WEBVTT 00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:05.259 Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:07.660 want to thank you for joining us today, and we 00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.179 hope you find today's sermon impacting as you 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:12.699 listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk. 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:15.960 To find service times and watch messages online, 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:20.120 see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now, 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:24.579 enjoy this week's message. Would you tell the 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:26.320 Lord thank you one more time for that? Thank 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:30.960 you, Jesus. Thank you for your love. Thank you 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:35.060 for your provision. You know, Valina texted me 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:38.780 yesterday. I was out on my little riding lawnmower 00:00:38.780 --> 00:00:44.840 and I got a little text. The lawnmower is my 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.340 happy place as long as it's a riding lawnmower 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:52.179 with the lawns that we have. And it's a place 00:00:52.179 --> 00:00:55.289 where I go out to pray. to think. And it's the 00:00:55.289 --> 00:00:57.390 one place where I can actually see something 00:00:57.390 --> 00:01:01.329 get done. You know, sometimes in pastoring, you're 00:01:01.329 --> 00:01:04.829 on the long perspective. And so watching the 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:07.909 grass get cut and things move from one height 00:01:07.909 --> 00:01:11.189 to another is a blessing. And she texts me and 00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:14.390 she goes, man, I'm really feeling this word about 00:01:14.390 --> 00:01:18.909 the cloud, the size of a man's hand and faith 00:01:18.909 --> 00:01:21.819 and provision coming. I said, well, it's really 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:24.040 important. I said, pray on it. I think you're 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:26.819 hearing the word of the Lord. And I just want 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:33.560 to second that. I felt like the Lord spoke something 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:35.980 as she was doing what she was doing, which was 00:01:35.980 --> 00:01:39.480 incredible, just leading the congregation to 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:43.379 press in and to believe God that the drought 00:01:43.379 --> 00:01:47.659 or the limitation or whatever's been keeping 00:01:47.659 --> 00:01:52.430 your eyes from What's on the other side and the 00:01:52.430 --> 00:01:55.810 provision that's available. We have to begin 00:01:55.810 --> 00:02:02.209 to do what Elijah did. There is a time for praying 00:02:02.209 --> 00:02:06.230 and birthing. And I'm not going to go into a 00:02:06.230 --> 00:02:09.310 message this morning on that. But he got into 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:15.550 a birth stool position. He got into a Holy Ghost, 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:20.629 what I call a Holy Ghost crunch. bearing down, 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:25.689 praying with fervency and earnestness. And that's 00:02:25.689 --> 00:02:28.370 what we were talking about. He was stretched 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:32.610 out in his spirit man, but he was bearing down, 00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:37.229 praying that God would break the brass heavens 00:02:37.229 --> 00:02:40.909 that had locked up the nation because of sin 00:02:40.909 --> 00:02:46.050 and things. And when he saw after the seventh 00:02:46.050 --> 00:02:51.120 time, He had to get past all the sixth time, 00:02:51.219 --> 00:02:55.120 which represents the works of man. He had to 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:58.840 get past number five that represents grace and 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:02.759 get past the understanding of sometimes with 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:06.819 grace, God does things in abundance, but I have 00:03:06.819 --> 00:03:10.939 to begin to press through and partner with him. 00:03:11.819 --> 00:03:14.560 There's a lot in that, but he had to move past 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:19.250 all of the times. It was grace that was enabling 00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:24.430 him to actually pray the persistence until he 00:03:24.430 --> 00:03:31.389 saw. The key is, can you now this morning receive 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:35.449 what's in the room from the Lord and begin to 00:03:35.449 --> 00:03:39.210 see something different than what's kept it locked 00:03:39.210 --> 00:03:44.830 up? So I heard the Lord speak to me on the front 00:03:44.830 --> 00:03:47.370 row. I was in the midst of trying to receive 00:03:47.370 --> 00:03:50.030 something and I was hearing him ask me the question, 00:03:50.150 --> 00:03:57.770 he goes, what can you see beyond the wall? That's 00:03:57.770 --> 00:04:00.949 what he asked for me. What can you see beyond 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:06.849 the wall? Now we know the steel is in the ground 00:04:06.849 --> 00:04:10.889 for just this project. Now the digging of the 00:04:10.889 --> 00:04:15.430 trenches and The tiebacks that are slowly going 00:04:15.430 --> 00:04:19.430 in. The question is, do you still have the iron 00:04:19.430 --> 00:04:21.930 curtain up in front of your eyes or do you see 00:04:21.930 --> 00:04:26.629 beyond what the next steps are? Do you see what's 00:04:26.629 --> 00:04:29.089 coming? Do you see the reign of heaven? Do you 00:04:29.089 --> 00:04:35.110 see the next things that must be prayed through? 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:39.220 heard and call to me so that I can tell you, 00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:41.699 or are you going to stay capped and just waiting 00:04:41.699 --> 00:04:45.680 in this season? You've got to now fill your, 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.680 if I could say it carefully, fill the womb of 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:56.319 your spirit with vision from heaven. Amen. Amen. 00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:59.459 And so I'm just encouraging you where you're 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:02.600 at. I know there's some businesses, some businessmen 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:04.540 and women here. I know there's some areas that 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:07.439 finances, not only for business have been locked 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:09.899 up, but there's also people here that you feel 00:05:09.899 --> 00:05:13.000 absolutely trapped by the debt you've been calling 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:16.980 out for God. I believe there is a cloud rising. 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:20.779 Now it may be small, but the issue is you've 00:05:20.779 --> 00:05:23.560 got to begin to see it and begin to ask, begin 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.879 to call it forth and begin to run. As soon as, 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:32.040 Valina said in this meeting this morning. She 00:05:32.040 --> 00:05:35.480 goes, as soon as he saw the cloud, he began to 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.879 run. And I heard the Holy Spirit say, Habakkuk 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:42.480 chapter, but I think it's two, write the vision 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.699 and make it plain that he who runs may run with 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:52.560 it. It was that clear. God is trying to write 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:56.610 a fresh. vision on your heart. Don't stay in 00:05:56.610 --> 00:05:58.970 the atmosphere of famine. Even though you're 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:02.050 there right now, don't stay there in your heart. 00:06:02.089 --> 00:06:07.149 See what God is saying. Amen? You receive that? 00:06:07.670 --> 00:06:15.490 All right. Keep going. You're doing good. I want 00:06:15.490 --> 00:06:22.029 to review just a little bit, but I'm reviewing 00:06:22.029 --> 00:06:25.360 within with a point because it is Palm Sunday. 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:29.439 Next week, I mean, it just seems, I just felt 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:35.360 like we just celebrated Christmas. This whole 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:38.399 next week will be part of me just studying for 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:43.060 the theme of what the team has decided. And I 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:45.439 was part of that decision, but I don't remember 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:51.319 what my part was. But I know we've got a theme 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.639 here and I'll be preparing a message for that 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.899 this week. But as I was thinking about this week 00:06:57.899 --> 00:07:00.019 and thinking about what we talked about last 00:07:00.019 --> 00:07:05.779 week in regard to Jesus being stretched out in 00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:09.800 the Garden of Gethsemane, fervently praying about 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:13.980 the church in Acts chapter 13, fervently praying 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:20.490 to release Peter after they had lost James. And 00:07:20.490 --> 00:07:26.170 we started with this verse, 1 Peter 4, 7 through 00:07:26.170 --> 00:07:30.449 11. It says, the end of all things is at hand. 00:07:31.209 --> 00:07:36.470 Therefore, be self -controlled and be sober -minded 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:39.870 for the sake of your prayers. We talked about 00:07:39.870 --> 00:07:44.769 those two words, sober -minded and self -controlled. 