Living with Expectation Because Jesus Has a Greater Plan

Palm Sunday reminds us that Jesus didn’t enter Jerusalem to fulfill popular expectations—but to accomplish God’s greater redemptive plan. In this episode, Pastor Chris walks us through Matthew 21:1–11 and invites us to reflect on how Jesus chose a donkey over a warhorse, humility over spectacle, and God’s promises over human assumptions. Be encouraged to trust Jesus’ plan even when life surprises you—and to respond with genuine worship.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16970920

Key Points:

1. Jesus Prepares Every Detail of His Plan – Jesus carefully orchestrated His entrance into Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9. The donkey wasn’t random—it symbolized humility, peace, and God’s control over every detail (Matt. 21:1–3; Zech. 9:9; Psalm 33:11).
2. Jesus Fulfills God’s Promises, Not Our Assumptions – The crowd expected a political revolution. But Jesus fulfilled prophecy on His terms, not theirs. What if He had come on a warhorse, golden chariot, or with angelic fanfare? Each would have sent the wrong message—Jesus came to redeem, not impress (Matt. 21:4–5).
3. Jesus Invites a Response of Trust and Praise – The people shouted “Hosanna,” a cry for rescue and a declaration of trust (Matt. 21:9; Psalm 118:25). Real worship means surrendering our control and trusting God's plan, even when it doesn’t make sense.
4. Jesus Is Still Preparing for His Return – From preparing a place in heaven (John 14:2) to preparing His Church (Eph. 5:27), and aligning the world for His return (Matt. 24:14; Rom. 11:26), Jesus is actively working. We are called to trust, serve, and live with expectation.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:
 Pastor Chris shares how God provided for him in unexpected ways—both in marriage and ministry—and how God's plan often looks different (and better) than we imagine. He also reflects on the unique opportunities Rockwell Church has to reach its community and make a global impact through simple faithfulness.

Notable Quotes:

• “Jesus fulfills God’s promises—not our assumptions.”
• “What if Jesus came on a warhorse? He would have impressed the crowds, but missed the cross.”
• “Hosanna isn’t just a cry for help—it’s a declaration that Jesus is our only hope.”

Actionable Takeaways:

1. What area of your life do you need to surrender to Jesus' greater plan?
2. Reflect on how Jesus may be working in ways you don’t expect.
3. Cry out “Hosanna”—not just for rescue, but in full trust of His leadership.
4. Worship with hope, even when life doesn’t go according to your script.

Scripture References:

• Matthew 21:1–11 – Jesus’ humble and prophetic entry into Jerusalem.
• Zechariah 9:9 – Prophecy about the King coming on a donkey.
• Psalm 33:11 – God's plans endure through generations.
• Psalm 118:25–26 – “Lord, save us! Blessed is he who comes…”
• John 14:2–3 – Jesus is preparing a place for His people.
• Ephesians 5:27 – Jesus is preparing His radiant bride, the Church.
• Matthew 24:14 – The Gospel will be preached worldwide.
• Romans 11:26 – God's promise of Israel's spiritual awakening.

Keywords:
 Palm Sunday, Hosanna, Jesus Triumphal Entry, Trust God, Matthew 21, Humble King, God’s Greater Plan, Prophecy Fulfilled, Christian Hope, Worship in Uncertainty

The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much that you have given us this opportunity to be present and to worship you today. Lord, Palm Sunday is something that many of us are very familiar with, but help it to be a day where we worship you and praise you for all that you've done and all that you're going to do. We pray that through our singing, prayer messages we look into your word and what you did, Jesus, we pray that it would motivate us, that it would captivate us, and that we would leave here better than when we came in. So we just commit this time to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Two thousand years ago, the world saw the original Palm Sunday. On that Palm Sunday, the Lord of heaven and earth entered Jerusalem on a baby donkey. He didn't come to us with power and magnificence, but with meekness and gentleness. On that Palm Sunday, those who say Hosanna would five days later shall be crucified. On that Palm Sunday, Jesus turned his face toward Jerusalem. Where he would endure the most painful and humiliating kind of death. The kind of death that would save the world. Palm Sunday is a reminder of who Jesus is and who we should be as we follow him. Palm Sunday reminds us that the way of Jesus is the way of the donkey, the way of humility, the way of gentleness. Palm Sunday reminds us that it's totally possible to be with Jesus on Sunday, but forsake him on Friday. And Palm Sunday reminds us that Friday is coming.

