3/24/24 The Triumphal Entry

E hey we're Joseph and Kristen Gibbons and we grew up in southern baptist churches it's where God called us to Ministry and we are now planting favor City Church in Henderson Nevada which is in the greater Las Vegas Valley and thank you for supporting us in our new church in the city as we're here to make Jesus known and thank you for continuing to lead your church in giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter offering we could not do this without you hi my name is Jefferson Hernandez and I'm Carol Hernandez we are an ordinary family in the hands of the extraordinary Living God who has called us to make Jesus known we want to thank you for your prayers and your gifts because he has helped us to reach the Hispanic Community hi we're the glimp family from Jacksonville Florida we're church planting missionaries here doing all we can to make Jesus known just want to say thank you for giving so generously to the Annie Armstrong offering and your prayers that enable us to do the work that we're doing here the golfer work that's so needed we just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you thank well good morning church it's good to see you all here this morning those are just a few of the missionary families that we support as Southern Baptists and one of the ways that we do that is through special offerings like the one we're going to take up today our Easter offering so you should see envelopes in the seats around you that's what that's for and we will be taking up that special offering in the midst of our service so be prepared for that this today marks the start of Holy Week and so we've got some stuff coming up this week probably the most the biggest one will be this Friday we have our Good Friday service it's a community service at 6: PM right here

We're hosting this year and so that is this Friday at 6 PM I can't oh it says right there who all the speakers are look at that so yeah several different people speaking and here's the deal okay you might be looking at that and going I don't know Austin it's a Friday night I don't know if I'm going to stay awake through all that each one is limited to 10 minutes all right you can do it we can all do it we'll make it I promise also today after service we have our potluck and unity discussion so stick around for that if you didn't bring anything like me I'm ordering a pizza so you know there's options run out to gerbs get something to bring here and we'll have a good time together in two weeks on April 7th we have our youth fundraiser we've done it two out of the last three years I believe and so it's a soup lunch and a dessert auction the thing that we need most is for you all to well first off you know show up but also for you all to bring soups and desserts to donate to that event so specifically soups I'm getting on my students this year I'm telling them that they need to be the ones to make the desserts they've gotten a free pass two times since I've been here this year I'm I'm really encouraging them to make all the dessert they can so but if you would like to donate soup or dessert to that please let me know mostly about the soup so I know we have enough food to feed everyone okay I believe that is most of our announcements so at this time I encourage you to get up and find someone maybe you don't know somebody you haven't said hi to yet shake their hands and tell them you're glad they're here she [Music] how are you

Did I don't know yes well good morning again church it's good to hear the Saints just enjoying each other greeting each other in the name of the Lord so while I was greeting people I was reminded of two announcements that I was supposed to make and did not so here you go first off the unity discussion today after service we're just going to stay down in the gym instead of moving back and forth to try to get us you know get us out of here earlier secondly this Wednesday we will have no Wednesday night services because of spring break so no aana no you youth know adult studies I think they'll probably still have prayer group is that right prayer group maybe you yeah I think they'll still have prayer group but all the other adult studies and kids stuff is canceled for this week so there's that but now is the time of the service where we like to just take a moment and ask the Lord to prepare us for corporate worship so I invite you to Bow your heads and close your eyes if you're with your families feel free to pray aloud over and with them but just ask the Lord to prepare you for worship today Lord many of us this morning are distracted many of us are hurting many of us feel broken many of us feel so far from a place of worship right now and so Lord I pray that you would remind us of who you are and what you've done Lord remind us that regardless of how we feel you are still worthy of our worship Lord remind us that the sufferings that we experience here on Earth are for our upb building and for your glory Lord help us to worship you together this morning