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:50.759 Above all, can we say that? Above all. One more 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:55.600 time. Above all. Keep loving one another earnestly. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.939 That word, the King James says it's fervently. 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:04.360 Since love covers a multitude of sin, show hospitality 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:07.620 to one another without grumbling. As each has 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:10.660 received a gift, use it to serve one another 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:16.240 as good stewards of God's varied grace. Or another 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:21.879 word. has his multifaceted, multicolored, manifold 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:26.399 grace. Be good stewards of it. We're talking 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.300 about the something more church and we're talking 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:32.840 about how Jesus, if we're gonna be that church 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:36.659 that he does the something more through, positioning 00:08:36.659 --> 00:08:39.559 ourselves to have the heart of the king. The 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:42.440 main heart of the king is what? Being a servant. 00:08:43.049 --> 00:08:46.850 And just for sake of review, our last point before 00:08:46.850 --> 00:08:51.610 we went to 1 Peter 4 was this. Jesus never bypassed 00:08:51.610 --> 00:08:55.370 the little day -to -day things for the big cross 00:08:55.370 --> 00:09:00.230 experience. Now listen, we're going to be celebrating 00:09:00.230 --> 00:09:04.450 today the big cross experience. And next Sunday, 00:09:04.570 --> 00:09:07.629 the cross and the resurrection. And we should 00:09:07.629 --> 00:09:13.250 always do that here in the house of God. But 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:17.850 the power of serving in both prayer and stewardship 00:09:17.850 --> 00:09:21.970 of serving in love is what Jesus demonstrated 00:09:21.970 --> 00:09:25.850 to us. I'd like you, if you would, to turn in 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:31.129 your Bibles to Psalms 118. We're going to get 00:09:31.129 --> 00:09:39.450 there. In Jesus' name. Psalm 118. And talk, as 00:09:39.450 --> 00:09:43.070 Peter was saying this about fervent prayer, fervent 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:47.210 love, fervent above all else, that being stretched 00:09:47.210 --> 00:09:51.549 out, that idea of, are you doing okay? Just, 00:09:51.669 --> 00:09:58.059 you're doing really good. That idea of just allowing 00:09:58.059 --> 00:10:01.799 yourself to grab on to the very theme of the 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:05.299 heart of God and allow yourself to be pushed 00:10:05.299 --> 00:10:08.600 or stretched beyond the boundaries of how you 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:12.139 would normally love. Every one of us as people 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:18.840 have boundaries. You may not. Even people that 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:22.700 don't have boundaries have boundaries. But there 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:27.120 always seems to be a marker. Of what you think 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.580 you're willing to give. And the Lord is constantly 00:10:31.580 --> 00:10:36.799 in this verse here, above all. Above all means 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:43.419 go further than what you would normally do. So 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:46.740 when we think about Jesus, he was the supreme 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:51.379 example. He went further than what people would 00:10:51.379 --> 00:10:54.850 have normally done. Everything about his life, 00:10:54.929 --> 00:10:59.029 everything about, as we get ready here to celebrate 00:10:59.029 --> 00:11:03.690 today as Palm Sunday, everything that he did 00:11:03.690 --> 00:11:07.870 went further than people's expectation, their 00:11:07.870 --> 00:11:13.870 demands, and he constantly lived to please the 00:11:13.870 --> 00:11:17.429 Father, stretched out in his love, stretched 00:11:17.429 --> 00:11:20.850 out in his prayer, stretched out in his will. 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:26.200 That he would honor the Father. Jesus rejected 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:30.779 powerful ministries presented by Satan. We read 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:36.519 about him in Luke chapter 4. Matthew 4 as well. 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:40.220 He was tempted with fame. He was tempted with 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:44.379 power. And all that comes with it in the natural. 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:50.000 And he chose to be filled and anointed. With 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.059 the Holy Spirit, God anointed him because of 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:59.039 his choice to choose the Father. And every stage, 00:11:59.059 --> 00:12:03.679 the anointing came to be yielded to the will 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:06.899 of being stretched out to the Father's purpose. 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.080 The anointing came on him. The Spirit of God 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:12.899 came on him when he came out of the waters of 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:16.539 baptism. But the anointing had to be tested with 00:12:16.539 --> 00:12:22.110 character. It's a big deal. A lot of people receive 00:12:22.110 --> 00:12:26.169 the anointing, but it doesn't stay on them genuinely. 00:12:26.850 --> 00:12:29.330 They can pervert the anointing. Why? Because 00:12:29.330 --> 00:12:31.830 they won't allow the depth of their character 00:12:31.830 --> 00:12:34.990 to actually be yielded to the stretching out 00:12:34.990 --> 00:12:39.269 of Christ. And so what do they do? They yield 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:44.639 to various temptations of fame, of power. Of 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.720 an easier route to go in the flesh than the route 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:50.179 of the narrow way that the father asks of them. 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:55.419 It was the anointing on Jesus that caused him 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.899 to yield to the direction of the Lord over every 00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:03.919 other avenue and path. Jesus, we could put this 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:09.679 up here. Jesus rejected the sensational. He rejected 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:16.559 the speedy. And he rejected the spectacular. 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:22.519 Everything that Satan offered in his way. Notice 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:25.019 the three temptations. I'm not going to dive 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:28.059 into the deep temptations of the Lord because 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:35.080 there's so much there. But turn these stones 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:40.059 into bread, right? Come, I'll show you the nations 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:43.700 and the world. Just worship me. Just bow your 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:46.720 knee in homage and recognize that I have been 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.200 given authority and I'll give it to you. Or just, 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:55.399 just come on. The angels will bear you up. Come 00:13:55.399 --> 00:13:59.440 on, just, just, you're hungry. Make this work, 00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:05.049 the fame, they'll know you. He rejected the sensational. 00:14:05.169 --> 00:14:08.750 He rejected the spectacular and the speedy. Meaning 00:14:08.750 --> 00:14:12.009 what? There's a quicker way to get this done. 00:14:12.190 --> 00:14:15.570 If you'll just do it my way, you'll just put 00:14:15.570 --> 00:14:20.549 yourself on Facebook and Instagram. If you'll 00:14:20.549 --> 00:14:28.100 just market yourself. If you'll just. go do what 00:14:28.100 --> 00:14:32.740 the marketplace says you should do about your 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:36.320 ministry, then you could do it quicker. This 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:39.919 whole moving from place to place and city to 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.360 city, just as you're drawing a crowd, isn't working 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:49.919 real well. Listen, Jesus rejected every avenue 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:55.940 that would get him to partner with a human understanding. 00:14:57.220 --> 00:15:01.220 That's why Jesus had to rebuke Peter. It wasn't 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:04.279 the fact that Jesus thought that Peter was just 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:08.179 a horrible person. Because when Peter heard that, 00:15:08.259 --> 00:15:11.740 you know, son of man is going to be crucified. 00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:15.840 Peter said, God forbid that that happened. Why? 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.419 It wasn't the fact that Peter was just trying 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.480 to think devilish. It was the fact that he was 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:28.700 just thinking. He was thinking out of his own 00:15:28.700 --> 00:15:34.000 love and out of his own expectation of what Jesus 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:38.320 would mean to him. And now think that through. 