Get on the Jesus Bus - Matthew 21:1-11

[00:00:00] Thank you for listening to the Calvary Monterey Podcast. Please visit calvary.com to learn

[00:00:10] more about our church and visit Nateholdrich.com for additional Bible teaching from our lead pastor,

[00:00:16] Nateholdrich.

[00:00:17] All right, good morning everybody. It's great to see all today. Hey my name is Riley, I have

[00:00:24] not pastor Nate. And I'm one of our assistant pastors here at the church and get the chance

[00:00:30] to break open God's word with you today. So if you have your Bible with you, grab it out,

[00:00:34] turn it on. I'm going to be reading from the ESV version today but as long as your Bible

[00:00:39] says Bible on it, you're good to go. So hey I want to say also happy Palm Sunday March 24th,

[00:00:48] 2024. This is the day in the church calendar where we remember Jesus's triumphal entry into

[00:00:56] Jerusalem for the last week of his life, a week that we call Passion Week, Holy Week. It's

[00:01:02] the few days leading up to the Passover sacrifice and meal. And for the Christian faith, the resurrection

[00:01:11] of Jesus. So my hope today is that today is a very encouraging day for you that you remember

[00:01:16] that Jesus is on the throne, amen. That he is sovereign over time, over people. His life was

[00:01:24] not given or his life was not taken from him, but his life was given as a sacrifice he chose to

[00:01:30] give his life. So I hope that God's love through Jesus impacts you today. So I just want to pray

[00:01:37] for us real quick and we'll get into God's word again where Matthew 21, Matthew 21 versus 1 through 11.

[00:01:44] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the time we've had in worship to celebrate who

[00:01:52] you are. God our Father, Jesus our Savior, the Spirit who dwells with us, encourages us is our

[00:02:00] companion. We pray God today, you would open up our eyes to see Jesus as our true King, Jesus we do

[00:02:08] look to you as our Savior today and pray God as your people that you fill us with faith to trust

[00:02:15] you. Thank you in your name, amen. Amen. Well a couple of years ago I went to Italy with my wife.

[00:02:24] This is not flex. This is just part of the story. I went to Italy and we went to two big places.

[00:02:30] One was the west coast, kind of southwest coast, a town called Masa Lubrense, kind of rural area.

[00:02:38] And for the second stretch of the trip we went to Rome and Florence, the kind of bigger cities.

[00:02:43] And for me whenever I'm traveling I'm always thinking about something, I'm always thinking about

[00:02:47] transportation. How are we going to get to this place? What's the plane going to be like? How long

[00:02:54] is the flight? I'm always adjusting my watch and my clocks. I'm always trying to think through

[00:03:00] what car are we going to take? Are we taking a car, taking a bus? How are we getting around? Who's

[00:03:05] car are we borrowing the whole thing? And so when we're in Italy I was told to just walk around.

[00:03:11] So I was like cool, we'll get an Uber from the airport to our Airbnb and just kind of walk

[00:03:16] around do the Italian life thing. And when we got when we were driving from the airport to the Airbnb

[00:03:24] I saw that there were scooters flying by. He has been to Europe you know these people are

[00:03:29] buck wild is crazy. I remember looking at Chessley my wife and I was like that's insane. Like I would

[00:03:34] never ride one of those things here in Italy. It just seems too scary. But we got to our Airbnb

[00:03:40] and I looked around and I was like where's the nearest grocery store? I have no idea. And I was like

[00:03:46] man I can't walk anywhere around here. It's just streets. I quickly realized oh no, I made a big

[00:03:52] mistake. I need some kind of transportation here. And the next morning I was like man we're getting

[00:03:58] hungry. I don't know what we're going to do. And I was like I don't want to get a car by an idea and

[00:04:04] I'll say Chessley. I know last night I said the scooter thing is too scary but I think I got

[00:04:11] a scooter for us. So I called the guys two guys brought some scooter two helmets and keys and

[00:04:16] said bonjourno and left us and I was like I don't know what I don't know how to drive this thing

