Hear & See

Well, good morning and happy Palm Sunday. Yes. So good to see all of you here this morning. Whether you’re joining us in person or you’re streaming in our online or maybe watching later on demand. My name is Tim. I have the privilege of being one of the pastors here. And if this is your first time here, maybe you’ve been visiting us for the last couple of weeks. Ben and I will be right out these doors in our west lobby after the service, and we’d love to meet you. So if you want to come up and introduce yourself. And, we would love just to learn a little bit more about you. And thank you for joining us today. is that this really is a special day in the history, in the calendar, every single year for the church as we kick off Holy Week. So if you’re a follower of Jesus, guess what? This is our week, and I know that you all came prepared today to celebrate all week long. Amen. Well guess what? If you didn’t come today prepared, you still have time to make preparations to make this one of the best holy weeks you have ever experienced. And so, once again, we’re just so glad that you’re with us today.

Every year we try to come up with a little bit different theme as we retell, and when you relive the account that’s found in the pages of Scripture. And so this year, what we thought would be fun to do was kind of to ask the Holy Spirit to maybe awaken our senses to the one who lived, died, and rose again this Holy Week. Does that sound good? Now, in order to do that, we have to know what our senses are. So how many senses do we have? Five. And what are they smell? Touch. Taste. Hear and see. So can you touch, taste, see, hear what? What am I missing? Smell. God. Can you? Yes. This is why you have to come to every single service of Holy Week. Let’s look at some of the scriptures that kind of talk about this whole idea of whether we can see God or not see God. In the book of Romans. It says this for since the creation of the world, Genesis, God’s invisible qualities, things that you can’t see, his eternal power and divine nature, which you can’t see, have been what?

Well, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Hold on to that being understood from what has been made, so that you and I are without excuse. Or in other words, as we go out into creation, as we examine the world that we live in and we see the majesty and the beauty that is surrounding us. God is telling us, this is what declares that there is a creator. As you look up to the sky at night and you see the expanse of the stars and the planets in the universe, as you experience that and your senses take that moment in. That is God’s streaming out to us, that there is, in fact, a creator. And all throughout the Psalms is so cool because it says really, really powerful statements like this that you and I are to taste and to see that the Lord is good and our heart’s desire is for you. For this Holy Week is to experience Jesus anew, for your senses to be awake, and for you to be drawn into the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and to know how much you are loved by him. And so today we begin this incredible journey on this Palm Sunday. See, Jesus has been doing ministry for three years now, and he’s pretty much been doing ministry out in the country.

Almost all of his ministry is miracles. Town a town, village by village has been in and around the city of Jerusalem. You can kind of see that Jesus as a country boy, did you know that? So those of you that previously lived north, you live up in Romeo and Armada because you don’t want neighbors and you like having land like Jesus is your boy. Okay? Like this is what he does. This is how he did his ministry. But he knows that he’s next step is to go to the heart, to the epicenter, to their capital, to where people would be gathered. And so it tells us in the scriptures that they approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethpage, and they’re on the Mount of Olives now. Several years ago, I had the incredible privilege of going to Israel. And one of the things that really challenged me when I was there wasn’t just being at the biblical sites, it was the proxy me of all of the things that we read about and have read about for so many years, those of us that have been privileged to be able to grow up in church. And so when you get to this spot, the Mount of Olives or you’re in this particular area, it’s insane how you can see into Jerusalem. It’s it’s incredible that all of the places that are mentioned in scriptures are actually within eyesight of what is taking place. And there’s just something to to being there and experiencing it because the country’s actually really small.

It’s about the size of new Jersey. But more importantly, what you begin to realize is how intentional Jesus was with everything that he planned out for his entire ministry. In fact, it was him that went and picked two disciples and said, you’re going to go to the village ahead of us, and there you’re going to find a donkey. And by the way, it’s going to be tied up. And there’s also going to be a colt with her. So how many donkeys are there to untie them and bring them to me? And if anyone says to you, why are you stealing my donkey and a colt? You are to say the Lord needs them. And apparently that’s going to be enough, because that’s what Jesus does and how he prepares things. And of course they will send them with you. And you can you can go right away. Now he’s arranging all of these details, because everything that he did, all of Palm Sunday, all of Holy Week, is to tie back to the prophecies that were written about him in the Old Testament. And so it tells us in Matthew, this is what took place to fulfill that was spoken through Zechariah.

Say to your daughter Zion, see, your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the fall of a donkey. So Jesus, knowing the scriptures inside and out, knowing that the Jewish people at that time would have known the scriptures inside and out, everything that he’s doing, he’s doing intentionally. If you didn’t know this was very popular. This was very well known at this time. In fact, if nation wanted to go to war with another nation, whoever the ruler was, whoever the person was, the king would actually come in on a horse. And that’s how they would declare that they were going to war with another nation. If your ruler, if your king came in on a donkey, that means that you were coming in peace, that you wanted to make peace and that you wanted to sort things out and so Jesus getting on the donkey, he’s sending a very clear message that he is coming into that he’s coming into town, but he’s coming as the prince of Peace. Here’s what’s so fascinating about this. And people sometimes lose sight of this little detail. There was another group of people that were there that weren’t very happy with Jesus. There were actually the religious leaders, sometimes called the Pharisees, sometimes called the Sadducees term, sometimes called the teachers of the law. And for three years they have been following Jesus, and for three years they’ve been frustrated with Jesus because he keeps claiming to be the promised Messiah.

