When Jesus Crashed the Parade- Pastor Chris Lindberg

Hello, men and women, so good to be able to speak into your life here from Life Fellowship Church into your tablet there in the in the facility that you're at. What an amazing thing that is to me. The reason why it is is because my name is Logan Williams, my TDC number was 1490218. And when I was locked up, I didn't have a tablet or I didn't have access to all of the amazing content that you guys are have available to you in the place that you're at. What a blessing that is, gosh, you guys should give thanks to him every day for that. It's it's so good. We're here at Life Fellowship and you are a part of our Life Fellowship family. We want you to know that. We pray for you. There are is a Monday night prayer group that prays for you. There's a Saturday morning prayer group that prays for you. If you happen to be in one of the facilities that we go in and you give us prayer requests, they all get laid out on the stage here and prayed over. You're important to us and you're important to me because I've been where you are. If you're in the state of Texas and I know it's all the all that comes with that. I know it sucks. I know it's it's got anxiety and worry and is this it and am I ever going to make it? I'm ever going to get out of here. But I want to encourage you, man. Use this time wisely. Use this time to dive in and to actually participate in trying to change your life. Like I discovered that it's not as easy as just come to church and it's a magic wand waved over you and you're different. We actually have to partner with God. We have to say yes to him and we have to submit to him. We have to pick up our cross daily and follow him. But man, all things are possible with God. And I just I know it's hard to believe that if you haven't experienced it, especially

if you're in a really messed up place. I know a lot of you are. Some of the facilities you're at are dark and and full of drugs and full of chaos and full of violence and all of that. But I want to encourage you. God can do anything, even in the midst of where you're at. He can use you right here, right now in the place that you're at. He's just looking for your yes. Tell your friends and family they can download the same Pando app on their phone. We just went to a Pando. It was called Revival Night. It was all of the churches and people that that participated with with Pando to give you guys content. We all got together. We had just a worship night. It was worship songs that were written by inmates somewhere and and they were they were came and performed them. So the idea was to take the revival that's happening behind the wire in some of the facilities that you guys are in and bring it to the world. It was amazing. It was awesome. You're going to see that on there pretty soon. Excuse me. So tell your friends and family, man, so they can watch the same stuff. They can experience the same messages and the same teachings and get the same downloads and revelations from God. Maybe they'll get a different one and you'll be able to talk about it. It's it's it's a really awesome thing. I just want to read some scripture over you. I was going to talk about Matthew chapter seven verses number 24 through 27.

But as I was looking at it like there's so much right before that that is so just important. And so I'm just going to read it over you and I want you to just take it in and and then we'll talk about Matthew 7, 24 through 27, building your house on the on a firm foundation or on sand. Are you on the rock or are you on sand? But I want to start back in verse 12, do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Like all that law, all that back in Leviticus, all that stuff can be summed up in treat others as you would want to be treated. It's just that simple in love, of course, with love says you can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, very narrow, and the road is difficult and only a few ever find it. Guys, that scares me. That's a scary scripture. That's saying that there's people out there, pastors out there, life group leaders out there, people in your facilities, leading Bible studies, chaplains, volunteers that come in that you look up to that are deceived, that they think they're on this road, but they're really on this wide road because it says the road is difficult and only a few ever find it. You know, is your Christian walk easy? It's saying right here, it's gonna be difficult. Have you really laid it all down? When you really lay it all down, it's difficult. When you wage war against your sin, it's difficult.

When you strive to live a righteous life, it's difficult. Verse 15, beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit. That is by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name, but I will reply. I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws. It's another scary scripture, guys. There's another translation that says, we prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and did many good works in your name. And I think about my life, we're doing some good works.

We're doing some good stuff. We're doing some things in the prisons. I'm doing some things in outreach, in the memory care facilities. I really just minister to forgotten people and put together teams of volunteers. It's an awesome thing. But if I believe this scripture to be true, there's gonna be a day where there's gonna be people like me who come before him and he's gonna say, I never knew you. Get away. Make sure you know him. My prayer is every day, man. Somewhere in that prayer is, God, I must know you. Speak to me, I must know you. I don't just want to know about you. I don't just wanna learn about you. I want to know you. It's like, I got a friend who loves LeBron James. He knows all about LeBron James. He knows where he was born, how old he is, where he went to high school, all his kids, all his whole journey. He probably knows more about LeBron James than LeBron James knows about LeBron James. But if he were to go and let's say they were in town to play the Mavericks, and let's say you saved up a bunch of money, you got that floor seat right next to the Lakers bench, right?

Where he's gonna be walking by you. You're gonna be in contact with LeBron James. And you're like, yo, LeBron. He's gonna look at you and be like, who are you? I don't know you. Yeah, you might know about me, but you don't know me. And I wanna encourage you guys to, man, know him. That's more important to have a relationship with him. And he desires that for you so much, so much. This is the scripture I wanted to actually talk about. Verse 24, anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise. Like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and floodwaters rise and the winds beat against the house, it won't collapse because it was built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my words, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. But anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obey is foolish. Like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and the floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. So what are you building your house on? I'm talking to saved people, born again believers, followers of Jesus. If you're watching this video right now and you haven't called upon his name, called upon the name of Jesus to be saved.