[00:04:21] but we started driving it was really fun but it was kind of terrifying too because I didn't

[00:04:26] know any of these roads and there's nothing more terrifying than the sun going down. It's getting

[00:04:30] colder. There's mosquitoes out. I'm riding this scooter my wife's from the back she has her arm

[00:04:34] wrapped around me with a phone trying to load maps but we don't have any service it's just spinning

[00:04:41] and I'm just like I don't know where we're even going to go tonight. How are you going to get

[00:04:44] home tonight? I have no idea. I didn't know how to get from point A to point B but in contrast

[00:04:51] that was going to Rome or Florence. I mean there's just buses everywhere right? There's trains

[00:04:56] buses and I don't know how to speak Italian so I was just trying to figure my way out around

[00:05:03] this area by found an app that would tell me in English go to this bus to go to this place and so

[00:05:10] I mean I would just literally walk to the bus and then just walk right the the app just took me

[00:05:16] straight to the bus and I had this belief in my mind. I was like if I just get on the bus that

[00:05:21] this app tells me to get on this bus driver knows how to get me from point A to point B. I don't

[00:05:27] have to worry anymore. I know exactly where we're going and you know I did take Chessley on the

[00:05:32] wrong bus a couple times but most of the time if I knew where to go if I follow that app it told me

[00:05:38] where to go. I say all at this morning because I think that when we look at the triathlon entry

[00:05:44] of Jesus coming into Jerusalem on his final week of ministry what he's offering to us is a bus ride

[00:05:52] and a lot of ways. Jesus knows exactly where he's going. He is starting at point A and he's going

[00:05:58] to point B and his eyes are set on where he's going and as he's revealing his plan revealing his

[00:06:06] ministry. One question that's always being proposed is will you jump on the bus? Will you follow me?

[00:06:15] Will you give your life to sacrifice and to follow me? So the question for us today is will we jump

[00:06:23] on the bus? Will we trust the bus driver? I'm not taking this analogy a little far but will we trust

[00:06:28] the bus driver? Jesus. Do we believe that he knows where he's going and that where he's going

[00:06:35] is ultimately good? And so there's three groups of people here in this passage there's

[00:06:41] the crowd, there's the city and for us and there's like the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the religious

[00:06:49] leaders and the political figures. The crowd followed Jesus they loved Jesus. The city didn't know what

[00:06:57] to do with Jesus. There's like who is this random person coming into the city on a donkey? The third

[00:07:03] group, the religious leaders, the political figures, they wanted nothing to do with Jesus. They wanted

[00:07:08] to crucify him. So which group are you today? That's the question we want to answer today and my

[00:07:15] hope is that as we present Jesus to each other through his passage that you'll be compelled

[00:07:21] to become part of the crowd. Be compelled to be a follower, compelled to jump on the bus.

[00:07:28] So our first point for the morning is Jesus has the divine authority. Jesus has the divine authority.

[00:07:38] Let's look at Matthew chapter 21 verses 1 through 3. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came

[00:07:46] to Beth page to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the

[00:07:52] village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a cult with her. Untie them

[00:08:00] and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord needs them and he will

[00:08:07] send them at once. Let's notice a few things about this passage real quick. One is that we see

[00:08:14] Jesus initiated his authority from the Mount of Olives. I want to spend a ton of time on this because

[00:08:20] we have a lot of ground to cover, but the Mount of Olives is a very significant place for Jesus

[00:08:26] and his ministry. This is a place where Jesus would go to talk with God the Father. He would pray

[00:08:33] on the Mount of Olives. This is a place where he gave the commands to his disciples to go get the

[00:08:39] donkey and the Colton bringing them back to him. This is the beginning of Passion Week here in the Mount

[00:08:44] of Olives. The Mount of Olives is the same place where a few days later Jesus would go and he'd be

[00:08:51] praying and stressed beyond belief. Blood would be coming out of his skin pores as he was praying to

[00:08:58] God before he was delivered over to be crucified. This is the same place where Jesus when he rose from

[00:09:05] the grave within ascend back to the Father in heaven, and this is the place in Scripture's

[00:09:11] prophesied where Jesus will return once again for his bride, the church. What I'm trying to communicate

[00:09:18] here is that Jesus had a spiritual hub for his life. He had a secret place. He had a place where he

[00:09:25] go talk with the Father and get commands from the Father. His marching orders for life.

