Sermon

Beware of the Praise Police

Reamstown Church of God Podcast

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  1. Welcome to the Rheem Sound Church of God podcast.

  2. Wherever you're listening from, we hope you are blessed by

  3. today's message. And by the way, this week, April

  4. 3rd being Good Friday, there are a lot of, there's a lot of buzz

  5. about that because there's a number of historians who will

  6. tell you that they have traced the actual Good Friday

  7. experience all the way back and it was actually on April 3rd.

  8. Now whether that's true or not is immaterial, but it just so

  9. happens that this is April 3rd coming up for Good Friday.

  10. So in all that you do, keep the Lord before you all week long.

  11. You've heard me say this before, but in 1972, then President

  12. Richard Nixon, they, he made a shocking trip to the world at

  13. that time because he travelled to Beijing, China and went met

  14. with Mao Si Dong, who was the Communist Party leader.

  15. And he was there for a week and the headlines read The Week that

  16. Changed the World. And I don't know about changing

  17. the world. I think it did probably have

  18. something to do with some of the Cold War that was taking place.

  19. It kind of simmered it down a bit, but I wouldn't say it

  20. changed the world. But we are today beginning to

  21. celebrate the real week that really did change the world.

  22. And I am thankful for the change that came by Jesus Christ coming

  23. into Jerusalem, spending that week there dying on the cross of

  24. Calvary, buried and raised from the dead and ascended back to

  25. the Father. What an awesome God we serve and

  26. we celebrate Jesus today. Amen.

  27. I want you to stand with me, if you will, for the reading.

  28. A word I want to speak today on this thought.

  29. I want you to beware of the praise police.

  30. I want you to beware of the praise police.

  31. You know, I have a on my phone, as most of you do.

  32. You have AGPS and you might be using whatever.

  33. I typically use Waze for the most of the time and I'm

  34. traveling and sometimes it will tell me that there is a

  35. policeman ahead and sometimes it will even tell me he's hidden.

  36. Now, that's just in case I might have accidentally just, you

  37. know, got over the speed limit just a little bit.

  38. I'm not so sure that the policeman likes that, that that

  39. is being revealed. But you know, I kind of don't

  40. want to get a ticket. How about you?

  41. I don't want to pay a fine if I don't have to.

  42. Well, there's a different kind of policeman and they're

  43. everywhere today. And that's the praise police.

  44. And we're going to read about them from Luke chapter 19 and

    Luke 19 chapter mention

  45. then from John chapter 12. This is about Palm Sunday.

    John 12 chapter mention

  46. It says then as he was now drawing near that verse 37,

  47. Jesus is drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives.

  48. The whole multitude of the disciples.

  49. That's not just 12. The whole multitude of the

  50. disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for

  51. all the mighty works they had seen saved.

  52. Blessed is the king, who comes in the name of the Lord, peace

  53. in heaven, and glory in the highest.

  54. And some of the Pharisees, they decided to get their own badges

  55. and be policemen. And some of the Pharisees called

  56. to him from the crowd, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

  57. But he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these

  58. should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

  59. Now as he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it.

  60. This is quite a paradox, saying if you had known even you,

  61. especially in this year day, the things that make for your peace,

  62. but now they're hidden from your eyes, may that not be true of

  63. us. Many came from all over the

  64. world, really of the known world at that time for Passover.

  65. It was a highlight of the religious calendar then, and we

  66. read about it in John chapter 12 as well.

    John 12 chapter mention

  67. It says in verse 12, the next day, a great multitude that had

  68. come to the feast. A great multitude, lots of

  69. people that came to the feast, and when they heard that Jesus

  70. was coming to Jerusalem, they took branches of palm trees and

  71. went out to meet him and cried out.

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

  73. King of Israel. Then Jesus, when he had found a

  74. young donkey, sat on it as it is written, Fear not, daughter of

  75. Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's

  76. colt. His disciples did not understand

  77. these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they

  78. remembered that these things were written about him and that

  79. they had done these things to him.