Chris T 2:00

I mentioned at Christmas time that sometimes it's tough for pastors to come to Easter and Christmas and try to come up with something new and exciting, and there's really no need to be new and exciting because the message that we need to be reminded about, the message that we need to remember to proclaim to others, is a powerful message, a transformational message, and we are quick to forget. We are quick to forget all that Jesus did and how much it matters. So if you are still reading paper books and you would like to see, like for instance, Palm Sunday, all of the passages in the Gospels that talk about Palm Sunday or Easter or Christmas, this booklet or book, The Harmony of the Gospels, is pretty helpful. So this one's pretty worn out, the binding's falling apart. I've had it for quite a while. But here you have in different columns the different Gospels. So here you'll find Palm Sunday and Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12. And so I am going to stay with Matthew 21 for this message today. But Palm Sunday is the time when we remember to live with expectation and that Jesus has a greater plan. Sometimes our expectations are higher than what Jesus planned. Sometimes our expectations are lower than what Jesus planned. Sometimes we think that we can strategize and plan our own life and get what we want because we're working our plan and everything should work out the way that we thought. And then we're surprised to see God's provision wasn't what we thought was what was going to happen at all. So when I was young, I loved the idea of marriage. I saw that it was modeled in my grandparents, and so the way that they treated each other, I wanted to get married. And I think that getting married young can be a good thing if you marry the right person. And I'm glad that I did. But when I graduated high school at 16, I went then went to Bible college at 17. And the first Bible college I went to had 1,500 girls and 500 guys, and I thought, you know, there's a place to find a Christian woman that would be good to become a wife. And so as I would meet girls, I would have interview questions and ask them the things that I was that I thought were important in a wife. Like one of the questions, a serious question, is do you like dogs? And so I was on a walk with this one girl, and she's like, No, I like cats, and I'm like, oh my goodness, I gotta go. And that was the end of that interview. So I did not find the girl that God had for me at that time. But a year later, actually, a girl, a woman, came and bought my parents' car while I was working at a Bible camp in the state of Wyoming. And so totally unexpected, but that was God's provision. And we've been married for almost 40 years. And God provided in a way that I did not expect. And so many times I have prayed for things and in my mind came up with a like a list of how God could answer. You know, okay, this is our need, God, and this is the what's available, and so if you could get us this, this would be perfect. And so many times, to my surprise, it wasn't what I thought or what I saw or what I knew at all. It was something else that wasn't even on the radar that God used for provision, like for housing. God provided in such a way. And so in Palm Sunday in Matthew 21, we see that Jesus entered Jerusalem, not as a political hero, which was what they expected. They wanted a Messiah that would overthrow the Romans and set them free, put them back on top. It's what they wanted, it's what they looked forward to, it's what they planned for. And they thought maybe Jesus was it. He was showing miracles, he was teaching the teachers of the time, he was doing all of these great things, and they're like, hey, maybe this is our guy, maybe this is the Messiah. Oh, look, here he comes. And Jesus instead comes as a humble king on a divine rescue mission, on a divine rescue mission. So we go through this life and we have a lot of questions. Sometimes God answers our prayers in amazing ways. Sometimes he chooses not to answer our prayers. Sometimes he makes us wait. Sometimes we're in the process getting ready for God to bring things together and with the perfect person, the perfect people, the perfect timing. God waits, we wait, and then at just the right time, God provides our need. Or maybe on the other side of heaven, he'll explain to us why he didn't answer that prayer or why we went through that difficult thing, why we went through that sickness and didn't get healed, why we endured with that, how we endured conflict or trouble or disappointment, or how we made a mistake, and how God got us through that without necessarily making everything easy. So sometimes people look for comfort and ease, and instead they get a calling for a new ministry. They're like, you know what? Maybe God could use me to help people that are experiencing the same kind of pain that I'm experiencing, or the same kind of pain I experience, to help them get through it with faith. And that can be a good thing. But as you know, the crowds welcome Jesus with praise and palm branches and nationalistic hope. But Jesus came not