Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church Podcast. If you are seeking a closer relationship with
Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you. Thank you for joining us today.
This is Passion Week, right? This is Passion Week and we're gonna be tapping into that today. If
you could turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 19. Wow, that was such great worship. Wow, I mean,
I love being up here here and all of you sing. There's something just so raw and passionate about
hearing people crying out in like a kind of a combination of gratitude, of desperation, whatever
is happening in you here today, you could just cry out and sing out to the Lord and He wants to
meet your needs. He really does. I mean, wouldn't you attest to that? How many needs has He attended
to you and have redeemed them completely? And He always wants to be doing that. I just, those
songs really just resonated even about what the message is about today. Praise the Lord. And
so we're gonna, we're gonna pray and thank the Lord for speaking today through the Spirit
and the Word of God and that He would do around about anything I would say that wasn't what He intended.
And I believe that the Lord is gonna use His Word to really pierce all of our hearts
and get in deep to what needs to be taken out. That's wrong thinking, wrong belief systems,
or even just an overall attitude that isn't from Him, but more importantly infuse what is meant
to be in us, you know, because really, you know, when we read the Word in the Holy Spirit,
man, magnificent things happen, don't they? We are transformed. So praise the Lord. I did want to
mention our dear brother, the Indiana Jones of the Gospel, Bill Devlin, PB is in the house.
We're gonna have to have him come out and tell us what's going on lately, but he just came
back from Nigeria. So make sure if you know, Bill, he's gonna be here for the celebration,
aren't you? Afterwards? Sure. Yeah. Sure. And then he's gonna stick around all day long and pray for
every needs that yet, right? No, okay. But anyway, now make sure you say hello to PB Pastor
Bill Devlin. He's just a wonderful man of God, has an adventurous life and very inspiration
on the things that he has experienced and where he has gone to bring the Gospel. And it's exciting.
So make sure you meet PB Pastor Bill. And so let's pray, Father God, we thank you that you are here,
you are in our midst, Lord God. And we believe something special is gonna happen in this place
today because your word is here, your spirit is here, your saints are here, everything, the
conditions are perfect, Lord God, for you to move powerfully within us to transform us. And Lord,
we want to walk out of here better than we walked in, Lord God. We want to walk out here of here
more transformed in your likeness so that we would just glow and radiate your glory to
everywhere we go. And people say, what is the joy? What is that all over you? It's the glory of God.
So Father God, we ask you to do amazing things here in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So it's Palm Sunday
and it's the beginning of Passion Week. And when we look at the triumphal entry, which we're
going to be looking at and the day after as well, some of it. But it's really the beginning of
a very, very passion filled emotional week for Jesus Christ. I mean, if you think of every
possible range of emotions that he's going to go through, this roller coaster of emotions,
it's just unfathomable that he's going to go through all of this, but stay the course knowing
what his mission and purpose is to die for us, to become our sins on the cross. So all of our
sins die with him and then he can rise again and give us new life. He can ascend to heaven
and pour down his Holy Spirit upon every believer that we can be renewed and walk
as a new creation, something that the world has never seen, a hybrid in a sense of Godliness
and yet still flesh and bones. It's just amazing, isn't it? So Jesus had that on his mind when he
was going through this entire week. He wasn't going to be thwarted or diverted from what he was
here to do. And there's going to be a lot of things trying to tempt him away from his
mission to die for us and rise from the dead and to give us new life. And as we look at this,
we can really connect to it ourselves, because we were made in God's image. We were made in his
image. When he made us, he made us like him, creative. He's a creator. He made us in his
image. We are creative. He made us relational. He made us with a will, which always fights his
in the flesh, doesn't it? But he also made us with emotions, because he has emotions. He made
us like him. He has all the same emotions except ones that are of course bad, but he's
even jealous. You're reading the word. He's jealous for us, a good jealous. He's really,
the word is zealous. He is zealous for us. He's passionate about you. He loves you. He had love
before we had love. We only love because he first loved us, right? I mean, he is loving. What we
have is because he has it. And even good in us is because he gave it to us. So we can
really connect with the emotions of Christ, because he went through it for us, as us in a sense, right?
