Domingo de Ramos- Lisa Seaton

Hello, good morning City First. We are very excited that you are here. And well, you are in the right place. Turn around with your neighbor and say thank you that I am sitting next to you. Now turn around with your other neighbor, your second option, and say, but you are my favorite. Well, today is Palm Sunday and you just heard that Easter is a week away. And through all of our locations we have 14 services. There is a lot of space to celebrate our risen king. And well, what we know is that Palm Sunday begins Holy Week and when Jesus dies on the cross. And what we need to know is that Easter is more than just a national day. Well, it is not just to go to church and then go out to eat. It is really why we have the church. It really revives what we are. And in the relaxation of life, well, we have a devotional to help you understand more about this week. It only takes a couple of minutes. Read it and prepare your heart. And we will talk more about this on Sunday. And maybe you grew up in church or maybe you know what it is. Maybe you don't know what Easter is all about. Or maybe you don't. And you know what? Sometimes we appreciate something more when we start to understand or understand the meaning of something. Or if we understand everything that someone did to bring something or do something. So let's talk about the meaning of Palm Sunday. And how it impacts all of us. And I want to tell you that today is going to be more like teaching you. Not so much evangelizing, but more than anything teaching you. And as I was preparing this message, I remember when the first opportunity to teach the Bible to someone. You know, I grew up in Ohio. I went to church in the 90s. Someone went to church in the 90s. It was like you had the church on Sundays in the morning, Sundays at night, Wednesdays. And this was like every day.

There was no ministry on Sundays at night. There was no separate service for kids. We had to sit for like three hours in the church. And we would pray for someone to pack food for us to eat. I was like 10 or 11 years old. And I said, I have to change this. And our pastor, Pastor Chad, the pastor for kids, I said, someone needed someone to teach the 5-year-old kids. And I said, I know, I'm going to do it. So I went to Pastor Chad and I said, I would love to teach these 5-year-old kids the Bible. And I said, okay. And he allowed me to do that. He allowed me to do that. He didn't give me anything in a curriculum. I think these kids didn't have theology, but we had a great time. We had a great time. And that planted a love for the Bible and teaching the Bible. And then two years later, two years, two years ago, they invited me to Ohio to the church where I was before. And Pastor Chad gave me that opportunity. And that pastor, who was the pastor for kids, now he's the main pastor. And wow, when I came back, I felt emotional. It's a complete circle, a moment. The first place where I taught the Bible, and now I'm a pastor in the ministry. And I said, Pastor Chad, thank you for all those years that you took the time to give me an opportunity to teach the Bible.

And I said, Lisa, I'm so proud of you. And I wish I could say that, that I saw that you were anointed, but we were really desperate, and you were willing. And he said, nobody wanted to teach the 5-year-old kids the Bible, but you did. And I said, wow, wow, it's not about skill, it's about being available, right? So God, we thank you for who you are. God, we thank you for all these people who made time to be here with you, who made themselves available to you. God, not only are we here to build the church, but also to find our living God. And today, I pray that as we read and learn about this, that you illuminate our lives with your truth. I pray that you break down any wall that is intervening to receive the truth among us. Holy Spirit, minister to all of us, help me to get out of the way so that you can have your way. And we all say, amen, amen. But when it comes to the Sunday of Rames, Jesus comes to Jerusalem and it's documented in the New Testament, in Matthew, Mark, Mark, Luke, and John. And he says, well, that's significant, that's important. And it's been documented several times, each with a little bit of a different story. But what we have to know is that the Sunday of Rames didn't start in the New Testament.

