1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,200 I want to open with these scriptures here in the book of 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:05,360 Genesis chapter 2. Then the Lord God took the man, 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,400 put him in the Garden of Eden attending keep it. 4 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,440 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of our tree of the 5 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,640 garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good 6 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,400 and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, 7 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,680 you will surely die. The Lord God said is not good, 8 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,400 that man should be alone. I will make him a helper 9 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,360 comparable to him. I believe it's so important that 10 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,040 we would understand that God is doing something awesome in the 11 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,400 earth. Last week I shared with you the 12 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,160 scriptures. In the book Galatians chapter 4, 13 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,800 the apostle Paul in writing to the Church of Galatia said now 14 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,440 in the old covenant and in the Old Testament as you read the 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,680 stories today, God treated you as servants. 16 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,840 Because even though you're a child of God, an heir, as long 17 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,880 as he's a child doesn't differ anything from a servant, though 18 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:01,160 he is Lord of all things, but is under tutors and governors until 19 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,879 the time appointed of that father to give them the 20 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:07,760 inheritance. I believe all with all my heart 21 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,360 that that verse there is very, very important for the day and 22 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,000 hour in which we live. Because although the apostle 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,560 Paul spoke that 2000 years ago and the prophecies concerning it 24 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,320 go all the way back to what I'm reading to you today in Genesis 25 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:26,120 chapter 1, which was over 4000 years ago or 6000 years ago, I 26 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,480 guess you could say. And in all of these things, God 27 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,440 has times and seasons and we need to know what season it is. 28 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,680 And this is a season where God is saying he expects us to take 29 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,440 a step in maturity and so that he might give more 30 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,160 responsibility to us. It's very important that we're 31 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,040 also where the world in which we live. 32 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,480 We're living in a very fast-paced and changing world, 33 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,600 and if you'll study church history and even reading the 34 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,720 Bible, you'll see that God has always consistently worked in 35 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,600 his people to prepare us for whatever time it is in the 36 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,360 natural. So when we say with God there's 37 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,120 times and seasons, we have to understand that those are tied 38 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,280 to what's going on in the world. So as I've been in prayer, the 39 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,760 Lord's been speaking to me that He's wanted me to take a closer 40 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,640 look at some of the scriptures and some things that I've always 41 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:20,760 taught in order that I might have a amplification, 42 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,480 clarification and enlargement even in that understanding. 43 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:27,360 That's what I started with you last week and speaking from the 44 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,920 book of Genesis and what I'm going to continue with today. 45 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,120 The Bible says that when God first created mankind that He 46 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,200 formed us from the dust of the earth, breathed in our nostrils 47 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,440 the breath of life and we became a living being, body, soul and 48 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,960 spirit. Now as you notice here, it says 49 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,640 that after God created man, he put him in the Garden of Eden 50 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,920 and told him he needed to guard to cultivate the garden. 51 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,520 Now, the part that I'm adding right now is the matter of 52 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,600 choosing or choice, because although I've always understood 53 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,840 that God put mankind in the garden, it was important to 54 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:06,600 understand that was a stewardship. 55 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,880 And I thought concerning, well, what did He have to do in the 56 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,080 garden? Well, He had to cultivate it 57 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,000 like with any other garden. And then of course, you also had 58 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,960 to guard that garden in order for it to bring forth its 59 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,240 fullness. But as I was reading recently, 60 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,440 the Lord began to speak to me that I needed to add the 61 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:28,400 stewardship of choice because God giving us a choice is a 62 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,640 very, very important thing for us to just understand in the 63 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:33,920 Scriptures. And again, often times when 64 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,720 people read the story of Genesis chapter 2, they think that God 65 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,480 gave them a choice to basically test them. 66 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,000 Are you going to be obedient or not? 67 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,320 And unfortunately they were disobedient. 68 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:50,080 So in our mind, mankind was at that point in time not only 69 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,760 taken out the garden, but many people believe that, well, we're 70 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,000 not only fallen in our responsibility, but fallen in 71 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,800 our nature. And so they said man became 72 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,280 depraved. The total, the depravity of man 73 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,480 is a very important doctrine in a lot of people's minds. 74 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,000 But as I read the Bible and I realized that God is our Father, 75 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,840 I believe it's very important for us to understand that for 76 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,160 him it wasn't just about a test of obedience. 77 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,720 And you can see that as you go through the Scriptures, just 78 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,079 like a quote here today, that God starts by teaching us 79 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:23,960 obedience. And I explained that last week 80 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,960 how that when we have children as parents, the first thing we 81 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,840 teach them is to be obedient because we need to protect them 82 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:33,920 from themselves to kind of keep them alive if you would, to keep 83 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,720 them healthy. But always with the idea that 84 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,440 our job is to bring them to a place of maturity. 