SPEAKER_00: My name is Seth Hill, and I serve with the International Mission Board.
SPEAKER_00: And my wife Hannah and my son Levi's here with me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And we we serve in North London.
SPEAKER_00: We've been back in the US.
SPEAKER_00: We're from originally from Clearwater.
SPEAKER_00: And we've been here on furlough for uh the past six months or so.
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh we're getting ready to return to the UK uh a week from tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: So uh please pray for us um as we're preparing to go back.
SPEAKER_00: Um but it's such a blessing to be with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I I've known uh Pastor Sammy uh for a really long time.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we we've uh uh just been through so much of life together.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh Sammy's one of my closest friends, and so you just have such an incredible uh pasture, and I'm just grateful to be here with you.
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, give it up for Pastor Sammy.
SPEAKER_00: Um and if you want to know uh what Pastor Sammy was like in college, you can see me after.
SPEAKER_00: Um and it I've known Pastor Sammy a long time, but I've known Mariah even even longer.
SPEAKER_00: Um uh we've known each other since uh middle school, like 15 years, something like that.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to know what Mariah was like in middle school, then you can see me after.
SPEAKER_00: Um so one of the most uh significant uh historical moments that uh Hannah and I sort of experienced uh serving on the mission field over these last uh several years was the coronation of King Charles III.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that uh I've learned is that uh Americans are way more interested in the royal family than Brits are.
SPEAKER_00: That's just that's just reality.
SPEAKER_00: Um but it was one of the most significant events.
SPEAKER_00: It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: Queen Elizabeth was alive for hundreds of years, it felt like.
SPEAKER_00: So it's a once-in-a-lifetime uh event, and uh a multitude of people were filling the streets to uh witness this, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I I just interesting to see all that goes into the coronation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, King Charles, he traveled in a horse-drawn carriage made out of solid gold.
SPEAKER_00: From uh he traveled from Buckingham Palace to uh Westminster Abbey, where the coronation uh would take place.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it was accompanied by a military procession, sort of a parade that traveled with him while people are lining the streets watching this.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the most lavish and significant events that happens in the life of the UK, and it can mark new beginnings for the nation.
SPEAKER_00: But you might be interested that uh the this coronation it costs the British taxpayers 72 million pounds.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's 91 million US dollars.
SPEAKER_00: So naturally, this brings a lot of debate over kind of the necessity of the monarchy.
SPEAKER_00: So the uh you'll notice in British culture there's a debate ongoing of do we keep the monarchy or not?
SPEAKER_00: Because on one hand, uh it's a symbol of national unity, it's a it's a symbol of tradition and history, but on the other hand, they're really expensive.
SPEAKER_00: And uh others see it as dated, irrelevant, unnecessary for a democratic society.
SPEAKER_00: And so people are responding to the king in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: People are responding to the king in different ways, and this is kind of the the the pivotal moment in the coronation is when the king, dressed in his royal garments, enters.
SPEAKER_00: And what they do is they present the king before the crowd, and they ask the crowd, do you recognize your king?
SPEAKER_00: The response is the crowd in unison says, God save the king.
SPEAKER_00: You see, people might respond to the king of England in different ways, but 2,000 years ago, a different king entered Jerusalem to be crowned.
SPEAKER_00: On what we call Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: This king wasn't carried by a horse-drawn carriage made of solid gold, he rode in on a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: This this king came with garments across the ground to palm branches to a crowd that was saying, Hosanna.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And this king didn't come to be coronated, this king came to go to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And just like people respond differently to King Charles this morning, I believe we're called to respond to King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus isn't just an earthly king that mooches off of taxpayer dollars.
SPEAKER_00: He is the eternal king.
SPEAKER_00: The king of kings.
SPEAKER_00: So the question this morning is how are we gonna respond to the king of kings?