It's part of a bigger story that God has been writing. The Bible has several stories, different books, but it's a big story, really, from Genesis to Revelation, as other people also call it, right? And well, what's amazing is that Jesus, God didn't want to reveal himself through systematic theology, but through stories. And the Bible in our context is divided into columns, verses, but the Bible wasn't always like that. The system wasn't like that for a thousand years after Scripture. So we have to know that many times, because we know the biblical context, but we don't know the whole story. But we have to know the whole story because it's how God wired us up is to think, for example, you don't find information, you remember stories. And you can, well, who gave you this? You can remember a story that someone told you an hour ago, but when something intrigues you, an important story, that's how you remember, on that show, or when that show is going to air, and that little white card tells you, next episode starts in five, four, three, two, and you say, let's see if I can watch that, can I sleep or can I not sleep? And you say, oh, okay, it's fine, it doesn't matter that I sleep four hours. I got to see how it continues, how you end that story. And if you like stories the way I like them,

oh, well, you know that there are certain authors that they can put a story and they're mixing things that are in all their books, a place, a person, different ways of the story. And you say, oh, yeah. Well, the Bible is not just like that. The Bible is, God wrote the Bible with 40 authors who wrote the Bible in a period of 1,500 years. And from Genesis to Revelation or Apocalypse, there are nearly 64,000 references that are crossing each other. There is no one like our God. And this image represents how those references are represented in the Bible at the end, right? From Genesis to Revelation, and they're far in the Bible. And when I saw this image, wow, it gave me faith, this cross-reference. Because I said, wow, how detailed is our God. And it's not just with the story, it's detailed with the story of the Bible. God is detailing different things in your life. And he does things for the good, for those who trust and love him. And maybe right now you're in this story, in this chapter of your life, and it's not your favorite chapter. Maybe right now there's difficulty. Maybe there's not favorite chapter. Maybe there's things that God didn't want you going through, but he's there with you in the middle of it.

Maybe yesterday, Adam and I went to a funeral of someone who was 42 years old. It was very early. Life is hard. Things are hard. Life is difficult. And maybe you're in a chapter where you say, I don't understand. I don't understand. And I want you to motivate yourself that maybe, even if you feel sad, joy comes in the morning. And if you have a breath or a breath in your lungs, God is still writing your story. And maybe he's coming. Not behind you. God loves you. God sees you. God loves you. Don't give up hope. Don't give up hope. God is with you. He's working for you. One of the greatest writings in the Bible that we see in the Bible again, this is emphasis on the lamb. So in the Bible, Jesus is referring to the lamb of God as the lamb of God. And in Psalm 129, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God, and he says,

look, we're a little child who takes away the sin of the world. He's referring to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Well, he's giving this reference to a context from Exodus, Moses, and Pharaoh, and you've probably seen The Prince of Egypt, that movie, right? Does anyone like that movie? And, well, those are the Israelites, 70 Israelites go to Egypt because Israel was having a plague. So over the decades, the Israelites multiplied, maybe up to 3 million people. The Israelites are growing in population in Egypt, and they're so large in volume, they're very good at everything they do, that the Pharaoh starts to feel intimidated and starts to take people out because he's intimidated by this. And the Israelites, well, he makes them his slaves, they don't pay them, they don't pay them a little, they control the population. The Israelites begin to say to God, God, save us. Please save us from this, give us freedom. And Jesus listens, God listens to his prayers like you, like he listens to yours. And he begins to say, I'm going to bring freedom to you. God begins to go with Moses. And Moses said, I'm going to bring you what I'm going to use to die. Well, Moses had done some bad things. He didn't speak very well. He had a really bad stomach, but he had availability. And God says, I want to use you. You know, God can use anyone. And God says, I want to use you. And God says, Moses, I want to use you. And Moses says, Pharaoh, let my people go. And he says, Pharaoh, let my people go. And Moses says, Pharaoh, let my people go. And Pharaoh says, Pharaoh, let my people go. And Moses again, Moses said, Pharaoh, let my people go.

Pharaoh's like, are you crazy? I'm not losing my work. And he says, I can send 10 plagues to their beaches. So God sends locusts to cover the land. God sends flies to cover the land. He sends frogs to cover the land. He sends frogs to cover the land. And if you think the Bible is boring, you guys are crazy. Like that's crazy stuff. And he says, Pharaoh, no, no, he doesn't want to give in. And God sends the very last plague. And you know what? And he says, at midnight, every firstborn is going to die. There's going to be a cry like no nation has ever heard. And in that moment, every family, the Egyptians, the Israelites, every family was conditioned in Israel like they were in the same reality that somebody in their family would be loved. We're having a talk. God, in his kindness, and in his power, starts something powerful. And he's first trying to do this, a great exchange of life and so God tells you, so that nobody has to die because that's the punishment, so that nobody has to die, because that's the first exchange.

