Palm Sunday - Walking in Purpose and Resolve

Palm Sunday - Walking in Purpose and Resolve by Will Brocker

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We are living in the overflow. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome. Grace and truth church family. Online family, worldwide family. Lovers of God, seekers of God. We love you all. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. As the man of God said in his prayer, we're praying for Russell and Belinda Lorfing. They are doing a mighty work. And I'm telling you, that's the greatest harvest field in the world right now. The greatest growth of the underground church in the world is in Persia right now. Praise God. But you know, with that comes tremendous adversity, dangers, struggles. The church has always prospered in greatest times of persecution, so they go hand in hand. But thank God that we have a family of praying, God-loving, God-fearing people. So we continue to pray for each other. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I just feel like um a word from the Lord right now. As he's ministering to me, those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, let them see and hear what the Lord has to say. And he's saying that's not just in the spiritual realm, which we are definitely in need of. Good ground for you to receive the seed of God's word. But God is just speaking health over your natural eyes and vision right now. In the name of Jesus, just receive it. And hearing being restored. Ears being opened. Natural ears. Hearing. I hear ipopta, hipopta, hipopta. Be opened. Vision be restored. Sometimes you have to close your eyes and see. So you can see perfectly with your eyes closed. Then open them. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. We receive that in Jesus' name. Length of days. Length of days. Length of days. God is extending the length of days for all those who are hearing, if they'll receive it by faith. And just say, Lord, make me a good steward of every day that you give me. Help me to spend all the grace that you have for that day, that I may fulfill all the days that you have written for me in your book. And he's saying, Yes. Yes, I will. In strength. In strength and peace and joy. Talking about the kind of stuff that your doctor says, I can't explain it, but it's a wonderful thing. What? The negative thing that was there is no longer there in Jesus' name. Amen. Praise God. Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful day. This beautiful Palm Sunday that you've given us to come together and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to celebrate you, King Jesus, and to peek into your life, your love, your generous passion for the people, and to explore the depth of not only your kingship and lordship and deity, but also your humanity. We love you, Lord. We thank you, Holy Spirit, for having your way in your church today. Just use me as a willing vessel, the conduit to spread the seed of the Word of God. And I pray that it fall into good plowed ground in the hearts of your children and those who are seeking you, Lord, and that it take root and bear fruit in their lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. We are certainly blessed to be here on this beautiful, beautiful spring morning. Not only is it the first weekend of spring, but it is Palm Sunday. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I just want to read. The thing is about Palm Sunday, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that last fateful week of his ministry here on earth, in person, that is. Amen. But I love to look into the life of Jesus and to bring it to our remembrance. They just had a big feast for him at his friend's house where he'd taken some rest and he could be surrounded by people who really loved him for himself and not just wanting something from him or trying to destroy him, even though there were still some of those present. He enjoyed that wonderful dinner they had for him at Simon the Leper's house. We know he had been healed of leprosy, amen. Because he was there with Jesus. All the disciples were there. Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead, and his sisters. We know Mary did the beautiful thing with the expensive perfume and anyway. As had been prophesied. And on this particular day, he was just, as in most days of his life, he was just fulfilling prophecies one after another. Amen. So you can see this account in all the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but also in John. John brings out the palm leaves, branches even more eloquently, I think. But reading from Matthew today, just go to the 21st chapter of Matthew, and you'll find in the opening verse, the beginning of this passage, I just want to read it all out to you. So starting in the 21st chapter of Matthew, now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, and this is a prophecy from Zechariah 9.9. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. Came not on a war horse that day, but on a donkey, symbolizing the humility of the Lord for starters and the fact that he is the Prince of Peace. Amen. Starting in the sixth verse, the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting. And this is another, what we call it, a foreshadowing of Revelation chapter 7, I think verses 9 and 10. And they were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Hallelujah. Verse 10. