Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.
Amen, amen.
Listen, turn to someone, give them a high five, tell them welcome to Palm Sunday.
Come on.
That was a good high five.
You see that in front?
I like that.
We'll get you guys to do that again.
Just show everybody else.
Come on, one more time.
Ready?
High five.
There it is.
Come on, step across.
It's good to have you at Life House this morning.
We are heading into Easter week and Holy Week and it's amazing.
This should be a time when we're celebrating in our hearts, in our lives.
I've talked to some this morning, they already are.
There's just something different in the air when we start celebrating Jesus.
And He's alive and well.
He's on the throne.
He's getting ready to come back again.
And that should excite you.
It excites me.
But in the meantime, we're going to talk a little bit about Palm Sunday and Easter and
just really preach all about Christ and what Christ has done for us.
But this morning, I kind of want to start off.
They're going to put a picture up there and it's an old picture.
And this is from July 19th, actually July 20th, 1977.
How many know that was a long time ago?
How many were not born in 19?
Yeah.
OK.
Wow.
OK.
1977.
I was seven years old in 1977.
And my wife, Dixie, was seven years old.
She was the ripe old age of seven.
And we lived in Wimber, Pennsylvania.
And we were about 13 miles outside of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, if you know where that's at.
And something took place on July 19th.
And we call it the perfect storm.
And the storm tracked in from the north and actually stalled in the mountains, mountainous
area of Wimber and Johnstown.
And that particular storm that night dropped 12 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.
Six dams in the area overflowed.
They over toppled.
And the largest to fail was Laurel Run Dam.
And it was released.
They estimated it released one hundred and one million gallons of water that poured through
the village of Tanneryville at that time, which was just part of Johnstown, and killed
41 people.
The combination of those other five dams released another 27 million gallons of water.
And not counting the rain that came along with all that, it was a total of 128 million
gallons of water that poured down from the mountaintops into the valleys and filled up
and ended up in the morning with about six feet of water and took 75 lives that very
night.
It was a perfect storm.
It was the right combination.
They weren't calling for it.
But as the storm came in, the combination with the clouds coming in swirled in those
mountains.
And the next morning when we got up, honestly, if you'd have went and drove down in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, it looked like an atomic bomb went off.
It flattened the area.
It was a perfect storm.
And a perfect storm is this.
It is described as an event where a rare combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation
so drastically that it will result in an unusual event of unusual magnitude.
2,000 years ago on the outskirts of Jerusalem, a perfect storm was brewing.
And it was not weather related.
It was not a flood.
It was not a hurricane.
It was not an Arctic winter blast, but a combination of cultural circumstances, divine prophecy,
corrupt religious leaders, and governments that were all colliding and revolving around
this man named Jesus.
It was the genesis of an event that would change history and offer salvation to every
person birthed on the face of the planet at that time.
And in a week's time, the situation would produce a rare combination of circumstances
that would aggravate, right?
And the situation was so drastically changed that they would end in a result of unusual
magnitude.
Let me set the scene this morning.
Some 1,500 years after the first Jewish Passover is celebrated, a man named Jesus is preaching
the gospel.
He is uneducated, not recognized by the religious, organized religious leaders of that day.
He's not sanctioned by some social movement or rogue religious organization.
He's preaching.
He's teaching.
He's physically healing people with incredible power in synagogues and in public forums,
both.
And this Jesus, he teaches as one with great authority.
He doesn't come as just a teacher of the law, but he comes in great authority.
And he confronts and challenges mainstream Jewish teachers and officials who are corrupt
and full of hypocrisy.
And a result of this, there are people who love Jesus.
They are followers of Christ.
They love everything that he does, and there are haters of Jesus.
How many of you know there's always haters, right?
There was haters of Jesus.
And everywhere he traveled, there was a stir that was beginning to take place.
There was something of unrest that was taking place everywhere he went and ministered.
And in the passage we're going to read today, and we're going to head to John chapter 11.
You can head that direction.
I'm going to talk a little bit before we get there, right?
As we go in that way, he's making his way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, a traditional
Jewish celebration, Passover.
And he's traveling towards Jerusalem, but he's not alone in his travels.
He has 12 disciples with him.
And they plan this stop just two miles south, say two miles, two miles south of the city
to a little village called Bethany.
Say Bethany.
It's good you know what's happening in this story, right?
It's two miles south of Jerusalem.
And the reason for the stop is he's going to see some old friends.
He's going to go see Mary.
He's going to go see Martha and he's going to go see Lazarus.
And this friend group is special in nature because of Lazarus.
A few months earlier to this day and this scene, Lazarus gets sick.