00:15:38.659 --> 00:15:43.799 How many of us get caught on thinking about what 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:47.340 certain things mean to us and that we try to 00:15:47.340 --> 00:15:50.840 force feed something that's not really the father's 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:53.480 will because we've bit down on what that means 00:15:53.480 --> 00:16:00.460 for us if we lose that. Jesus chose the low road 00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:05.539 of suffering and he chose the cross. Jesus didn't 00:16:05.539 --> 00:16:09.940 storm Israel by messianic force. That would have 00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:15.440 been sensational and speedy. Can you imagine 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.679 12 legions of angels when one angel can wipe 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:24.399 out over 149 ,000 Assyrians? 12 legions of angels 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:31.879 are saying, all right, sick them. A nuclear blast 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:36.360 would have nothing on 12 legions of angels given 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:41.860 the charge to complete rule. That's not the way 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:45.080 of our king. That's the way of the kings of the 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:50.620 earth. He refused to give in to any of that. 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:57.039 My kingdom is not of this world, he said. Jesus 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:00.980 refused to flaunt his power of knowledge. to 00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:04.519 show people he was the Lord. Now, he did this 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:09.880 in amazing ways. He still showed it, but he didn't 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:19.660 create a pool around him to constantly drop words 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:25.480 of knowledge and words of information constantly. 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:29.210 Listen. He is knowledge. He is understanding. 00:17:29.410 --> 00:17:33.930 He is wisdom. He could have just sat on his podcast 00:17:33.930 --> 00:17:42.809 and dropped, give him 15 every day. I'm not mocking 00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:45.690 that. I'm just saying, you understand, he refused 00:17:45.690 --> 00:17:50.609 to do that. He could have held up inside a rabbinical 00:17:50.609 --> 00:17:54.839 type school, sat and made. place in the temple 00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:59.220 as permanent and had gatherings to himself every 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:03.680 day. He refused to do that. Why? He chose the 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:08.099 small, the insignificant to get out to where 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:11.839 people were, not draw people to himself for what 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.799 he could offer. He was drawing people to the 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:23.920 father. Jesus purposely chose a path of humility, 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:30.400 purposely. Jesus chose the Father's will, which 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:36.180 was what? Be born, leave the pinnacle of light, 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:40.799 truth, and revelation, living in and around the 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:45.319 Father as the word from God to now be wrapped 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:52.940 in flesh and blood. I mean, from a... mindset 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:58.579 here of us looking at that is like, ooh, yuck. 00:19:00.380 --> 00:19:04.019 If you didn't have to live in this and you had 00:19:04.019 --> 00:19:08.180 something better, there's no one that goes to 00:19:08.180 --> 00:19:12.220 heaven that wants to come back and trade in the 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:16.940 atmosphere there for the atmosphere here. Come 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:20.839 on. Let alone the son of God who was completely 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:24.619 perfect as the word who came forth from God, 00:19:24.700 --> 00:19:29.660 who was God, right? I mean, you talk about a 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:33.759 downgrade. You were flying first class. You are 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:40.220 now in coach by the bathroom. Okay? The reality 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:45.720 is he said yes to live in obscurity in Nazareth. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:50.519 He said yes to live in Nowheresville. On top 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:54.700 of being downgraded willfully to Nowheresville, 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:58.039 the fact that the center of Jesus' ministry took 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:02.940 place in a backwoods place called Galilee, a 00:20:02.940 --> 00:20:08.579 .k .a. the sticks, and was not strategically 00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:16.390 located in Jerusalem, says a whole lot. Jesus 00:20:16.390 --> 00:20:22.750 embraced humility. He embraced it. That's what 00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:27.630 Palm Sunday, that's what today is. It is a, and 00:20:27.630 --> 00:20:30.349 I may be doing a poor job. I'm trying to steward 00:20:30.349 --> 00:20:33.450 this here. It is the principle to prepare our 00:20:33.450 --> 00:20:37.210 hearts to understand it was, yes, it was about 00:20:37.210 --> 00:20:39.670 the cross. Yes, it was about the resurrection, 00:20:39.789 --> 00:20:43.890 but there could never be a cross and there could 00:20:43.890 --> 00:20:47.660 never. be a resurrection that would come in holiness 00:20:47.660 --> 00:20:51.819 with destroying the power of sin unless there 00:20:51.819 --> 00:20:56.140 was a willingness to come to Jerusalem in humility. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:02.660 He points to the fact that everything that you 00:21:02.660 --> 00:21:08.660 want to do in following Christ has to start and 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:13.549 live in that if you will, in that chamber of 00:21:13.549 --> 00:21:22.529 humility. That's what he modeled. Jerusalem was 00:21:22.529 --> 00:21:25.990 known for its spectacle. It was known for its 00:21:25.990 --> 00:21:32.390 opulence. It was known as the grail, if you will, 00:21:32.470 --> 00:21:36.289 the holy grail of all that God was doing. It 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:40.250 was Zion. It was that place. In order to get 00:21:40.250 --> 00:21:43.029 there the way God wanted him to get there, he 00:21:43.029 --> 00:21:49.650 had to go there in humility. Why do we think 00:21:49.650 --> 00:21:53.589 that it's changed? Why do we think that access 00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:58.049 to Zion comes now through accomplishment or learnedness 00:21:58.049 --> 00:22:03.190 or education? Access to Zion and the presence 00:22:03.190 --> 00:22:07.019 of the Lord, access to heavenly Jerusalem. Still 00:22:07.019 --> 00:22:10.579 comes the greatest way. Who will ascend to the 00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:14.039 hill of the Lord? Those with clean hands and 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:17.160 a pure heart. It starts with humility. Those 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:20.480 who have not lifted up their soul. Those that 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:25.119 have not sworn deceitfully. How do we approach 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:28.240 Zion? We approach it with the very same thing 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:31.940 as I never get to the place. where I have learned 00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:36.039 so much, grown so much, that now, yes, there's 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:38.460 boldness as a son to come into the throne of 00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:41.000 grace and a daughter to come in, but I never 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:45.599 take for granted that the access is given me 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.160 because of the humility of my Savior that I'm 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:55.460 told to be cloaked in. No matter what I've walked 00:22:55.460 --> 00:22:59.470 through, no matter what I've experienced, It 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:02.230 is humility that brings me into the very presence 00:23:02.230 --> 00:23:07.650 of the King. You know, Palm Sunday, there's a 00:23:07.650 --> 00:23:09.869 lot to be said about this. We had a couple of 00:23:09.869 --> 00:23:12.069 really great thoughts this morning in the prayer 00:23:12.069 --> 00:23:15.670 room that took all of my verses, but I'm going 00:23:15.670 --> 00:23:22.369 to preach them anyways. Jesus was, Jesus came 00:23:22.369 --> 00:23:27.920 to Jerusalem writing. The Bible says out of Zechariah 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:29.900 chapter nine, and we have it up on the screen 00:23:29.900 --> 00:23:32.160 if we could put it up there. Rejoice, O people 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:35.960 of Zion. Shout in triumph. O people of Jerusalem, 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:39.720 look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous 00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:45.759 and victorious. Yet he is humble, riding on a 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:49.839 donkey, riding on a donkey's colt. Notice the 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:56.599 connection. He is righteous and victorious. Those 00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:01.980 two things by themselves