  80. Therefore, the people who were with him when he called Lazarus

  81. out of his tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness.

  82. For this reason, the people also met him because they heard that

  83. he had done this sign. The Pharisees, these are the

  84. praise policeman. They said among themselves, You

  85. see that you are accomplishing nothing.

  86. Look, the world has gone after him.

  87. Oh, I wish that were true today. Wouldn't it be awesome if our

  88. whole world was going after Jesus today?

  89. What a difference this world would be.

  90. What a great place it would be to live if the whole world was

  91. going after Him. Well, that may not be true for

  92. the whole world, but it can be true for our world here today.

  93. We can all go after Jesus in this house today.

  94. We can forget about everything else and go after him.

  95. In fact, I just tell you that Aaron Hall shared with Pastor

  96. Joel and I, he was at A at a service yesterday, installation

  97. service at Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA.

  98. They had a four hour service. He inspired me.

  99. You think we might could do half of that four hours in the House

  100. of the Lord? Wouldn't that be awesome?

  101. We better pray before you lose it.

  102. Father, in the name of Jesus, anoint us, God, to bring this

  103. word. Help us to all.

  104. Beware of the praise police and help us to give back to you the

  105. praise of the glory and the honor that you're so worthy of.

  106. We thank you for it. We give you praise in Jesus

  107. name, Amen. You may be seated.

  108. For one brief, shining moment, it seemed like people finally

  109. got it. It seemed like that what should

  110. have been clear to them for three, at least three, 3 1/2

  111. years was this was the Messiah. This was the Savior.

  112. It seemed like on this one day, for this small amount of time,

  113. they finally got it. They recognized and they praised

  114. and magnified the name of the Lord.

  115. That was the same Jesus that had been dogged and haunted.

  116. Even as a babe. Herod tried to kill him.

  117. We know that he sent out to kill all of the male children from

  118. two years and under just so he could get rid of the Son of God.

  119. This was the Jesus who had been lied on.

  120. He was the Jesus that had been disrespected.

  121. He'd been laughed at, made fun of, blasphemy, insulted,

  122. ridiculed and rejected. But not this day or at this

  123. moment. The one who had fed the hungry

  124. multitude. The one who had healed the sick

  125. and even raised the dead and gave forgiveness to troubled

  126. minds. He was finally getting some

  127. praise. He was finally getting some

  128. Hallelujah. He was finally getting some

  129. glory that was due. His name for one brief moment,

  130. as it were. He's now exalted.

  131. They're praising him. People left their fields and

  132. they left their homes and places of business.

  133. They heard the Son of God is coming in.

  134. As I said earlier, there were masses from all over the known

  135. world that had come from Passover, and they heard that

  136. Jesus was coming into town and they lined up the road and they

  137. began to praise and bless Him. And no matter what the reason

  138. was, the terrorist already mentioned their reasoning wasn't

  139. what we know it was really for. But I do want to say this about

  140. it at least once. There was a triumphal entry for

  141. him. For once, he was finally getting

  142. praised and glorified and honored.

  143. It was a great moment. I want you to, if there were

  144. children involved in it, just like these kids that were up

  145. here, kids were involved in that moment.

  146. Mothers and dads were involved that moment.

  147. And God was blessing the people and they were shouting praises

  148. to the Lord. But there were the praise

  149. police, verse 39 of Luke 19 says, and some of the Pharisees,

  150. these are the religious people. Some of the Pharisees called to

  151. him from the crowd, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

  152. It seems that they thought that they knew more about church than

  153. Jesus did. It seemed like that they were

  154. experts at how services should be conducted and people who were

  155. religious should conduct themselves.

  156. So they're saying, we really don't like what's happening

  157. here, and we think you ought to stop it right now.