Maybe you've gone to church, maybe you've been baptized, maybe you've go to the Bible studies, but you've never called on his name. I want you to call upon his name. It's just that simple if you've never done that. But I'm talking to saved, born-again believers. What are you building your house on? Are you putting into practice Jesus's teachings? Like when the storms come, are you gonna stand firm? Are you going to, because that's the true test, right? Like we can all go to church and we can all do the Bible studies and we can put this facade on of how we're just good church-going people. But when the storms come, that's when we find out. That's when we find out what we've built our house on. Are you obeying Jesus's words? Are you being doers of the word or just hearers of the word? And I can take that a step further. I can be a hearer of the word. I can be a memorizer of the word. I can be a regurgitator of the word. I can just regurgitate something I heard on Pando even from some other pastor and I can just spit it out, but am I applying it to my life? When the storms come, when you get that set off, is your house gonna collapse? When you find out that something happened

to your grandmama or your mom, man, that was my worst fear. That was my biggest fear is, man, something's gonna happen to my mom while I'm locked up. Because she was old, man, and she was alcoholic and she was alone and she'd given up kind of on life. Thank God he preserved her. Now she lives with me. I take care of her and she's not alone anymore. But guys, I know that, but what if I would've got the call? What if the chaplain would've given me a lay in and I get that news? What is your house built on? How are you gonna respond? Because see, the people built on the rock and the people that built on the sand, look, they both heard the same message. They both heard the same message. They both went to open church. They both are looking at Pando. They're both hearing the same message. They both face the same storms. Guys, if you're not in the midst of a storm, most of you are if you're in the place that you're at. But there's three kinds of people. People that are in the storm, people that are coming out of the storm, or people that are about to go into the storm, like it's coming. The storms are coming on planet Earth.

And the third thing that they both did was they both built a house. So we all heard the same message. We're all facing the same storms and we're all building a house, which is our life, our Christian life. How do we walk this thing out? And so a strong life, a life built on the rock is built on obedience to Christ, not knowledge, not what can I memorize, how can I impress people with my eloquent speech play, if you will. It's the obedience. I don't know about you, but when I was locked up, see, I never, I was in prison four times and I never got out and was able to walk it out. Although I went to church, although I did all the programs, I did all the things, I didn't obey. I didn't, I wanted to just keep on living however I was gonna be living. I was still doing the hustling and the gambling and the questionable stuff, the drugs, tobacco, all that stuff, whatever you had, man. And my thought process was, okay, I'm going to church, I'm learning these things. And when I get out, I'm gonna put them into practice. When I get out, I know what to do. But man, while I'm in here, man, God, it sucks in here. I'm just gonna be as comfortable as I can. Surely God will give me a pass on that.

But when I hit the gate, I know what to do. And that's the thing is where my house was built on sand. And when I got out, I was easy prey for the enemy. I was easy prey for the girls that wanted to hook up. I don't know what it is about guys getting out of prison that just seem to be attractive to some females, but guess what? It's not church-going females that are hooking up with us. No, it's females that got dope in their purse. They got bolos in their purse. They got, you know, and I was right off again because my house was built on sand because I wasn't obedient. I had deceived myself into thinking that just because I've learned all this stuff, now I'm gonna put it into practice when I hit the gate. But here's the thing, I'd already. built the house and it was on sand. Because we all hear God's words, but the stability comes in doing it. And if you can do it in the places that you're at, you're gonna be miles ahead. Storms are inevitable, trials are inevitable, temptation is inevitable, suffering is inevitable. But you found out what foundation you're on real quick when the storm comes. And here's an interesting thing. Some of you are leaders, some of you are preaching, some of you are field ministers, some of you are life coaches and you're leaders, man.

Like there's inmates that look up to you and that's awesome, that's a great thing. But the thing about the foundation is, you can't see the foundation of the house from the outside, it's hidden. And so our foundation is, what are we doing in the secret place? What are we doing with prayer? What are we doing with humility? Are we repenting when sin trips us up? Are we being obedient? So you can't see those things from the outside, but that's what the foundation is. And so I just wanna encourage you guys to examine the foundation that you're building on. Do I need to build on a different foundation? Do I need to stop building this house? Do I need to stop the life that I'm living right now and do something different? Because when you hit that gate, it matters what foundation that you've been building on. And so I just wanna encourage you guys, man, this is the, Christianity is not easy. It's not rainbows and bunny rabbits. It takes denying your flesh. It takes denying yourself, picking up your cross and following Him and that's not easy because we've been used to doing whatever we wanted to do all of our lives. And that's what got us here.

But now that we're here, Romans eight, we can, He's gonna work it for the good. So you're in a position where you can change. It's just gonna take some effort. Father, I thank you for the men and women that you've drawn to yourself, man, that have clicked on this video, that of all the things on that tablet they could be watching, you have them watching this. That did not come from them, that came from you. And that is evidence that you are after them. That is evidence that you have left 99 and are searching for them like that woman searched for that coin in Luke 15. And so God, I thank you for that. Man, I thank you that you've called us. I thank you that you're after us. I thank you that, for your word, God. And I just pray that the men and women who are watching this right now would examine their foundations, that they would make some changes in their lives. None of us have it all together. None of us can say, yeah, man, I'm good. If we do ever say that, that should be a red flag that pride and arrogance has creeped in and that we are on sand, perhaps. And so God, I pray that you would just, your convicting spirit would just fall,

not, and I pray against and bind the spirit of condemnation, God, that no one would leave this video condemned, but that they might be convicted and that they might change and that they might realize that you wanna use them right where they're at and that even in the place that they're at right now, man, they can start right now building on the rock. And so God, I thank you. I love you. We love you so much, God. I'm just so grateful. I'm just so grateful for just your loving, gentle spirit calling us back. And God, I pray that you would just, faith would rise in these men and women, that hope would rise in these men and women, knowing that no matter what they've done, nothing handcuffs you. There's nothing that they can do to out send the grace of Jesus, that your love, grace, and mercy, that there's nothing like it. And so God, I thank you. We give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, guys. You know, I just got one more question. Whose house?

