The Surprise (03-29-25)

We hope this message was an encouragement to you. We would love for you to join us in person and worship with our church family. ISO Church meets Sundays at 10 AM at the Women's Club in Paramus. You can also reach us at our website: isochurch.org, or on Instagram @isochurch. Thanks for listening, and God Bless you!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey ISO fam, Pastor Chad here, and you're listening to the message from our ISO Church Sunday service, where we are in search of the one and in service of the one. We pray that this message speaks to your life today, that you're encouraged but also impacted because of God's love and his grace. We hope that you enjoy. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

So good to see everyone in the house. Welcome to ISO Church. Thank you so much for being here with us. It's it's such an honor. Every time that the Lord opens up this door and is able to speak through me, speak through members of this church, it's such an honor. So, Lord, I just thank you so much for this time. Um, but welcome to ISO Church. I'm Pastor Crystal Campbell. I co-lead with my husband, Pastor Chad Campbell, and I had all these notes about him not being here and all these little things, and now I can't say any of that because he decided to, you know, show up on time, even early, actually. So that was kind of crazy. But um he actually just got back from a wedding that was in Wisconsin, the great state of Wisconsin. Go Pac Go to all my Packer fans out there. Anybody? No, no. Okay, yes, come on, Dad. Like listen, I love this weekend because Pastor Chad was gone in the great state of Wisconsin and he had to do all the like Packer things, right? He had to like look for cheese, what is it, cheese curds or whatever he was trying to eat, like all the things that you know, Wisconsin, the Packers are known for besides the great football, you know. So yesterday I was rocking my Packers gear all day. It was it was great. I I had such a great time. I had Genevieve saying, Go pack go, because you know, they're always getting her to do like the bear growl and everything. So I had to put that aside for this weekend, you know, I had to really like just embed it into her. You know, we're Packers fans in this house, right? House divided for football, but we're one in Christ, okay? So listen, there's a lot going on here at ISO Church. As you heard from the announcements, we have groups happening throughout the week. So please get plugged in. If you're looking for community, there is a place here for you. So we have, you know, as they were mentioning, the Brotherhood Bible study that just kicked off. It was such a good time. Jimmy, shout out to you. I heard it was a phenomenal night in the Word. And listen, men, whether you're even a part of this church or not, we want you to grow in your relationship with Jesus. So if you need a place, you're just like, hey, I just want to get poured into. I'm I'm tired, I'm whatever the case may be, men, get connected, come out for that. And ladies, listen, we are studying this book, Ribology. It has been so fire. Please come on out. April 11th is our next meetup at the Pramis Library, and you really, really want to be there. It is so good. We're hearing about how ladies are so beautifully complex, right, ladies? We are so beautifully complex, and that's the way that we were designed. So, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for that. But we have so many things going on. So, as you heard already, so many things here at ISO Church, but get plugged in. We, you know, we have stuff going on, and young adults, young people, or even if you think you're young, whatever the case may be, come around the table on Friday nights. The Campbells host it at their home. It's a beautiful time in the word. And I think they're about to start off a study in Revelation. Now that's a whole nother level. So if you're up for it, you know, come on out for that. But the last couple weeks, we have been in our vision collection. We actually just ended last week and it was back to the altar. And we were diving into all things for 2026 and how God has just been touching this house here at ISO Church and just his kingdom in general. And it was such a great time just being able to open up the altars and come up here and just surrender and knowing that, you know, when we come up here, we don't have to be perfect, right? We don't have to have it all together to come through those doors. We don't have to have it all together to come to this altar. That's why we're here, right? We're broken people and we need a savior. So we were just diving into and just confirming all of these things that there's a fire that's burning, right? There's a fire that's stirring, that we want to keep that stirring and just seeking God in our daily routine. So if you haven't had a chance to watch or you know listen to any of those messages, I know we have our podcast now and all those things. Go online, YouTube, go to our you know, website, isochurch.org, and look at those videos. If you need something, you're driving in the car, you have a long commute, and you're looking for something, that's the thing to turn on. But will you