Palm Sunday at FWC

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Lead Pastors, Philip & Kayla Keller
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

His presence is in this place. Come on, we just want to take a moment. We wanna cry holy, holy to him. We wanna make sure we put him on his throne today. Sometimes we wake up in the morning time and we are on the throne ourselves. But can we take a moment and make sure that he is on the throne this morning? Come on, give him some praise. Father, we put you on the throne of our life. We get out of the driver's seat, God, and we ask you to drive, Father. Father, right now we just praise you and thank you, God. You are the one in charge of this thing, and we surrender to you. We don't always understand why things happen, God. We don't always understand the doctor's report. We don't always understand the things that might happen, but God, we know that you can touch us and you can minister to us, God, and you can provide that miracle that we are needing. So, God, we give you praise today. Come on, church. Give him some praise today, God. We enter your gate with thanksgiving. We make a joyful noise to the Lord today, Father. We praise you, God. We lift up our voice. We are not going to be a church that is found guilty just sitting in a pew, sitting in a chair today, God, but we want to be on our feet. We want to be praising you. We want to be active. We want to be worshiping you today, Father. We want to be found, God, lifting up your name and serving you. So, Father, right now, I just pray. Your presence would fill this place today, God. We give you all of the praise. We give you all of the praise today, God. We thank you right now. Can we just sing the chorus of that softly one more time? Jesus Christ. Come on, church, lift your voice. Sing that just keep it soft, guys. Come on, sing it again. Every corner you've taken. Every day of your life he's been there. Come on. Who am I? Sing that again. Who am I? Oh my life.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

I want to encourage somebody. I want to give somebody a word this morning. God is just He's reminding somebody this morning. If I could quote the scripture this morning, just a moment to pull it up here. Thank you, Jesus. Psalms 139. Lord, you have examined me in my heart, and you know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up, you know my thoughts, even when I'm far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do, you know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand. I can never escape from your spirit. Can never get away from your presence. If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the furthest oceans, even there, your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness, I cannot hide from you. To you, the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was, and can I just throw the word is in there, was and is recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God? They cannot be numbered. I can't even count them. They outnumber the grains of sand, and when I wake up, you are still with me. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Church, can we, if you're not afraid to do this, can we just lift up our hands to the Lord? And no one singing or no one doing anything crazy or a distraction or moving around for just a few moments. Can you just thank God that He's knew you when you were in your mother's womb and he knows every day of your life and he has it recorded? And can I tell somebody that needs to hear this this morning? Even though the darkness tries to surround us, it's not dark to the Lord. He knows everything and he's still got us this morning. He's still got somebody this morning. Maybe you're hanging on by a thread today. Maybe your faith has been broken or shattered or you're just barely holding on today. But the Lord wants you to know that he's known you all of your existence, and guess what? All of heaven, he wants to know you. All you've got to do is put your trust in him. All you gotta do is put your surrender in him this morning. So just give him the next 30 seconds of praise, right where you're at. Just begin to talk to him, begin to thank him that he's got you. Even when you don't know if anyone's got you, he's still got you. His word says he'll never leave us or forsake us. He has great plans for us. Thank you, Father. Just begin to lift your voice, church. Begin to cry out to him, begin to worship, begin to pray to him right now. Father, we thank you. We surrender to you today, God. Search us and know us today, God. Know our hearts. Thank you, Father. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can trust in you, God. Your word says that you do not change. God, you your goodness remains every day of our life. Help us trust you, help us put our faith in you today, God. We just thank you, God, and we yield to your presence, we yield to your spirit for just a moment, God. We thank you right now, Father. Thank you for your sweetness of your spirit, God. We can be having a bad day, and you can come by and turn our day upside down, Father God. We thank you right now, Jesus. We thank you, God. We have testimonies all over this room today of miracles. We have testimonies all over this room today of salvation, of restoration, God. We thank you, we praise you today. We worship you, God. Church, can we just put our hands together for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Amen. Amen. You can be seated in his presence if you're able to. Amen. The presence of the Lord is in this place, and so we always want to make sure that we are yielding to what he is wanting to do, and we always want to make sure that God is being lifted up. He is on the throne. Amen. Not us, not no one else. Doesn't matter what power of this world or leader, president, king, any any of those things, where there is one true King. His name is Jesus Christ. He's the name above every name. Amen. And so we just want to always give him his place and make sure that he knows that he is in full control. And so we thank you today. Um, would you put your hands together? We're gonna go ahead and hand this over to my wife, Kayla. Put your hands together and welcome her as she comes to bring the word.