Morning it's in Jesus name we pray amen well today is Palm Sunday and so I'd like to begin our service by reading to you out of the Book of Matthew chapter 21 starting in verse 9 it says and the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting hosana to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord hosana in the highest I invite you now to stand and join us as we [Music] sing you made the star host you traced the mountain peak you paint the evening Skies with Wonder the Earth it is your throne fromer to the Sea all nature testifies your splend praise the Lord praise the Lord seeing his great all creation praise the Lord raise your voice Heights and all your depths from Fest east to west let everything that has breath praise the [Music] Lord you reached into the dust in love your spirit Breath You formed us in your very likess to know your wonderous to tell your Mighty Deeds to join the Everlasting praise the Lord praise the Lord sing his great all creation praise the Lord Raise Your Voice you Heights and all your depths from this east to west let everything that has bre praise the [Music] Lord let Sy ReSound let drums and choirs ring out all Heaven hear the sound of word [Music] let every nation bring it honors to the king a roar of harmonies

Etal praise the Lord praise the Lord sing his great all cre praise the Lord raise your voice you Heights and all your depths from fth east to west let everything that has breath praise the [Music] Lord praise the Lord sing his great all creation praise the Lord L Raise Your Voice you heightened all your deps from bir east to west you distant burning Stars All Creatures near and far from Sky to Sea to shore Sing Out forever more let everything that has breath praise the Lord [Music] he is worthy to be praised amen do you ever think about that he created all of creation to Proclaim his own greatness that all of the Majesty of the earth proclaims the Creator isn't that amazing and that we are invited to do the same that he's given us an opportunity to sing his praises and not to stand alone while we do it but to sing with and to one another as fellow Believers as joint heirs that's an awesome gift that we get to share in this [Music] morning let prises now awake the dawn we GRE your mercy with us all your people stand and sing for all your Ling kindness you've carried us in faithfulness upon the path of rightous our gracious King you crowned us with your Ling kindness how great is your Ling kindness oh God of goodness our joy forever to sing the Glad

Refra of Grace that saved us of sweet forgiveness oh how great is your Ling kind [Music] you lift us with the father's hand you shelter us with your command what heart could ful comprehend your mercies endless you lead us through the Shadows deep where every step it seems but as the breaks see the morning promise how [Applause] great is your Ling kindness oh God of goodness our joy forever to sing the Glad refrain of Grace that saved us of sweet forgiveness oh how great is your loving [Applause] [Music] kindness a life laid down to resue us with arms outstretched upon the cross the greatest gift there ever was of Ling kindness a life laid down to Res us with arms outstretched upon the cross the greatest gift there ever was a loing kindness your Ling kindness how great is your Ling kindness oh God of goodness our joy forever to sing the Glad refrain of Grace that saved us of sweet forgiveness oh how great is your loving kindness your loving [Music] kindness your loving you can be seated as our ushers come forward I'm not Craig Castle not quite that handsome I'm Steve Warren one of the deacons here at First Baptist pray with me as we receive our regular weekly offering this is not the Annie Armstrong offering but just our regular church offering so let's pray together

Dear heavenly father I thank you today for just another opportunity to come into your house and to worship you to sing to you to pray to you Lord to lift you up please accept our worship Lord it's just a humble gift back to you thank you for being with us this week Lord and keeping us strong keeping us safe bringing us back together thank you for your kindness Lord your love that never ends as stated in the Scriptures and I appreciate that thank you for this time to give back Lord we appreciate what you do to us for us and with us each day of our lives in Christ's name Amen Let each of you look not only to his own interest but also to the interest of others have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father amen I invite you to stand as you're able and join us again as we sing I'll hail the power of Jesus name oh all hail the power of Jesus name let Angels prostrate fall bring for the Royal Di and crown him Lord of bring forth the Royal Di and Crown Him of all chosen seed of Israel's W Ransom from the ha him who saves You by his grace and crown him Lord of ha him who saves You by his gra and CR him Lord

Of and every Kindred every tribe on this [Music] terrestrial to him all majesty and crown him Lord of to him all majesty and crown him Lord of all oh that with Y Sac Throne we at his feet may fall We join the Everlasting s and crown him Lord of All We join the Everlasting song and ground him Lord of all [Music] at this time I'd like to invite forward our ushers to take up the Annie Armstrong Easter [Music] offering you all may be seated again [Music] for [Music] this last song that we're going to sing is all I have is Christ and in it we simply declare that we were once lost but we have now been found we were once enemies of God but now we are called his own there it is I invite you to join me again as we sing all I have is Christ [Music] Hallelujah all I have is Christ [Music] hujjah Jesus is my life I once was lost in Darkest Night yet thought I knew the way the sin that Pro joy and life had led me to the Grave I had no hope that you would own a re