And when he gets sick, it's not a sickness, just a cold or the flu.
He actually gets sick and passes away and dies.
And during this time, the family knows Jesus.
They're calling for Jesus to come.
Because they know if Jesus comes and heals Lazarus, Lazarus is going to be fine.
If he comes and speaks to him and speaks over because they've seen it, they've heard about
it, right?
He's going to be perfectly OK.
But Jesus doesn't come.
He doesn't show up when Lazarus is sick and he doesn't show up when Lazarus dies.
And matter of fact, he waits till four days after he dies.
The funeral is over, right?
Everybody is gone.
And Jesus shows up four days later and he doesn't show up to mourn.
He doesn't show up to come to grief.
He doesn't show up to lament or sob in any kind of way.
He's not there hoping to get leftover funeral food.
Amen.
I mean, there's always a lot of food or funeral, right?
Jesus comes literally to call Lazarus from the grave, from the tomb, four days dead.
And he's going to call his friend back to life.
And this is the event that sets off a chain reaction to create the perfect storm in Jerusalem,
which would lead up to his crucifixion.
News of a man, right, that people that news of a man who called people back from the dead
spreads like wildfire.
The Jewish people were stirred up.
The Jewish religious leaders are beside themselves.
They don't know what to do.
And even Rome is starting, right?
Rome is governing over the whole area, is even starting to take notice.
Unusual circumstances brewing and a perfect storm beginning to swirl.
And each group of people have their own reasons for being stirred, right?
The Jewish people are in awe.
They were in wonder of this miracle.
And honestly, if it happened today, right, we'd be the same way.
If we heard about someone who called someone out of the grave after four days dead, how
many know that would get everybody's attention, right?
They would be on the morning shows.
They'd be in social media, right?
The podcasters would be after them.
Everybody, like the news outlets, every single one of them, CNN, Fox, you name it, whoever
the news, they would all want to do the interview.
They'd all want to get Jesus and Lazarus sitting at the table, right?
And they'd be talking to Lazarus.
So Lazarus, what's it like to be four days dead, right?
Tell us what you saw.
I mean, I'd do that.
What'd you see?
What'd you smell?
What'd you experience?
What was it like?
And Jesus, how'd you do this?
I mean, the guy had embalming fluid in him.
How'd you do this?
How'd you bring him back from the dead?
It'd be a media frenzy, right?
And this spreads among the Jews.
But there's the news spread for a different reason.
You got to understand something.
The Jewish people didn't see it like we did.
It wasn't just a news story of the week.
It wasn't just a podcast of the week.
What it was for the Jewish people was prophecy being fulfilled.
They're looking and they're thinking, could this be the Messiah?
Could this be the prophesied one?
Could this be the Christ, this powerful leader who is going to come and relieve us from the
brutalness of Rome?
Could this be him?
Because no one in history had ever seen somebody call somebody back from the dead.
No one in history had ever just gone and spoke a word and people were healed, right?
The lame could walk, the blind could see, the deaf could hear.
Jesus spoke to wind and waves and they listened.
They ceased.
And the Jewish people, they smell victory over Rome.
They smell victory.
They see a king who's going to come into power and set them all free from Roman rule.
That's the Jewish people.
The religious leaders had a whole different lens they're seeing through.
The religious leaders of the day, the corrupt religious leaders, Jewish leaders, they're
seeing red.
How many know what it is to see red?
Look down, you're sitting on a red chair.
Okay, come on.
Seeing red.
That means they were seeing through a lens of red.
If you're seeing red, what is that?
You're what?
Yeah, you're mad, man.
You're angry.
You're irritated.
And you've got to understand something, the religious leaders of that day, they saw Jesus
as a hair tick.
They saw him as a false prophet.
They saw him, actually some even said he was demon possessed.
That's what they said about him.
And they wanted nothing more than for Jesus to be stopped.
They were jealous of his power and his notoriety, not to mention that Jesus on a public forum
was constantly confronting them on the hypocrisy, on their lies.
And they want Jesus dead and they want Lazarus dead.
And they want to make it all go away.
And they're plotting and scheming.
The storm is brewing.
The Jewish people are looking for a king.
The religious leaders of the day want them dead.
They want no witnesses and they're plotting.
They're putting the events together.
And all this stir is under the umbrella of Rome.
All this stir is around the under the power of the Roman Empire.
And Rome is indifferent to the religious beliefs of the Jews, these captives.
They don't really care about their celebrations.
They don't really care about what they do or what they practice.
What Rome cared about was keeping order.
What Rome cared about is making sure that allegiance was to the Roman rulers.