SPEAKER_00: Let's look to Scripture this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 19.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna look at this narrative of Jesus triumphantly entering into Jerusalem and how we're called to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 19, we're gonna be in verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd invite you to stand for the reading of God's word just out of reverence and respect as we explore the word together.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 19, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, Go into the village in front of you, whereon entering you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat.
SPEAKER_00: Untie it, and bring it here.
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone asks you, Why are you untying it?
SPEAKER_00: you shall say this the Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: So those who were sent away went away and found it just as he had told them.
SPEAKER_00: And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, The Lord has need of it.
SPEAKER_00: And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
SPEAKER_00: And it rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road, and as he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go before the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we thank you that you did enter Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: That you did declare your kingship.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you teach us from your word and help us to respond the way you would have us respond?
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: So this story it picks up right after the parable of the ten Minas, which it serves sort of as a fitting warning to be ready for when Jesus returns.
SPEAKER_00: He and his disciples are preparing to enter Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And as they're doing this, they come to the Mount of Olives.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is significant.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Mount of Olives has eschatological significance.
SPEAKER_00: That means it has significance for the times of the end when Jesus is going to come again.
SPEAKER_00: In Zechariah 14, 4 and 5, this scripture prophecy refers to the Mount of Olives as the place where the Messiah will appear.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is significant.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It points to the fact that Jesus is going to enter Jerusalem from this place, but he's also going to return to this place.
SPEAKER_00: It's a picture to not only see Jesus as he enters, but to expect his return.
SPEAKER_00: And further, this is the mount that Jesus gave the Great Commission from, that he ascended to heaven from.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This is a significant place.
SPEAKER_00: It's an important place.
SPEAKER_00: And it's when they come here, Jesus sends two of his disciples on an errand.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know which two, it doesn't really matter.
SPEAKER_00: But they're to go to the next village, they're going to find a cult there that has never been written.
SPEAKER_00: They're supposed to untie it, they're supposed to bring it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone questions them, then Jesus tells them exactly what to say.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Tell them the Lord needs it.
SPEAKER_00: So the disciples go, they do this, and they find that it happens exactly as Jesus said it would.
SPEAKER_00: And the owners ask about the cult, they tell them, the Lord needs it.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't know the whole background behind it.
SPEAKER_00: But that was enough.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying the Lord needs it.
SPEAKER_00: That was enough for the owners.
SPEAKER_00: This scenario, what I think it shows is that Jesus has complete knowledge and complete control over this situation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has complete control and he knows what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: But I think one of the most important things we need to see in this passage is that this fulfills Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew and John's account of this event, it make evident that this fulfills Zechariah 9:9.
SPEAKER_00: It says this rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, your king is coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: On a colt.
SPEAKER_00: The foal of a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of years before Jesus entered Jerusalem, the prophet Zechariah said this about the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: That he's going to come on the full of a donkey, on a colt.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the disciples sort of prepare for this, for Jesus entering, by uh throwing their cloaks on the road and worshiping him as he enters Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They recite Psalm 118, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a multitude of disciples that are here, that are joining in and worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: I think this that points to the fact that the multitudes are meant to worship Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: One day there's going to be a vast multitude of every tribe, nation, people, and language in heaven that's going to be worshiping Jesus, and I want to be a part of that multitude.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a multitude here that's worshiping Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And all of this, I think, makes very clear the claim that Jesus is making.
SPEAKER_00: He is the promised king that would come from the line of David to save God's people.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot get around the claim that Jesus is making here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a lot of people that I think have over history tried to argue Jesus never claimed to be God.
SPEAKER_00: Has anyone ever told you that before?
SPEAKER_00: When you've gone to uh try to tell someone about Jesus, Jesus never claimed to be God.
SPEAKER_00: This is one our Muslim friends will often say.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, he never claimed this.
SPEAKER_00: But when you put together these Old Testament prophecies, when you put together the fact that Jesus is entering Jerusalem in this way and is allowing his disciples to respond to him in this way, Jesus is claiming to be God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is claiming to be the king.