to meet their immediate needs, but their eternal needs with his redemption plan for the world. And that is a good thing to remember, a good thing to give us confidence in our Christian life, to know that Jesus is working the plan, the perfect plan, with the perfect timing in the perfect way, and we can trust him as we follow him in obedience. We need to be living with the expectation because Jesus has a greater plan. And we know that someday Jesus is going to return, he's going to reward the faithful, he's going to judge the unbelievers, he's going to reign for a thousand years, all these great things are coming. But we don't know when, we don't know how hard it will be for us to get to that point, but we need to keep being faithful. And as we look at the scripture passage in Matthew 21, I want to remind us today of what Jesus has done and why Jesus has done it. What he endured was difficult and hard and cruel. But 1 Corinthians chapter 13 says that love endures all things, that love never gives up. And for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes on him would not perish but have everlasting life. That kind of love to endure, that kind of love to go through the process, that kind of love, to know that you could call a legion of angels to rescue you. You could have just shown up and said, Hey, I'm Jesus from heaven, I'm here to rescue you, and then gone back up into heaven again and not lived as a man, not been born into the world, not endured all that. But in Hebrews it says that we have Jesus, a high priest, who's able to sympathize with us in all of our troubles and our weaknesses, because he understands. He had siblings, he had he was the older brother of many sinful brothers and sisters. He was sinless, but he knows, he endured, he understands, and so we pray and he knows what we're going through, and he can help us and give us comfort through. So let's look at the scripture passage in Matthew chapter 21, verses 1 through 3. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, He will send that, and He will send them right away. So the Mount of Olives is significant. According to Zechariah 14:4, it's the place where the Messiah will stand at the end of days. And from this mount, Jesus sends two disciples into the village with specific instructions. Jesus is in complete control. He's arranged for everything. He knows everything that's going to happen. He even knows how the person is going to respond. All of this is coming together the way that it's supposed to, because it was prophesied like 500 years before in Zechariah 9.9. See your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey. Jesus has the plan and he's working out the plan. And Psalm 33, 11 says, The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. And there are so many prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled, and we can know that at God's in God's time, in the right way, that they are going to happen. So, right now, Jesus, what is Jesus doing now? In our Sunday school class, we were talking about how it's been 2,000 years since Jesus was here and he's going to return someday. And praise God, he hasn't returned yet, because there's still more time for us to lead other people to Jesus. Maybe my great-grandchildren which haven't been born yet will receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, and I will spend eternity in heaven with my future great-grandchildren. Maybe you'll have the same experience. Maybe people that aren't believers today will become Christ followers. Maybe some people will become Christ followers of great significance. I don't know if you got my email update that I send out every week, but usually on the bottom of my email update that I send out. So I think that you can go to rockwell.church forward slash update and subscribe to those or see the past email updates I sent out. I share what the message is going to be on, and we paste in some of the bulletin activity stuff. And I try to usually put an article or something on the bottom. And the one that I did this week was on a chain of faith where one person shared their faith and DL Moody got saved. And through this chain of preachers and evangelists and godly people, Billy Graham got saved. And Billy Graham led many people to Christ, including my wife Julie. So I put her name in the list there too, with her permission, of course. But you do not know what God is doing in the time that we have, but we do know right now that Jesus is preparing a place for his people. John 14, 2, I go to prepare a place for you, Jesus said. I will come back and take you with me. So he's currently preparing our eternal home. And so he is going to fulfill what he promised. Jesus is preparing his church as a radiant bride, like in Ephesians 5.27, to present her to himself as a radiant church through sanctification, through testing, through obedience, through glorifying God by working out his plan, Jesus is preparing the church. And hopefully it will be a church that is excited and ready to see Jesus. I know that it is a sacrifice to give, to support the church. I know it's a sacrifice to serve, to