[00:09:33] The only point I really want to make here about this is I want to ask you if you have a quiet place

[00:09:39] in your life. Do you have a prayer closet, so to speak? A prayer room. Do you have a place where

[00:09:46] you go to connect with God to confess your sin, to receive comfort from the Father,

[00:09:53] to receive clarity about the mission in front of you in your life? For me, I have a young child and a

[00:10:00] wife at home, my prayer room is literally a patch on the living room floor at 5 a.m., that's my quiet

[00:10:07] moment, that's my unhurried moment of the day. It'll look different for you, but do you have a place

[00:10:13] like Jesus where you can go and receive from God every single day? So Jesus initiated his authority

[00:10:22] from the mount of olives. Notice here too that Jesus established his authority over the disciples.

[00:10:29] By this time the disciples knew that whatever Jesus says to do, you do it. They probably heard this

[00:10:34] command, go into the town and get a donkey and a colt and bring it back to me. I would think they

[00:10:40] think that's like a really random thing for you to tell me to do. Where is the donkey? I

[00:10:45] who am I taking this donkey from? Do they know about it? It sounds like it's going to be kind of

[00:10:50] awkward but you don't read that in scripture. What you read is that Jesus said to do this

[00:10:56] and the disciples did it no matter what Jesus said. You know chapters earlier Jesus would tell

[00:11:03] that disciples, go get that young boy's bread and fish. The only food he has for the day. Bring

[00:11:07] that over here. I want to break that for everybody who's here in attendance for this teaching.

[00:11:13] After a full night of fishing and catching nothing to the disciples route on the ocean trying

[00:11:18] to catch fish and that next morning Jesus would say, hey why don't you throw the net on the other side?

[00:11:23] Let's see if that gets you some fish and they get all this fish. They just knew that whatever Jesus

[00:11:28] said to do, you do it. As part of his plan is part of his purpose. Here Jesus establishes his

[00:11:36] authority over the disciples not to take advantage of them but to exercise his authority.

[00:11:43] Notice here that he extends his authority over the donkey and the colts and the owners of

[00:11:48] the donkey and the colt. Some scholars believe that Jesus may have prearranged this

[00:11:54] that on a previous visit to Jerusalem he met some people who had some livestock and said, hey

[00:12:01] if I come back here again or when I come back here again I'm going to need that donkey. I'm

[00:12:06] going to need that colt. I'm going to send somebody for it. Will you just give it to them when they

[00:12:10] come to you? Please thank you. It may have been one of those kind of situations. We don't know from

[00:12:16] the text but what I'm trying to see here is that Jesus didn't steal a donkey and a colt.

[00:12:24] Jesus had a plan for his donkey and a colt and he was working with people. What Jesus is establishing

[00:12:29] here is his partnership with his people for his plans. For his ministry, he loves the partner with

[00:12:38] people. Jesus was never on a solo mission during his time here on earth. He's always looking for

[00:12:43] people to come in with him to partake in ministry together. And here you know Jesus could have gone

[00:12:52] and got the donkey himself. He could have raised a donkey himself and had it available in Jerusalem

[00:12:58] ready for him for this time but he didn't do that. And said he looked at the disciples.

[00:13:04] He looked at the owner of the livestock and he looked at this donkey and this colt and said, I want

[00:13:09] all of you to be involved in this part of my ministry. The authority of Jesus doesn't always

[00:13:16] make sense in the moment but he exercises his authority to partner with his people in ministry.

[00:13:25] So what do you have that God is saying, hey I have need of that today? What is that skill

[00:13:34] that gifting you have? What is that living room you have? That cooking ability you have?

[00:13:41] What is that voice that God has given you? That Jesus would say, hey the Lord has need of it.