SPEAKER_00: He is the we can't get around that.
SPEAKER_00: He's entering Jerusalem as the king.
SPEAKER_00: But he's not entering as other kings do, not with pomp and expense, but in humility on a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: This shows the kind of king Jesus is to us.
SPEAKER_00: He's a servant.
SPEAKER_00: But the Pharisees are also here.
SPEAKER_00: We love when they show up.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees are here.
SPEAKER_00: They say, they they understand the claim that Jesus is making.
SPEAKER_00: They understand that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah through this action.
SPEAKER_00: So they tell them, rebuke your disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says, if they don't, the rocks are going to cry out.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus will be worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's the one who's worthy of worship.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the main point.
SPEAKER_00: That's really what I think.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't remember anything else, that's what I got for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the King.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I got for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is the king, then how should we respond to that truth?
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you three ways that we need to respond to the truth that Jesus is king from the text this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The first, you need to confess Jesus as your king.
SPEAKER_00: You need to confess Jesus as your king.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples here clearly confess Jesus as their king.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They do so in multiple ways.
SPEAKER_00: I think we can see.
SPEAKER_00: First, they're the ones that seat Jesus on the cult.
SPEAKER_00: They're the ones that put the garment on the cult and physically seat Jesus there.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't say, all right, you brought it to me, I'm going to climb on it myself and go in myself.
SPEAKER_00: It's the disciples that do this.
SPEAKER_00: That very act is an agreement with who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: They place Jesus on the donkey, they declare that he's king through that.
SPEAKER_00: It's active participation and endorsement of this triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: Further, the disciples lay their garments on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't, I think, seem significant in a Western from a Western viewpoint, but it's very significant because there is precedent for acknowledging a king this way in Israel's history.
SPEAKER_00: Look at 2 Kings 9, 13.
SPEAKER_00: This is referring to King Jehu.
SPEAKER_00: Then in haste, every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, Jehu is king.
SPEAKER_00: There's precedent for this in Israel's history.
SPEAKER_00: This is, they confess that King Jehu was king by putting their garments on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are confessing Jesus is king by putting their garments on the ground as he enters.
SPEAKER_00: This is sort of a red carpet treatment that is only reserved for such kings.
SPEAKER_00: This response also shows, I think, that Jesus is not entering Jerusalem to assert his kingship.
SPEAKER_00: He's entering Jerusalem to receive his kingship.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need to assert anything.
SPEAKER_00: His disciples give him his kingship.
SPEAKER_00: He's receiving it.
SPEAKER_00: Right, and finally, the disciples quote Psalm 118, 26.
SPEAKER_00: I've mentioned that a couple times.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This Psalm, it would have been originally depicting the king of Israel leading priests and pilgrims in the temple to receive a greeting of welcome.
SPEAKER_00: And most everyone would have read this scripture looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And so what this communicates is that Jesus should be welcomed as a king.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you put all these things together paired with the fulfillment from Zechariah 9, the disciples are clearly confessing Jesus as their king.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: So I believe this narrative is calling us to confess Jesus as our king.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there is a time when one of the biggest things that you could do if you were in a dating relationship was to change your Facebook status.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There was a time when that was the biggest thing that you could do.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of different options for statuses.
SPEAKER_00: You could be uh single in a relationship, engaged, separated, widowed, like a lot of different options there.
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, there's the the one, my favorite.
SPEAKER_00: It's complicated.
SPEAKER_00: Has that ever been your relationship status?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to answer that.
SPEAKER_00: Um you see, there comes a time in any relationship where you have to declare publicly, right, what the deal is.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There comes a time you have to declare publicly, this is who you are to me.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna tell everyone that.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't get to be complicated with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's either your king or he isn't.
SPEAKER_00: We have to confess Jesus as our king and publicly stand with him.