support the church. I know that serving in ministry can be enduring hard things. There are just so many things to do around a church that aren't always easy. So, yay, I want to serve Jesus in children's ministry because I love sharing the gospel message with children. Then you get rowdy, crazy children that cause all sorts of trouble and pain, and afterwards you're like, oh, I don't even know why I bother. Well, you bother because you're still completing that purpose and you know that Satan is doing everything he can to mess things up and make things difficult. And so we try to encourage those teachers. You should too. If your kids are downstairs right now or in the kids' midweek program or whatever, encourage and thank those teachers and keep telling your kids you behave, you be good, you make it easy to teach you, because I'm going to ask your teacher about that. But to go through those things and to know that the church is important. We are so blessed. We are so blessed when I drive around and see other churches in Evelith and Virginia that we are blessed to have a building this size. We are blessed to have two parking lots. We are blessed to have so much land. And we don't know what God is doing. So God seems to be up to amazing things we would have never expected. I don't think anyone ever expected that on this square of land that we're literally getting a sidewalk from the church parking lot to the high school baseball field at the new school. I don't know if kids will travel that or what, but it's a cool idea, as long as we don't have to shovel it all winter. But it's a cool idea that there's literally a path from the school to our church. And so who knows what God will do with that? Our location to the school, too. Who knows what God will do with that? Our location on the highway and all of the traffic being rerouted so that everybody has to come to temporary lights in front of the old gas station, which is near our property. There's going to be so many people stacked out there on the highway waiting for their turn at the lights. Maybe they'll look over in this direction, see our sign, and go, oh, there's a church there. I should try it or I should tune in. We don't know what God is doing, but we do know that God is building his church. We know that Jesus is preparing the nations for final judgment and redemption, but before that happens, Matthew 24, 14 says, This gospel of the kingdom will be preached around the whole world, and then the end will come. Global evangelism and gospel proclamation are paving the way for his return. And technology, technology, and the we have the Well Faith Audio, Sermon Audio Podcast now. It's part of messages from before I came here, and then as we're here. So on Wednesday, you get like a recycled one. On Sundays, you get Sunday's message, somewhat edited, to make me sound better, which is good. So you can't edit YouTube, but you can edit audio. Takes the ums and the ahs and stuff out. But I see the listeners and I see sometimes from different countries, people listening. I don't know how long they listened to or why they listened, but to just know that we're making a worldwide impact and we can literally see where some of these listeners are from. It's pretty cool. To know that God can use us in little ways. You have no idea how your conversation, sharing your faith in Jesus, can encourage someone else to share their faith, to encourage someone else to share their faith to do something significant for the kingdom of God, to spread that message. Maybe those people will travel or be online and share with someone in a different part of the world and they'll share with someone. That is exciting. Jesus is allowing global alignment for prophetic fulfillment. So Daniel 221, he changes times and seasons, he deposes kings and raises up others. When I watch the news and I look at all the political stuff going on, I just I have no idea if this is going to turn out good or not. Got no clue. Crazy how fast things move and how the world is so intertwined and wars and rumors of wars, but political, economic, and spiritual shifts are moving history toward his second coming. I was so excited to hear that younger people are really interested in spiritual things. They're buying Bibles, they're interested in Christian teaching, they want deep teaching, they want to know the great things of God, they want to know doctrine. It is exciting. So Jesus is preparing Israel for spiritual awakening. So Romans 11, 26, where it says, All Israel will be saved, isn't it guaranteed that every person that was ever in Israel will be saved? But there will be a time when Israel turns back to Jesus, that God is not done with Israel. The Jewish people have a future role in recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. And Jesus is going to return, he is going to reign, it is going to be a great thing. The rapture is part of his return plan for comfort and hope. And he will defeat evil and reign as king. All of those things are so exciting. It is exciting to see Jesus working out his plan in his time. And so you see earthquakes and natural