Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Declaring Victory | Holy Week 2025
The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday reveals a profound spiritual truth—we can declare His victory even before we see it manifest in our circumstances. As the crowd laid palm branches and personal cloaks before Jesus, they were making powerful declarations about His worth and identity as the promised Messiah.
Those palm fronds weren't just convenient decorations; in the scorching Middle Eastern climate, they represented precious shade. By cutting and laying them down, people demonstrated that Jesus was worth more than their comfort. Similarly, their cloaks represented social status and personal identity—laying these down showed a willingness to surrender everything for Christ. These weren't empty gestures but heartfelt expressions of worship flowing from deep conviction about who Jesus was.
This Palm Sunday message challenges us to examine what we're declaring through our worship. Are we lifting high the name of Jesus with the same enthusiasm we show for sports teams or entertainment? Are we making declarative statements about His victory over our circumstances, regardless of what we can currently see? The crowd's cries of "Hosanna to the Son of David" recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy, even though they didn't fully understand the spiritual nature of His kingdom.
The cleansing of the temple further illustrates how Jesus makes room for holy purposes. By driving out those who had commercialized worship, He created space for healing the blind and lame. Similarly, He wants to clear away anything in our lives that hinders His work of restoration and transformation. When we align our hearts with His purposes, we position ourselves to experience His blessing and provision in supernatural ways.
Ready to declare Christ's victory over every area of your life? Join us for Holy Week services including Good Friday reflections and Easter Sunday celebrations. Let's proclaim together that Jesus is Lord over every circumstance, every challenge, and every broken place in our world.
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Amen. Today is Palm Sunday, and so we're excited about that, because it's an opportunity for us to declare the victory of Jesus as he becomes the Messiah coming into the city in Jerusalem. And so that's what we're talking about today is this idea of declaring the victory of what Jesus has already accomplished on our behalf. Did you know? That's exactly what this means. As he came into the city all those years ago, he became the sacrifice for us all and he was taking on the weight, the sin, of the world. But as he came into the city, they were celebrating the arrival of the promised Messiah. They were celebrating that he had arrived, that all the promises, all the prophetic words that have been coven by the prophets were coming to culmination in Jesus. And so they're declaring that moment and that's what we get an opportunity to do as well that we make a declarative statement saying Jesus, we are victorious in you because you are already victorious. How many people know what I'm talking about? And as the children of God, then we declare your victory over everything, over hell and death and the grave. And so today is a day to get to declare those things and to establish who Jesus is, to worship him with all that we have Amen. Now I was thinking about this idea of making a banner and declaring it.
Speaker 1:And I grew up and I was a drummer and so I love making a bunch of racket and a bunch of noise and you know, it's like how my parents didn't make me live outside with the drum, I don't know, but I survived. And so I was drum line and so we would drum all the time, we practice all the time and man, we're going after it. It's bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. You know drumming, doing all the practices, and we had a really good band. It was a really big band. We had a big drum section and so we would practice all the time doing formations and we're marching and we're drumming, and you had to look the part, you had to keep it together, keep it still and keep all your sticking correct, and it was really fun. It was really loud, I really liked it, and so it was fun.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that was a drawback was that our band also had a flag line. Now, I'm not against the flag line. I think the flag line does a great job. They're very demonstrative, they're doing cool movements and stuff.
Speaker 1:But the problem was is that our director put the flag line right in front of us and they also, for some reason, decided that everybody on the flag line needed to wear spandex. And about 90% of the people, including me, definitely should not have been wearing spandex, but they were anyway. And so we're trying not to look at that and also not look at our feet as we're marching and try to pay attention to your sticking, and I'm like this is a problem. And then there's a guy behind us who's very uncomfortable about his girlfriend was on the flag line. He's like don't look at her. We're like we're not looking at her, man, we're trying to drum. And then meanwhile they're like doing the flag, rocking the spandex. We're like this is not right, man, this is not right.