pray with me? All right, dear Lord, we just love you. We thank you, God, for this time. Lord Jesus, we just lift up this time to you, Lord, and I just pray right now that your Holy Spirit will just speak through me, be on my lips, God. I know that I have something prepared, Lord, but you are the Almighty. So, God, I'm just praying that you just speak through me and work through me. And God, that it will just land on open ears and open hearts, God, to receive what you have this morning on this beautiful Palm Sunday. So, God, we thank you and we glorify your name, Jesus. Amen. All right, so the title of my talk today is The Surprise. So look to your neighbor and say, Surprise! Well, come on, you guys, we gotta wake up. Surprise! Like, let's, yes, let's hear it. See, I love good surprises. I don't know about you, but I'm someone who's like, I crave surprises. Anyone else? Anyone else in the house loves surprises? Yeah, okay, okay. Not that many people, but just a few. All right. But I love surprises. But the thing is that like nobody can surprise me, right? Because I'm like, I'm in everything. I know everything. I'm trying to know everything, right? I got my hands in all these like little things. So when someone actually can make that happen and actually truly surprise you, not even have like a little bit of an inkling, you know, because there's like those times too where you're like, yeah, you surprised me, but like I kind of had an idea. No, no, like truly surprise, that means a lot. So listen, I give it up for you know, Pastor Chad, because a few years back before we were married and we were just dating, we had a long day of ministry, right? What a day it was with our youth. And listen, shout out to my youth. I love my youth kids. A lot of them are here today and come to ISO church, praise Jesus, or just serving the Lord. So that's awesome. But we had a long day of ministry a couple years back, and we were serving, we were out like at a soccer tournament, it was out in Long Island, it was a whole thing. And this man decides to say, Hey, let's go for dinner tonight. Let's go, you know, do get dressed up and tonight? Like, really? All right. So make it happen. We go out to dinner, and of course, that night is the night that he's gonna go in front of the entire restaurant, scream on top of his lungs, hello, everybody. I was like, oh no, no, no, this is not happening, and proposes that night. And I had no idea what was going on. That was like probably one of the maybe very, very few times that someone has been able to truly surprise me. And you know what was so beautiful about that? That was the one thing that I had asked. I said, Hey, when we're gonna get engaged, because you know, I knew it was coming eventually, right? Right, Presha? Um, that I was just like, hey, can you just surprise me? I don't want to know anything, I don't want to be in the plans. I love being surprised. I don't care where, I don't care how, I don't care who, well, obviously who, but who else, right? But I just want to be surprised. And he made that happen. It was an amazing surprise. It was so good. And listen, you're you're awesome because I know you got more up your sleeve. But let's jump into our text today. Um, we're going to Mark chapter 11, verses 1 through 11. Mark chapter 11, verses 1 through 11. It says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you. And immediately as you enter, you will find a colt a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, What are you doing? Say this the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And then went away and found a colt tied at the door outside the street, and then they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, it was already late, and he went out to Bethany with the twelve. See, Jesus arriving at this point was a surprise, right? Most people, if not all, assume that the Messiah would be arriving right as a warrior. That's what that's what they had envisioned, right? That's what they were thinking. Oh, he's gonna come and he's gonna be this warrior, he's gonna have an army with him, and he's gonna be ready to fight, and he's gonna take out our enemies. And Jesus was ready to fight, but surprisingly, he was going to do it in a totally different way. And the masses of people wouldn't have known what was gonna take place at this moment. So, my first thing today is that you are surprised when you listen. Write that down. You are surprised when you listen. I feel like I've been using the word listen very often as a parent, right? All my parents probably know what that's like. We need to listen, I say, right? Are you listening? How do we listen? We listen with our ears, right? We get the best results when we listen. See, isn't Jesus a boss, right? When he speaks, it is so. In our lives, we need to listen when Jesus speaks. Go. There's a cult that's gonna be tied there. No one's ever sat on it. Untie it, bring it. And of course they doubt, right? They're doubting. Uh, aren't people gonna ask what we're doing, or what should we say, right? And the Lord says to them, When they ask, when they ask, they will know what to do and they will let you go. And what happens? That's exactly what happens, right? Can we be a little