disasters, and you think maybe earthquakes, wars, famines, birth pains before the end, like it says in Matthew 24. Revelation 13 points out knowledge and global technology and surveillance might be part of that. The infrastructure for global commerce control and image worship is now feasible. And I already mentioned the gospel going out around the earth, and it's easy for us to share stuff with the little devices we carry in our purses on our hips in our pockets with our phones. Pretty cool to think about. But as you think about your life, as you think about the difficulties, as you think about your job situation, as you think about the things that concern you, keep praying, keep knocking on doors, keep looking for opportunities, keep trusting that if your job has come to an end, that Jesus has another job for you, and you can trust him. Jesus knows what's ahead, but you don't, and he's already making a way. You can trust him to provide at the right time, in the right place, through the right people. Sometimes with our health. Health can be a struggle, health can be a difficulty, but health can, when your health declines, when you go through a difficulty, it can be the thing that keeps you closer to God, the thing that brings you back to God, the thing that you praise God for a good day. I had a friend, a good friend, who went through cancer and eventually he died and went to be with Jesus. It was so cool too, because a lady from our church was literally at his bedside singing hymn, Jesus loves me, as you went to be with Jesus. A great faith testimony. But he would go to chemo, he would go to his appointments, and he would share Jesus with people. He would share the great hope that he had in Christ. Even when he was struggling, even when he was going through difficulty, he was faithful to the end. Let that be said of us. Let us be faithful to the end. Romans 8 28 says, We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. So God is at work in us working out good things. And Philippians 1 6 says that Jesus began a good work in us and will carry it on to completion. That should give us peace for today and peace for tomorrow. Two, Jesus fulfills God's promises, not our assumptions. Jesus fulfills God's promises, not our assumptions. Again, they assumed that the Messiah was going to come and he was going to get rid of these Romans, these occupiers, these people that were taking everything by taxation, these people that were in the way of what they felt was God's plan for their nation. And Jesus fulfills God's promises. Matthew 21, verse 4. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, say to daughter Zion, see your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt, the full of a donkey. So I already mentioned that's from Zechariah, and that was about 500 years before. So I wanted to ask the question what if Jesus would have come in a different way? And I was trying to entertain that idea, and maybe you've thought about that too. So if Jesus rode on a war horse like a Roman general, it would have signaled a rebellion, and the Roman occupiers would have been tuned into that and shut that down real quick. So that would have been the end of that procession. That would have been the end of that crowd. But the crowd ex if Jesus came in on a war horse, maybe the crowd would expect a violent overthrow of Rome, not a peaceful savior riding toward a cross. What if he rode in on a golden chariot? He would have projected wealth and status, and people might have seen him as a royal elite, not the servant king. Who he came to be, not the one who identified with the poor and humble. What if Jesus walked in alone? What if he just walked into town? Nobody would have noticed him. Nobody probably would even say, hey, is that Jesus? I don't know. You know, he's some guy by himself. I don't know. It kind of looks like Jesus, but I'm not really sure. Yeah, not what I was looking for. It would seem insignificant, not the fulfillment of prophecy. All right. What if he was carried in on the shoulders of his disciples? Or he's a jolly good savior, for he's a jolly good. No. Then people would have thought he was a celebrity. And maybe that would reflect pride or adoration without mission, contrary to Jesus' self-emptying humility, like it says in Philippians chapter 2. What if he rode in on a stallion in armor with a big sword? It would shout, domination, not peace. A war-ready image would misrepresent Jesus' first coming, which was to save, not to judge. But he will come back like that in the future. What if he walked in a procession of priests and scholars? Then he'd be associated with the religious people, with the religious elite, and it would align him with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the very religious system he came to challenge and transform. So that wouldn't have worked. What if he came with chariots of angels and trumpets? Then that would look like the second coming. And that day will come in Revelation 19, 11, it talks about that. But Palm Sunday was about atonement, not apocalypse. Jesus came in the right way, the planned way, the prophesied