Speaker 1:But you can see why they would do it. I mean it made a lot of effect. I mean they have these big flags, they're waving, and you know we're sports fans. You know I support PSG from our time in Paris and we became champions this year of League On, so you could see where they would use the flag. They would use this to declare all that they had accomplished. So they're saying listen, we are champions, we have done this thing, and so they have this massive flags that they're right in the front of everybody who's watching the game, but nobody cares, because this is our team and this is our statement about our team. See, it's this idea of like, hey, what are you proclaiming, what are you declaring out to other people. I think about this as we talk about.
Speaker 1:Declaration is that it's a banner that we talk about this thing. That's a statement that we're making as we worship things. You know, I'm a sports fan. Like I said, I cheer. I'm like cheering. You can see, in my house I'll cheer at my TV. Let's go. I know they can't hear me, but in spirit they're gonna do faster or do better or make the putt or whatever's going on. You know what I mean. And for them and you see this so often as people celebrate this is one of the players from our team. He's excited man, they're winning and what does he do? He takes his country flag and he's running around with his country flag. Why? Because that's where he's from. It's a declarative statement saying, hey, I'm celebrating, I'm also a part of this group right here too, this is also my nation, I'm representing them, I'm a champion of this team, but I'm also a champion from this, and so that's what they're declaring with their actions. And that's what we're doing too.
Speaker 1:As we worship and cheer for things is that we are also declaring stuff. We're worshiping things, if you will, and so when we talk about things, about our attitude and our perspective as we're worshiping the Lord, then if we're demonstrative in cheering for sports, we better be demonstrative in cheering for the Lord, and I understand people that are reserved. I respect that because you're doing something inside, but I would challenge you that if you're doing other things, other places, then you would have it all be the same, that you would be one that cheers for the Lord louder than what you cheer for your team, because one of them is eternal and the other one might have a star as their logo for their football team. So you get the idea. I'm gonna move on America. So you see, I'm also a big fan of action movies, and one of the action movies that I really liked is the Patriot, and in the Patriot, the thing is they're battling for the independence of America, and it's this concept that really hasn't been cauterized, it hasn't been established yet, and so they're fighting these big battles, and the narrative here, with Mel Gibson's character is that the banner, the flag it falls, and so he takes up the flag to lift the flag back up and declare that we are still in the fight.
Speaker 1:Do not give up the idea. The dream is still alive, we are still moving forward, we are still going after these things that we believe in, that we're fighting for. He's raising up a standard that says this is what we're doing, this is what we're about. Do not give up and see, as Christ followers, we have that standard. It's called the cross, and so the cross for us is the standard for all time, saying that our sins have been forgiven. Here is the freedom we're experiencing. Here is the great cost that it costs Jesus. He took on all of our sin and all of our brokenness and all of our hurt, all of our crushed dreams. He took on all of our sin and all of our brokenness and all of our hurt, all of our crushed dreams. He took all of it to the cross and died once and for all so we could be made whole in the name of Jesus Christ. So when we see the cross, we see freedom and we see forgiveness and we see a future that is in him. We are victorious because we belong to Jesus. We are victorious because we belong to Jesus, and so when we start declaring victory, we're doing so as a worship of him. With all that we do, when we live the way of the cross every day, we're doing so as an example of what it means to lift up the name of Christ. Today, as we look at Palm Sunday, we look at these palm fronds and it doesn't mean a lot to us on the face, but see, in their day it meant a lot and we'll go into it today.