SPEAKER_00: Look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: It says, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We must confess Jesus and hold fast to that confession.
SPEAKER_00: But how do we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, if you're in here and you're not a Christian, I want to invite you that, I want to encourage you that there is no better day than today to confess Jesus as your king.
SPEAKER_00: To choose to confess Jesus as your king.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 10, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ lived a perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: He entered Jerusalem as a king to ultimately go to the cross and be killed as a criminal.
SPEAKER_00: And he did this to pay the price for your sin and for mine.
SPEAKER_00: But after three days, he rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: And he showed that he is the true king.
SPEAKER_00: Right, and we can be saved if we would make that confession and seek to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if you've never made that confession today, I just want to implore you.
SPEAKER_00: Do it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know when Jesus is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: And there's no better day today.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says today is the day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: You can be in a relationship with Jesus Christ if you would make that confession that He's your King.
SPEAKER_00: I would implore you, do that today.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in Jesus before it's too late, because one day everyone will.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you like it or not.
SPEAKER_00: Because every knee will bow.
SPEAKER_00: And every tongue will confess.
SPEAKER_00: Some will do it willingly, out of love and submission to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Others will do it because they have no other choice.
SPEAKER_00: Do it today.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're a believer here this morning, I I want to ask, are you continuing to daily confess Jesus as your king?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Are you continuing?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't I don't mean just like live a good moral life.
SPEAKER_00: And if I, you know, if I'm a good enough person, then people around me will assume that I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't work.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you knew that.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people across the West actually have negative views of Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's a lot of Christians that I think don't do a very good job at publicly confessing Jesus and walking in the ways that He would have them walk.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people have been hurt.
SPEAKER_00: And so when if you're just living a good moral life and hoping that at some point people will assume you're a Christian or come ask you about it, that's never happened to me.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we're called to publicly confess Jesus as our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Are you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: Are there what I'd ask is are there people in your life that don't even know that you're a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: Are there people in your workplace that don't know you're a Christian or neighbors that don't know you're a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: If if right, is this something, is following Christ something that's such an enormous thing in your life that everyone knows you're a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: You follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we want to be.
SPEAKER_00: And I think if if we have a lot of people in our lives that don't know that we're a Christian, then maybe that's a problem.
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't be okay with that.
SPEAKER_00: We're probably not confessing Jesus the way he wants us to.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: Take steps to confess Jesus publicly.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you go to work tomorrow, someone's gonna ask you, how's the weekend?
SPEAKER_00: That's that's what's gonna you can say, well, hey, I went to church with my family because I'm a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: This is what I learned.
SPEAKER_00: It's publicly identified.
SPEAKER_00: That's a simple way, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's not rocket science.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe next time you see a neighbor and you're not sure that they know you're a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: You can s one of the things I love to do is I just say, hey, you know, I'm a Christian and uh so I love to pray for people.
SPEAKER_00: Is there any way I could pray for you?
SPEAKER_00: You're starting to publicly identify with Jesus, and I think when we do that, that That sets the direction for our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you to confess Jesus as your king and let this confession saturate every area of your life.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to confess Christ as our King.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing we need to do this morning, we need to confess Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to obey Jesus as our King.
SPEAKER_00: We need to obey Jesus as our King.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this really builds on the first point, I think.
SPEAKER_00: If you confess Jesus as your king, then you're going to have to obey what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's how it works when you're a king.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You get to say how things go.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the disciples here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus sends them on a very specific errand.
SPEAKER_00: Very specific.
SPEAKER_00: Go into this village.
SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a donkey there.
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and take the donkey.
SPEAKER_00: And if someone asks, this is what you say.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: If someone told me to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, so you want me to just go take a dude's donkey?
SPEAKER_00: Like, how's how's that supposed to work?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
SPEAKER_00: You think they're going to be okay.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord needs it.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, like, people aren't going to be okay with that.
SPEAKER_00: But they obey Jesus exactly as he told them to, because he's the king.