bit more like the disciples, right? Sometimes we have that doubt, but at this point, when that was taking place, Jesus gave that direction, they stepped into it and they actually listened to what he said, and they actually did as he said, right? Sometimes in our human nature, we have that doubt, but when Jesus says something to us, when he's speaking to us and he's telling you, hey, this is the direction that I'm taking you, listen to that instruction and go with what he's telling you. Actually listen to what he's telling you in your lives. When you begin to listen to Jesus, things start to transform, right? Change starts to come. Our ways are not his ways, so our ways start to shift. It might mean that now, okay, Lord, I'm listening to you. What does that look like for me? Okay, maybe it looks like I'm living according to his word. Well, what is his word? We have to get in his word. We have to know his word. We have to put that word on our heart for us to know when we come up against things in this world, okay, well, does it match scripture? Am I able to combat it? Yeah, you are, because we have a savior. We have a savior that came to fight, but in a different way, in a surprisingly different way. Maybe that looks like when you're starting to see a transformation in your life because you're listening to God, that you're now you're obeying his will. You're actually listening to him and you're talking to him when we're praying, right? But we're actually spending the time to stop and pause and listen. Wait for that response back. How is he speaking to you? Is he confirming things in different ways? Right? He had already prepared this situation with the cult. The disciples just had to listen and obey to what he said. That's how God surprises us in our lives. He's always surprised, I mean, for me, he's always surprising me. I don't know if anyone's with me in that, but he's always surprising me in such beautiful ways. The story of my life is not what I had envisioned. I thought I knew how things were gonna go. And God said, No, I have something greater. And I'm so grateful for that. So, Lord, I'm choosing to listen to you today because I know that you have something greater for my life. And if that's what you want, that's what you need to do. Simple. Let's make it super simple. Let's go back to being children, right? Just listen. We listen with our ears. If you're surprised today, this is my next point, when you humble yourself. In Mark chapter 11, verses 7 and 8, it says, And then they brought the cult to Jesus and threw their colloaks on it and sat on it. And many spread their cloaks, I can't say that word today for some reason, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. See, this is a beautiful part of Scripture. This is that one moment when Jesus actually gets the recognition that he deserves, right? This is just this is just a little glimpse at how Jesus should be glorified. This wasn't the way that when kings of that time, right, came into, you know, um, into a city or into an area that they were welcomed, right? There was a whole thing going on. It would go for days, there was like parades and parties and all of these things. That's how kings were welcomed. It wasn't even at that level. It was just a small glimpse when Jesus is coming in as the Messiah, as the King, for the people to praise him. But it's just a small recognition to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that he deserves. That he deserves with all of our being. See, we're we're fallible, right? We we make mistakes, we we mess up, but we can praise Jesus freely, can't we? This would all lead up, right, to next week. This is holy week, to what's to come, the greatest thing that has ever happened on this earth, and the greatest thing that'll ever happen on this earth in all of our existence is Jesus dying on that cross, but not only dying, but raising from his death. See, this is the difference that we see between us as Christians. If you call yourself a Christian, you believe in Jesus, you're a follower of Christ, and the difference between us and everybody else. No matter there's so many different religions now. I can't even keep track. There's so many different things going on, people believing this, that, I don't know, they're praying to rocks. I don't even know what's happening, right? There's all these other things, but we have a savior, that's the difference, who was who was killed on that cross, but he rose again. And he's living today. Do we humble ourselves before the Lord? Do we even know what it means to humble yourself? Jesus came and he came humbly. He arrived that day, the Messiah, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, arrived this day. This just beautiful glimpse we get to see on a colt with some branches being waved around. This is what he got. He arrived humbly, but he arrived ready. In Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the fowl of a donkey. Charles Spurgeon says, How we condemn pride. We feel that it would be well if all were as humble as we are. We boast that we detest boasting. We flatter ourselves that we hate flattery. When we are told that we are singularly, singularly free from pride, we feel as proud, get this, we