In fact, we read in Hebrews 4.15, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. So, you know,
he was tempted in every possible way. Things we probably don't even read about, seduction and
other things. He went through it all, because he has those emotions. And not only that, but he went
through it as one of us. In other words, leaving some of his glory behind, some of his imperviousness
to sin. He made himself vulnerable to sin and yet didn't sinless. Isn't that amazing? He came in
the form of as you or I to do it on our behalf because we can't. He went through all of it.
And think about this. He went through all of this, what we're about to read and beyond,
on our behalf, so that when we go through things, because now we have his spirit living in us,
when we go through the ups and downs of life, the victorious times, the pleasant and happy
times, when we go through all of those times, we can go through those things as him, because he
lives in us. I love this verse 2 Corinthians 4, 7 and 19, but we have this treasure in earth and
vessels, speaking of this power and passion and spirit of God, that the excellence of the power
may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side. This is such an anthem kind of
when you're going into a battle, you just remember these verses. We are hard pressed on
every side, yet not crushed. We're not going to be crushed, right? We live in the power of Jesus
Christ. Nothing is going to crush us. In fact, the word says we crush the head of Satan beneath
our feet, right? Nothing's going to crush us because the power of God is in this earthen
vessel of yours, right? We are perplexed but not in despair. I mean, I'm not going to be puzzled
by this. Of course, these things will happen. Jesus even promised, in this world you will have
tribulations but take heart for I have overcome the world. He has overcome the world in you.
Isn't that awesome? Persecuted but not forsaken. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
He is always with you, right? Even when you're going through things, wait a minute, I have the power of
God upon me and in me. I'm going to get through this and I'm going to get through this better than I
went into it. Isn't that amazing, right? Struck down but nothing can destroy us, right? Nothing
is carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. In other words, all of the sins, all the
ways we would react to every up and down in life, all those things in the flesh that start frothing,
there's the word frothing like the ocean does, frothing up, right? The ways we would act
towards those things died with Christ, right? That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in your
body, right? So Jesus went through all of these things as us but without sin so that we can go
through all those same things as him. Isn't that amazing? So we're entering into this passion
week because there's a lot of passion and so today we're going to look at really
three emotions that Christ must have had going through these things and yet he responded and
carried himself in such a way of keeping the eye on the prize. Augusta, is that you back there?
Praise God. I don't know if many of you know this but the Lord just protected Augusta from a very
tragic car accident and she's actually here with us today. I hope that was okay to say.
It's too late but praise the Lord, yes. Thank you Jesus, right? Amen. I'm like that can't
be her. That's her. Wow. I mean the angels of the Lord just encamped themselves around her and said,
you ain't touching my precious, precious daughter Augusta Allen and she went through that accident
and the angels are like, nope, not today. Praise God. Hallelujah man. I'm sure you have
stories of your own like that, right? Isn't it amazing? God is so good. He knows each day
that he has planned for us before they were ever lived, right? And he knows what he wants to do
through our lives. We are his workmanship creating Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared
in advance for us to walk in them, right? So praise God. Thanks for coming Augusta.
Wow, you're an inspiration. You really are. Praise God. So you ready? Let's dive in. We're
of the Lord and the anger of the Lord. So let's take a look. Luke 19 verse 28.
When he had said this, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem and it came to pass when he drew
near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mountain called Olivet that he sent two of his disciples
saying, go into the village opposite you. Whereas you enter, you will find a cult tied
on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you,
why are you loosing in it? Thus you shall say to him because the Lord has need of it. Now,
Matthew mentions that there was actually a donkey and the cult and so that's a little
difference version of that gospel. When you read it, don't be puzzled.
The gospels really compliment one another. They don't work against one another.