85 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,040 Not that they would just always be obedient, but they're able to 86 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,600 make choices. As a father, it would be a sad 87 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,760 thing for me if every day my adult children had to call me on 88 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,280 the phone, tell me what they were doing that day, and ask me 89 00:04:54,280 --> 00:04:58,720 what choices they should make. That would be a whole lot of 90 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,120 work. God says no. 91 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,720 I raised you just like you raised your children in order 92 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,280 that they might grow in maturity and come to the place of making 93 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,280 a choice. And that's a strange thing 94 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:16,000 because I've often shared how being in the ministry all these 95 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,280 years, one of the things I've often heard people say is, well, 96 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,360 how can you say there's a God when there's wars and all these 97 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,800 bad things happening? And it's important for us to 98 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,520 realize why all these things happen according to God, the 99 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,560 Bible, because God gives people choice, because mankind has 100 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:33,080 choices. And that's why we have 101 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,360 conflicts, That's why we have wars. 102 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:37,840 That's why we have a whole lot of things that are happening, 103 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:40,800 because God has given us a gift of choice. 104 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,800 And that's very important for us to understand that. 105 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:47,880 And because of that, we need to become proficient, mature in our 106 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,240 understanding about the fact that God has given us a choice. 107 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,400 So basically, if a person says that, they're basically saying 108 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,680 that God, if he's God, he's going to control the whole world 109 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,000 to make sure nothing happens to us. 110 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,960 And that would be like saying he's going to be a father having 111 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,440 little children and never letting them go on to maturity. 112 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,600 And so we look through the Bible and we should see through 113 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,760 history that society has been developing, cultures have 114 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,360 developing, and God has been overseeing it so that we could 115 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:23,520 become a people knowing how to make a proper choice. 116 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,760 Why? Because it's God's gift, and God 117 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,880 doesn't just give us the gift of choice to see if, again, we're 118 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,800 going to fail or succeed. He gives us choices, and those 119 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,640 choices increase over time in order that He might train us. 120 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,680 When we first started the church, I would seek the Lord 121 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,280 for everything that I was doing. Lord, what do we call this 122 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:46,880 church? What building we supposed to 123 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:48,240 buy? What about this? 124 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,400 What about this? Now me, after 48 years, I should 125 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,320 understand a little bit of God's ways. 126 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,000 Amen. I should understand not just 127 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,360 that God speaks, but I should also in the process of this 128 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:04,120 learned the ways of God so that I could be come proficient in 129 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,560 those ways and then be able to train you in His ways. 130 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,720 And I believe with all my heart, this is the day that's going to 131 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:13,480 see the fulfillment of that which was spoken by Isaiah in 132 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,200 the land rays of time. The mountain of the Lords house 133 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,480 is going to be established on top of the mountains, exalted 134 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,680 above the hills that people are going to say, come and let us go 135 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,440 to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob. 136 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,160 That's personal. He will teach us of his ways. 137 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,800 We will walk in his path. For out of Mount Zion should go 138 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:32,560 the law and the Word, the Lord from Jerusalem. 139 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,600 We live in a world of conflict. We live in a world with all 140 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,400 kinds of opinions, all kinds of influences. 141 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:43,040 And God says to the church, now you have to be an influence, you 142 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:44,640 have to be the light of the world. 143 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,960 You must become the salt of the earth. 144 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,000 And that's only going to be true if you mature and become that 145 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,080 people of choice that I've called you to be. 146 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,560 Thus saith the Lord. Now this is a very important 147 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,560 scripture where there is no counsel, the people do what they 148 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:03,600 fall. But in the multitude of 149 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:08,040 counselors there is safety. We know from reading the story 150 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:11,640 of the beginning is they didn't seek the proper counsel, did 151 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:13,680 they? And we'll review that of course. 152 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,560 And because they didn't receive the proper counsel, they fell. 153 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,720 God wants us to understand how important counsel is, and He 154 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,920 wants us to be a people council. That's why we have a ministry 155 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,840 here of counseling. And that's why we have a class 156 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,120 where we'll be having graduates come in May. 157 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,320 And we've now extended that to our international ministries, a 158 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,440 counselor training class, because that class is a 159 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,440 wonderful class for people to learn how to sell counsel. 160 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,520 And it's a very good class in helping counsel other people 161 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:48,920 because we need counselors. We need the counsel of the word. 162 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,000 We shouldn't just go to the church on Sundays and get an 163 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,640 inspired thought and then just go live our life. 164 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,880 We should realize that when we come to the House of God, it's 165 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,440 so that we can be increased in our wisdom. 166 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,920 And then being increased in wisdom, we could go forth and 167 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:09,280 have the wisdom of God applied to our family life, the wisdom 168 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:13,880 of God applied to our finances, the wisdom of God applied to our 169 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,320 marriages and our vocations and our business. 170 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,240 How many know God's word has something to touch every aspect 171 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:20,320 of our life? Amen. 172 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,160 And so we want God's counsel in order that we're not going to 173 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,040 fall. And then it says in the 174 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,800 multitude of counselors, there is safety. 175 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,080 Now, that doesn't mean that we're supposed to be indecisive, 176 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,360 that we always have to be asking something, what should I do, 177 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:37,960 What should I do? But it is important to 178 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,280 understand there's different kinds of console that we need to 179 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:43,880 draw on. Now when we realize that God 180 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:46,680 created his body, soul and spirit, we should realize that 181 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:51,400 even within our self, God has given us a capacity of self 182 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,480 counsel, if you would. That comes from the fact that He 183 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,640 has given us a human spirit. The human spirit is the part of 184 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,160 you that has a conscience. What the Bible calls conscious 185 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,680 in this original translation means Co perception. 