without humility lead 00:24:01.980 --> 00:24:10.900 to religion and pride. Righteousness and being 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:15.279 victorious will always have a pull to lift our 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:20.579 soul up in our own righteousness or in the victory 00:24:20.579 --> 00:24:24.450 that somehow we're helping take. God did it for 00:24:24.450 --> 00:24:29.769 us, but we help him with the credit. Jesus, righteous 00:24:29.769 --> 00:24:35.869 and victorious, yet he is humble riding on a 00:24:35.869 --> 00:24:41.990 donkey. John 12, 12 through 15 says this. The 00:24:41.990 --> 00:24:44.250 next day, a large crowd that had come to the 00:24:44.250 --> 00:24:47.430 feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 00:24:48.069 --> 00:24:50.849 So they took branches of palm trees and went 00:24:50.849 --> 00:24:55.210 out to meet him. crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna. 00:24:55.589 --> 00:24:58.869 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, 00:24:58.910 --> 00:25:03.630 even the king of Israel. And Jesus found, John 00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:05.710 makes reference here, and Jesus found a young 00:25:05.710 --> 00:25:08.529 donkey and sat on it, just as it was written, 00:25:09.190 --> 00:25:12.269 fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king 00:25:12.269 --> 00:25:15.869 is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. Now we 00:25:15.869 --> 00:25:19.529 could also look at the book of Matthew and Mark 00:25:19.529 --> 00:25:23.380 about Jesus. sending two disciples to go get 00:25:23.380 --> 00:25:26.279 and untying the donkey. We've preached on that 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:29.660 before. It's an incredible passage. The Lord 00:25:29.660 --> 00:25:34.400 has need of it. Meaning Jesus always looks to 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:39.519 bring his lordship over two generations. Come 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:44.140 on. One that has never been ridden before and 00:25:44.140 --> 00:25:48.079 one that has experienced life. God is looking 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:52.089 to capture. the hearts of the young and the old. 00:25:53.869 --> 00:25:57.309 But it was so opposite of what the victorious, 00:25:57.609 --> 00:26:02.190 the victors would ride in. Victors would ride 00:26:02.190 --> 00:26:05.670 in on stallions. They'd ride in on white horses. 00:26:07.369 --> 00:26:09.730 And we know that at his second coming, he will 00:26:09.730 --> 00:26:14.950 do that. But at this first coming, everything 00:26:14.950 --> 00:26:19.150 has to be done to show us the path. That his 00:26:19.150 --> 00:26:23.710 kingdom is about humility. And he lived in humility. 00:26:24.029 --> 00:26:28.329 And it was clothed in humility. Rode in in humility. 00:26:28.529 --> 00:26:32.789 Went to the cross in humility. Why? Because that 00:26:32.789 --> 00:26:38.089 is the way of our king. And without that we have 00:26:38.089 --> 00:26:41.490 no cross. We would have a death. But we wouldn't 00:26:41.490 --> 00:26:47.000 have victory. Because pride. And self -righteousness 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.980 never accomplishes the victory. The Bible says 00:26:52.980 --> 00:26:54.940 that, and I don't want to spend too much time 00:26:54.940 --> 00:26:57.460 on this, but it says they had palm branches in 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:01.740 their hand. Why palm branches? Well, we could 00:27:01.740 --> 00:27:05.259 talk a lot about palm branches, but bottom line, 00:27:05.339 --> 00:27:11.960 it represents a celebratory parade type event. 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:20.299 They didn't have little Israeli flags, right? 00:27:20.539 --> 00:27:23.440 You know, the twin American -Israeli flag that 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:25.259 they were holding. No, they didn't have that. 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:28.480 They didn't have the flags where they could just 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.599 go to the trinket store and everybody just buy 00:27:30.599 --> 00:27:32.519 a little flag for a parade route. But what they 00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:36.660 did have is they loved celebration and they loved 00:27:36.660 --> 00:27:40.380 parades. They especially loved parades of the 00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:46.359 victors. And it says in Zechariah 9 that they 00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:49.019 were holding palm branches. And it says it also 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:51.000 in the New Testament scriptures. But Zechariah 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.680 9 points to something very, very crucial. It 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:57.599 says they were rejoicing. It uses that little 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:01.160 phrase in the King James. It says, and they rejoiced 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:12.819 greatly. Which means to spin around. I know, 00:28:12.940 --> 00:28:18.559 not, you're not playing spin around music. You 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.940 know, I just, you could stop. You're doing a 00:28:20.940 --> 00:28:24.460 really good thing. You do need to understand, 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:27.859 as they were coming to the festival, because 00:28:27.859 --> 00:28:30.720 everybody was coming to Jerusalem for Passover, 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:37.799 they had now got branches. Now here is the incredible 00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:44.089 part of the sovereignty of God on this. And I'm 00:28:44.089 --> 00:28:48.630 going to try to just get this out of my heart 00:28:48.630 --> 00:28:50.890 because I believe the Lord is pressing on me 00:28:50.890 --> 00:28:54.549 in regard to this. We understand something about 00:28:54.549 --> 00:29:00.450 the nature of our God. He holds his timing close 00:29:00.450 --> 00:29:04.730 to his vest. And then when it's ready, he releases 00:29:04.730 --> 00:29:09.089 it. Now he sometimes always will give his prophets 00:29:09.089 --> 00:29:13.940 the prophetic advance. warning, letting us know, 00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:16.779 hey, this is about to happen, and it'll give 00:29:16.779 --> 00:29:20.240 a few cues. So you need to understand that as 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:23.759 everybody came to Passover, they did not come 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:29.220 to Passover thinking this was the Passover. This 00:29:29.220 --> 00:29:33.529 was like the last Passover. before the Lord's 00:29:33.529 --> 00:29:35.950 eyes. Not that you can't celebrate Passover, 00:29:35.990 --> 00:29:39.410 but this is the culmination of everything that's 00:29:39.410 --> 00:29:42.750 happened since Exodus is happening now. Here's 00:29:42.750 --> 00:29:46.109 how God in his sovereignty moves. In the fact 00:29:46.109 --> 00:29:49.369 that he was now opening the time as Christ was 00:29:49.369 --> 00:29:52.750 coming to the cross, several things were happening 00:29:52.750 --> 00:29:57.130 on that day. First of all, it would be the 10th 00:29:57.130 --> 00:30:01.569 of Nisan, meaning what? It was time to select 00:30:01.900 --> 00:30:07.940 the lamb. Every household would have had to select 00:30:07.940 --> 00:30:12.380 a lamb. It was said of that day that a lamb could 00:30:12.380 --> 00:30:15.859 feed 10 in a house. Isn't that interesting that 00:30:15.859 --> 00:30:18.519 10 represents the number of the law? There would 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.640 be a lamb selected to cover what the law says 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:26.000 was guilty, that the blood would satisfy the 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:29.819 10. Come on, somebody. I want you to think that 00:30:29.819 --> 00:30:34.210 through for a second. Blood of the lamb would 00:30:34.210 --> 00:30:39.009 be enough to satisfy 10, 10 representing the 00:30:39.009 --> 00:30:42.210 10 commandments, 10 representing everybody who's 00:30:42.210 --> 00:30:47.289 under the law. Every household would now pick 00:30:47.289 --> 00:30:52.150 a lamb in which could include up to 10 over every 00:30:52.150 --> 00:30:55.869 person that has fallen short in their own righteousness, 00:30:56.230 --> 00:30:59.309 in their own ways, in their own understandings. 00:30:59.309 --> 00:31:03.049 God had made provision in the Old Testament. 00:31:03.109 --> 00:31:09.049 And now on that day, Jesus riding a colt of a 00:31:09.049 --> 00:31:19.880 donkey. Have you seen donkeys? Donkeys are not 00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:30.240 beautiful. Donkeys are not graceful. Donkeys 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:35.359 can be ornery. Now there's a difference between 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:40.220 a mule and a donkey. Mules are just stubborn. 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:48.380 But a donkey can have an attitude. Now, we know 00:31:48.380 --> 00:31:51.880 from the scriptures that Balaam thought his donkey 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:58.880 had a serious attitude. Right? And his donkey 00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:09.759 spoke back. I remember hearing a story as I grew 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:14.980 up as a child in our home about my mom. Parents 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:21.460 decided to get her a donkey. And that donkey 00:32:21.460 --> 00:32:27.960 didn't like my mother. And so every time she 00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:30.180 would go to ride the donkey, it would make one 00:32:30.180 --> 00:32:33.940 token pass through the pasture and then head 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:38.279 for the barn and squeeze the barn door and knock 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:43.640 her off right at the barn door. Now, we can suppose 00:32:43.640 --> 00:32:46.619 probably that this donkey was nice to Jesus. 