He keeps pointing back to all of the Old Testament passages, declaring and telling them that he really is the Savior of the world. And they didn’t like that. And so him doing this, getting on the donkey would have been provoking them. It would have made them be like, okay, here we go again. Here he again thinks that he’s actually the savior and we don’t think he’s the savior. And so every step of the way, Jesus experiences opposition. Well, of course the disciples did as Jesus had instructed them to do. They don’t fully comprehend what Jesus is doing there. He’s do what they’re told to do. So they bring the donkey, they bring the colt. They place their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. Then the large crowd gathers around and they do the same thing, except they put their cloaks on the road. Some of them actually cut branches from trees and spread them out on the road. What are they doing? Why are they doing this? What is causing them to want to go along with this kind of parade, if you will, that Jesus was putting together? Well, this is what it tells us in the gospel. There’s a large crowd of Jews that had found out that Jesus was there.

So a lot of them had heard about the ministry that had taken place. Like they know who he is. Or maybe they’ve heard stories about some of the miracles that have taken place, but they necessarily haven’t seen him yet with their very own eyes. And I don’t know if any of you have ever been in the presence of what we would call a celebrity. Is anyone ever got to meet a celebrity? Or maybe you paid extra money to go backstage and you got your picture with them, and then you saw the celebrity and you’re usually like 1 or 2 things. You usually you’re like, oh, they’re taller than I thought they would be. Or usually, oh, they’re shorter than I thought they would be. I worked at a hotel in Minneapolis where there was celebrities that came in and out all of the time, and some of them were super nice, and some of them were not so nice. But it’s interesting because the picture sometimes that we have of people isn’t fully realized until we’re in the presence of the person. Does that make sense? And so think of the crowds that are coming toward him. They’re coming toward him. They want to know who he is. Maybe they haven’t seen him yet. And that’s not only because of who he is, but look at what it says. They also are coming because they want to see who Lazarus. Now, if you don’t know this, a very short time before Palm Sunday, Jesus actually raised Lazarus from the dead.

Follow me here. He purposely waits until Lazarus is dead. Not one, not two, not three, but four days. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew that not only was Lazarus dead, Lazarus was like dead. Dead. And so because he waited four days and made sure he was dead, dead, and then called him out of the out of the cave, and he comes out and he reveals himself. People know who in the world has the power to do this. How? This is just mind blowing for them to have experienced this in their day and age. And so here they are looking for both of them, of course. Who else is there? The chief priests? What do they do when they find out not only about Jesus, but that Lazarus has been raised from the dead? They make plans to kill him. Can we just call a time out right now? Can we just pause for a moment? Have you ever thought about this? No one ever asked Lazarus if he wanted to be raised from the dead. Four days off the earth. Four days experiencing perfect peace. I would argue that the person that was the most surprised when Jesus was when Lazarus was raised from the dead was Lazarus. Wait, I thought he was putting the stuff back on. No no no, no. Starts moving backwards toward the guy. I want to go back. Not only. So what does he do? He ends up spending the rest of his life with a death sentence on his head. Which is kind of ironic in some regards, because they all would have heard that Jesus raised him from the dead, and Jesus just calls them out of the cave.

So if they kill Lazarus, wouldn’t Jesus just be like, okay, raise him up again? I mean, how many times are we going to do this back and forth? But they were so caught up in their religious system, they were so fixated with the fact that they were in positions of leadership and power, and they were obsessed with the system and the rules and the regulations that they had created that they couldn’t even imagine for a moment. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus is who he says he is. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus is the promised Messiah. But it tells us because of these things, because of Jesus’s ministry over and over again, the heart after heart and person after person are becoming believers in Jesus. And because their hearts are being stirred and they’re putting their faith and their hope and trust in Jesus, they go on ahead of them. And it doesn’t say they sang, it doesn’t say. They just said it says they shouted. So imagine people shouting Hosanna is the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven! They’re screaming this out. They didn’t have a worship team to back him up, by the way either. Now we just sing though that word Hosanna. We all sang it together, didn’t we? Do we know what Hosanna means? Or is it just the song you sing on Palm Sunday? Or some variation of Hosanna in a song? Who knows what Hosanna actually means? So there we go. The God who saves us. It literally means God save me.

