Hi and welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.
We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.
We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will
encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.
Our theme for the year 2024 is set apart, and today we look at
how God sets us apart to carry our cross.
Jesus was open and honest with his disciples of the kind of
life they would be called to live should they choose to
follow Him. It's not one that's easy, but
one of great fulfillment and eternal rewards.
As you listen in, would you ask God to show you how better to
carry your cross and follow Jesus, his Son, into the spaces
he leads you? Hi church, it's such a joy and a
privilege to be bringing God's word to you today, even on this
Palm Sunday as we celebrate Jesus entry into Jerusalem.
I believe Jesus wants to enter into each and every one of our
lives, into each and every one of our hearts.
Not just a one time King, A1 Sunday King, but everyday king
who we can worship every day. And so even before we get into
the passage that I've chosen, what I've done a little
different this time has taken the passage from Matthew chapter
21, and I just thought for understanding the context for
seeing what was actually happening around in that time.
I've taken the reference from Lumo, the video CDs, and so even
as we hear from verses 1 to 11, I pray that even as you watch,
you'll be able to see and relive what it would have looked like
for Jesus to make the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
So let's watch right now. As they approached Jerusalem and
came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent 2 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.
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 daughter Zion.
See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey
and on a cult, the foal of a donkey.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on
them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their
cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and
spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of
him and those that followed, shouted Hosanna to the son of
David. Blessed is he who comes in the
name. Of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest heaven, when Jesus entered Jerusalem,
the whole city was stirred and asked who is this?
The crowds answered. This is Jesus the prophet from
Nazareth in Galilee. So even as we watched, we saw
Jesus entering into Jerusalem. We saw people were plucking
those palm branches. They were taking their cloaks
off and they were just laying it down and welcoming him.
That was tradition back then. And we see one of the distinct
responses to the king of kings coming into Jerusalem was not
like how a normal king would enter.
If you've seen, you know, the old historical movies and things
like that, you'd see kings entering in in their Chariots.
You would see king entering in with their army.
In fact, the Romans were known for that, that they would March
in to show that they were the rulers with all their strength.
But here we see a king who's riding on a donkey.
Here we see a king who's fulfilling prophecies that was
told way back. Here we are seeing a king who's
walking as meek, as humble. He doesn't have an army behind
him he doesn't have. He had followers, but he didn't
have anyone to showcase the might that the people around
were wanting. And so even today, as we look at
one of the prophecies from Zechariah, up to 9 verses 9 to
10, there are key distinct things as to who this Jesus was
and who he entered in as Zechariah. 9 verses 9 to 10 says
this. Rejoice greatly, or daughter of
Zion, shout aloud. O daughter of Jerusalem, Behold,
your king, Messianic king is coming to you.
He is righteous and endowed with salvation, humble and unassuming
in submission to the will of the Father, and riding on a donkey
upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the War Horse from
Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off, and he will
speak words of peace to the nations, and his dominion shall
be from sea to sea, and from the river Euphrates to the ends of
the earth. For those of you are
highlighting, I would like you to highlight certain key aspects
of who Jesus was prophesied about.
That he'd be righteous, he'd be endowed with salvation, He'll be
humble and unassuming, and he will speak peace to the nations.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the
ends of the earth. One of the things we see, the
characteristics of Jesus when he walks in, peace follows.
When he steps in, peace comes in.
And so today, as this King is coming in into Jerusalem, they
expected a king who would look entirely different.
They thought they probably were used to so many uprisings where
they saw so many within them rise up to overthrow the empire.
But Jesus didn't come to give temporary freedom.
Jesus came so that each of us, you and I, all of mankind, all
of humanity, will be set free once for all.
God was in human form, and even though he did signs, wonders,
and miracles, it all led to a place where He was being humble
and was coming to a place of submission.
He was coming to a place of submission to the will of the
Father. He came for one purpose, and
that purpose was being fulfilled right as he was walking in.
And so today he tried setting a nation apart.
He wanted them to follow His ways, but they were adamant.
They wanted the kings to be governing over them.
And in fact, even as Samuel, you know, was waiting in his old
age, the elders of the nation came to him and said, we want a
king for ourselves, just like others.
They said your sons aren't living right.
Give us a king. And Samuel said this is what a
king will demand. This is what a king will do.
And God told that. And they chose, saying that we
would love for a king from amongst us.
They didn't want the king of kings.
They rejected him back there And for Samuel.
But Jesus is coming back as a king of kings on a donkey who's
unassuming. And so today, even as we praise
him, even as we worship him, you know, one of the things about
Palm Sundays about worship is we worship a God, oftentimes within
the constraints of what we want him to be.
But today, can we worship God for who he is, who he is?
He is everything. He's everything.
He's just not one aspect of who I want.
Probably a deliverer or healer or restorer.
You know, a person who'll bring peace.
No, he's everything, which means I am submitting to all of him.
