Crown Him Or Cancel Him

Amen, amen. Go ahead and grab a seat if you would. Well, good morning, everybody. It is so, so very good to see you. My name is Brian, if we haven't met, and I'm so excited to be at church today. I'm so excited as we're just on the doorstep of really Holy Week here, and beginning to prepare for what's to come this week. I wanna welcome some very special groups of people as we get started. I wanna welcome everybody who's joining us at our Grand Rapids campus. We love you so much, Grand Rapids, and we're honored to just be one church in a lot of locations. And we also want to welcome all of you who are incarcerated, who are joining us from jails and prisons around the country. We honor you, we love you. We're praying for you. Anybody been paying attention to March Madness recently? Anybody been watching some basketball? Let's go, all right. I need to say it. I mean, my Hoosiers aren't in there, so I can just say, go blue, all right? Go blue, let's go. It concerns me that you have the sweatshirt in your lap, but you're not wearing it.

Do you just walk around with a Michigan sweatshirt? It's too hot in here? That's right. Well, it's gonna get hotter, let me tell you, because we're about to preach. I like that though. It's like a cape almost, like a Superman situation. You just pull out the Michigan whenever you need it. Man, I don't know about y'all, but I'm rooting for blue to go all the way. Let's go, all the way. And on the day they do, I will take off my Hoosier outfit, and I will say, I am a Michigander all full on that day. I am a Wolverine, so. Anyway, so good to see all of you guys here today, and I believe God wants to meet us in a unique way. If you're new with us, can I just say, we're so honored you'd hang out with us today. Can we make some noise for the new folks in the room? Man, thanks for hanging out. Thanks for coming to church today. You're here because God wants you here, and we're grateful to just have you with us today. So we're about to enter really what is, in my mind, the most sacred time of the entire year, where in these next days, we prepare to remember Jesus' sacrifice on Good Friday, and then we prepare to celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday, all right.

We've got a big week coming. Now, I don't mean to offend anybody in the room, but the events we are celebrating this week are more important than your birthday. They are more important than your wedding anniversary. Can I tell you, parents, the events we're about to celebrate are more important than your own children's birthdays, because can I tell you, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for sins and His victorious resurrection have changed the entire course of global history. These are the biggest dates, the most consequential events that you and I can remember. And so, and so, it is right, it is proper, it is fitting that we would begin to prepare ourselves, even today, for the moments and the days that we'll experience in this next week. And that is our intent today. It is to get ready for the events of Easter. I'm gonna pray for us, and let's invite God to speak to our hearts. And so, Father, right now, as we begin the most sacred, the most consequential week of the year, celebrating Jesus, what you accomplished and what it means for your world and for your people, we say, would you speak to our hearts? We don't wanna run into Easter casually. We don't wanna walk into Passion Week as just some Easter eggs and getting some family together.

No, we wanna walk in as if it's sacred ground. And we wanna walk in with some expectation. We wanna walk in with sobriety and the fear of God. We wanna walk in and say, God, would you speak to us even right now and help prepare our hearts that Good Friday, that Easter would not be in vain for the person who's here, who's not yet a follower of yours. I pray this would be the day they come home in Jesus' name. Bring the prodigals home today and on these days to come. We pray it in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, amen. If you have a Bible, I wanna ask you to turn to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21. There are four historical accounts of Jesus' life. We call these the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And today we're going to be reading from Matthew here in Matthew chapter 21. Jesus is narrating. The events that lead to the point where ultimately I might have said Jesus is narrating, it's Matthew who's narrating if I misspoke, but Matthew was narrating the events that lead to the point where Jesus would be falsely accused, he'd be arrested, he'd be flogged, ultimately he would be hung on the cross for your sins and mine. And these days that now Matthew is describing in Matthew 21 are the events that lead to his approach towards Jerusalem where his arrest and his crucifixion would take place. Matthew 21 in verse 1 it says this, as they, Jesus and his disciples, approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you