To your will and if you had not love me first I would refuse you [Music] still but as I R my help ra Indi to the you looked upon [Music] myate and Me to the Cross and I beheld God's love displayed you suffered in my place you bore the Wrath reserved for me all I know is GRA Hallelujah all I have is Christ [Music] Hallelujah Jesus is my now Lord I would be your alone and lives so all Mighty the strength to follow your commands could never come from me oh Father use my Ransom life in any way you choose and let my song forever be my only Bo is you Hallelujah I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life oh Hallelujah all I have is

Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my Hallelujah all I have is Christ Hallelujah [Music] Jesus Is My Lord let us cry out as the crowds did as Christ entered the city of Jerusalem hosana to the son of David blessed is he who has come in the name of the Lord who is coming again Lord help us to rejoice in the cross help us to rejoice in the in this week where we remember the suffering and the sorrow but Lord where we also remember the joy that comes on the third day Lord I pray that you would help us help us to remember what this is all about that we have been bought with a price it's in Jesus name we pray amen well good morning all of you this sounds like it's alive that's good I have come up here this morning to sell you a book at least to recommend a book we're going through the Gospel of Mark in our sermon series series and this week and next week we'll kind of be stepping aside from Mark's Gospel to celebrate today Palm Sunday and next week we'll celebrate Christ's Resurrection for Easter Sunday but then we'll get back into Mark and this book not the name of this one is the Life of Christ in Stereo it's what's called a Harmony of the Gospel Els where it takes the Gospels narrative from all four Gospels and tries to thread them together in kind of a chronological order I have personally found that

It's kind of easy to read a passage in Mark for instance wasn't that somewhere else too and maybe it's in Mark chapter 3 oh yeah so I'll find it in Luke chapter 15 or something like that okay what came before that what comes after it's I like things in order and it's easy for me to kind of get lost in the go this Gospel skips something and this one puts it in how are they related or what so this kind of a book can help you with that now there are a lot of different ones you can this one I've had for a bunch of years you can tell all the dog earing and everything but you can find them online just look online for a Harmony of the Gospels and there are several shorter ones there's fatter ones they're helpful so as we go through the Book of Mark if you find yourself wondering why Mark only has 16 chapters and Luke has 24 what's missing out of Mark right maybe Mark just doesn't talk as much actually he does but anyway this kind of a book can help you sort through that and kind of get a fuller picture of how the Gospels fit together U the good news of Jesus Christ is what the Gospels are about so this helps me and I'd recommend it to you for free I don't get any commissions on this but for this morning we're going to be looking at what's known as the triumphal entry or Palm Sunday and since I like things in order what I'm going to kind of present is some events that happened before Palm Sunday but right leading up to it then the entry itself and then some things that happened right afterwards so we you can kind of get a fuller picture of what the Lord was doing when he went into Jerusalem for that last time okay so what Jesus had been doing for his whole Ministry

Basically was taking kind of Loops throughout the Holy Land his home base was up around capernium in the Sea of Galilee and he would make preaching and healing Loops through the province of Galilee and then farther south down through Judea and he did that for three and a half years this last loop if you will took about nine months and he covered a wide range of territory preaching teaching healing arguing with Pharisees the things Jesus did in his ministry and at about the end of those nine months he was in Jer he was right there at Jerusalem okay so we're going to look at some of the events that took place right at the end of that 9month Ministry tour and they'll help us set the stage for what we celebrate on Palm Sunday so we're going to try to see if I can make this work and so far it's not looking promising yeah there we go in John chapter 11 these two verses reference Lazarus being raised from the dead and this happened within a week or so before Jesus enter Jerusalem kind of a big event and so that was a high point and these verses summarize it the man who had died came forth tied bound hand and foot with wrappings and his face was wrapped around with a cloth Jesus said to them unbind him and let him go therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he had done believed okay Mary was the sister of Lazarus who had died and everybody came around to mourn with her at the loss of brother only then she hadn't lost him anymore so that happened and yeah okay shortly after that you'll find that I'm jumping around by the way