So when I'm praising him, is there any selfish personal game?
Is my own agenda in the forefront of saying only this I
want to see happen? Am I only looking at my physical
sense, as the Israelites saw that day of our freedom to be
set free from the Romans? But are we looking at him as we
want to be free from the clutches of sin?
Because he came to break dominions, he came to set us
free from that. It's not for a spot deliverance.
We see when Jesus is walking on this earth, he set the demon
possessed free. He said those who are you know
who are bound, he set them free. But when we look to Jesus, are
we looking for a deliverance? That's whole because I believe
today we are constantly going to him in part saying God, I want
only this part to be delivered. But God saying I want the whole
aspect of this area in your life to be delivered, which means it
will take time, which means it may not happen the way you would
like, but I will make you wholly delivered.
Are we looking for momentary relief?
But God's saying no, I don't want to just relieve you here
physically, you know, for where your body will perish.
He's saying I want to save you for eternity.
Are we looking to the Him as a deliverer who will deliver us
just from an oppression? He's saying no.
I'm coming in as a king of kings.
Worship me because I have delivered you from the
oppressor. It's not the oppression and
often times we are just treating the surface.
We need to go in and seek and ask God.
God, would you please deal with me?
You came here to set us free. I want that freedom, you know,
And Jesus walking and Jesus entering into Jerusalem that day
was significant because he just didn't come for a select group.
He came for all of us. And even as I was preparing, I
was going through this whole aspect of the palm leaves and
there were clear indicators as to the palm branches.
As much as it's, you know, part of that land, you know it's
available as a tree. There it grows there, it
flourishes there, it it's there's a distinct comparison
that we can see across the entirety of the Bible.
He exists beyond time. And it got me thinking that our
worship of him should be one of that.
Even as we go into God's Word deeper, I want us to look at God
like that. The first thing I would love for
us to look at is when we worship God, we worship him for who he
was. What does that look like?
2 weeks back I remember talking to you about being set apart and
I said we go back to our ancient path.
What does the ancient path look like?
It's one which it's been followed time and again.
But those who chose to follow Jesus by those who made Jesus
their Lord and Saviour by those who said Jesus is my God and I
want to follow him, those ancient parts are one where they
stuck to it. They didn't let culture define
him. They didn't let culture dictate
how they would behave. Rather they sought after that
ancient part. Saying Jesus, you dictate us.
You tell us how we should worship you.
You tell us how we should serve you.
They were clear, focused. They didn't have too many
targets. They were clearly doing the
mission that God had set out them for doom.
So even as we look in this, we see that in the Old Testament,
the instruction that God gave to Moses specifically was for them
to celebrate certain festivals, certain festivals where God had
actually delivered them. And one such festival was the
Tabernacle of the feasts. And we see Leviticus chapter 23
verses 39 to 44. This is what we see.
Let's read verse 39. So beginning with the 15th day
of the 7th month, and after you have gathered the crops of the
land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days.
The first day is the day of the Sabbath rest, and the 8th day
also is the day of the Sabbath rest.
On the first day you ought to take branches from luxuriant
trees, from palms, willows and other leafy trees and rejoice
before the Lord your God for seven days.
Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each
year. This is to be a lasting
ordinance for the generations to come.
Celebrate it in the seventh month.
Live in temporary shelters for seven days.
All native one is relates are to live in such shelters.
So your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live
in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God. So Moses announced to the
Israelites the appointed festivals of the Lord.
And even as I said that we worship the God of who he was,
he was the God who delivered us here.
He's delivered Israel. He's brought them out of Egypt.
He's brought them out of captivity, He's brought them out
of slavery. And even as they're going in the
wilderness, he's saying do this to remember where I brought you
out from. They were temporary shelters,
but he was taking them to a promised land.
The instruction that he gave Miss make this a lasting
ordinance to the generations to come.
He wanted them to celebrate it even beyond 510 generations.
He wanted them to recount that I brought you out.
When you live in these temporary shelters for these days, look
back. You go back to the story, listen
from people who've lived in those eras to say this is what
the Lord did. And even as we worship today, we
are going to go back to a place of in our own lives and say God,
what is it you did in my life? That's why our testimonies
matter. That's why our stories matter.
That's why how we talk about God matters.
We when we look back, we're looking at that point when God
delivered us. Where was that point when God
really redeemed us? When we had that salvation
experience, we made it our own. We felt Jesus near.
We felt our ears were so tuned because life happens.
When life happens, we grow numb. When life happens, we get so
tuned that we are able to just say everything what we have to
say. We struggle because we get so
caught up with the worries and the needs that are happening
around us. We get so worried about the way
we want to control things around us, the people, the children,
the circumstances. But God's saying go back to who
I was. Didn't I deliver you?
Why are you worried now? Didn't I deliver you?
Why are you being anxious today? And we see that when the minute
they went into the promised land, after the time of Joshua,
this entire thing stopped. They couldn't.