and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them and he will send them right away. One of the things that you see in these introductory verses describing what we call Palm Sunday, when Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem, is that everything is quite planned and quite intentional for Jesus. It's tempting to read the story of Passion Week when Jesus is betrayed with a kiss, when Jesus is arrested, when Jesus is accused, and think that somehow Jesus was a victim in this story. Friends, you need to know that Jesus was sovereignly in control of every one of the details of this story. Not one thing was an accident, not one thing was just by happenstance. Jesus had a purpose and a plan for each thing, including now this donkey that he's asking his disciples to bring to him. I want to say to somebody today who was feeling like you are not seeing God at work in your life, you're wondering what your purpose is, I want to declare over you the same thing that is true of Jesus' life during Passion Week is true of you, and that is God has a plan and a purpose for your life. There's not a person in the sound of my voice who's an accident today. You might not feel God's presence, you might not see God's presence, but God sees you and he's got a good plan for your life. Somebody's saying, well yeah, but don't you understand I'm going through this? Don't you understand I'm fighting cancer? Don't you understand my spouse just left me? What I understand is that Jesus Christ went to a cross and even the cross could not get in the way of God's plan, but rather God's plan was fulfilled through the cross of Jesus Christ. I'm not claiming that your suffering or your or wickedness that you've experienced is from God. What I am claiming is this, God is big enough to take the difficult things you are going through and reweave them, rewrite them into your story so that his plan and his purpose for your life is accomplished. How many of you know God's got a plan for your life today? You're not accidental. God sees you. And so Jesus comes in and everything in these Holy Week details, it's all planned and it's all intentional, including getting this donkey. And it's fair to ask if that's the case, if God's got a purpose for all of this,

what is the purpose of this donkey? Why is that unusual detail such a seemingly important part of the story? And Matthew explains it in verse 4. He says this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to daughter Zion, say to Israel, see your king. Everybody shout out your king. That was mediocre, I'm not gonna lie, all right? Say to daughter Zion, see your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt the foal of a donkey. Now here what Matthew is doing is he's explaining the significance of this donkey. He's going all the way back to the Old Testament prophetic book of Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9, because in that chapter of the Old Testament it says that Israel's true and rightful king would arrive on a donkey as he enters Jerusalem. And so when Jesus, watch this, asks for a donkey it's so that as he makes his way to into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, he can symbolically announce to all of Israel he is their long expected true king. That's the point of walking on the donkey, or riding on the donkey. Now, there are all kinds of Jesus, images for Jesus in the New Testament that we love. We love when Jesus says, hey, you can call me your friend. I came here to, anybody encouraged when Jesus says, I wanna be your friend, right? That's a good image. We love that image. We love when Jesus says he wants to be our savior. He wants to be our advocate. Did you know Jesus Christ wants to be your advocate? Jesus said he came to be your redeemer. He came to be your good shepherd.

I'm glad I have a good shepherd, because I'm prone to wander, and I need the good shepherd to bring me back home. Jesus said he came to be the bread of life, and he came to be the true vine that helps produce fruit through our life. All these images we love about Jesus. There's one image I'm not sure we so much love about Jesus, and that is Jesus as king. And the reason why I'm not sure we love it so much is because kings have authority, and we wanna do what we wanna do. We're like, it's okay, Jesus. You can be a king. You can be a ruler. As long as you take my input into account. You can be a king as long as I get a vote, and can I tell you, a king doesn't take a vote, all right? A king has all authority, and that's what the text says Jesus comes in on when he rides that donkey. He is declaring to them, I am the long-awaited and promised true king of this world. I need to say something difficult to some of us. You can't follow Jesus if you don't recognize him as king, not biblically. You can't follow Jesus if you don't bow your knee to his authority. Sometimes I'll hear people say, well, yeah, I put my trust in Jesus

as the savior of my sins, but I'm not sure I'm ready to trust him as my Lord. Can I tell you something? You can't separate the two. You can't be like, oh, I like the part of Jesus that saves me from my sins, but the king of my life, I don't know about all that. I'm gonna put that on hold. It'd be like coming to me as your pastor and saying, oh, pastor, you know, Brian, I really wanna have you as my pastor. I just don't want a Hoosier as my pastor. I'm like, yeah, I'm born and bred in Indiana, all right? Your boy graduated from Indiana University. You can't, you can take the boy out of Indiana. You can't take the Indiana out of the boy. There it is, right? If you want me as your pastor, guess what you're gonna get? You're gonna get a Hoosier as a, it's a package kind of deal. I'm never gonna walk in and hold a Michigan sweatshirt. I'm just saying. I tried it once years ago. I thought I'm in Michigan now, and I put on a Michigan sweatshirt just like that, and I felt dirty inside. I'm not gonna lie, all right? Nothing against Michigan. I'm a Hoosier. You can't separate, you can't come to me and say,

