In John chapter 12, starting in verse 12, it is Palm Sunday.
Now you understand, traditionally a lot of people
are going to preach on Palm Sunday.
My wife asked me in the vehicle, we were coming back from the
governor's mansion. She was like, you know, it's
Palm Sunday Sunday. I said, ah, yeah, it is because,
you know, why do we not preach this?
You know why? I said, well, you know, it's
tradition. I said, you know, it's just
tradition. I understand that there is a
context of God coming into Jerusalem, but, you know, a lot
of times churches have just made certain things traditional.
Why do we talk about the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus on
Easter Sunday? I could preach at any Sunday,
you know, but because of tradition, right?
We talk about the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
We talk about the resurrection of Jesus at Easter, and then,
you know, whatever we're talking about from then on out.
So it's like, so the world is telling me what I'm supposed to
preach. Well, that's not true.
That's why sometimes on Resurrection Sunday, I won't
even preach about the death, burial and resurrection because
for those people who have only come on Easter, it's the only
message they hear. So we give them something else.
Now that won't be the case this next Sunday.
I am preaching on it. OK, so sometimes we do, but
sometimes we don't. Don't.
I've never preached about Palm Sunday.
I'm going to talk a little bit about Palm Sunday today.
OK, John chapter 12 verse 12 through 16 says it this way.
It says on the next day a large crowd had come to the feast and
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
They took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet
him and begin to shout, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, even the king of Israel, even the king of
Israel. Verse 14 says Jesus finded a
young donkey sat on it. And as it is written, as it is
written, as it is written, as it is written, Why?
Because Jesus fulfilled the word.
God always fulfills his word. Always.
Verse 15, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is
coming. Who's coming, who's coming,
who's coming? Your king is coming seated on a
donkey's colt. These things the disciples did
not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified now
that's after his death, burial, and resurrection.
Then they remembered that these things were written of him and
they had done these things to him.
Now this particular it is written came from Zechariah
Chapter 9, verse 9. Luke's gospel has this account
saying it this way. In Luke chapter 19, verses 35 to
40, it says They brought to him, brought it to him to Jesus, and
they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it.
As he was going, they were spreading their coats on the
road, and as soon as they were approaching near the descent of
the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to
praise God joyfully with a loud voice, with all the miracles
which they had seen shouting. 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 him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.
But Jesus answered, I tell you, if these become silent, the
stones will cry out. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
What will the stones cry out? That he is the King, that he is
the king, That he is the king, that he is the king, that he is
the king. You know, the king has come and
the king is coming. I said the king has come, but
the king is coming, glory to God.
And here's the thing, the nation of Israel wanted the king.
They have been waiting for this prophesied king that would come
and establish his Kingdom, that Israel would have a king that
would rule the world, and they were looking for this king.
They wanted this king. In their mind they had an idea
of what this king would look like, but there was a group that
did not want this king, this group that was blinding the eyes
of the nation of Israel. For they were not rightly
interpreting Scripture, but they were turning scripture into
tradition so that they can maintain power with a different
king. So we see in this passage that
if we take this into account, Jesus now has told his disciples
going to town, there is a donkey that no one has ever ridden.
And why is it there? Because I'm going to ride it.
It was prophesied. I would do this from long ago.
He says, now you go get that donkey.
And if anyone stops you and says, what are you doing now?
This is like somebody come in and try getting into your
vehicle. You need to understand this
context, right? It's not taking your dog for a
walk, some mode of transportation, a beast of
burden, something that people would use to be able to
transport stuff. It's like a pickup truck, you
know, in the community. And so they go down, start
untying, and people just do that.
They go, what are you doing? In essence, this isn't yours.
But they said if they try to stop it, you tell them this.
The Lord has need of it. Now.
Lord is not a religious word because a lot of times when we
hear Lord, we think in terms of religion, but that is not a term
that anyone in that nation would have thought of.
They would have saved. The one who has authority has
just asked for this animal. And so who are they to deny the
one who has supreme authority from being able to have this
because all that is here is theirs.
Hallelujah. And so they said, the Lord has
need of this, and we'll go ahead and take it to the Lord, the one
who has supreme authority. And they take this to Jesus.
Now, when Jesus comes into town, not all the gospels proclaim it
this way. They say hosanna in the highest,
they say. But these two gospels literally
have the herald announcement that the king has arrived in
Jerusalem. Whoa, glory to God, Amen.