And he asks you to do three things. I'm going to give you two right now, and one at the end. So don't go early. Number one, don't leave early. You have to select a lamb that doesn't have spotless lambs. Why does this lamb have to be spotless? Why does it have to be blemished? Why does it have to be pure? Why do you have to think, you need something clean to do something that's not blemished? If you think about it, if you have a lot of cleanliness in your house, if you have dust on your counter, you're not going to look for something dirty to clean up the dirt. You clean up something new to clean up the dirt. So you need a clean lamb. Then he tells them that you have to sacrifice the lamb. Exodus 12.6 says you would have to sacrifice the lamb. and he had to slaughter the lamb. And then he goes and he says, I have to prepare the lamb for sunset, and you have to eat it the body of the lamb as you go out to Egypt and as you come back to Israel. And well, this lamb had to be sacrificed

and so they were sacrificing him at three in the afternoon. And the blood of the lamb, they had to put it at his house, at the door of his house. And if the angel of death saw it, it wouldn't get to that house. Exodus 20, 26, it said, when I see the blood, I'm going to pass through, right? Does anyone see the parallel? And if there's an immaculate lamb that is given by one and the blood brings salvation, right? He would have to slaughter the lamb at three in the afternoon. What do I want you to see here? That from Exodus, it doesn't just mean this story, but the biggest story that the scripture says, God is always pointing to Jesus. Always pointing to Jesus. This story is not alone. It's there. So God gives them mercy and they can leave Egypt and come back. And they're able to leave Egypt and come back. So I know we're talking a lot about the history of the church today. But look, you have to know this. Why? Because you already have the context, the origin. Okay, now you have the context of the first day of Easter. Why is it important? Well, because every year since the first day of Easter,

the Jews come together to remember how they were freed from slavery. And it's like their Independence Day. In fact, I was invited to a meal two years ago. It was incredible to see and sit down and reflect all the time, how to unpack what God did. And you should never forget the history of what it means today for them. So the first day in Egypt, we just learned this story. We're going to the New Testament now, 1400 years later, which is 1400 years, they're doing the same thing with the lamb. The Jews are getting together for Easter. And they still celebrate. And there's a lot of things that have to be taken into account. The Jews are still being oppressed by the government and the pharaoh, and also by the government. They were praying and asking God to forgive them. They were praying and asking God, God, save us, please bring us freedom. The Israelites, the Jews were still traveling to Jerusalem because it was the holy city where they were. So 1400 years later, Jerusalem is packed. Everyone is there together to celebrate. And I want you to think of a town that is so full of people. It's like the Spring Break in Florida, right? The Spring Break, it's just packed. And the town is buzzing with people everywhere.

They're getting everything that they need. And they're getting ready to have their mattresses traveling with the air. And there's just a lot of things to celebrate on Easter. And something that so many people needed to do on this day, that we're learning that everyone needs to do on Easter, is that they needed to pick their home Sunday, their father's lamb. And this was called Palm Sunday. It was called Palm Sunday. It was called Palm Sunday. It was called Palm Sunday. It was called Palm Sunday. It was called Lamb Sunday. Lamb Sunday. Everybody had a one single lamb and it was called perfect lamb. Now, if they didn't have one single lamb in Jerusalem, raising this lamb was very difficult. You could raise it on Easter, but people who were traveling weren't able to travel. But people who were traveling, maybe their plane wouldn't let them bring a lamb, right? There was no Amazon,