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Good morning, family. Hey, we are so excited to spend Palm Sunday with you. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being a part of Family Worship Center. We're always so grateful for you. And just like Pastor Phillip said, thanks to every person who came out yesterday and helped clean and helped organize things for everybody who stuffed Easter eggs and then helped make that really fun for the families that were here. Um, we had a great time and we're grateful for you. Um before we drive dive in, let's let's talk to the Lord. Let's let's give him some prayers this morning. Um God, I know that you're already here. I know that you have a plan and a purpose for this service. I pray for each person in this room. God, that you would soften hearts, that you would open minds, and that you would help us to hear your voice. We ask that you just be at the the foremost front of everything that happens today. Help us not to get in your way, help us not to be distracted at times when you are helping us to hear from you. And we ask that you just have your way in Jesus' name. Amen. Um, I remember when when our daughter was little and she was right at that age where she was close to talking. And if you're you're a parent or you're a grandparent, you know this time really well when you don't care that you look really dumb in public. You're like enunciating every word, and you're, you know, feeding rice cereal and saying, eat, eat, because you know, more, more, and and you look dumb, but you don't care because they're so cute, and you know that those words are coming really soon. And and maybe you're normal, or maybe you're like Philip and I and and we were in the middle of this unspoken like battle to see if she'd say mama or dada first. You know, we we never said like this is a competition, but it sure was. Because you know, you're you're the one who has every time you get a spare chance, you're saying mama, mama, mama, don't say dad-da, mama. And then and then as soon as I'd walk away, I hear Philip in the other room da-da, da-da-da. Say dad da loves you most. Say dad. Yeah, you look dumb, but you don't care, right? And it's that that first first word. And I would love to tell you, I would love to lie to you and tell you that Harper said mama first. Um we're in church, and that's frowned upon, the lying in church. She sure did say dad at first, but she says mama, mommy, mom, bro, something like that at me roughly 64,000 times a day now to compensate. So it's good. It's good. She said, mommy, at least 27,000, 50 million. I don't know. Pick a number that's astronomical times more than daddy because she says it 60 times a day. Okay. Um, but we put a lot of emphasis, right, on that first word. We remember it, we talk about it. We also put a lot of emphasis on last words, those last things that our loved ones spoke to us before they passed away, or the last things we said to them, if those were good, if they were bad, if they were wasted, if we wish that we had just one more chance to tell them that we love them, or that we're sorry, or that we'd wished we'd done things differently. And I think it's so interesting that as we lead up to the the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, we can see his last words escalating. He stops, he stops being soft and all of the time. He's being he's being really brutally honest when he's talking and he's saying all those things that he wants us to remember so much. And and he knew, like there was no doubt in his mind that his physical time on earth was drawing to an end. He knew exactly what was happening. He knew that the the people who'd walked alongside him the entire time he was on earth on earth were not gonna have him much longer. He knew that they were gonna replay those last moments in their mind over and over again. If you've lost someone, you know how that is. You're you're replaying those last memories. The last time you went to this place with them, the last time you were at your home with them, the last time you sat at the table with them. And that was no different for the people who were walking alongside Jesus. He knew that they would be replaying his last moments with them over and over again. He also knew that the people who criticized him would be replaying those moments because they'd think they'd won for a little while. They'd think that they had had really accomplished something here and that they'd be replaying those so that they could look back on those moments for meaning, for answers. And I have to think like Jesus knew that his time was coming to end. So these words are important. Like his last moments in scripture have a lot of weight. We should really pay attention to what