I want you to be my pastor, but I don't want a Hoosier as my pastor. The two go, this whole thing's like a package deal. You understand? Can I tell you, putting your trust in Jesus, not just as a savior, but as a king is a package deal. You don't just get, and let me take it one step further. Let me take it, how do you know if Jesus is your king? You know Jesus is your king when he calls the shots in every area of your life. Let me just put it real clear for you. If Jesus doesn't call the shots on all of your life, friends, he ain't your king. If he's not king over your whole life, he's not king of your life. When Jesus declares his kingship, he says, I'm the one who calls the shots on what you do and how you do your money. I'm the one who is the king over your relationships. I'm the one who is the king over your body. I'm the one who leads what's coming out of your mouth. I'm the one who speaks to how you conduct yourself at your job. I'm the one that talks about how you relate to your students. I'm the one who tells you when it comes time to Easter, you invite people to church so that they might hear about the love of God and the work of Jesus Christ. Friends, watch this. If Jesus is not king over your whole life,

he ain't the king of your life. Jesus rolls into town on that donkey so he can say to all of us, I'm not just another teacher. I'm not just another wise person. I'm not just another pastor or religious figure. I am the world's true king. And the only way we respond to him is through Jesus Christ. with bowed knee. And so this is the first purpose that he comes in riding on that donkey. But there's more to it than even that. Not only did Jesus ride in on a donkey to announce that he was king, he rode in on a donkey to announce the kind of king that he would be. If you watched a Roman coronation at that time, if you watched what it would look like when Roman leaders would roll into town after a victory, everything would be a conspicuous display of power and might. They'd come in with chariots. They'd come in on war horses. Everything was designed to just show how mighty the Roman rulers are. And in that very context, here's Jesus coming in on a donkey. Not just a donkey, the text says Jesus rode in on a baby donkey. Now, men, we can admit this is not our preferred mode of transportation for our king to come in on. Can we be honest about that? I was starting to think if I had to pick what my Jesus would roll into Jerusalem in, and I'm saying Ford F-150, all right? I'm just saying. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying if it's me dialing this up, if I'm drawing the play up for Jesus, I'm going to give him a Ford F-150. And important detail, not electric. I want to hear my Jesus coming into town, all right? I don't want some stealth pickup coming in. Now, I want to hear my Jesus, but that's not how he comes in. He didn't ask me what my thoughts were on the matter. He comes in on a donkey, a baby donkey. Why does he do this? It's a sign of humility. When Jesus rides in on this little donkey, he's declaring for all of us not just that he came to be king, but that he came to serve before he comes back to rule. You see this played out in Jesus' life. At the very beginning of his public ministry, the devil comes to Jesus, and he offers Jesus everything that if we're going to be honest, our hearts crave. He said, Jesus, listen, the devil says, you partner with me, you'll get notoriety. Listen, Jesus, you partner with me, you'll get fame. You'll get power. You'll get accolades. Jesus, you partner with me, the devil says, I'm going

to make you great, man. It's going to be amazing. Jesus hears all that offer. He said, no thanks, devil. No thanks. And then if you watch Jesus' ministry go on and play out, you see him healing a woman who's got a chronic bleeding issue. You see him caring for a sick child. You see Jesus cleansing a demon-tormented outcast. You see him coming alongside and comforting a mother who has lost her son. Over and over again, Jesus demonstrates that before he comes back to rule, he first came to serve. And nowhere is that more clear than when he went to the cross. Nowhere was Jesus' heart of humility, his heart of grace, and his heart of servanthood more clear than when he took into account all of your sin and mine and said he was willing voluntarily to march towards that cross, to have stakes driven through one wrist and then the other, to have stakes driven through his ankles, to hang on a cross, to be disparaged, mocked, spat upon, and cursed all so that the weight of your sin and mine would be put on his back. All of the weight of evil, the crushing power of wickedness in this world, he would absorb into himself. Because he deserved to? No, because that was his heart of humility and love for the people of God. Listen, some of you are hurting today, and I came to declare that your King Jesus came to serve. He comes in a place of humility. He comes in a place of meekness. He rides on this donkey, and if you just bring your needs to him, he wants you to meet you in that place of need. Maybe you've had a spouse cheat on you. Maybe you've got a kid that your relationship is broken, you don't even talk to that child anymore. Maybe you're dealing with a family member with a chronic kind of illness, and I just believe as you would reach out to your king, he might not give you a way out of that suffering, but he is gonna give you a way through it in Jesus' name. He's gonna give you the strength you need. He's gonna give you the hope you need. He's gonna give you the comfort you need that you would know this is not the end of your story and that he is still worth. He came in to serve.

