Palm Sunday

I wanna invite you to stand to your feet as we begin to sing praises to our God. Come on, let's put our hands together like this. We love you, Lord, and we testify together. ♪ I've got a reason, I've got a story ♪ ♪ I'm gonna tell the world all you've done for me ♪ ♪ I've got a new song, I've got a new praise ♪ ♪ From every mountaintop, I'll sing of your ways ♪ ♪ Join in, join in the sound of His people crying out ♪ ♪ Lift up, lift up a praise to the Savior shouting loud ♪ ♪ Sing unto the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The mighty one, the mighty one who saves ♪ ♪ Sing great is the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The name above, the name above all names ♪ ♪ Sing unto the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The mighty one, the mighty one who saves ♪ ♪ Sing great is the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The name above, the name above all names ♪ Come on, if you've got a reason. ♪ I've got a reason, I've got a story ♪ ♪ I'm gonna tell the world all you've done for me ♪ ♪ I've got a new song, I've got a new praise ♪ ♪ From every mountain top, I'll sing of your way ♪ ♪ So join in, join in the sound of His people crying out ♪ ♪ Lift up, lift up a praise to the Savior shouting loud ♪ ♪ Sing unto the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The mighty one, the mighty one who saves ♪ ♪ Sing great is the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The name above, the name above all names ♪ ♪ Sing unto the Lord forever ♪

♪ The mighty one, the mighty one who saves ♪ ♪ Sing great is the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The name above, the name above all names ♪ Come on, would you begin to lift up praise to our God? Lord, you are forever worthy, so we sing to you. ♪ I won't hold back what you want ♪ ♪ God, here's my song and nothing less ♪ ♪ You're worthy of my all ♪ ♪ God, you deserve all the praise ♪ ♪ I won't hold back what you want ♪ ♪ God, here's my song and nothing less ♪ ♪ You're worthy of my all ♪ ♪ God, you deserve all my praise ♪ Come on, let's sing to Him. ♪ Sing unto the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The mighty one, the mighty one who saves ♪ ♪ Sing great is the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The name above, the name above all names ♪ ♪ Sing unto the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The mighty one, the mighty one who saves ♪ ♪ Sing great is the Lord forever ♪ ♪ The name above, the name above all names ♪ Thank you, Lord, for salvation found in your Son, Jesus, our Messiah. Come on, if you believe that He has saved you and made you new, can we lift up a shout of praise unto Him? Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah!

Come on, why don't you clap your hands together just like this, here we go, hey! Lord, we thank you for your goodness today and we declare how good you awesome and you are. We sing. ♪ Why would I ever doubt your goodness ♪ ♪ You are the only one who's never failed me ♪ ♪ I've been a witness to your greatness ♪ ♪ I've seen the mountains move and tombs made empty ♪ ♪ You do more, so much more than I could imagine ♪ ♪ And right when I see the storm brewing ♪ ♪ You do something incredible ♪ ♪ You're my refuge, you're my way through ♪ ♪ You are faithful to do something incredible ♪ ♪ All my help is in your presence ♪ ♪ I can trust that you'll do something incredible ♪ Come on, if you believe that, won't you say this? ♪ No doubt about it, you are faithful ♪ ♪ Your word is true and it has never failed me ♪ ♪ I serve God with more than able ♪ Your name is strong and mighty You do more, so much more than I could imagine Right when I think You're done moving You do something incredible You're my refuge, You're my way through You are faithful to do something incredible All my help is in Your presence I can trust that You'll do something incredible Come on, if God has ever exceeded your expectations, can you give Him a praise right here? What I've been asking and what I'm thinking You will exceed it, I will believe it What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming You will exceed it, I will believe it What I've been asking and what I'm thinking You will exceed it, I will believe it What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming You will exceed it, I will believe it Right when I think You're done moving You do something incredible

You're my refuge, You're my way through You are faithful to do something incredible All my help is in Your presence I can trust that You'll do something incredible You're my refuge, You're my way through You are faithful to do something incredible All my help is in Your presence I can trust that You'll do something incredible What I've been asking and what I'm thinking You will exceed it, I will believe it What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming You will exceed it, I will believe it What I've been asking and what I'm thinking You will exceed it, I will believe it Yes, You will God What I've been seeking, the things I'm dreaming You will God You'll do something incredible Somebody that's seen it with your own eyes, can you give Him praise right here? He is a faithful and true God. He's always been good. And I don't know about you, but I want to always serve Him with my whole life. If that's your heart today, can you lift your hands to heaven and just begin to bless Him right here? Lord, we are set apart for Your glory. Our lives are available for You. For You, Holy Spirit, have Your way in us. And as we make that commitment day in and day out, what our soul says to You is You can have it all, Lord Every part of my world Take this life and breathe on This heart that is now Yours Come on, if you know you're His today, won't you say that to Him? Say, you can You can have it all, Lord Not just a portion, but every part Every part of mine Oh, God Take this life and breathe on Breathe on this heart that is now We're inviting you, Jesus We say, you can have it

You can have it all, Lord Oh, every part of my world God, take this life and breathe on Breathe on this heart that is now Yours We open ourselves to You, Father, and say You can have it all, Lord Every part Every part of my world Oh, take this life and breathe on Breathe on this heart that is now Yours Now I know we've gathered into this place today with great intention And that intention is to encounter God in a real way And so if that's your heart today, why don't you begin that encounter right now with surrender Telling Him that every part of you belongs to Him My household, my life, my mind, my spirit, my soul It's all Yours, God I'm inviting you to do what you would in me today There's no greater pleasure than that have to serve you. So won't you lift your voice and declare that today. We say there is no greater call than giving you my all. I lay it all down. I lay it all down. There is no greater love, no higher name above. I lay it all down. I lay it all down. There is no greater call than giving you my all. I lay it all down. I lay it all down. There is no greater love, no higher name above. I lay it all, I lay it all down. Oh God, we lay it all before you Lord, for your glory, for your pleasure God, and your way. If you're willing one more time to allow the Holy Spirit to do what he would in you, I dare you to throw those hands up high in this house and let's sing with all of our heart, you can have it all. You can have it all Lord, you can have it all Lord. Every part, every part of my world. Oh Lord take this life and breathe on, breathe on this heart that is now yours. You can have it God, you can have it all Lord. We're set apart for your glory God. Every part of my world. Oh God take this life and breathe on, breathe on this heart that is now yours.