They didn't celebrate at all. They got distracted.
The kings came in, The people surrounding them convinced them.
So today church, if you're going to worship God, you're going to
worship God for who he was, who he was.
He was the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac.
He was a God who gave clear instruction and he asked his
people to obey. And so today if we are not
obeying, we are not worshipping today.
If we are not doing what God's called us to do, our worship
fails from that timeline. When that happened, we see right
in Nehemiah chapter 8, where it recounts that they forgot God
completely. Nehemiah 813 and says on the
second day of the month the heads of all the families along
with the priests and the Levites gathered around Ezra the teacher
to give attention to the words of the Law.
They found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded
through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in
temporary shelters during the festival of the 7th month, and
that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout
the towns. And in Jerusalem.
Go out into the Hill Country, and bring back branches from
olive and wild olive trees, and from mytles, palms and shade
trees to make temporary shelters as it is written.
So the people went out and brought back branches, and built
themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their own
courtyards, in the courts of the House of God, and the square by
the Watergate, and the one by the gate of their frame.
The whole company that had returned from exile built
temporary shelters and lived in them from the days of Joshua son
of Nun, until that day the Israelites had not celebrated it
like this and their joy was very great.
We see that they stopped celebrating this feast and even
as we go deeper you will see they got distracted.
That next generation which had to do it, got distracted.
Life happens. We will get distracted.
But our worship should always be to the One who was a God was.
He delivered and he will deliver.
He was. If he did it back then, he will
do it today. If he did it back then, he will
do it today. If revival happened back then,
it will still happen. Am I desiring for it?
Am I wanting it? What happened?
Why did so many years, so many generations miss out on
recounting what God did? Yeah, there would be a remnant.
Few, but the the instruction was clear.
Maybe move ourselves to a place where we will never be
comfortable with the comforts of this world.
We will never be comfortable. You you can get the new phone,
you can get the latest thing that you want, but you'll soon
realize there's always much more than you want.
There's always much more you can get.
There's always much more you can make yourselves comfortable by.
And as I look more deep into God's word, God's asking, are
you having a holy discomfort when it comes so that you'll be
able to listen to what I'm saying?
We see that in being in the promised Land for the Israelites
caused them to move away from God.
Yes, they moved from slavery to the promised land.
They occupied the land. They fought all those giants,
but somewhere down the line the generations following gave in to
the pressure of what was around. And today God's asking, will you
stand strong? Which means am I giving to the
comfort of the promised land that I am just so concentrating
on the promise that I am making sure my it's just me, myself, my
house, my agenda. Is my comfort more important?
The second thing is, is my worship costing me anything
today? Our time and effort we we when
we say you know what we want to serve God.
We come with our conditions to serve God.
But God saying no, I want you to serve so that you'll be able to
do what I'm calling you to do. I don't want you to do what you
want to do. Which means the people who
actually went ahead for us when God said, you know, when they
worshipped him and they said we are worshipping the God who was,
they did something when only your God required, and God is
asking us, will you do what I require of you to do.
Somehow we fail to share God's faithfulness and everything.
Our praise is constricted to the culture and we're just trying to
fit in. We're trying to fit in.
We're trying to match up. You're trying to play catch up
today. When Jesus entered into
Jerusalem, he was just an entering, as you know.
Jesus, the son of a Carpenter. No, he was a king of kings and
the Lord of Lords. He was God in human form was
entering in. He was the God who was.
He was there when the Israelites were in captivity and when they
walked through the wilderness and when they got the promised
land, he was reclaiming he was bringing back, He was bringing
back saying, hey, let's go back to God and do what he requires.
And so today, when we look at this, when we look back our of
what who God was, it should always come to a place where
God, I'm praising you for what you've done.
Because when I praise you for what you've done, I'm realizing
that only you are in control. I'm not in control.
Every day he works out something on our behalf.
So can we be intentional about seeing God in our everyday life?
Can we be intentional When we praise Him for what he has done?
When we praise him for what he has done in the past, what is
ahead looks conquerable because God is with us, because we know
who to call on praise arises from the scriptures that we have
in our hands. We use His word and we praise
Him. We see Ezra as he's reading
here. He took the living word of God.
It was buried, you know, kingdoms that come trampled
over. He brought it.
In fact, it says some of the scriptures that he had, but it
was a living word of God. So today even As for some of
you, I strongly believe God's calling you to some of the
passages that God spoke over you go back to them because our
worship is in in in what God has spoken.
Every song that we sing birds out of the word of God, it's
found in Scripture. So if you want to worship God
for who he is more than actually just singing and listening to
the song, go back to the scripture, read, let the living
word come alive in you and you'll be able to see who God
was. The 2nd aspect we see is we
worship God for who he is, who he is to us.
When Jesus entered into Jerusalem, a lot of them saw him
with different lenses. Some saw him with OK, he's Mary
and Joseph's son. Some oh, he's from Nazareth.