  158. We need you to rebuke your disciples.

  159. We need you to rebuke the people for what they are doing.

  160. And so we don't think you should get this kind of worship.

  161. We don't think you ought to have this.

  162. And we, we really think you ought to put a stop to this,

  163. because if one thing we know is that there should be no

  164. excitement with church, it should be lifeless, it should be

  165. dull. There should never be anybody

  166. saying Hallelujah. Nobody should ever raise their

  167. hands and praise the Lord. And certainly nobody should get

  168. religious enough to put them together and clap them and give

  169. God praise. Why don't you try that?

  170. Could you do that? Give him praise and glory and

  171. honor in the name of the Lord. The Pharisees that the praise

  172. police said, stop it when you listen to them.

  173. Don't listen to me when I tell you that.

  174. Don't do that. But this isn't the first time

  175. that Jesus ran into that attitude.

  176. The Bible tells us in Mark 14, three.

  177. And being in Bethany at the House of Simon the leper, as he

  178. sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask, a

  179. very costly oil of spiker. Then she broke the flask and

  180. poured it on his head. But there were some who were

  181. indignant among themselves. Think about that.

  182. This woman comes in and pours this fragrant oil on Jesus that

  183. cost them nothing and they're indignant about it.

  184. They're they're not just watching it, they're angry about

  185. it. And they say, why was this

  186. fragrant oil wasted? Can you tell me how you could

  187. ever waste on Jesus? Now you can waste on me and you

  188. can waste on probably most all of us here, but you could never

  189. waste on Jesus. You'll never give him too much,

  190. too much praise, too much glory, too much honor.

  191. You won't even give him too much money.

  192. And I'm not taking up an offering.

  193. You will never out give God for it might have been sold for more

  194. than 300 in there and given to the poor.

  195. And they criticized her sharply. Here's the praise police right

  196. there in Simon's house. But Jesus said, let her alone.

  197. Why do you trouble her? What's the big deal here?

  198. Why are you bothered that somebody loves me?

  199. She's done a good work. She's done a good work for me.

  200. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish

  201. you may do them good, but me you do not have always.

  202. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to

  203. anoint my body for burial. They didn't see that.

  204. A Surely, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the

  205. whole world, Stevens, PA, what that woman has done will also be

  206. told as a memorial to her. I'm telling you here on this

  207. hill in Stevens, PA, so you know that this woman did a good work

  208. and the praise police tried to stop her.

  209. But you know what? Jesus knew what was going on in

  210. their hearts and minds, and he's actually going to tell us that

  211. what you're witnessing on this day that we call Palm Sunday is

  212. really what should be happening because he says in Luke 1940,

  213. and he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these

  214. should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.

  215. In other words, Jesus said I'm going to be praised.

  216. You don't have to do it. You don't have to like it, and

  217. you can even shut people down and shut people off, but I'll

  218. still be praised. And if it takes it, God will

  219. even move on in eight objects. He will move on things that

  220. don't even have life, and you'll hear them begin to praise me

  221. because God will have our people that praise Him.

  222. And if not, His creation will praise the name of the Lord.

  223. Now the next day, and we didn't read about this, but the next

  224. day Jesus goes into the temple. And you remember when he got

  225. there, what happened? He saw the money changers and

  226. they were selling doves and they were making money and they were

  227. running to and fro through the temple and going from one court

  228. to the other court. And he cleansed the temple.

  229. And he said this is not the purpose of my house.

  230. My house should be called the House of prayer.

  231. He turned over benches and tables and like a Wildman, and

  232. he said, you've made the House of God a den of robbers.

  233. But I want you to notice what happens in Matthew 2114, right

  234. after that in the temple. This is in the church.

  235. The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed

  236. them. He healed blind people and he

  237. healed lame people. Now that should bring praise,

  238. right? No, no, no, no.

  239. But when the chief priest here we go praise police, when the

  240. somebody blew the whistle, when the chief priests and the

  241. teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the

  242. children shouting in the temple, The Who, the children, the

  243. children were there. The children were at church like

  244. these kids were up here and they were shouting in the temple

  245. course Hosanna to the son of David and they were indignant

  246. again, do you hear what these children are saying?