Through all four Gospels to try to keep things in order and so rather than having you look up each verse which I kind of like to do but I'll put them on the screen here because we're jumping from John to Luke back to John back to Luke going to jump to Zachariah all over the place so here Jesus is taking his 12 disciples aside you know away from the crowds a little bit and he's got some news for him I'll just read it here he said then he took the TW aside and said to them behold we're going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the son of man will be accomplished for he will be handed over to the Gentiles will be mocked and mistreated spit upon and after they've scourged him they will kill him and the third day he'll rise again okay his disciples hearing this didn't really have a clue no that's not going to happen in fact one of the times when Jesus warned them Peter said no way no way Lord and Jesus had to kind of put a lid on him but this is something that Jesus is predicting right before what we call the triumphal entry and whoa just again just short shortly right after that scene back into John 12 verse three yeah I did get an extra two in there verse three and verse 7 this is the anointing of Jesus by Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and WIP EXC and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the frag France of the perfume and at that point some of the disciples got on her case said what are you wasting this for but Jesus therefore Jesus said let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial she was not really knowing what she was doing she was anointing his body

Which was a Jewish custom for his burial hm and we're talking about the triumphal entry right so these events are just some in the nine-month ministry tour that Jesus did that kind of happened right before he enters Jerusalem for the last time so at this point yeah let me insert something here for you U Jesus knew what awaited him in Jerusalem and he wasn't saying what awaits me is this really great celebration when I go into Jerusalem and everybody's shouting and screaming and yeah that's not really what he was looking forward to he knew that he was going to die he knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant time and yet he determined I'm going to do it this is in Luke 9 51 it says when the days were approaching for his Ascension which is usually what they say about a king being crowned as ruler he was determined to go to Jerusalem even though he knew what was coming and also there is some prophecy involved here which we'll take a look at as well this is from Zachariah the ninth verse kind of a Hebrew poem says Rejoice greatly oh Daughter of Zion shout in Triumph oh daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble and mounted on a donkey even on a cult the F of a donkey now Zachariah was a prophet right towards the end of that period where the prophets were not going to be speaking anymore there was what's called a 400 period of Silence 400e period where there were no prophets to the is Israelites God's chosen people Zachariah was one of the last so here you're looking at something something that

Zachariah said 400 years before Jesus was even born and what Jesus has been doing in his ministry throughout this three and a half year period is fulfilling all of the prophecies that were given to the Israelites by God through the prophets of the coming Messiah now he hadn't fulfilled them all yet but this was one and this was coming right up okay so there's one more thing here right before his triumphal entry and we see it in John these two verses and this kind of explains where all of the crowds were from when Jesus entered normally when you enter a city you know what happens when you drive to St Louis is there a crowd waiting for you not usually so you just drive into town okay Jesus would have entered a city just walking in but now in these two verses here it says on the next day this is right after he had been anointed by Mary the large crowd who had come to the feast which was the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took the branches of palm trees went out to meet him and began to shout hosana blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel okay this is the only place in Scripture where it talks about Palm Sunday that's where we get the name and a lot of those crowds were also going out to visit Mary to console her to weep with her over the loss of her brother so there there's an extra large crowd of people here in Jerusalem and some of them are already on the road to Bethany where Mary lives so all of these things happened to kind of set the stage and the stage is

Now set so let's see the actual events now that took place in what we know of as the triumphal entry so I'd ask you to stand and I'll read this passage from the Gospel of Luke now just as a reminder Cody always asks you to stand when we read the Scripture passage I'm doing the same thing and we're standing in honor of God's word now you might think well why just stand for this one when we didn't stand for all the other verses Sher actually asked if I was going to make you stand through the whole sermon no but we will stand for this one and we are honoring the Lord after he had said these things this is Jesus he was going on ahead going up to Jerusalem when it approached Beth and Bethany near the Mount that is called all of it he sent two of the disciples saying go into the village ahead of you there as you enter you will find a Colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat untie it and bring it here if anyone asks you why are you untying it you shall say the Lord has need of it so those who were sent went away and found it just as he told them as they were untying the cold its owner said to them why are you untying the cold they said the Lord has need of it so they brought it to Jesus and through threw their coats on the CT ah one more try yeah they brought it to Jesus threw their Colts on the coat put Jesus on it as he was going they were spreading their coats on the road and as he was approaching near The Descent of the Mount of Olives the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the Miracles which they had seen shouting blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest so father we thank you for your