Speaker 1:But this idea was that they were taking something significant and they were using it as a banner. They were using it as a standard. They're using it as something to declare the Messiah has come, he's arrived, he's here, and, friends that I also declare Hosanna, I worship him, I'm declaring his victory as the Messiah, the one that's going to change everything for me. And just like they did 2,000 years ago in celebrating the Lord today, we also worship him in this way today, saying, lord, that you are Lord over every circumstance of my life, over everything I'm facing, over every situation. Lord, you are already victorious, you already have the victory. We declare the victory and we belong to you because we are the children of God. And so, friends, today, as we look at Palm Sunday, we rejoice because the Lord is on our side and he is for us Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, if we haven't met my name is Jay it's a blessing to be here and to be able to worship together in this community of faith. We'll say this not all of us know that we are still on a journey in following Jesus. None of us has arrived, and so we use this imagery of Jesus walking with his disciples because that's who we are, that none of us are perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. So we're still following Jesus every day, whenever we're walking after him, it's our ambition to be more like Jesus, and so whenever we're doing that as individuals, we also collectively are those who want to love God and make disciples and reach the world, and that's why we give generously to kingdom builders. It's why we're intentional to be in life groups. It's why we connect and grow and serve together. It's because that's who we are is that we're on this mission to be more like him.
Speaker 1:So, as we look at this Palm Sunday idea and this narrative, we pick up here where Jesus is now riding this donkey into the city to go and become the sacrifice for us all. And you can think about that imagery we talked about it in the past where Jesus he goes and he has this donkey that he's riding in on. And you could see this depiction of it here from the chosen, where Jesus is riding into the city. And it's specific because he's not coming in on a war horse like the Caesars would do, or pulled in a chariot like others of notoriety, or even held up on posts and carried in by people like some would do. No, he's coming in as a humble servant of his purpose. He's coming in not as the lion of Judah, which is what he is. He's the conquering king who will rule forever. He's the creator God who was there in the beginning. In the beginning was the word. He was there. He emptied himself of all of that to become the sacrifice, the lamb of God, who's now riding this donkey to become the sacrifice for us all. And see even his disciples who were walking with him. They didn't understand all the weight of what they were dealing with as they walked into the city. They'd already been following him, they'd already had Passover meals with Jesus. Now they're coming into the city.
Speaker 1:But something is different, because people are anticipating his arrival and the city starts to stir and they start to get wound up because they're excited. Jesus is arriving, he's coming into Jerusalem for Passover. He is the Messiah. He's gonna set everything correct. He's the one they've talked about forever. So they go out and they start to grab the branches, they start to take them off the trees, they start to pass them to each other and it says that they were using them, that they were waving them, that they were laying them down at his feet, that they were taking off their very cloaks to do the same. It picks up here in scripture of your Bible your tablet, your phone this morning, we. It picks up here in scripture of your Bible your tablet, your phone this morning. We're gonna be walking a little bit through Matthew 21. It says in verse eight most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
Speaker 1:You know we talked about in the past this idea of cloaks. It's very much what it established who a person was. It showed their kind of their status, on how nice your garment was. You know whether or not you were a shepherd out in the field and you smelled like sheep or not, you know, or if you were nice and put together and pious and all this other stuff, and you had real fancy clothes, it was very important, so it was very much what they had. So what they're doing, by laying their cloaks down on the floor, they're laying their garments down on the floor in front of Jesus is it's a sign of worth? It's a sign of his worth and who he is, that they'll give everything they have, even the very thing that gives them status, and they'll lay that down in front of Jesus. They'll take it off themselves. It's like what he was saying about turning the other cheek and about giving your cloak and tunic too. It's about going the extra mile, about giving from your heart.
Speaker 1:And see, that's what happens with the branches too, man. You think about branches, branches, you know, to us it's like, okay, no big deal, we go and have to pay the tree trimmer to do the branches. But that's not how it was back then, man, branches are vital because the Middle East is like here, it's hot baby. That means that any piece of shade super valuable. And I know you guys, man, you guys will park way off into a parking lot to be under one little stick of shade, one little stick. Into a parking lot to be under one little stick of shade, one little stick. You're like I got it. I got the shade. You back in. You know you're willing to chance the birds defecating on your car right Just for the shade. And they're literally taking the shade, they're taking something precious and they're taking those down to lay in front of him saying you are worth more.