SPEAKER_00: He's worthy of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And when they obeyed him, you know what happened?
SPEAKER_00: It went exactly like he said.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There's wait, when we obey Jesus, it's going to go the way he tells us it's going to go.
SPEAKER_00: We can trust him.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to obey him.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He's not only calling the disciples to confess Jesus just with their mouth and name only, but to obey him with their lives.
SPEAKER_00: And if Jesus is who he says he is, then what he says must go, his commands must be obeyed fully, exactly as he commanded them.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reality.
SPEAKER_00: Think about if you're in the military, do you get to debate your orders?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, some of you maybe are in the have been in the military here.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get to debate your your orders, do you?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You are expected to follow them exactly as they're given to a T.
SPEAKER_00: And whatever the commander says goes, whatever the king says goes.
SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And obedience is something that I believe is foundational to our relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look at John chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: Most of you know this passage as a passage that teaches about abiding.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But look at look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: It says this if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.
SPEAKER_00: Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.
SPEAKER_00: These things I've spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
SPEAKER_00: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I've loved you.
SPEAKER_00: And greater love is no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
SPEAKER_00: You're my friends if you do what I command you.
SPEAKER_00: Obedience doesn't get to be separated from abiding.
SPEAKER_00: Obedience is abiding.
SPEAKER_00: Obedience is how we abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And if we want to follow Jesus and confess he's king, then we have to obey him.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, if you confess Jesus on Sunday, you're gonna have to follow him to the cross on Friday.
SPEAKER_00: That's the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you to strive to obey Jesus in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And the reality is none of us obey Jesus perfectly or fully the way that he wants us to.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And there's grace for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the gospel is for, that we receive his grace.
SPEAKER_00: But as we receive his grace, we should be seeking to grow in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: We should be seeking to evaluate where are we being disobedient and how can we grow in that.
SPEAKER_00: A great study that I've found that helps me lean into discipling believers to obey Christ is a study that we call the Commands of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that we've it's a tool we've used for discipleship over the past several years serving in London.
SPEAKER_00: And you can find this study for free, completely for free, on obeychrist.com.
SPEAKER_00: ObeyChrist.com.
SPEAKER_00: Go there.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great tool.
SPEAKER_00: And basically what it does, it's just very simple.
SPEAKER_00: It walks through ten key commands that Jesus gives to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Just ten key commands.
SPEAKER_00: Commands like baptism, worship, prayer, giving, gathering with God's people, our great commission witness.
SPEAKER_00: It walks through commands that Jesus gives.
SPEAKER_00: And the goal is that it encourages us to evaluate our obedience.
SPEAKER_00: It encourages us to interact with the commands that Jesus gives and help us make a plan for how we can be obedient to that.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'd encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like for you to find a brother or a sister or a small group and together go through those commands and seek to make plans together and hold each other accountable to your obedience, to the things we know that the scriptures have given us as commands.
SPEAKER_00: But one way, you know, I think is important.
SPEAKER_00: Today is Palm Sunday, right?
SPEAKER_00: Begins Holy Week.
SPEAKER_00: This is a week where Christians globally take this to ponder the passion of Jesus Christ, the week that he spends in Jerusalem before the cross, right?
SPEAKER_00: And we ponder his sacrifice for us and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Now, many who don't know the Lord, this is often maybe the one time a year that they might engage with the gospel message or engage with the church in some way.
SPEAKER_00: Some might do it out of obligation or nostalgia.
SPEAKER_00: A lot, there's a lot of reasons I think people people do that.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, this is one of the main times each year that people are engaging with the message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it presents us with a great opportunity, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It presents us with an opportunity to uh to obey Christ through our witness.
SPEAKER_00: And through, and so I want to challenge you this week, as Pastor Sammy challenged you earlier, to text someone.
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like for you to uh to go and uh not only just invite people to church for Easter, but to share the message of the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_00: You'd be surprised how many people don't have a clue what Easter is about.