Word we seek to honor your word we seek to honor you so as we look at this passage we pray that we would understand what you were doing in your created world through these events and that we could recog recognize that this wasn't just a bunch of coincidences but this was your plan as you showed us humans who your Messiah really is and as we look at these events and look at what took place we pray that you would really impress that on our hearts Jesus is the Christ the son of God we thank you for that in Christ's name amen and please be seated a small translation exercise is that the word amen means please be seated you'll find that in lots and lots of church activities okay so Jesus in these verses enters the city of Jerusalem crowds you know just amazed if you look back at some of the things that had taken place we find people listening to his teaching in synagogues and saying wow we've never seen anything like this before and the reason he taught them as one with authority not like their scribes and Authority we're talking about God here and when he taught he was speaking the word of God Jesus himself is the word if you read the first chapter of John that's how it starts the word was with God the Word was God and here's Jesus speaking the word of God to those who were hearing and they were able to you know listen recognize I'm not sure what this is but I've never heard anything like this before this is amazing The Authority that Jesus was taught with was because he was teaching quite literally the words of God the scribes the Pharisees the others who taught could not do that they were not God so they would be reporting you know somebody else a

Prophet had said this and that's kind of the position of preachers today you know I'm not standing before you and saying I am God no the words I'm giving you are from God's word but I don't have the personal Authority that Jesus Christ had when he taught neither does Jim if you can really believe that neither does Cody U we are Servants of the Lord bringing his word to those who want to hear it so Jesus gets into Jerusalem and then there's some other things that take place the next week is really going to be full for the Lord he gets in there and immediately starts kind of going to work if you will say when he approached Jerusalem he saw the city and wept over it saying if you had only known in this day even you the things that make for peace but now they've been hidden from your eyes Okay triumphal entry right crowds cheering hosana to the Lord and Jesus is crying he's taking up lamentation for Jerusalem because they have ignored him they're going to actually reject him as their Messiah he knows that and yet he went anyway but it saddened him his people the Israelites God's chosen people were going to reject him he knew it went anyway but had to deal with the grief of that so he went on into the city and on the way hey he went by a fig tree I'm hungry so it says now in the morning when he was returning to the city he became hungry seeing a lone fig tree by the road he came to it found nothing on it except leaves and he said to it no longer shall there ever be any fruit from you and at once the Fig Tree

Withered so what right big deal Pig trees wither all the time this one at his word just dried right up his disciples saw that and whoa look at that tree you know you put a curse on it and it's dead so all the way through here he's demonstrating his power he is who he says he is that happened it doesn't tell us what the crowd thought when they saw that take place because there were still crowds around him but his disciples noticed it and said whoa something else he did whoops I went too far all right you I was doing so well I'll read this one in Luke 19 45 and 46 it says this is right as Jesus entered the city after the crowd's proclaiming you know Hail to the King says Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling saying to them it is written my house shall be a House of Prayer but you have made it a robber's den okay think of this now Jesus coming into Jerusalem monstrous crowds of people throwing their coats on the ground in front of his donkey so the donkey could trample their coats palm branches on the ground cheering and shouting and he goes into the temple and tears the place up yeah but again he was fulfilling prophecy it was prophesied that he would do that and he did so the rest of the week now he's in Jerusalem but he's not staying there he's staying out in Bethany which is a five mile or so walk from Jerusalem so there some back and forth time and he comes back into the City and he's going to spend the next four days basically teaching he's interacting with crowds he's speaking to them he's taking questions he's healing those who