[00:13:48] We all have things in our lives that God has given to us that are not for us only but are for

[00:13:54] the purposes of Jesus' ministry to save and to redeem, to bring people to Jesus. So when Jesus

[00:14:03] speaks to you when you're in that quiet place in your life and you receive something from God,

[00:14:08] where are you saying, hey I want to use that in your life. That thing. Don't say no to that thing.

[00:14:16] God is asking you for a very specific reason. Back in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus,

[00:14:22] there's a man named Moses and Moses was 80 years old at that point in the book of Exodus and he

[00:14:29] had maybe some kind of stuttering problem or mumbled a little bit but God called on him and said,

[00:14:34] Moses, I want you to go to Pharaoh the highest political figure of the time. I want you to go to him.

[00:14:42] I want you to ask him to set my people free. And Moses, I'm sure there's having some anxiety,

[00:14:49] some fear. His speech was kind of awkward with saying God, you chose the wrong guy. You chose

[00:14:55] the wrong person but God told them no I'm the one who gave you your voice. I'm the one who's with you.

[00:15:03] I'm the one who's established this plan before you and I'll send a helper with you, your brother,

[00:15:08] Aaron. So what does that thing that God is asking of from you? Don't shy away from it. God wants to

[00:15:16] use it. It will be scary. It will be a sacrifice. It may even feel very uncomfortable but God wants to

[00:15:22] use you in his plan. So Jesus has divine authority over us and the situation. The second thing I want

[00:15:35] you to see here is that Jesus has the prophetic advantage. He doesn't take advantage of people but he

[00:15:43] has a prophetic advantage to his ministry and his kingship, his lordship. Take a look at verse 4.

[00:15:48] This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying say to the daughter of Zion,

[00:15:55] behold your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a cult the full of a beast

[00:16:02] of burden. So right here we're seeing that Jesus a lot of people think that Jesus is actually saying

[00:16:08] this in your Bibles and maybe black letters maybe it's red letters. A lot of people think that Jesus

[00:16:14] said this. So Jesus is saying that he is fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 9. That's where

[00:16:23] this verse comes from. Zechariah 9.9 and he's quoting this to show that he is the king of peace

[00:16:30] coming in on a donkey. So that's like the face value prophecy that we're seeing being fulfilled in

[00:16:36] this moment but can I tell you there's two more prophecies being fulfilled right here? Do I have any

[00:16:42] prophecy nerds in the house? I'm not really one of them but I'm trying to become one a little bit

[00:16:47] but there's two other things happening here. If you hear the word prophecy you're like oh no what church

[00:16:51] did I come to today? Don't worry it's all from scripture and I'm not going to say anything off

[00:16:57] base hopefully and if you are a prophecy nerd then I got you we're doing this right now so

[00:17:03] the the first prophecy is this one from Zechariah 9. Jesus explicitly says it right here. Another

[00:17:10] one is actually coming from the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 9 if you're familiar with Daniel

[00:17:16] chapter 9 you know that Daniel was in fervent prayer for the Israelites people. He was confessing

[00:17:23] sin of people and during his prayer time he received a vision from an angel. An angel came to him

[00:17:31] and said Daniel I have a couple things to tell you number one there's going to be a time very soon

[00:17:38] when a political figure is going to tell the Israelites people you can go and rebuild your city

[00:17:45] and your place of worship. When that happens there'll be a season of 483 years from the time of

[00:17:54] that decree till the time of that 408 three years an anointed king will come into Israel. So Daniel

[00:18:03] received his vision and shortly after the art exerxes, Longimeus said made a decree hey Israelite

[00:18:12] people you can go rebuild your city. You can rebuild your place of worship that was the first part

[00:18:17] of the prophecy Daniel's like all right this angel is on to something but Daniel didn't live to see

[00:18:23] the next 408 three years right he didn't live that long generation after generation didn't see

[00:18:30] this prophecy fulfilled but if you do the math according to the lunar calendar which is not our