The king has arrived in Jerusalem and remember, Jesus
rebuked Jerusalem and says you have missed your day of
visitation. He said, oh, how I long to be
able to pull you in like a a hen brings in her chicks and gets up
underneath her and protect her. But man, you have missed your
day of visitation. And so he comes in and there's
this declaration that he is, he is the king, and the city is in
the uproar and people are shouting you're the king, you're
the king, you're the king, you're the king, you're the
king. But listen, just 'cause you
calling king doesn't mean he, you serve him as king, Amen?
Just because the crowd declared he was king as it came in, and
it wasn't just his immediate disciples.
There were others. They get in 'cause if you see
Scripture, a lot of times the crowd would just go along even
though they don't know what's going on.
And now coats are being thrown down and branches are being cut
off and thrown into the street. In essence, it's like a red
carpet affair because royalty is coming into town, Amen.
And so through that action, they are saying this is the King,
this is the one, Oh, this is what we should do because the
King is coming. Yet they missed their day of
visitation. I'm concerned that the church
itself may miss its day of visitation.
For we have accepted Savior Jesus so much that we have
forgotten He actually sits on a throne, Amen?
And we have made a confession of faith or acknowledging Jesus
saves us, but yet are we allow? Are we serving him with our very
lives? Have we got caught up in coming
to service and saying blessed is the King and sing praises, yet
walk out as if he's not king of our lives, Amen.
Amen. It's very important for us to
recognize because you know, there's a thing going on today
that I find really interesting, extremely interesting.
In fact, I'm almost like, wow, how strategic is this?
Now you understand the events that are going on.
You know, a lot of times they don't understand the
implication. You and I, because we are born
of God, we have the light of God.
I could show you things in the natural that are always pointing
towards the king types and shadows.
You know, movies that you watch, it's all about a savior.
A lot of times, you know, it's about something, you know that
they can put their object towards something to save them.
I mean, there's so many types and shadows of of Jesus Christ.
And you know, a lot of times the world gets moving in this
direction, not even recognizing that really this is just a type
and shadow of the Kingdom of God.
This is really what you're looking for.
This is really what you want. Yet there is another voice in
the earth that is trying to hinder or keep people dark in
darkness from the things that are happening.
How many believe that Jesus is going to return?
I cannot tell you he'll return in my lifetime, but I'm
believing He will. And you know, with the events
going on, maybe I maybe it's definitely more is closer today
than it's ever been before. But at the end of the day, when
Jesus comes, will he come back as a suffering servant?
Will he come back as just a lamb?
He'll come back as what, the king of glory?
Hallelujah. Well, you know, in our nation
right now, there are rallies called no kings.
And yet they are modeling something that I'm going to show
you happens in Scripture. This is not a new event.
This event has been happening since Jesus walked on the
planet. Because Jesus came in and
declared he was king. It was announced he was the
king. Yet the religious always resist
the Kingdom. Religious people always resist
the Kingdom. Why do religious people resist
the Kingdom? Because the Kingdom is the only
thing that requires or forces the person to acknowledge.
I must submit to the authority in religion.
We can or the religious can say I will tell God how I will
worship them and he must accept my worship on my terms.
That's just the religious. That's why there's so many
religions is because we're going to determine who God is, how God
is. You can even say God is Jesus,
yet tell Jesus how you'll worship him.
Yet the Kingdom says Jesus is king and Jesus is the one that
tells us how to worship him. And that's life, that's love,
that's freedom, that's liberty, that's blessings, that's health
and healing. Because he is the supreme and
authority and I want to lay down my will to follow his will.
That's the Kingdom. But the religious will say,
quiet that down. That's good.
The religious will say, well, now, you know, maybe you're just
getting a little too, you know, fanatical, you know, I mean, I,
I want to do some things here still, you know, there's some
things I enjoy here. God understands.
Well, does he? Well, what's after this event?
A series of things occur and then we find ourselves in John
chapter 18, verse 3733 to 37. This is a familiar passive
scripture if you've been with Anchor Faith Church for quite
some time. And it says Jesus now, who's
being betrayed, had been betrayed by one of his own
disciples, Judas, for 30 pieces of silver, because he was a
selfish ambition, a disciple that stayed in selfish ambition
and wanted finance. He wanted accolades.
He wanted to be close to the one that would rule so that he could
seem like he's a ruler. I mean, if Jesus would have
taken the throne in in Jerusalem, Judas would have done
everything. He could be at his right hand so
that later he could cut his throat and take the seat,
because that is the position of the devil.