But anyway, I just want to show you a little map so you can get your mind
around what, where Jesus was traveling and what was going on. So this is the first map we'll
look at. This is Bethany. So Jesus was coming up and he came to Bethany, right? And this is
where Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived, right? Not long before that, probably weeks, Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead. He said, Lazarus, come out. Take those grave clothes off of him, right?
And so he went by and he probably picked them up on the way, you know, let's go. We're going
to Jerusalem, you know? And it's funny because not only were the Pharisees looking for an
opportunity to kill Jesus, but they were looking for an opportunity to kill Lazarus
because they wanted to destroy the evidence that Jesus could actually raise the dead, right?
And then they're coming along. And this whole thing, by the way, is called the Mount of Olives.
That's the west, I mean, that's the east side. That's the west side, right? And so he's coming
up along here and then he pulls up and he's coming towards here. And we have another map
too just to beat a dead horse. There's another map, okay? And he's coming along. And down
along here is actually the Garden of Gethsemane. We're not going to talk about that today,
but Jesus would actually go right past the very garden that he would be praying to his father
and says, you know, take this cup away if at all possible, but not my will, but yours be done.
That's the Garden of Gethsemane, which means olive press because this whole mountain was filled
with olive trees, right? Still is to a degree. So Jesus is approaching and he tells them,
go into the town, get me this colt and the mother and bring them back up here because I need to
ride and we're not going to get into the whole symbolism of this and Zechariah and other
places in the word that talks about this, but he sends them in, okay? And I have another slide
that just could kind of picture what it must have looked like when Jesus was talking, okay?
And there he is and he's looking out over the city of Jerusalem, okay? And he's telling them,
go down, get the colt and then come back and they're probably all like, we're really going
into town now, you know? And they could probably see it before the city in the valley, probably
people accumulating, perhaps hearing who's coming, who's this guy that raises people from the dead
that cleanses the lepers, that gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the one that
cures the lame that they can walk and he's coming, but also the very guy that he rose
from the dead is coming, right? So they're all like probably already starting to hear ahead of
time, right? And he's telling them about this. And then the next slide, we just have the modern day,
what it looks like now. As you can see right in the middle is the golden dome of the rock, right?
And this is a mosque, we've been there, maybe you have too, but there's no longer a temple,
as you know. The temple mount is now temple-less, okay? Because it was destroyed in 70 AD,
which we're going to talk about in a minute. So that's kind of the lay of the land. I love
picturing the geography of things, because my brain can kind of get around it a little more,
picturing how the flow is, you know? So he's looking up, he's looking over,
and he's seeing Jerusalem and the valley there, you know? And he's going to walk right past
the Garden of Gethsemane. And then verse 32, so those who were sent went their way and found it,
just as he had said to them. But as they were loosing the cult, the owners of it said to them,
why are you loosing the cult? And they said, the Lord has need of it. Then they brought him to
Jesus, and they threw their own clothes on the cult, and they set Jesus on him. And as he
went, many spread their clothes on the road. And then as he was now drawing near to the descent
of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God,
with a loud voice of all the mighty works that they had seen him do, saying,
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory to the highest. They're
quoting Psalm 118, 26 there. And some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd, teacher,
rebuke your disciples. But he answered and said to them, I tell you, that if these should be
silent, the stones would immediately cry out. The Lord has orchestration even over nature to do
unnatural things. And so here they are. People are just rejoicing, rejoicing. And if you were
Jesus, even back when he was first tempted, Satan said, if you worship me, I will give you
all the kingdoms of the earth, if you just worship me. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan.
The word says to worship the Lord only and serve him, right? Him only shall you serve.
And so he knew what he could have had on earth. If Jesus wanted it, he could usurp
the emperor's power if he wanted to. He could do whatever he wanted, right?
But there was a kingdom he was bringing that was not of this world, right?
And that's what his goal was. But he understood, like looking around, if I were Jesus, which
thank God for all of us, I'm not, I would have been like, wow, this is a lot of fame.