[00:18:38] normal calendar right now the lunar calendar you'll see that from the time that that decree was given

[00:18:43] by art exerxes till the time when Jesus entered into Jerusalem was 483 years to the day. I could

[00:18:52] bore you with something like the dates and all that but I don't think it's super helpful right now

[00:18:56] you need to know that Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy from Daniel 9 he is the anointed king

[00:19:03] coming into Israel and the cherry on top here is the third prophecy coming from

[00:19:10] the book of Jeremiah I'm sorry Isaiah 53 where Isaiah says he like a sheep being led to the slaughter

[00:19:18] or a lamb that silent before his shears he did not open his mouth. This is important because Jesus

[00:19:25] arrived into Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nesan. Nesan was the first month according to the Jewish

[00:19:32] calendar and the 10th day was the day when the lands were chosen to be slaughtered for Passover meal

[00:19:41] what does that mean for us right now that means that when Jesus entered into Jerusalem

[00:19:46] not only is he walking in or riding in on a cult fulfilling Zechariah 9 not only is he the anointed

[00:19:54] king fulfilling Daniel 9 but he is the lamb that will be sacrificed for the sins of the people of

[00:20:01] Israel by landing here on the 10th day of Nesan our God is a planner our God is not doing this by mistake

[00:20:10] our God is on time Jesus is not early he is not late he delays things so he can reveal his divinity

[00:20:20] and his power right here he is saying your king has arrived your savior is here peace has now come

[00:20:28] to Israel and what I want to see here is that Jesus uses timing as a method to show his divinity

[00:20:37] Jesus isn't rushed he's not impatient he's fully present while being fully prepared for his future

[00:20:45] he has a schedule that allows him to control the narrative about his sovereignty every single move

[00:20:53] that he made and that he makes is on purpose and it's intended to fill our hearts with confidence

[00:21:00] that he is God that is what these prophecies do they're supposed to be a signal for our souls

[00:21:05] to say oh he is the savior he fulfilled when nobody else could fulfill so what are you waiting on

[00:21:15] for from Jesus today you may be feeling like man I have this thing that God's put my heart

[00:21:21] that has not come to pass yet I want to see this relationship work out I want to see this job

[00:21:29] work out I want to see this move take place I want to see my kids come back home I want to see

[00:21:35] relationships restored whatever it might be you may be praying for this thing and have not seen

[00:21:39] the answer yet I just want to tell you wait wait and wait why because Jesus is always on time

[00:21:52] his plan is always accurate his schedule is intended for a purpose so often we come to our lives

[00:22:00] and we want God to do something right now for me but what Jesus is showing us here is that

[00:22:07] his his timetable it is for our benefit but first and foremost is to show that he is God

[00:22:15] he's above time he is the one who orchestrates and puts things together in ways that we could never

[00:22:21] put together and because of his timing he's revealing parts of himself to us that we can never

[00:22:28] understand fully unless he was on time with his timetable so you may not know yet what God is

[00:22:36] trying to reveal to you about his character in nature as you're waiting but please be patient

[00:22:43] please wait because our God will reveal himself to you he's a personal God and he loves you

[00:22:52] and will support you as you're waiting for that thing to come to pass so Jesus has this prophetic

[00:22:59] advantage over any other king any other ruler the third thing I want you to see here is that

[00:23:06] Jesus has the people's admiration he has the crowds admiration if you look at verse six

[00:23:13] the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them they brought the donkey and the cults

[00:23:19] and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road

[00:23:26] and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road and the crowds that went before

[00:23:31] him and that followed him were shouting Hosanna to the son of David blessed as he who comes in the name

[00:23:40] of the Lord Hosanna in the highest now I want us to see here at the crowd recognize Jesus as a peaceful

[00:23:48] king when a king would come in to a town on a horse for instance they're communicating something

[00:23:57] when a king would come in on a donkey they're communicating another thing I think we have a photo

[00:24:01] here of a horse potentially okay this is this is young Riley in his cowboy era riding a pony okay

[00:24:12] this is not a donkey this is a tiny horse I learned this this week that a pony is just a horse but