186 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:08,720 That means when you're going through life, God has given you 187 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,480 a voice to kind of warn you, don't do that, that's not right. 188 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,880 And how we know if we develop sensitivity, that's a good thing 189 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,080 for us. That's what the Bible calls the 190 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,040 New covenant, where He writes His law, our law, His laws on 191 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,400 our inward part so we won't sin against Him. 192 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:28,760 Then also He's given us the capacity to learn about His 193 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,640 Word. And when you come to church, 194 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,040 there is a place of learning. There's an intellectual aspect 195 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,320 of what you're being taught today, but you have to 196 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,600 understand that the Word of God is also food for your spirit. 197 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,200 So when He placed mankind in the garden, they had fruit trees for 198 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,880 their body and they had the tree of life for their spirit. 199 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,000 And so it's important for us to understand that God gives us the 200 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,240 capacity. And then what does He do? 201 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,200 He introduces the concept of counselors. 202 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:04,000 Now when the Lord God created man, He said it's not good that 203 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,400 man should be alone. I'll create him a helper. 204 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,760 Now in creating a helper, it wasn't just to help him with the 205 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,680 work wasn't just helped by taking part of his physical 206 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:18,480 responsibility. How we know God has greatest 207 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,560 male and female both in his image and likeness, but with 208 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:25,880 different thought processes. I found out that my wife and I 209 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,360 don't think the same. There's a lot of male, female 210 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,160 differences. There's a lot of cultural 211 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,000 differences. If you would background 212 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,680 differences, whatever they are, we don't think the same. 213 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:38,360 So God says I'm going to give you somebody to counsel with. 214 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,400 That's why it's important for us to not simply go into the 215 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,960 hierarchy of who's in charge, but to understand we need each 216 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,640 other. Can I hear an event on that? 217 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:53,480 And that has to do with counsel, because it's in counsel that 218 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,600 we're going to find true wisdom that God has for us. 219 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,760 Now, the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the 220 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:01,520 field which the Lord God had made. 221 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:03,400 And what did he say to the woman? 222 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,480 Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the 223 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:08,840 garden? The woman said that the serpent 224 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,560 we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the 225 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:14,520 fruit of the tree which is amidst the garden, God has said 226 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:19,000 you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, least you die. 227 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,320 So now she is standing next to the tree. 228 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,520 And I've always said, if you don't want to eat off the tree, 229 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,440 how many of you should be standing next to it? 230 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:31,440 And you shouldn't be talking to somebody that's going to give 231 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,520 you bad counsel. Now, I know it uses the term 232 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:40,400 serpent, which we often translate as a snake, but the 233 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,960 word in the original context means a whispering creature. 234 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,480 And again, when you see the counsel of the whole word in the 235 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,320 Book of Revelation, it says that the dragon of the Book of the 236 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,360 Revelation is the serpent that was in the garden. 237 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:57,840 So we understand it's not the physical identity we're talking 238 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:00,600 about here. It's the role this particular 239 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,440 creature was going to play, and he was a whispering creature 240 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:06,720 because God had said, don't eat of that tree. 241 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:11,080 And he's like, come here. I know what God told you, but 242 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,480 think about this. He just wants to keep you as a 243 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,760 slave. He just wants you to live in 244 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,520 your simplicity. He doesn't want you to that tree 245 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:22,600 because he knows that when you eat there, you're going to be 246 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,040 just like him. So the serpent was the one that 247 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:30,720 was, in this sense, offering an alternative to God's plan of 248 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,360 action. And Eve, unfortunately, was 249 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,200 listening to the serpent. Now, in talking to the serpent, 250 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,040 do you think he saw himself as a counselor? 251 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:43,040 She might have thought of that way. 252 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,160 Oh, here's a counselor. He's going to give me some 253 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,800 advice about this tree. He wasn't trying to counselor. 254 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:52,680 He was trying to lead her. And that's why I say this 255 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,040 message that God sent to the church. 256 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,880 It is a little bit more sophisticated, if you would, and 257 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,520 that it requires a little bit more thinking than the way we 258 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:02,880 think about God in the past. But how many know We live in a 259 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:04,760 time where you got to know what's happening. 260 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,240 Amen. And you also have to know how to 261 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:11,320 respond to the world because there's a lot of counselors out 262 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,080 there. They're called influencers this 263 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:18,440 day, or experts if you would, because sometimes we pay them, 264 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:19,960 sometimes we just listen to them. 265 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,120 But how we know everybody has something to say. 266 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,320 So we have to understand, well, if God has given us the gift of 267 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,480 choice, then we should be able to look at our lives and face 268 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,040 every situation, understanding there is a place we're having 269 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,800 counselors. But I also have to be mindful. 270 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,320 There's a whole lot of people out there who want to lead us. 271 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,200 They want to tell us what to do. We don't always realize that's 272 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,520 going on, but it's happening. And oftentimes, and this is a 273 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,040 very important thing that I want us to realize, is that we're 274 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,480 oftentimes receiving counsel or being influenced and we don't 275 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,640 even know it. Good way to explain that is in 276 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,000 fashion fashions always changing. 277 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:01,040 Yeah. Some people want to jump on the 278 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,520 forefront so they could be fashionable. 