Jesus Priorities in Action (Matthew 21:1-17)

On Palm Sunday, the crowd celebrated Jesus as King, but they misunderstood His mission. In this message from Matthew 21:1-17, Pastor Chris Teien walks through the triumphal entry and reveals what truly mattered to Jesus as He moved toward the cross. This message challenges us to examine our own priorities and align them with God’s purpose for our lives. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/18928468

Key Points:
Walk in Obedience to God’s Plan – Matthew 21:1-5
Jesus intentionally fulfilled prophecy and followed the Father’s plan. True discipleship means choosing obedience even when it’s difficult or misunderstood.

Receive Jesus for Who He Truly Is – Matthew 21:6-11
The crowd welcomed Jesus, but many expected a political deliverer. We must receive Him not based on our expectations, but based on who He truly is as Savior and Lord.

Pursue True Worship, Not Empty Religion – Matthew 21:12-13
Jesus cleansed the temple, confronting shallow and corrupted worship. God desires sincere hearts, not religious routines.

Value People Over Religious Systems – Matthew 21:14-17
Jesus healed and welcomed those others overlooked. His priority was always people, not performance or tradition.

Choose Christ-Centered Priorities – Matthew 6:33
What we pursue shapes our lives. When we seek God’s kingdom first, everything else falls into place.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:
Pastor Chris shares reflections from stepping out in faith to start a church in a new community, highlighting how God provides the right people and resources at the right time.

Notable Quotes:
 “Palm Sunday reminds us that Jesus knew exactly where He was going and why.”
 “Partial obedience is still disobedience.”
 “Many people say the right things about Jesus but don’t truly understand who He is.”

Actionable Takeaways:
Reflect on what direction your life is moving and whether your priorities align with God’s will
Spend intentional time with God instead of just staying busy for Him
Evaluate whether your worship is genuine or simply routine
Look for opportunities to encourage and serve others this week
Take a step of obedience in an area where God is prompting you

Scripture References:
 Matthew 21:1-17 – The triumphal entry and temple cleansing
 Zechariah 9:9 – Prophecy of the King entering on a donkey
 Luke 19:10 – Jesus came to seek and save the lost
 John 6:15 – People attempted to make Jesus king by force
 Psalm 118:25-26 – “Hosanna” and the cry for salvation
 Isaiah 56:7 – God’s house as a house of prayer
 Jeremiah 7:11 – Warning against empty religion
 Matthew 6:33 – Seek first the kingdom of God

Keywords:
 Palm Sunday, Matthew 21, Jesus’ priorities, triumphal entry, true worship, obedience to God, Christian living, faith and priorities, biblical teaching, following Jesus

Challenge:
 This week, ask yourself where your life is headed and choose one specific way to align your priorities with Jesus by obeying His Word and putting Him first.

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

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Palm Sunday begins on a road leading to Jerusalem. A king enters the city, not with armor, not with force, but on a donkey. Palms wave in the air like declarations of victory. Voices cry, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They were celebrating a king, but didn't understand the kind of king he was. Because this celebration is moving somewhere. The cheers of Sunday are already casting the shadow of Friday. This same road leads to a cross. Palms will give way to thorns. Shouts will fall silent beneath the weight of nails. Yet this is not a story of loss, it's a story of love. Because the cross was never the end, it was the doorway. Palm Sunday leans toward an empty tomb, toward a morning where death is defeated, and hope rises with the sun. The king who came in humility will rise again in victory.