This is a lot of accolades. This is a lot of praise. You wonder how so many people even
in ministry of these mega churches, how they fall. We were talking about that a few days ago with
someone and it's really this whole celebrity, this whole glory that suddenly they start thinking the
glory is about them. And then they fall horribly. Well, Jesus wasn't going to fail, right? Because
he knew what was before. He knew what true joy was. You know, there's a difference between
happiness and joy because happiness has to do with what's happening. Did you ever hear that before?
You know, if something good is happening, then you're happy, okay? But those things will pass.
True joy is staying the course. And sometimes it's even deferring happiness
for a deeper and long lasting joy, right? And Jesus realized I'm not getting sucked into any of
this. You're not diverting me. You're not thwarting my purpose, right? And we can really see this
in Hebrews 12, 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. This
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God. He knew what true joy was. He wasn't going to be distracted
with happiness because he knew what joy was, you know? And we believers can take note to this
that sometimes there's going to be distractions, things that, oh, that looks, and that will want to
pull us away from true joy, from true purpose. And deferment of those things, or we're just
casting them off saying, I don't have time for this. There's true joy I'm after and that's
serving the Lord. In fact, I love the, I never went to Sunday school, but I love that acronym
Jesus Others You Joy. You know, when you have things lined up, when you have priorities straight,
you will have true joy. Jesus, others, you're last. Somehow something supernatural happens. When
you make yourself last, you become first in God's eyes. But not only that, but you get
filled with joy. I'm actually really dead, but I'm alive, you know? I'm so glad I died
so that I could truly live. Remember that quote in Brave Heart? You know, all men will die, but not
all men truly live, right? But that's true for a believer, you know? To live, we got to die. If
I die to myself, I can experience the joy of the Lord, that real long-lasting joy. But Jesus,
he had the emotions of laughter and fun and happiness, right? He knew what it was like to
be joy-filled. I love in Luke chapter 10, when he sent the 70, first he sends the 12 in Luke 9,
then he sends the 70, and they go out and they're doing all these amazing things. They come back
and they're reporting to Jesus like, man, people are being healed, and even the demons are subject
to us. They hear us coming and they're fleeing. They are just cast out of people, and it's
amazing. And Jesus is just listening and he's saying, you know, the real prize is yet to come,
which is heaven. Don't rejoice because demons respond to you, but because you have an everlasting
life. Your name is in the book of life. You know, you have a destiny in heaven, right? And so he's
saying these things, and then he says, but Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. When he was hearing them
just carry on, he's probably thinking, man, these guys, they haven't seen anything yet.
And look how happy they are. I'm happy because they're happy. And he rejoiced in the Spirit
and said, thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them to the babes, the people who don't know anything.
Like don't you love a new believer when they're saying all the wrong things? They don't know
the Christian ease talk yet. They don't know the right lingo. Okay. Sometimes we get so
lingoized as believers. We just talk and we just, you know, there's a purpose for that. I do agree with
that, especially in forums. You know, you don't want someone who's just, they can't articulate
anything. I mean, that's not good, you know, but it is awesome when you hear a new believer,
they're just saying things that you know what they mean because you have it in here too.
And they're saying things that might not come out completely right or perfect,
but you get it. You're like, this is awesome. The raw, born again spirit, just bursting forth
saying things that whatever is coming to their mind because they don't know how else to explain it,
you know, that joy. He's probably listening to them say, look at these kids carrying on,
but it's fun. It's fun to experience it. These are the babes. They're like Goo Goo Gaga,
the way they're talking. And yet, you know what? It's fun. It's great. I mean, he could
have laughed her because he was, he knew at times when what it was like to be,
to be sad. He knew it was like to be happy. So, you know, he was a happy guy. I believe
he laughed a lot. Remember in, never mind. So anyway, let's move on. I don't want to get
sidetracked. So he didn't get pulled away by that. So verse 41. Now, as he drew nearer,
he saw the city and wept over it. You know, that's only, there's only two times
that is recorded that Jesus wept. He probably wept more, but only two times. And it was here.