What Rome cared about was for no stir to take place and for everything to be quiet and to
collect their taxes and to move on in life.
And they began to see this stir and they began to care about someone who might possibly be
a Jewish king.
All this is stirring.
All the clouds are swirling while thousands and thousands of people are being pouring
into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
Turn to someone right now and tell them that was a long intro.
Come on, that was a long intro.
All this is stirring while Jesus is two miles away.
He's in the south.
He's in Bethany and he's visiting France.
John 11 55, I finally got there, says this, and the Passover of the Jews was near and
many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
Then they saw Jesus and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple.
What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?
Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where
he was, he should report it that they might seize him.
The people are wondering is the miracle man going to show up?
The chief priests are plotting and telling people you must report it to us.
And I'm thinking the disciples, if I was one of the disciples, one of the 12 travel with
Jesus, I'd be thinking Jesus, let's go hang out and do Passover somewhere else.
Let's not buy, let's pass over Jerusalem.
Come on, that was my funny of the day.
Hard pass, hard pass on the Passover in Jerusalem.
That are two funnies.
Hard pass, but Jesus doesn't.
He continues on and he goes to Bethany two miles away.
John 12 says this, then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus
was who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.
There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the
table with him and Mary took a pound of very costly oil to spike nard, anointed the feet
of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
I want you to picture this in your mind.
Jesus shows up to Lazarus and Mary and Martha's house and he comes into the house for a visit
and these three friends of his are doing what they do.
Now, I don't know if you catch a little bit with Martha, but I'm pretty sure, I don't
know this for certain, but I think Martha was the first born in the family.
She's busy, she's taking care of business.
She's in the kitchen making chicken florentine because Jesus likes chicken.
I don't know if that's true, but she's making chicken florentine.
She's making sure that all the napkins match the plates.
She's checking the towels in the bathroom to make sure the gray ones on the wall are
the same as the gray ones on the hand towel.
She's running around, she's got scented candles out, essential oils are everywhere.
She's cooking away.
She's getting her favorite Martha Stewart dessert recipes or something with the Martha
thing.
She's busy.
She's preparing.
She's getting ready for this.
There's 13 people coming.
She's getting everything in order.
She's running around the house.
Then there's Lazarus.
Lazarus is sitting at the table.
He's just hanging.
He's hanging out with Jesus.
He's just talking.
I don't know what the conversation was, but I kind of wonder sometimes when I think about
these things or I read about these things.
It doesn't say in God's word, but I think he's kind of leaning on his elbow and Jesus
sitting right beside him.
I think he's saying, Jesus, do you know what I saw in those four days?
Do you know what heaven looks like?
And Jesus is going, yeah, I got a pretty good idea.
I've been there myself, you know, and I think Lazarus is saying there's colors there.
There's light there like I've never seen.
God's presence is amazing.
And I think they're whispering.
And Lazarus is probably saying people aren't going to understand.
I don't even know how to put it in words.
And Jesus goes, I know.
I get it, right?
I can just imagine that kind of conversation going on.
And then there's Mary who has to be the baby of the family.
Right?
She's not working.
She's not doing it.
She's like, that's all right.
Martha's got it.
She'll take care of it.
Go get him, sis.
Right?
She comes in and she sits down at the feet of Jesus.
And she breaks open a pound of spike nard, of ointment, very expensive, costly ointment.
And she pours it on Jesus' feet.
And she lets down her hair.
And in an act of submission, almost a position of slavery, she gets down and she wipes Jesus'
feet with her hair.
And it says the whole room was filled with the fragrance.
I think Mary was teaching us something.
I think Mary had something right.
I think it says in the middle of a perfect storm, we need to park at Jesus' feet and
extravagantly worship Him.
In the middle of the perfect storm, in the middle of any storm, we should park at Jesus'
feet and worship Him.
I think Mary had it right.
Mary knew what to do in the chaos when things were brewing all around.
When the world outside, two miles away, is going completely nuts.
She broke into extravagant worship.
She held nothing back.
She didn't spare any expense.
She got down on her hands and knees and she worshiped Jesus.
We're so foolish sometimes.
We're so foolish, we do everything but worship the King.
We do other things, right?
And Jesus commends her for this action.
One of the disciples actually scolds her for it.
In John 12, he says, but one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son who would betray
him, said, why was this fragment oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
That's actually almost a year's wages.
This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief.
And he had the money box and he used to take what was put in it.
But Jesus said, let her alone.
She has kept this for the day of my burial for the poor you will have with you always,
but me you will not always have.
Too many times we get in the middle of a perfect storm and the last thing we do is worship.
