Worship Service Livestream


MARCH 24, 2024
  • Welcome and Announcements
  • Hosanna (Praise is Rising)
  • Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)
  • Prayer of Invocation
  • Blessed Be Your Name
  • Scripture Reading and Prayer - Luke 19:29-44
  • Jesus Messiah
  • Pastor's Message - Can't See the Forest for the Trees
  • You Are My King (Amazing Love)


Luke 19:29-44
29 When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mountain that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples,
30 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.
31 And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: 'The Lord has need of it.'"
32 So those who were sent left and found it just as He had told them.
33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34 They said, "The Lord has need of it."
35 And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.
36 Now as He was going, they were spreading their cloaks on the road.
37 And as soon 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,
38 shouting: "Blessed is the King, the One who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39 And yet some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!"
40 Jesus replied, "I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!"
41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,
42 saying, "If you had known on this day, even you, the conditions for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will put up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side,
44 and they will level you to the ground, and throw down your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."


SERMON NOTES - Why Am I Here?

INTRODUCTION
  • Today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday in the liturgical year that remembers the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem riding on in the back of a donkey to the praise and shouts of praises of the crowd, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD."
  • His entrance in the city marks the beginning of what we call Holy Week or Passion Week.
  • All four gospels describe what is referred to as the triumphal entry, which is a significant moment in Jesus' ministry.

A FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY
  • Why would Jesus need an unridden, young donkey? This is more than just a need for transportation or making a grand entrance. Jesus needed a young, unridden donkey because He was going to fulfill Old Testament prophecy.
  • Zechariah 9:9 - "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O 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 colt, the foal of a donkey."
  • Israel had been waiting centuries for the promise of God that a Messiah, a King would come. He would be a conqueror, who would destroy their enemies, set them free, and establish His kingdom on earth and Zechariah said that Israel's King, the Messiah would come "humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

A PUBLIC DECLARATION OF HIS IDENTITY
  • In the ancient Middle Eastern world, leaders rode horses if they rode to war, but donkeys if they came in peace.
  • In fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy about the Messiah Jesus gave the people an obvious sign that they couldn't miss. He didn't enter riding a horse, but a donkey. He came into Jerusalem not as a symbol not of war, but of peace - worldwide peace, a truth that the crowd did not fully grasp.
  • It seems that many people believed that Jesus was the Messiah who would usher in a day of freedom, peace and prosperity for the nation of Israel and would free them from Roman slavery and oppression. They would finally know the peace that God had promised.
  • Jesus was the Messiah the one for which centuries they had been waiting, but He was the Messiah who would save; not just one nation from being captives of Caesar, but the entire world from being slaves to sin.
  • Jesus was not the Messiah for which most people were looking and though the shouts of Hosanna from the crowd rang loudly not everyone was celebrating. Some refused to believe and continued in their rejection of Him.
  • The religious leaders were outraged that Jesus accepts the crowds adulation and acclamation of Him as Messiah and King! They considered it blasphemous.
  • If the speaking refuse to speak, if the shouting shut up, if the hosannas hush; if everything else in creation is silenced, then even inanimate objects will testify because there will be a proclamation that He is the Messiah.

A PRONOUNCEMENT OF JUDGMENT (vv. 41-42)
  • Pause for a second and see the tremendous contrast between a jubilant, celebrating crowd and a weeping Jesus. The crowd is proclaiming Him as the Messiah and as He sees the city He begins to cry.
  • The word that is used here is the same word that describes the weeping of Mary and the others at the tomb of Lazarus and indicates more than shedding a tear, but a sorrowful emotion of great sadness associated with loss or bereavement.
  • Why does Jesus weep as He sees the city? He knows what is coming. He knows that He will be rejected. He knows the cross is before Him. He knows the people will soon reject Him as their Messiah and King, even though for a brief moment they put on an external show of acceptance.
  • Jesus was rejected and the issue was more than one of just not knowing, but a conscious, willful decision of rejection.
  • The triumphal entry is a reminder that thinking strongly and thinking rightly about Jesus is not the same thing.
  • In less than a week the cries of the crowd would not be Hosanna in the highest, but crucify Him! Palm branches would be replaced with a crown of thorns and Jesus would no longer be mounted on a donkey but be nailed to a cross.
  • Jesus' mission was for the salvation of mankind. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Before God had ever spoken the universe into existence, Jesus is Savior. From everlasting to everlasting He is Savior.