279 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,120 Other people like, I'm not going to change. 280 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:10,400 I like the way I dress and but slow, but surely everybody gets 281 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,200 on board and after a while you look back and say how did we 282 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:18,240 ever wear something like that? I've always been a person that 283 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,280 when I was a kid there was growing up as a teenager, I 284 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,560 guess is the best time. I would say that happened is you 285 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:27,360 had the greasers and the frats in our generation and the 286 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,560 greasers were more likely to be what I would consider it more 287 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:36,520 dressed up look, Motown look was pretty dressy versus a, a frat 288 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,000 who would be more casual. And I was a gracer and I 289 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,880 continue with that face throughout my life. 290 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:43,960 I was always the person that picked the choice. 291 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,560 It was a little bit more dressy versus more casual. 292 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,880 In the 70s, there was the hippie movement that had an influence. 293 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,240 And so most everybody was dressing in blue jeans and 294 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:58,040 dressed like the person who just like, I don't care how I look, 295 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,920 it's the way I looked at it. And I met my wife, Bonnie. 296 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,680 She'll tell people she felt sorry for me because I never 297 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,520 owned a pair of blue jeans and I didn't tell. 298 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:12,880 I was about 40. But anyway, I felt sorry for all 299 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:15,920 those poor people because why are they dressing like that when 300 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,280 they can dress up? So back in the 70s, there was 301 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,640 this what we'll call, I'll call the disco look. 302 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:26,800 Anybody remember the disco look or the movie Staying Alive? 303 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,880 Your laughing Remember the day. But anyway, there's a little 304 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,840 more dressy look if you would. And even now that everybody 305 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,880 pretty well dresses casual, I try to pick a little bit more 306 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:39,960 dressy. It's just more appealing to me. 307 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:44,560 But the truth is in our general persuasion, we usually do follow 308 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,040 to some degree or the other. I remember laughing about this 309 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,000 at one time because one day my mom come into church and she's 310 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,800 wearing this green color. This would have been in the 90s 311 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:55,200 and I'm like, mom, what are you doing? 312 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:57,280 That's the 70s green that I hated. 313 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,600 She's like, oh, I like it. Well, the next year I had it in 314 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,640 one of my ties. I'm like, hey, I like it now 315 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,920 too. And speaking about ties, I 316 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,040 remember when ties were really fat. 317 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,119 Then they get real skinny now they've disappeared all 318 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:14,760 together. So it's just the way it works. 319 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,520 It's funny because if you went to a Holiness Pentecostal 320 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:21,680 church, there was a time when ties first came in style. 321 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,160 And if you were a tie, you were considered very worldly because 322 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,960 you wanted to dress yourself up with a tie so that you can have 323 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,840 color and look good. And then over the years, after a 324 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,200 while, it got to where the Holiness churches were, like, 325 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,400 you come to church without a tie. 326 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:41,680 That's not very holy. And and so the church usually 327 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,480 somewhere or another accommodates these things and 328 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,680 doesn't even realize themselves how they're changing in a world 329 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,880 is changing. But the truth is we change, 330 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,760 don't we? During the COVID situation when 331 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:57,400 people were at home watching TV became very popular to remodel 332 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,760 your house and a lot of people were watching shows. 333 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:05,360 And I remember they would always go into a house and they go, you 334 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:07,600 need to open this up. You need an open floor plan. 335 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:09,760 Everybody's like, yes, I have to have an open floor plan. 336 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,080 Everybody know what I'm talking about out there. 337 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,160 I can't see you because of the lights about closed. 338 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,200 But now why did they want us to have an open floor plan? 339 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:20,680 Because nobody had it. How do you know if you're 340 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,560 selling house products, you want them to change what they're 341 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:24,480 doing? Amen. 342 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:26,280 That's where the influence comes in. 343 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:27,840 Somebody's telling us how to dress. 344 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,480 Somebody's telling us what we need to buy, and they're pushing 345 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:33,440 us along. And that's just a part of life. 346 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,960 It's not bad, it's not good, but we have to understand sometimes 347 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,640 these influences that seem very subtle and persuasive. 348 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:45,080 Over time we start changing our philosophy concerning our 349 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:48,280 morality, how we live our life than what we're doing every day 350 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:49,920 and church. How many know we need to be on 351 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:54,000 guard for that. And so the serpents, they're not 352 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,880 just a council, but he wanted to persuade her to go a different 353 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,280 way than she was supposed to go. The man then the man said, the 354 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:05,160 woman whom you gave to be with me. 355 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:08,680 She gave me the tree and I ate and the Lord said to the woman, 356 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,200 what is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent 357 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:16,400 deceived me and are 8. So after they had disobeyed God, 358 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,000 the Bible says that after the woman had eaten of the fruit, 359 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,200 she gave it to her husband and he also ate. 360 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,040 So then God comes down to find out what's going on and they're 361 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:28,720 hiding. He's like, why are why are you 362 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,280 guys hiding? Well, we're naked. 363 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,440 We're embarrassed. But who told you you were naked? 364 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,920 Did you eat from that tree? Now Adam's first response is, 365 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,760 you have the woman you gave to me, she gave me the tree and I 366 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:42,880 ate. So how do you know he wasn't 367 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:44,960 just blaming the woman, He's also blaming God? 368 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,160 Why did you give me a wife anyway? 369 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,320 Some people ask that from time to time, right? 