way, the way that made the biggest difference. He came in, and it was common among people in that time. I believe even in the Old Testament, we see kings put on donkeys because it represents peace. It said that of Palm Sunday, Palm Sunday could have been a military parade, a royal pageant, or a religious spectacle, but Jesus chose a donkey because his mission wasn't to impress but to redeem. He fulfilled the Father's promise, not the crowd's assumptions. Have you ever been disappointed with God when things didn't work out like you thought? When things didn't work out like you planned? When things just change and you're like, What is going on? For me, I did not expect. I planted a church and was there for 20 years, and I didn't really have plans of going anywhere until a denominational leader said, Why don't you try something else? You've been here for 20 years. Why don't you see where else God can use you? And I'm like, What? And some of the people in my church are like, What? And so I'm like, what is happening? And what comes next? But God was faithful and God led us here, and so I'm so glad. I never, when I left Chisholm Baptist and moved to the cities, I never in a million years imagined that I would come back up here. Not because I didn't like it, but just because it's like, where would I go? What would I do? And then in my mind, this was the orange church. So I was like, oh, the orange church needs this pastor? And then I heard, oh, it's not orange anymore. They changed the interior. But my last remembrance of this church was everything in here was orange. And praise God for the people that worked to change the interior. But nonetheless, God does amazing things. And God does so much more than we ever ask or imagine. And hopefully we look back on our days and we look back and we say, God has been so faithful to me. I see how God has been at work. I see how God is moving forward. I see what God has done, and I trust him with my eternity, because he's proven to me that I could trust him with my days. And that is a good thing. And hopefully that is true with you. For those of you that are waiting for God to do something, are you praying? Are you asking? Are you living in such a way that God can bless you? If there's any unconfessed sin in your life, confess that sin. Get right with God. Pray for your needs to be answered. Look for things that God might want you to do, but share, maybe you share with people. So on the connect form in front of you, the connect card, rockwell.church forward slash connect or slash prayer. Share with us your prayer requests. Let us help, let us pray with you. Let us know how we can pray for you to help you through these difficult times. So number three, Jesus invites a response of trust and praise. A response of trust and praise. Do you trust Jesus? And are you praising him? Are you thanking him? Are you looking back? Are you counting your blessings, naming them one by one? Because it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Hey, let's all break out in song. But invites a response of trust and praise. Verse 6. Matthew 21, verse 6, the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. So Jesus is coming into town, and they're like, hey, if this is the Messiah, we're going to treat him right, we're going to do this thing. Jesus instructed the disciples to get the donkey for him to ride into town. But I don't read anywhere where Jesus instructed the people to honor him in that way and put their coats on the ground and cut the branches and everything. So maybe it didn't cost a lot to cut branches and put them in the road. But your cloak, clothing was expensive back then. So it's not like you had a huge wardrobe of extra stuff where you just, you know, like, oh, I could get another cloak at Walmart. But no, you didn't have very many clothes back then. So for you to take your cloak and put it on the ground for Jesus to ride on, that was a big thing. That was a form of commitment. That was a form of investment. That was a form of sacrifice. That was a pretty serious thing. So let me go to the next verse. Matthew 21, 9. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. Lord save us. So were these people at risk of getting in trouble from the Romans or the Pharisees for honoring Jesus at this time? Were these people going to face persecution from their parents or their boss or whoever for participating in this? Was there a risk for them to call out Jesus? Was it a temporary praise? Was it a temporary, hey, we think you're the Messiah, saw you do some miracles, know you fed a lot of people, you're doing all these things. So we're voting for you. You're our guy right now. Were some of the, like the video said that we watched, were some of these people the same people that were shouting, crucify him at the end of the week, or were these different people? Because there are a lot of people in Jerusalem at Passover. So it didn't necessarily mean that all these people said crucify Jesus. Maybe they knew their Bibles. Maybe they knew what was coming. Maybe the Holy Spirit let them know that this is the guy, worship him, praise