God's house. Let's give him some praise. My story starts with when I was younger. I grew up in a Catholic church. I took communion every Sunday, Lent, Ash Wednesday, like that was kinda like my foundation. But I knew who God was, but I didn't feel a personal connection with him. And my sophomore year is kinda when everything changed. I was the most distant from God. started battling with addiction and sexual sin temptations. And I just felt completely lost. Like I didn't know who he was. I didn't know what my purpose was in my life. And I was very innocent in my freshman year. I didn't go to parties. I didn't drink, I didn't smoke. When I was a sophomore, I had a boyfriend and he was taking me to parties. I started drinking, I started smoking weed. And then where really everything changed and I was like, I need to like get out of this situation. Like I miss my Bible. Like I wanna know God more is when we had sex for the first time. And I was like, what am I doing? Like what has my life became? And ever since that moment, I've agreed to like stay true to my morals

and understand that no man can love me more than God. When my friend invited me to Life Fellowship for the first time, it felt different than any church environment that I've been in. I truly felt like, wow, I have a purpose here. Like this is amazing. Like I wanna come back. I always wanna be here. And ever since that moment, I've never left. The Lord loves you in amazing ways no matter how big your sin is. And that brought me comfort of, oh, like I did it. I'm not too far. Like I can still turn back around and still have a deep and meaningful like connection with it. It's not about getting your act together. It's about a savior who meets you where you are. ♪ The words I love to say are ♪ Good morning, church. It's so good to see you all in the house of the Lord. Y'all stand up to your feet and join us in worship, amen. Come on, y'all put your hands together like this. It's amazing this morning. I'm shaking off the heaviness. I'm dancing out of my weakness. I'm throwing caution to the wind. No, I'm not ashamed to praise like this. Some would say it's foolishness,

but I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget where Jesus stood. No, I'm not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that hold me down? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And looking with the Lord as I'm, I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I've been. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. Thank God I'm free. I found the breath that never quits. No one looks as good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. No, I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that hold me down? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. And looking with the Lord as I'm, I'm never going back to the way I was. The way I was, I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I'm here, I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free You took the cross and you broke your body, you shed your blood, now the sinner can't see My debt is paid and my record is made, I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body, you shed your blood, now the sinner can't see My debt is paid and my record is made, I couldn't do it so you did it for me You took the cross and you broke your body, you shed your blood, now the sinner can't see My debt is paid and my record is made, I couldn't do it so you did it for me Where are those chains that once held me?

I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free Come on y'all, believe that Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was I'll sing, I'll dance cause I feel I'm free, I'm free Thank God I'm free You took the cross and you broke your body, you shed your blood, now the sinner can't see My debt is paid and my record is made, I couldn't do it so you did it for me Thank you Lord You took the cross and you broke your body, you shed your blood, now the sinner can't see My debt is paid and my record is made, I couldn't do it so you did it for me Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back, no I'm never going back Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back, no I'm never going back Look at what the Lord has done I'm never going back to the way I was Thank you Lord I'm never going back to the way I was We thank you Lord for freedom Freedom Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

We give all glory and honor to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords I see the King of glory Coming on the clouds with fire The whole earth shakes The whole earth shakes I see His love and mercy Washing over all our sins The people sing Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest I see A generation rising up to take their place With selfless faith, with selfless faith And I see a near revival Serving as we pray and seek We're on our knees, we're on our knees Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Come on, can you just take a minute right there and give Him glory? Give Him all of your heat and darkness And now, why don't you lift your hands in exultation to the King of Kings And let it all resound

We sing Hosanna To the highest Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like you have loved me Break my heart for what breaks yours Everything I am for your kingdom's cause As I walk from earth into eternity Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like you have loved me Break my heart for what breaks yours Everything I am for your kingdom's cause As I walk from earth into eternity Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest We sing Hosanna Hosanna, Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest

Worthy of the highest praise Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things I've seen Show me how to love like you have loved me Break my heart for what breaks yours Everything I am for your kingdom's cause As I walk from earth into eternity Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things I've seen Show me how to love like you have loved me Break my heart for what breaks yours Everything I am for your kingdom's cause As I walk from earth into eternity Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest Hosanna in the highest Can you just have a moment with you and Jesus? Just beg Him to express your heart, let Him know how worthy He is How holy He is, God there is none like Him Jesus we worship you You're so worthy to be praised We love you So worthy So worthy And all the saints and angels They bow before your throne And all the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb Of God Come on, let's sing all the saints and angels And all the saints, angels

They bow before your throne And all the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb Of God Sing, come on You're worthy of it all Come on church, you're leading, you're worthy You're worthy For from you are all things For from you are all things And to you are all things Lord you deserve the glory Come on, that's a good place to fill this atmosphere with your worship Oh, Jesus, you are worthy of our highest praise. Yes, Lord, come on, let it flow this morning. We love on you this morning, Jesus. Oh, come on. And all the saints and angels, stand by. Come on, all the elders cast their crowns, come on. All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing, you're worthy of it all. Come on, church, he's worthy of it all, come on. You're worthy of it all. For from you are all things. For from you are and to you are things. Oh, you deserve the glory. Come on, sing, you're worthy. You're worthy of it all. All of our worship, all of the praise, Jesus. You're worthy of it all. For from you are all things.