  247. They ask him. They looked at Jesus and say,

  248. you hear this Lord? And he said, yes, have you never

  249. read? Do you not read your Bible?

  250. Don't you know the Scripture said, have you never read from

  251. the lips of children and infants?

  252. You, Lord, have called forth your praise.

  253. Brothers and sisters, I am so honored and so blessed when

  254. these kids step up on this stage and sing their songs and do

  255. their motions and bless and praise the name of the Lord.

  256. That's what they did in the temple.

  257. And the praise police called them down and said, Jesus, you

  258. ought to stop them now. But Jesus said, have you not

  259. read the Bible? Do you not understand that God

  260. has called children to praise and bless the name of the Lord?

  261. He's called those little guys and gals and they don't mind

  262. making noise. Why is it when we get old we get

  263. quiet? When you were young you were

  264. loud, and now you're sedate. We've learned better.

  265. What I want to tell you, though, is the Bible tells us in in

  266. Psalm 33, one to rejoice in the Lord.

  267. O you righteous. For praise from the upright is

  268. beautiful. It's beautiful when people

  269. praise the name of the Lord. The King James Version there

  270. says praises comely for the upright.

  271. The New International Version says it's fitting for the

  272. upright to praise him. In other words, it's proper you

  273. that like the forks and knives on the right side of the table

  274. and I don't know where they belong and the dessert.

  275. I don't know where that, but that's important to you.

  276. The Bible tells us that praise is just as important.

  277. It's comely it's it's it's the right order of the day.

  278. If you're doing things precisely right, you will praise the name

  279. of the Lord because that's part of the whole deal is to praise

  280. God for his goodness. Church, Amen.

  281. Bless the Lord, bless the Lord. And so we praise him on this day

  282. and we glorify him and we honor him for all that he has done for

  283. us. The, you know, you and I today

  284. can, we can take that moment back.

  285. You know, there's evidence all around us in our world.

  286. There's a lot of hostility toward the Lord today.

  287. We see it every day. It shows up in the workplace.

  288. It shows up in government, it shows up in entertainment,

  289. terribly in entertainment, in music, in the media.

  290. His name is blasphemed all the time.

  291. Again and again. You have to turn a channel, you

  292. have to turn something off, you have to move to.

  293. But let me tell you something. That's the world.

  294. That's a lot of the world. Not all the world, but that's a

  295. lot of the world. But you and I, we can give him

  296. the moment back. I said we can give him that

  297. moment back. We can give what that what the

  298. enemy's tried to steal from the Lord, we can give it back.

  299. The Bible says in Psalm 22, three, but you are holy

  300. enthroned in the praises of Israel and that would be the

  301. same for the church today. So God is enthroned in our

  302. praises. If you want to the presence of

  303. the Lord, the Bible says that God is enthroned in your

  304. praises. When you are praising the Lord,

  305. you are lifting him up. You are making Him king of your

  306. life. Now, brothers and sisters, don't

  307. ever give up on praising the name of the Lord.

  308. He is worthy of all glory and He's worthy of all honor today.

  309. And so we need to give him the moment back.

  310. We need to praise Him and bless Him and glorify Him.

  311. You see, we can give Him. The world isn't doing this, but

  312. you and I can give Jesus a triumphal entry again.

  313. We can give Him one every time we come to church.

  314. We can say King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we're going to

  315. bless you. That's why we have praise and

  316. worship songs and bless the name of the Lord.

  317. So we can give Jesus that entry. We want him to come, right?

  318. We want the word of God to be declared, but we'd like to have

  319. him come in. So we like to praise him and

  320. sing and glorify. Lift your hands, inviting the

  321. presence of the Lord. We don't want to be those that

  322. say stop that. We want to say, Lord, we want

  323. you to come. We want you to come.