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this? And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Oh, and he was a prophet. The prophet. And the Messiah, the anointed one, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Amen. And he did prophesy even that day. Oh Jerusalem, how long I've desired just to comfort you as a mother chick takes her chicks under her wing. And I'm paraphrasing here. But he told them that day, he said, you missed the time of your visitation. And he told them that day also that, and not happily so, he was just prophesying, and he said, all of these buildings will come down. Every not one stone will be left on top of another. Didn't he tell them that that day? He did a lot of things that day. Don't get me into it. But 40 years later they would be destroyed. In 70 AD. So back to the joyful entrance. Palm Sunday began with great joy. Bill. Crowds were cheering and palms were waving and celebratory mood. And even Jesus, he really enjoyed it, you know. He said, Oh, because the jealous Pharisees, they told him, Oh, stop, tell them to stop that. Oh, if they stop, the stones will cry out, he said. Don't you know he enjoyed that? It's amazing to me how he enjoyed it so actually. Why? Because behind the celebration was a man who had already set his face toward the cross. Jesus resolved to finish his mission. I've always been blessed. The Lord got a hold of me with Luke chapter 9, verse 51. As I was going to minister at a church in Dallas. One year, Tavana and I, and uh and it's never left me. The great resolve the Lord had. Luke 9.51 says, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Now, if you read that really fast, it just doesn't mean a whole lot. I mean, you can just, like we do so many scriptures. I think John 3.16 being one of the greatest examples. We're just so familiar with it. We read over it so fast that we just forget to see the gravity of it, the beauty, the power. The amplified version of that, Luke 9.51, says, now when the time was approaching for him, Jesus, to be taken up to heaven, he was determined to go to Jerusalem to fulfill his purpose. That's the pivotal turning point in Luke's gospel. He set his face with steel resolve. He made up his mind. Oh, this is so important to every believer. Jesus being our great example. No turning back. Just like the Hebrews talks about in the i i if the if the people, if if, if they had thought about going back to where they had come from, it would have thrown them off. We have to get the mindset forward ever, backward never. Amen. There's no future in the past. And this is the day the Lord has made. Of course, we talk to him about things that happen and have happened and get it dealt with so that our conscience is pure. He's already forgiven us. So it's always a yes. I dropped the ball right there, Lord. I'm so sorry. Okay, boy, let's go. Let's go. Set his eyes. He fixed his eyes on the cross. And still was filled with the joy of the Lord. If that's not amazing to you, it's just if that don't light your fire, your wood's wet. Jesus showed us something that we were not entitled to. Jesus showed us his full humanity by becoming like us in every way. Legally becoming eligible. Legally to who? Himself. To the Father, who holds himself, his integrity, in such high regard that he honors his own words. A righteous man will swear to his own hurt and change not. How much more, God? That's why we know his word is true. So he made himself eligible to become our kinsman redeemer, the old covenant calls it. Like Boaz was to Ruth. Which is a picture of Jesus and you, the church. The Lord said, don't forget to remind them who Naomi is. Israel. Never forget. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray for all of God's people. We pray for the church. We pray for Israel. We pray for this third great awakening and the revivals that are taking place all over the world. We thank God for the great harvest of souls, and I believe there will be a billion souls saved in this third great awakening. Became like us, made himself able to be our kinsman redeemer. He had to set aside every godly privilege in order to be qualified. It was a man who gave away what God had given us. It was a man who had to get it back. So he had to make himself that way in every regard, you see. What he had, you have if you've been filled with the Holy Ghost. Hebrews 2.17, Hebrews chapter 2, verse 17. Therefore, now later when you go back and restudy all of this, the Lord told me to quit laughing when I say that. Like it's a joke. Because it's not a joke. You need to quit believing everything that, if everything that you know about God and the gospel you find on social media or a podcast, or listening to some other preacher, you're going to get deceived somewhere along the line. Or even me. Quit just believing everything that I say and go and look it up for yourself. Make sure it says the same thing in your Bible. I'm sorry if that sounded loud to me, and the Lord was just really emphasizing that to me. He says, I'm no joking matter, son. Not that he doesn't like us to have fun. Laughter doth good like medicine, don't get me wrong. Just keep it all in proper perspective. Amen. Kinsman Redeemer. And look at the goodness and love and mercy of God. And also another benefit, because there's so many, and there's more than we even know, but this is one