If you're his today and no one else's, can you give him a mighty shout of praise in the house. Hallelujah. This is a sanctuary for the presence of the most high God and the church said amen, amen. Well God bless you, it's going to be an amazing time in the presence of God today. Why don't you take a moment to greet your neighbors on your left and on your right, tell somebody hello that you haven't seen all week, encourage somebody, and we're going to be right back to continue with service in just a few moments. God bless you all. Welcome to Faith Church Orlando. Here's a look at upcoming events. Hey Faith, we're so excited about all God is doing here. As our church continues to grow, we're making a few updates at our Curry Ford campus to help make parking easier and smoother for everyone. We are asking that all staff and volunteers park in the lot at the football field during Sunday services, but don't worry shuttle buses will be running to bring you to and from the building. Lot 3 will now be reserved exclusively for accessible parking and a valid car tag will be required to park there. Accessible parking will still be available in designated spaces throughout the other lots. For those visiting Faith for the first time, lot 2 is reserved just for first time guests. However, the overhang drop-off area will still be available for everyone. Don't worry, if you're not sure where to go, our parking team will be out there ready to help you through. If you would love to help us and serve on the parking team, join our guest experience team. Just fill out a volunteer application and you can be part of helping people feel welcome from the moment they arrive. Church, thanks for being flexible as we are going to try this over the next three months and see how it goes. So thank you for being flexible as we continue making room for more people to encounter Jesus and God's love. at Faith Church Orlando. Exciting things are happening here at Faith. Here's a look ahead. We encourage you to connect, grow, serve, and reach here at Faith. So stay connected through the Faith app or our website. Have a blessed week. Amen. Anybody feel like connecting, growing, serving,

reaching, any of those things? All of those things? Praise the Lord. God bless you. Me and Pastor Israel here, we just want to kind of give a little bit of the heart behind what we're trying to accomplish with our parking lot. We just don't want there to be any deterrent to somebody encountering Jesus. And sometimes the parking lot can be just that. People pulling on and they a lot of times don't know where to go. And so one of the shifts that we've made is lot five was going, what used to be our volunteer parking. Now we're moving our volunteer parking back to the back. Yep, to the football field. Yes, because lot 5A is actually a great parking lot for everybody. So if you're not parking back in the football field, then maybe lot 5A is going to be a good option for you, but there should be some space there. But what else do we need to know about this? Yeah, so just a couple practical logistic things. So we're asking all of our staff and volunteers, especially on the day that you're serving to park out in the football fields, we're going to have shuttles bringing you to and from the football field

and drop you off in lot two. So you're actually going to walk less as a staff and volunteer. You'll be further from your parking spot. Yeah, we measured it. The football field is only 7.9 miles away from here. So it's not too bad. It's not too bad. So, okay, a couple of things. So then there's that. We're asking, we're going to have shuttles going on all day long. And so as you've seen, if you go out right now and you drive around, there might seem, there are some spots, but as people are driving around from the outside, it'll look like there aren't any spots. And so it's really important that we really all kind of join in and lean in on this. And so staff and volunteers in the football field will have shuttles. Lot three, we have handicap parking. If you have a tag that you have, or you have a license plate with a handicap parking or accessible parking, you'll be able to park there. Obviously it'll be first come first serve, as well as all the other accessible parking that we normally have all throughout our lot. Yeah, and we're beefing up our parking team to help.

Again, we're just, we want to make it as great of an experience when someone first pulls on the property. A lot of times people will pull around and they'll be in lot one, two, and three. And we'd be trying to get in there and thinking that that's the closest place to park. But if you'll go all the way around, five and six are going to be very, very close parking lots. And so we'll have teams out there to kind of help facilitate that and help kind of show which lots have empty space. So if somebody wants to help out with that. Yeah, if you want to join our parking team and be out there with us, we actually have a team of about 11 people right now. They're actually out there kind of doing a walkthrough because we're launching this in the next few weeks. And so they're kind of doing a walkthrough, kind of feeling it out, how it's going to look. But we're asking, please, if you know somebody or you are someone that's willing and able to help, you can actually meet me after service right here in the front. I will make sure that I get you your next steps. But I want to make sure, look, my wife, she knew how hard we've been working on this. She goes, you know what? Put me on that team.