00:32:48.910 --> 00:32:51.750 But you need to understand something. This riding 00:32:51.750 --> 00:32:55.690 the foal of a donkey means that Jesus was now 00:32:55.690 --> 00:32:59.029 riding something that had never been broken. 00:33:02.390 --> 00:33:06.529 So please get that in your black and white understanding 00:33:06.529 --> 00:33:10.190 because you have to have that. It's not just 00:33:10.190 --> 00:33:14.319 the little. bedtime story where he says he rode 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:17.160 the foal of a donkey. One of the reasons he had 00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:20.019 the mother to go with the foal of the donkey 00:33:20.019 --> 00:33:26.839 so that the kid wouldn't act up. Why? Because 00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:29.960 if you have the parent of the donkey with the 00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:32.359 young donkey that's never been broken or ridden 00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:34.740 before, never had a saddle, never had a weight, 00:33:34.819 --> 00:33:38.230 never had a rider, all of a sudden it's more 00:33:38.230 --> 00:33:44.710 bound to respond in calmness than in fear and 00:33:44.710 --> 00:33:49.710 anxiety. And what we don't understand is when 00:33:49.710 --> 00:33:52.750 the Bible says they greatly rejoiced, it means 00:33:52.750 --> 00:33:55.930 to spin around, and that word means to do it 00:33:55.930 --> 00:34:04.849 loudly. Think of that for a second. Loudly. Loudly 00:34:04.849 --> 00:34:13.420 rejoicing and spinning around. Right? However 00:34:13.420 --> 00:34:17.619 you want to picture it, I'm probably not doing 00:34:17.619 --> 00:34:21.440 a really good job, but the reality is palm branches, 00:34:21.539 --> 00:34:27.440 loud voices, and a donkey that has never been 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:31.360 ridden would have done what? It would have been 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:40.469 what? Donkey eyes. Peeled back. New weight on 00:34:40.469 --> 00:34:47.449 it. And having, it didn't say that the anointing 00:34:47.449 --> 00:34:51.130 settled the donkey and its steps were like bada. 00:34:53.630 --> 00:34:55.809 That's not what it says. If you've worked with 00:34:55.809 --> 00:34:58.889 any animals in nature, you understand. I don't 00:34:58.889 --> 00:35:03.409 care if you're a donkey whisperer. The reality 00:35:03.409 --> 00:35:08.210 is loud noises and crowds and loud chanting and 00:35:08.210 --> 00:35:11.750 yelling as people converge around it and on it 00:35:11.750 --> 00:35:16.809 is going to do what? It's going to scare the 00:35:16.809 --> 00:35:22.369 widow donkey. Okay? And so we've got to get that 00:35:22.369 --> 00:35:26.829 in the picture of Palm Sunday as Jesus comes 00:35:26.829 --> 00:35:31.579 to town. Why was God, not only was it the day 00:35:31.579 --> 00:35:35.360 of selecting the lamb, four days later, Jesus, 00:35:35.619 --> 00:35:39.840 this was now everybody selected their lamb for 00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:43.679 Passover. Four days later, Jesus would be taken 00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:47.420 outside of that city and crucified outside the 00:35:47.420 --> 00:35:51.039 city gate. And we would find him on the place 00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:54.840 of slaughter. The same place that those lambs 00:35:54.840 --> 00:35:58.230 would be on the place of slaughter. But this 00:35:58.230 --> 00:36:01.650 is how wonderful the father is. On that day, 00:36:01.769 --> 00:36:06.269 he would do what? He would now put something 00:36:06.269 --> 00:36:10.789 in the mouths of the people they would say and 00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:18.750 quote, but didn't understand. Hosanna, Hosanna. 00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:23.599 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:36:23.739 --> 00:36:28.579 He is the root of David. Hosanna to the son of 00:36:28.579 --> 00:36:31.019 David. If you read it in Matthew's account and 00:36:31.019 --> 00:36:33.840 you read it, they quoted the son of David. What 00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:37.559 was that a reference to? That was a reference 00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:41.320 that they were saying with their own mouth, Jesus 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:46.739 is the Messiah. Now only the spirit of God can. 00:36:47.230 --> 00:36:50.690 Bring an atmosphere where that begins to be released 00:36:50.690 --> 00:36:55.750 over the whole city. That was not planned. It 00:36:55.750 --> 00:36:59.750 wasn't an organization. God knew the timing that 00:36:59.750 --> 00:37:02.369 was about to take place and what happened. The 00:37:02.369 --> 00:37:05.949 Spirit of God let loose on that city because 00:37:05.949 --> 00:37:09.150 it was a prophetic. time where the Spirit of 00:37:09.150 --> 00:37:12.289 God was hovering and saying, I'm going to allow 00:37:12.289 --> 00:37:16.289 people in their ignorance like a fresh young 00:37:16.289 --> 00:37:19.489 colt that have not had an understanding. They 00:37:19.489 --> 00:37:22.909 haven't been totally inoculated by religions 00:37:22.909 --> 00:37:26.289 of the past and religion of 4 ,000 years like 00:37:26.289 --> 00:37:28.630 the Pharisees and the scribes have. That's why 00:37:28.630 --> 00:37:31.489 they got mad. Do you hear them? Tell them to 00:37:31.489 --> 00:37:34.170 be quiet. And Jesus said, even the rocks will 00:37:34.170 --> 00:37:37.570 cry out if they don't do this. Why? be as dumb 00:37:37.570 --> 00:37:40.690 as a rock, but when the Spirit of God pours out, 00:37:40.769 --> 00:37:43.429 all of a sudden you say things that are meant 00:37:43.429 --> 00:37:48.889 to be in tune with heaven. Come on. Trust me, 00:37:48.909 --> 00:37:51.409 I am one of those people. I'm not the sharpest 00:37:51.409 --> 00:37:53.150 knife in the door, but when the Spirit of God 00:37:53.150 --> 00:37:56.610 comes, I can say some things from heaven that 00:37:56.610 --> 00:37:58.929 are His, and I have no ability to take credit 00:37:58.929 --> 00:38:04.550 for any of it. Hosanna. You don't have to amen 00:38:04.550 --> 00:38:12.269 too loud on that. Hosanna, blessed is he who 00:38:12.269 --> 00:38:15.969 comes in the name of the Lord, even the king 00:38:15.969 --> 00:38:21.449 of Israel. What were they saying? This is the 00:38:21.449 --> 00:38:26.409 Messiah. This is the king. That's what shook 00:38:26.409 --> 00:38:31.989 everything. in the scribes, the Sadducees, the 00:38:31.989 --> 00:38:35.210 chief priests, and all of those that liked the 00:38:35.210 --> 00:38:38.489 formalities and the places of what they were 00:38:38.489 --> 00:38:43.409 preaching. That to them was incredulous, but 00:38:43.409 --> 00:38:47.489 it was a prophetic statement. Not just prophetic, 00:38:47.610 --> 00:38:52.449 it was prophetic of what was coming and was in 00:38:52.449 --> 00:38:55.289 just in a few days would take place, but it was 00:38:55.289 --> 00:38:59.019 a truth that had been. already declared before 00:38:59.019 --> 00:39:03.260 the foundation of the world was made, as the 00:39:03.260 --> 00:39:07.679 Bible says. That Jesus Christ was slain before 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:09.800 the foundation of the world. So they were doing 00:39:09.800 --> 00:39:14.900 what? Connecting Jesus to a Davidic root. Connecting 00:39:14.900 --> 00:39:19.000 him to the Davidic messianic prophecies. Declaring 00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:23.860 that he is the rightful heir to the throne that 00:39:23.860 --> 00:39:27.989 David was promised by the fathers. He was promised 00:39:27.989 --> 00:39:31.309 in a new dimension. How can I say this carefully? 00:39:31.489 --> 00:39:37.170 Above the Mosaic order. David's dimension had 00:39:37.170 --> 00:39:41.389 a grace superior to Moses's order. And that's 00:39:41.389 --> 00:39:44.610 why God put a boundary around it and allowed 00:39:44.610 --> 00:39:49.570 David to live in a tabernacle, fully encompassing, 00:39:49.570 --> 00:39:54.030 fully available to anyone around the very Ark 00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:57.579 of the Covenant. God was connecting that promise 00:39:57.579 --> 00:40:02.699 saying, this is the air of all who will open 00:40:02.699 --> 00:40:07.719 the atmosphere for all to know me. Incredible. 00:40:09.420 --> 00:40:13.179 And so as they were rejoicing greatly and spinning 00:40:13.179 --> 00:40:15.940 around and exalting, literally the word means 00:40:15.940 --> 00:40:24.480 to spin around, jump up and down. And they says, 00:40:24.889 --> 00:40:29.250 loudly. They were shouting, waving their victory 00:40:29.250 --> 00:40:32.010 palms and celebration as Jesus was writing this 00:40:32.010 --> 00:40:34.510 cult. The people were saying, Hosanna to the 00:40:34.510 --> 00:40:37.889 son of David, a messianic statement. And they 00:40:37.889 --> 00:40:41.590 were quoting now because this would have been 00:40:41.590 --> 00:40:45.670 in their understanding of what was taught in 00:40:45.670 --> 00:40:48.949 the Psalms. This would have been the platform. 00:40:49.929 --> 00:40:53.789 of what we would now look at Psalms 118 of the 00:40:53.789 --> 00:40:58.630 messianic Psalm declaring that all that that 00:40:58.630 --> 00:41:03.250 Psalm is about is Jesus. Of course, it relates 00:41:03.250 --> 00:41:06.690 to us personally as well, but it finds its fullness 00:41:06.690 --> 00:41:10.090 in Christ. I want to read just part of that Psalm. 00:41:10.309 --> 00:41:15.050 I don't have, it's 29 verses and I'll read 19 00:41:15.050 --> 00:41:18.889 through 29. Listen to the Psalm now and listen 00:41:18.889 --> 00:41:22.010 to it as though Jesus, the word of God is saying 00:41:22.010 --> 00:41:25.369 it over himself. Because remember the word of 00:41:25.369 --> 00:41:31.250 God, this is the word and he's declaring it in 00:41:31.250 --> 00:41:34.389 advance. Open to me the gates of righteousness 00:41:34.389 --> 00:41:37.469 that I might enter through them and give thanks 00:41:37.469 --> 00:41:41.329 to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The 00:41:41.329 --> 00:41:44.820 righteous shall enter through it. I thank you 00:41:44.820 --> 00:41:47.420 that you have answered me and become my salvation. 