that comes from the Bible. To sympathize, to be able to think of him, he's God. Jesus in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Jesus is the word. So he's always been God, and he said all that aside and had to become one of us just to know how to think like one of us and how to feel like one of us. Because it says he had to learn how to, we have a high priest who's able to sympathize with us in every way. Why? Because he became like us. What an amazing and wonderful God we serve. Hebrews 2.17, therefore, and this is what I got off a second ago. I was gonna tell you when you go back and look it up, what do we do with the therefore? We find out what it's there for. So go back and study all around it. Because leading up to the therefore, they had just told you why, right? Why this scripture is possible or necessary or deserving of God. Therefore, he had to become, had to be made like his brothers in every respect, every respect. He should circle that. No, not at that time. He didn't. He had to make it so, so that he was qualified to redeem us. From death in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation. That's the payment for the sins of the people. In Hebrews, going down two chapters to Hebrews 4 15, we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. Oh, that's so comforting, isn't it? But one who in every respect, well, he just he don't know what I in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Yet without sin. Yet without sin. Yet he walked in perfect obedience and strength, didn't he? I want to read Philippians chapter 2, verses 6 through 8. The church in Philippi. Philippians 2, verses 6 through 8. Speaking of Jesus, because it's all about Jesus or it's all about nothing. Amen. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. That doesn't mean he couldn't understand the thought of that or it didn't make sense to him. He just said, in this particular situation and setting where he found himself, because he was born as a baby, had to be taught to walk and eat and behave himself, all that kind of stuff. You see what I'm saying? But at some point it became apparent to him, oh, this is who I am. And if you can if you can handle it, I'm the one who did it. But I had to find out about it after I got here. Oh, come on now. But emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born, see, he did it to himself. You see that? Emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because not only did he have to figure out and find out who he was, which became evident, then he also realized the purpose of the mission, because it had been prophesied all about in the word. And he says, that's me. That's me, that's me, that's me, that's me. That's why when he was, he told them, even before and after his crucifixion, before he told the the Pharisees, the leaders, the teachers of the law, so to speak. He said, You search the scriptures because you think in them you'll find eternal life, but they're just talking about me. I'm right here. And then after, on the day of his resurrection, what? He was walking with two of the disciples. And he says, He instead of revealing himself, he was unrecognizable to them at the time. Instead, he opened up the scriptures to them and had that talk for that whole six-mile walk or whatever it was on the road to Emmaus. Right? He opened up the scriptures and showed them everything that had to take place and how the scriptures all talked about him, the Messiah. And then he revealed himself to them after they invited him, and he reluctantly stayed for dinner, and then when he broke bread and gave thanks, then he was gone from their midst, right? After they recognized. So beautiful. Isaiah 50, verse 7. One of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled there. But the Lord God helps me. Therefore, I have not been disgraced. I want you to listen to that now. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint. There it is. And I know that I shall not be put to shame. I want you to think about that. Because he endured every sort of worldly shame, physical shame for us, didn't he? He, Isaiah had even prophesied, he bore our shame on that cross. Hung there, suspended between heaven and earth, rejected by both. He had lots of worldly shame put upon him, mocked and cursed and spit upon and beaten, and hung on a cross naked. I have not been disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. That's how he did it. God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Didn't he tell the woman at the well that in John 4, 24? So therefore you are a spirit. And if you would be led by the Spirit and live a life after the Spirit instead of the flesh, you would think just like Jesus because He is in you. And as He is, so are you in this world. The very mind of Christ is in you. And he looked past that cross because this was just a mission. No matter how dirty, rotten, and ugly and torturous it became, that's just the flesh. He was from God and going back to God. Oh, you have to see the reality that God is showing us there. The truth. This life is nothing in light of what eternity will reveal in us and for us. The shame he endured was ours. Now it's been dealt with. And the eternal glory is the reality. I'm drawn to all the scriptures that say when we trust in God, we will not be made ashamed. I searched those out for about three years of my life because I was so filled with just every negative thing in my mind and heart. From the time I was born until the time I was reborn, I entered into this world in rejection and bitterness, and I made it even worse. You become the thing that you hate the worst. Many times if the devil is pulling the strings, and I had done just that. And so all of those rejection and condemnation things, when the Lord was beating me over the head with grace, I was having trouble believing that. So I searched out all those scriptures about not being put to shame, and they're everywhere. They are everywhere. So what's the point of all that? Jesus' love and his life compel us, Samuel, to live with the same resolve. Don't, doesn't it? We love him because he first loved us. This is a picture of that love. Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 14 and 15. For the love of Christ controls us. I like that. In the English Standard Version. I say compels us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all. That those who live, raise your hand if you belong to Jesus Christ, might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. John 14, in the 15th verse, Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now let's get this straight. Because so many Christians in their minds, in their hearts, they hear that. But I promise you, I don't know if it's just spiritual dyslexia, but they hear. Jesus saying, if you keep my commands, I will love you. That's the antithesis of what he said. He said, If you love me, you will keep my commands. It will compel you to do it. Not to earn position, but from your new position, your new identity. Not trying to earn acceptance, but because you're accepted in love, you will be compelled to live as I do, to allow me to live through you. Not just as a servant of God, but as a son servant. That's one who sits down at the dinner table with dad and your big brother every evening. And out of love and admiration for them, you go out and you shine as a beacon of light in a dark world. God has a perfect plan for us, doesn't he, man? But you know it doesn't happen without your decision and commitment to allow it. Oh, that there's so many beautiful, giant filled churches today in this wonderful part of the country that we live in. And we are blessed to be here and blessed to be free to speak the truth and to preach the gospel and freedom without fear. But do you know that an overwhelming majority of those churches today are just teaching the sovereignty of God to an extreme and to which they get into error by doing it? And I only point this out, not because I don't love them and want the best for them, but I pray that even one or two of them may hear this and be pricked in their hearts and decide to get it right. God gave us a free will. When you claim Jesus, you are claiming, you see, because that word believe, I can do a whole year series on believe. What is it to believe? One of the most sarcastic scriptures in in the Bible. James says, you believe there's one God? Good. So does the devil. And his demon, he believes and trembles. He not only knows who Jesus is, he's terrified of it. That's not enough. To believe he exists and to know who he is. If you haven't laid down your life as he laid down his for you, that's the born-again experience. That's knowing God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. That's an intimate relationship. John 17, 3 gives us the definition of eternal life. So, so let's go backwards on that. Without knowing the Father and the Son, in that intimate relationship, there is no eternal life. Because that's the definition of eternal life. Is that fair? So we lay down our lives when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We lay down the life, by the way, the plan and all the things that we had planned for ourselves and all that. But that life that we laid down, it was destined for hell. In case you don't remember. So he's not taking anything from us that could be saved. The walking dead. And you're saying, I'm yours, Lord, do with me as you will. And the mission is different for everyone. But it has some of the same elements. Does this glorify Jesus? Does this honor the Father? Does it line up with the Word of God? Without taking it out of context. Without adding any books to this Bible that you claim men have removed. If it was left out, leave it out. I want to fulfill the mission that God has for me, do you? Amen. Ephesians 2.10 says, it says that you are his workmanship, his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. But like Amos 3.3 says, how can two walk together? Because those works are of God prepared for you, right? So would you say that's that's God's mind? And how can two, that's talking about you and him, walk together lest they be agreed. You have to decide to agree with God. That doesn't mean you have to be a theologian. That just means you go to him however you talk to him your way. If my wife went to God and started trying to speak to him in the King James English, he would just start laughing out loud until she did the same. Because he knows her too well. And you know what? I don't think my wife would argue with me that I have studied and I know these scriptures probably a lot better, most of them, than her. But you know what? I'm not saying that for any reason than to point something out to you. I wish that I had the childlike faith that she does that