So I was like, okay, Rach. So man, join my wife, join some other ladies that are already on the team and other men that are on that team, please. We need that team to grow to help serve you guys. And the Bible says parking lot team gets the biggest mansions in heaven. In all of heaven. A little, one last detail. It'll start for April 19th. April 19th. So Easter Sunday, it'll be like this. Then on April 12th, which is two weeks from now, it'll be normal. April 19th. Yeah, there's a rental back, which is why we have to skip one day on that. Correct. But yeah, thank you for helping us out on that. We just want to kind of make you all aware of kind of why we're trying this for a few months. And then if we need to make some shifts, we will make some shifts and we'll just continue to make it better so that people can have a great experience and encounter Jesus when they get here. Come on, we're willing to do whatever it takes. Amen, amen. And I want to say thank you. And the reason why people do encounter Jesus around here

is because of your faithful giving. Can we just give God praise that we can be a part of giving to the Lord? And we're going to have a moment right now of giving of our tithe and kingdom builder offering. Of course, our tithe is our first and best. You hear me say all the time, it fuels the ministry and vision of the local church. It's why we can have services like this and multiple Easter services and outreaches. It's because of your first and best tithe giving. And so I want to say. thank you to that, but also Kingdom Builders, and that's our above tithe giving, and it fuels missionaries and missionary ministries all over the world. Like this month, we're talking about building the ministry and the churches in Indonesia, but Kingdom Builders not only builds churches in Indonesia, but it also builds churches in Orlando. We're building a church at the Narcoossee campus, and I'm telling you, we need a miracle over these next couple of years to be able to fund that building, and that happens through your Kingdom Builder giving, and so if you've never stepped in to Kingdom Builder giving, I just encourage you to do that, and as we get ready to give, I just want to have you do something. Why don't you open up your phone and unlock it, and so just grab your phone and unlock it, and then you'll see these discs that are on the seat in front of you. I just want you to try it, so just put your phone next to that disc, and then there it goes, and then a thing pops up. You just click that, and it's going to take you to—it's really the easiest, simplest, fastest way to get to the giving portal. It's also a quick way to get to as a guest. It's the way to kind of register with us as a guest, and so it's right there, so I just want to encourage you all to try that today, and since you have it open, you might as well just go ahead and join us in giving while you're there. Amen. All right, let's pray. Pastor Israel, will you pray over this offering and ask God just to bless us as we do this? Yes, Lord, we thank you for the seed, and we thank you for the sower. Lord, thank you that there have been faithful givers, and there are going to be givers that will give for the first time, Lord, and I pray

that you would increase our faith in you, increase our trust in you, Lord, as we obey you. Lord, I pray that everything shall be added unto each and every single one of us as we put your kingdom first, as we advance your kingdom. Lord, I pray that this would be an act of worship unto you for all the good things that you've done for us, Lord. We love you, and we thank you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. I'm back. We're actually going to go into another time of worship and communion, and so if you don't have a communion cup, and you would like to partake with us and participate in the communion, we actually practice open communion. So if you're a believer, and you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you want to partake, now would be the time. If you don't have a cup with you, or you didn't grab one on your way in, make sure you wave at us. Let our ushers know that you need one. We need one up here in the front, and a few down here in the front as well. Please let us know we don't want you to miss this moment. Thank you. So today, if you don't know, is Palm Sunday, and it marks a week from the resurrection, a week from the moment where everything actually started to make sense to the disciples, and the week that actually means that we also resurrect with Him. If the resurrection doesn't happen, guess what? Your life can't be changed. If He didn't raise again, He'd raise up from the dead. You can't be raised up from the dead. And so today marks a week from the day of resurrection. And so actually, if everybody could just stand up, as we partake, you can peel back that first layer and grab the bread. On this very special week, where in just a few days, we will be on this, we'll be on the list, on the calendar, on the same day that Jesus, Jesus' body was broken for us. Today, we get to remember that His body was broken for us, that He experienced the pain, and the shame, the shame, and the embarrassment, the physical brokenness for your sins and for mine. And if not for His body breaking, and if it's not for Him taking on that suffering that we, and that punishment that we deserve, you and I cannot be made right with our Heavenly Father. And so, as I pray for the body, I want you to think of everything that he has healed you from, everything that he has, the punishment of all the things that you should have been punished for, the brokenness that he experienced for all the brokenness that he restored you from. Just take a moment before we pray to think about that. Lord, we thank you for your broken body, which was broken for us to be reconciled with you,

Lord. Thank you, Lord, because as a result of the suffering that you took on, Lord, we can be made right with our heavenly Father. Thank you for your sacrifice, Lord. Lord, we do this to remember you and your sacrifice. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You can partake. And the cup, this represents the blood that was shed. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. There's no forgiveness of sins. Without the shedding of his blood, there's no healing. Without the shedding of his blood, we would actually have to continually be sacrificing for the forgiveness of our sins, but his life was so perfect and his blood so beautiful and so sufficient that all we need to do is believe on him that was sent, on him who died, on him who resurrected and shed his blood for you and for me. That's all we got to do is believe on him. It's because of that. And so this blood, we remember the new covenant, the new promise that he will give you everlasting life. He says he is the bread of life. And so with this blood, he promised you everlasting life, that you shall not perish. Oh, death, where is your sting? Because of the shedding of his blood. And so before we partake, I want you to take a moment and thank him. Say thank you, Jesus. Lord, we thank you. We thank you that you shed your blood, that you gave yourself entirely to us, not in portion. You did not withhold your love or parts of your love, Lord. You gave yourself entirely. You poured out your blood, a perfect sacrifice for us, Lord, Lord, that we might be reconciled

to you, that we might get to know you, that we might get to behold your glory, that we might get restored and renewed, Lord, that you didn't just cleanse us of our sins, but you restored us a new life, Lord, thank you. We do this in remembrance of you and the shed that was spilled for us, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may partake. So in that posture, get ready to join us in worship and surrender yourself entirely to your heavenly father. You are good, God. Thank you, Jesus. Salvation is found in you, Lord. Thank you, God, that we can testify because you have saved us. And sing. When I was lost and all alone, your presence was where I found home. You were there and you're here right now. Through it all, he has been there. In every high, in every low, you never left me without hope. You were good and you're good right now. If you've witnessed his faithfulness, can you sing? I've witnessed your faithfulness. And I've seen you bring life within. So I'll pour out my praise again. You're worthy. God, you're worthy of all of it. Your promise is never failed. I've got salvation. ♪ Stories I'll live to tell, so I'll pour out my praise ♪ ♪ And give your word, God you're worthy of all of it ♪ Thank you Lord that you humbled yourself for us. ♪ You left the throne and chose the cross ♪