And by the way, don't make the mistake that some people do where they'll say, I'll trust him as Lord if he would just do this thing I need for me. You're not trusting him as Lord if you're making it conditional. If he just healed me, I'll trust him. If he just fixed my relationship with my spouse, then I'll call out to him as king. No, no, no, we call out to him as the king he is, and then we trust him for however he addresses our suffering. Amen, church? But he came to serve, he came to serve. This is Jesus' heart. And so all these people are gathered in Jerusalem and they're watching Jesus come in on this donkey. It says, verse six, watch this. The disciples, they went and they did as Jesus had instructed them. They bring the donkey and the colt and they place their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd had spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and they spread them on the road. What you're reading here is the first century equivalent of rolling out the red carpet. This is like this royal imagery for a coronation parade. Verse nine, the crowds then that went ahead of him and those that followed, they shouted, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest heaven. Hosanna means Lord, save us. And so here are all these people gathered in Jerusalem crying out, Lord, save us. Not save us from our sins, our greatest enemy. Lord, save us from the imperialism and the tyranny of the Romans who rule over us. Verse 10. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and they asked, who is this? Somebody shout out, who is this? Who is this? How many of you know that's the best question you can ask in your whole life? Who is Jesus? Who is this? And the crowds answered, this is Jesus, and this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. Now here's what's very clear when you read closely the verses we just read. You cannot see this Jewish man riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and just ride it off and say, bah, that's interesting. There's no account that any Jewish person was standing in the road, on side of the road and said, oh, look at this. It's a nice Jewish man riding on a baby donkey. Looks like little Sebastian, if you know Parks and Rec. All right, isn't that cute? Man, well, now that we've seen him ride on the donkey,

let's go to Anna's house, get some brunch. What do you say? That's nowhere in the text. What's clear in the text is that as they see Jesus rolling into town here on this donkey, it demands a response. They have to decide who this Jesus is. Can I tell you the same thing is true for you and me? You've gotta ask this question, who is Jesus? Who is this one who we literally date the entire world's calendar by his life? Who is this Jesus? Different options out there. Some people over the years have suggested Jesus is simply a wise kind of teacher philosopher type, like a Jewish Yoda or something like that, you know? Just drops little nuggets of wisdom. We don't always understand him, but he's like a Yoda. And some other people have taken Jesus to be like this messenger of peace and love. You know, they get like a 60s Jesus in their minds. I don't know, Jesus in like a tie-dye robe, you know, probably goes back home after a long day, eats Ben and Jerry's ice cream, I don't know. For some, that's who Jesus is. Other people, maybe this has been your story. They think Jesus is a fake, honestly. they look at the cross and they see the resurrection and they're like the whole thing is made up it was all manipulation none of it actually happened but can I tell you there's a fourth group of people and those are the people who

watch the events of Passion Week they watch Jesus come in on that donkey and they believe Jesus is who he said he is the Son of God and the King of Kings the Lord of Lords who came to offer salvation for sinners and can I tell you church there is so much at stake and how you answer that question who is Jesus because is if he is actually the world's true Savior and Lord and you put your trust in him it means from the moment you give your life to Jesus your sins are forgiven from the moment you give your life to Jesus he offers you a purpose for your life he says the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in you enabling you to live a life bigger better more beautiful than you ever could have lived on your own he says the moment you give your life to him you can wake up every day not just knowing he loves you but that you have the hope of spending all of eternity in the presence of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit dwelling in his love and participating in worship to the very end of your days that's the promise if Jesus is who he said he is on the other hand if Jesus is the world's true King and Lord and you say no thanks not interested then the Bible says you will spend your eternity apart from Christ in an existence that the Bible calls hell hell is described as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth weeping for those who are brokenhearted that they turn their backs on Jesus gnashing of teeth for those who keep getting angry at God how could you let this happen to me how could you do this to me friends I can't stress this enough the stakes of this question who is Jesus they just don't get any bigger and that's why I've been praying if you hear my voice right now and you're hearing about the good news of King Jesus I pray if you have not trusted him today that today would be your day that you wouldn't hold back that you'd say Jesus I want to receive you as Savior and as King and watch this it's not just that the stakes of this question are high you know in Matthew 21 we read this story of Jesus coming into town on a donkey and that donkey symbolized him coming in gentleness and in patience but can I tell you family this is not the only recording of Jesus entering into history the text says that he came once but that he's coming back again and can