I want the throne of God. He's not satisfied that he's by
the throne. That's good.
He wants the throne. And so Judas realized this guy's
not going to take the throne. So let me go to the other power.
I'm trying to be with the most powerful people.
And so he goes to the religious, because the religious resists
the Kingdom. And they said, what will you pay
me to betray Hallelujah? So now we're at this point where
he's been taken before. The governor of Rome says,
therefore Pilate entered into the the pretorium and summoned
Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews?
Jesus answered, now why am I in this vein?
I'm telling you why I'm in this vein because every resurrection
Sunday we focus solely, a lot of times there becomes a focus
solely on the Lamb that was slain that we miss.
There's an announcement of a king the whole time.
Listen, Jesus is not king. Was is not limited to his king
status in the millennial reign. He's king now.
Amen. He is king even before he laid
his life down. Yes, Amen.
Hallelujah. He's King.
Our king saved us, yes. Our King is our Savior, yes.
But if he is your savior, you must recognize His kingship, not
just his saving power. Amen cuz in order for his saving
power to flow in your life, you must obey, yield and submit to
his lordship cuz all kings are Lords of their domain.
Hallelujah. Does he own you?
Have you been bought with a price?
Is he your Lord and Savior? Does his words matter?
So Pilate says, Are you the King of the Jews?
Jesus answered. Are you saying this on your own
initiative or did others tell you about me?
He doesn't deny it. He's wanting to know how did you
arrive to this revelation? But it will get even more
technical. Pilate answered and says I'm not
a Jew. Am I your own nation?
And the chief priest delivered you to me.
What have you done? Jesus then answers and says My
Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world
then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be
handed over to the Jews. But as it is my Kingdom is not
of this realm. Now notice what Jesus is not
saying is My Kingdom is in heaven and heaven alone.
That's not what he's saying. What he's saying is my Kingdom
does not function or is not a part of the world, world's
kingdoms. The kingdoms you see, mine's
nothing like it because if mine was like the ones you see, my
servants would not let me be handed over to the Jews.
And so he's saying, listen, when you enter into my Kingdom, what
you think you know about kingdoms, you got to get rid of
that and how you function in these kingdoms to get ahead.
Define happiness, define peace, define prosperity.
That doesn't exist that way in mind.
Mine's a totally different way of functioning.
It functions totally different. In fact, the world does not know
how mine operates. It was here once, it's coming
back, but you cannot model it off of the existing kingdoms.
You see that this is really important because we in our time
of separation from God, we live by sight.
We made decisions on how we felt about things, what we how we had
learned about things through our intellect.
We made choices and we did things out of selfishness, out
of us getting what we wanted. And we are in the same system
everyone else was. But the Lord's like my system,
my kingdom's totally different. It looks different, it functions
different, it operates there. It's not even of this realm.
So you cannot find me in these kingdoms because I don't operate
that way. He then goes on and says,
therefore Pilate says to him, so you are king because if Jesus is
claiming my Kingdom, then he must be the king of the domain
that he's over because Kingdom simply is King's dominion or the
King's domain. That which he overseas he is a
sovereign of, he is ruler of and Jesus says my Kingdom.
Oh, so you are king. And Jesus answers, you say
correctly that I am a king. Notice Pilate, it is not talking
to Jesus about Christianity. He's not talking to Jesus about
a new religion coming. He is talking to him on
government terms. For Pilate himself is in
government. He is a governor of the king.
His name is Caesar, and he sits on his throne in Rome.
So he says, so you are king, He said.
You say correctly that I'm a king.
For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the
world to testify the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
hears my voice. So we have to understand the
Kingdom he rules does not like the kingdoms of this world.
And he says that I've come to testify the truth.
Notice he comes into town a few chapters earlier and the city's
in the uproar saying behold, our king is here.
But through a few series of events, he's back in the same
town and there's no shouts when he came in.
And now he's being questioned about his kingship.
And he's saying, look, my kingdom's not like this world.
And when I speak, truth is heard.
But here's the thing. When true, when his truth
collides with your truth, then will you be like the rest who no
longer acknowledge him as king? That's good.
Amen. See The thing is, is when your
expectation of him changes, then your reference to him as king
will change as well, Amen. Because we will see a city
that's in an uproar calling him king, only to find in John
chapter 19 after this event that they have a different take on
Jesus's kingship. So the reality is this, a
rejection of Jesus as King is a rejection of truth, Amen.