And to you, you deserve all the glory. Now, come on, release your praise into the atmosphere. Oh, God, you're worthy. Oh, God, there is none like you. Oh, God, receive our worship. Oh, God, receive our praise today. Oh, God, we offer to you our sacrifice this morning. We offer to you, God, our worship. We offer to you, God, our praise, God. You alone deserve it. It belongs to you. It belongs to you. It belongs to you. Come on, church, begin to pour out your worship. We pour it out to feed Jesus. We pour it out to feed Jesus. Come on, let it flow. Let it flow. Let it flow. We love you, Jesus. So we sing day and night, night and day. Let it arise. Come on. Day and night, night and day. Let it arise. Come on, sing it out. Come on. Let it arise to you, Jesus. Day and night, night and day. Let it arise to you, night and day.

Let it arise. Come on. Night and day. Let it arise to you, night and day. Let it arise. Let it arise. Let it arise to you, night and day. Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise. Let it rise to you, night and day. Let it rise to you, Jesus. Day and night, night and day. Come on, sing it out loud with me. You are worthy of it all. Come on, lift your voice. You are worthy. You are worthy of it all. Lord, from your humble feet into your glory. You deserve the glory. Come on, we can sing that again. Come on, I need you to lift your voice. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. You're so worthy. You're so worthy. You are worthy of it all.

For God knew. For God knew. You are worthy of it. You are worthy of it all. You deserve the glory. We bring you this offering this morning, Jesus. You deserve the glory. We bring you this offering this morning, Jesus. We bring you this offering this morning, Jesus. We break open a loyal one on your feet, Jesus We've seen the suffering We bring you this offering this morning, Jesus. We've seen the suffering Day and night, night and day, night and day since our eyes Day and night, night and day, night and day since our eyes Jesus, we love your presence I could stay here all day, but we must move on But Jesus, we won't move on until you understand how worthy you are, God You're so worthy, you're high and lifted up, Jesus There is none like you, God We get to worship you, we get the opportunity to give you praise And God, I will never let the rocks cry out for me, Jesus I will forever give you praise, God, because you alone deserve it And God, we thank you and we honor you And it's in Jesus' name that everyone say amen Come on, let's give it up for Jesus Hallelujah Amen, amen, amen Thank you, Nathan You guys can have a seat My goodness, is it good to be in the house of the Lord with you guys, worshiping this morning

Welcome to Life Fellowship Church My name's Logan Williams I have the awesome privilege of leading out the prison ministry, the outreach And man, if this is your first time here, we want to say welcome home And we mean that We mean that And if you would, just text the word NEW to 51010 So we can connect with you, we can get to know you Guys, we were never intended to do this walk alone God intended for us to be in community And so you know what, whether you're new here today or not If you're here and you don't know anyone Go ahead and text NEW to 51010 so we can get you plugged in to community Amen And if you want to get to know more about us and what we believe And what our beliefs are here at Life Fellowship Text the word GROWTH to 51010 We'll get you plugged in to the growth track Where you can discover your spiritual gifts And where you can get plugged in, serving on the dream team Right here at Life Fellowship Church I want to tell you guys about a ministry that we have the privilege of partnering with It's called Teresa's House It's a memory care facility And as you look at the pictures here Man, I don't want you to see pictures I want you to see people These are real people, real lives, real hearts The residents here, they have various stages of Alzheimer's and Dementia And that can be a very difficult season

That can be a fragile season, a lonely season But then the LF volunteers, man, we show up in that space with something beautiful With presence, we bring presence and love and compassion And we let them know, hey, you're not forgotten You're seen and you're valued and you're loved And guys, this is just the best kind of stuff We get to show up in that space Because as they sit there, man, I often try to put myself in their shoes And when we can show up and do that, it's amazing It's amazing Guys, we couldn't do it without your help We just want to say from the bottom of our hearts, man, thank you for your generosity Thank you that we're allowed You're allowing us to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus and to forgotten people We like to say at Life Fellowship, we remember forgotten people And so the ways to give are on the screen You can text the word GIVE to 51010 Or you can just simply tap the circle on the seat back in front of you And for some of you today, your next step might not just be giving It might be going It might be showing up, volunteering Guys, this is the easiest ministry to get involved with Of all the outreaches we have, it's literally five minutes down the street And so whether you're going to give or whether you're going to go I want to challenge everyone today Let's all do it Take a step. Let's take a step today to enlarge his kingdom and make much of his name. Father, we love you so much.

And we thank you for places like Teresa's house. And God, we just ask that you would take our gifts and how we show up and use that to show your love to the people who need it the most. And so God, we just give you this service today. God, we just invite you in to do what only you can do. God, have your way in this place today and we love you so much. We'll give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Prepare your hearts for the message. Neil Corcoran Featured Post Normal Network Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Word Michael C1618 Title Microsoft Office Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8 Title Microsoft Office World hydraulically writing Drawn by Michael C1618 Title Microsoft Office Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8 Hi! Happy Easter! I'm Michael C1618 and I'm here in a very special environment, almost in a doctoral studies environment that I think that you are going to really, really enjoy today's topic and our exploration of God's Word. Before we go there, I want to say a big hello to our church online family. We also have many military men and women that are deployed around the world that join with us. And a big hello to all the men and women. 150,000 of you in correctional facilities all across America. Come on everybody, would you join with me and make them feel welcome today? God bless you guys! Right on! Well, as you're pulling up your message notes that are on your Life Fellowship app, it's good to be back.