God finds so beautiful in his sight. God knows you and he loves you. Anyway. I can't help it if he loves me best. I stole that from Eveliz. You're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. For good works, which God prepared beforehand, that you walk in them. That we should let Christ live through us, is what that means. If they're the good works of God that he's prepared, and when he prepared, when he created you in Christ Jesus, which is what Ephesians 2.10 just said, then it's letting Christ live through you. That's how you fulfill the works of God that He created for you to do. Christ in you is the hope of glory. The worst thing you can ever do, as Samuel was reminding me this morning, is stand before God and say, But I did all this. I did all these good things in your name. You did. And we know what he told them. Depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. Because, see, if you think you did any, it doesn't matter how many good works you did. Because we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And if you're guilty at one point of the law, you're guilty of all of it, so you better be perfect. Not just better than the guy next door, not just the biggest philanthropist in the world. You better be perfect, which none of us are, or have a savior who is. And his name is Jesus Christ. So we become a living sacrifice. In Romans 12, 1 and 2, Paul said it again, therefore, he had just laid out this beautiful picture of grace. He gets to the 12th chapters and he said, therefore, 12th chapter, he says, therefore, because of everything that Jesus resolved to do and did for you. Let's just say that on this beautiful Palm Sunday. I appeal to you, therefore. He says, I beseech you. He's begging us, basically. Brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Andrew always says, the problem with a living sacrifice is it likes to keep crawling down off the altar, you see. And you will, but when you find yourself having crawled off the altar, just climb back up there. It's okay. You're forgiven. I dropped the ball right there, Lord. Okay, let's go. You're good, son. You're good, daughter. I love you. I love you. I therefore appeal to you, therefore, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. To God, which is your spiritual worship or reasonable sacrifice. Do not, it's reasonable of God to for God to ask this of you now, based on what Jesus did when he rode into Jerusalem that day, knowing what was before him, and being determined to fulfill his destiny for you and for me. I've got to take the death penalty for all those who will come after me, all those who are still in me. For Patricia and May and Tavana and Samuel and Bill and Eveliz and Larry and Joey. And last but not least, Barbara. And even William Frank. You know, one of the funnest things they like to remind me of when I was a little kid, I learned how to talk. What's your name? William Frank. Terrible, terrible. It sounds funny now, but somebody taught me that. And that's not a good thing. I'm not mad about it. But you know what I'm saying? Words matter. Andrew Womack had a friend, a minister friend, who, as a, you know, somebody maybe my age, but he had known him for many, many years. And when he was growing up as a kid, his dad would criticize him, and he said, You can't do anything right. And and and and and he said, as old as he was, whenever the last time he was telling this story to me was probably, I don't know, six or seven years ago. But he said, you know, that that guy still cannot, he cannot screw in a screw without cross-threading it, because he still hears those words of his dad telling him how he can't do anything right. Our words matter. But you're God's workmanship, his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus. How can that be bad? God doesn't create any junk, folks. So he says, be a living sacrifice. That's your reasonable act of worship. Don't be conformed to this world. Don't be poured into the mold of this world. You're going to be poured into one mold or the other. And you have to decide the mold of the world or the mold of God. Be transformed, he says. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Through this word, the Bible, and the help of the Holy Spirit, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. What is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Based on Romans 12, 1, being a living sacrifice means dedicating your entire daily life to God as an act of worship. That's just the truth, folks. It's your reasonable sacrifice based upon what Jesus has done for us. We surrender our personal desires. We follow his will. And you know what? Some that at some point, and I'm convinced of this, because God wants to give you the desires of your heart. But it comes by walking in agreement with him until your desires and his desires become the same. This is achievable. Once you're born again, that is. Heavens know. Especially now. And look, this is not a once and done thing. That's why you're a living sacrifice. It's daily. And not only daily, but continuously throughout that day for life. Instead of following the world's patterns, we're transformed by the renewing of our minds, which allows us to discern God's will. I call it going to the five and dime. Ephesians 5.10, one translation says simply, find out what pleases God. That means you can. How do we do this? We set ourselves