And so they had a boundary wall around that.
OK, probably the Nazarenes are like that.
The disciples saw him differently, it says.
When you read in that passage, a lot of it didn't make sense till
they saw Jesus when he was resurrected and when he had met
with them. But Jesus who was walking into
Jerusalem was actually walking, fulfilling so many things.
And I just highlighted a few things because that's who he is
even today. That's who he is even today.
John 638 He fulfilled the will of the Father, Verse 38 says,
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the
will of Him who sent me. As we worship, we are
worshipping the one who did the will of the Father.
The second thing I've highlighted is from First
Timothy chapter one, verse 15. He came down to save sinners.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the
worst. Paul writes Sister Timothy and
encourages him. And when he says this, Jesus
came with a specific goal to save sinners.
He came down for all of mankind. But until and unless they
realize they need saving, they don't need a Saviour.
Paul is very clear that till people identify themselves as
sinners. That's why we say the sinners
prayer that God my heart is deceitful.
My heart is full of sin. We need you.
You are the one who saved us. Would you come in?
So we worship our Saviour. We worship who is.
Our worship is towards our Savior.
The third thing is from John 1246.
He brought light into this Dark World.
I have come into this world as a light so that no one who
believes in me should stay in darkness.
The Jesus who entered in that day was one who actually had
came down to bring light into this world.
He was there in the beginning when light came Into Darkness
and the very person was actually walking into Jerusalem as the
light and he is still today the light of the world.
So today even as we worship who he is, he is the light into this
Dark World. The fourth thing is we see in
John 651 eternal life is through.
Jesus 51 says I am the living bread that came down from
heaven. Who over eats this bread will
live forever. This bread is my flesh which I
give for the life of the world. We saw him him coming in all
humility and submission to the will of the Father.
And going into Jerusalem was so that we all will get to have
eternity with them. Jesus didn't die, He rose again.
We are worshipping a living God. So when we say we are
worshipping a God who is he is eternity.
We see in one John 3/8 he came to put an end to devil's work.
The one was it says the one who does what is sinful is of the
devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the
devil's work. Amen.
We are worshipping the God who is.
He is the one who came to put an end to devil's work.
We also see in Philippians chapter 2, verse five and eight
that he was humble even to death.
There was so many aspects where he could have stood up and said,
you know what, you don't know what you're accusing me of?
No, But he came down as a lamb led to the slaughter.
He was a perfect lamb. In him there was no sin.
And so even as he walked, in all humility, we who worship Jesus
today have to walk. In all of that humility.
Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 to 8 says in your relationships
with one another have the same mindset as Christ who being in
the very nature God did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage.
Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness and being found in
appearance. As a man, he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to death, even death to a cross.
So today when we worship Jesus, there is a clear line that we
are called to walk on in all humility.
If Jesus walked in this world in all humility, we are called to
walk in this world in all humility.
Today we see this world and we, as we read and we see the
responses of them all worshipping, we see that they
worshipped thinking that they'll be set free from the clutches of
the Romans. But today we are being set free
from the clutches of sin. We are being set free from the
strongholds and the hand of Satan over our lives.
And we see Jesus did that as he walked in, as he, you know,
travelled on the donkey. He did it in meekness and in
majesty. As much as it seemed meek, there
was something majestic about him, there was something
majestic about him. So Palm Sunday is a reminder of
who Jesus is. He's just not someone who
walked. He just didn't do a ramp walk
once. No, he when he walked, he was
setting the clear record straight.
He walked in to make sure that the curtain wall will be broken,
will be divided so that all of us have access.
So today if someone tells you that you know, you can have
access only through this person or if you have to pray, no, you
have access to God because you can call on his name, he's
saying. Anyone who calls on my name, I
will listen. I will hear.
Even as you saw the video earlier, you saw the Pharisees
were questioning. Why are they shouting?
Why are they doing this? And we see when we worship him,
we worship him for who he is. Even as I read to you right now.
He's the one who did the will of the Father.
He's the one who came to save the sinners.
He's the one who brought light into the darkness.
He's the one with whom we have eternity and eternal life.
He came to put an end to the devil's work.
He walked in all humility, even to death.
When we see all of that, we see Jesus for who he is.
The Pharisees thought he's another person who's coming.
They were so insecure that he will be.
He will move the people away from him.
He didn't didn't realize that he's fulfilling the scriptures.
So today, even as we follow Jesus as we worship Him, our
agendas of all have to come down as our our our status, our
positions all come down. When we all bow down, we all
surrender our crowns. Whatever crown we are wearing.
Some of us wear a crown of superiority thinking we are from
a higher caste. Some of us wear a crown of
thinking we are of higher influence.
Some of us wear a thing thinking we are from a higher tribe, from
thinking we are from a from a from a higher part of society.
No. In Jesus, everyone is equal.