Chris T 1:52

Alright, if you want to grab your Bibles, we're going to be in, or use your phone Bible or your tablet Bible. We're going to be in Matthew chapter 21, looking at the Palm Sunday story, the triumphal entry story. And it is one that matters so much. Sometimes we come to these seasons, Christmas and Easter, and we've heard the story many times, and we know how the story goes. And it is just a good time for us just to remember what Jesus was willing to do for us. Luke 19, 10 says that he came to seek and to save the lost. That was his mission. And he purposefully moved towards the cross. Within a week of his entrance on Palm Sunday, he'll have resurrected from the dead. It's one crazy week of activity and teaching. And if you look through the Gospels, if you look at a harmony of the Gospels where they try to take Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and put them in sync and put them next to each other. If you look at that, Jesus does a lot of teaching. There is a lot of activity in this short week that he is trying to teach the people. It's just an interesting read. It's just a time for us to really praise him and think about all that he has done. All that he is doing now, he is still doing things. So the title of the message is Jesus' Priorities in Action, moving toward what matters most. Priorities matter. Every one of us is moving in a certain direction by the choices we make. So today you made a choice to come to church. And I hope that your time in church today will be one that encourages you and moves you closer towards obedience, following the Lord and doing his will and praising him and making a difference. But we're all moving towards something. We have goals, we have aspirations, we have lists, we have strategies. There's things that we want to do that we're just working on. Some people are doing everything they can to move towards success. Some people are trying to move toward approval, some toward comfort, some toward control. And when your heart gets fixed on something, as you move in that direction, that can define your life as to what you accomplish in this life, to the things that you experience, the things that you do for the Lord, those things that you might end up regretting, and those opportunities that you miss out on for the Lord as you are moving in a certain direction. So if you found out you went to the doctor this week and you found out that you only had a week to live, what would your priorities be? What would be the things that you would do in your last week? What are the things that you would do? What are the things that would no longer matter? Palm Sunday is that kind of moment for Jesus. So he knows he's purposefully heading towards the cross. He's purposefully going to lay his life down as a sacrifice for our sins. So he knows that is the plan. He is fulfilling prophecy as he goes along the way. Some of the prophecy that he's fulfilling, he is taking into account, knows it's been prophesied, and he could do some things about it, like to ride in on a donkey. That was, he knew that was a prophecy. He could have said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that. Let's get that done. So he could have done that on his own. But he couldn't manufacture the crowd's response. He couldn't manufacture what the response would be from the church leaders or from the Romans and all of that stuff. He couldn't have manufactured his resurrection from the dead. So much of it is miraculous. It's all part of God's plan, and it's God's plan in action. Jesus knows the Father's priorities. He goes to the Lord and He prays. He shows us an example of how we're to live. So he was fully God, yet fully man, and he spent a lot of time in prayer. He spent a lot of time talking to the Father as a model for us, and because it's the way that we should live. So we should walk in obedience to God's plan. We should walk into obedience to God's plan just like Jesus did. Jesus is the ultimate example for us to follow. So, as I already mentioned, that we are a broken, sinful people. There, I don't think any one of us is righteous enough to earn our way into heaven. To be totally sinless for an entire lifetime is impossible. And a holy, our holy God, our heavenly Father, is pure, holy, can't stand sin in his presence, and therefore we're separated from God by our sin. But Jesus is the bridge to life and makes it possible for us to not only be to have to be accessible, for God to be accessible, but for us to be adopted as children of God, adopted into God's family, to become a new creation, to be guaranteed eternity, to get the Holy Spirit, all of those things. And Jesus could have done a lot of different things, but this is what he did, and that's what we're going to look at today. So in Matthew chapter 21, verses one through five, I'll read. 