The last thing we think about doing is worship.
We get in the middle of the storm and some of you, some of you I know, I know you, but
I don't know you, right?
You just get in and the storm starts swirling and things start going crazy and you think
I just got to hunker down and work harder.
If I get my nose to the grindstone, if I keep at it, if I keep working, things are going
to all work out.
You just work and you're Martha, man, you're running around the house, making sure the
towels match.
You're going to work, you're going to work, you're going to work.
Some of you don't, some of you retreat and hide, right?
Some of you hunker down and get into a corner somewhere and start into this an hour or a
day or a month of self pity.
Anybody ever do that one, right?
You get off of somewhere and you're just going to pity yourself for a while.
You don't worship, you just pity yourself.
Woe is me.
Nobody else has got to put up with all this, right?
Or we gather a group of people around us and we make sure we get people who are telling
us what we want to hear.
How many of you know I always go to somebody I want to hear, right?
I go to somebody who tells me what I don't want to hear.
I go to somebody who tells me what I want to hear.
We do all this, but Mary nails it.
Storms brewing, things are going crazy and she gets down on her knees, down on her hands
and she worships Christ.
Psalm 63 once says this, oh God, you are my God early I will seek you.
My soul thirsts for you.
My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
So I have looked for you in this sanctuary to see your power and your glory because your
loving kindness is literally better than life.
My lips shall praise you.
Thus I will bless you while I live.
I lift up my hands in your name.
Mary knows something about walking through a storm and she go to Jesus.
She parks herself at the feet of the one who is bigger than any storm we're ever going
to face.
She knows, right, that he's the one.
He's bigger than any storm we're ever going to face.
I'll never forget being in Mexico City and one of the years I went there on a missions
trip I actually got to go out and actually do a little sightseeing and we went to a pyramid
and it was one of the ancient pyramids.
I remember standing on top of this pyramid and on top of this pyramid was a, in the middle
was like almost like a little stand and on top of that was a stone that was cemented
into the top of it and it was a place of worship and it was a place to worship the sun and the
moon.
And these people would come and they'd put their finger on the stone and they'd raise
their hands to the sun and the moon and I'm standing there thinking I know the one who
made the sun and the moon.
You're worshiping a creation, right?
You're worshiping what he created and you could be worshiping the creator up here.
Go to the one who is larger than your storm and sit at his feet and worship because he's
the one that's going to take you through.
There's nothing too large, amen?
He's the one that speaks to the wind and waves and says stop, cease, be still, amen?
Mary had the game plan in the middle of the perfect storm.
John 12, 9 says this, now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and came not
for Jesus' sake only but that they might also see Lazarus who had raised from the dead.
But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him many
of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
The next day, say the next day.
The next day a great multitude that come to the feast when they heard Jesus was coming
to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees.
That's why we call Palm Sunday, right?
And went out to meet him and cried out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord, the King of Israel.
He knows what these Jews are looking for.
They're looking, right?
They said it right there, King of the Jews.
They're already hailing him King of Israel.
They're looking for a delivering King.
They're looking to take Rome down.
The chief priests, biggest fears are taking place unfolding before their eyes.
People were chanting Jesus' name.
They're calling him King, right?
And the soldiers, the Roman soldiers are looking on and they're taking notice.
And while that parade looked nothing to a Roman parade, right?
The Romans were used to big fanfare.
They were used to gold chariots and white horses and they would walk and parade through
the city and come into the Coliseum.
While this looked like nothing to them, a man, right?
Coming in on a donkey and palm branches being laid, they heard the chants.
They heard what they were saying, King of Israel.
And you got to understand something about Rome at that time.
For anybody else to call themselves King in that kind of setting was actually tyranny
against Rome.
And the Rome itself starts to take notice and the perfect storm takes place.
And Jesus rides right into the middle of it anyway.
He knows exactly why he's going in.
Why would he go there?
Why would he antagonize his enemies?
Why would he give false hopes to these Jewish people?
Because he was not going to rise up and take Rome down, right?
Why risk being caught, scourged, beaten, spit on, made a public humiliation, crucified,
certain death?
Why do all this?
Jesus did all this.
He walked away from personal comfort because he was part of something greater than himself.
And he knew that even Jesus, Son of God, he lived for God's greater plan, our salvation.
Jesus stepped out of every bit of comfort so he could ride into the city for our salvation,
to fulfill God's plan, to reconcile man back to God, to go back to what was originally
designed in the Garden of Eden, to bring a chance for us to come back into that kind
of relationship with God.
Jesus laid it all down and he lived, right?
He lived to love those who did not love him back.
He really did.
He lived to forgive those.