[00:24:18] there is certain size so this is candy candy never ran a day in her life die know of she just walked

[00:24:27] walked around her out she was so calm so calm that a little knucklehead could jump on her and it

[00:24:33] would be totally fine to walk around now let's see the next photo that's a donkey donkeys are wild

[00:24:39] they're crazy and so donkeys and horses obviously are a bit different and small horses are different

[00:24:47] than donkeys in this day you know donkeys were tamed people would train their donkeys but a donkey's

[00:24:57] cult a young donkey for maybe an under four years old was essentially like a puppy you know I mean

[00:25:04] they were just they're crazy they're kicking things they're bucking all over the place and

[00:25:08] could bite people and um they weren't really yet to be trained until they became you know of age

[00:25:15] and we're actually a proper donkey Jesus here isn't riding a pony Jesus isn't riding a horse not yet

[00:25:25] someday he'll come back on a white horse but here he's not riding a horse he's not riding a donkey he's

[00:25:31] riding a wild animal a cult it doesn't sound like he had a problem with this cult at all what does

[00:25:40] that mean it means that Jesus can bring order where there's no order Jesus can bring order and

[00:25:48] peace out of chaos do you feel like a wild donkey today don't look at your husband I'm just kidding

[00:25:56] do you feel like you're untamable like there are things in your life you're like I cannot get this

[00:26:02] thing right I keep failing I keep messing up I keep making that same mistake I keep saying that

[00:26:09] same thing I keep doing that thing that I don't want to do over and over and over again can I

[00:26:14] tell you today that Jesus can bring order every chaos when we put Jesus's yoke on us and be controlled

[00:26:25] by his spirit that's the easy path of life he can bring order he can bring comfort he can break bad

[00:26:35] habits he can heal wounds from the past he can make you a new person who can come under authority

[00:26:42] to his sovereign rule and reign I know many of us don't like the idea of coming under authority

[00:26:50] but Jesus' authority is good it's for our benefit and here he shows as he walks into Jerusalem

[00:26:56] on a wild cult that he's got it peace is here he has control over the wildness over the chaos of our

[00:27:06] lives so the people recognized that Jesus was a peaceful king because donkeys

[00:27:15] colds when people would ride on those into the towns that was a sign of peace shalom no war is happening

[00:27:22] now also the crowd welcomed Jesus as royalty you'll notice here they took off their cloaks which

[00:27:30] was the sign of respect for a king is saying hey what I have you can have and wherever I have it's

[00:27:36] it can be used just to be trampled under your feet that's how much I'm willing to give myself

[00:27:41] of you to you and your authority they also cut down branches a lot of people think that these were

[00:27:46] palm branches which were when you wave them in front of somebody was a sign of political allegiance

[00:27:54] that you were on that team you were affiliated with that leader there's a sign of respect

[00:28:00] and authority as well so these people are looking at Jesus the crowd looking at Jesus as he

[00:28:06] steps over the threshold of Jerusalem and they begin to just cover his path with their cloaks

[00:28:14] and with these palm branches signifying that a new king has arrived in town at this time

[00:28:23] during Passover you know there's over two million people in in Israel

[00:28:30] Jesus have been ministering to you know hundreds of people thousands of people he had gathered

[00:28:36] you know a crowd of of a smaller variety I mean five thousand no small number but it's definitely not

[00:28:41] millions Jesus had been doing a private kind of quiet ministry right you look at the gospels

[00:28:48] you see in performing these miracles that are insane and he goes shh don't say anything yet

[00:28:55] it's not time it's not time now it's time now it's time Jesus comes into Israel millions of people seeing

[00:29:04] that whoa there's like a new king here something these people are throwing out cloaks and they're

[00:29:08] waving palm branches who is this person Jesus chose not to hide anymore Jesus chose that everyone

[00:29:18] would see that new sheriff was in town a new king had arrived he wasn't hiding in the shadows

[00:29:24] anymore just performing miracles just one on one he was now about to make a statement that the