Everyone. There's no difference between
the rich and the poor. To him we are the created, and
He's created all of us in his image today.
The people wanted freedom from oppression.
The people wanted freedom from the physical taxing that they
were being done by the Romans. They wanted freedom from so many
things. And today a lot of us want
freedom from so many things. Probably you're in debt.
Probably your relationship with your spouse is not the greatest.
Probably you've been struggling to even get married and find
that person because every time you try meeting someone, there
are some red flags that are coming.
Probably you are in a dire situation where you've been
caught in something which is totally out of this world where
you thought this wouldn't happen to you.
But God saying, would you raise a worship altar to me today?
Because I can step in. I am who I am before I am even
the same God today. Luke 19 verses 37 to 40.
We see when he came near the place where the road goes down,
the mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began
joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they
had seen. Blessed is the King who comes in
the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus.
Teacher, rebuke your disciples, I tell you Jesus replied, if
they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
They were shouting in loud voices for all the miracles they
had seen. Today God's asking will we shout
and worship him even for the miracles we don't see?
You know, we trust processes a lot.
We trust that you know what, if you go to this particular
government office, this will be done.
Document A, Document B, Document C, and I should be getting this.
This is how the world is structured.
Processes. This is how companies and
everything. We think of a process so that
it'll be done step by step. But today, our worship is not to
a God of process. Our worship is to a God who will
do it his way and I'm coming in submission to that.
If God in human form could submit to the will of the
Father, I who am a who have just been created in this image have
to submit to His will so that I can see it happen his way.
And Jesus saying, would you submit to my sovereignty, my
sovereign way, my sovereign way of doing this today?
What? What aspect of life is Jesus
working in and through you that you've been struggling to say
God, this is not being done my way.
Jesus saying no, allow it to happen my way.
When I open the doors, when I open your heart, when I open
your emotions, I will see to it I am in control.
I would lead you. And one of the things we see of
people rejoice because of the miracles he had done or they
heard about it and they thought, OK, you know what?
If we can praise Him, He is He is blessed, is He who comes.
If we, if he can even do a miracle with the governance,
probably is what they thought. But God has different ways and
different methods of working certain things out.
Are we willing to still worship Him when we see it happen His
way and not our way? Are we still OK to worship Him
when we see it happen in His timing and not in my timing?
And the response that Jesus gives to the Pharisees is very
important because at that time Jesus is God.
He didn't pre, you know, judge the people who are giving him
praise knowing he knew that one week from now they will turn
against him, but he still received their praise.
So today, if you're worried, you know what?
God Today my praise is going to be conditioned because I don't
know if I'll be able to keep up with this.
No, don't be worried about tomorrow.
Worry about today. Can you praise God today for who
he is? Tomorrow will worry about
itself. But if you fail to praise God
for who he is today, you will regret tomorrow.
Because you could have praised God today, but better.
You could have praised God in a more better way.
And I'm, I'm, I'm coming from a place of saying that.
Let's move to make sure our worship is we've given it all
every day so that we live with no regrets.
One of the things of worshipping the God who is, is the fact that
we worship him saying God, this is who you are.
But we also understand that we who've now received Jesus into
our heart, He breaks our heart. We see a Jesus.
There's something beautiful that happens in Luke 19 verses 41 to
44. As he approached Jerusalem and
saw the city, he wept over it and said if you even you had
only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now
it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you, and
your enemies will build an embankment against you and
encircled you and hem you in on every side.
They will dash you on the ground, you and the children
within your walls. They will not leave one stone on
another because you did not recognize the time of God's
coming to you. We see Jesus weeping over
Jerusalem and I believe when we start worshipping him, when we
start worshipping him for who he is, he will start breaking a
heart so that we will start weeping for what we need to be
doing here on this earth. God's redemption part is just
not for us to be redeemed and left alone, but it's for us to
be redeemed so that we'll be able to do what he wants us to
do in this broken world. Transformation that he's causing
us to see will happen here. When we've put this byline
saying set apart to bring heaven here on earth is because we've
received Heaven's gift, That's Jesus into our lives.
We are responders today to bring Jesus here on this earth.
So what? Is God really breaking your
heart today? What aspect is he really
breaking? Is it Is it on the lines of
poverty? Is it on the lines of offence?
Is it in the lines of, you know, education?
Is it in the lines of leading marriages?
What is it? Because you will soon realize
God is distinctively breaking some area of your heart so that
you'll be concerned far more for the people outside than your own
4 walls of your home. And I've seen time and again
that when we the biggest struggle that we've really had
in accepting and when you receive Jesus into that
particular area, he uses us to minister the strongest in that
area. So I pray that we will identify
our brokenness. Some of us are so prideful that
we think we're not broken, but there is a heavy breaking that's
happened in our life. Can we allow him to come into
our hearts, showcase that, heal that, so that he'll be able to
use us mightily in the days to come?
Jesus heart broke for all humanity.