And it was when he approached the tomb of Lazarus to bring up the familiar name from
a few minutes ago. And he looked. He knew he was going to raise him from the dead,
but he saw the sadness and the sorrow of, of Mary and Martha and all the people who love Lazarus.
He just saw, and you must, he must have thought, you know, it didn't have to be like this.
Death never had to be, right? But mankind has always rejected, but here we go. I'm going to
raise him from the dead and blow all their minds, right? But like he still was caught up in our sadness.
You know, as believers, a lot of times the words is we rejoice with those who rejoice and we weep
with those who weep. And really, have you ever done that? You're praying for someone and you're
just thinking about what they're going through and you just start to almost carry that burden
with me. You just start crying, you know, and, and just like start like it's almost happening to you too.
Well, you know, Jesus felt that because he feels like us. He sympathizes with us. He's our high
priest who sympathizes. He just is connected to our emotions because he realizes what can be
and if we allow him what will be, right? And so he weeps over the sitting and he says,
if you had known even you, especially in this year day, the things that make for your peace,
but now they are hidden from your eyes for days will come upon you when your enemies will build
an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side and level you and your
children within you to the ground and they will not leave in you one stone upon another
because you did not know the time of your visitation. This is really the sadness, the sorrow of Christ
looking at the potential, you know, when that first temple was was built and then destroyed
and now the second temple and and the city and he's looking at this and he's thinking the
potential that was there and yet was just lost, you know, and he just was so burdened and so,
you know, worn down because of the sadness of realizing that it wasn't about the bricks of the
city. It wasn't about the bricks of the temple. It was about the people who were worshiping
there. They weren't recognizing their Messiah, especially the most religious people.
They couldn't realize that he was the guy, a guy from Nazareth of all places. Yes,
he was and is the Messiah and they were rejecting him and he was just burdened with that, you know,
because Christ has all the same emotions as we do because we were made in his image, right?
And so he was burdened. I'm so glad the scriptures capture his emotions that he's not this
stoic and robotic God and always mean and always, you know, that's not our God. He's emotional,
right? And he's burdened. You know, Isaiah wrote about he forecasted Christ in Isaiah 53,
3 and 3, 4 and the word says, and he was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. And the next verse, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed
him stricken, meaning struck down, smitten, meaning tortured by God and afflicted, which means
oppressed and kept down. You know, Isaiah was prophesying about the coming Messiah. We don't
have time to get him, but Isaiah was just an amazing prophet. He spoke to three generations,
his own and two in the future, the exilic Israel, those who would be an exon and then those after
they returned. Here's Isaiah talking to generations that are 200, 300 years apart and the Lord was
giving him words and here he is speaking to the Messiah even further beyond those generations,
right? So he's speaking about Jesus because, you know, Jesus, he sympathizes with us,
you know, and he was sympathizing as he was looking over the city and just in deep, deep sorrow.
You know, with the Lord, it's never too late. You know that? I mean, thank God for the criminal
on the cross, right? We're going to talk about him probably on Friday when you come out on
Good Friday, but this guy had nothing left to do except rebuke the other criminal.
That was one good work he did. But the main thing he did was say,
remember me when your kingdom comes. He understood who Jesus was not of this world
and he was innocent and he was being crucified as they were. And he said to Jesus, remember me
when your kingdom come and what did Jesus say? Truly I say to you, today you will be with me
in paradise, right? And you know, you know, that man could do nothing else. It's never too late
with Christ. You know, even if we feel like we've wasted years, we've done so many bad mistakes,
things have just ruined our lives and yet the Lord has said, I can redeem it all.
It's not over until you take your last breath. Give me your last breaths, right?
I love Joel that talks about this idea of how when people just feel like they've lost everything
and they've allowed the enemy to just come in and consume. And we read this in Joel 2,
25 and 26, I will restore to you the years at the swarming locusts I've eaten
and the crawling locusts, the consuming locusts and the chewing locusts.