That's a good word, Amen. John chapter 19 verses 12 to 15
says it this way. As a result of this pilot made
efforts to release him. Now this is after he scourges
him, he puts his has his Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns
on his head, robe him in a purple robe, slap him in the
face, take a a scepter and beat him on the head with that crown
of thorns and say, you know, hell, the king of the Jews, they
are mocking him as a king for the Roman soldier, they have a
king. His name's Caesar and to him
he's like, how do you, how can you even have this claim as
kingship? We have one.
But Jesus, like, I'm not like your king.
And he was not like Caesar. Glory to God, He was not like
Caesar. But they have beat on him now
they have scourge and have ripped the flesh off of his
back, sides, face, legs. You understand when they're
hitting him with those cat and nine tails, They are not staying
specific and layer upon layer of flesh is being picked off of
Jesus. Then when he brings them back in
front of a jealous religious crowd, that pilot is aware that
they are only wanting him crucified because of jealousy,
envy and spite. And yet they he sees the resolve
of this man, how he is his presence, his countenance,
although Pilot is doing his very best to seem as an equal in
government position. Meaning I'm governor of the
greatest king ever and you're acknowledging my king has
conquered this territory. Rome is the occupying empire.
And you're saying you're a king of the nation that my king has
conquered is the occupying Kingdom.
He's trying to look this way. His wife has come in and says
have nothing to do with this guy had a dream.
This guy has the touch of God on him.
Get away from this man. So Pilot has to determine, do I
listen to my wife? Then he addresses Jesus himself.
And as he begins to talk, he says Jesus, prior to this verse,
he said, don't you know I have the power to kill you?
He says you have no power. Amen.
Unless it's given you whoo.
I mean, the that statement sent Pilate to his knees, not
physically, but to the point that he's like, I got to get rid
of this guy because Jesus was resolved.
That's right, Because he knows who he is.
I said he knows who he is. He knows who he is, He's
resolved in who he is. And he said, man, he wants to
release this person, so he makes every effort.
But look what it says here again, as a result of this,
Pilot made every effort to release him.
But the Jews cried out saying if you release this man, you are no
friend of Caesar. And everyone who makes himself
out to be what a king opposes Caesar.
Therefore, when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus
out, sat down on the judgment seat called the pavement in
Hebrew. Is that word there?
Let's go on now. It was the day of preparation
for the Passover. It was about the 6th hour.
And he said to the Jews, Behold your King.
And so they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.
Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king?
And look what the religious say, The chief priests answered.
We have no king but Caesar. I find it interesting in our
society today, there's this movement of no kings, Amen.
And yet we may be closer to the return of the King that it
becomes in the psyche of our society that we resist this idea
of kingship. Yet their only hope is the King
of kings and the Lord of Lords. Their only salvation comes from
the King, the king of glory, and yet the enemy has done such a
good job of placing it within our society.
We will never bow to a king. We have resisted kings.
We are independent of kings and men.
Kings and man's Kingdom is not the Kingdom that we're a part
of. Yet I am concerned that even
believers have come to this point where they have
acknowledged Jesus Christ as Savior.
But when it comes to King, they say we have no king but our
world, our way of doing Jesus, our family, our vacation, our
retirement. I'll come to church when I want
to. I'll serve how I want to.
I'll I'll praise like I want to. You can't make me come.
I'm not making you come anyway. My king said don't forsake the
assembly of yourself. The King says that we are
jointed and fitted together. The King said this.
I mean the church should have never looked so weak, but it
will when those that look and see their king say we have no
king but Caesar. Notice the same people at one
time praised with reverence the King, the king, but then later
shouted with rebellion, crucify, crucify.
It reminds me of that scripture that it says they acknowledge me
with their lips, but their heart.
That's right. How do you know if a man's
hearts with the Lord? Is he serving him, Amen.
Is he submitted to him? Amen.
His every waking moment of his life is to wake up and say,
Lord, how do I please you today? How do I #1 build your church?
How do I stay connected to the brothers and sisters you've
assigned me to? How do we change our community?
Who do I speak to people today on your behalf?
Where do I need to lay down my will and take up Your will?
That's a person whose heart's fully his.
Yet there are many that say, well, I asked him to be my
savior. Well then, where's your fruit?
For John the Baptist himself, say, well, have fruit in keeping
with repentance. That's right.