Speaker 1:We lay all of this at your feet and see, it wasn't about the cloaks and it wasn't really about the branches, it was really about their heart. See, whenever we start talking about things people get wrapped up about, oh, it's about they want this, they want money or they want these other things. No, friends, he wants your heart. That's what God wants as a steward of all these things. That's what makes us up is that we have our time, our talent, our testimony, our treasury and we're given these things. To be a steward over that means to look after them, and as we do that, then it means that we want to be those who are giving all of these things to the Lord.
Speaker 1:Now, so often we don't do that. We actually maybe give them one or two. So maybe we're someone that it gives them of our treasury, but we won't really give them our time, we won't really use our testimony and we definitely aren't using our talent, because I'm too busy for that. Or maybe, man, I'm serving a lot, I'm using my time and using the other part of who I am and my blessings and all that God has given me. But I don't really want to give. I'm already given a lot of time. See, god is like that's great. I don't care about your stuff, I want your heart, and when I have your heart, then all the rest of the stuff is on the table because it won't matter to you, because I can give you more of all of that. In fact, I'm the one that even dictates your time when you come see me face to face. So if you want to use your time for God, it's time well spent because it's time that's eternal. So if you want to use your time for God, it's time well spent because it's time that's eternal.
Speaker 1:So as we talk about the worship of God and we start laying things at his feet, it's really a heart issue on what we're doing and how we're worshiping the Lord with all that we have. So as they lay down their cloaks in front of the donkey who's walking on them, as they lay down the shade, the branches, as they lay them in front of him, it's a declaration. It's like what they would do for a conquering king. They're laying them in front of Jesus, saying the Messiah has arrived. You could see him walking in and how that would be taken. They're excited. There's a buzz in the city, there's an excitement that's there.
Speaker 1:Then it picks up here in scripture. It starts to talk about what they said Matthew 21, nine. It says and the crowds that went before him and that follow him were shouting Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, in the highest. They're declaring who Jesus is. They're worshiping him. And it says this whenever we look at Hosanna we're like okay, what does that mean?
Speaker 1:The translation is something like pray, save us. It's a declarative statement to Jesus, saying Lord, save us, be our salvation, be our Messiah. And it's not just that, but it's also a praise. It's the way they're saying it. They're declaring it to him, saying save us. Oh Lord, you are our salvation, you are our strength. It's also an idea of joy. It comes from inside of them. It's this declarative thing of joy saying Lord, you are our joy. It is you that we have hope in. Lord, help us, come to us, come to us, lord, help us, come to us.
Speaker 1:We see this so clearly because what they say about him, they call him the son of David, and the son of David is very specific because it talks about his heritage. It comes about where Jesus is down from his lineage, and the beginning of the Gospels talks about this. From the very beginning it says this lineage and most of us want to skip right over that because it's a lot of names. We can't pronounce most of them and I made you come up and read them on a microphone, you'd be terrified because it's hard to say, even as a pastor. I'm like and you know the story, it's a and Mary and Joseph and then Jesus. Right, I'm like there was David and there was a and then Jesus. And the reason is because it's tough man, it's like it's a big thing.
Speaker 1:But that's really important to them because this is the promises that were made by the prophet, that the prophecy was saying this is gonna come down this line of David. Guess what? In the meantime the Assyrians stole half of them, and then the Babylonians stole a bunch of them, and then they had to come back to Jerusalem, and so the lineage of David was not in command. The lineage of David is not the king there, it's someone set up by the Romans. They think Jesus is coming to overthrow the Romans and liberate that and become the king himself. They're celebrating him because he's coming in. They think he's gonna overthrow the whole thing. He is, but he's overthrowing it for everybody, not just for them.
Speaker 1:So the son of David becomes a declarative statement and saying that the promise that happens there, the son of David, goes all the way back to the first promises that God made to Abraham, all the way back in Genesis 12, when the Lord is saying to Abraham and calling him out leave your family, your father's house, go to the place I will show you. He had to take a step of faith. And so he's saying Lord, I want an heir, I want to be these things. The Lord's saying I will make you like the stars of the sky, I will make you like the sand of the seashore, I will make these things of you, says the Lord. It's a promise to you for the future, and he saw it come fulfilled. But he was thinking in the physical like these will be my physical people that come from my lineage, and the Lord has done that.