  324. We won't have church until you come.

  325. We won't know that we've been in the presence of the Lord until

  326. you come in. The Bible says He's enthroned on

  327. your praises. If you want the presence of God

  328. in your life, begin to praise him, begin to bless him, begin

  329. to glorify, begin to honor him. Begin to lift up the name above

  330. every other name, the name of Jesus Christ, so we can give the

  331. Lord a triumphal entry into our church and not just that, into

  332. our hearts. More than anything, more than

  333. anything. Because you know, when Jesus

  334. went into Jerusalem and that next after he got a night of

  335. rest and I went to Bethany, went to Jerusalem the next day.

  336. And when he purged the temple, he went to the temple.

  337. He cleansed the temple. He made it the place that it was

  338. supposed to be. He got rid of stuff that

  339. shouldn't have been there. And he said this is the House of

  340. prayer. This is the House of the Lord.

  341. And he said this is going to be the right way to do it.

  342. Well, brothers and sisters, we don't have a temple in Jerusalem

  343. anymore. Now we do have churches all

  344. across America and around the world.

  345. And we are in a sense, as the people of God gathered because

  346. that's what a church is. It's the people of God gathered.

  347. We come together, the people of God, and we form a church.

  348. We form a body. And so we can have the right

  349. thing at the right time at the right place.

  350. And so when we have church, we have the right and the privilege

  351. to invite him to have a triumphal entry.

  352. But not only that, you are an individual temple of the Holy

  353. Spirit individual, so you have the ability to welcome and have

  354. your own personal triumphal entry where you give God praise

  355. when nobody's looking. It's just you and him.

  356. Are we thankful for that today? Thankful for that?

  357. The Bible says in Psalm 24/7, lift up your heads over you

  358. gates and be lifted up you everlasting doors, and the king

  359. of glory shall come in. How many want the king of glory

  360. to come in? The king of glory shall come in.

  361. Who is this king of glory you ask?

  362. And he said, it's the Lord strong and mighty.

  363. It's the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O your

  364. gates, lift up you everlasting doors, and the king of glory

  365. shall come in. Who is this king of glory?

  366. The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory.

  367. Sila, I'll pause and think about the King of Glory today.

  368. We want to give him praise. Amen.

  369. Now I realize that we're not going to every time we gather,

  370. we're not going to be jumping over the fuse and, and, and

  371. hanging on the chandeliers. If you can do it here, I say

  372. more power to you. If you get up to those things,

  373. I'd be fine. But I want to tell you what we

  374. can do. We can offer him praise and we

  375. can offer him worship. We can invite him in.

  376. I I, I sense it. You know, I feel this like I

  377. have to tell you, though, I was, I was on my way back to my car

  378. to get something. And Sister Carmen stepped out

  379. where I was and she said, Pastor, and could you give us

  380. just a few minutes? We want to pray for you.

  381. If it's all right. Am I going to turn down prayer?

  382. No, no, no, no. I'm going by those ladies.

  383. There was some heat in that room.

  384. I got that room and they're praying, man.

  385. I thought, Lord, if I wasn't ready before, I got to be ready

  386. now because they prayed down heaven.

  387. Thank God for praying people. He said my house should be

  388. called a House of prayer, a House of prayer.

  389. Amen. You know the thing that amazed

  390. me of the story I just read to you a moment ago in Matthew 21

  391. of Jesus healing blind people and lame people and the

  392. Pharisees criticizing him. How could you possibly watch a

  393. lame man walk that couldn't and a blind man see they couldn't

  394. and you still find fall? You know, some people are so

  395. critical. It doesn't matter what God does,

  396. they find something wrong with it.

  397. How can you go to church and see three or four people get saved,

  398. which is the greatest miracle of all, get their names written in

  399. the Lamb's Book of Life and their past forgiven, and then go

  400. out and criticize something about it?

  401. Well, you, nobody here does that, I understand, but there

  402. are places where they do. They'll go from church and

  403. choose somebody up, I think. Did you not just in the presence

  404. of God and see what God did in that man's life, that woman's

  405. life? You didn't see what God did

  406. there? How in the world?