he's saying because it's a big deal. They were the things he wanted to leave with us. He knew that these last final moments in the Holy Week and all of these things would be preached on for the rest of time. It was not a surprise to him. So there's so much gravity to the moments that we we celebrate, the moments that we look at these last few weeks. And I was I was reading over Palm Sunday, and I I think Pastor Philip wanted me to speak on Palm Sunday because he knows I can be a pretty good hype girl. Like he knows that I can do celebrate, like I can do wave the palm branch and jump around like I can do that. And I think that was kind of his intention. But when I was reading that, that's just not what I was getting from Palm Sunday. Like when I was reading through that, God was impressing me with a whole different picture of this thing that we're gonna see together. So we're gonna break that down a little bit today. Um, we're starting in Matthew 21 today in our in our The Way series. Um, and we're reading as we start right there Palm Sunday. So this is what we're talking about and celebrating today. So it says, as they approach Jerusalem and they came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus said two disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them and he will send them right away. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter Zion, see your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them, and they brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. And a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds went ahead of them and ahead of him, and those that followed shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. 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. And this scene is really beautiful. I mean, I I I'm a I'm a visual person, so I have to picture this in my head. And this is beautiful. We see Jesus, and he's so humble. He's riding on a donkey. This isn't like a stallion moment. He's not in armor. He's riding in such a humble way into this city. And it seems like these people finally understand what we know about Jesus. It seems to us like they finally get it. They see who Jesus is. All these miracles, all these things they've been asking of him. They finally understand who Jesus is. They're they're getting it, they're seeing that Jesus is the King of kings. Even these little children are crying out to him and praising him, and they're loud and they're excited, and the whole city is stirred. The trouble is, and and this was even something that God really impressed on me just a few minutes ago, when people look at the outside appearance, right? This is something that Samuel spoke even when he was choosing David as king, but God looks at the heart. And all of these people had the outward appearance of praise. These people were praising God with their lips, they're praising Jesus with their palm branches and their cloaks, and they're out there in the streets and they're loud and they're proud, but they're missing it in their hearts. They are not understanding what's really happening here. They're celebrating, but they are so confused. They're waving these palm branches and celebrating who they want Jesus to be, not who he actually is. The cross hadn't happened yet, and they had these grand expectations of what a savior would look like. And Jesus was absolutely not what they expected. The Jesus that they saw rode into town on a donkey, not a war horse. He came to bring peace, not to conquer a city like they were hoping for. They were looking for a king to take over and to show everybody who was boss. But that's not what Jesus did. Everything that he did was so intentional and it was so peaceful and purposeful, but it wasn't what they were hoping for. And I think sometimes we do the same thing. We have this perception of who we want Jesus to be right there in front of us. And we know he could work in this situation in this exact way, and it would be perfect because we have it exactly figured out. But then we start worshiping a version of Jesus that's really us, a version of Jesus that's our idea of what's supposed to happen next, a version of Jesus that's our answer to the problem that's right in front of us. When really he's the King of Kings and He had a plan all along. From the beginning of scripture, he knew what was gonna happen next. And it wasn't anywhere close to what they had in mind. They start shouting Hosanna, which means save us now. But then by Friday, many of those same voices were shouting, crucify him over the same man. And palm branches are interesting. That was not a pretend choice, it wasn't just accidental that they picked up what they had nearby. Palm branches were a symbol of Jewish nationalism and victory, and they wanted to encourage this victory from Jesus, who was riding in and saying, You've got this, go take the city by storm. And he was gonna be victorious, and he knew how to bring freedom from their enemies and from their spiritual brokenness. But he knew that the real victory was about a week away. The crowd lays down their cloaks and they they do this as like an act of honor and submission, and it's symbolic of them saying, Here we are, we place ourselves under your authority, but in laying down their cloaks, they didn't also lay down their expectations. And often we get caught in that same cycle again where we are saying, God, you have authority over this situation. Jesus, you can do it. You I give it to you, but then we pick it right