I was out the last couple of weeks. I was finishing up my schooling for my master's program. Thank God that's done. And now, this fall, I've enrolled already into my doctoral studies and we're going to go down that journey there and it's going to get fun. And so, while you're doing that, let me remind you that this is the week that has changed the world. It's Easter week. And for us, we're going to begin our remembrance and our celebration on Good Friday. The way I've said it has been like this for years, that Good Friday was a good day for us and the worst day ever for Him. And it's a day that I would really encourage you to make sure that you are a part of. So, both our North Campus and McKinney Campus will be here for our two services. And we're going to bring you before the foot of the cross. We're going to help all of us sit in our own shame, our own sin, and recognize the incredible sacrifice and price that Christ paid for every single one of us. And then, the very next day, we're going to kick into some Easter celebration services that I believe we're going to raise the roof in this place of worship and praise. It's going to be unbelievable. And I'm asking you to help us out with a few things. Number one, why don't you bring somebody with you? I know that my wife and I, Tatum and I, we've already got six couples that do not attend church that are coming with us for Easter services. So, I'm just asking you, go out of your way. Bring somebody with you. In fact, studies show that nine out of ten people, if you just ask them, would say, yes, I would love to. In fact, two of the couples that we're bringing with haven't been in church in over 12 years. Give God something to work with. In fact, it's going to be so much fun preaching because I'm going to see these folks that are going to be in service, and God's going to touch their lives, and it's going to be incredible. And so, bring somebody with. And then, I'm going to ask you, please consider attending one of our non-optimum service times. So, this is our Saturday night service at 5 o'clock, or our early morning service on Sunday, or our 12-30 service, and give us some more space for more people. And then, when you pull onto the campus, help us by not parking on our church parking lot. Help us by parking up and down Henneman Way, or maybe in Right Now Media, or there's actually even space available at the soccer fields, 800 parking spots that are out there. And then, when people come in, if you look at somebody and they look like they do. Don't know where they're going

That is now your guest I'm deputizing you to weave a web of inclusion and bring them close Love on them pray over them because people aren't looking for a friendly church They're actually looking for a bunch of friends So make them friend make them feel like a part of this which they actually are And then on that day is a very special day because we're believing god for a four hundred thousand dollar kingdom builder offering So there's only really two special offerings that we take annually One's during the christmas season and one's now And it's never something that we do with an arm twist. In fact, we ask people to give cheerfully generously And so this is going to be used to begin the process of us Expanding the parking situation that we have at our church There's a lot of sundays that people are they pull onto our campus and because they can't find a parking spot They actually pull away And I think it breaks the heart of god Because I know it breaks my heart And so we want to we want to expand that and as well We have a vision and we'd love to begin to engage the process with architects and contractors to begin to expand this auditorium back that way where we can take our 550 seats that are here and Maybe we can get 1100 or 1200 seats in this auditorium. And so This offering is going to begin to be used towards that and other things that are identified here. And so I'm just asking you would you consider i'm looking for 400 people that will give a thousand Some of you can give 25 000 some of you can give 5 000 some of you can give 50 It's not equal gifts It's equal sacrifice and so tatum and I we're coming ready to give

Next week and i'm going to challenge you to join with us In this in this incredible incredible opportunity that that we have Today I want to bring you a very special palm sunday Message as we begin holy week now the challenge that I have in bringing a message like what i'm going to give you today is that I'm speaking to a bunch of professional christians That you've heard the message of the of holy week so many times That you approach a message like this with critique And we've lost the awe and the absolute wonder Of what happened on that week? In fact, i'll explain it like this. I don't know about you. But for me personally I love Listening to birds. I love watching birds Come on, how many else are like that? I mean you love you could watch and listen to a bird all day long Like I I can sit on a park bench. I can tell you what a blue jay sounds like I know what the sparrows sound like now again. I I am a real man. I do mountain bike When I can And I told the last service and I kill bunnies in my front yard um I'm, i'm kidding. I haven't done that in a long time. God is Is is setting me free? But I love watching in fact many of you have probably heard some of the bird sounds in some of our worship Because I just said gosh, I would just I would love to hear that But how many of you all know there's a big difference between a bird in a tree? And a bird in your high school biology lab in the dissecting tray You know, I remember in high school they had that the wings opened up and the rib cage was cracked open and you could see

all of the organs One of them you appreciate And the other one you analyze In fact, here's what i've learned. It's this if you dissect something that was meant to be experienced notice this you actually end up killing the wonder of it Because some things were meant to be experienced like some of us we like to die To digest god's word and we get into the itty the nitty-gritty and we pull open the greek and the hebrew and we digest it and we we analyze it and there is a place for that, but there's also a place to just appreciate it See, it's the reason why god gave you two brains You do know that you have two brains A lot of us we only ever use our right brain. We analyze everything But there's another side of your brain that god gave you it's the left side and it's the creative side in who you are And I believe that as christ followed him we ought to be the most creative people that are on this planet because we are connected in with the creator. And so today I'm going to ask you to use your sanctified imaginations. And I want to take us back into that day of Palm Sunday and I want to hopefully unearth some things that are gonna bring the awe and the wonder of it back to you in maybe a way that you've never seen before. Now, in order for us to do this, in order to understand Palm Sunday, we actually have to go back to the birth of Jesus. Because in order to understand something, you actually have to go back to the beginning of it.