370 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,600 And the Bible says that he just ate. 371 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,200 So the truth is he didn't even ask any questions. 372 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,080 I don't know if that's worse than he who was asking questions 373 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,640 or not, but they both ended up in the same position, right? 374 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:09,400 So what she did is she blamed the serpent. 375 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,080 And I like to always say he didn't have a leg to stand on 376 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:17,360 because, you know, anyway. I was deceived, she said. 377 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:19,680 And you know, the Bible says she was deceived. 378 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:21,840 There's confirmations about that. 379 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,200 She was right. It wasn't just the choice. 380 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,920 She became deceived in me and that's why she made the wrong 381 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:27,840 choice. But guess what? 382 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,480 It didn't matter. You could blame anybody you want 383 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,000 for your choices, but in the end, you have to make a choice. 384 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:36,600 I'm going to make the right choice. 385 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,080 It's a new day. Amen, Church. 386 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,600 And God wants us to know this is a day when he wants us to begin 387 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,320 to look at our world from a whole new perspective. 388 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,360 That's what I love about God is when you make mistakes, how do 389 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:50,360 you know if you committed any trespasses? 390 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,920 If you confess your sin, He's faithful and just and forgive us 391 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:55,960 of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteous. 392 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:57,360 So give them a lot of praise on that. 393 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:06,760 But if you ask him to do that, you should also say, and now I'm 394 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,920 going to start making the right choices. 395 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,600 You'll still make mistakes along the way. 396 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,160 That's pretty normal in the human experience. 397 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,560 But we should ever be making choices that are going to give 398 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,200 us the capacity to move on the things God has for us. 399 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,400 So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done 400 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,240 this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every 401 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:29,560 beast of the field on your belly. 402 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,400 You should go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 403 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,720 Now we'll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed 404 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,920 and her seed. He shall bruise your head and 405 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:43,960 you shall bruise his heel. Now basically what that's saying 406 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,520 is one day there's going to be a child born. 407 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:49,960 And we celebrated that at Christmas. 408 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,880 On to us a child was born. On to us a son was given. 409 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,320 But what do we commemorate on this Easter week? 410 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,200 And this is important to understand because today is Palm 411 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,160 Sunday. That's where I read the Palm 412 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,680 Sunday scriptures. It's the beginning of what is 413 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:09,040 often called the Holy Week. Because this week we'll have at 414 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:11,840 Mount Zion or normal Tuesday and Wednesday services, but we'll 415 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:16,280 also have a Good Friday service at 1:00 in Auditorium A so that 416 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,000 we can commemorate the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross. 417 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:23,360 And of course, next Sunday's the exciting day because that's 418 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:25,960 resurrection Day. How many glad for resurrection 419 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,960 day, Amen. But if you think about it and 420 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:34,400 this is the time frame all these things happened, isn't that 421 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,880 amazing how much happened in that one week on a Sunday, Jesus 422 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:44,680 comes into Jerusalem and by Friday he's being crucified. 423 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:48,200 But thank God, by the next Sunday He has risen from the 424 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:49,040 dead. Amen. 425 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,960 So this is very important to understand that God spoke 426 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,920 judgement again upon the serpent, and He spoke judgement 427 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:00,720 upon the woman. And the woman's promise was that 428 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,280 through her seed there would be a change because Jesus Christ 429 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,600 when he came. How do you know We commemorate 430 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,280 the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness 431 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,880 of our sins. And when he rose from the dead, 432 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,120 the Bible says he defeated the devil. 433 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,600 He defeated principalities and powers and made an open show of 434 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,600 them. Because now it's time for us to 435 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,480 walk in victory. Amen, church. 436 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,880 Hallelujah. Praise his holy name for that. 437 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,480 But it wasn't just the seed who would be Jesus Christ. 438 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,680 Bible says in the Book of Revelation 12, it's most amply 439 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,240 demonstrated that the seed of the woman is also the seed of 440 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,440 the Christ. He was the first born among many 441 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,560 brethren. And now we're the seed whom the 442 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:49,320 Bible says God wants to put Satan under our feet. 443 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,880 Anybody ready for that church? It's time for victory. 444 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,360 Amen. It's time to understand, but we 445 00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:59,720 also have to understand that we're in a time of hostility and 446 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:01,760 conflict. And we have to understand 447 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,600 there's a spiritual dimension to that because God said there 448 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,240 would be a hostility and enmity. There would be a conflict 449 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:14,400 between the woman and her seed and the devil's seed. 450 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:16,920 And this is one of the things I was thinking this week. 451 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,640 I saw in a more clear fashion because I always thought about 452 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,120 the seed defeating Satan. But it says Satan's seed. 453 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:26,960 Well, who is Satan's seed? Now this is an important 454 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,840 question that asked and it's answered by Jesus Christ. 455 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,400 Why do you not understand my speech? 456 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,960 Because you are not able to listen to my words easy enough. 457 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,720 You are of your Father, the devil, the desires of your 458 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,400 father you want to do. He was a murderer from the 459 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:49,000 beginning, does not stand in the truth because there is no truth 460 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,480 in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks 461 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,240 from his own resources. That literally means he speaks 462 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,680 from himself. It's who he is. 463 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,000 And that's what comes out of him, for he is a liar and the 464 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,760 father of it. I mean, you know, that should 465 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:05,640 make us not want to be a liar. Amen. 466 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:07,480 We should want to tell the truth. 