Come to him for healing and that's kind of described I'm not putting it up here and I'm not going to read it all to you but if you look in MTH Matthew chapter 21 and Matthew chapter 22 you'll find a lot of teaching that Jesus does in Jerusalem a lot of the teaching that he did was given [Music] Pharisees you know a hard time he didn't do that to them on purpose but they couldn't receive his words without barking back you'll kind of notice that the Pharisees spent a lot of time hanging on the fringes of the crowds that were attracted by Christ and they'd hear something or see something and they'd speak up they'd say you can't do that U Cody about this would be about three weeks ago preached about the instance when four men came with a stretcher carrying their friend to be healed and they couldn't find a way to get into the house where Jesus was teaching so they made a hole in the roof dropped the guy down on his stretcher I should I should say lowered him down they didn't drop him and right in front of Jesus and Jesus looks at him and says my son your sins are forgiven put yourself in the position of the poor guy in the stretcher says can't move my sins are forgiven what have I ever been able to do but that's what Jesus said to him your sins are forgiven there's no recorded response from him but there is from the Pharisees their brains were just swirling around saying nobody can do that only God can forgive sin this is blasphemy Jesus reading their minds knows what they're thinking and he says to them you know what why are you thinking what you're thinking just to show you that I'm able to forgive sin I'm going to tell him to get up and

Walk which do you think is easier and you know how do you answer a question like that so Jesus says get up pick up your bed take a hike and the man did again Jesus demonstrating his power over his creation the Pharisees were the ones that had to bark at him though and they did that continually you would think religious leaders would be able to accept God would you think that did it happen nope tradition this is how we do things you're messing with our traditions and it's a good thing that only the Jews were like that we have traditions and sometimes when our Traditions get rattled a little bit we have a trouble with that now hopefully we don't go the whole Pharisee route and reject the Messiah because of our tradition but that can kind of get into us a little bit so what we have to do is kind of step back and say what is it that's bugging me about this is it God well no he's still God is it his word well no this seems to match what he says in his word but we've always done it this way and we've never done it that way before that can be a tough thing and different ones of Us come from different backgrounds with different traditions and I'm not trying to lay any groundwork for getting your Traditions rattled but it's going to happen just because we don't all think the same we don't all come from the same background so when you find yourself getting your cage rattled kind of ask yourself why take a step back from that and see if you're just being faced with something you're not used to or if this is really something serious where hey this isn't right this isn't according to

God's word but that's our standard it's God's word not our Traditions okay you'll probably hear that again once or twice okay so Jesus is in Jerusalem he's been welcomed by crowds just wanting to make him King Pharisees didn't like that much either because they had a king who was in Rome and there was a sub King Herod who was going to come into the picture more but there was a political structure in place so When the Crowds Are saying Hail to the King there's a threat involved there to the ruling authorities you know hey we've got a king we're we're not going to bring in a new one here so there's a tension in the air at this point but during that week Jesus was teaching and like I said Matthew 21 and 22 are good summaries of the things he was teaching there to the crowds the Pharisees were there and there's a lot of interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees in those two chapters and also in the companion chapters of markk Luke and John and it was the same kind of interaction we've seen they couldn't handle getting their Traditions pushed so hard so they barked at Jesus and he responded to them and that instead of saying oh yeah you know H maybe you're right they didn't say that they just got firmer and firmer and harsher and harsher in their traditions and rejected the Lord rejected their maker rejected God Almighty the interesting thing is Jesus knew this was going to happen that's why he wept lamented over Jerusalem he knew they were going to reject him and yet he went through it anyway okay towards the end of the week you know we've looked at well we haven't looked at it yet but Matthew 21-22 he's teaching crowds then in Matthew 23 and 24 those two chapters he kind of shifts

And starts talking about end times you know what's going to happen at the end of our time as people on this world and we can read those chapters and really that's where a lot of what shall I call it differing views of end times come from you read those two chapters oh well yeah that's already happened that hasn't H you know it says there will be wars and rumors of wars has that happened anybody read the news recently there are Wars and there are rumors of other Wars but that's been happen happening since before Christ came to the world and it's continued to go on so you look at those two chapters and okay what is all of this why would Jesus go in such detail here and what he was doing he was kind of preparing his disciples in particular but the crowds as well for what it's going to look like when he's gone now at this point the crowds did not know he was going to be gone he'd entered and been welcomed warmly into the city his disciples had heard him predict that he was going to be basically tortured and killed they were still kind of struggling with that but they'd heard him say it but they weren't really ready for him to not be there with them so he's making preparation for all of the groups the Pharisees the crowds his disciples for what it's going to look like once he's gone so we continue on and finally on Thursday towards the end of that week he gathered together with his disciples and he got them together in an upper room we call it the upper room it was Second Story and he instituted what we now know of as the Lord's Supper I'll read this to you it's this passage is in Mark 14 says while they're eating he took some bread and after a blessing he broke

