarcity mindset when we have the God who has a cattle and a thousand hills.

That's the love and the service of the God that we have in our lives.

So here's a question: What are you praising God for in advance?

Yeah.

That thing that you're saying, I'm gonna praise God in advance for this.

I'm gonna praise God in advance.

Like that's the thing that we need to begin to talk about and the process through.

Church, we are we're interested in, we're entering into like a very interesting time.

The quarantine is still strong.

We're still wondering what the next steps are gonna look like.

But what I can tell you is that God is not surprised.

He is with us every single step of the way.

This is a season of preparation.

And I believe that God is preparing his bride.

I believe he's providing the families.

I believe he's providing you, your family, your friends for the next big thing, but it's gonna require our freedom.

It's gonna require our kindness, it's gonna require our generosity, it's gonna require our praise, it's gonna require our total surrender.

That God is preparing us for something powerful, but we can't be bound by the world and expect to be used in the kingdom.

So, what I want to do now, Megan, is I want to uh lead us into a moment of communion.

And I want to invite everyone at home that you guys can participate in this as well.

The prayer that I'm gonna pray is a very simple prayer that's available to us um with our prayer guide.

It's something that you and your families can do.

If you haven't downloaded that, I want to invite you to go ahead and do that at the end of this broadcast.

It's right available for you.

But Megan and I, we're just gonna have a simple prayer, thanking God, um, taking communion together.

We're gonna pray together.

We're gonna put a blessing up at the end um for you and your family that I want you to read yourselves.

Um, and then I'm excited to see every single one of you um next week at Easter.

I guess I said see you because in the spirit I know that you guys are with me.

Um so use this as a time to invite.

But Megan, let's take the communion elements and and be prepared to um to participate in this together.

I just want to lead us in a in a in a simple prayer.

Lord, we thank you for your body that's been broken for us.

So, God, we we we thank you for the sacrifice because in that brokenness we are made whole in Jesus' name.

Let's take the juice.

Lord, we thank you for the shed blood of Christ on the cross.

Lord, that the shedding of that blood allows us to have the forgiveness of sins and allows us to come boldly before the throne of grace.

So, Father, as a family, as a community, we're so thankful as we participate in taking the Lord's juice.

Let's take the juice.

Amen.

Well, listen, guys, we we love you so much and we really want to do our best to equip you and your family.

I want to invite you to take a look at our um our resource page.

Our resource page is a great spot where you can get everything um that our church has to offer in requ in regards to equipping you in your homes.

There's a prayer guide that you can pray with your family at nine o'clock every single um week on Instagram and on Facebook.

You can join our global senior pastor, Pastor Stovall, as he leads us through a time of prayer.

It's really powerful.

I want to invite you guys to participate in that with us.

In addition to that, as I mentioned earlier, we're gonna have um some content that's gonna be released at 7 a.m.

every single um day this week for our our holy week.

For holy week.

That's gonna be powerful.

And there's a guide that you can um that you can download to um to accompany that with you.

So please download that um and and track with us because I truly think it's gonna be a powerful time.

We have so many resources, we have so many tools that we want to equip you and your family just as a way to keep you encouraged and let you know that we're thinking of you and that we love you.

So I want to I want to end with this uh priestly blessing.

It's something that we do at the end of all of our messages, it's gonna come up on the screen.

Um, I want you to pause, read this scripture out loud.

It's very powerful, it's a declaration, um, but it's found in the book of Numbers, chapter six.

And actually, I want to ask for Megan and I to read this together as we read it over our family, um, over Daniera, over Caleb, um, even over our neighborhood, the region that God has given us, but in addition to that, over our church, over you.

But we also want you to do it over your home, over your family as well.

It says this um in Numbers chapter uh six, looking at verse number 24.

You ready?

Yeah.

All right.

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his kindness upon you and give you peace.

Shalom.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Listen, church, we love you.

God bless you.

We can't wait to see you all over social media this week and connect with you.

Just know that we're praying for you.

We're with you every step of the way.

And if there is anything that you need, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

You can text care to 25101, and we'll do everything we can to provide whatever you need.

All right, God bless you.

We'll see you soon.

All right, guys.

We hope that you enjoyed the message from Pastor Keith.

And listen, maybe there were some of you at home who, while you were listening to that message, Jesus was speaking to you.

Um, maybe you're at home and you'd say, Man, I I don't really know who Jesus is.

I've never I've never committed my life to him.

I don't have a relationship with him, but I want to have a relationship with him starting today.

Or maybe you're someone at home who you will just you want to recommit your life to him.

And you're you're not right with Jesus right now, but you want to come back to him.

If that is you and you want to commit or recommit your life to Jesus today, we just want to encourage you to text the word decide to 25101.

And what you're gonna get back is every step that you need to take in your relationship with him.

And just so you know, man, we as a church, we as a staff, we as a church family, if you made a decision today, we are so happy for you.

We are celebrating with you right now, and uh, it's the best decision that you will ever make in your life.

But all right, guys, that's pretty much um, that's pretty much church at home.

And again, man, if you want to connect with us more as a church, just text the word connect25101.

Follow us on social media, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, celebration ORL.

And then also, man, if you have a need or you're someone who can meet a need, just text the word care to 25101.

All right, guys, we hope you have a great week.

We'll see you at the same time here next Sunday for Church at home.

Can you say bye-bye?

Nope, tennis balls.

Thanks again for listening.

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