We as is created, our hearts will break for a particular
area. It won't break for the entirety
because we can't handle it. And so when we pray, we start,
you know, every time he shows us and says this is what my heart's
broken. So that's what a church
beautifully combines or is a collective of.
It's a collective of people who've accepted Jesus and Jesus
is breaking each and everyone's heart for a particular area.
And so eventually, if you bring all of them together, it's the
entirety of a city and title of a nation.
And I believe, as each and every one of us identify the plan and
purpose that he has for us as we start walking and accomplishing
it, we will be his hands and feet in that specific area that
he's calling us. Oftentimes the very place where
we lacked and we had him come in, Jesus come in and work with
the very place he will use us to minister.
We will no longer be in receiving mode because we've
received this healing. We are being healed, but we've
come to a place of received and now we're giving it.
We're saying, hey, you know what?
You can find freedom from alcohol.
You can find freedom from, you know, from drugs.
You can find freedom from actually, you know from your
sexual addiction. You can find freedom and be
committed to the love of your life here.
Who's your spouse? He will give you freedom from
your from your sexual identity if you're struggling with that,
but it'll come down to a place of us really allowing him and
worshipping him for who he is. This Palm Sunday may a genuine
worship be to the King of Kings who walked in.
He was meek, but he was majestic.
He in all meekness he came in and fulfilled but it was all of
His Majesty that came in with that.
And the second thing is, as we worship him for who he is, May
God break us so that we will be able to be his hands and feet.
We'll be able to dirty our hands.
We will be able to dirty our hands.
Just this week we have a dog at home.
And one of the things of having a dog which, you know, which we
got during the pandemic is the fact that the dog is so
domesticated. And we've named her Mocha.
And so we realized that, you know, there's we're unable to do
certain things because everything revolves around her
who takes care of her. And so one of the things we
decided started this year is we needed to get her trained to be
in a kennel, you know. And so this week was a time when
we actually did it. And more than actually, and I'd
planned it out. I'd been actually telling my
wife for the last three months, coaching her, working her
through this whole thing. And we booked it.
We went, we dropped her and we realized that she automatically
caught certain traits of her Master.
So she's here in the canal, they have sand, all the dogs are
playing, but looks like she's ours to sand.
And my wife doesn't like the beet sand much.
She can, you know, and she doesn't like it sticking And to
her feet and all that. And you can see certain traits
just rub off. And even as I, I, you know, they
kept sending us updates or videos of how she was doing
there. And I just realized, God, I want
to have that same kind of trait where I am so much in close
contact with you that I start rubbing the qualities of you so
much in my life. So much that when I go into the
actual world, I'm not behaving like her, where you know I
can't, but I'm actually willing to be there because my dislikes
when rubbed off doesn't serve anyone.
But when I start rubbing off the the true nature of Christ in my
life, I start becoming useful in the world where he's placed me.
I don't. I don't come across as a
standoffish, you know, person who can't talk to everyone.
No, I start becoming his hands and feet.
Where you know the sin doesn't cause us mean time to talk.
I start seeing people for who God's created them to be.
I start speaking with hope. I start speaking with love,
care, genuine care. And so that is the worship that
Jesus wants us to have. When we worship him, worship him
for who he is. The third thing we worship is we
worship God for who is to come. And I love this because I I
think God's moving the the worship globally to be singing
songs of who is to come because the world is so broken.
We see wars, we see leaders who are campaigning, who we don't
even have hope in. We see the the, the, the lies
that are being spread around. We see so much of, you know,
there's no love for humanity. People killing one another.
We see people pulling down one another.
We see so much of hatred. But if our eyes are focused on
the one who is to come, we'll be able to run this race.
Well, what does that mean? Jesus, when he came here into
this earth, even as he walked in on Palm Sunday, he was walking
in so that eternity will be set. He was walking in so that our
eternity will be secure. He was walking in so that we
will spend eternity with him. What?
So what is praise looking for us today?
We saw that the Israelites imbibed the the intermarried
they they caused. You know, they disobeyed God's
laws entirely and we see them move away from God.
But if you have to worship the God who is to come, we have to
stick to what God's called us to do.
We cannot move away from that we you know, And today let's move
into a place of, you know, why should I not do this?
Why can't I do this? Is this what the Bible says more
than what the Bible says? What is God telling you?
Because honestly, if we looked at Scripture as to what is God
telling me, through the Scripture we will make better
decisions. And I believe when God is asking
us to worship him for who is to come, we will soon turn our
worship in every circumstances. We will soon start churning out
worship in every situation. Our response would wouldn't be
one of how can I problem solve this?
Who can I call? Who's the who's the person I can
dial in my contact list? No, it'll be one of worship.
We see an In Acts 1525, Paul and Silas, undaunted, prayed in the
middle of the night and sang songs of praise to God, while
all the other prisoners listened to their worship.