467 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,040 Why? Well, this scripture is very 468 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,400 obviously telling us, and this is what Jesus was telling the 469 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,320 people. And, and you know, a lot of 470 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,520 people think of Jesus only as the nice guy. 471 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,200 Well, that wasn't so nice telling everybody their father 472 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,680 was the devil. Come on. 473 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,560 I'm imagining there were more than just a few that were a 474 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,440 little bit offended with what he had to say that day. 475 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,080 But it's important to understand that because when we think about 476 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,640 the hostility and enmity we have, there's a spiritual 477 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,720 component to it for sure. But most of it involves people 478 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,680 that we are in conflict on a regular basis and we have to 479 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,240 understand that. God says, I want you to know he 480 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,440 wants us to have victory over conflict. 481 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,280 It should start with our conflicts that we have among us, 482 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,360 his people and in our marriages. And then it should be a a solid 483 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:04,640 force going forth in order to face the challenges of the world 484 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:06,200 in which we live. Amen, Church. 485 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,280 And so it's important for us to recognize whenever we're being 486 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:16,160 self-centered, we're following after the father of the 487 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:19,720 unrighteous seed. And that's what he always was 488 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,320 selling from the very beginning. That's why I've often said the 489 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,080 devil's goal is not to get you on his side. 490 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,720 His goal is to get you on your side because then he can 491 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,560 introduce conflict in your life, and then he can add conflict to 492 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,040 your relationships. And before you knew it, you're 493 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:40,440 all separated like he was when she was standing next to the 494 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,960 tree, just listening to all these random voices and not 495 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,480 listening to the truth. I'm glad we can know the truth 496 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,720 through Jesus Christ, Amen. And you will know the truth, and 497 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,360 the truth will make you free. And so these concepts are very 498 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,920 important for us to understand. And this is an example of it 499 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:02,240 here with Peter. Then Peter took Jesus aside and 500 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:06,360 began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this would 501 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:09,520 happen to you. And he turned and said, Peter, 502 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,800 get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me. 503 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,000 Why? You are mindful of the thing. 504 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,720 You are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things 505 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,760 of men. You see, Jesus told his 506 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,280 disciples before he was going to go through all the things that 507 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:29,480 will be commemorating this week. And Peter's like, hey, wait a 508 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,880 second, I'm on your side. That's not going to happen. 509 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,320 Wow, what was he speaking? He was speaking from the human 510 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,920 nature, of course, and he was looking at Jesus's life only 511 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,040 from a human perspective. And that's why he would say that 512 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,600 can't happen to you, I'm going to stop it from happening. 513 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:53,640 And that's why Jesus said give me harm you Satan was Peter 514 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,360 demon possessed? No, but Peter was following the 515 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:02,360 resources of a human experience and only operating from that 516 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:04,160 human perspective. How many you know, we got to 517 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,840 rise above that as ministers one to another. 518 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,520 Amen. A lot of people go through 519 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:13,320 circumstances that I don't understand, and sometimes people 520 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,640 face challenges and I pray, Lord, help them get out of that 521 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:21,000 circumstance and situation. But as we go through these 522 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,840 things together, we always have to realize that there's more 523 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,600 that's happening than meets the eye. 524 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:27,800 We're not just in the natural world world. 525 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:29,640 We're in a spiritual realm as well. 526 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,400 Amen, church. And so we always have to face 527 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,560 every situation saying, well, this isn't just about what I'm 528 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,360 seeing in the NASRO. This is what's going on in the 529 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,400 spiritual dimension as well. And I've got to make a choice. 530 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,000 Am IA son of the most high God or am I going to follow the 531 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,440 voice of the enemy that wants me only to operate from a humor 532 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,560 perspective? Because when you do that well, 533 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,040 you have a right to be mad. You have a right to hold on to 534 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,520 your anger. You have a right to separate 535 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,560 yourself. There's all kinds of things that 536 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:02,440 get into your spirit, and all it does is it brings death. 537 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:07,800 And God says, let me make you alive and don't just let me make 538 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,280 you alive. Let me show you that you can 539 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:13,720 have the abundant life because Jesus didn't come just to make 540 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,560 us alive. He has come to give us the 541 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,440 abundant life. Amen, Church. 542 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,800 Let's walk in the abundant life that he has for all of us. 543 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,280 Now, having said all of that is an instruction. 544 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,360 I want to go now to the story of the entrance of Jesus Christ 545 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,440 into Jerusalem, saying to them, go into the village opposite 546 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:36,000 you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt 547 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,920 with her. Loose them and bring them to me. 548 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,880 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord 549 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,440 doesn't need of them. And immediately he will send 550 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,160 them. All this was done that it might 551 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,440 be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, tell the 552 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,840 daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming lowly sitting on 553 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,760 a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. 554 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,440 Now when God speaks about something coming to pass church, 555 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:07,280 it's going to come to pass. And in this case, Jesus was 556 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,960 supposed to go into the holy city and he was supposed to go 557 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:15,800 riding on not just a donkey, but the cult of a donkey. 