In fact, I'll say it like this. I think that every one of us deserves to know your birth story in great detail. So I want you to think about this and if you haven't done this for your kids, maybe make this an exercise to do this week. Maybe ask your parents about yourself. How about questions like, what was the weather like when I was born? Who was in the room? Who held you first? Did anybody cry? How about this? How long was the labor? Were you one of those that came early? Or did you make everybody wait? What did people say when they first saw you? Did they already know your name? How about this one? What did your dad say when he saw you for the first time? How about this? What did your mom have to endure to bring you here? That's your birth story. It's not random. And I think that wrapped up in the seed of your birth story is your destiny. In fact, here's what I've discovered, that anybody that has had a difficult birth, a lot of times there's destiny on their life because the enemy has been working overtime

to stop, to thwart that child from being birthed into this world. And so if you ever get into the place of your life that you just feel confused, you don't know which way to turn, just life feels just so gray to you, go back to the beginning. Go back to the moment that God called you, that he spoke your name, that he put that vision, that passion, that destiny on the inside of you. Because wrapped up in your origin is your true identity. So case in point, in the late 70s, early 80s, Harley Davidson was, they almost filed bankruptcy. And what had happened was is that Yamaha and Honda were outselling all of their motorcycles. And so they made this crazy, ridiculous move. They got rid of their CEO, they brought a new guy in, and he decided to take Harley Davidson back to their roots. He did some investigation to find out what was it that made Harley Davidson great and could they return back to what it was. And here's what they discovered. They discovered it was built on freedom, American craftsmanship, brotherhood. And when they began to take these elements and others and infuse it back into who they were, all of a sudden the company began to explode in growth. I mean, we're seeing the same thing happen right now with Starbucks. They overexpanded way too fast,

they got out in front of their skis, and so they lost their quality, they lost their in-store experience, and so what did they do? They hired their former CEO, Howard Schultz, to come back. And he made a bold move. He shut down all the stores in America for about four or five days and did retraining with every one of the employees to help teach them about what it was that made Starbucks great. And they began this journey to return back to their original roots. And so that's what I'm gonna do today. We're gonna go back to the beginning. And so I'm gonna begin to ask you some questions today. Some of them are gonna be rhetorical. I'm gonna find out how well you know your Bible today. And I wanna take us on this journey that I think you're going to learn something great. So let me start by asking this. Where was Jesus born? Come on, everybody. He was born in Bethlehem. Okay, so where was Jesus raised? He was raised in Nazareth. Okay, so let me ask another question. Why was Jesus born in Nazareth? in Bethlehem. So we know that the Bible, people say, well it's because there was a Bible prophecy that said he had to be born

in in Bethlehem. Okay, but why was he born in Bethlehem? And there are people, and I heard some that said that it's because Joseph had to go there for the census. Right? Well that tells me why Joseph had to be there. It doesn't tell me why Jesus had to be there. Because remember, this was a patriarch society. So only the man had to show up, and if the man was there, that's all that was needed. Other people say, well Jesus was born in Bethlehem because Mary was there. And I'm like, okay, you're right. You can't have a baby without the mama, you know what I'm saying? Like that's kind of important. But why was Mary there? Why was Mary? Again, she didn't have to be there to be counted because it was the patriarch society that they lived in. Some people say, well it's because Joseph wanted her there so that he could be a part of the birth of Christ. But you've got to remember, in the very first century, the man would have never been a part of that birthing process because the woman would have been considered unclean for a long period of time, at least seven days. So why was Mary there? In fact, I'll ask it like this. What woman, in her right mind, would travel 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem on the back of a donkey, nine months pregnant? Think about how hard that must have been on Joseph. Right? She would have been exposed to all of the elements, the wild animals. In fact, history records that the path that they took was riddled with all kinds of bandits and thieves and robbers that would take

people off of their thing. A lot of times they would kill them, they'd murder them. Why in the world would she ever travel 90 miles on the back of a donkey in a situation like that? Are you ready for this? It's because she was safer with Joseph than she would have been with her own family. See, here's what we know. We know that Mary grew up in Nazareth. It was a small town of about two to three hundred people. And Mary's family, all of her aunts, her uncles, cousins, parents, everyone, they were religious zealots. So they didn't believe with handling issues with grace and in privacy and dealing with the person. Instead they dealt with it on a public platform so that they could bring shame. So there was a thing called the Mosaic Law. And in the Mosaic Law, what it stated is that if there was adultery, if there was blasphemy, if there were sexual issues, sexual things, that person should be stoned to death. That person should be killed. And we know that Mary's family all believed in this. In fact, what they would have called this is honor killing. And they would have killed you one of two ways. They either would have pushed you off of a cliff or they would have stoned you to death. And we know that her family all believed like this because, y'all remember, years later after this, Jesus who grew up in Nazareth was there. He was teaching. They thought that he was speaking blasphemy against God. And what did they try to do?

They tried to push him off the cliff, the people of Nazareth. So here's Mary. They don't know anything about the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon her. They don't know anything about the fact that she has now been impregnated by God Himself. So all they see is a young girl in her early teens that is now pregnant without being married. Their knee-jerk reaction, gut response, according to the Mosaic law, would be to kill her. So Joseph comes along and he says, hey baby, you're actually safer with me than you are with your own family. Think about that for a second. So she goes on this journey all the way to Bethlehem not knowing who's going to be on the other end when she gets there. When they get to Bethlehem you do know that there was no such thing as an inn, right? There was no innkeeper. Right? In fact, in the first century, most all of the homes had either a guest bedroom or they had a guest section of the home that they lived in because they were the kind of people that they had unreasonable hospitality. So when family members or guests came, they had a place for them. But because of the census that was happening in that city at that time across the whole nation, everybody had converged and there was no place for Mary and Joseph. And so they went to the only opportunity that they had, which was the stable. What you do know was a cave. So what we find is this, that the town of Bethlehem was this small little community of about a thousand people. In fact, when we sing the song, O little town of Bethlehem, there's a reason why we sing that, because it was so small.