♪ Laid down your life to rescue us ♪ ♪ The Savior then, the Savior now ♪ And he defeated death, hallelujah. ♪ But even death was not the end, you conquered hell so I could live ♪ ♪ Resurrecting then, resurrecting now ♪ Can we sing that with big praise Lord? ♪ Resurrecting then, resurrecting now ♪ ♪ Oh, I've witnessed your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I've seen you bring life within me so I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ Your word, God you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ Your promise is never vain, I've got stories I'll live to tell ♪ ♪ I've got stories I'll live to tell so I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ Your word, God you're worthy of all of it ♪ Come on in your own words, can you begin to lift up praise to our God? Lord, you have been faithful in every single way, God. We love you, we pour out our praise to you over and over again because you alone are worthy of it. So we can sing. ♪ You're good and I've witnessed it, come on ♪ ♪ You're strong and I've witnessed it, He's constant ♪ ♪ You're constant, I've witnessed it and I'm confident ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ You love it, I've witnessed it, you healed us Lord ♪ ♪ You heal it, I've witnessed it and you save it ♪ ♪ You're good and I've witnessed it and I'm confident ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again ♪ ♪ You're good and I've witnessed it, oh you're strong and I've witnessed it ♪ ♪ You're constant, I've witnessed it and I'm confident ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again, you love it, I've witnessed it ♪

♪ How you save this Lord, you heal me, you heal it, I've witnessed it and I'm confident ♪ ♪ I'll see it again and again, I've witnessed your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I've seen you breathe life within, so I'll pour out my praise again ♪ ♪ I'll pour out my praise again, you're worthy, God you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ Your promises never fail, I've got stories I'll live to tell, so I'll pour out my praise again, you're worthy, God you're worthy of all of it ♪ ♪ To the broken I'll witness it, to the hurting, I'll witness it. And to the lost, I will witness it and I'll tell them this, I'll tell them what I've witnessed, to my family I'll witness it, to my life I'll witness it. ♪ ♪ I'll witness it, to my city I'll witness it, to the nations I'll witness it, and I'll tell them this, I'll tell them what I've witnessed. ♪ Come on, how many of you have witnessed God do something incredible in your life? He's faithful, He's good. And I love a line in this song that just says, I will pour out my praise again. How many of you know He's worthy of your praise again today? Yes, you gave Him praise last week or yesterday or even an hour ago, but guess what? He's worthy of that praise again today. So can I just invite you across every location right now, would you lift your hands one more time and just express that worship and praise and adoration again to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. God, you are worthy of it all. God, we could spend every moment of every day for the rest of our lives giving you praise and adoration and it still would not be enough. we love you and we give it to you because you are so deserving and we love you thank you for your presence in this place and we worship you today as your people together in Jesus name come on say amen again put your hands together yeah all right you can have your seats and i am so glad that all of you are here today is anybody glad to be in the house of god say amen yeah so let me just take a moment right now and greet our campuses that are joining us right now our red bug lake campus our michigan street campus our narcoossee road campus and this service is always also being streamed right now from the central florida reception center and so come on across all of our campuses let's put our hands together one church and we're excited to be here let me just take a second to and welcome some special guests that we have with us maybe it's your first time you've never been with us at faith at any of our locations and and you'd say you know what this is my first time i am a guest we want to clap for you we want to go crazy for you so if that's you would you kindly just raise your hand and come on church let's give it up for all of our first time guests god bless you welcome today and uh just do us a favor keep that hand lifted up until one of our ushers sees you and we have a booklet we just like to place in your hands and if you already uh if you haven't already uh talk with someone from our guest experience team and uh giving us some information you can unlock your phone like was mentioned earlier in the services and just tap the seat backs and that's a great way for us to connect with you and then really quick church i have some special guests with uh that are a guest of mine today my mom and dad are here and they're uh just make them feel welcome also uh the colmans are here lifelong family

friends and so give them a hand as well love you guys uh respect and love you all so much and i just wanted to acknowledge them today as well well is anybody excited about what is coming up easter weekend i thought so so let me just quickly go over this um friday night here at the curryford campus 7 p.m good friday service uh and then saturday 7 p.m also here at curryford we have our services as well and then on saturday across all of our campuses we have our kids easter egg hunt and so this is a great chance for all the kids to gather together or if you've got some kids of the neighborhood you want to invite or some kids in your family that you want to make sure that they're here this is a great opportunity for that and then sunday we have services a crazy schedule over all of our throughout all of our campuses and we're excited about that and then i do want to also highlight something that's happening one week from today at 2 p.m here at curryford and that is faith espanol is anybody excited about our very first spanish service that we're going to be launching and the team has been getting ready for that pastor marcos is ready to go and so this is amazing i remember pastor john johnny sharing a stat not long ago about the percentage the likelihood of someone coming to church if simply invited by a family member a friend a co-worker and get this he said 82 percent of people would be somewhat likely or likely to attend if just simply invited so this is the greatest opportunity probably uh of all the time of year to invite somebody to church is easter weekend and so we can grab some of these cards on the way out and be active in that because we believe god is going to do something incredible something powerful next weekend and the church say amen to that amen well let's go to the lord in prayer right now and ask god's uh just anointing upon this word and we'll dive in today god i thank you for your church i thank you for what is about to take place throughout all of our campuses and the days to come god we thank you for all that that represents and we give you the honor and the praise for it i pray that god you're anointing upon this word today that god it just would be illuminated in our hearts and our minds as we as we try to learn and grow in our faith and we'll give you the praise for it in jesus name amen well today is a special day today is what we recognize as palm sunday and so especially to the church and kind of the church calendar this is an important day and this is the day that we remember jesus riding in to jerusalem on a donkey and this is the that was the very first palm sunday and he was he was recognized as the king and it's the start of holy week or many people call it passion week and it's all the that are leading up to Resurrection Sunday