It and gave it to them and said take it this is my body when he'd taken a cup and given thanks he gave it to them and they all drank from it and he said to them this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many truly I say to you I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God okay so he celebrated the Passover feast with his disciples that was what all these big crowds of people were in Jerusalem for they came to celebrate the Passover Jesus had a private smaller cele celebration just with his 12 disciples and we have continued that celebration we do it here at First Baptist on the first Sunday of every month that's our current tradition that might change it has changed in the past but at for now that's our tradition but go ahead and feel welcome if you happen to be here on the first Sunday of the month that's two weeks from now and join us in celebrating the Lord's Supper it's open to Believers okay moving along he spent some time teaching his disciples how they would have to be his Representatives on the world after he was gone he did that after instituting this Lord's Supper and it's known today as The Upper Room discourse and that's found in John chapters 13- 16 Jesus was teaching his disciples how they were to be his followers in his absence he was preparing them to receive his Spirit to empower them and to direct them and I've tried to put myself in the position of his disciples listening to what he was telling them and if it had been me a lot of it would have gone Zoom I wouldn't have had any framework to stick it into and they're kind of in that same boat because after he is crucified the disciples didn't jump up

And say okay let's go they scattered and hid and were afraid of the authorities until the Holy Spirit enabled them to do the Ministry Jesus told them this is what's coming for you guys so he's teaching them through those four chapters of the Gospel of John here's what I want to see you guys getting into doing and then in John 17 again this is all happening right after his triumphal entry he prayed for his disciples very inclusively this is what's actually known as The Lord's Prayer the one in his earlier teaching where his disciples said teach us to pray and he did and so we have all memorized that and we can quote it but that's really the disciples prayer if you will because he was teaching them this is how you can pray here in John 17 Jesus is praying for his disciples he is praying for us as well because he says I'm not praying just for these alone but for all those who believe on their word that's us we have heard the teaching that Jesus is our Messiah through the years and it has come down to us and we're privileged to have believed that so Jesus prayer then was for his disciples and what they were going to face and for us and what we're going to face as we seek to serve him okay then we go on and we hit we come to a very well-known passage after Jesus had celebrated the Passover supper with his disciples after he had spent four chapters if you will teaching them in the upper room discourse after he had prayed for them recorded in John chapter 17 they as a group went out to a place called Gethsemane Jesus continued in prayer and this is a very well-known part of his prayer he's speaking to the Lord God the Father saying father if you're with

Willing remove this cup from me yet not my will but yours be done now we've all heard that before and Jesus is praying this in a first person he is the one that's going to have to be going through all of the torture the agony the crucifixion death and he knows it and humanly he' just soon not do that but he also knew that he had to he knew this was you know forecast if you will by the father from eternity past that Jesus the Christ would come he would suffer he would die he would be raised again but the raised Again part great the part leading up to that wasn't going to be great and he knew it the thing that he knew that was going to be the worst for him was wasn't a physical abuse wasn't the mental abuse he knew he was going to take on the sins of the world and even though he had no sin but he was going to take that on himself and at that point he was going to be separated from his father never happened before it'll never happen again but at that moment he was going to be bearing our sin the same sin that can separate us from God that's what he didn't want any part of but your will be done so he went ahead and went through it then knowing what was coming how do we celebrate Palm Sunday is there something in this passage this entry into Jerusalem is there something there for us to celebrate you know we always do a lot of churches will have little kids coming down the aisle waving palm branches and you know singing a song or just making a big celebration out of it is that really a good thing I' like for you to just take a minute and think about that how should we Believers respond to Jesus entry into