Contrast that with Jerusalem, which was around 50,000 people, 50,000. But I come back to this question, why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Because to understand Palm Sunday, you have to understand this. So what's wildly fascinating to me is that the Jewish people, they called Bethlehem the house of bread. What was the terrain of Bethlehem? It's these rolling, sloping hills. And what did they grow on these rolling, sloping hills? Wheat and barley. Wheat was the rich man's grain. Barley was the poor man's grain. Now, are you ready for this one? Do you know what the Arabs called Bethlehem? They called it the house of blood, the house of meat. Because what was being raised on those rolling, sloping hills full of wheat and barley was all kinds of sheep, and they weren't just any regular sheep. They were sheep designed specifically to be sacrificed in the temple. See, why would the temple need all these sheep? It's because the whole system of worship to them was a very sacrificial system. So everything that they did surrounded around us, sacrificing for the covering of our sins. And if you could not afford a sheep to purchase, you could actually bring God an offering of a pancake. And it was made out of wheat or barley. And all of it, all of it came from Bethlehem. Now the shepherds that were in Bethlehem were the lowest of the low class of all society. I mean, many of these guys, I mean, they were smelly, they didn't take baths, numbers of them were former convicts. However, the Bethlehem shepherds were the highest of the lows because they were the ones that were raising the only sheep that were allowed to be sacrificed in the temple. And so one of the most dangerous moments in a little sheep's life is when it was born.

So I want you to just picture this because there's all kinds of commotion that is going around. A lot of times the older sheep would step on the little baby sheep and it would kill them. And so when there was a spotless little lamb that was born, these shepherds would scoop it up off the ground and they would wrap it in swaddling clothes and they would place it in an elevated position so that it is out of harm's way. A lot of times like a little manger. Do you not find it interesting that when the angels showed up, the words that they said to the shepherds were, you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Like what is that? Are you ready for this? That's shepherd talk. That's shepherd language. And the minute that the angels would have said that, all of these shepherds would have immediately understood what that meant. Because they knew that these little lambs that were wrapped in swaddling clothes, they were raised for one thing. They were born for one purpose. And that was to be sacrificed. So every day in Jerusalem, the temple there would sacrifice. Two lambs. But on Passover, the city swelled from just 50,000 people to over 200,000 people. And they would sacrifice tens of thousands of lambs. And if you could not afford a lamb, again, you could give that pancake of wheat or barley. But they decided that they wanted to do something that was a little bit more convenient for all kinds of different people. They said, instead of people bringing their lamb from their little farm, let's make some money off of this. Let's turn this into a fundraiser.

Let's turn this into an opportunity that we can bring some wealth into the temple. So they began to sell these lambs. So I want you to think about this. Where did they put tens of thousands of lambs? Where would they have set up a stockyard like this? Well, it's very clear in Scripture that they took that. They took a section of the temple that was designated just for the Gentiles to come and to worship and to pray. And they set up these massive stockyards there. Do you remember when Jesus, He created that whip and He overturned these money changers' tables and He drove them out? I'm going to tell you what He was doing. He wasn't upset by the fact that they were selling things in the house of God. He was upset by the fact that they were keeping people out, Gentiles like you and I, non-Jews, from being able to come and to worship and to praise God. So there are tens of thousands of these lambs that are in these temple stockyards. Let me ask you a question. How did they get there? Well, there was a thing that took place every single year on the day after Sabbath, five days before Passover, and it was called the procession of the lambs. And so what would happen, the day was actually what we call Palm Sunday. There would be this procession of two to three miles of these spotless, white little lambs that would be drawn into the city, and the people would line up on each side of the street as these lambs would come in through what was called the sheep gate. And people, they would take their palm branches and they began to cheer. I could just see dads with their families and saying, hey, hey, hey, hey kids, you see that little lamb right there? That's going to be our lamb. That's going to cover our sins for what has been committed in this past year. And in the middle of this procession of two to three miles of these lambs, guess who crashes

the party? Jesus. He actually comes riding in on the colt of a donkey as people begin to celebrate. See a lot of us, we were taught that Jesus kind of walked through the doors of the gates of the city on his little donkey and everyone just lined up and celebrated Jesus coming in. No, he was a part of the procession of the lambs. The one who has come from Bethlehem, the house of blood, the house of bread. Do you see the Eucharist in that, the symbolic nature of communion? The only place that would have been acceptable for sacrifices to be presented in the temple, it was Jesus. The one who was the one and final true sacrifice in whom the people would soon, they would reject. You see, the people showed up to Jerusalem a few days before Palm Sunday, before this procession of the lamb because they had to get situated so that they could pick out their lamb because you had to own your lamb three days before you sacrificed it. Because you could not sacrifice something that you did not love. And so they would go down to the stockyard, I could see the dad is the patriarch of the family and takes the family down and they pick out their little lamb. And this is real, what they would do is they would take these little name tags and they would put them on their lamb. I don't know, I told Tatum, I said, I'd name ours Fluffy. I'm saying And they would treat that little lamb like a king for three days They'd play with the lamb They feed the lamb anything that it wanted they made sure that all the lambs needs are are taken care of and Then on the day of Passover, which is the day that we call Good Friday The dad would have taken that lamb and put it up on his shoulders So our family come on kids and they would have walked to the temple

when they finally got in he would take it off and he'd present that lamb to the priest and Before the priest would accept the sacrifice he would ask this dad He'd ask him one question One question He would say do you love your lamb And if the kids were goofing around behind and if the man really didn't love his lamb He could not answer truthfully. So the man would ask it again. The priest would ask it again a second time In fact, he would ask it three times And if you could not honestly say that you love your lamb after three times you would be rejected You would be rejected I don't know if that jogs your memory of another story in the Bible There was a guy his name was Peter And You know on the night that Jesus needed him the most He denied him three times One of the times was to a 12 year old little girl the rooster crowed and I mean Peter, I mean he the Bible says that he ran from that place in and he wept bitterly because He felt like such a failure And he did what a lot of us do when we feel like we've disappointed God He went back to his old ways Went back to his old life He ran from God So He went back to becoming a being a fisherman Way beneath what it was that God had put destiny on his life to be but after the resurrection