him. Jesus is worthy of your praise. Maybe they were familiar with the disciples. Maybe they had seen what Jesus had done. And they were so excited about him moving forward and making himself known to move to the next chapter, to do the next thing. They were so excited about it. Maybe these people were the ones that were weeping when Jesus was put on the cross. But it's possible that through mob mentality, through not knowing scripture, through not knowing exactly what was going on, that these were people that also, when Jesus disappointed, said crucify him. And sometimes in our life that happens too. When Jesus doesn't do what we want him to do, when we want him to do it, then we're like, I'm just not going to have any faith in you. I can't trust you. I gave my life to you, but I'm taking it back because I don't like the way that you're managing it. I'm going to do my own thing in my own way. And so it just doesn't work for me. I believe those are the people that are not fully committed, not fully in Christ. Let's continue on. Hang on a second. Hosanna. Hosanna, what does that mean? Anyway, to know that Hosanna, Psalm 118, 25, Lord, save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. John 6, 15, after feeding the 5,000, they remember they tried to make Jesus king by force. And Hosanna, Jesus, I trust you to save me now and forever. Hosanna is a cry for rescue. It reminds us that salvation is found in Christ alone, past, present, and future. It's not just asking for help, it's admitting that we can't save ourselves and need his leadership. Maybe you can receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you're so glad that you are rescued from the penalty and the horrors of hell. You are so glad that you've got your ticket to heaven. You are so glad that you have a purpose for life and that you know it is a place that you can go, that you can go to Jesus and ask him to answer prayers. But have you given him your whole life? Have you given him your whole life? Or maybe you've said, Lord, I know that you are my savior, but I want you to guide and direct and rule my life. I want to give my will, my desire, everything in me to you, to use as you see fit. Please show me how I can serve you. Please show me what I can do to live for you. Please show me how I can honor you with the days I have left, with the resources that you've given me, with the people that I'm around, with the opportunities that I have. What a good thing. Even when I don't understand why I didn't get that prayer answered, why that person died, why these hard things happened, or why things don't seem to be get easy, seem to get easier, I still worship you. I still praise you. I'm asking for your help. I believe that you are king. I lay down my pride and self-sufficiency, and I want to be like the crowd that praised you and worshiped you when you came into town. When we think about how Jesus has lived out his life before us, when we think about how Jesus has lived before us, look at Matthew 21, 10. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? And the crowd answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from the Nazareth in Galilee. And so we know so much of this. And if you come back on Good Friday, if you come back on Good Friday, I will share more about what Jesus did on the cross and how that's so important. If you come back for Easter, we'll talk about the resurrection, and that will be so awesome. So 6 p.m. for Good Friday. And then after that, we will have a series from Philemon on God's grace in action, which will actually cover Mother's Day, Memorial Day, and Father's Day grace in that. So I'm going to show a video for like a couple minutes. And then the worship team is going to come up with a song. Let me pray. Jesus, I thank you so much for the people that are here. I pray that today would be a day where people recommit their life to you. People that have known you, that are serving you, people that love you, would just trust you with everything, and that you would re-engage them to your purposes in every way. And that this would be a meaningful season. God, we pray for that. And if anybody here doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior, we pray that they would talk to us afterwards and help us to help them answer questions about how to come to Christ. So let's watch this video about Hosanna and then the worship team will come up and sing.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

A week before his resurrection, and just days before his crucifixion, Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem. He did not enter that city like a king. There was no chariot, there was no mighty horse. He entered that city on a donkey. Outside the city, the crowds gathered around to see their king. And they laid their palm branches on the dusty road. And they shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. And that simple prayer echoes across time. Two thousand years ago, the Jews and crowds shouted Hosanna to the king on the dusty road. And two thousand years later, wherever we are, we shouted Hosanna. Hospital in the highest.