[00:29:31] authority of heaven was now in Israel so the crowd recognized Jesus as royalty and the crowd

[00:29:40] surrounded Jesus with worship I love this you know the crowd was it says behind him and before him

[00:29:48] shouting Hosanna Hosanna save now why would they say that about Jesus these people were in turmoil

[00:29:58] they were restless there are restless people waiting for a king who would love them and serve

[00:30:03] them and care for their needs they saw Jesus the miracles he had performed and said this is our guy

[00:30:09] this is the one who's going to save us who's going to fully redeem our lives bring us into that

[00:30:14] piece that we haven't yet known yet in life he's here Hosanna and they say the son of David

[00:30:24] that name that is a prophecy essentially of a future king who would sit on the throne of David be

[00:30:31] the king of the Israelites they're saying the king we've been waiting for the son of David

[00:30:37] is now here to Hosanna to save us now so this is their this is their worship before and behind him

[00:30:45] I love this because it shows that the crowd was desperate for Jesus isn't that beautiful

[00:30:51] that's the heart of worship the heart of worship is not that we come to church and stand still

[00:30:55] and say I got my life together and I'm good to go I'll sing some songs because God deserves it

[00:31:01] and I'll go home now worship comes from a place of desperation of knowing man I have got this all

[00:31:08] wrong in my life I've come to the end of trying to find my own piece I've come to the end of trying

[00:31:14] to make things right on my own and saying I need some something someone else so these people

[00:31:23] they had that heart of desperation they knew they needed saving and they saw Jesus as their person

[00:31:31] and they were enthusiastic about it they shouted about it I'm not telling us that we got to shout

[00:31:35] here in church or anything I think they're shouting because there's millions of people and they

[00:31:39] want everybody to know it's like an even evangelistic tool of the time there's no megaphone

[00:31:45] they're just yelling Hosanna our king is here by love that they're enthusiastic they just shows

[00:31:52] that there was a real hunger for this king you know Dallas Willard once said we don't believe something

[00:31:58] by merely saying we believe it or even when we believe that we believe it we believe something

[00:32:06] when we act as if it were true and that's what this crowd is doing man they are they're not just

[00:32:12] talking about it they're not just thinking it they're demonstrating this is real our king is here

[00:32:19] is that our heart today are we enthusiastic about the king or we kind of you know vanilla

[00:32:26] about our faith in Jesus this is not to bring you know a shame or make you feel bad today just

[00:32:33] of genuine question like do I have that enthusiasm about my savior I would encourage you you know if

[00:32:39] we if you don't have that I'd encourage you to get in that quiet place investigate your own life

[00:32:48] come into contact with the real sin that is in your life because what happens when we come face to

[00:32:55] face with our sin when we see man I have done wrong I am wicked I have done wrong before this

[00:33:01] righteous God in heaven we can come to that place we recognize our total depravity and that's where

[00:33:08] the save now attitude comes from I need saving I need help to be in that place and come to contact

[00:33:17] with Jesus and no Jesus offers to save me he willingly gave his life for me on a cross to forgive

[00:33:26] of all this stuff I've done he he offers me new life he offers me peace he offers me his spirit so that

[00:33:36] I can be empowered for a whole new way of living like I want that I want that we can come to the

[00:33:43] depths of our depravity and Jesus does a great job of revealing that to us as we look at his life

[00:33:48] and as he touches our heart with his spirit in his word we can come to our depravity and see at the same

[00:33:54] time his goodness and his power and his love the connection that he extends to us so we can

[00:34:01] be tethered to our father in heaven through that reality that cosmic swirl of grace that's

[00:34:09] where enthusiasm can really be juiced up in our lives and so I encourage you don't just push your

[00:34:16] sin off to the side yes God has forgotten our sins it says in scripture so he can have a pure

[00:34:22] relationship with us but it's good to have a little bit of a touch point with our old selves

[00:34:30] so we know what we've been saved from and saved for amen Charles Spurgeon once said

[00:34:37] it's a mark of Christ's presence when the church becomes enthusiastic we sometimes hear complaints