Today Paul and Silas, given the situation, I believe will be
doing the same thing. There are keywords in which the
Passion says is they were undaunted and they prayed in the
middle of the night. Today, if Lord of you who are
plagued by loneliness, by you know, by anxiety, by depression,
by anything emotional, if your spirit is low, open the word of
God. We have audio bibles.
Listen to the word of God. If people who were in the prison
rooms were able to listen and experience the breakthrough that
came because of worship, you and I can also experience it because
of the Word of God. Today I believe in this day and
age more than us looking to interpret the Word of God, more
of us looking to find the revelation of the Word of God.
Let the Word of God be spoken over your life, because when
it's spoken out, your eyes automatically are lifted to the
one who is to come. Your spiritual eyes are suddenly
like God in line of eternity. Is this how I should respond in
line of eternity? Is this how I should lead my
family in line of eternity? Is this how I should behave with
one another? Peter walking out of jail was a
direct correlation because worship was being raised
somewhere else. So today, even as we worship
with prayer and supplication, even as we have a Friday nights
open heavens happening, it's because we believe when we are
worshipping here something else is happening someplace else.
And it's OK even if I don't get to hear about it.
We don't have to be the first people to hear about the news.
But I'm sure someday down the line someone will come and say
you know what, Friday at 10:30 PM something happened in my
house and we'll be able to know because there were a few of us
here worshipping. Am I content with that?
I am content with that. So today our worship is to a God
of who is to come, which means because he's coming.
I'm not. It's not like I'm not doing
anything. It's because he's coming.
I will keep doing everything. I will keep doing everything.
A lot of us have become complacent.
You know? We have.
Like, yeah, he's coming. My eternity is secure.
So you know what, Chalta Hai. I'll just like, you know, cruise
through life. No.
God is saying I've created you with a purpose.
Fulfill the purpose that has to be a burning flame for you to go
and fulfill it. We are so conscious about
fulfilling things for our immediate circle.
Oh my. This is what I should eat.
This is what I should wear. This is what I will do.
This is how I will avoid everything else that I don't
become my anxious Know if you're worshipping God, you will allow
all of him and He will guide you.
He will guide you. So today, even as we look, I
want us to keep our eyes on Jesus.
This is what Hebrews says. In Hebrews, 12 verses 123.
As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us
like clouds, so we must let go of every wound that has pierced
us and the sin we so easily fall into.
Then we'll be able to run life's marathon race with passion and
determination for the path that has been already marked out
before us. We look away from the natural
realm and we focus our attention and expectation unto Jesus, who
birthed faith within us and who led us forward into faith's
perfection. His example is this, because his
heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his.
He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its
humiliation. Now sits exalted at the right
hand of the throne of God. I love how we can end this
because he modelled it for us. He loved us.
He came down. He bore everything so that you
and I can be saved. So today, because of us being
saved, we have to go through life, go through everything so
that we can see him face to face, so that we'll be able to
see him and say, God, you are my God.
Thank you that I can. I can't wait to stand along with
the great cloud of witnesses. He is coming back.
So today when we meet him face
to face, it shouldn't be like God.
It shouldn't be like one of those.
The person who received the last bit, who went and buried it are
salvage. It's not meant to be buried and
left somewhere hidden. No, it's meant to be lived out,
which means it's meant to be lived out in and with people.
Revelation 7 talks about this beautiful place where we will
all stand in front of the King of Kings at the Lord of Lords.
And even as I was going through this, I realized that there was
a phrase where it says that we'd be standing there with palm
branches. And so even as we look through
the entirety of scripture, the palm branches in the beginning
when we read in Leviticus was for one was showcased so that we
will remember of the God who was with us in that wilderness
season, who brought us, who was our deliverer.
We see that we need to worship the God who is that as he walked
in all humility to die for us. He was on a mission and he did
it, and we worship him for who he is.
But we also will be worshipping the true and living God in
eternity. Face to face would not, you
know, without any pain, without any sickness.
We will have our entirety looking different there.
When we see Him face to face, we will worship our King.
We will worship our Lord. This is what it says in
Revelation 7. I looked again.
I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count.
Everyone was there, all nations and tribes, all races and
language, and they were standing, dressed in white robes
and waving palm branches, standing before the throne and
the Lamb and heartily singing salvation to our God on this
throne, Salvation to the Lamb. All who were standing around the
throne. Angels, elders, animals fell on
their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, Oh
yes, the blessing and glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving, the
honour and power and strength to our God forever and ever.
Oh yes, As we see them waving palm branches, I'm reminded that
these people who actually waved and who actually turned around
Jesus and said, you know, crucify him, these people who
are waving today are waving to the true and living King.
They have tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
One of the aspects of worshipping is the fact that
everyone is gathered. The church that gathers is for
all. It's by all and it's for all.
The church is no longer just, OK, this is just going to be a
single church or it's going to be a marriage church.