Speaker 1:Millions of people come from Abraham, but in the same way, we, the children of God, who are grafted into his family by faith, through the work of the Holy Spirit and through the work of Christ, we too belong to him. We too are a fulfillment of those things, and so it's a promise that's fulfilled. But in their day, they're looking for Jesus, they're looking for the Messiah, they're looking for the son of David to arrive. And you think about that. You think about how they were led by prophets and they were led by all these people. But they weren't happy with that. They needed a king, or so they thought.
Speaker 1:So they picked a guy who was strong and handsome, named Saul, and he was up there. Man, that guy could have wore spandex all day. You know what I mean? Like he was it. He was a one, but the thing was the very thing that made him king, which was the rule over the people of God.
Speaker 1:With a godly heart, he turned away from it, and so the Lord took his anointing off of Saul and put it on someone who already had the heart of worship towards him. And so, even though Saul had the power, saul had the position, saul had the authority to send people into battle, he did not have the anointing of God. No, the anointing of God was on a shepherd boy out in the field. And so what the Lord saw in David was someone who already had courage. He already fought the bear, he already fought the lion. He was the one who was already worshiping him out underneath the stars and underneath the trees, and he's singing and he's playing the harp, and it's anointed because his heart is after God.
Speaker 1:And so, when we think about David and we think about all that he did, he did it in the power and the boldness of God. When he faces off against the great giant, who everybody was shrieking back from for many, many days, he did so in the boldness of God and he takes on the giant and he follows the giant. And then he fights the Philistines and he has war against them and he claims all these people's, their lives, to go and to win back Saul's daughter. And he gets all these things, but he does so in the power of God and he gives God glory the whole way. See, he understood that it was about the heart after God, and as long as he had a heart after God, then there was nothing that could stop him, because he was in alignment with the most high God.
Speaker 1:And whenever they found the Ark of the Covenant in the temple to bring to the temple, when they found the Ark of the Covenant and they were bringing it in, he was the one that was leading the procession. He, as the king, was the one that was the biggest worshiper. He was out in front, he was leading the way and he was acting a fool. He's dancing, he's breaking it loose, he's doing the nay-nay and the whole thing. He had all of it.
Speaker 1:And what was amazing about that is that he didn't care, because he had an audience of one and it was just the Lord, just the Lord. He didn't care. It wasn't his mighty men, it wasn't all these people that were behind him carrying the thing. No, he was worshiping the Lord and his wife, who he had earned, you know, the right to marry her from Saul, and she was a princess and she becomes his queen and all these things. She shames him and she was a princess and she becomes his queen and all these things. She shames him. She's like what are you doing, acting a fool? And he's like I'll be more reckless than this because I'm just worshiping God. And I can tell you, man, as I you know, I used to love to dance and have fun, you know, at a wedding or something, celebrate, have a good time, and it's like these kinds of things when I became a pastor. No, no more of that. I'm very holy and God had to challenge that in me. He's like are you living for me or are you trying to look like you're holy? Where's your heart at? What is your heart declaring?
Speaker 1:When we start to look at this, we see the declaration comes very much in the worship of the heart. That's what David was doing. So when they're proclaiming that Jesus is the son of David, they're saying that he is in the same heart. He is the anointed one of Israel that all of the prophecy came to tell about. He is the one that they're declaring. The word of God is being fulfilled in Jesus. So as they're celebrating him and declaring his victory, it's before he has done any of these things, because he already is victorious in who he is and we think about that, in the way that we live and the way that we have our faith in him, is that we would be in alignment with him, so that we too would understand the victory that God has for us. See, that's why we pray the prayer of faith, is because he said to pray the prayer of faith. This week, pastor Rich was sharing a great word with our seniors at the senior brunch and he had us stop and anoint and pray for people, and that's because that's what the scripture says.