My great army, which I sent among you, you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied
and praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you and my people
shall never be put to shame. You know, this idea of swarming, you know, I was thinking
it seems like it's almost in the wrong order, but swarming, crawling, consuming and chewing.
Remember those cicadas? Cicadas a few years ago? I mean, that was like, we lived in front of the
woods. I'm like, man, it's like there's a bunch of weed-whackers in the woods, right?
But and they just come and they devour, you know? If you ever had Japanese beetles,
you're like, look at those things. Oh, they're all over my tree. Suddenly my tree has no leaves
left, right? And I should have done something in the spring or the year before with the grub stuff.
Anyway, why do I get into that? But so, but you know, when you see this, I once had honeybees
and the first thing I saw is the swarm. They landed on this branch. You ever see a swarm of,
there must be tens of thousands of bees on this little limb of branch and they're all
swarming. I should have just said, uh-oh, something's about to happen. And then all of a sudden they go
to my chimney and they're starting to crawl, okay? And then they start to go in. And before I knew
it, I actually heard them inside the house on the other side of the wall, like this big hum,
you know? That was expensive to get rid of. You know, you're not supposed to kill them.
Next time I'm going to kill them before they actually get in there. Anyway, but you didn't
hear that. Don't tell anybody I said that, but they are protected. But anyway, but like, you know,
in our lives, no, but listen, in our lives, you know, we all see it coming.
We all see the swarm incoming. I really shouldn't be doing this with this person.
We're doing this there. I shouldn't be doing this. I'm letting the enemy just kind of swarm.
I'm seeing it. Oh, they've landed. Well, I got it covered. That's okay. And they started chewing.
And they started consuming. Before you know it, what has happened to my life? I got
no foliage, nothing left on me, right? Because I've allowed the enemy to come in and just
devour and devour the life right from me. Well, God says, no, no, no, no. It's not over.
Until you, until you breathe your last breath, if that's you, cry out to me and guess what?
I will send all of those things away. I will cast them out of you. I will restore. You will be
more filled with life than you've ever been. You will actually be better because you went
through that. It's amazing what God does. You know, I mean, he does, he transforms everything.
God works all things for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose.
That means to all those trials and tribulations, ups and downs, everything you went through,
he's working it for your good and his good. Isn't that amazing? I mean, what a great,
let's give him a round of applause. Praise God. Hallelujah. Let's give out a holy shout. Ready?
I don't know what you want to shout, but we'll count to three. One, two, three, Jesus!
All right. Maybe we can try that again later. Maybe who knows. But anyway, praise God. You know,
that's what he does, right? That's, he's in the business of restoration, redemption, new life.
You know, we all started into this life dead and he brings us back to life.
He gives us new life. Amen. Wow. So, the Lord was just overwhelmed by this city that
just didn't know that he was on the scene and they didn't know what would truly bring them peace.
You know, this word, visitation, it just stuck out to me because it's an odd word, like this,
this day of your visitation. You know, Jesus had been in Jerusalem many times before,
but this was the day of the visitation. And as I looked at that word, this Greek word for visitation,
it was interesting because the word is episcopay. Now, those of you who have studied the Bible
for a while, what is episcopay? It means episcopal. This used to be an episcopal church.
And it means overseer. It means elder. It means a bishop, okay? And it means like a shepherd,
one who oversees. And Jesus is saying, this was the day I came to be your shepherd,
to oversee you, right? To lead you out of your wayward idolatry and
religiosity and give you new life. This is why I came. I wanted to be your bishop,
the holy, one true bishop, right? And that's the idea of visitation. I just felt that a
stand. I never knew that until I just came across that this weekend. I'm like, wow, that's a cool
idea. But then the word visitation reminded me of something else, which is another awkward
place for the word visitation. Okay. And that was where the Lord four times appeared to Moses.