Literally when he's on the cross, he's forgiving them for nailing him to a tree while they're
nailing him to a tree.
He willingly lived and died for the benefit of all of us.
He rode straight into the perfect storm because he was fixed on the plan.
And he laid out an incredible example for us who are saved and know Jesus as Lord.
We should live for something greater than our personal comfort.
We chase comfort.
We do, right?
Listen, if there's five chairs in a room and four of them are hard metal chairs and there's
a lazy boy and you send me into the room, guess which one I'm hopping in, especially
if it has a cup holder.
Come on, it's true, right?
You're going after the lazy boy.
We seek comfort.
We really do.
We want the most comfortable temperature in the room.
That's why you have temperature wars in your house, right?
Somebody's frozen, the other person's sweating to death.
One's turning the thermostat up, the other one's turning the other one down.
We seek comfort, right?
That's why there's first class on airplanes.
You got to pay for the additional comfort.
You want the comfy blanket.
You want the extra snacks.
You don't want just the pretzels, right?
You want something more, right?
Jesus set aside all comfort.
He sets it aside to fulfill God's plan.
I'm going to ask you to stand.
He was not just riding into an uncomfortable situation.
He was riding, and He knew what was coming.
He spoke so many times to His disciples.
So many times He spoke to them.
Do you understand that He could have called on heaven in that moment in time, and God
would have sent legions of angels and crushed Rome, and actually would have crushed the
Jews as well, and rescued from them?
In a moment in time, He could have done that, and He did not.
So you and I would have access to the throne room of grace.
We'll lay down our comfort.
We will.
We'll lay down our comfort.
We'll get at the feet of Jesus in worship when we realize what He's done and what He's
called us to do.
You're going into Holy Week.
You're going into a week where you're going to bump into people along the way.
Charlie, I see you wearing your necklace.
I started this just about a month ago, and I've seen a bunch of you wearing them.
Some of you got them on your wrist.
Some of them got them on your neck.
Some of them you got posted somewhere at home.
But every day I put this on for the last month or so, every day I put this on, I'm reminded
I'm an ambassador for Christ.
I'm reminded that it's not about my comfort.
It's really about the plan of God and what God wants to do.
Somebody got really uncomfortable somewhere along the way, and that's why I'm here today,
and that's why I'm saved.
Because somewhere along the way I decided they were going to do the uncomfortable thing.
They were going to go forward and present the gospel, and I was one of the recipients
of that very thing.
And we're coming into this week.
Jesus did the most uncomfortable thing, probably the thing that maybe none of us... I don't
know about you, but I probably would have turned tail and let's go to a different city
for Passover, head somewhere else.
But He paid the price.
So this morning I want you to close your eyes.
I want you to get in an attitude of worship, and maybe just picture yourself at Mary, Martha's,
and Lazarus' house.
If you're at the East Shore right now, Pastor Eric is coming.
He's going to minister to you in this time.
If you're listening online, please get a place to pray.
Please get a place to pray.
As you pray, I want you to picture yourself maybe at Mary, Martha, and Lazarus' house.
Where would you be?
Would you be one of the people that would be running around, making sure all the stuff's
right?
Would you be sitting at the table leaned up, or would you be at the feet of Jesus?
I don't know, Scripture doesn't tell us, but I kind of believe that Mary, after that experience,
was willing to get uncomfortable.
I believe she was willing to go out and do whatever Jesus needed her to do.
That needs to be us this morning.
Father, I come before you, God, on this most holy week.
Lord, as we come into a time, Lord, where we're going to celebrate the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray, break our hearts, God, for what breaks your heart, Lord.
And God, that's people who are far from you.
Lord, I pray right now, God, that you would speak into our lives, and Lord, God, that
it would stir us, and God, that we'd be willing to walk into a storm, maybe even a perfect
storm.
Lord, God, for the sake of the gospel, Lord, that we would move forward, and God, not fear
and not shudder, but literally sit at your feet and worship.
God, get to a place, Lord, where we just look to you, and God, maybe our tears are the thing
that wash your feet.
And Lord, God, we come, Lord, just humbly before you, God, knowing that somebody paid
the price for us, and now it's our turn, God.
Now it's our turn to pay the price for someone else.
Now it's our time to take up our cross, Lord, just like you said in your word, Lord, and
go out.
And Lord, God, die to me and live to you.
And Lord, I ask for that this week.
God, there are souls in the balance this week.
There are souls in the balance.
And Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you for tuning in to this message from LifeHouse Church.
We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message.
If you have been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with
us as we love God, love people every day, visit our website at www.LifeHouseCOG.com.