April 15, 2011 The Triumphal Entry

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Triumphal Entry: Luke 19: 28 through and including 44: This the account of Jesus heading into Jerusalem that happened just a few days before He was put to death on the cross. Let me go to verse 30 and 31 And this is Jesus talking. 30 - "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell them the Lord needs it." Let's look at something and compare that to today. Look at verse 31 and tell me what might happen to you if you go into a town, find a donkey colt, and untie it and start to walk away with it. Someone runs out and yells that man is stealing my donkey, and you get stopped (maybe shot) and you are asked what is going on, and you tell them the Lord needs it. (Then you get shot for sure, or at least locked up.) Wait a minute, hold on. God paved the way then, and you know my friends, if God sends you to do something today, He will also prepare the way for you so that you might go and do His work. So if you are praying to go to work for God, and you should do that each day, then you need to listen and when you get your orders from Him, you need to carry them out. You need not to be afraid. Let me call to your attention this wonderful couple that works for our Lord Jesus, Ross and Ruth Willard, and they live in West Fairview, just down the road from here. They have this Ministry called. "March for Jesus". These folks go into some very "rough" areas of our cities to talk about Jesus, to share the Love of Jesus, and to help feed people and pray with people. I have been with them a few times and I know they have been on corners in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that have been known for drive-by shootings. God said take the Good News of Jesus to all the corners of the earth, and believe me, this couple along with many, many others do that daily. So today, like back when Jesus sent ahead for the Donkey colt, He cleared the way. I just want to also touch on this little donkey colt. Did you notice that Jesus tells "which no one has ever ridden". Think of this, how important it must have been to get this colt that no one was ever on. If you go back into 1 Samuel 6: 7 you find that when the Ark of the Lord was being moved it was put into a new cart and pulled with two cows that had never been yoked. (NIV) If you go to Numbers 19: 2 you find this: "This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke." (NIV) Do you notice the reverence in these things? Nothing is used, it is without defect or blemish. It was to be perfect for God. When Jesus was born, born to a virgin, a woman unused by a man. Now as He rides into Jerusalem, He rides on an unused donkey colt. You see this lining up, all must be clean for the Lord. Hold on for a minute, God wants to use us, we are to go into all the world and tell the good news. What the Lord is giving me out of this is that when we go to work for the Lord, we need to be clean. Oh, be sure we have been dirty by sin over and over again, but God, through His Son Jesus, has given us a way to be cleaned. So when we go out each day and we witness for Jesus we should be clean. You do witness for Jesus each day right??? "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Praise God, praise God, praise God. Let's go back in time now and watch as Jesus is up on the colt, that had been covered with cloaks (coats) for Jesus to sit on, and He comes riding into town. Jesus is now a hero and people wanted to see Him. This Man who has healed many, who had turned a few loaves of bread and a couple fishes into a meal for thousands and then had leftovers. They wanted to see this Man who healed broken spirits, and who had opened blind eyes, drove out demons and even brought the dead back to the living. "Hosanna to the Son of David." Cloaks were laid on the streets ahead of Him! Palm Branches were waved and waved and some were placed on the road for the Donkey that was carrying Jesus to walk over. Children shouted. "Hosanna in the highest!" People cheered, and cheered. Let me see if I can relate that to today just a little. The team just won March Madness, the one who outlasted all in the final four was welcomed home by people as they cheer them on. Now why did I bring this up? Just think about this, how we cheer and have victory parades for those who have been winning, and in a few short months how we drop them if they are not winning. How we turn our backs and walk away if they do not do exactly what we want and like. Even in today's Military... When our troops came home after WW2 there were parades, when they came home after Desert Shield and Desert Storm there were big home coming parades. Now people are lining up to trash our brave men and women who fight to keep America Free. Well, Jesus was given that welcome, one that might look like a ticker tape parade that we, at one time, would give people. He was cheered, He was greeted with shouts of joy and praise. Go to Matthew 21: verses 1 through 11 and read. Oh the joy, the joy, the praises, children greeting Him and singing "Hosanna to the Son of David." What a great day in the life of Jesus, what a great day. Will you join me today in just shouting praises for Jesus as we are here on the Sunday that we call Palm Sunday, the day when pastors from sea to sea and beyond will be preaching on this subject. So will you join me again and shout Praise You