No, it's for all. All of us have stages in life.
All of us move in stages. So today the church is
everything for everyone. Be it single, married, be it
young and old, be it Baron or fruitful, be it master or slave,
be it rich or poor, be it educated or uneducated.
The church is called to keep their eyes on him so that we'll
be able to run this race well. And today I don't know what is
causing you to not wave those palm branches and say, Jesus,
you are king. I don't know what is holding you
back because to worship who he was, it is tough.
Because many a times the hurt, the struggle, the the scarring,
the the abuse, everything that we've gone through is hard.
But if he was our deliverer back then, he is our deliverer today.
Also. He who he God is today, our
worship is to who he is today. Also He is still our deliverer.
He's still our God. He still is seated on the
throne. He still is the victorious one
over the deceiver. And so I don't know what
circumstance you're going today, but don't discount the God who
did everything before. He will do it again.
And the God who does it today will continue to lead as long as
you keep your eyes on eternity. The minute you move your eyes
from eternity to something here on this earth, it'll become
tough because you will people pleasing will start coming in.
You will start doing decisions, saying things which are not of
you and which God does not expect of you because you're
trying to please people. But God saying would your
attention be towards me? Would your eyes be towards me?
Live out the way. I've called it Lord, and that's
what we see in the apple. Since time and again the Church
went through hard times, they lived sustained through it
because their eyes were on Jesus and on eternity.
We see that the binding factor in all of this is worship.
We worship him for what he's done, we worship him for who he
is, and we worship him for who he is to be in our future.
So church, I don't know what your week is looking like.
I don't know what you're going through specifically, but Jesus
when he entered Jerusalem, wasn't.
It wasn't broadcast live event where all of us could TuneIn, he
it was just a normal day where he was entering into Jerusalem.
It was a destined moment in history because that was when
redemption was coming for mankind in a week.
And today God saying would you still worship me?
I don't know. For some though, as I'm leading
and standing here right now, I can sense Spirit of God
distinctively, telling me a lot of you have experienced Jesus.
You've heard you've you your own miracle, your birth miracle is
is is one of a miracle. Your being born itself is one of
miracle. But today you stand confused
discounting him and I would say, would you return back to Jesus?
He's willing to be your deliverer today.
Whatever is oppressing you would I would ask you, would you open
the word of God? Let the word of God come alive
in your spaces today. Be it your home, be it When
you're travelling, listen to it. When you're discouraged, let
that be a refuge. Go back to the word.
Open it up. If you can't.
Don't feel like reading it. Listen to it.
You have different ways in which you can listen.
Listen to it. Let it soak your spirit man so
that that will be renewed to look to Jesus and say I am doing
this so that I'll be able to see and be in eternity with you.
The times are tough. You're walking into seasons
where it is going to be tough to live this Christian faith.
But God is saying would you live it out in all boldness?
So even right now I would ask if you can just close your eyes
wherever you're at. I just want to pray along with
you. Lord, we thank you, Lord, that
even as we celebrate Palm Sunday, we welcome you King,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Lord, we can't wait for that day
when we can stand and see you face to face, worshipping you.
Lord, our minds can't fathom it. Lord, it it seems we can figure
something out. But, Lord, we can't wait to see
that glorious day where we won't see a lot of the things that we
see in today's world. We won't see that.
We will see you in all your glory.
And we want to declare with our mouths holy forever, holy
forever. You are holy forever, King of
kings today. Would you walk into our hearts?
I pray specifically for those who have discounted you, who
have not run away from you, who have been not holding on to
their heart, and their bitten is far too long that they have not
detested you. Lord, would you come in?
Would you walk in? Would you come in and be God
over their lives? Would you be their savior again,
Lord Jesus? I pray Lord, even for those who
are walking through tough path that we will rise or worship to
you. Lord, maybe never come to a
place where our worship is so quiet that the stones will start
crying out. But maybe worship.
Whatever circumstances we will worship you.
Whatever our situation is, we will worship you.
Whatever we are going through, we will worship you.
That will be our only response. Lord, we will see you come
through. Come down upon us.
Lord Jesus. Pray would protect us, be with
us. Bless this week, Lord, even as
we step into Good Friday and Easter, there will be a week
where we will encounter you. Lord Jesus, go before us and
strengthen us. In your most holy name we pray.
Amen. Amen.
Pray that even as you step out, that you will step out in
boldness. We will never be able to worship
enough. But we can worship him for all
he is. Worship him every day.
Have your moments. Make those moments personal,
corporately. Come participate in worship.
Come expectant. Come, say, God.
I'm coming today. I want to hear from you.
I want to worship you. Reveal yourself.
And I pray that he will reveal himself to you.
As you step out this week. I pray his hands of protection
be upon you. Go in peace.
I pray you will enjoy His protection, health and strength.
Pray that you have a blessed week.
God bless you all. Thanks for listening to this
message. We hope you are blessed to hear
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