so they couldn't bring them back as support animals, as emotional support, right? No. But they were like, well, we're going to raise them and then we're going to sell them for a very high price, right? In Bethlehem, there was a yard where they raised these perfect lambs outside of Jerusalem. These lambs were born outside of Jerusalem outside of Jerusalem outside of Jerusalem and then on the day of selection day they would bring that outside of Jerusalem outside of Jerusalem outside of Jerusalem into Jerusalem through the sheep gate, right? outside of Jerusalem And there was like a procession at the door of the sheep gate that they called it. So the people would gather, whether they were visiting, whether they were visiting, they would gather, whether they were locals, whether they were visiting, they would gather, whether they were visiting,

and it was a big event. They were going to see how the sheep came from Bethlehem to Jerusalem on this day of the selection of sheep. And the people were everywhere and they were looking and he says, that's mine. And oh no, that one over there, that's the one I want. He says, well, what do we know about Jesus? He is the Lamb of God. Where was Jesus? Where was he born? In the town of Bethlehem. Where was Jesus born? He was born in the town of Bethlehem. And so the people are watching this procession and a different lamb is about to come on the scene. It's about to come on the scene. So they went to Matthew to what Jesus had said to them. He said, he's wet. They did, as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the quill and they put on their garments over the lamb and Jesus sat on it. Why is it significant that Jesus sat on a donkey? Well, there's two reasons why it's significant. Number one is that it's writing on a prophecy. In Zechariah 9.9 it says, in Zechariah 9.9 it says, in Zechariah 9.9 it says, in Zechariah 9.9 it says,

look, your king is coming to you. He is fair and victorious yet humble mounted on a donkey, mounted on the lamb of a donkey. This was written 500 years before Jesus came here 100 years before him. So he's not just coming in in a moment, he's stepping into the kingdom. The second reason for this to be significant is that he's publicly speaking about himself. He's telling you that Jesus is publicly coming to you from all over the place. He's coming up to you from all over the place. We see him walking everywhere. He's walking with his disciples. He's walking from place to place. He's walking from time to time. He's walking slowly. He's always walking, he's walking humbly. He's walking humbly. We read in all the scriptures that Jesus does miracles. So we read, don't tell anyone. He healed someone and he said, don't tell anyone. And if you and I were healing people, we'd say, post it, tell people, young people, young people. I just did a miracle, right? And people would be like, sorry, I just did a miracle. But everybody needs to know. Why? Because he was so humble, Jesus.

Well, he didn't want to be out of the divine hour of God, that in the right time, who he was, would be revealed over and over again. And the scriptures we read say, stay quiet, stay quiet, because in this moment, the lamb, the day of the selection of the lamb, Jesus starts and he walks in a donkey. And it's like a microphone, he's talking in a microphone, saying the public statement, I know who I am, I am the son of God, the lamb of God, perfect, without stains, without comparison, without comparison. And as we read this, it says, most people as we keep reading this, there was multiple translation, spread their clothes out, some say it's something similar, but it says, from a movement of the crowd, they spread their clothes over the way in front of him, and they cut down branches from the trees, and they spread them out over the way. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and they spread them out over the way. And everyone was screaming, screaming, praise the Lord, for the son of David. The people around him were shouting in the name of the Lord, praise the Lord, David. Praise the Lord, who comes in the name of God. And when he entered Jerusalem, it was full, it was full of people.

And when he entered Jerusalem, And she was so moved and they said, wow, who is this? And the crowd said, it's the prophet Jesus of Nazareth, of Galilee. And he is the Lamb of God, that he is the King of kings. This Lamb of God, perfect, immaculate Lamb of God. And the people are having this revelation before their eyes, and they begin to move. And he said, wow, they have to do something. So they begin to take off their garments. And can you imagine taking off your garments? The Bible was so important because a garment, a garment was your identity. You had different garments that were associated with your social status. Or if you had garments, your social status, this was your occupation or protection of the environment. And at that moment, everybody took off everything. They take off, I'm recognizing that the one I'm seeing has all the authority, and I want to be humble before him. It's not about, I want people to see me or the things of this land. Oh, it's because there's something deeper than this. And this, taking off your garments, it was only reserved for a king.