apart, live in a way that's holy and pleasing to God. Not to earn salvation, right, Samuel? That's falling from grace. Do you know that? We hear that term. How many of you have heard falling from this pastor fell from grace or this person fell from grace? And it means they sinned. In culture, that's how we understand it. That's how we we know that's what they mean when we hear that, isn't it? Do you know that is not the definition given in your Holy Bible, though? And go find this out for yourself, please. Falling from grace is legalism. Falling from grace is trying to earn position with God based on your own merits. Paul blasted the Galatian church pretty good. He told them who has bewitched you. You started out with the Holy Spirit, and now you're trying to finish it with your good works. He actually cursed some of the people who were putting that teaching teaching on them. Who am I to judge another man's servant? He wrote a third of the New Testament. But he did, didn't he? He said, Whoever's teaching you this, they need to go ahead and just emasculate themselves. Falling from grace. Like they're a grace ball, honey. Oh You should try to prepare a sir a sermon with her in the room. All right now, honey, I need to be with the Lord here. Okay. Three minutes and forty seconds later. Okay. You done? No, sweetheart. Okay, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

I said that's why that's why you weren't called to be a pastor. She said, right. You got lots of other gifts that I don't have. That's wonderful. That's why we're a body. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 52:27

With thumbs and fingers and toes and brains and heads and eyes and ears and nose and throat. We all work together. Amen. Grace ball. I have this orb ball that it's on it, it sits on a pedestal. It was a gift from the family. It says Grace on it, and it has some grace scriptures on it. It's beautiful. And uh it's on our dresser, and sometimes I set my robe up there at night. I'm saying way too much. But I picked it up and I knocked that, it pulled that ball off of the thing and it rolled under the bed. And I said, I'm not getting that. Remind me to get that. And she goes, I'll get it for you tomorrow. And so yesterday we remembered we forgot it, and we started talking about the grace ball, and we started laughing so hard.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

This is when I was sitting there trying to, and I said, and finally I just gave up. You know, I was like, I said, you know, the Lord is so wise.

SPEAKER_02 53:28

I'm thankful that I set apart, I set myself apart for 10 hours already on this message to hear the Lord when you weren't around.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

She goes, Oh, thank God.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

She goes, Don't you just preach the same thing on it's Palm Sunday? So there it is. I'm like, yeah, okay. I say, you want to hear the same message? Go to uh one of the denominational churches where they mail them all to them in the same book. They all preach the same message all over the country.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Forgive me. I love you all. I said, he doesn't allow that with us.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

I said, but what's really cool is when I hear somebody that I don't know from a spirit-filled minister from somewhere in the world, someplace I don't even know him, and it's the same message. Then I'm really blessed. And I'm like, same throne, same God. That's just how God encourages us sometimes, Hilarie. He does that. And it's like, and it's just a it's just uh, it'll get another thousand miles out of a minister. It's like that's a good company. You know, you know what I'm talking about. Those things that God does that only we could tell somebody else and they'd be like, yeah, okay. But you know it was God talking to you. Anyway, I love those things. Those are so I treasure them. We set ourselves apart as a living sacrifice. We live in a way that's holy and pleasing to God, not to earn his salvation because that's falling from grace, like we said, like that grace ball off the dresser. No, it's trying to earn something that Jesus has already earned for you. That's why it's so insulting to God. But because you're his, you see. And we serve others as a living sacrifice, don't we, May? I look at you because you're such a beautiful example of it. And we love you. We use our lives and gifts to build up the body of Christ, rather than seeking our own selfish interest. And as a living sacrifice, we renew our minds. This is part of our responsibility, our reasonable, acceptable way that we can respond to what God has done for us. It's only reasonable for Him to ask us this. And why? Well, it's sort of like our little granddaughter sitting down, and you know, she's so smart and so inquisitive and loves to learn, but they go through phases, don't they? And she just happened to be going through a phase where just she decided, I think it was math was dumb, right? Everything. She just got she's a homeschool and she's like so far ahead. She just, you know, but she just got a little burned out and decided it was dumb, you know. And so you have to show her why it's not. And how you know math is everything in this life is about math, you know. And so you have to use things that they can relate