back up again. Then we take complete control over it all over again because we know best, right? We know what we're doing here. And it really is easy to lay something down in a moment, maybe an altar service, maybe a time when God's really impressing you that there's something you need to give up or or take charge of, and you do, but it's a lot harder to surrender to the heart of the Father. It's a lot harder to lay down that thing without expectation of the way it's gonna be solved. When we read this same scene of Jesus coming into the city in the book of Luke, it says that Jesus, as he came closer and closer. To Jerusalem, and he saw the city ahead of him, he began to weep. And it wasn't because he was thinking, This is so beautiful. These people are awesome. Look how much they love me. That's not what Jesus was feeling. He began to weep because he saw the people that he loved enough to die for. And he saw that they completely misunderstood the moment. They were celebrating what they thought God was doing. All the while Jesus was grieving what they were missing. He was grieving their hearts. This moment, it really looks like victory, but we know the only victory to this was going to happen on the cross. This feels like a celebration. It feels like this hype moment, but really there's a lot of tension that's here in this moment. And there's so much weight. And from there, like I mentioned, Jesus doesn't hold anything back. He seems to talk in parables that have uh a new and renewed urgency, and they are heavy and they are real, and he's not, he's not pulling punches in the rest of his time when he's talking to the people who are following him. Um, and we're walking through Matthew together, and today we're kind of talking about Matthew 21 through 25. But there is so much in these scriptures, and just like um Pastor Philip has encouraged you every week this month, please read them. Please read them on your own because I'm not talking through all of it. I don't, I can't do that today. You won't get lunch. Um, but I would also just encourage you to read them because maybe God's gonna speak something totally different to you because that's just how the Bible works. So that's your homework assignment. Um, read through those this week. Um, okay, so right after Jesus is celebrated, right after these beautiful moments on the street, he moves into the temple and he sees all these practices that dishonor God. He sees that, again, these people have a heart issue, that they can praise him in the streets, but they're not doing the things they're supposed to be doing in their hearts. Um, and so he comes in flipping tables, right? And he says in Matthew 21, 13, he says to them, the scriptures declare my temple will be called a house of prayer, but you've turned it into a den of thieves. These same people are praising him, but dishonoring the Father. And Jesus isn't impressed with our outward appearance. We can all put on our church face and we can all praise, we can lift up our hands, we can do the things we're supposed to, we can say the nice kind thing in the middle of the sanctuary, but it's really what's on the inside that counts. It's our hearts, it's a heart thing. Um, and you'll often find that Jesus will interrupt what you're celebrating if it doesn't align with his heart. He values authenticity and presence over profit and over that appearance of having it all figured out every time. So we see Jesus cleanse the temple of corruption. And then in Matthew 21, 14, it says the blind and the lame were healed. And there is such a progression to that. First, those things that were corrupting the temple, those things that weren't what they should be, that weren't glorifying God, had to be removed. And Jesus took care of that so then he could do those great works, he could help heal the blind and the lame. And I wonder if there might be anything in your life that needs to be cleaned out so that that breakthrough you've been praying for can happen. Or if there's places in your life that need to be restored to purity so that God's power can actually move. Sometimes when we're feeling stuck for that thing that we're praying for, that thing that we're seeking God for, maybe there's some things in the temple that aren't as they should be. Maybe there's some things that we're putting first instead of glorifying God. Next, we see a passage of scripture that I found always really to be very interesting and also sort of confusing. Um, we see Jesus approach this fig tree. And like, I'll be honest, I get I get hangry sometimes. That does happen. That that do be true. Um, but Jesus walks up to this fig tree and he curses it for not bearing fruit and it withers immediately. Now, Jesus might have been hungry, but he's not stupid. As a Jewish man that was living in an agrarian society, he knew it was not fig season. There was still a few months until figs would be on that fig tree. And this is like if Jesus rolled up to Chick-fil-A on a Sunday morning because he needed those chicken minis, and then he curses them and says, May nothing ever be your pleasure again. And Chick-fil-A collapses in a pile. He knows it's closed on Sunday. So what you doing, Jesus? Like, why are you so angry? Uh, it's because this scripture is not about a fig tree. We're not talking figs here. This fig tree represents Israel, and it's something that Old Testament prophets had started making comparisons to hundreds of years earlier. And they they talked about Israel as a fruitless fig tree. We