SPEAKER_00: See, in London, all the time, I had people, my barber uh is from Albania, uh a guy that uh worked at an Indian restaurant from Bangladesh.
SPEAKER_00: Uh like uh a lot of different people had would ask me, Are are you celebrating Easter?
SPEAKER_00: And I'd say, Yeah, of course, yeah, I am.
SPEAKER_00: Um, do you know what Easter is about?
SPEAKER_00: He'd say, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: There's one British guy, uh, someone was engaging, and and uh uh he said, you know, I know about Jesus, but all I know is he was born on Easter.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, the one one thing you know about Jesus, and it's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: People don't know about Easter.
SPEAKER_00: This is an opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: That's just it's it's just right there.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's just like here, take it.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: People are gonna ask about Easter.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, do you know about Easter?
SPEAKER_00: What it's all about?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you the message of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Easter is about.
SPEAKER_00: And take that opportunity to share the gospel, and as you share the gospel, invite people here.
SPEAKER_00: Invite people to come into the community and experience the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: And experience the power of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: His presence, the Holy Spirit that gathers with us as we worship.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let this opportunity this year slip by you.
SPEAKER_00: If if the, you know, if you need to start with just one person this week, then share it with one person.
SPEAKER_00: If you can do five people, right, and try to share with five people and invite five people, do that.
SPEAKER_00: But uh don't go this week without engaging someone with the good news of Jesus and inviting them to come gather together for Easter.
SPEAKER_00: It's such an amazing opportunity to do so.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to challenge you to do that.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to uh confess Jesus as our King.
SPEAKER_00: We need to obey Jesus as our king.
SPEAKER_00: The last thing uh that we need to do is we need to worship Jesus as our king.
SPEAKER_00: We need to worship Jesus as our king.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There's a multitude of disciples here rejoicing and praising God.
SPEAKER_00: This multitude, I think it points to the vast multitude, right, of Revelation chapter 7, verse 9 and 10 of every tribe, nation, people, and language that are gathered with palm branches.
SPEAKER_00: Luke's gospel doesn't talk about the palm branches because he's not so much writing to Jews, and that's more of a Jewish thing.
SPEAKER_00: But uh the palm branches are a symbol of royalty, right?
SPEAKER_00: Of worship.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh we we see this multitude in Revelation 7, 9, and 10 is worshiping Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We want to be a part of that multitude.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Though they proclaim the blessing of Psalm 118 over Jesus for who he is, the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And uh he's the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: But then they also praise for the mighty works that they've seen.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: For the miracles that he's done.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is worshipped for who he is and what he's done.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is really a model for us for worship throughout the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: We praise for who God is, his attributes, his character, and we worship him for what he's done.
SPEAKER_00: He saved us from our sins, he's defeated death.
SPEAKER_00: And as they're proclaiming Psalm 118, they shout a part of that is peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_00: This sort of reminds me of the angels uh that were speaking to the shepherds when Jesus was born.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Because what this shows is the result of Jesus' coming.
SPEAKER_00: It's peace and glory.
SPEAKER_00: That's the result.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus comes, you get peace, you get glory.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: But the Pharisees, they see these clear acts of worship.
SPEAKER_00: And they're trying to get Jesus to stop this multitude from worshiping him.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is clear.
SPEAKER_00: If they stop, the stones are going to worship.
SPEAKER_00: Creation's gonna worship.
SPEAKER_00: And what this communicates to us is that Jesus is worthy of all worship forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Here, creation is aware enough of Jesus to worship him, but the leaders of Israel, the Pharisees, are not.
SPEAKER_00: That which is lifeless is aware of life when what is living is not.
SPEAKER_00: Creation will worship Jesus if you and I don't.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus is the one worthy of worship.
unknown: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think a lot about uh one of the things that that is you see in the news every now and then is someone will uh like at an auction spend an absurd amount of money on an item that a celebrity owned.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen that before?