feel as proud as Lucifer himself at the consciousness that the compliment is right and well deserved. That we deserve that compliment. We are so experienced, we're so solid, we're so discerning, we're so free from self-confidence that we are the first to be caught in the net of self-satisfaction. We must pray that God will make us humble. That's what we need to be asking for today. We need to be coming as children and listening to what he has to say, but we also need to be humbling ourselves. Our Savior came humble and he's the savior of the world, right? Who are we? We are daughters and sons of the Most High. We need to follow what he did. We need to mimic how he was living. We're not perfect, we never will be, but we can humble ourselves. When we start to think to ourselves that we've made it, or start to think that you know, think to ourselves that we've got it, that I'm all right, I'm good in my walk. You might need to reassess. You can go further with your relationship with Jesus. Don't make it just surface level. Don't just come to you know a Bible study or book club and just, okay, I checked it off. I did what I was supposed to do. I did the thing, right? No, but let his word get into your heart, let it pierce your heart. We need to surprise ourselves that God is the only one that's gonna make us humble. We're not gonna do it on our own. We need to arrive humble to the things in life that we're showing up to. When we come to church, arrive humble. When we approach our families, arrive humble. When we approach situations that maybe we're upset about or whatever it may be, we're angry about. I know some people have had a week this week, you know. We need to arrive humble. Okay, Lord, how are you gonna work it out? God, it's not about me. It's not about me, it's about you. Let's surprise ourselves when we listen, when we're humble. And the last thing today is you surprise yourself when you inspect your heart. And I think out of all of them, this is this is key right here. Mark 11, verses 9 and 10, and says, and those who went before, and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest. Did anyone get palms this morning? I don't know if anyone got palms when they can't got it. No, no. We have palms for you, don't worry. There's some over here, there's some over here. Grab your palms. But the people were waving these leafy branches, right? These palms. These people were cheering, these people were shouting. They were they were ready, right, for this arrival. This is the Messiah. We're excited, we're ready. And the people were shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, meaning save us. That's what Hosanna means. Save us. Deliver us. It's a plea, right? It's a plea. Save us. A plea for salvation. Save us, Lord. And these are the same people. These are the same people who just in a few days, right, who are shouting, shouting Hosanna, waving their branches. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They'll be condemning him. And worship team, you can make your way back up. We need to inspect our hearts. Will we be surprised when God gives us something when we're inspecting our hearts? When we ask God, hey, can you seek out the area that I need a touch from you? Because sometimes we're blinded to it, right? We're so blinded to it. Trust me, there's gonna be plenty of areas that you think you've got it all together. Or you think, oh no, I've done this before. I'm good. And you need a touch from Jesus. He needs to move in your heart like never before. Inspect my heart. That is a hard prayer to pray because there's stuff going on. Like I said, we're fallible people. We make mistakes. But God, inspect my heart. I know I'm trying, I know I'm doing. Don't get caught up in the doing. Get caught up in the following. Follow Jesus. Get caught up in trying to mimic the life that he lived humble. We go from one extreme to the other in our lives often, right? We literally live this like seesaw. That's what I'm seeing right now. We live this seesaw of Hosanna crucify him. That's how we live our lives. Hosanna, crucify him. Because we go back and forth. One minute we're like, save us, Lord, we need you. And then the next minute we're all caught up in the things, and we're like, oh wait, Jesus, what? Where are you? And we're not inviting him into the most intimate places that he wants to meet you. And that looks different for us all, right? We're all at different places in our walks with Christ. But you don't have to live that seesaw. It doesn't have to be Hosanna and then crucify him because of one argument. Hosanna, crucify him because of one just impatient moment that you're like, Lord, I can't do this anymore. Hosanna, crucify him because of one frustration. All of these things we deal with daily, weekly, whatever it may be. Hosanna, crucify him for one issue because something didn't work out the way that we planned it to work out. But God has greater. Wow, this is a really, really difficult time. There's been loss, there's been hurt, there's been there's been sickness, whatever it may be. God, search my heart. Surprise me. Surprise me, Jesus. Can we surprise ourselves today that we can actually listen? Jesus, I'm actually listening to you. I'm