Speaker 1:And we're very thankful for medical personnel we have lots of them in our church for doctors and nurses and all sorts of people that help us. But I'll tell you this we still contend for the divine healing in the name of Jesus Christ. We still believe in healing and we still believe in restoration and we still believe in provision. We still believe in the open door and the closed door and wisdom that comes from him, and we pray for all those things because we are victorious in Jesus. And that's why, when it says blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, we too, in alignment with him, are getting the blessing of God because we're walking in the purpose of God and the plan of God and we are walking out the very thing that he's called us to do.
Speaker 1:So we're not held back by any other thing. We're in alignment with him, and that's what makes it so different from walking in alignment with God every day and just occasionally dropping into church and throwing the Hail Mary prayer at God, like please help me. And then God, in his grace and mercy, will many times still answer that prayer. But then us in our, in our ignorance, we'll be like great, then I'm good, I'm going to go back and do what I was doing before, instead of no, I'm going to come into alignment with who God is and live in this blessing of God that I can experience by walking in step with him. Does it mean we'll experience hardship? Yes, we will, everyone does.
Speaker 1:It goes on the just and the unjust, but what it means is that we'll walk in alignment with the blessing of God that we count out pace. That's why, when we start talking about he who comes in the name of the Lord Yahweh, the I am, who did he say? He says tell them the I am sent you. And so whenever they ask Jesus, who are you, he says I am the I am, and he's the one who's declaring I have come for this purpose to become the ultimate sacrifice for you. And we can think about it as they're waving the palm frond, as they're declaring Hosanna and they're calling out to him.
Speaker 1:You can see it from Jesus' perspective, where he understands that most of this crowd will turn their back on him. Where he understands that most of this crowd will turn their back on him. Most of this crowd will not be at the foot of the cross. Most of this crowd will go and do the popular thing, but he goes and he comes to sacrifice anyway because he loves us that much. He loves us even when we turn our back on him and he calls us back to himself and he is merciful many times over, and he calls a prodigal from the far end of the places and he calls them to himself because he loves you and he has a future and a plan that's more important than anything else that you can try to experience. And so, friends, that's exactly what he wants to do in every single person's life. That's in that crowd and in your life as well, that he has that kind of intentionality towards you, that he loves you that much, and so that's why we, as the people of God, we respond, and we respond in worship. We respond because our worship is a weapon against the darkness. Our worship is one that's declaring the victory of what Jesus has already done. It's declaring who he is and what he wants to do in us.
Speaker 1:It continues for a little bit here. It's interesting as things shift, but it talks about this in scripture. It says they said whenever he entered in Jerusalem, the city was stirred up, saying who is this? And I think so often that's the question that people ask us is about our experience of being a Christ follower. Is well, who is Jesus to you, who is this for you? And you have the opportunity, led by the Holy Spirit, to share your story, your testimony, to those who ask you and I'm not talking about beating someone over the head with something. I'm talking about when prompted to answer by faith and to tell them the story of the redemption you've experienced, the grace you've experienced, the love you've experienced, the forgiveness you've experienced. To tell the story.
Speaker 1:We think about Jesus, and I love the depiction from the Chosen about how they portray him to be and they're talking about oh, this is Jesus, he's a prophet, but to the crowd that understands, he's way more than that. See, he's the fulfillment, he is the Messiah. In scripture it says that he goes to the temple mount to worship, but he's shocked by what he sees. You can see the crowd of people that would be there and how they'd be there especially for Passover, to go and make all their worship and to go and make sacrifice. And he comes in there and he's shocked. It says in Matthew 21, 12,.
Speaker 1:And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of all those who sold pigeons. Jesus has this righteous indignation, this anger that comes from the Lord, because he's seeing how they've gone and they turned away from the worship, which is the point to try to make money for their pockets, which becomes their God. So they're turning away from the very thing that they're supposed to be doing to try to make a buck off the people that are coming in. And they've also taken the space that's made for those who are coming in from the outside. They've taken all that space up with all of their money changing. So, jesus, he makes a whip and drives them out of that place.