or Easter Sunday, and it's powerful. But I wanna read this story together of Jesus coming to Jerusalem as king. This is found in Matthew chapter 21, verses one through 11. Here's what the Bible says. As they 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, just say, the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away. And this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, which was this. Say to daughter Zion, see your king comes to you. So again, it's this revealing of the king, and he's gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, on the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on, and a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches, and that's where we get this idea of the palm branches and Palm Sunday.

They spread them on the road. The crowds went ahead of him, and those that followed shouted this, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, who is this? The crowds answered, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee. And as I was thinking about that story, it is packed with so much symbolism and meaning, but if you just read it and you don't really dive into the context, you'll miss a lot of important aspects of this story. And so to kind of help illustrate, how many of you are New York Yankees fans in the house today, anybody? Yes. All right. I'll forgive you. I'm pretty sure the Chicago Cubs are God's favorite team. Okay. Anybody with me, Cubs fans? All right. I know Pastor Cody at Narcoossee, you're a Cubs fan. You're cheering right now, I can feel it. But if you've ever been to a baseball game and maybe your team is down late in the game, there's something that people do,

fans that are just kind of outrageous and just all in, they'll take their hat and they'll turn it inside out. And it's known as a rally cap and they'll kind of do it like this. And then they'll place the hat on their head and literally they're sitting there cheering their team on or they'll put it on backwards like this. And usually it's a row of them and everybody's just screaming and cheering. Anybody seen that before? Okay. A few of you. How many of you, if you saw that at a baseball game, you're like, I have no idea what that means, right? Because if you missed the meaning or that they're believing for their team to come back, like this is an important moment. Does it actually do anything? Yes, it does. I mean, I'm pretty sure it does because I've done this before. No, I'm kidding. But if you miss the meaning, you won't understand the moment. And when you read through this text that we read, there's so much symbolism. Palm Sunday is one of those moments. If you miss the meaning, you won't really grasp the moment. So I wanna unpack this a little bit today

because for centuries, prophets would repeat the same promise. In the future, one day, a king is coming. And it was like always sort of in future. They were prepared for it. They were ready for it. But it was always like one day, the king is coming. And so for century after century, this was what was spoken to the people. And so after a while, I mean, they probably got tired of hearing it a little bit. And so they're just going, yeah, we've heard that before. And they're looking for this one day that the Messiah would appear. But it hadn't happened yet. But then in this story is where the transition starts to take place. Because it was no longer like, oh, one day Jesus is coming or Messiah is coming. It started to transition to the idea that Jesus is literally just outside the city. And Jesus is coming into the temple. Jesus is coming into the city. And so it began to create a stir among the crowd. And people began to gather along the road. And they cut the branches. And they laid down the coats and the cloaks. And how many know if that happened today, HOA would be sending letters in the mail to all of us. But it was okay back then somehow.

But they began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In other words, you know what? This thing that was prophesied for so long, for centuries, now it's coming to pass. And no longer is it he's coming one day. But all of a sudden it begins to shift. And then they start exclaiming this. The king is here. Now how many of you are glad that Jesus is here? Jesus came as the Messiah. Like the prophecy was fulfilled. Yeah, Jesus is here. And he didn't just come to Jerusalem to appear. to us just for a moment. No, it meant so much more than that. He came as king, and what it does is it reveals who he is, and what it does, it reveals what he came to do, and so what does that mean for us today? I'd say this, Jesus's arrival means that the king is here to bring peace. Matthew quotes from the prophecy, from Zechariah, behold, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey. What does that mean? Why is this detail in here about what kind of animal Jesus rode in to this city on? And again, it's filled with a lot of symbolism and meaning. This moment was fulfilled prophecy. Palm Sunday was not random.

It was, again, prophecy unfolding, and so for 500 years, they've heard this message, and then when Jesus appears to the people, it was not on a war horse. It wasn't in a chariot, but it was him riding on a donkey, and the Bible says in another text that it had never been ridden before, which is really a miracle in and of itself, but the donkey symbolized peace. It symbolized peace for you and I, and so Jesus deliberately chose this donkey, and that's what kings would do. Kings would choose different animals for different purposes. So, for example, if the king chose a horse, that would symbolize war and warfare and a conquering king, but Jesus is gentle and riding on a donkey, and what that means is he came to bring peace, and I know what you're thinking. You're like, okay, does that mean Jesus is a hippie because Jesus had long hair, and he's throwing up the peace sign, like I'm a peacemaking king. Is that what Jesus is? No, that's not what it means at all. It's actually that he came to make peace between us and God. Now, I want you to imagine this with me. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but I heard it's amazing, and it's on my bucket list.

