Resetting our Sights on the Savior through the Shouts of Palm Sunday

Greetings in Christ,
Below you will find a  message for today, Palms Sunday. Below you will find my transcript for today's message. The video is also viewable on our church Facebook page. Find the link to that is on the home screen under "Visit us on Facebook" and go to Posts or copy and past the link below into your search bar. Please contact me for assistance! Be blessed!
​Pastor James

https://www.facebook.com/believeandliveevensville/videos/203921304367511/ 

Hello to all my church family and I praise the Lord that you have found your way to this video.
This is of course a new venture for me and for us as a church but I am excited to use the tools we have available to us in order to stay connect and concentrated in the Word of God!
Today is Palm Sunday and I wanted to direct your attention to different passages as it relates to this special day.
All four gospels contain the Triumphal Entry of Christ and all four gospels mention what praises the Lord received as he entered.
You could call these different phrases "The Shouts of Palm Sunday"
There are other details of course, like the retrieval of the donkey and colt, the praising of the disciples and the rebuke of the religious leaders but today we will focus on the shouts of the people given to the Savior on Palm Sunday.
We are going to be reading at Matt. 21:1-11 

Before I read, let me grab my glasses.
Oh, they are a little dirty.
Guess what I have been doing in my free time, among other things? 
Hanging Sheetrock
I could go ahead and clean these real quick but I do have a confession to make.
I am not needing my glasses this morning, I happen to have in my contacts,
 But if I didn't and I was trying to properly read and view the Word of God, or anything else for that matter, with dirty glasses, with smudged lenses, I would have a hard time getting an accurate view.
In fact, in order to view anything properly, I need to look through clear lenses.
You might even say that I need to Renew or Reset my sight.

This has been a challenge of mine as I study the passages surrounding Palm Sunday!
This Palm Sunday falls in a year that has been difficult and different to say the least.

We began the year focused on the idea of 2020 vision, clear and unhindered sight for the future yet there have been many different occurances and events that are capable of smudging our view or dirtying our vision or our Lord and this life.

Despite the ability of what the uncertainty of this world brings, there is true blessing from the Word of God to help remedy our disallusionment to the troubles of this world;
When the Word of God is read by the People of God and they are taught by the Spirit of God they reset their view of the Son of God.

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 
It is by the Word of God that we can fulfill the command to not be conformed to this world, and are transformed! 
Rom. 12:2.
Therefore, this Palm Sunday, the shouts given up in praise to the Lord help give us a clear view of what Christ had come to accomplish.
And if we renew and reset our Sight of the Savior, we can then properly view the Circumstances and Sights around us.

Resetting our Sight on the Savior through the Shouts of Palm Sunday
Please allow me to pray before we begin.
Prayer!

Now, again, we find the Triumphant Entry in all 4 gospels, Matt. 21 ,Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12
I encourage you to read the other passages but allow me to read Matt. 21:1-11 and our verse of emphasis is V. 9.

Now again, these are the "Shouts of Palm Sunday"
Your text may not use the word shout but another word that is used is the word "Cried"
In Luke 19:37 it says that "the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;"
Sometimes you cannot simply praise God without shouting out His praises and this was one of those instances!
Each shout that follows gives emphasis or clearer view of who Christ is:
These three view of Christ are:
His Mission as Messiah
His Commission as King
His Position as God

His Mission as Messiah
We get this from the phrase, "Hosanna to the Son of David"
The word Hosanna is a profound word meaning "Save now" or "Oh, Save!"
It is not only a word of praise that He could Save now, but a plea to Christ that He save now!
This plea to Save Now is directed to Christ as who?
The Son of David
We have seen this term before and we know it is a Messianic title.
The people in shouting Hosanna to the Son of David were not just praising Him but pleading to Him as the Messiah to free them from the bondage they suffered.
Of course we know that Christ was entering Jerusalem for that very purpose, to Save them Now!
Just one chapter back Christ had said at Matt. 20:17-19:
Mat 20:17  And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, 
Mat 20:18  Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, 
Mat 20:19  And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again. 
The shouts of the people reflected the lack of understanding of all that Christ had come to do.
He came to Jerusalem that He might freely lay down His life that He might take it up again.
We have studied the different Identities of the Messiah, Jesus, and my favorite is that He is the Good Shepherd found in John 10.
In V. 10 he explains that He came to give life to His sheep, and then give them abundant life.