Speaker 1:And I love this because there's a righteousness to them. It says it here, he addresses them directly. He says to them it is written my house should be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. See, that's what he calls us to be as a house of prayer, and not just a building where we meet, but us as the people of God and whenever we meet together. We would have a heart that becomes a house of prayer, a place where he inhabits our praises, our hearts together. That's why, when Jesus is driving them out, he's very much saying that I'm driving this stuff out to clear the way for what I want to do in you. That's what he was doing in this space. He's clearing the way for what he wanted to do. In fact, it says right after there what he did, and you could see that imagery.
Speaker 1:It says the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them, friends. He healed them, but first he had to make room to heal them. He had to make room for what he wanted to do and that's why he drove all that stuff out. That's why he'll challenge stuff inside of us, because he wants to get rid of all those other alternative motives. He wants to have a relationship with you, intentional focus with you. That's what he wants from you that you would live a life with that intensity, because he has a miracle coming for you. But you have to get rid of the other stuff and get it out of the way. That way he can do the healing that he was called to do, and that's what he does. It says that he healed all of them, the lame of the way. That way he could do the healing that he was called to do, and that's what he does. It says that he healed all of them, the lame and the blind. He restores them, he heals them because that's what he came to do. When he opened the scroll and said what his mission was about, it was about this very thing that he came to heal and to restore, and that's why he became the sacrifice for us all.
Speaker 1:The very end of this scripture. It picks up and says this when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done and heard the children crying out in the temple Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. They were mad about what he was doing. But I love what the children are saying, because children are innocent, children feel it from their spirit. So they see jesus and they say to him messiah, son of david, you are the one. We declare the victory for you, thanks. We declare the victory for you that you are the messiah. You're the fulfillment of everything that we have tried, that we have looked for, everything that we have looked forward to. You are him, and so we declare the victory that you have.
Speaker 1:Friends, that's our challenge today is that we too would be those that declare Jesus's victory over everything in our life, despite the circumstances we're dealing with, in the middle of our difficulty, in the middle of the thing that would give us stress and keep us up late at night. That we give those things over to him and declare his victory over it in the name of Jesus, and we come into alignment with what his plan and his purpose is for our life, and we start living with him first and see all the blessing of God outrun you in what you're doing. Whenever we live in alignment with him. Friends, that's what it is today is. Will you worship him with all that you have, so that you can live in alignment, to declare the victory over your life?
Speaker 1:Today we have this opportunity to respond to the Lord. It's a question that each one of us has to answer. And have you embraced Jesus? Each one of us has to answer it for ourself. No one can do it for you, and that's what's amazing about it is his love and his grace for us and how he came and become the sacrifice for all people for all time. And so whenever we say yes to Jesus, we're embracing the sacrifice he made for us on the cross. I remember we talked about how the cross is a banner for us. It's a standard, it's established. All he's done for us. He took our sin, our mistakes, our brokenness. He's taken that onto himself so he can restore us, so he can forgive us, so he can become the one that bridges the gap, because he's the holy sacrifice for the Holy Father.
Speaker 1:Friends, the Apostle Paul, he writes to the church at Rome. He says this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified. With the mouth, one confesses and is saved. Today is your opportunity. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life to make the life change that you've been looking for. I'm gonna ask everyone in the room if you would. If you just stand to your feet and bow your head right where you're at, as Christians are praying friends. I've been praying for you. I've been praying that you would embrace Jesus, that you would invite him into your heart and life, that you'd make the life change that you're looking for, that you'd find the fulfillment in the very thing that you're looking for, the only answer, which is Jesus.