558 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,400 How many know that was a humble thing for him to do. 559 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,000 Now it's important for us to realize because as He's entering 560 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,960 into the city, if Jesus had a marketing department, they would 561 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,240 have advised him very good on this one. 562 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,560 Because you know what was happening to Jerusalem? 563 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,000 It was a festival time. It was the festival of the 564 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,400 Passover. All the Jews had to go to 565 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,240 Jerusalem 3 * a year, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. 566 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,400 And when they did, it was a time for a festival, a celebration. 567 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,000 And it was a very important time when everyone would bring a 568 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,880 sacrifice, everybody bring in tithes and offerings. 569 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,600 It was a great celebration. People haven't changed all that 570 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,560 much. You can be assured there was a 571 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,200 spiritual side, but how we know there would have been a natural 572 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,280 side too. And in that natural side, it's 573 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,120 party time, Let's have a good time. 574 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,080 This is about family. This is about what we're seeing. 575 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,520 And when you went to the Holy City, there have been people 576 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,400 coming from all walks of life and they would have been, some 577 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,360 of them very famous people. And so you would have been 578 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,400 saying, hey, see who that is? You've heard about them, that 579 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,480 that's so and so. And they would have been very 580 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,760 mindful of the celebrities, wouldn't have they? 581 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,480 And they would have heard about this Jesus Christ who was a 582 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,240 teacher and a healer, and they would have heard perhaps about 583 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,840 his miracles. And so when he's coming, what a 584 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:41,120 great time of celebration, when he's coming into the city, you 585 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,920 can be sure that people's like, hey, it's party time. 586 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,880 Here comes another one of those famous people. 587 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,360 Now, it's important to know that because God wanted to set up 588 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:56,600 this situation for his son, his son to have a dramatic entrance 589 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:02,520 into the city by having him ride on a donkey's colt. 590 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:07,240 Jesus could have been saying, well, I'm not just going to go 591 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,520 like a normal Messiah would because he was the Messiah. 592 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,520 Because you would expect the Messiah to come in on a big 593 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:17,960 white stallion, perhaps having all kinds of designations and 594 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:22,320 decorations upon it, maybe even with an army behind him, 595 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:24,640 whatever. That isn't the way Jesus come 596 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:26,400 in. That's why I said about market 597 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,360 part. Hey, when you go in, show them 598 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,480 your message. Well, as this story unfolds 599 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:38,480 throughout it this week and in the Bible, you realize that he 600 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,200 was selling his message. But in the end you find out, 601 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,280 guess what? A lot of people didn't want that 602 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,280 message. But here they brought the donkey 603 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,800 in the colt. They laid their clothes on them 604 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:53,000 and set him on them, and a great multitude spread their clothes 605 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,760 on the road. Others cut down branches from 606 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:57,480 the trees and spread them on the road. 607 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,440 Then the multitudes went before those who followed and cried 608 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,200 out, saying, Hosanna to the son of David. 609 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,920 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the 610 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:08,520 highs. It was a great celebration. 611 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,120 Amen. Why do we call Palm Sunday? 612 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,600 Because that verse says some of them were throwing down palm 613 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,400 branches. Somebody said, well, why don't 614 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,480 you have palm branches on Palm Sunday? 615 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,560 Well, we also have coats. They threw coats on the road, 616 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:23,560 too. Anybody have a coat? 617 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,400 I'll qualify this. It's cold Sunday, not just Palm 618 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:30,320 Sunday. The point is, it's the time of 619 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,640 celebration and people were being spontaneous and whether it 620 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,080 was throwing palm branches or whether it was throwing their 621 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,120 coats, whatever was going on, they were going crazy that day 622 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,880 because wow, it's a party celebration and here comes in a 623 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:48,080 famous person and so they're celebrating and getting all 624 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,680 caught up in it. It wasn't a holy thing. 625 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,360 It wasn't something that they did religiously. 626 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,240 It was just a spontaneous celebration and what was 627 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,880 happening here is a crowd response. 628 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:07,120 When you're in a crowd, it's easy to get a crowd excited, and 629 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:08,960 we like to be in crowds that are excited. 630 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,840 That's why people like sports events, concerts. 631 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:16,639 You like to get together with a bunch of people who are on our 632 00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:20,440 side for your team. You're cheering, you're excited 633 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,679 because why? Even if they're not winning, you 634 00:34:23,679 --> 00:34:25,080 like to cheer. It's exciting. 635 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,639 Of course you wanted to win because everybody wants to get 636 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:30,080 excited together. And that's what's happening here 637 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:36,280 on this particular week as Jesus is coming into the holy city. 638 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:42,080 But, you know, it didn't stay in that exciting atmosphere. 639 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:46,440 He came to chapter 27, which would have been Thursday going 640 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,120 on to Friday. And what happened here is the 641 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:54,920 religious leaders who were in the crowd started persuading 642 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:56,400 them. And because it was just the 643 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,320 crowd, people could be persuaded. 644 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:04,040 Church what happened is Jesus Christ had been arrested. 645 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,720 They had the religious people brought him before the political 646 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:13,320 leader, which was the Roman governor and the chief priests 647 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,160 and elders persuaded that multitude that day that they 648 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:21,560 should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus because what had 649 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,440 happened is the Roman governor had Jesus standing there and 650 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:27,600 it's like, hey, this guy hasn't done anything wrong. 