Jerusalem I'm being quiet to give you a minute to think about it there are things in there for us to celebrate we are celebrating the Messiah Savior we're celebrating his perfect obedience to his father we are celebrating the fact that everything that was forecast prophesied for him to do in order to be our Savior he did but the actual entry into Jerusalem and the things that follow right immediately don't look much like something you want to celebrate you know you're being rejected by the people you created you're being rejected by the religious leaders who are you know the ones who are supposed to be leading the children of Israel the Israelites to worship the father but here God in person is going to be rejected by them so if you look at it from that perspective there's not really a lot to celebrate what we can celebrate is that he was proving to the world and to us that he really is the Messiah he fulfilled everything that was prophesied that the Messiah would do every single thing and even the bad stuff the stuff that we would look at and say no way he did it and this is part of it so we can celebrate with him his entry into Jerusalem even though though they weren't going to make him King the same crowds that were screaming and hollering and saying Hosanna they're also going to scream in holler about a week later they're going to scream crucify him when he was being tried U just that's the heart of man at work Jesus knew that and went through that and that's what we celebrate that we have a Savior who did what he needed to do in order to be our Savior so knowing what was coming we look at another verse here whoops maybe we

Will maybe we won't I'll read it to you this is in Luke chapter 18 this is when Jesus was telling his disciples here's what's coming says then he took the 12 aside and said to them behold we're going up to Jerusalem and all the things which are written through the prophets about the son of man will be accomplished for he will be handed over to the Gentiles will be mocked mistreated spit upon after they have scourged him they will kill him but on the third day he'll rise again he knew that was all going to take Place went through it so as we consider it's about a two-e period the last week or so before he entered Jerusalem and then the week following we're celebrating what Jesus the Christ has done for us and come on all right don't come uhuh back up please please please okay in the bulletin there are three lines that say head Heart and Hand you should find that look at that thank you I think I'll put that down okay head understand that Jesus knew what was coming That's essential to our being able to celebrate this happy time that we celebrate as Palm Sunday and then Easter okay heart I'll try it again oh I won't try it understanding that Jesus knew what he was doing he knew why he was doing it believe it believe that Jesus went through all of this for you for you for you for you for you he did that for us because like it says in

Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his own Love For Us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us we need to be able to believe that and trust God that all these things that he did and said are really true and then hand yeah good you guys are better than me okay receive the gift he offers he offers it to you and then Rejoice with the king that's where we get to rejoicing and celebrating but we can only really do that as we receive the gift he offers us says in Ephesians 28 and9 for by Grace you've been saved through faith that is not of yourselves it's a gift of God not of works so that we can't boast about it we can't brag okay Jesus has done that for us and as we believe in him we trust him for our Salvation we're saying I can't do this I'm not worthy I have no standing before Almighty God but I trust that Jesus Christ has paid my penalty and in that I now have a standing before God because he paid it for me I'm not I'm guilty but I'm not punished he took our punishment okay if you have already done that you've already trusted Christ Rejoice rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great okay if you have not done that don't put it off let the Lord know hey I understand what you've done I believe it I trust you to do what you said you were going to do in my life and I receive the gift you offer so father we just come before you now we thank you for what you've done in this world through your Messiah through our Messiah we thank you that we can come to you because of what he's done for us so father as we

Gather together here as Believers help us to focus on that this is what we have in common that we have trusted you for our salvation and we thank you for it in Christ's name amen please stand and join me as we sing together again When I Survey the Wondrous Cross When I Survey the one cross on which the prince of [Music] Glory died my richest gain I count but loss and poor contemp on All My Pride forbid it Lord that I should Bo saveing the death of Christ my God all the vain things that charm me most I sacrifice them to his blood see from his head his hands his feet sorrow and love FL mingled down [Music] did there such love and sorrow meet or Thorns compos so

Rich a [Music] crow word the whole realm of [Music] nature [Music] that too small so amazing [Music] sing those last two lines again love so [Music] amazing so de demons my soul my life [Music] my amen father we just want to thank you for being able to get together like this in your pres and enjoy theow we pray now the next stage in our fellowship as we get together and celebrate a meal together and we pray father that you bless food to our thank you for it and we just ask we our see to