  407. I'm still baffled by how we can find fault.

  408. I better get off that. OK, you know what?

  409. I asked the Lord and I'm not this is true.

  410. I'm this was before church and before anything, before they're

  411. praying for me or anything. I, I asked the Lord, I said,

  412. Lord, let me be like that little donkey and let me transport

  413. Jesus to the people today. Let me be just like that donkey

  414. and just transport Jesus. I don't know if donkeys think a

  415. lot. I don't know much about donkeys.

  416. I've met a few but I but I don't know how much they reason, but

  417. I'm sure this donkey. But you how many know that was a

  418. borrowed donkey? Disciples just went up to some

  419. guy's house and said it started losing the donkey.

  420. Tell him wait a minute, Ho ho, where you going?

  421. Said the Lord needs him. Take him.

  422. Wouldn't it be great? That'd be like me coming to your

  423. house and you have your purse sitting out, ladies, and I'm

  424. men, you have your wallets. Where are you going, Pastor?

  425. Lord needs it. The Lord needs it.

  426. Sure, Take it. Take it all.

  427. Here's my debit card. Here's the here's the password.

  428. Go, no, I, I, it's amazing story.

  429. But what I, what I'm thinking about is that little donkey is

  430. going along that road and that path and, and he's caught Jesus

  431. on his back and people are shouting and praising God and

  432. they're putting branches in the way of that little donkey.

  433. If he can think, he's probably saying, I've never got praise

  434. like this before. Nobody's ever appreciated me.

  435. But it wasn't the donkey that they were concerned about and

  436. praising. It was Jesus.

  437. Let me be a donkey, but let me bring Jesus to you so you can

  438. bless him, glorify him, honor him and worship him.

  439. It is all about Jesus, not some donkey in the pulpit.

  440. But we can have this. We can have this same thing.

  441. We can give him back the praise that the enemy is trying to

  442. steal today. And I want to close with this.

  443. He's coming back to. I got three more hours.

  444. Where's Aaron? Aaron, I'm working on it.

  445. I told Aaron. I said, brother, I know because

  446. I grew up in the South and I preached in all kinds.

  447. I said white people don't know how to have church, I'll just

  448. tell you. And four hours.

  449. I've been in a few of those and they've been marvelous services.

  450. Praise the Lord. Amen.

  451. Anyway, I want you to contrast something with me.

  452. So Jesus is riding in on a donkey.

  453. So I want you to realize that that was when he first came into

  454. Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. They've been to the city before,

  455. but this was the coming in for the final week and I want you to

  456. contrast that with a second coming.

  457. Here's the first one in Zechariah 9.

  458. This is where the Jesus was quoting this earlier.

  459. Zechariah 9 verse 9, Rejoice greatly.

    Zechariah 9:9

  460. O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold,

  461. your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation.

  462. He's bringing salvation lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt,

  463. the foal of a donkey. Now leave that up, if you will,

  464. for just a moment, if you will. The animal he came in on was a

  465. donkey. You know, and study and probably

  466. many of you know this, but in ancient times, kings were coming

  467. with a message of peace would often come on a donkey.

  468. But if it was a time of conquest, a time of conflict,

  469. and a time of war, that came on a horse, not a donkey.

  470. A donkey shows humility. Jesus, think of that.

  471. The king of kings, of Lord Lord, riding on the little donkey's

  472. back. Jesus demonstrated something to

  473. us there, that he was gentle. He was a peaceful king at that

  474. point rather than a warrior king.

  475. There was something about how he came.

  476. But we see a whole different picture now in the Book of

  477. Revelation chapter 19, because there's another coming and let's

    Revelation 19 chapter mention

  478. read this one. Now keep in mind, he came on a

  479. donkey, peaceful Revelation 19. Let's look at it verse 11.

  480. Now I saw heaven open and behold, a White Horse.

  481. Look at your neighbor. Say it's a horse, not a donkey,

  482. it's a horse. And I hope you know the

  483. difference, right? It's a horse and not a donkey.

  484. It's a White Horse. And who sat on him was called

  485. faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges

  486. and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of

  487. fire. You get the contrast.