SPEAKER_00: Um I I looked up just a couple of those of what those were.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's pretty interesting.
SPEAKER_00: One man paid fifteen thousand dollars for John Lennon's toilet.
SPEAKER_00: I God bless you.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00: Um there's another person who bought uh a lock of Elvis Presley's hair for$115,000.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you're gonna do with that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh this this one's my favorite.
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's one one man paid over a thousand dollars for Justin Timberlake's leftover French toast.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, do you eat that or like do you finish it for him, or do you I don't know what you what the goal is there.
SPEAKER_00: These things aren't worth anything.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want another man's toilet.
SPEAKER_00: My own toilet's fine.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't need that.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But why are they paying this amount?
SPEAKER_00: Because they see whoever owned the item as worthy.
SPEAKER_00: They see who whoever this belonged to, you know, for whatever reason, they they like them enough to want to have these ridiculous items that belong to them.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They saw that this these individuals as worship.
SPEAKER_00: What if we worship Jesus in a way that we ascribed all worth to who he is and what he's done and gave him everything we had.
SPEAKER_00: And gave him absurd amounts of everything that we have for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: What if we worship Jesus that way?
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just, you know, we come and sing that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a part of worship.
SPEAKER_00: And I think we need to worship through song.
SPEAKER_00: We're commanded to worship through song.
SPEAKER_00: There's power in that, right?
SPEAKER_00: But worship is something that we display in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: But we give of our time and our treasures and all the things that God has given us.
SPEAKER_00: We give it back to Him.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to help you frame your mind in terms of worship.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think two ways that uh you can think through uh worshiping Jesus is one, run your life through the filter of adoration.
SPEAKER_00: Run your life through the filter of adoration, of thinking about who God is.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Who think about his attributes, his character, his goodness, he is love, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is omniscient, he's omnipresent, he's all powerful, right?
SPEAKER_00: This is who God is.
SPEAKER_00: And think about what that means for your life.
SPEAKER_00: Do we live in a way that reflects that?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We want to worship him through adoration.
SPEAKER_00: That's a great way.
SPEAKER_00: When I pray, that's how I like to start to pray, just as Jesus taught us.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.
SPEAKER_00: It's adoration.
SPEAKER_00: When I pray, the first thing I want to pray is prayers that are adoring God just simply for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Then the second way that I think we need to filter our worship is through thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They're worshiping God for who he is, they're thanking him for what he's done.
SPEAKER_00: Um we need to live a life of thanksgiving, expending, spending time acknowledging what God has done in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And give him thanks and gratitude.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to combat anxiety and depression?
SPEAKER_00: Is being grateful for uh all the things that God has done.
SPEAKER_00: Give him your adoration, give him your thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00: Live live lives that are characterized by those things.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Let your life be a picture of worship through adoring, giving thanks, and giving of your time and your treasure.
SPEAKER_00: So we're called to uh to come to Jesus as our King.
SPEAKER_00: Um I was just kind of as I was preparing this, I was reminded of a story um just about uh my my dad was uh he lived a very very difficult life.
SPEAKER_00: I I was raised by my grandparents mostly.
SPEAKER_00: My my parents weren't weren't really around.
SPEAKER_00: And uh my dad had uh lifelong, he struggled with uh drug uh and alcohol abuse, and um when I was very, very young, he had a uh brain aneurysm that was caused by these things, left him paralyzed.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I remember there was a time that uh uh I was about between the ages of 10 and 12.
SPEAKER_00: And uh my dad uh he didn't live with us because he couldn't take care of himself.
SPEAKER_00: He he lived uh I was in Florida, he lived in North Carolina, but he um he was here visiting, and uh he was having sort of a mental breakdown of sorts.
SPEAKER_00: He was uh very just kind of at the end of himself.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I yeah, it was basically I was just alone with him, and uh it was a lot, I think, as a young kid to experience, but but he he was basically saying uh I don't know how my life came to this point.