opening up my ears. I know it sounds so like, you know, trivial and young, and but no, Lord, like I'm actually opening my ears to you. I want to receive from you. Show me the areas that I need to humble myself. I think I have it all together, and I definitely don't. Inspect my heart, Lord. If you're like, I don't know what to pray about, if you're like, oh, you have this all-church prayer tomorrow morning, but like I don't need to get on that. I don't need to wake up early, or I have other things I need to be doing, right? We don't care how you show up. Like Jimmy mentioned, turn your camera off. We don't want to see that hair, you know, like whatever it may be. That's okay. You do you, but get on that call. Because even if it's just you listening, or even if it's just you saying, Hey Lord, inspect my heart. Inspect our hearts. Let's do this life together. You don't have to feel like you're alone, right? ISO church was birthed out of the COVID pandemic when everyone felt alone. Everyone was struggling, things were shutting, and we were opening up a church because God put a calling on our hearts. And that was the time that He said, We're not going to be isolated. Hey, we did it online for a little bit and we worked through that, right? All those issues. Can you hear me? You know, all those questions we were asking. But all these years later, He doesn't want you to feel like you're alone. You're not alone. Our hearts need to be anchored in Jesus. This morning, Cite read from Psalms 118, and this is 25 and 26. Save us, we pray, O Lord. Oh Lord, we pray, give us success. Not my success, but your success, Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. This palm is basically expressing the Messiah's arrival, right? Showing us that there's gonna be victory, that there's gonna be salvation. And it was coming. And we get to hear about all that, you know, greatness more next week, which is gonna be amazing. But today, right, it's about the today, because we're not promised tomorrow. What is your life like today? What is your heart posture today with the Lord? Can you surprise yourself by letting God, by letting Jesus, by letting Holy Spirit surprise you today? Humble yourself before Him. Today we're gonna have an opportunity. We're gonna open up these altars. I know we've we've done that a few times over the last couple weeks, and it has been such a blessing to just say, okay, you know, I might have had an agenda, I you know, I have lunch plans, they're coming up, and it'll all be there, don't you worry. But we're just gonna take just a few minutes. We're gonna spend this time just worshiping Jesus. If you need prayer, we have our prayer team. We're willing to pray with you. And even if it's just that, hey, what do you need prayer for? I'm just asking for the Lord to inspect my heart. All right. That's where we need to be today. So will you stand with me? Dear Lord Jesus, we just come before you today, Lord God. We thank you for this time. God, we thank you for your word. Lord, that even though we might have heard about you coming in and arriving on the scene here and coming in to Jerusalem, Lord Jesus, and riding on that cult. But God, your word is always new to us when we get to read it, Lord, and your Holy Spirit always will reveal something fresh to us. So, God, I'm just praying right now for the people who are here. God, if there's anyone among us who doesn't have a relationship with you, and maybe this is the first time they're hearing about Jesus, and they're like, hey, I want to know more. I want a relationship with this person who came to this earth and died for me, died for my sins and rose again. And if that's you, just raise your hand. No one's looking around, all eyes closed, please. No one looking around. Just raise your hand. And Lord, maybe there's people in here that have been doing this walk for a bit. But today they want to take this opportunity to just know you more, to say, inspect my heart. God, I want to listen to you more. I want to be humble, I want to humble myself before you. God, inspect my heart. I want more of you, Jesus. If that's you, can you raise your hand? Can you raise your hand today? Thank you, Lord Jesus. God, you see those hands? Lord, we thank you. We thank you, Father. And Lord, I'm just praying right now, just in this time, that we can just open up these altars and just surrender our hearts, our lives to you, Jesus. We thank you so much, God. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. We're just gonna sing another worship song. And if you need prayer, if you feel led, come on up. The altars are open this morning. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

I hope this message was an encouragement to you and that it blessed your soul today. Give it a like, comment, whatever it may be, and give us some support as we unleash this new version of our Sunday services. We would love for you guys to join us in person, worship with us and our church family. We meet Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. at the Women's Club of Gramis. You can also reach us at our website, isochurch.org, or on Instagram and other social media handles at IsoChurch. Thanks for listening. God bless and have a great day.