One day, we wanna go there. It'll be fun, but imagine a canyon or a large cavern of some kind that's just this pass that you can't get across, and you're on one side, and then you see God on the other side, and you know you wanna be with God. You know you wanna have a relationship with God, but you can't get there, and everything that you try in and of yourself almost makes it feel like you get further away from God, and so you're trying to do the right thing, and that's not working. You try to be a good person, and that's not working. You do charitable things, and that's not working, and so you're doing all these things that are good, but yet you still can't be in right relationship with God, and here's the good news. That's where Jesus steps in as the peacemaker, reconciling us with God, and so he comes in. Jesus lays down his life. How many know he's the perfect sacrifice of all, right? And he stretched his arms open wide, and guess what? He became the bridge. He became the bridge. You couldn't earn that. That's a gift that God gave you. Salvation is a free gift, and guess what? He became the bridge, and now we can have access to God. Is anybody thankful for that today?

That's what it means to say, oh, there's a separation, but God allowed Jesus to be tortured, and suffer, and die on my behalf so I could be in right relationship with God. Jesus came to make peace between God and sinners. He became the bridge, and through him, what was separated is now brought together. He didn't just tell us about God. No, he actually made a way back to him, and that was through the cross, and that's good news. Are you thankful for good news today? That's what the gospel is, right? The gospel is good news, but there's even more good news. Well, let me first say this. Have you ever wondered why we call Good Friday Good Friday? Because when you start to just look at all the reasons why we would call it Good Friday, it's hard to populate that list. You're like, wait, this is the day that we recognize that Jesus suffered, and Jesus died, and he was tortured, and crown of thorns was on his head, and all this stuff. Like, this is good? How is this good? But we understand the bigger picture, don't we? That there was that price that had to be paid, and we were lost without him, and so here we are in our desperation, hopeless, and without any type of hope in our life, and then we recognize that this is the moment that Jesus came to pay the ultimate price.

That's when we go, oh, God, I don't celebrate the fact that you were tortured. I mean, that breaks my heart, but I'm thankful for the sacrifice, because of that sacrifice, I can. and I can be free and I can be whole and my life can be put back together. Oh, okay, I get it now, that's good news. But again, there's more good news to the story. How many know Jesus is coming back a second time? Jesus is coming back and the Bible describes this moment when Jesus comes back a second time for the second coming and it's different than him riding in on the donkey the first time. Revelation describes the type of animal that Jesus is riding when he comes back the second time. It's not a donkey, Revelation says it's a white horse. How many know he's coming back as the conquering king? Right? Revelation 19 describes that moment. His eyes are like blazing fire, he wears many crowns and on his robe and on his thigh is written king of kings and lord of lords. And so yeah, the first time he came riding on a donkey, the next time he comes, he will ride on a white horse. The first time he came, he came in humility. The next time he comes, he will come in glory. The first time he came, he was rejected by many. The next time he comes, every knee will bow, the Bible says.

The first time, he was crowned with thorns. The next time he comes, he will wear many crowns. First time, he stood silent before the accusers. The next time, he will rule with authority. The first time he came, he was mocked as king, but the next time he comes, he will be hailed as king of kings and lord of lords. And I'm so thankful for that, that we serve the king of kings and the lord of lords. That's why he came, he came as king and to give us hope and make peace between us and God. Secondly, Jesus' arrival means this, that the king is here to receive worship. And what I mean by that is, Palm Sunday marks this moment where he starts to receive publicly the worship of his people. And so before that time, there were seasons where, in examples, that he would say, it's not time yet. So there was this suppression of people wanting to respond and wanting to tell the entire city or the entire region about all the amazing things that Jesus had done, but he goes, no, no, no, not yet, you're not quite there yet. And so for example, it says here, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, be clean, immediately he was cleansed of leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, see that you don't tell anyone. Now, can you imagine if Jesus cleansed you and you were a leper and your hand was all messed up and your body was all messed up

and all of a sudden he heals you and you're whole and you're well? How hard it would be to then keep all this adoration and public declaration to yourself. You'd wanna go tell your family, you'd wanna go tell your friends, you wanna get everybody around you to say, look at what God has done, look at what Jesus has done in my life. But he goes, no, no, no, not yet. Now's not the time, not quite yet. So there's this suppression of the worship and the public praise. Another example is when Peter recognized him as Messiah and Jesus strictly warned them. He said, don't tell anybody that I am the Messiah. It's not time yet. Another example is after the transfiguration. Says in Matthew 17, nine, he says, don't tell anyone what you have seen until the son of man has been raised from the dead. That's when Jesus allowed Peter, James and John to get this glimpse of who he is and his true glory. So can you imagine how hard it would be to keep all that down? And yet on Palm Sunday, it's different. Jesus is saying, okay, now's the time. I can accept publicly this worship. And so that's how we know

that now he's publicly claiming authority and he's publicly claiming his identity and he's revealing himself as the king. And people are worshiping him and waving the palm branches and putting their clothes down in the road. And I would just say this, never forget who it is that you're worshiping. You are worshiping King Jesus. Amen. You know, I love that we serve a God that is close to us and we don't have to somehow put all these fancy words together, but we can talk to God like he's our friend. You know what I'm talking about? Like he's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And we have somebody who we can just go through life with. And if there's a hardship in our life, guess what? We can run to Jesus just as we are. And it's amazing. And I love that. But there are times in our life that we also have to remember that there is a king that is the ruler of the entire kingdom. And when we approach him, We don't just approach him like a friend, but we can approach him like the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