00:41:47.880 --> 00:41:51.320 The stone that the builders rejected has become 00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:55.519 the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It 00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:59.460 is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that 00:41:59.460 --> 00:42:04.079 the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:09.539 in it. Save us, we pray, O God. O Lord, we pray, 00:42:09.739 --> 00:42:12.340 give us success. Do you understand that that's 00:42:12.340 --> 00:42:17.679 what they were saying? Hosanna means save us 00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:25.519 now, we pray. They're quoting Psalms 118. And 00:42:25.519 --> 00:42:27.960 notice what the gates are that he's coming through. 00:42:28.059 --> 00:42:30.500 He's come through the gates of the city, but 00:42:30.500 --> 00:42:34.840 he's saying thanksgiving and celebration is now 00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:38.400 the gates of the Lord. Don't we get that in the 00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:41.699 New Testament somewhere? Come on. We enter his 00:42:41.699 --> 00:42:44.820 gates with what? And we enter his courts with 00:42:44.820 --> 00:42:47.400 praise. Come on, somebody, you're slinging them. 00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:50.440 Come on, I love it, right? Now, the reality is 00:42:50.440 --> 00:42:54.559 this was out of their mouth that they are prophesying. 00:42:55.599 --> 00:42:59.579 They're taking 118, the Messianic Psalm, everything 00:42:59.579 --> 00:43:03.340 they'd been taught as little boys and girls in 00:43:03.340 --> 00:43:07.840 the synagogue about someday the Messiah is going 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:10.860 to come. What happened? At that very moment, 00:43:10.940 --> 00:43:14.119 the Spirit of God begins to pour out revelation 00:43:14.119 --> 00:43:18.079 and people start quoting scriptures and singing 00:43:18.079 --> 00:43:22.360 it and dancing it and prophetically acting it 00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:33.829 out. know what it's about just like many charismatic 00:43:33.829 --> 00:43:39.469 services they're singing and dancing and most 00:43:39.469 --> 00:43:42.070 of them don't have a clue of how significant 00:43:42.070 --> 00:43:48.010 it is but the reality is the first incredible 00:43:48.010 --> 00:43:52.659 poured out if you want to call it Charismatic 00:43:52.659 --> 00:43:57.380 service happened when Jesus brings his presence 00:43:57.380 --> 00:44:05.500 to a people that had a promise. Jesus brings 00:44:05.500 --> 00:44:13.179 his presence to a people who had a promise. That's 00:44:13.179 --> 00:44:18.719 what Palm Sunday's about. He didn't come in like 00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:22.630 everybody expected him to come in. but he came 00:44:22.630 --> 00:44:27.230 in nevertheless. And what they wouldn't have 00:44:27.230 --> 00:44:30.210 understood in their natural mind because it bypassed 00:44:30.210 --> 00:44:33.949 their fleshly expectation, the spirit of God 00:44:33.949 --> 00:44:39.869 in them responded to what the promise was. That's 00:44:39.869 --> 00:44:42.590 why I thought it was so important of what Valina 00:44:42.590 --> 00:44:51.260 said this morning. Why? Jesus came in. To a people 00:44:51.260 --> 00:44:58.960 who have a promise. Then it says this. Save us 00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:02.659 we pray oh Lord. Oh Lord we pray give us success. 00:45:03.699 --> 00:45:07.400 Then they said this. Blessed is he who comes 00:45:07.400 --> 00:45:10.440 in the name of the Lord. What are they saying? 00:45:11.059 --> 00:45:14.639 You're blessed and you have the power to deliver. 00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:21.280 That's that word. We bless you. From the house 00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:22.900 of the Lord. Do you hear what they're saying? 00:45:23.300 --> 00:45:28.119 They're saying. Quoting the psalm. Hosanna. God 00:45:28.119 --> 00:45:31.639 save we pray. Blessed is he who comes in the 00:45:31.639 --> 00:45:34.980 name. The one who is the son of David. The right 00:45:34.980 --> 00:45:38.300 messianic root. The one who is the fruit and 00:45:38.300 --> 00:45:41.539 the promise. Of all that God has said. That we've 00:45:41.539 --> 00:45:45.019 been waiting for years. Now. Blessed is he who 00:45:45.019 --> 00:45:50.630 comes. Now deliver and bring salvation now. Then 00:45:50.630 --> 00:45:54.429 he says, verse 27, for the Lord has made his 00:45:54.429 --> 00:45:57.030 light shine upon us. What's that? Revelation. 00:45:58.809 --> 00:46:01.349 He's brought his light. He's brought his truth. 00:46:01.590 --> 00:46:05.269 He's brought his, all of the things that he brings 00:46:05.269 --> 00:46:11.449 from the realm of his father, light, truth. purity, 00:46:11.469 --> 00:46:15.570 revelation, insight, the fulfillment of the scriptures. 00:46:15.789 --> 00:46:18.929 He's bringing it. They're quoting the Psalm. 00:46:19.050 --> 00:46:21.690 And then they say, and then the Psalm says this, 00:46:21.710 --> 00:46:25.949 and maybe this is where we'll just camp a little 00:46:25.949 --> 00:46:33.969 bit. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to 00:46:33.969 --> 00:46:39.250 the horn of the altar. Bind. The festival sacrifice 00:46:39.250 --> 00:46:42.929 to the horns of the altar. Now, if you'll read 00:46:42.929 --> 00:46:47.170 the fullness of Psalms 118, and you've been reading 00:46:47.170 --> 00:46:52.590 with me on Psalms 119 now, Psalms 118 verse 19 00:46:52.590 --> 00:46:55.449 as we're progressing through, notice we're starting 00:46:55.449 --> 00:46:57.510 with thanksgiving. Notice we're starting with 00:46:57.510 --> 00:47:00.590 gratitude. Notice we're talking about Jesus being 00:47:00.590 --> 00:47:04.449 the revelation and the pinnacle and the cornerstone 00:47:04.449 --> 00:47:07.940 that the builders rejected. And in him, All my 00:47:07.940 --> 00:47:11.119 hope is alive and I'm praying for God to do because 00:47:11.119 --> 00:47:14.420 I've got a promise, right? He's marvelous in 00:47:14.420 --> 00:47:17.159 our eyes. Oh, let's rejoice and be glad. Here 00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:24.480 is the key to binding the sacrifice, the festival 00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:29.980 sacrifice with cords on the altar. It is supposed 00:47:29.980 --> 00:47:37.130 to be done with rejoicing and celebration. That 00:47:37.130 --> 00:47:44.409 is not often how we view what happened at the 00:47:44.409 --> 00:47:50.230 cross. Now, are there moments to think about 00:47:50.230 --> 00:47:54.590 in sobriety what Jesus took for us? Absolutely. 00:47:55.630 --> 00:47:58.829 But he doesn't just leave us with the scourge 00:47:58.829 --> 00:48:02.070 and the nails and the false witnesses and the 00:48:02.070 --> 00:48:04.769 mocking and the slander and the spear through 00:48:04.769 --> 00:48:13.920 the heart. In God's wonderful, amazing way, he 00:48:13.920 --> 00:48:16.400 released the prophetic word years and years ago 00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:19.340 as he wrote this psalm about what he would do. 00:48:19.420 --> 00:48:23.340 He says, as he would come, the spirit of the 00:48:23.340 --> 00:48:27.139 Lord would put words. in the people and they 00:48:27.139 --> 00:48:29.880 would quote back to God his word. They would 00:48:29.880 --> 00:48:32.860 make declarations of who he is and they would 00:48:32.860 --> 00:48:35.519 begin to start something even though they did 00:48:35.519 --> 00:48:37.960 not know what they would do. Remember, Jesus 00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:40.880 actually quoted that on the cross. Father, forgive 00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:45.059 them. They don't know what they do. I think he's 00:48:45.059 --> 00:48:48.260 still tying that back into even as he came in 00:48:48.260 --> 00:48:51.460 Jerusalem, they did not understand what they 00:48:51.460 --> 00:48:55.679 were doing. Because they had the prophetic word, 00:48:55.780 --> 00:48:59.260 but they didn't take it for their time. They 00:48:59.260 --> 00:49:02.079 believed it, but it was still at a distance. 00:49:02.780 --> 00:49:04.840 Do you understand why that's so important? When 00:49:04.840 --> 00:49:07.840 God releases a now word for a house, I'm not 00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:10.340 talking about, now I'm back to the service this 00:49:10.340 --> 00:49:12.639 morning. When he releases a now word for the 00:49:12.639 --> 00:49:16.360 house, you can still hear it, receive it at a 00:49:16.360 --> 00:49:23.550 distance, and it won't come to pass. Hear. What 00:49:23.550 --> 00:49:27.190 was God's mercy? I'm going to declare in advance 00:49:27.190 --> 00:49:32.949 that people will line Jerusalem with celebrating 00:49:32.949 --> 00:49:38.989 and rejoicing of who I'm bringing as a sacrifice. 00:49:41.170 --> 00:49:47.210 And that will be what my son rides in on to the 00:49:47.210 --> 00:49:51.829 most excruciating, the most difficult thing. 00:49:52.519 --> 00:49:56.360 that he's ever experienced being severed from 00:49:56.360 --> 00:49:59.780 our relationship because of the sin of the world 00:49:59.780 --> 00:50:04.699 being put on him. It will be under the sound, 00:50:04.780 --> 00:50:08.340 not of the jeers of crucify him, crucify him. 00:50:08.440 --> 00:50:13.400 He will remember the sounds of rejoicing. He 00:50:13.400 --> 00:50:16.699 will remember the sounds of celebration. That's 00:50:16.699 --> 00:50:19.039 why the book of Hebrews picks it up in chapter 00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:24.199 13. For the joy that was set before him, he endured 00:50:24.199 --> 00:50:29.980 the cross. God would always bring celebration 00:50:29.980 --> 00:50:35.500 and rejoicing around what he came to bring the 00:50:35.500 --> 00:50:40.039 world as a sacrifice. It says, bind the festival 00:50:40.039 --> 00:50:42.539 sacrifice. What was the festival? They were there 00:50:42.539 --> 00:50:46.119 at Passover. Bind it with cords to the horns 00:50:46.119 --> 00:50:53.119 of the altar. Okay. We don't often talk about 00:50:53.119 --> 00:50:56.440 the horns of the altar. What does that even mean? 00:50:56.900 --> 00:51:03.300 The horns of the altar. Well, you probably remember. 