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and I'm just I'm broken, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 10, 11 years old, and I I wasn't very mature in my faith, and so I I don't know where this came from, but I I the Holy Spirit in that moment just kind of spoke, and and uh what I told him was Dad, you need to bow your knee to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the the way that what he said to me, never forget it, he said, I bow to no one.
SPEAKER_00: A couple years later, uh, he would lose his life to an overdose and he continued to walk in those words.
SPEAKER_00: I bow to no one.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm here to tell you this morning, you need to bow your knee to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to tell you, you need to bow your knee to Jesus and make him your king.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus demands, that's what he's worthy of.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, Jesus, when he entered Jerusalem, there were there was a multitude of disciples that worshiped him.
SPEAKER_00: But by the end of the week, he was hanging on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: Only the Apostle John, his mother, and a couple other women were present.
SPEAKER_00: He was betrayed, he was rejected, he was accused, he was tried, he was abused, he was put on a criminal's cross to be killed.
SPEAKER_00: When just five days ago he entered Jerusalem to worship.
SPEAKER_00: And he did that for you.
SPEAKER_00: He did that for you.
SPEAKER_00: But that the fact that he was rejected, what it shows us, there's gonna be people that reject Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I beg you this morning not to be one of them.
SPEAKER_00: I beg you this morning to make Jesus your king.
SPEAKER_00: To confess him, to obey him, to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here this morning, we're gonna, and you've never trusted in Christ, we're gonna have a time of worship just in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pray and have a time of worship.
SPEAKER_00: Uh if you've never trusted in Christ, then I want to invite you to do that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be people here, um, pastors and leaders that are gonna be at the front.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm I'll be here and would love to talk with you about what it means to put your faith in Jesus, how to do that, and how to take your next step.
SPEAKER_00: You see, all we have to do is we have to turn away from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: To say, I don't want that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna turn from my sin.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna trust in Jesus as my king, my savior, my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you do that, you can begin a new life in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You can pursue Him, you can have your relationship with God restored.
SPEAKER_00: It's all you have to do.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to talk with you about what that means.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the reality: either Jesus is your king or you're your king.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus makes a much better king than you and I ever will.
SPEAKER_00: Make Jesus your king.
SPEAKER_00: You can either be in the multitude or you can be with the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: Come to Jesus today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a believer this morning, will you commit to pursuing Jesus as your king?
SPEAKER_00: Will you commit to growing and following Jesus and growing in your submission to his kingship every single day?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you need to do, the altar is for you as well.
SPEAKER_00: It's the time for you to come.
SPEAKER_00: Confess things to the Lord that you need to let go of or give up and make a commitment to him.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you to do that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let's come together and pray with every head bowed and every eye closed.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: You are worthy.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, you are the King.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that, we declare it.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other King.
SPEAKER_00: There's no King like you.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, I pray that everyone in This room that you would draw us to come to you as our King.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that our King is not a tyrant, is not an evil ruler, but is a servant who loves us and gave his life for us.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone in here needs to make a decision to trust in Jesus, you might just pray a prayer like this, and I'm not trying to put words in your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: There's no magic words that can save you.
SPEAKER_00: But you might just come before God and tell him you want to make him your king.
SPEAKER_00: You might say, Lord, I recognize that I'm a sinner and that I need you.
SPEAKER_00: And I recognize that there's no king but you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to turn from my sin and I want to trust you as my Savior and as my king.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you help me to follow you?
SPEAKER_00: If you prayed that prayer, I just, as we sing, come up here.
SPEAKER_00: Just respond.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to talk with you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't leave this morning without talking to someone.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray as we worship in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We glorify you.
SPEAKER_00: Your name be honored as holy.
SPEAKER_00: Let us worship you in our confession and in our obedience and through these songs.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in Jesus' name.