And remember, oh, guess what? Jesus, you hold the keys to the kingdom in your hand. Jesus, you rule with authority. Jesus, you are the one that I can turn to no matter what I go through. So in response to that, the people are crying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven. It was this mix of praise and worship and public adoration to King Jesus, but it was also a plea for salvation. And the word Hosanna just means save us now. And so the Pharisees didn't like this very much and they told Jesus to rebuke the people. And Jesus said this, if they keep quiet, what's gonna happen? The very stones will cry out. How many of you know we are created to worship our King? We're created as worshipers. And now we are in a season where he receives the worship of his people. In other words, this moment could not be stopped. The King had arrived. And that's what we do through worship. We lift our hands and we surrender in honor. This is this outward expression of saying, God, you're so good. And I know across all of our campuses just a few moments ago, many of us, if not all of us,

had our hands lifted in worship. Why? It's this outward act of saying, God, I surrender. God, you're worthy. A physical expression of surrender. We use our voices and we sing and we declare who God is. Like the psalmist writes, sing to the Lord, bless his name. Proclaim his salvation day after day. So it's not just music, no, we use our voice and we sing and we celebrate who God is. We even clap. How many of you know we clap a lot around here? Right, let's just practice right now. We can clap. Yeah, we do it a lot. It's a biblical form of when we gather together worshiping God, we clap our hands. All you nations, shout to God with cries of joy. So worship is not just how we feel about God, it's how we respond to who he is. It's not just an internal feeling. Can you imagine if our worship leaders got up on our platforms, at our locations, and said, now it's time to worship God. And they just stood there like this the entire time, stoically. And said, is everybody just thinking about God? I mean, there's an appropriate time for meditation. There's an appropriate time for getting still and silent before the Lord.

I'm not saying that. But there is something about being led in worship where we're reminded, you know what? It's biblical to clap your hands. It's biblical to lift your voice. It's biblical to put your eyes on him and give adoration to the king of kings and the Lord of lords. That's what God is calling us to do. Express that to him. Some people say, well, pastor, I just worship God on the inside. And I would just say, well, at least let it leak out a little bit, okay? Just a little bit. Worship is based on the throne and the throne is never empty. Jesus is still king and Jesus is still reigning. True worship is rooted in the unchanging reign of God. Listen, when things are going good, how many of you know our God reigns? When things aren't going good, how many of you know our God reigns? So we can be like David who says this, when life's going well, I'm a worshiper. When life's not going well, I'm a worshiper. In other words, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be on my lips. Isn't that awesome? I will bless the Lord at all times.

Good times, bad times, I will bless the Lord. Why? Because that's what I'm created to do. It's not contingent on my circumstances or my environment. No, I'm gonna worship you, God. Jesus' arrival, last thing, I'll close with this, means this, the king is here to advance his kingdom. Jesus didn't just come to be seen and just recognized and worship in that moment. He obviously came to save the world but also to build his kingdom on this earth. And so the kingdom advances through simple obedience. And I wanna just point this out to you in this story. Before the parade began, there was an assignment and Jesus simply told two disciples, he said, go to the village ahead of you, you will find a donkey there. So go untie it and bring it to me. That was kind of the, that was the assignment. And before any of the fanfare, before any of the waving of the palm branches or anything like that, there was this simple assignment. And as I was preparing for this, I was just reminded. this, that God wants to advance his kingdom using people like you and I. Sometimes we think, oh, that's reserved for the person that stands on the stage and communicates publicly or preaches the word of God, and that's true. But guess what, he advances the kingdom

through everyday people just like you and I, where he would say, no, I'm assigning you something, and sometimes that assignment looks small, and you're thinking to yourself, all I'm doing is going down and untying a donkey, like, what is the big deal? But yet, those simple acts of obedience, when assigned to us by God, often have an eternal impact, don't they? So we could say, oh, is it a big deal if I feel like God is calling me to be active in this church and I stand at the door as a greeter, all I'm doing is, and you can fill in the blank, open up the door, all I'm doing is shaking people's hands, all I'm doing is smiling. But listen, if God calls you to do that, you better do it, right? Because those small acts of obedience, what does it do? It accumulates with everybody else and their small act of obedience, and guess what happens? Man, the kingdom of God charges forward, and we see the church expand and the church grow, that's what God wants us to do. So if you're helping someone park their car, or if you serve in student ministry, or you're giving to kingdom builders, or praying for someone at the altar, or you're inviting a friend to church, all these things matter when it comes to advancing the kingdom of God.

And I was reading this article one time about a pastor that did something pretty bold. He was communicating to the church, and he said, church, next week, I'm gonna call a no-show Sunday. And what I want you to do is, if you are a leader, if you are a volunteer, and you serve in our church, then I want you to stay home, and this pastor said, it's gonna be called no-show Sunday. Now, I asked Pastor John if he was okay with this, he said, no, shut it down, we're not doing that. This is just an example, okay, everybody be here next week. But as I was reading this, I was like, what is his point? What is going on with this? And his point was this, we're gonna see what it's like, what kind of impact that has on our church if people that are doing all these small acts of obedience stay home. And so, as I read the story, he said that that Sunday came, and people were trying to get into the church parking lots, and normally they would have people out there directing traffic, and so people were frustrated because they couldn't get in, and then they got out of their car, and they're running late, and nobody was there to open up the door and greet them as they came in. They didn't know where to take their kids, and they came into the service, and it was like bare bones, and the volunteers that served on the teams up in front of people, they weren't there,

and the lyrics weren't on the screen, and the entire experience was diminished, and then it opened the eyes of the people. Oh, guess what? There are people all around serving every single week, and they don't get the praise for it, they don't get the recognition, but how important is that in advancing the kingdom? And I just wanna encourage somebody today, just because you're not visible, just because you don't stand on an elevated platform does not mean you're not valuable. God may just say, hey, listen, go untie that donkey. Okay. Go invite your neighbor. Okay. Join this ministry team. Okay. And all we are is just a vessel that God works through, again, to advance his kingdom. He is the king. Now, we become the servants, and we're just like, Jesus, whatever you want me to do, I wanna advance the kingdom. Why? Because we wanna see people reached. We exist to help people encounter Jesus, not just Jesus, King Jesus that can transform lives. Amen? Amen.