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 
Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 
The people cried Hosanna hoping for abundant life, yet Christ was entering Jerusalem to give them life first of all!
Life itself and abundance of life are both gifts from trusting in the Messiah.

May I remind you that you can still call unto the Messiah, Hosanna, Save Now!
If you feel a moment of weakness and are tempted to sin, Cry Hosanna!
If you are suffering anguish and sorrow, Cry Hosanna!
If you have cried out once before in your need for Salvation, and He has saved you, reset your view of Christ and realize He as the Messiah stands ready to Save you!

Let's consider the second Shout back in V. 9

"Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" 
We find from this shout shows us His Commission as King!

His Commission as King
This is a quote from Psalm 118:26
IN this shout we find the people blessing Christ as the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
I realize here in Matthew we have blessed is "He" but when we read the other Gospels we find the emphasis on His Kingship.
In Mark, they shout "
Mark 11: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord
Luke 19:38: Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. 
In John 12: 13 Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. 
Therefore, blessed is He is a proclaimation of Christ's position as the representative and commission King of the Father to the world. 
As we read, Christ was recognized and blessed because He was bringing the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Kingdom of Israel and the perpetual reign of David's throne.
We realize that is still yet ahead in the Millienium, but Christ also came to reign as King of the Kingdom of God in which all believers are citizens.
And He came to fulfill this kingship "in the name of the Lord"

Christ was not some renegade or usurping king, he didn't come in to steal or trick His way into a position of power.
Christ reigns as King and holds His Title with the absolute and full commissioning of the Father!
He entered Jerusalem to fulfill His commission to be King of a Kingdom that is not of this world and, if you are a child of God today, a kingdom to which you belong.
In just a few days from Palm Sunday, Jesus will stand before Pilate, wrongly accused and there by His own Will, and He will be questioned by Pilate concerning this Kingdom.

Joh 18:33  Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 
Joh 18:34  Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? 
Joh 18:35  Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 
Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 
Joh 18:37  Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 
Joh 18:38  Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. 
"Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice"
We live in a day when it is hard to know what is true and what is false.
Yet we know we can come to God's Word and listen for the Truth that then allows us to distinquish what is true and untrue in this world.

I hope that I can speak clearly here, you and I are in a time of crisis in our country and we have those governing authorities over us who are instituting rules and seeking to lead this country.
Yet may we remind ourselves that are highest allegiance and reliance is upon the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
There is not one single misjudgement or misdirection or lack of instruction to the citizens of the Kingdom of God!
He is a King who loves and cares for His citizens perfectly!
May you pledge your absolute allegiance again today to this Good and Rightfully King!


Our final Shout that can reset our Sight on the Savior comes from the remainder of this verse at V. 9
"Hosanna in the Highest"
In this shout we can reset our sight upon the Savior in His Position as the Highest!

His Position as the Highest 
We have the term Hosanna again, what did it mean "Save Now" or "Oh, Save"
And it is not just a term of praise but a plea!
This Hosanna is directe specifically to One who can actually Save Now.
Who is that? The Highest!
hoop'-sis-tos
Superlative from the base of G5311; highest, that is, (masculine singular) the Supreme (God), or (neuter plural) the heavens: - most high, highest.
Certainly we understand that the people recognized that Christ had come as a representive of the Most High God.
"Blessed is He who comes in the Name of theLord!
And whether those who shouted this Plea knew it or not, but Christ was the Highest who they pleaded salvation from!
Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 
Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 
Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one. 
We understand that the Jews here understood what He was claiming because v. 31 tells us that they took up stones to stone Him.

Joh 10:31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 
Joh 10:32  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 
Joh 10:33  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 
May I remind you this Palm Sunday that the very God who made the World and all that is in it is has not lost grip and let it fall.
May I remind yout this Palm Sunday to reset and renew your view of the Lord Jesus so much so that the same hand that guides you through this life and comforts our weaknesses and cleanses us from sin is the God who is the Highest and Supreme God.
And there is nothing that this world may bring or that we may suffer that your Savior is not above!

So, on this day, may you Reset your View of the Savior as the Messiah who came to Give Life, the King who reigns and rules and guides, and the Highest who is Supreme over all things, even a Virus!

Be Blessed!

BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT AND NOTES OF THIS MESSAGE:
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