And he said, the Lord, the Lord, merciful and mighty. And there's a little differences to
the way he says it. But then he says, I will visit the third and fourth generations because
of the sins their fathers have applied to them. He says, you shall not bow down to them talking
about idols nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquity,
visiting. Now, some can read that meaning thinking that he means punishment. I will punish
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations and those
who hate me. You know what? He's not saying visit, meaning punish the sins because of their
forefathers. Okay. He's not saying that because guess what? In Hebrew, that word visitation
means the same thing. The word is pachad. And it means to attend, to muster together,
to number, to reckon, to visit. One word means punish, but most of it is appointment,
to care for, to oversee. So the Lord there is saying, you know what? Just because your parents
have dealt you some bad cards, guess what? I want to be your bishop. I want to set you free from that.
I'm going to wash you clean of the sins that you were born into because of your family members.
All of us have stories of our past. Oh, you don't know. My dad was an alcoholic. I never knew
my dad. My mom was a drug addict. My, you know, this, that, I mean, we all have stories, right?
That like we came out of and some of us think, well, I guess this is my curse in life. No,
no, the Lord saying, no, you have a new father in heaven, the father of lights to give her
every good and perfect gift where there is no shadow or turning. It's a perfect gift. And he
wants to give you that in spite of what you had your whole life from your history. You know,
when you come to Christ, you get a new family tree, a new family history. You have new roots and
they're in heaven. Isn't that amazing? You're not rooted in the soil or the earth. You're rooted
in heaven, right? Yes. Anchored in heaven behind the veil where our forerunner Jesus Christ is.
That's where we are anchored. We are tethered to heaven. I just love that idea. No matter
what's happening down here, I'm just swinging right by. I'm not going to fall into that trap.
I'm not, oh, I see that big, no, no, no, not today because I'm tethered in heaven. I know where I
belong. I know to whom I belong. I know who's my savior, my, my redeemer, my visitor, my bishop.
I know all that. I'm not going to be tethered to the things of this world. Don't you just
love that? Praise the Lord. So let's finish up. And then finally, then he went into the temple
and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, it is written,
my house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And he was teaching
daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes and the leaders of the people
sought to destroy him and were unable to do anything for all the people were very attentive
to hear him. You know, this is probably the second time he cleansed the temple,
the beginning of his ministry. Remember when he was tempted by Satan for 40 days out in the
wilderness and he comes in that time, he made a whip. It's captured in the gospel of John
and he cast them all out of the temple. If you notice, he didn't say he hurt anyone.
I'm just saying, but they all left. You know, he had so much authority over spiritual things.
I can't imagine like someone who was the most greedy is like just criminal type who was like
selling, you know, no, your, your lamb has a mark on its ear. That's no good here. You
know, that's what was going on there. They were, they were, they were really just
so corrupt that they were trying to think of a word that is appropriate stealing,
stealing from people, right? They're, they're embezzling. They're embezzling. People that
are coming into worship God and they were just making it profitable for them, right?
And so that's what was going on. And Jesus was so angry that he was casting them out.
But you know what's interesting? I just thought of something right now. Imagine this,
someone is so dark and criminal like, and suddenly Jesus comes in and he's casting him out
and the spirit within this person just says, is probably thinking in his mind,
I'm not leaving. Who's this guy? I think he is. Suddenly he gets up and he's like,
why am I leaving right now? I don't want to leave, but the spirit within him is obeying
the Holy spirit in Jesus Christ, right? And that's the same thing with us.
Crazy things happen when we know who we are and by what power and authority we are sent.
Suddenly we could say things to people, really dangerous people and suddenly they're,
okay, I'll do that. Like they don't even know why they're submitting to you
because the spirit within them is obeying the Holy spirit who is in you because you are the
temple of the Holy spirit, right? And so he goes in, he casts them out and we see this like anger.
Now he would have been angry, right? But you notice he didn't hurt anybody. No matter how he managed
that, navigated that, you know, but he chased them away. He turned over the tables and he's like,
get out. This anger of the Lord. You know what was interesting while I was thinking about this
because the anger of man never produces the righteousness of God, right? You can think you
have righteous anger. Yeah, I would like pray a lot before you respond to that righteous anger.