Let's do this right now. Why don't you bow your heads and close your eyes at every location. I'm gonna pray over you. God, I thank you for all that you're doing through this church. Jesus, we remember today you appearing and entering a city, and people praised you, and people worshiped you, and they acknowledged you, and we're grateful for that. But Jesus, it's so much more than that. God, we choose to worship you with all that we are. We choose to give you our best, and we tell you, God, whatever assignment that you lay on our hearts, the answer is yes. God, we wanna be obedient to you in the mighty name of Jesus. Jesus' name. With every head bowed and every eye closed right now, I'm just gonna ask this question because I know that there might be people here, and You do not have a right relationship with God right now. Like you stand outside of that right relationship. And as I, maybe even as I talked about this canyon that was between you and God, that's how you feel. You feel like you're a million miles away from God. And I have good news for you today. Listen, Jesus came to be that bridge for you. He came as a peacemaker.

He came to offer his life, his very best for you so that you could have your sins forgiven, your sins washed away, and you could be in right standing with God. What a beautiful story. And that could be applied to your life. You could walk out of this place different than you came in. If you don't know Christ today, or maybe it's been years since you've been in right relationship with God, we wanna take a moment and pray for you today. So when I count to three, if that's you all across this room, you need Jesus. You need to make him the king of your life, the Lord of your life. Now is your time right here on this Palm Sunday. I'm gonna count to three. One, two, three. Lift your hand if that's you. Amen. Thank you, sir. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just leave your hand up just for one more moment.

God bless you guys. Thank you. And the risers. Awesome. People responding saying, I need Jesus today. Awesome. Church, as quietly as you can, would you stand to your feet? And here's what we're gonna do. No one leaving yet, but what I wanna do is the team is gonna lead us, and they're gonna sing this song in just a moment. And there are people nearly in every section that raised their hand saying, I need Jesus today. And how many know we as a church, we celebrate moments like that, where people are coming to Christ. And so we are cheering you on, and we're believing for God's best over your life, and we're praying for you. We're praying for God's best over your life. And as they begin to sing, we're gonna invite you to come. But also, I want you to think about this. If the King of Kings is here, that means something for us. That means that Jesus is also here for your anxiety. Jesus is also here for your healing. Jesus is also here for any fear that you might be experiencing in your life,

or a need that's represented, or maybe you need a miracle in your life, or you're going through a financial struggle. Listen, we wanna pray for you and pray with you as well. If the King is here, he's here for you in those ways too. And so prayer team, as the band begins to lead us, why don't you come up. If you raise your hand, or you need prayer for any area, why don't you make your way forward at this time. ♪ His heart is now yours ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, you can have it all, Lord ♪ ♪ Every part of my world ♪ ♪ Take this life and breathe on ♪ ♪ This heart that is now yours ♪ We're gonna sing it again. If you need prayer, just slip to that aisle and make your way to this front. ♪ You can have it all, Lord ♪ ♪ Every part of my world ♪ ♪ Take this life and breathe on ♪ ♪ Breathe on this heart that is now yours ♪ While you're still making your way to this altar, I wanna encourage you to do so. Church, would you extend your hand in this direction as we pray? God, I thank you for the life change that's represented. When we call on you and when we recognize you as king, God, you can transform us and change us from the inside out. And I pray that that would take place in so many lives.

God, the situations that are represented here at this front, God, I pray that you would meet every single need. For God, those that are struggling, I pray that you would just bring peace over their life and God, that you would give them the hope that they need and the provision that they need. And we thank you. And we come against every attack of the enemy that wants to steal from us and lie to us and destroy us. Pray your blessing upon your people. In Jesus' name, we pray today. In Jesus' name, we pray today. Here's what we're gonna do as we close today, church. I'm gonna ask Pastor Israel to come and he's gonna close this out. But there are gonna be, think about this, thousands of people on all of our campuses in the coming days. So many people are going to give their hearts to God and their life is gonna be changed. You're gonna hear the gospel message. What a great opportunity. And we want to be the type of people that if Jesus says, hey, small act of obedience, why don't you do this? We want our answer to be yes, amen? So we're gonna pray. Pray as we close out that that would be the case, that we would respond even this week in that way. So God bless you. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness

and for your goodness, Lord. Thank you that you've charged us to go and be obedient to you, my God. I pray that as we obey you throughout this week, that people would be transformed because of our acts of obedience, Lord. Lord, that the invitations that we would have, Lord, would be followed by your spirit, Lord God. Lord, that we would not go just with hollow words or hollow kindness, Lord God, but with a kindness that's followed by your spirit to transform someone's life, Lord. Lord, I pray that you would be with us, bless us as we go through this week and as we prepare for a harvest that's coming next week, Lord. We love you and we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Before you head out, I wanna remind you, there's gonna be some Easter invite cards on your way out, also Easter egg hunt cards. As you head out for invitation and if you're interested in serving on the parking team, please, you can meet me down here. I wanna tell you all the information about how you can help serve on this new team. We love you guys, see you next week. Big Easter Sunday, it's gonna be incredible. Make sure that you're there, bring somebody with you. It's gonna be absolutely incredible.

And also, Faith Español, 2 p.m. next week. Thank you guys, God bless.