It was reserved for a king. It was an act that was reserved for a king. And the theology that Jesus was using at that actual time was about laying down your garments. And this time, it meant this. You are worth it. You walk on what I am, what I belong to me. You, God, whoever I am. God, I leave it to you. Everything I have is yours. My identity is in you. It's not what I am, or how I do it, or what I do. My identity is in you. And people are realizing. And people are so moved that they take off their garments and say, oh, I have to keep praising him. And you say, wow. And they see these branches, and they're cutting the trees, and they're grabbing branches. And they start taking off the branches, and they start waving, and they say, wow. And they're shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. That's the translation of Hosanna, because God, save us, give us room to breathe. Give us room to breathe. So someone can remove their worries or their anxiety, someone could take away their government

as they were in if they could save them. Just as Moses took them out of this clarity. They needed someone to get them out of this clarity. As they needed somebody, they see Jesus, and they start saying, wow, so you're worthy of Jesus. And so they start to walk. Out of today, in this golden election day, we want to see Jesus as the one who lives, and he helps us with our identity, he gives us this down-taking redemption, and doesn't matter the issue whatever we're in. He's there for us. Lamb selection day, Jesus is the one. In glory comes... We cry out, save us, we weep for you. We have cried, crying out for Hosanna, and then later he was crucified. Well, Jesus didn't answer his prayer as they thought he was going to. They thought Jesus was going to do something, but he had something bigger in mind, something even bigger than the sin that they had taken. And Jesus said, I'm going to do that for you, so that you can be punished for your sins, so that you have heaven always as your home, so that you can walk in peace. And you know what? Maybe this is bigger, and maybe you're going to be open to God to answer your prayer better than you can imagine.

That's the God we serve. And I want us to start, I want us to end as we began, and going all the way back to Exodus, where I told them, the first thing is that they were going to choose a clean, immaculate lamb, right? The second is that they were going to sacrifice him, and then prepare him, and the third, prepare him for the cross. Share that lamb. The third thing that he instructed them to do And they were going to sacrifice him, is to share the lamb. If there's a house that's too small to share that lamb, and then prepare him for the cross. they have to share it with their neighbor in Exodus 12, 4. And well, they had to eat the lamb. And God said, I don't want any lamb to go to waste. There are people who need it. There are people who need that substance who need what you have, what we have. And on this Sunday of Rames, I want to motivate you urgently. Please, share the news of the Lamb of God. Let us be strong in our hearts for what Jesus did for us. Let us do something. Let us tell someone about him. Let us invite someone to join us on Easter here at City First. We have somebody to join us.

Pastor Jeremy is going to talk a lot this weekend because he wants to make room for you because he wants you to bring your neighbors, your friends, your colleagues to share and share the good news of Jesus. So share the Lamb of God, Jesus, that you and I have. Would you go ahead and stand to your right? We're going to go back into that song, Worthy of It All. Worthy of It All. I'm going to ask for a response, whatever I have, whether it's for you. If I've been looking for new people or I've been looking for people to validate me or for me to feel capable of something, we're going to pray. Father Almighty, I thank you for this Sunday of Rames. Till the bars, this Ketula Cambiara, alzamos your name for us, because nobody, no one is worthy of that praise except You Lord. As a church, here, as a family, we glorify the name of Jesus, the God of gods, the Lamb of all Sins. Lord, Lamb of God, we love you Father. You are anything and anything for us. We love you, Father You are worthy.

You are worthy of it all. Yes, You are. You are worthy of it all. Oh, we lay it on down before You, Jesus. More from You are all things. Until You are all things, You deserve. Oh, sing that again. You are worthy, worthy. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. We give it all to You, Lord. More from You are all things. Until You are all things. Oh, You deserve the glory. Yes, I know You deserve it all. More from You are all things. Until You are all things, You deserve the glory. Oh, we lay it on down before You, Jesus. We love you, Father. You are worthy of it all. Yes, You are. You are worthy of it all. Oh, we lay it on down before You, Jesus. Until You are all things. Until You are all things. Until You are all things. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.