  488. His eyes were like a flame of fire.

  489. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no

  490. one knew except himself. He was clothed in a robe dipped

  491. in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

  492. And the armies in heaven, Oh, cold and fine linen whited

  493. clean, followed him on white horses.

  494. Horses, not donkeys on horses. And out of his mouth goes a

  495. sharp sword, that it with that he would strike the nations, And

  496. he himself will rule with the rod of iron.

  497. He himself treads the winepress of of the fierceness and wrath

  498. of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on

  499. his fine name our name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

  500. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. The first time.

  501. He's humble, he's peaceful, he's gentle, he's lowly and he's

  502. bringing salvation, an opportunity for people to get

  503. saved. But after being rejected and

  504. refused and hundreds and even thousands of years that go by

  505. when he has been mocked and his name has been drug in the mud,

  506. we see a different picture. When he comes that back, he

  507. doesn't come on a donkey, he comes on a white, and the armies

  508. of heaven are with him, and he is coming the first time for

  509. salvation. This time He will execute

  510. judgment on a world without Him. Aren't you glad you're saved by

  511. the blood of the Lamb? Aren't you glad you're washed in

  512. the blood of Jesus Christ? Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

  513. Hallelujah. Brothers and sisters, He offered

  514. salvation the first time, but the second time he's offering

  515. judgment. We're not there yet, though.

  516. We're not there. We haven't seen this yet.

  517. In fact, Holy Week is just beginning.

  518. We not even gotten to the garden yet in Gethsemane.

  519. We've not gotten to the cross. We've not gotten to the burial

  520. site. We've got not gotten to the

  521. empty tomb. It's all ahead of us.

  522. But by brothers and sisters, let's take the journey with him

  523. this week. Let's take the let's go with

  524. Jesus for these next seven days. Let him take us with him and let

  525. us go with him. Let us read about it.

  526. Let us pray about it. Let us meditate on it.

  527. Let us think about it. Let us talk to people about it.

  528. Let's tell the wonderful story of the grace and the love and

  529. the majesty and the power of an almighty God.

  530. Do you agree with me today? Hallelujah.

  531. Hallelujah. And the truth of the matter is

  532. the bleeding and bruised Good Shepherd has carried all of his

  533. sheep on his shoulder. Not just one that wandered away,

  534. but He has carried every one of us, I said.

  535. Everyone of us as his sheep, as his lambs.

  536. Everyone of us have needed him. Everyone of us have needed him

  537. to put us on his shoulder and carry us through a troubled

  538. situation, a troubled world, a trial, a difficulty, A

  539. heartbreak, A heartache. And every time He comes through

  540. for us. He is the Lamb of God, the Son

  541. of God. And I don't know about you, but

  542. on this Palm Sunday, I feel like raising a hand and waving a

  543. branch and giving him glory and honor and praise and worship.

  544. Stand with me in the House of the Lord, if you will, my

  545. brothers and sisters, today, this is the day.

  546. And I want to, I want to encourage those kids that are

  547. with us right now. They were up here before.

  548. And those that are after them, the JYC.

  549. And then also I want to say thank you to every worker, every

  550. leader that devotes your time a Sunday after Sunday, starting in

  551. the nursery or the kids check through the nursery, the tots

  552. right on to the Kingdom kids and right on down to the JYC.

  553. I want to thank every one of you for instilling something in them

  554. for giving them something that they can stand on.

  555. One of our long term kids workers, leaders, teachers will

  556. close the service in just a little bit.

  557. But right now we want to honor the Son of God.

  558. We want to bless him. We want to praise him.

  559. We want to thank him, but just in the event that on this Sunday

  560. someone is here and you haven't received that salvation offer

  561. because that's what Jesus brought.

  562. And listen to you, to you that are lost in sin.

  563. He loves you so much, He came. He was willing to suffer.

  564. He was willing to die because he thought you were worth it.

  565. I said He thought you were worth it.

  566. He knew you were worth it because you were making the

  567. image of God. No matter what the enemies done

  568. to that image, and no matter how marred you might feel like

  569. you've become today, or whether or not you feel you've been

  570. marred at all. But there's something missing.