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 foal of a donkey. Oh, Jesus had a plan, and he delegated to the disciples, to the disciples to go get this done. And when you're working out God's perfect plan, it's absolutely amazing how God provides the resources at the right time, the things that you need, the things that you'll need to accomplish God's plan in your life. So I say that as someone who took a risk and showed up in a town where we didn't know anybody and went on a scavenger hunt to find people, to start a church, and found people that not were that were not only interested in helping start the church, but had the resources and the connections and the skills that we needed to get that going. And it is an amazing thing. But Jesus is working out his plan. And Zechariah 9 9 is where that prophecy comes from. See, your king comes to you, gentlemen riding on a donkey, prophesied so many years before. So Jesus knows exactly what's going to happen. He knows exactly how he's going to do it. He knows that he wants to consciously fulfill scripture. He knows that he wants to do the right thing in the right way, which means that he is intentional. He is working out his strategy and his plan. So he's not swept up in the moment. He's not thinking, oh, this would be a great idea. Let's try this. He knows that this is what must happen. And he knows that the people are going to respond in a certain way, which on one hand is good, but on the other hand is not so good. Matter of fact, in John 6.15, Jesus says that, John 6.15, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. And when Jesus would do miracles, the people would be like, Oh, we need you. Man, look at you. You made all this food. We've fed all these people. You do these miracles, all these things. We definitely want you around. Let's put you as our leader. And their love, as you know, is temporary, because my guess is that some of the same people who are excited to see him on Palm Sunday were some of the ones that shouted out, crucify him, by the end of the week. But Jesus, he revealed his priority. He wanted to obey the Father. He wanted to do the right thing in the right way. And that's what we need to do too. We need to be obedient to the things that we know that God wants us to do, the way that He wants us to do them and not get caught up in the things that will trip us up, the things that will lead us astray, the things that will keep us from fulfilling God's best. Sometimes we can be lured away too. Sometimes things that we think are so important in our schedule will fill our days to the point that we don't spend any time with the Lord. It's easy for people actually in ministry to be so busy serving the Lord that they don't spend any time with him. And Jesus knew that these people were going to be drawn, not for what Jesus was doing, but for what they could get from Jesus. They wanted to have what Jesus could do for them more than they really wanted to know what Jesus was all about. Think about it. Sometimes we know what God's word says, but we tone it down because we also know what people in our society expect, what's the appropriate thing to say. We know what is right, but we feel the pressure to fit in, to be accepted, and to avoid conflict so we don't say anything. And rights get taken away, morality gets swept away. The world becomes a compromising place when Christians don't stand for what is right. And sometimes people obey just a little bit, but not fully. And partial obedience is still disobedience. But Jesus, he is doing what's right. Even when people misunderstand, even when it's going to be unpopular popular, even when it leads to suffering, Jesus is going down that path to do the right thing, to do what is most important for us. Number two, receive Jesus for who he truly is. Receive Jesus for true for who he truly is. So these people were receiving Jesus, and they were even saying the right words, but they didn't really understand exactly what they were asking for or how God was answering what they were asking. So Matthew 21, verse 6. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them to get the full, the colt. 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. 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 heavens. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? And the crowds answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. Hosanna means to save us now. And the crowd is actually quoting something that would be common for them to say at the Passover, which is a celebration from when the Israelites were saved and rescued from the Egyptian captivity. And that Passover celebration was a celebration that they gathered together. So it would be common for them to say that. But it comes from Psalm 118, 25. It says, Lord, save us, Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. It's interesting in the New American Standard Bible, which gets a little closer to the Hebrew. Says, Lord, we beseech you, do send prosperity. So what they're asking for, what they're asking for is not success and salvation. They are asking for success to overcome these Romans who are holding us in captivity. Help us to be victorious. Help us to be number one again. Help us to be independent, an independent nation, not under occupation. This is what they're asking for. But in the words that they're saying, if Hosanna means save now, it sounds like they're asking to be saved. It sounds like they're asking for them to have Jesus to save them. And that is exactly what Jesus is doing. But they don't understand that he's saving them from something so much more than just their current living situation. He's making it possible for all people to be saved from sin, to be made right with God. And so they're asking for the right thing, but they don't really understand what they're asking for. I had Psalm 118 on the screen for the screen. Lord save us, grant us success. Blessed is he who come who comes in the name of the Lord. And so Jesus is working to save them. Jesus is working. Jesus is going to go purposefully to a cross. And on the cross, he will make the ultimate sacrifice for sin. And we'll talk about that on Friday, on Good Friday. And as we just think about that, as we think about all that Jesus has done in the way that he did it, because he loves you and me. Now I know it's 2,000 years ago, and that seems that's so long ago. But, and he wasn't just a person. There are people who would be willing to die to save somebody. There's people all the time that are willing to give up organs, that are willing to fall on a grenade, that are willing to do whatever it takes to save a person, a woman, a child, anything. But this is different. So this is Jesus. This is God in the flesh who came to sacrifice himself because that is the only sacrifice that would work. The sinless perfection of Jesus would be will be sacrificed, has been sacrificed for you and for me. Luke 19, 38. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. I tell you, Jesus replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. And Jesus let all this play out. Jesus understood what they were going to say and how they were going to think about him. And in this time of misunderstanding, even his own disciples would misunderstand what was going on. He showed passion, he showed care, he showed love, and he showed a resolution, a grit to just keep moving forward. If you read through the gospel accounts, you'll find a point where Jesus cries out, Lord, if it's possible, take this cup from me. But he was going to take on the sin of the entire world. He was going to go through all of that. But even more than that, he loved the people that he was with. He cared for the disciples. Maybe he even thought, oh, these guys do not have it together yet. Maybe if I just had more time with them, and I think we would think that too when we come, you know, when it gets to the end of whatever it is and we have to say goodbye, sometimes we think, oh, if I only had more time with them to say this or to do that, those would be a good thing. But the people were saying the right things, but they didn't understand what they were saying. I think there's a lot of people in church sometimes that are confused. They say the right things, but they don't truly understand, they don't truly apply the Bible to their life. They know the right lingo. And sometimes that happens with our kids, with our teenagers, with the kids in our house, is that the kids sometimes go through the Christian home, and then we say, oh, when they got out of our home, then they lost their faith. They lost their salvation. But I don't think actually that they had a faith of their own. What they had is they had a cultural faith. They knew what they're and these people too. They don't truly understand Jesus. They don't truly understand what they're doing. As a matter of fact, as they're quoting Psalm 118 and they're saying these things, Psalm 118, 22 says, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And so these people are going to reject the capstone. They're going to reject Jesus. They're going to turn their back on Jesus. And in Matthew chapter 21, verse 42, Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone the builder rejected has become the cornerstone? The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in your eyes. And Jesus knows that the people are going to reject him. And sometimes we reject him, as we're talking about kids growing up in the home. Sometimes kids will grow up in a Christian home, and then they'll have this spiritual adolescence where they'll try other things or they'll start to question their faith. And the worst thing for parents to do or grandparents to do is say, we just believe that. So that's all. No, it's better to help them to struggle and find answers. It's better to show them why you believe what you believe from God's word, and there are so many good resources out there. Get your kids and your grandkids asking questions about faith and the world and all of these things, and then help them to find answers. And do it quickly. So don't wait until they're really old. Do it before the world gives them false answers, gives them answers that are untrue. Help them to find what's true through scripture. The schools aren't going to do it for you. No one's going to do it. Even we don't have enough time here in the church between Sunday school and kids' church and even vacation Bible school to do all of this. But there's resources. Our library actually has a lot of good resources. Right now, media has a lot of good video resources. But just think about that. Think about what is true faith and what does Jesus want me to do? How does he truly want me to worship him? And what is his ultimate plan for my life? As we see, he's working out the ultimate plan for his days here on earth. Number three, pursue true worship, not empty religion. Pursue true worship, not empty religion. It's easy to go through the motions again. It's easy to be caught up in a religious and a Christian subculture. It's easy to just go with the flow, but not truly know what God's will is. As I said, Jesus doesn't have much time. So he's riding into Jerusalem, and the people are like, Jesus, oh, we're so excited for you. Save us. Be our king. Oh, you're so wonderful. And so Jesus rides into town and does he just hang out with the people and say, It is about time. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for these words of affirmation. Because you are so right. It is so true. I really am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And everything that you said is so correct. Let's just all have a good time together. Jesus has a task list of things that he thinks is important. And the first thing is he is going back to the temple to clear the place out of all of the false religion and money grabbing and all the stuff that shouldn't be. Matthew 21, verse 12, Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. It is written, he said to them, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers. And you'll remember that what they decided to do, what the religious leaders decided to do, was to sell animals that were good for sacrifice. So if you traveled a long distance, you could pay to buy your sacrificial lamb, your sacrificial animal. And so they would make money on that. But they took it a few steps further. They said, Oh, we've got all this international currency coming in, but we only take the temple coin. So what you'll need to do is exchange your currency for the temple coin. So there was money to be made in that. And then sometimes what would happen is if you traveled all the way with your sacrificial animals, when you got there, the priests that were doing the sacrifices would look and find some reason why it wasn't perfect enough and tell you, no, that's not good enough. You need to buy one of ours. And so they had taken over the Gentile court of the temple. And so it was a place where Gentiles could come and pray and to seek the Lord. But they had filled it up with all these money changers and sales barns or whatever, all these things. And Jesus was upset about that. Isaiah 56, verse 7. These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But that was not what was happening. And he was upset about that. It looked religious, it seemed like it was okay, but Jesus is like, This is not what was intended. This is not the way that it's supposed to be. This is not okay. And he did something about it. Jeremiah 7, verse 11. Jeremiah 7, verse 11. Has this house which bears my name become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching, declares the Lord. And he wants it to be pure. He wants it to be right. He wants it so there's no barriers to people worshiping the Lord. In our priorities, in the things that we do. Sometimes it's possible for a church to get so caught up in busy activities that we miss out on what God truly wants us to do. I think as a church, we've done a good job of trying not to do every single thing a church could do so that we're not so busy that we burn ourselves out. Every now and then people come up with great ideas, and it seems good, but I always ask, who are the people that we have to run it? There's lots of different things that are good activities and good things to do if we have people to do it. But we need to prioritize the most important thing, and that's that we are here to make worshipers. We are here to make disciples, we are here to help people to grow in their faith. And then if we have the people that want to do other things, then we can go from there. It would be really great if we had some people that are recovering addicts, alcoholics or whatever, that we could start a life recovery group, that we had some quality people who we knew were right with Scripture to start a new ministry or divorce care or all of those different things. But that takes people. And so we can pray about that. But to just think about what does the Lord require of us? How does he want us to live? And what does he want us to do? When we come to church, when we're involved in church, how are we actually involved? Are we invested? Do we pray for the people around us? Do we think about how can we do you walk in the door and say, how can I encourage someone today? Hopefully you'll get something out of the message, but to come to church and think, okay, God, what could you do through me today? How could I encourage someone? How could I pray with someone? What how could you use me here? And then when you walk out the doors and say, okay, God, how can you use me in the world? How can you use me in the places I'm about to go? God, I want to be used by you. That is a good thing. Number four, value people over religious systems. To value people over religious systems. Sometimes the religious system takes over and they don't value people. And so Jesus now is going to heal some people. And some people that were cast out, some people who weren't welcome, because it says in Matthew 21, verse 14, the blind and the lame came to Jesus at the temple and he healed them. He healed them. Now the blind and the lame weren't really welcome guests at the temple. The blind and the lame were outcasts and unwanted. But Jesus took the time and helped them and healed them. And you would think that people that truly loved God, that the religious leaders would be so excited about that and say, I don't understand Jesus 100%, but I know Lloyd, and he's been blind for like 40 years, and he says he can see. We're so excited for that. Praise God, something must be going on here. But that's not what they said at all. Matthew 21, verse 15. When the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things Jesus did, and the children shouting in the temple courts, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. Now, to be fair to them, children weren't supposed to be shouting in the temple. So maybe they were just upset that the children weren't under control and wished the parents would help keep them quiet. But I think they were more mad about what they were shouting than the fact that they were shouting. And the fact that here it says they saw the wonderful things Jesus was doing, and it made him mad. Verse 16, do you hear what these children are saying? They asked him. Yes, replied Jesus. Have you never read from the lips of children and infants, you, Lord, have called forth your praise? And he left them and went out to Bethany, where he spent the night. So the people, the religious leaders, were upset that their religious system wasn't working out. They were upset that Jesus was doing things that they didn't think of, that they didn't approve of, that they