see it in Jerusalem or Jeremiah 8, we see it in Micah 7. Jesus desperately in these last days wants Israel to bear fruit, but it hasn't. Jesus knows his days on earth are coming to an end, and it breaks his heart to see that Israel hasn't produced everything it's capable of. That this really does mirror that palm Sunday feeling that just happened. Lots of noise, lots of activity, no real understanding. But while those that were waving palm branches at least had this appearance of devotion and cursing the fig tree directly following it, Jesus really exposes the empty actions of that because he's not looking for noise. He doesn't want us to be endlessly busy doing things for God and for him so much that we miss a relationship with him. He's looking for fruit, not just for leaves and a lot of noise. We can all wave palms, we can put on a good show on Sunday and still be fruitless on Monday. After Palm Sunday, Jesus doesn't go build a monument to himself. He doesn't rally a crowd to take over the city, he doesn't start a revolution or incite rebellion. He teaches. He very humbly sits and teaches the same people he knows will kill him a few days later. And it's in these teachings that we really start to grasp the things that Jesus felt were the most important for us to understand as his followers. He wants us to get these things most of all because he spent the last moments that he had teaching them to us. If I think about, if I knew I had a week left, man, I'm on a beach, y'all. I'm not up here talking to you. Um, but but that's not Jesus. He spent his last moments trying to give every last bit of himself to us. In in Matthew 21, 28 through 32, he starts talking about this father who has two sons, and he asks one to go work in the vineyard, and the first says, No, I don't wanna. And then he changes his mind and decides to do what his dad says and goes to work. The other says, Yes, sir, we'll do. But he never goes. And and through this, Jesus starts showing us that his way is about obedience, not intention. My mom always used to say, talk is cheap, but actions speak louder than words. That was usually when I said things like, sorry, but I didn't mean it. Uh so you know, you have if you have teenagers, you you understand that. Okay. Um, or six-year-olds apparently, too. Um, but actions reveal what's really in your heart. You can say the right things, you can speak the right words, but again, it's a heart issue. God isn't moved by what you say you'll do, He's moved by what you put into action in your heart, in your life, and for the kingdom. In Matthew 22, 1 through 14, we read about this other parable, and Jesus talks about this great feast, talking about a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son, but the invited guests are all preoccupied. They have more important things to do, apparently. And he sends his servants out to gather anyone who can come, and then he's frustrated when one man comes in without the proper attire. And then in Matthew 25, 1 through 13, he talks about another parable about 10 bridesmaids. And he tells the story of these 10 bridesmaids, five who were foolish, five who were wise, which is probably true if you have ten bridesmaids at any wedding. But five had enough oil to last until the bridegroom returned, five waited until the last minute and went to buy oil when it was too late. And we read what happens next in Matthew 25, 10 through 13. It says, But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. And then those who were ready went in with him for the marriage feast, and the door was locked. And later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside calling, Lord, Lord, open the door for us. But he called back, believe me, I don't know you. So you two must keep watch, for you do not know the day or the hour of my return. Both of these parables, and really so much of these chapters in Matthew, taught in Jesus' last days, teaches us that the Jesus way is about being ready all the time for Jesus to come back, for us to live a life that glorifies him. Because not everyone who looks prepared or acts the part actually is. This part of scripture and so much of it, when Jesus is talking, he's just impressing on us so much that we have to live every single day on earth as if it matters because it does. We don't have any idea when our last day will be. And Jesus spent so much time emphasizing this in his last final moments that it must be important, right? A few years ago, Pastor Philip uh started talking about the depths of our conversations with people. Uh, and he started challenging himself and me and other leaders in our ministry to move from conversations that were surface level to conversations that were deeper. Like when we talk to someone, not to just say, How are you? How was your day? How's the weather? Okay, great, have a great day. Like, I'm fine kind of answers to more, how's your soul? Where are you growing in your walk with Jesus? What are you struggling with? How can I help? Those kind of conversations that matter because I might never get another conversation with that person. I might never have another opportunity to talk to them before maybe it's their last day, my last day, or Jesus' return. And I don't know about you, but I want to live every day knowing that I'm ready. I want to live every day knowing that whatever happens next, I'm good to go. And I also want to make sure that I'm bringing anybody I can with me. My goal is to make heaven real crowded. So I wonder today are