And this new generation coming up, they are wanting tradition.
Honestly, they want something that doesn't even look like I
was talking to our Creator. I said, man, I'm under the
impression that when we build out this sanctuary in JC Penney,
we need to look like a church. I know a church is not a
building, but there's something in the psyche of humans that we
need to not look like just a warehouse.
Amen. We're going to have to go back
to something that says hey, we don't look like the rest of the
buildings. We are a church.
Because honestly, we are already living totally different lives
than those that are professing anyway.
Because your everyday life says Jesus is my king, not this
world. How in the world can it be that
we could work 40-50 hours a week and yet tell your king I don't
have time to come to service or get on social media and let
everyone know. You know what?
If you're just tired of going, don't go.
Well, why don't you not go to work because you know you're
more tired of not working than you are going to church?
Because I don't have. I have very few people punching
40 and 50 hour clocks in this building.
I have some, but most of you are not clocking those kind of
hours. And how could you get tired of
two hours? I mean, who wouldn't want to go
to work for two hours? So you must decide which Kingdom
you serve, his or Caesar's? His or Caesar's.
Just because you've praised him once does not mean you're living
that out. And here's Jesus's covenant
nation, the nation whom God loves.
He's in the city that will become the capital of all
creation, the universe, because the new Jerusalem will come down
out of heaven to the earth of which God will be here.
It will be the capital of the universe.
And the king rolls in and says you missed your day of
visitation because you have no king but Caesar.
That's good. Amen.
Next week we're going to preach on Jesus and we're already
seeing a trickle of more come today in anticipation for next
week. I'm going to be from a pastoral
perspective, tomorrow is not my most excited service.
My most excited service is the service after resurrection
because honestly, next Sunday can be the most hypocritical
service in the United States. Amen.
There are pastors right now. 3-4 services in anticipation for a
crowd of people who know Jesus came, He died, he rose from the
grave, and he's the only way to the Father.
And at some point they shouted, Jesus saved me.
But after that service, they'll serve the other king, the king
of this world, the God of Mammon, the God of work, the God
of all the other distractions. And what's awesome is that when
we serve the King, we can integrate within every sector of
society, although it does not own us.
Amen. We know we are the light there.
I'm not diminishing anything within those.
We are the light. We are to go.
However, we always maintain the priority.
I serve only one king. It's not the world, it's Jesus.
Amen. It's Jesus.
So this Friday when we begin to fast, I'm not asking you to
fast. You're king cause your king
cares and your king desires that all who attend next week, come
on, come on, start attending every week.
Yeah, And again, we do services on Wednesday, not because I say
so, but because in a world that keeps getting darker and darker
and deception is running more rampant, you really need to
assemble more than once a week. Amen.
To maintain strength, vitality and courage, but more
importantly, resolve in truth. Resolving truth because it's
worth it to be in the House of the Lord, Amen.
Where brothers and sisters are serving the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords and lifting you up because they know the
kingdoms of this world you're in are not there to help you.
They are there to destroy you. And it's the in these moments of
our meetings that we are encouraged, strengthened to go
back out into that place and continue to let that light
shine. Jesus said this literally in
Hebrews and do not forsake the assembling of yourself together
as is the habit of sun and all the more as you see the day
approaching and that day approaching is the return of the
king. It's not too much to ask when
Jesus says hey I need you to come back together.
I need you to get one mom 1 accord.
I need you to pray. I need you to intercede.
I need you to do this for your city called Saint Augustine for
your city called Port St. Joe for your city called New
Delhi for your city called Managua.
The places that we have anchor faith churches, and when we do
this, we do something very significant because I'm not
looking for an answer of where I where am I going to go when I
die? Heaven came to me when Jesus
became the Lord of my life, Amen.
And I live that life now and I live it abundantly because the
King is amazing, Amen. So today I put before you, which
king will you serve? Will you be like those who've
been around all the religious expressions of Jesus Christ?
And will you say I have no king but Caesar?
Or will you today say there's only one king I serve, and his
name is Jesus? Whenever head bow and every eye
close, no one's looking around. If that's you today in our
society, it's running really deep.
No kings, no kings. But there is a king, There's
only one, and he is Lord of all. For the scripture says he is the
judge of the living and the dead.
Whether you make him your king or not doesn't change.
He is the King and you will have to be present before him
sometime. It's better today than it is on
the great day of Judgment.