I tell you when he comes back he's not going to be riding on any donkey the writer John through the revelation of the Holy Spirit is given a picture of what it's going to be like when Jesus returns and here is the picture that he gives Revelation 19 and verse 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true with justice he judges and wages war his eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns he has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself he is dressed in a robe dipped in blood blood from his cross and his name is the Word of God the armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen white and clean coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations he will rule them with an iron scepter he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has this name written he is the King of Kings and he is the Lord of Lords can I tell you something church the first time Jesus comes he comes in on a donkey but the second time when he comes back oh he's riding in on a great white horse the first time Jesus comes he comes in a posture of humility but the second time he returns He's stepping up to a position of power and of authority. The first time Jesus comes, he's surrounded by a fickle crowd. The second time he comes, he's gonna be followed by a strong and devoted army. The first time Jesus comes, he put a crown of thorns on his head. The second time he comes, he's gonna be wearing a crown of many crowns. The first time Jesus came, he came to offer peace to you and me through his cross. But can I tell you, the second time he comes, he's gonna execute justice on any person

who would rebel against his reign. That is Jesus. And can I tell you, this is why the question, who is Jesus, is not just high stakes, it is urgent. We do not know when Jesus is coming back. Listen, Jesus could come on that white horse this afternoon, tomorrow, or two weeks from now. If you're waiting till he comes back to put your trust in him, you are too late at that point. The time to put your trust in him, church, is right now. The time to bend your knee to him is right now. The question is, will you receive him right now as savior, or are you gonna face him later as your judge? Will you bow your knee to him right now as king? Or will he have to humble you later in final judgment? Man, this is why I pray. Whether you're here in person or you're watching online right now, Jesus is coming back. Don't wait to respond to him. Don't make that age-old mistake, oh, I'm gonna wait till I get my life together before I trust Jesus. I'm gonna clean some things up, man. Can I tell you the perfect time to respond to Jesus is when your life is not cleaned up because Jesus is the one that's gonna help you get your life back together and clean it up. The time to respond to him is right now, church. Don't wait, don't wait.

He brought you in here. He's got a purpose for your life. He's got a plan, just like he had a plan for that holy week. And his plan for you, if you don't know him, is to put your trust in him. I wanna say one last thing to those of you who have taken that step already and you've given your life to Jesus. It's interesting because the gospel writer Luke mentions a detail in the Palm Sunday story that we don't get in Matthew. He says when the people, when Jesus is coming into town, people are getting excited. They see him coming in on the donkey. They realize the symbolism. Man, they're cheering. People are clapping, shouting out, Hosanna. Arms are waving in the air, all this. And as they're showing their affection and their worship to the long-promised king, it says there are some on the side of the streets there who are like, hey, let's settle down here, people. All right, let's settle down in this worship. They're trying to quiet the people. Hey, we don't need to do all that. I mean, it's just a dude on a donkey. All right, let's settle it down here. How about I dial back all the shouting? Let's turn the volume down a few clicks here. Let's all just make this a lot more chill.