you ready? How's your soul? Where are you growing in your relationship with Jesus? What are you struggling with? How can he help? Now, according to these last stories that we hear from Jesus, not only do we need to be ready, but we need to live our days well. We need to understand that our days matter. Our time is short, and we have only so much time to make a difference. Matthew 25, 14 through 30, it talks about these three servants, and you probably know the story well. Um, there's this man, he's going on a long trip, and he entrusts his servants with varying allotments of money. And he leaves town, and the first two servants use the man's money well. They double the investment. And the third servant is fearful of his master and he buries what's given, and he just gives back what was given to him when his master returns. And the money that he was entrusted with is then taken from him because he did not invest it well. There was no return on that, and it's given to the servant who made the most in return for what he was given. And the servant who didn't make anything is thrown out. Right now, in FWC Kids, we're in a series called Upside Down, and we're talking about how sometimes following Jesus feels a little upside down. It feels a little counterculture, a little outside of our comfort zone and what we might expect. Um, at the surface, when I read this story, I think of this man and think, well, dude did not give him the instructions that he needed. He didn't say, My dude, my expectation is for more money to be here when I get back. And I think to myself, man, I like I feel for this guy. Like, that's that's rough. Like he didn't tell him I expect more money to be here. Maybe he would have worked harder, but he was scared of his master. Like, valid, right? But living the Jesus way challenges us to use everything that we've been given to us for something more. The Jesus way is about being faithful. All the good things that we have in our life were given to us by God, and they're just trusted to us. They don't actually belong to us. They are good gifts that were given to us by Him. And this parable is not just about money, it's not just about the change in your pocket. This isn't uh uh give more money. I mean, you can like feel free, do what you want with that, but um it's about time, it's about where you spend your time, it's about what you do with the talents that you've been given, the things that God has entrusted you with. It's about the impact you make on your family and the people who know you most. It's about our treasure, the things that we prioritize most of all, those things that God has given to us for a short time and what we're gonna do with them. Because all the things that have given to you by God matter. And what we do with them matters. And finally, I think it's really important um all throughout these last few chapters of Matthew before um the crucifixion and resurrection happen. Jesus impresses over and over again that living for him means living like him. It means that our lives should be a reflection of him. In Matthew 25, 31 through 46, we learn about the sheep and the goats. In Sunday school this morning, we got to talk about sheep with Miss Deborah. Um, then it says in in verse 34, it says, Then the king uh will say to those on his right, who are the sheep, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Now, this is for those on the right and the sheep, and they're thinking, dude, I don't remember ever giving somebody some clothes. I did not, I definitely did not clothe you naked. Like that got weird. So I don't know what you're talking about. But the king's saying, I'm telling you, when you did this for the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me. So it means any person that we see who is having a hard time, who is in need of support, who is in need of help, we are looking right at someone that Jesus died for. We are looking right into the face of someone who was so important to him that he gave his life for them. That person that you can't stand, Jesus died for them too. That person who hurt you beyond what could ever be forgiven, he died for them too. And and this is his entire moment, his entire point is the least of these, these people that we see every day, what you do and how you treat them matters. And likewise, he turns to the unrighteous and tells them that they didn't do those things. And they say, I didn't ever not feed you. You want you want something to eat? And he's like, No, it's the least of these. It's the people that you encounter every single day. And this thought can really be summed up into what mat what Jesus says in Matthew 23, 37 through 39, when he's asked what the most important commandment is. And it says, Jesus replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and a second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself. In the last few moments that Jesus had to talk to us face to face, he emphasized that his way is love. It isn't palm leaf praise that's based on our own expectations, on this perception of who he is and what he's gonna do for us and the way that he's gonna solve all of our problems. If your version of Jesus is built only on what you want, then you're gonna walk away when he doesn't deliver it. And it's really you who you're worshiping. Are you following Jesus for who he is or what you want him to do for you? This Palm Sunday, I want to encourage you not to just wave palm branches and have the outward perception of a person who