00:51:03.559 --> 00:51:05.940 I'm sure you're thinking of it right now. Leviticus 00:51:05.940 --> 00:51:11.730 4 .7. and Leviticus 16, I think it's around 16 00:51:11.730 --> 00:51:15.829 or 17, it says that, especially in Leviticus 00:51:15.829 --> 00:51:21.070 4, 7, it says that when a person sins unintentionally, 00:51:21.090 --> 00:51:26.210 they are to go to the high priest with a animal, 00:51:26.429 --> 00:51:31.610 a bullock, and they are to release that animal 00:51:31.610 --> 00:51:34.969 to be slaughtered, and in that process, they 00:51:34.969 --> 00:51:39.280 are to take the blood, And they are to recognize 00:51:39.280 --> 00:51:42.800 their sin that they sinned against the Lord unintentionally. 00:51:42.920 --> 00:51:46.880 And now they take, okay, I'm gonna pick on you. 00:51:46.940 --> 00:51:53.000 They take the blood and they smear it down the 00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:57.039 horns of the altar, which there were four horns 00:51:57.039 --> 00:52:02.539 on the side. of the brazen altar meaning one 00:52:02.539 --> 00:52:04.739 on one corner one on the other one on the other 00:52:04.739 --> 00:52:07.639 corner one on the other corner so every place 00:52:07.639 --> 00:52:12.260 where the bronze altar was that was made which 00:52:12.260 --> 00:52:14.420 was the first thing that you would come into 00:52:14.420 --> 00:52:19.000 in meeting the priest that was there or the Levites 00:52:19.000 --> 00:52:21.719 that were there as soon as you came to the door 00:52:21.719 --> 00:52:26.719 of that the courtyard the first instrument of 00:52:26.719 --> 00:52:30.960 approaching God was what The bronze altar. Bronze 00:52:30.960 --> 00:52:34.400 speaks of what? Judgment. It speaks of sacrifice. 00:52:34.440 --> 00:52:38.880 It speaks of death. Leviticus 4 says that's what 00:52:38.880 --> 00:52:43.079 you do. Same with Leviticus 16. Everything has 00:52:43.079 --> 00:52:45.780 to have blood smeared on the horns. What are 00:52:45.780 --> 00:52:49.659 the horns for? Well, the horns were for, and 00:52:49.659 --> 00:52:51.619 I'm just gonna give you one scripture, 1 Kings 00:52:51.619 --> 00:53:02.510 1, verse 50. It was for when you, Okay. Here, 00:53:02.650 --> 00:53:08.070 that's a horn. Okay. Now, when you did something 00:53:08.070 --> 00:53:13.889 that you didn't intend to do, and you read about 00:53:13.889 --> 00:53:17.289 this where God in the land, in the book of Joshua, 00:53:17.409 --> 00:53:20.780 when God... began to divvy up all the land for 00:53:20.780 --> 00:53:22.880 the children of Israel in the promised land he 00:53:22.880 --> 00:53:26.119 put certain cities called cities of refuge and 00:53:26.119 --> 00:53:29.079 in those places of cities of refuge he would 00:53:29.079 --> 00:53:32.679 put a place where someone who had unintentionally 00:53:32.679 --> 00:53:35.300 done something not under premeditated conditions 00:53:35.300 --> 00:53:39.099 but unintentionally sinned he would say you could 00:53:39.099 --> 00:53:44.150 go flee and grab the horns of the altar And you 00:53:44.150 --> 00:53:46.210 would grab that horn, you would hold that horn, 00:53:46.309 --> 00:53:50.389 and you would keep you from what? The manslayer. 00:53:51.269 --> 00:53:54.070 Who's the manslayer? The one that now was the 00:53:54.070 --> 00:53:58.329 family representative assigned to take you out 00:53:58.329 --> 00:54:02.550 because you killed Uncle Jim. Yeah, you were 00:54:02.550 --> 00:54:04.610 chopping wood together, but you didn't do a good 00:54:04.610 --> 00:54:06.989 job of putting your axe head on, and your axe 00:54:06.989 --> 00:54:10.130 head hit Jim right in the head, or how about 00:54:10.130 --> 00:54:14.969 a Hebrew name? hit Jokoah right in the forehead 00:54:14.969 --> 00:54:18.710 and killed him, you stop, drop, and roll like 00:54:18.710 --> 00:54:21.469 the old TV commercial and you get your little 00:54:21.469 --> 00:54:25.190 hiney to the place of the horn of the altar and 00:54:25.190 --> 00:54:29.510 you grab on there until the elders come. Why? 00:54:29.690 --> 00:54:34.070 Because this horn becomes your place of safety. 00:54:37.750 --> 00:54:40.280 We've got a whole new... Level of friendship. 00:54:40.420 --> 00:54:48.639 All right. Okay. Thank you. That's what God was 00:54:48.639 --> 00:54:54.960 saying prophetically in Psalms 118. Combined 00:54:54.960 --> 00:55:00.420 the festival sacrifice. With cords at the horns 00:55:00.420 --> 00:55:03.119 of the altar. Now here's where there's a whole 00:55:03.119 --> 00:55:06.480 lot of maybe confusion. Some people see it as 00:55:06.480 --> 00:55:09.099 you had to bind the sacrifice to keep it from 00:55:09.099 --> 00:55:11.480 moving. Why? Because you were gonna, well, it 00:55:11.480 --> 00:55:13.699 should have been dead. You wanna bind it down 00:55:13.699 --> 00:55:16.480 so when you put the fire on it, it will consume 00:55:16.480 --> 00:55:20.599 the sacrifice. But in this passage, there's an 00:55:20.599 --> 00:55:24.659 overwhelming tense of saying, now, in this process, 00:55:25.059 --> 00:55:31.199 your binding is, what you brought from the festival. 00:55:35.079 --> 00:55:39.119 You now need to interweave your life with the 00:55:39.119 --> 00:55:45.019 bows that come to burn the sacrifice. You're 00:55:45.019 --> 00:55:51.539 included at that altar. So when it says, come 00:55:51.539 --> 00:55:56.039 now. bind the festival sacrifice to the altar 00:55:56.039 --> 00:56:01.519 he wasn't just now dealing with the priests he 00:56:01.519 --> 00:56:06.099 was dealing with the public to come and join 00:56:06.099 --> 00:56:11.960 prophetically years and years ago Jesus would 00:56:11.960 --> 00:56:17.349 move it off of a Priestly ministry only. And 00:56:17.349 --> 00:56:20.690 begin to move. That this sacrifice. That would 00:56:20.690 --> 00:56:25.409 be on the altar. Would now be joined. With every 00:56:25.409 --> 00:56:30.269 single person. Who would celebrate. At the festival. 00:56:30.449 --> 00:56:34.329 And their lives would be entwined. With the sacrifice. 00:56:36.329 --> 00:56:41.110 So that joy. And celebration. Would be connected 00:56:41.110 --> 00:56:44.389 to. Everybody bringing their bow or their, if 00:56:44.389 --> 00:56:47.750 you were the cords, be intertwined with cords 00:56:47.750 --> 00:56:51.590 of love. Remember, a three -stranded cord is 00:56:51.590 --> 00:56:55.809 not easily broken. I will offer him not the calves 00:56:55.809 --> 00:56:59.190 of my lips, as the old King Jimmy says, but I 00:56:59.190 --> 00:57:03.230 will offer him the sacrifices of my lips so that 00:57:03.230 --> 00:57:07.329 now the rejoicing and the love that comes, I 00:57:07.329 --> 00:57:10.230 will not, what? Offer your bodies as a living 00:57:10.230 --> 00:57:13.900 sacrifice. holy and acceptable to God. So what's 00:57:13.900 --> 00:57:18.119 happening? I now come in the festival with my, 00:57:18.280 --> 00:57:23.179 my bows. The palm branches. And I am now what? 00:57:23.360 --> 00:57:27.519 Joining myself at the horn of the altar. To the 00:57:27.519 --> 00:57:30.360 sacrifice. Where the place where the blood has 00:57:30.360 --> 00:57:33.920 been put. Where I found mercy. And for me it's 00:57:33.920 --> 00:57:37.139 mercy. For the sacrifice it's death. But I'm 00:57:37.139 --> 00:57:40.860 rejoicing. Because someone thought of me. And 00:57:40.860 --> 00:57:49.250 brought me hope when I had no hope. And God declares 00:57:49.250 --> 00:57:54.349 right from the beginning as people began to prophesy 00:57:54.349 --> 00:58:01.070 that Jesus would be the hope for anyone who would 00:58:01.070 --> 00:58:07.070 grab the horn. Grab the horn. Mean what? Understand. 00:58:08.809 --> 00:58:12.250 Here's the deal. Here's the big deal. The horns 00:58:12.250 --> 00:58:14.409 of the altar were made out of what? Not out of 00:58:14.409 --> 00:58:18.159 metal. The brazen altar was made out of what? 00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:24.800 It was made out of acacia wood. Same wood. Come 00:58:24.800 --> 00:58:29.039 on, hear me. Same wood that Noah made the ark. 00:58:30.880 --> 00:58:34.579 It was made out of acacia wood. The horns of 00:58:34.579 --> 00:58:38.280 the altar were made out of wood. The rings that 00:58:38.280 --> 00:58:42.980 were in the wooden. horns were rings that were 00:58:42.980 --> 00:58:45.900 put there that would hold the sacrifice on it, 00:58:45.940 --> 00:58:49.340 prophetically declaring that the cross that was 00:58:49.340 --> 00:58:52.460 lifted up, that had the rings that lowered the 00:58:52.460 --> 00:58:55.639 cross and threw it into the ground as Jesus was 00:58:55.639 --> 00:58:59.000 nailed to it, would be a wooden cross. Yes, it 00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:01.900 was overlaid with bronze and judgment. Jesus 00:59:01.900 --> 00:59:06.239 would become the sin, sacrifice, and payment 00:59:06.239 --> 00:59:11.780 for the world's sin. And God prophetically type 00:59:11.780 --> 00:59:18.420 and shadowed it for 4 ,000 years on an ark. And 00:59:18.420 --> 00:59:23.099 then on the backs, as they carried all of the 00:59:23.099 --> 00:59:26.800 tabernacle furniture, everywhere they camped, 00:59:26.800 --> 00:59:29.679 the brazen altar would be set up and it would 00:59:29.679 --> 00:59:33.360 be the first step before they ever entered the 00:59:33.360 --> 00:59:37.500 glorious presence of the Lord. Back then, It 00:59:37.500 --> 00:59:39.900 was solemn and it still is. It's the fear of 00:59:39.900 --> 00:59:43.239 the Lord. But it is always meant to be accompanying 00:59:43.239 --> 00:59:48.639 the fear of the Lord with rejoicing and celebration 00:59:48.639 --> 00:59:53.739 because one who finds that horn called the cross, 00:59:54.039 --> 00:59:56.820 one who finds the blood that was shed there. 00:59:57.340 --> 01:00:00.780 means that there's mercy because the high priest 01:00:00.780 --> 01:00:05.460 on duty is no longer a man. He is the God man 01:00:05.460 --> 01:00:12.039 and he lives to intercede for all of us. He lives 01:00:12.039 --> 01:00:22.780 to intercede. Play some interceding music. There 01:00:22.780 --> 01:00:25.039 may be an opening. This is a rough job. Hallelujah. 