Jesus for this bright and cheerful day in the life of Jesus. When people gave Him the respect that He had earned. Join me, for this victory parade for Jesus is not long lived, so let's enjoy it while it is here... HOSANNA, HOSANNA, HOSANNA. Praise You, Jesus, praise You, Jesus. Read Mark 11: 1 through 11. If you followed along in your Bible you would have read the accounts from Matthew, Mark and Luke. We talked about the Donkey Colt, and how Jesus was greeted. Now let's talk about what happened after He entered Jerusalem, and when He went to the Temple. How great it must have been for Jesus to receive such a great greeting, having people shout praises to Him and giving Him such a wonderful welcome. How nice it must have been. Then Jesus entered the temple area and what did He see? Well, it was not what should have been going on in a Temple. Jesus started driving out those people who were selling. According to Luke, it does not say what they were selling, just that they were selling. Hear these words from Luke 19:46 - "It is written," He said to them, "My house will be a house of prayer; but you have made it a 'den of robbers.'" The Bible goes on to tell us that everyday He was preaching in the temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders of the people were trying kill Him. Think about this now, there was this great Triumphal Entry and more than likely even before the Palm Branches that had been placed on the path in front of Jesus were cleared, the tide had turned and people wanted to kill Him. Now I want to ask a question here. I want you to get your brain going today. At your church, and we should call it a temple, right! What goes on? Now I know some churches have built gyms and social halls and they are separate from the worship areas, but let me ask this question... What does Jesus think about some of the activities that go on in our churches today? We have fund raisers and in some cases the churches are used to have "flea markets" or "bake sales" and sometimes that happens in the worship area. Would Jesus like that? I am asking questions, I want You to think about what goes on at your church and ask this, are we crossing the line? What about gambling to raise funds? I know that might be a hot topic, and I know that does not as a rule occur in the worship area, but what about gambling to raise funds? Would this please Jesus? What about basketball, weight lifting, and all the other things that go on at the churches. I think if done in buildings other than the one built for worship that it is ok, but again, I wonder what Jesus is thinking? As we pray for pastors today and all those working in the fields of Harvest for our Lord Jesus, pray about what is going on at your church, is it pleasing to Jesus? It is sad that the churches need to be doing fund raising, for if the flock were to tithe as taught in the Bible, there would be no need for these fund raisers, these flea markets, these games of chance, and I would think those who put in so much time and effort working the events would love to not have them. Again, this message is more fuel for thought than anything else. Let's try to teach, preach, tell, show, etc., the good news of our Lord Jesus in our churches, let's talk and tell of Salvation through Jesus. Yes, a good dinner in the social hall of the church is a wonderful way to get the flock together and share God's word. We just love to eat when we do things. But what about those fund raising dinners open to the neighborhood? Would it not be better to raise the money through donations and then have a "Free" dinner for the neighbors, in hopes to get them coming to church? Again, just putting out fuel for thinking today... Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we lift You in praise this fine beautiful morning and we give thanks unto You. Thanks for the large amount of bread that came to the food pantry today and bless those coming for food. May Your churches be filled this weekend and more important may the pastors, preachers, priests and all who speak the word tell it like it is and talk about Salvation... Lord Jesus, that is the bottom line to me, help me get it out. Lord, thanks for dying for us, and Lord, thanks for dying for me. Thank You, I love You, Lord... and I pray in the wonderful, wonderful name of Jesus, my Lord... Amen. Luke 19:39 - Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40 - "I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (NIV) Remember as we go forth we are to tell the world about the Good News of our Lord Jesus, for we are the disciples of today. Jesus will not rebuke us when we work for Him, and you see what will happen if we keep quiet, even the stones will cry out. Please don't make the stones cry, work for Jesus... Now go forth and share, share your blessings, walk out on a limb and trust God and share extra things, and trust me, NO, TRUST GOD, and you will see that is replaced over and over again and again... God is still in control, He is still head of the United States of America regardless of how many times people try and dump on Him. Our president, President Obama, is NOT god, Jesus is our Lord God Almighty. So put your eyes on the Lord, and trust in Him. Go forth now in Love, and in Peace and may our Lord God of Peace go with You... I love ya, have a blessed Palm Sunday, and may your entry in all you do, be triumphal. Again, I love ya... Pastor Dan.