And Jesus sees these folks. They're trying to tell the crowd to settle down. Quit getting so rowdy. Here's what he says, Luke 19, verse 40. Jesus said, I tell you, if these folks keep quiet, guess what? The stones are gonna cry out in worship. Now, listen, church, I don't know about you. I don't want any rocks doing my job. How many of you know today the only proper response to the arrival of the one true king is absolutely unhindered worship? The only right response to a king who comes in announcing that he came to rule and reign, the only response to the savior of the world, friends, is that there'd be clapped hands in the house of God. There'd be raised arms in the house of God. There'd be shouts of acclamation and praise. That's how you respond to a king. You don't just sit there, oh, that's nice. Look at him ride that donkey. No, you get rowdy because you wanna give Jesus all of the worship that he is due. And Jesus said, if you don't do it, I'm gonna find somebody else who will. Man, I don't want you or any rock taking my job. I'm coming into worship when I see my king come into the room, amen? and that's what we're gonna do today man I'm gonna pray for us and then we're just gonna spend time in the presence of God that's let's bow our heads together

and I just want to say Jesus I love you Jesus I don't just love you I respect you I have all of you because you are the world's true and promised King and ruler and Messiah thank you Jesus thank you that we can have confidence that Jesus because you are our King that even suffering cannot get in the way of your purpose and plan for our lives that you can use every difficulty and every setback and weave it into our story that your purpose would be fulfilled and that we will have joy through Jesus father I pray for those who call themselves Christ followers today some of us are playing games thinking that we can say your Lord of part of our lives but not all of our lives we acknowledge that as falsehood and and and God we just repent of it in your name we say Jesus you are king of all you're king of our money you're king of our intimacy physical intimacy you're king of our health you're king of our relationships you call the shots on our job we're not holding any place back from you King Jesus because we recognize if we're holding any place back from you you're not King Jesus not over our lives so we sit submit to you and we bow our knee to your good and loving rule even for those who are suffering today Jesus thank you that you came in on that donkey symbolizing your desire to serve before you come back to rule and for those who are suffering even right now Jesus I pray would you ride to them would you give them encouragement would you give them strength where they need strength would you give them hope if they're despairing God I pray you'd give healing where there's sickness I pray you'd meet the one who's suffering right now and show them the way through that they need holding your hand all the way and staying in this place of prayer listen there's somebody here today who has not yet given your life to Jesus somebody watching maybe in jail right now maybe you're in Grand Rapids right now you haven't given your life to Jesus and listen Jesus Jesus came as King but he also came a Savior the only way you can know him as such is when you make that decision to put your trust in him and you say I'm not living for myself anymore I'm not calling my own shots I'm not trying to somehow earn my way and have it to heaven which you cannot do

this is your moment to say Jesus would you be my King Jesus would you be my Savior and so if you want to take that step and give your life to Christ then in just a moment I'm gonna count to three and when I say three I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand high in the air as a way of declaring before God today is the day that you give your life to Jesus as King as Savior as Lord and so one I want you to know God loves you so much he gave his son Jesus to die on a cross for your sins to that same Jesus who died on a cross was raised to life three days later so that as you would put your trust in him you too could be raised to new life and three if you want to give your life to this Jesus today if you want to submit to him as King today could you just put your hand in the air right now as a way of saying yes God today is the come a day I come home yes God I see hands all over here anybody else who's saying yes God today is the day I ask you to be my Savior yes God today is the day I want to submit you as my King all over the room I'm sure online I'm sure in Grand Rapids in Jesus name and so with every hand raised father with every one of these hands raised I say God we just put our trust in you Jesus forgive our sins make us new in this moment we will follow you from this day forward we pray it in Jesus name and all God's people said amen let's celebrate new life in the house can we do that church Wow wow wow man you're going into Easter the best way you possibly could for those of you just took that step and listen you see these folks at the blue shirts they got a Bible I want to give you and a little a book to help you get started in your following of Jesus and so listen if you just had your hand up I want to ask you just wave to him and if you see him going by while worshipping you wave to him and they're gonna pass one down to you and fill out the card man turn it in I want to text you this week and say congratulations but I might ask everybody stand up to their feet right now could you stand up I really felt like the way God was calling us to end this time as we look forward to Palm Sunday as we look forward excuse me to Good Friday as we look forward to remembering Jesus dying across look forward to celebrating resurrection

victory this Sunday I felt like God saying we need to spend some time in worship of the one true King and we're not going to let any rock do our job are we church and so right now I want you to know that Jesus is arriving and he has arrived in this place and he is present among this people and we're going to give Jesus in these next moments all of the unhindered unvarnished worship that he has the world's true King is do amen church are you ready to worship with me church let's give Jesus our best right now