01:00:26.409 --> 01:00:31.989 You're doing a great job. Would you bow your 01:00:31.989 --> 01:00:37.570 head and close your eyes for a moment? I don't 01:00:37.570 --> 01:00:40.989 want to go any farther today because I really 01:00:40.989 --> 01:00:44.570 believe that's the message the Lord wants to 01:00:44.570 --> 01:00:55.170 prepare for us. Jesus came in in humility. He 01:00:55.170 --> 01:01:02.210 lived. as a servant, filled with humility and 01:01:02.210 --> 01:01:05.590 stretched out completely to do the Father's will. 01:01:09.849 --> 01:01:14.530 And God pours his spirit out even now. As we 01:01:14.530 --> 01:01:17.789 look to the cross, Jesus said to Nicodemus in 01:01:17.789 --> 01:01:24.940 John 3, he said, if I be lifted up. I will draw 01:01:24.940 --> 01:01:32.320 all men unto me. He tied in that bronze serpent 01:01:32.320 --> 01:01:36.920 on a pole to Nicodemus. He kept tying in the 01:01:36.920 --> 01:01:40.980 fact of judgment that he would take the judgment 01:01:40.980 --> 01:01:44.780 of sin. He would take the judgment of the world. 01:01:45.519 --> 01:01:51.980 And here again, John, here again in Matthew, 01:01:54.119 --> 01:01:56.480 The prophetic word that the people were quoting 01:01:56.480 --> 01:02:01.159 of Psalms 118, that messianic passage that undoubtedly 01:02:01.159 --> 01:02:05.420 is all about Jesus Christ. It would be a reminder 01:02:05.420 --> 01:02:15.920 that he is the one we run to for mercy. And he 01:02:15.920 --> 01:02:20.360 is the high priest that we have that ever lives 01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:27.380 now to intercede for us. I want us to understand 01:02:27.380 --> 01:02:31.039 this morning as I'm just spending a little time 01:02:31.039 --> 01:02:32.820 and we're waiting on the presence of the Lord 01:02:32.820 --> 01:02:35.360 there, I'm going to ask for a response in a little 01:02:35.360 --> 01:02:38.380 bit, but I first want to speak to the whole of 01:02:38.380 --> 01:02:45.059 us and say, when Jesus comes into a place of 01:02:45.059 --> 01:02:51.199 his people, he always has with him an atmosphere 01:02:51.199 --> 01:02:57.699 and a word to bring. breakthrough on your behalf. 01:02:59.460 --> 01:03:05.719 He always has it. And he's here today. He's here 01:03:05.719 --> 01:03:07.940 today. He's been here through the worship service. 01:03:07.980 --> 01:03:11.800 He's been here through the preaching. Some of 01:03:11.800 --> 01:03:15.760 you, you just, you've got to grab hold that the 01:03:15.760 --> 01:03:20.239 king has now entered in, in humility. He didn't 01:03:20.239 --> 01:03:25.239 come in the... spectacular in man's eyes, but 01:03:25.239 --> 01:03:30.239 he's here right now next to your heart and your 01:03:30.239 --> 01:03:34.059 mind. And he brings the fullness of his kingdom 01:03:34.059 --> 01:03:39.000 and he's writing in humility and meekness. That's 01:03:39.000 --> 01:03:42.619 what the Bible says he is. He says a smoking 01:03:42.619 --> 01:03:47.579 flax or a burning wick, he will not bruise or 01:03:47.579 --> 01:03:53.000 crush. That's who he is. And the Lord invites 01:03:53.000 --> 01:04:00.199 you today. For there is blood still on the horn 01:04:00.199 --> 01:04:03.559 of the altar, on the cross, the blood still cries 01:04:03.559 --> 01:04:08.059 out. The blood of Jesus cries out a better word. 01:04:08.179 --> 01:04:12.500 It declares mercy instead of judgment. It declares 01:04:12.500 --> 01:04:16.400 mercy instead of judgment. It declares mercy 01:04:16.400 --> 01:04:21.849 instead of judgment. Not only for your sin, but 01:04:21.849 --> 01:04:28.329 for others. He's declaring your voice by the 01:04:28.329 --> 01:04:32.130 Spirit of God should come out of you. I have 01:04:32.130 --> 01:04:36.289 mercy instead of judgment. Forgive those who 01:04:36.289 --> 01:04:40.230 trespass against you as now your heavenly Father 01:04:40.230 --> 01:04:45.309 has forgiven you. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 01:04:47.719 --> 01:04:51.840 So Father, in the name of Jesus, as I'm asking 01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:54.780 right now in the name of Christ, that you would 01:04:54.780 --> 01:04:59.159 begin to do what you always do. Holy Spirit, 01:04:59.239 --> 01:05:03.179 you cause people to get their eyes off of the 01:05:03.179 --> 01:05:06.619 natural and get it on to who you are lifting 01:05:06.619 --> 01:05:10.239 up. You are lifting up still the Son of Man. 01:05:10.400 --> 01:05:12.920 You are being, Lord, you are being elevated. 01:05:13.239 --> 01:05:16.360 You are being exalted. You are being magnified 01:05:16.360 --> 01:05:20.039 in this place. And you are drawing hearts to 01:05:20.039 --> 01:05:23.420 you. And I'm asking this morning, wherever people 01:05:23.420 --> 01:05:25.980 are at, whether they're in a backslidden condition, 01:05:26.300 --> 01:05:29.960 whether they're in a place of lukewarmness, whether 01:05:29.960 --> 01:05:33.079 they've never known Jesus, the Spirit of God 01:05:33.079 --> 01:05:36.760 is being released to draw people unto you. Why? 01:05:37.059 --> 01:05:45.659 There is mercy still crying out. It's time to 01:05:45.659 --> 01:05:48.920 begin to call people to rejoice. Because the 01:05:48.920 --> 01:05:55.119 sacrifice has been given from the Father. Wherever 01:05:55.119 --> 01:05:57.539 you're at and whoever you are, I don't know your 01:05:57.539 --> 01:06:02.039 situation, but God knows perfectly. If you're 01:06:02.039 --> 01:06:04.019 here today and you'd say, I got to get my life 01:06:04.019 --> 01:06:08.239 right. I'm not living how I know the Spirit of 01:06:08.239 --> 01:06:10.699 God would want me to live. I'm not trying to 01:06:10.699 --> 01:06:13.039 live by my own righteousness, but I'm certainly 01:06:13.039 --> 01:06:17.159 not living in accordance. with his word and what 01:06:17.159 --> 01:06:19.559 I know in my heart and conscience that he's put 01:06:19.559 --> 01:06:24.440 inside of me, I'm not partnering with grace in 01:06:24.440 --> 01:06:30.179 the right way. If that's you, or maybe you're 01:06:30.179 --> 01:06:33.679 just living lukewarm. You're straddling the fence. 01:06:34.659 --> 01:06:38.119 The Lord comes today and says, it's time to make 01:06:38.119 --> 01:06:41.000 a decision. I don't want to spew you out of my 01:06:41.000 --> 01:06:44.260 mouth. That was his word to Laodicea. Because 01:06:44.260 --> 01:06:47.900 you're lukewarm. I can't hold you. I can't keep 01:06:47.900 --> 01:06:51.179 you with me. Because you're playing in both camps. 01:06:52.199 --> 01:06:56.420 Oh, that you were hot or cold. He wants you hot. 01:06:57.739 --> 01:07:00.139 But he's calling you back to himself. Or maybe 01:07:00.139 --> 01:07:02.860 you're here this morning and you've not made 01:07:02.860 --> 01:07:06.380 an official decision to say, Jesus, I have not 01:07:06.380 --> 01:07:10.039 bowed my knee in lordship. I will be like the 01:07:10.039 --> 01:07:14.500 centurion. on that day of crucifixion that when 01:07:14.500 --> 01:07:17.699 Jesus gave his life and said, it is finished, 01:07:17.840 --> 01:07:21.219 the centurion in a bowed knee position said, 01:07:21.340 --> 01:07:26.659 truly, he is the son of God. It's time to give 01:07:26.659 --> 01:07:30.440 your life to Christ. If you're here this morning 01:07:30.440 --> 01:07:33.039 and you can just respond with some level of lifting 01:07:33.039 --> 01:07:36.260 your hand. I'm going to ask you to do so right 01:07:36.260 --> 01:07:38.519 now. The Holy Spirit just tugging on your heart. 01:07:38.559 --> 01:07:40.960 If you're in one of those categories or anywhere 01:07:40.960 --> 01:07:44.559 in between, between a backslidden state, a lukewarm 01:07:44.559 --> 01:07:47.380 state, or I need to know Christ, just lift your 01:07:47.380 --> 01:07:49.340 hand, lift it high above, and I'm going to begin 01:07:49.340 --> 01:07:52.079 to send somebody to you. Coming right to you, 01:07:52.119 --> 01:07:56.480 sir, right now. Anyone else? In the back. Thank 01:07:56.480 --> 01:07:59.420 you, John. You got him? Thank you. Anyone else? 01:08:01.130 --> 01:08:04.309 Come on, you gotta help a short man look over 01:08:04.309 --> 01:08:07.010 the crowd here. Hallelujah, they're coming to 01:08:07.010 --> 01:08:13.929 you. Anyone else? Come on, today is the day of 01:08:13.929 --> 01:08:16.149 salvation. Today is the day of decision. Today 01:08:16.149 --> 01:08:18.970 is a day where you begin to partner with the 01:08:18.970 --> 01:08:22.329 Spirit of the Lord and say, I am not going to 01:08:22.329 --> 01:08:27.869 live the way I came in. I am going to partner 01:08:27.869 --> 01:08:31.970 with the King. And I'm going to rejoice because 01:08:31.970 --> 01:08:36.069 I found that I have found the one who's giving 01:08:36.069 --> 01:08:41.649 me mercy, grace, and a reason to love God afresh 01:08:41.649 --> 01:08:46.289 and continue with him. One more time. Thank you. 01:08:46.350 --> 01:08:54.189 Thank you. All right. Father, you see every heart. 01:08:55.909 --> 01:09:02.699 You see every hand. Lord, today, Lord, sometimes 01:09:02.699 --> 01:09:05.300 we quote scriptures, we know what we think, we 01:09:05.300 --> 01:09:07.920 know what we're saying, but Lord, we are so dependent 01:09:07.920 --> 01:09:12.279 upon your spirit. We're asking you to, Lord, 01:09:12.359 --> 01:09:16.319 increase the place of honor and worship in our 01:09:16.319 --> 01:09:21.479 hearts for you. Let us be that group in Psalms 01:09:21.479 --> 01:09:26.939 118 that binds the sacrifice to our heart that 01:09:26.939 --> 01:09:30.510 Jesus You are forever bound to us and we have 01:09:30.510 --> 01:09:33.689 found your mercy, your grace and your love and 01:09:33.689 --> 01:09:38.310 we now rejoice with thanksgiving every time we 01:09:38.310 --> 01:09:41.529 think about your name. Whether we're here in 01:09:41.529 --> 01:09:44.270 the corporate house or we're at home or work, 01:09:44.409 --> 01:09:50.329 let that be bound to us and us to you. We love 01:09:50.329 --> 01:09:53.609 you, Jesus, and we bless you. In your mighty 01:09:53.609 --> 01:10:04.180 name we pray, amen. We are so grateful for those 01:10:04.180 --> 01:10:06.960 who tune in each week and have given generously 01:10:06.960 --> 01:10:09.960 to this ministry. If you would like to give, 01:10:10.100 --> 01:10:12.579 click the link in the episode description below. 01:10:12.800 --> 01:10:15.840 You can also help us by subscribing to this podcast 01:10:15.840 --> 01:10:18.020 and sharing it with your friends and family. 01:10:18.579 --> 01:10:21.439 Lastly, if you are in need of prayer, send us 01:10:21.439 --> 01:10:27.220 a text message at 541 -625 -1365. We would love 01:10:27.220 --> 01:10:27.960 to pray with you.