  571. I don't want you to let the praise police stop you from

  572. making the move toward that one that can save you and change

  573. your life and turn it around for his glory.

  574. So I want you to bow your head for just a moment in the House

  575. of the Lord. And I want us on this Palm

  576. Sunday as Jesus is making his entry.

  577. They're lining the street. Somebody is saying, what's going

  578. on here? We've never seen anything like

  579. this before. And maybe you're in church here

  580. and maybe it's the first time or maybe it's the first time

  581. you've, you've been in a, in a church.

  582. It is, is demonstrative. And and I'm not here to take a

  583. diminish anybody's form of worship or how they worship.

  584. But what I am here to tell you is there's one that's worthy of

  585. all our worship, whatever style, whatever type, whatever kind,

  586. he's worthy of it. He's worthy of white worship,

  587. black worship, red worship. He's worthy of all.

  588. And he makes US1. Thank God, I said he makes US1

  589. through his blood and he saves us.

  590. Would you bow your head with me a moment?

  591. And if you're here today and you say, pastor, you're talking to

  592. me, you're talking to me and you've been, you've been like a

  593. donkey. You, you brought Jesus to me.

  594. And I want to give my heart not to you, but to Jesus.

  595. I want to give my life to Jesus. I want to be saved in this house

  596. today. Raise your hand where you are.

  597. Keep it up for about 30 seconds. I'm not going to take long with

  598. this, but I don't want to miss somebody that God that may have

  599. sent you here specifically. Maybe the Lord woke you this

  600. morning or last night or yesterday.

  601. God spoke somehow now through a neighbor, a friend, someone to

  602. invite you and bring you here today in the House of God.

  603. And you know you need Jesus. We're not going to embarrass

  604. you, although I will tell you this, Jesus was humiliated.

  605. If you talk about shame and embarrassment, He went through

  606. it all. He went through it all, but he

  607. did it because he loved us. Is there one that would raise

  608. your hand anyone at all, anyone at all in the name of Jesus, Oh

  609. God, anyone, anyone save a soul, Lord here today in the House of

  610. the Lord, Thank God, thank God for one, thank you Jesus.

  611. Listen, 1 is so that's a great number, one Hallelujah.

  612. It's a great number because you're in the Bible.

  613. You're in the Bible as one because the Bible says there's

  614. rejoicing in heaven over 1 / 1 that repents more than over 99

  615. that don't need to repent. So you have raised your hand,

  616. You're 1 and you're a special one.

  617. And there may be another, I don't know, but let's pray.

  618. And if you, if you raised, if you are the one that raise your

  619. hand, join the church. Let's invite Christ into your

  620. life. We'll do it together because we

  621. are all fellow servants of the Lord.

  622. And when you're going to become a disciple of Jesus, a follower

  623. of the Lord, and God has something great for your, your,

  624. your life, and it's going to begin right now.

  625. So let's do it. Lord Jesus, I come as a Sinner

  626. and thank you that you came with salvation.

  627. You brought it 2000 years ago and you paid the price on

  628. Calvary's cross. And today, right now, I ask you,

  629. come into my heart, come into my life, make me a temple of the

  630. Holy Spirit, Live in me, change me from the inside out, save me,

  631. wash me, cleanse me. I receive it now in Jesus name

  632. and for the glory of God, Amen and Amen.

  633. Give God praise, give God praise.

  634. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

  635. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Give him praise.

  636. Church. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

  637. Are you glad to be saved today? Church, I said, are you glad to

  638. be saved? Are you glad to know that your

  639. name is written in heaven today? Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

  640. Let's give him more praise. Let's give him more praise.

  641. Thanks for joining us today. If you'd like to connect, visit

  642. us at reamtownchurchofgod.org, follow us on Facebook and

  643. Instagram, and subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an

  644. episode.