And suddenly, as you're pointing at that person, how many fingers are pointing back at you? At
least three, right? So all of a sudden you realize, you know, maybe I got to settle down here
and just let the Lord speak and act through me, you know? Whenever we start to get too
angry, we know, wait a minute, this is not of the Lord. But what I was thinking of is the Lord
had righteous anger. But you know what? You know how many times you see the anger of the Lord
spoken about in the Bible? Guess how many in the Old Testament? 30 times the anger of the Lord.
And it broke out on where devastating things happened to people, but also even at Moses,
he was the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, the anger of the Lord. And we see it in 30 verses
in the Old Testament. You know how many times we see it in the New Testament? Zero. Zero.
I just found that, like, what? Not even the anger of God. You can't find it. And I'm thinking,
like, yeah, but the Lord still has anger towards sin. He still has anger towards the
principalities, powers and spirits of wickedness in heavenly places and the rulers of the darkness,
you know, spiritual realms that are evil, that are possessing and oppressing and causing mankind
to do all kinds of wickedness. He still hates all of that, right? But he's not angry against
people he wants to save. And neither should we be, by the way, right? But there's no
anger of the Lord. Why? Because it was all poured out on Jesus Christ. All of our dark, nasty sins
were laid upon Jesus Christ. He died for the humanity of all the world, even the people
who lived before him and everyone who has lived after him. He died for the sins of the world.
You almost just picture this, like, while he was on the cross, no wonder it was all dark
for three hours because it was probably like a black hole. All the sin was just going, boom,
right into Christ because he became sin for us, that we could become his righteousness of God,
right? As the worship team comes up, you know, I just want to say today,
the Lord went through a thing or two for you. We didn't even tap into the betrayal
of his dear friend Judas, you know. Judas, Jesus wasn't a friend of Judas, but Judas was a friend
of Jesus. He gave him all the same opportunities he gave all of them. He even washed his feet,
right? I mean, he wanted Judas to know him. He understood, yeah, but he's the son of
Purdue. He's the son of damnation. He foreknew that, but he didn't cause it.
And I'm sure he didn't want it. He would have had to find somebody else.
But he always knew it. He knows these things. You know, it's like predestination. It's his
knowledge that he always knew it, you know. But the Lord even guide for Judas, he just didn't
receive it. And today I just want to say, maybe you're sitting here realizing, you know, I've
just let those swarming locusts swarm, crawl, chew, devour. How can I ever be restored?
The Lord says, let me in. Give your life to me today. It's really that simple. Yes,
you know, it really is. Reckon yourself dead today. Realize you have no power
over whatever those locusts are doing in your life. You can't do a thing to stop it or reverse it.
It's over for you. You're done. Why not today you say, Lord, I am done with this.
Today I want to just let the locusts do whatever they want. I'm going to die right here.
I'm going to die because all those sins were already nailed to the cross.
Today, say, Lord, I give you my life. I surrender my life to you.
I no longer want to live the old life. I want your life.
Today, I give you my dead life. And I ask you to give me your living life.
Lord, that you would give me new life. Lord, I believe you are the Son of God.
And I believe that you died on the cross for my sins. And I believe that you paid and you said,
when it is finished, my sins were finished. So today, Lord, I give you my life. And I
ask you to give me yours. Father God, give me a new life. Make me a new creation
so that I can walk in the newness of life. Father God, send your Holy Spirit in me right now.
I want to receive your life right now. Save me. That's what Hosanna means. Save now.
Hosanna, save me now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you did that today,
if you're bold enough, if you're bolder than I was when I got saved, I want to invite you to just,
why don't we all do this? Let's all close our eyes and bow our heads to take away the pressure.
But today, if you did that, if you gave your life to Jesus, please lift up your hand and give a
testimony to what God has done for you today. For the rest of us,
Father God, we thank you for everything you went through to give us freedom.
Lord God, as we go into Passion Week, we want to just honor you through this week.
And remember, Resurrection Day is coming in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you so much for joining us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day.