Speaker 1:Today, if you have that opportunity to say yes, you have the opportunity to invite him into your heart and life, to say Lord, forgive me of my sins. Lord, I wanna follow you. You've heard the challenge that's here. You've heard his love for you, his focus for you and today's opportunity to respond. I challenge you today that you would raise your hand and say, pastor, that's me. I want to be one that invites Christ into my heart and life. Or maybe you have made it in the past, but you haven't been living for God. You need to make that recommitment to him Today. That you would raise your hand and say, lord, I want to invite you into my heart and life, that you would raise your hand and say, lord, I want to invite you into my heart and life. That you'd be the Lord of my life not just the Savior, but the Lord of my life. That I would live this intentionality, that I would celebrate your victory Today as heads are bowed. If that's you, if that's you and you want to invite Christ into your heart and life, as heads are bowed and Christians are praying, if you just raise your hand right where you're at, say that's me, pastor, include me today in that prayer. I want to make a prayer to follow Jesus, to invite him into my heart and life. You see the hand that's there. Other people thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Others in the sound of my voice. See those hands that are coming up. Lord, thank you.
Speaker 1:Friends online making a decision to follow Jesus, I'm gonna ask everyone if they would just pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name, I pray Amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice in you making a decision to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1:People that raised their hand today praise the Lord. Hey, that was you. Connect with us so we can put some materials in your hands, so you can be successful living for Christ. If you're online, message us. We don't want you to live this life alone. We want you to be connected in to what God has for us.
Speaker 1:Now, all of us that are already Christ followers, our challenge is this that we declare the victory over our lives of what God has already done, that we get anything out of the way that's fighting against what he wants to do in our lives, that we would come to him and worship him with everything.
Speaker 1:And so we open up this altar to you today to say this that you would draw near to God and ask him for more of his spirit, for more of his empowerment to live this thing out, for more of his empowerment to live this thing out, to see his victory and declare who he is in our lives. Amen, lord, we thank you so much and as we come to you today, lord, we do all with intentionality. Lord, we do with a heart that loves you. Lord, we declare your victory over everything that we're walking in. And so, lord, we come to you as our source, as our provision, as the God who heals, as the God who provides and gives wisdom, lord, the God who directs us. Lord, we thank you for all these things and we declare your victory over them in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 2:It is that easy to invite someone, and so I want to encourage you. As you head out, you'll see these Easter flyers that are out there. We want to be like Tyler and we want to invite a friend, and I just want to encourage you with this. There are people out there who need the hope of the Lord. And just invite them. You never know what they'll do, but they may show up and they may have the Lord just touch their life, and so if you grab some of these, pray over them, hand them out.
Speaker 2:We just want to see God move in our families and our friends and our neighborhoods. So I want to encourage you to do that. And also, if you're a guest and we haven't met you yet maybe you've been coming to the church for the last few months we're having party with the pastor right after this. It'll be on the east side of the building. There's a conference room. If you have children, grab them first and then come and join us. But we want to just be able to put a face to a name and say hello, answer some questions for you. It's going to be a fun time and so really informal, but we just want to take the moment to meet you.
Speaker 1:Amen. It's Holy Week, so we have a lot of great things that are coming up. This week, including Good Friday, we'll be having a service a little different than we normally do here, from seven to eight on Friday, and it's actually going to be a reflections station, so different than a normal service. We'll have a worship set that's here, but you can come and actually just spend amount of time if you'd like. You don't have to stay the whole time, but it'll be some reflection stations for you to think about the great sacrifice of Christ has made for us and to really take in what that is introspection as well. It's a powerful time. Those who participated last year could tell you. So bring a friend, let that be a blessing to you. And then Sunday we have two services 9 and 11. If you guys remember 11 o'clock, you're here now, so bring a friend. You see I have a little bit of space in this service, but we're really getting full on the first service, which is great, because next week we're going to plan to open up the balcony to people who are going to come and be there. So invite some friends, let them come and be a blessing to worship the Lord together. Amen.
Speaker 1:Before we go. I want to pray this blessing over us, o Lord. Bless you and keep you. O Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. O Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. O Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. O Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. We pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen, know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.