651 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:32,280 I'll let you pick you can pick Jesus or you can pick this guy 652 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,200 named Barabbas. He's just a a thief and a robber 653 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:38,480 and everybody knows that you can pick which one you want to live. 654 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,240 But unfortunately, because it was just a crowd, the chief 655 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:45,160 priests were able to sway the crowd. 656 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:47,720 So the governor answered and said to them, which of the two 657 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:49,400 do you want me to release to you? 658 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:54,480 And they said, Barabbas Hilah said to them, what then shall I 659 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,920 do with Jesus, who is called the Christ? 660 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:04,440 And they all said to him, let him be crucified. 661 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:10,080 And the governor said, why? What evil has he done? 662 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:15,600 But they crowded all the more let him be crucified. 663 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:18,880 Wow. When things you always have to 664 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:22,880 remember is there's persuaders in the crowd, when everybody is 665 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,000 doing something, you know, we often times think we have 666 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,160 freedom of choice and often times we're just doing whatever 667 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,960 buddy else is doing. If you think you've made a 668 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:34,120 choice and you look around your world and say, hey, this is the 669 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,880 same choice everybody's making have, you know, it's a crowd 670 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,920 response and it's not always bad. 671 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,160 Like I said, whether it's fashion or what we think is in 672 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,440 style or what kind of fun we want to get involved in, as long 673 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,400 as it's within the limits of divine prerogative, if you 674 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,800 would. But the important thing we 675 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,040 always have to understand is there's persuaders, there's 676 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:59,240 marketers, there's people wanting you to take their 677 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:01,760 position. And that's in the political 678 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:06,960 realm, that's in the religious realm, that's in every different 679 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,840 realm that you're a part of. And they want to sway you. 680 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,280 But church, if we're going to live with wisdom in this day, we 681 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:19,640 live, we have to understand it's time for us to have a vote in 682 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:21,080 the right way. Amen. 683 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,320 A lot of times, and I've heard this, I've seen it on websites 684 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,080 where people are talking YouTube and and they'll say, well, you 685 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,600 know, if your preacher is not preaching this and they'll talk 686 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:35,240 about some political discussion, you should just change churches 687 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:37,040 because they need to be doing this. 688 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,920 Of course I'd like to send them a letter, which I don't, which 689 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:44,720 is you need to have people in your church change churches 690 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:51,920 buddy, because I'm not here to talk politics. 691 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,120 I'm here to talk Jesus. Give me my praise on that chart. 692 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:02,400 Now it certainly should affect your politics or whatever you do 693 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:05,280 should affect your way you spend money. 694 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:12,000 But see, my job is to minister to your spiritual man so that in 695 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:17,280 your thinking, your thinking the right thing, not the wrong 696 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:19,720 thing. And when you come here to the 697 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:22,000 church, you need to learn the words, you need to learn about 698 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,040 sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Why? 699 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,160 Because my job isn't tell you to tell you what to do. 700 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,880 My job is to help you become a person who can make spiritual 701 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,840 choices. And just like a father who would 702 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,040 never let their kids grow up to make choices, so the church 703 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,360 should think the same way. Our job is to give people the 704 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:47,120 right to make their choices with the hope that they're going to 705 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:52,240 make the right choices. That's why this scripture says, 706 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:55,720 however we speak wisdom among those who are what? 707 00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:59,680 I'm going to say that again, however we speak wisdom among 708 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,680 those who are what church? Let Mount Zion be known as the 709 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:05,160 House of maturity. Amen. 710 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,960 Not the wisdom of the age, nor of the rulers of this age who 711 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:15,080 are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a 712 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:20,240 mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for 713 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:23,680 our glory, which none of the rulers of this age no knew. 714 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:28,800 For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of 715 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,440 glory. Now one of the sad things about 716 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:40,320 the Easter week is only Jesus is the one that started and ended 717 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:42,520 in what he was supposed to be doing. 718 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,520 Makes sense. Political crowd had their group, 719 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:49,680 the religious crowd had their group. 720 00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:54,440 But even Jesus's own disciples like Peter, they weren't with 721 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,080 him all the way through. How many? 722 00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:01,840 Glad he set the example for us. And he doesn't point the finger 723 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:04,520 back and say, hey, you losers, where were you? 724 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,760 But he's on the other side saying, hey, look where I am, 725 00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:09,720 come and follow me. Hallelujah. 726 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,440 I have a plan for your life. I have wisdom for you. 727 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:19,720 You don't know about how was it that God was with the jubilant 728 00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:25,000 scene coming in and Jesus was also in the scene where they're 729 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:31,160 saying crucify him because he's God and in the end, his purposes 730 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:34,080 are always established. And just like the Scriptures, we 731 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:38,760 don't even always understand it. How could crucifixion be a part 732 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:42,040 of his plan? How could suffering fit in? 733 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,800 Perhaps you're going through a situation, you say, how could 734 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:50,160 God be in this? Well, there's some hidden 735 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:53,280 wisdom. And he says if you'll let him, 736 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:55,760 he'll open your eyes so you can see. 737 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,520 This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion Church. 738 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:02,520 We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect 739 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:06,120 with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and 740 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,720 following us on social media. God bless you.