Peter was out in this boat fishing with John and guess who came looking for him It was Jesus He began to walk on that's on the side of the Sea of Galilee It calls out to Peter and John. He's like, hey boys y'all catch anything And when Jesus said that it John's eyes opened up and he recognized that it was the Lord but Peter's eyes were not open. He did not see it In other words You need to make sure everybody that you've got some people that are in your boat in your life that can see Jesus when you Can't because this world will sparkle There's things around you that will try to grab your attention and you need some people in the boat Then when you are distracted when things have not gone your way and you're still running from God You feel like a failure. You've got some people that are saying hey, there's Jesus and When Peter saw him scripture says he took off his cloak He dove into the water and started swimming to the shore and I can just see John kind of rowing He gets on up and Jesus has got this little fire cooking He's got some fish that are cooking on there. He's cooking up some breakfast He says hey Peter, why don't you have a seat my man? And Jesus looked at Peter and he asked him He asked him a question Now in the Greek language, there's a number of different words For the word love we just say hey, do you love me? And I I love you. What's up, man? I mean I say I love you and then I told my wife I love her and then I told my kids I love them. There's different kinds of love, but we only have one word In the Greek The word Eros it literally means romantic love Then there's what's called phileo. It means this brotherly love

Then there's a third kind and it's agape it means unconditional So Jesus is around this fire and he looks over at Peter Instead of reminding him and telling him what a horrible person he is, instead of telling him what a disappointment and an embarrassment, he looked at the guy that was feeling pretty bad, the guy that felt like such a failure, and he looked at him and he said, Peter, do you agape me? Peter looked at him and said, Lord, I phileo you. So Jesus asked him again a second time, Peter, do you agape me? Peter said, Lord, you know I only phileo you. See, Peter knew in that moment that he was about to be rejected. But what I love about the Lord is instead of making Peter come up to his level, he stooped down to Peter's and he said, hey, Peter, do you phileo me? And Peter said, yes, Lord, I phileo you, I phileo you. See, I'm going to tell you something. There's not one of us that can rise up to God's level, because we've all missed it. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. But I'm thankful that we have a God that when we couldn't get up to his level, he came down to us. The one that was from Bethlehem, the house of blood, the house of bread, the lamb of God that was sent to take away the sins of the world. And you might have walked into a service today. Maybe you've been running from God. Maybe you feel like a phileo. Maybe you've just gone back to your old ways, your old methods, your old things. And yet I'm here to tell you that the Lord himself is walking into this service and he is calling your name. He is stooping down to your level. So I'm going to ask all across this place, would you please just stand to your feet? And I'm going to ask every one of us just, if you would, why don't you just close your eyes and just draw a sacred circle around yourself.

Create a sacred space. And I want you to see Jesus coming into the city of Jerusalem on that donkey. I want you to see him with the biggest smile on his face because the Bible says he came in because of the joy that was set before him. Like he endured the shame. He endured the suffering. Because of you. Because you were on his heart. It wasn't nails that kept Jesus on that cross. He could have spoke one word and all the angels of heaven would have rescued him off of that cross. No, the reason why he endured it all was because of you. And today he's not come to shame you. He's not come to call you a failure. He actually wants to sit down with you and have a breakfast with you. And when you couldn't get up to his level, he wants to stoop down to yours. So come on with eyes closed, hands uplifted. I want you to see Jesus, the King of kings, and lift your voices and worship him. I cast my mind to Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me. I see his wound, his hands in sin. My Savior, Lord, that cursed the truth. His body bound, entrenched in sin. They laid him down in Joseph's womb. The entrance sealed by heavy stone. Messiah still and all alone. Come on, church, let's sing, oh, praise the name. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Praise His name forevermore, for endless days we will sing Your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God. On the third, at break of dawn, the Son of Heaven rose again. O trampled death, where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King.

O praise the name of the Lord our God. O praise His name forevermore, for endless days we will sing Your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God. O praise the name of the Lord our God. O praise His name forevermore, for endless days we will sing Your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God. O praise His name forevermore, for endless days we will sing Your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God. Come on everybody, come on. With heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're here today and you are away from God, I'm going to tell you that God is not mad at you. He's walking on the beach. He's coming after you. You might have turned your back on Him. You may feel like a failure. You may feel like you've disappointed Him, but He has never given up on you. He can redeem whatever mess that you are in, and He can set your feet upon a rock. The enemy is a liar. Jesus is true, and today is your moment. If you're ready to surrender your life to Him, come on, pray this prayer with me. Just say, Jesus, I give you my life. I give you my heart. I ask you, God, you would forgive me of my sin. I declare, God, that you are my Lord. I ask you to change me from the inside out. In Jesus' strong, mighty name, I pray. And the people of God, come on, can we just put our hands together and just celebrate those that have made that decision for Jesus today. Praise God. Well, hey, everybody, I'm telling you, we're just kicking off Holy Week. It's going to get better and better and better. I want to invite you, if you need prayer today, our prayer teams are going to be here in the front. We'd love the opportunity to pray over you in whatever situation that you're walking through. Let me bless you as you get ready to go today. The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his great, gracious, kind face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. In Jesus' strong, mighty name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Love you, everybody. God bless you. I'll see you on Easter weekend.