didn't want. They felt threatened of what Jesus was doing with all of his followers. And again, to be fair, maybe they were concerned about what the Romans were going to do if they saw this big uprising and they were concerned about what would happen with those military soldiers trying to shut things down. So that could be a fair concern. Micah 6, 8, he has shown you, O mortal or man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. And if the religious leaders would have done that, they would have been able to be more excited about what Jesus was doing. Number five. Number five, choose Christ-centered priorities. Choose Christ-centered priorities. This is more about you. This is more about me. What are we doing? We had a Sunday school class actually today, and we talked about, it's been talking about our thought life, but it was today was about what do you do with your time in the morning, especially in the morning, what do you do with your time? In Matthew 6.33, I love this verse. So for many people, it's a life verse, it's a guiding verse. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So in context, what are we going to eat? What are we going to wear? God can provide your needs when you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So to seek first, that means to put God first with your time, with your priorities, with your finances, with the things that you care about the most. And so Jesus' priority was to head to the cross so that he could give his life so that he could be with us forever. So he knew that he would be resurrected, but it wasn't a painless thing, it wasn't a simple thing, it wasn't an easy thing. And we celebrate that. We remember all of the hardship and all of the difficulties. Priorities in your life. Henry Blackaby has been a great author, and he reminds us that our priorities don't begin with our plans, they begin with God. Blackaby would say, Find out where God is at work and join him there. In other words, your life is not about asking God to fit into your schedule, it's about aligning your life with what he is already doing. And Chuck Swindah would come alongside and make it practical and say, your real priorities are revealed by how you spend your time, not what you say matters, but what actually gets your attention day after day. Put those together and you'll get a powerful truth. God sets the priority, but you must structure your life to live it. And that's what Matthew 6.33 is all about. We need to be like Jesus and we need to figure out what our lives are about, and we need to move in that direction and make sure that we keep that a priority. Not give in to the distractions, not give in to seeking after people's kind words, not being distracted by all the good things that we could do and miss out on the best things that God wants us to do. Ephesians 1, 13 says, You are also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. And we go through this life and we pray and we yield ourselves. There was a time in my life where I knew I was saved. So I knew I had prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And I knew that he was Lord and I knew that he was Savior. But one day I prayed, Jesus, I know I know that you're Lord and Savior, but I want to make you the Lord of my life. I want you to guide me and control me. I want to do your will. I want to, I was young, so I was still in high school. So I could pray, Lord, I want to know what you want me to do with my life. And as I prayed and prayed about it, it seemed like God wanted me to be in full-time Christian ministry, which was a shock to me. But to live that way, to say, this is who I am, this is who I know, this is what I have, this is where I am. God use me. How can I fulfill your priorities and do your will with the days that I have? To be faithful to that, even if it's difficult, even if I'm misunderstood, even if the road is hard. Romans 5.8 says that God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We're going to talk about that on Good Friday. Friday at 6 p.m. It's only 45 minutes long. We're going to sing a couple songs, read scripture, have communion, and remember Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. If you've come today and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're not sure that if you were to die, that you would go be with Him. We would love to talk to you about that. How you are a sinner separated from God, but how Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice that makes you right when you repent of your sin, when you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior and follow him. And we've got a whole stack of books, the same book, on the how to find God New Testament. And the front of it answers a lot of questions and helps you to find that way. But my number is on the back of the bulletin. You can call me or text me, and I would just love to talk to you about that. The worship team can come up here. Let me pray. Jesus, I thank you so much that we have the gospel that counts of you purposefully going to the cross, fulfilling the prophesied plan from long ago, doing what the Father wanted you to do in total obedience as an example to us and as the solution for our sins. Hosanna, Lord, save us. And for those of us who have received you as our Lord and Savior, we thank you that you are saving us. We are saved, and we will realize the full effect and benefit of our salvation as we spend eternity blessed with you. Lord Jesus, we pray that we would share the message. We pray that we would live out your word and that you would do good things. We thank you for Palm Sunday in Jesus' name. Amen.