understands who God is in your life, but a person who really does, a person who really understands and has allowed God to check your heart and to speak over you any of those things that are not what they should be, to allow him to cleanse the temple, if you will, and make room for his healings, make room for his help, make room for his hope. Because it really isn't about how we all look and if we if we have the best praise voice, because you don't want to stand by me when I sing it's real bad. It's about what's happening in your heart. It's about who you're praising and how you're praising him. This Palm Sunday, let's not just shout Hosanna and forget what really happened so that Jesus could save us. Let's choose to worship with purpose. Let's choose to trust God with those parts of our heart that are messy, those parts of our life that we haven't gotten all figured out, those things that don't feel like they've exactly fallen into place because he always had a plan. Let's be just as enthusiastic when we praise Jesus, but let's do that with a full understanding of his grace that he earned with his body, with his blood, and with everything he could give to us. This week reminds us just how much Jesus went through just so he could be with us, just so that he could love us, just so he could spend eternity alongside us. Let's make Palm Sunday a dress rehearsal for heaven. It says in Revelation 7, 9 through 10, after I saw this vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, they were clothed in white robes and they held palm branches in their hands, and they were shouting with a great roar Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb. One day when we get to heaven, and I hope you'll be there too. We get to celebrate in the same way with palm branches, but we aren't going to celebrate with empty praise because we know everything that Jesus did to get us there. We will know everything so intimately that he had to go through just so we could stand there and wave palm branches in his presence. Let's bow our heads for a second. I wonder today, how's your soul? I wonder if you can relate to the Palm Sunday crowd. You know exactly how to walk into a church and and smile and do the things and say the things and wave at the people. But maybe that is exactly what it is. It's a show, it's a face, and it's been a while since you really felt that relationship part. And I wonder if there's anyone here today who says, you know, Pastor Kayla, I think I want to take this beyond surface level. I'm impressed in my spirit. The Holy Spirit is telling me right now that that's me. And I need to move to more than a surface level faith. I need to trust Jesus with the things that maybe have been messy for a little while. While if that's you, will you uh lift up your hand today? Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. You can put your hands down. I'm gonna ask that uh I know that Praise and Erica are gonna come up here, and I'm gonna ask us all to stand together today. I feel like if we're honest, there's a lot of us who need to make a choice today to move from that surface level faith, who need to make a choice to really give some things to God and actually trust him not to pick them back up and know that he's got complete control. I know a lot of people raise their hands and maybe you're still feeling that, but that's scary. That's okay. It was probably scary when Jesus did some things for you too. But you're worth it. And today I hope that you'll know that you're worth it. Um we're gonna bow our heads one more time, and I'm gonna pray. And as I do, you know exactly who you are. You know exactly what you're needing today. You know the things you need to lay down, and you need the trust moment to happen. And if that's you, I'm gonna just ask as I start to pray, come find a place up here. You can stand, you can kneel, you can sit, you can do whatever is comfortable, you can do that in your own seat. But if you come forward, we'll pray with you uh and we'll we'll meet you here. And I'm just gonna ask that you start allowing God to speak that over your heart. Again, it's a heart thing, not an appearance thing. It doesn't matter if you've been coming to this church for 30 years, if you need to move to the next step in your relationship with Jesus, what a beautiful thing that is. What a beautiful day it will be for you. And as you do, we're gonna pray with you. There's no shame in this game. We love you exactly who you are, and I know that there's some things that we all could lay before Jesus if we're honest with ourselves. So I'm gonna pray. And as I do, if you need something from God, I'm gonna challenge you to take that step of faith, to move up here and to let us agree with you. God, I I give you everything that we are today. I pray for every person in this room. I pray for every person who needs to lay some things down at your feet. I pray for every one of us who can put on a good show on a Sunday morning, who can pretend that things are okay in our lives when really they're hurting, when really it's heavy, when really we're having a hard time. I ask that you meet us here, that you help us as we lay things down to trust that you have a plan and a purpose, that you are Hosanna in the highest, to know that you are the God who saves us. You are the God who sees us, and that salvation comes from you. Speak life and victory over your people today, Jesus. Jesus' name. Some leaders are gonna help me pray, please, over our friends that are up here.