[00:34:43] about revivals being too exciting perhaps the censure is deserved but I would like to see a little

[00:34:50] of the fault this age does not generally sin in the direction of being too excited concerning

[00:34:56] divine things we have aired so long on the other side that perhaps a little excess in the direction

[00:35:03] of fervor might not be the worst of all calamities at any rate I would not fear to try it and I agree

[00:35:11] with him like he's right on the fourth and last thing I want you to see today is that Jesus turns

[00:35:16] the crowd into advocates he turns the crowd into advocates verse 10 says and when he entered

[00:35:25] Jerusalem the whole city was stirred up saying who is this and the crowds said this is the prophet

[00:35:34] Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee the crowd became advocates as they testified about Jesus

[00:35:44] Robert E. Coleman in his book The Master Plan for Evangelism said only as the spirit of Christ in us

[00:35:51] exalts the sun are men then drawn unto the Father in other words when God's spirit gets into our

[00:35:59] lives it's Christ's spirit who does the work of evangelism to touch other people's lives and to

[00:36:05] pull them into saving faith and Christ is not it's not just like what we do you know we put a lot

[00:36:11] burden on ourselves like God I should have that conversation oh I should be praying more for my friends

[00:36:15] oh if I don't do this then they're not going to get saved like we should be faithful amen we should

[00:36:20] be talking to God confessing our need for him but at the end of the day man it is God's spirit inside

[00:36:27] of us that is doing the ministry work of saving and redeeming people our responsibilities allow

[00:36:34] God to crack us open break our pride so we can allow his spirit to be released in our lives I think

[00:36:41] that's what's happening here at the crowd God's spirit is at work in this moment supporting Jesus

[00:36:49] in this entrance into the city and I believe that he's ministering to the the crowd here it's

[00:36:56] that's what enabled them to say oh you're asking who this is this is the prophet Jesus our savior from

[00:37:03] Nazareth of Galilee it's only because of the spirit's presence that there was even the ability

[00:37:13] to speak this kind of truth in front of people who didn't know who Jesus was when trying to say

[00:37:18] here is that our job as advocates as as the crowd is simply a testify of Jesus's character

[00:37:28] in ministry as Jesus's job his spirit's job to stir people up and pull them into relationship

[00:37:35] with him so I hope you can take a deep breath today knowing that our God's spirit does the work

[00:37:42] but we want to be faithful to be advocates we want to be faithful to speak to worship to go before

[00:37:48] Jesus behind Jesus to throw our cloaks on the ground wave our branches say I'm bought in I'm

[00:37:54] all in on Jesus his authority his rule I want to be a servant in his kingdom I want to talk about it

[00:38:02] I want to be loud about it I want to be full of love about it that's the heart of the crowd so

[00:38:09] again the question today is will you jump on the bus we be part of the crowd that says I am all

[00:38:18] in I'm following Jesus he has the prophetic advantage he has the total authority he has the

[00:38:26] advocates he has the admiration do you choose to say I want to buy in to this person fully God

[00:38:36] fully man or do you want to be like the city huh who is his person I don't really want to know

[00:38:42] anything more it's just kind of weird and I'll kind of let him do his thing and I'll do my thing

[00:38:48] or do you have the heart of the religious leaders that we don't read about here but you will see

[00:38:53] throughout this next week of passion we who say I don't want anything

[00:38:58] about this man in my life I don't want him to touch my life I don't want his authority at all

[00:39:04] what word do you sit today the invitation is to jump on the bus Jesus is going to the cross

[00:39:11] going to the resurrection going back up into heaven he's going to offer his spirit to the people

[00:39:18] will you jump on with him in your life as you experience that crucifixion that resurrection

[00:39:24] and that experience of the spirit with you today as a gift from Jesus

[00:39:34] thank you for listening if you would like more teachings and information about Calvary Monare

[00:39:39] please visit calvary.com you can also find books teachings through the Bible and articles

[00:39:45] marleypaster at Nateholdrich.com thanks again for tuning in see you next week