to and that they're interested in, and maybe then they start going, oh, okay. Because if you don't know fractions and things like that, you how you might get you're gonna get cheated out of your dollars and cents. What? The same with us. If you don't know your Bible, the devil's gonna cheat you and lie to you and rob you. That's a fact. He will eat your lunch and pop the bag. That's right. That's why God wants it for you. Now, is that mean and demanding or legalistic? No. Does it make him love you more when you study your Bible all the time and set yourself apart and serve everybody else? It doesn't make him love you anymore. He can't love you any more than he does. It's good for you. That's how he created you in Christ Jesus. Those good works that he talks about, those are the things that complete you. Not your missionary dating where you're gonna fix this guy or this girl that will complete you then. That's so ridiculous. It's by doing God's will, his purpose, fulfilling his purpose for you. That's where your joy is. It's your place called there. That's where your provision is, that's where your peace is. And he usually only gives you one step at a time. Huh? Samuel, I want you to go back to Grace and Truth Church like you've been. Oh Lord, I do that anyway. I want you to go back next week on Easter and really enjoy yourself. Well, Lord, I am I intended to. That's that's that's really good. Oh, did I tell you you're gonna have a flat on the way? Oh, well, I might not, I might not go up there next week then. You see what I'm saying? He tells you one step at a time. I don't know if that's a good example or not. We renew our minds, we study and apply the word, the scriptures to change how we think and how we act. And it helps us. Remember last week I was talking about how a ship can sail into the wind, has everything to do with steering, with the rudder and the and the sail being positioned correctly. And that the the rudder that is like the tongue, the words of we're we're creating our future with our words, aren't we? And the sail is the attitude of our hearts. That's why we guard our heart with all diligence, because from it flow the well springs of life. So we fill our minds with the word of God, and we change the words that we speak and the attitudes of our heart. Jeremiah 29, 11, which you're all familiar with, God says, I know the plans that I have for you. He was being accused when he responded this way. He was being accused, like always, of not being good enough, not doing enough, not loving people enough. And he says, No, no. I know the plans that I have for you. Declares the Lord, plans of good and not for evil to give you hope and a future. Prosper you. Good things. God is good and good for you. And Jesus is our perfect example, isn't he? And our God. His spirit is with us right here today. These giant book-end angels that are here next to me, and those that are all around you guys are all his servants. They respond to his word. On your behalf. Jesus modeled his humanity, his strength, his obedience, his perfect, unwavering resolve and determination to do God's will for him in this life. And having done it, we're all here today, free, loved, blessed, redeemed children of God. If you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Because he first loved us and finished his mission, his love now compels us, Barbara, to live fully for God's plan. No turning back. Would you play that? Gratitude. So we study his resolve. It reprompts our response. Right? That's what it does for me. When I became so amazed and intrigued by his resolve, his resolve was not like, I'm gonna go beat this thing. His resolve was I've already beaten this thing. It just hasn't been realized yet. But I'm gonna go through this gauntlet of hell. Because of what's on the other side. What a man. What a man. That's why we do it. To live like him and to glorify him in the earth and to make him known. Amen. Thank you, Lord. We love you so much because you loved us so perfectly. Thank you, holy God, that you became a man and came to this earth as the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Thank you for your resolve and strength and loving kindness to complete and to fulfill your mission. You could have called it off at any time and you didn't do it, Lord. Lord, help us to stay focused on your life and your love and your resolve this week as we enter into this what's called holy week. Every week is holy with us, but help us to reflect on your life and your mission and your love and everything that you modeled for us. Because our goal is to fulfill the purpose and the mission that you have for each and every one of us. Help us to do that in strength and peace and liberty and freedom and joy, knowing that you are with us and you'll never leave us or forsake us, and that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Because of you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit. We pray all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior and King Jesus Christ. Amen. Praise God. I love you all. If anyone needs prayer, I'm here. God bless you all, and I hope you enjoy this week, this beautiful springtime. And I look forward to seeing you on Easter Sunday. Bring everybody you can, and we'll celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen? Amen. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Thank you, Jesus.