And so they’re crying out. They’re shouting out, save us! But you have to understand this. They don’t really understand what it is that Jesus is going to save them from. They think that he’s going to save them from the oppressive Roman government that was ruling at the time, that somehow the Messiah is going to come. Listen to this, and he’s going to make their earthly lives better. Then all of a sudden the Jewish nation is going to be restored, and they’re going to be able to rule themselves, and they’re going to be able to call the shots and maybe their earthly lives and some of the things that they would be responsible for would all of a sudden become better. And that’s not why he rolled into town. It’s not why he went to the cross. It’s not why he came out of that tomb. Says this when he eventually made it to Jerusalem, the whole city is turned upside down. Now think about this. This is during Passover. This was a Jewish feast where people from all over every area and region, because of because of their customs, would be coming into Jerusalem. And Jesus knew this. Jesus knew that he would raise Lazarus and it would cause a stir in the crowd. He knew that he would get on that donkey because he arranged it. He knew that he would go in purposely during a festival when there would be wall to wall and shoulder to shoulder people in every single direction. They’re trying to figure it out.

Who is this? Well, this is Jesus. Remember, he’s the one that was raised over in Nazareth, in Galilee. And of course, the religious leaders, seeing that their most precious holiday, their festival, is being overtaken and overrun by who they think is crazy. They just think he’s manic. Says to them, you got to rebuke this. You got to put a stop to this. Like, what are you thinking? Like, we got to get back to our traditions. We got to we got some Passover feast here that we gotta we gotta make sure that we check the boxes. We got to do what we’ve done for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. And what does Jesus do? How does he respond? He says if they keep quiet, if you tell me to have them shut their mouths, if they stop shouting and praising me. By the way, all of creation is going to scream out, hey Pharisees! Once again, I am who I say that I am. I am the Savior of the world. I am the creator. I was there at the beginning because I’m God and this would have just infuriated them even more. So much so they get to the point where they’re like, well, see, which is kind of funny. See, I guess this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Jesus. And the reason they’re saying that is because at the time, this was their whole world. This was their livelihood, this was their system. They did not want to let go of power. Their hearts were so hardened that they couldn’t see through the fact Jesus is actually who he claims to be.

This is the promised Messiah. And as we hear the account and we relive the account again on this Palm Sunday. Can we maybe think about our lives? Can we think about our whole worlds and all of the things that God has entrusted us to manage? Some of you, you’re here and let’s just be honest, you’re burnt out. 2025 is been nuts. Things have flipped on upside down in your life. Everything’s been stirred upside down in your kids and your marriage and your kids schedules and your job. Like this has been maybe one of the toughest years you have ever faced. Some of you are here because you have lost loved ones this year, and the pain and the hurt is still there. You’re still reeling. You’re you’re still mourning the loss of the person that was such an influential part of your life. Some of you, maybe it was last year and and you’re still carrying that through because you’re still trying to figure out how to make it through the day. Maybe you’re here and it’s a diagnosis. And how are you going to put one foot in front of the other? And how are you now going to reprise where it ties your life in view of now, this situation that presents itself in your world? I think so often about our focus and how easy it is to get pulled down into the things of this world. Like, let’s be honest, oftentimes when we look at the world around us, it’s easy to fall into despair.

And then some of us, let’s just admit we watch the news way too much. Usually when you’re quiet, that means it’s a big game and. What anyone this morning like to confess with me? Because I will tell you, one of the things that I struggle with. Is scrolling through Instagram Reels. Anybody else want to join me in that confession this morning, where I will tell myself I need to be on Instagram? Because I need to know where the people of Shepherd’s Gaiter at. I need to know who went on spring break and who didn’t. I need to know if there’s somebody that posted something about a loved one passing away. I need to know if someone’s in trouble. And then three hours later. All of a sudden, I have all of these things that I didn’t even know that I was doing wrong with my life. I started having panic attacks because I’ll watch a real and the person will say, you need to eat this, this, this and this, and then I’ll watch another reel. They’ll say, no, you don’t eat those things. You eat these things. And then I’ll watch another reel that say, you have to do this with your life. No, you have to do this with your life. No, you have to sleep like this. No, you did, but you just go back and forth. Drink this. Don’t do this, do this, don’t do this. And I’m like, dear Lord, I don’t think I’m ever gonna leave the house again.

Like, what am I doing? Why am I living my life in view of social media? I’ve actually come to a point in my life where there’s only two people I trust with my medical issues. Do you know that there’s two people? What do you think the first one is? My wife. The second one is my Instagram doctor. I have an Instagram doctor. Because there’s too many voices out there. There’s too much disinformation. And and none of it sometimes seems to make sense. And then I lose sight of the fact that I’m a child of God, or that God knows the hairs on my head, that God knows everything about me. That when a sparrow falls and dies, God keeps record of it. And here I’m worrying about all of these things and becoming obsessed with all of these areas. And yet I look back at my life and I think not once has God ever failed me. Not once has God ever let me down. Sure, life hasn’t been easy and and curveballs have been thrown my direction. But yet, here is a God who’s been gracious and merciful to me, and I know it’s the same for you. Let’s think about this. What are we asking God to save us from? Are we asking God to make our lives on earth more comfortable? God, here’s my prayer and here’s where I think you know that you should bless me. Because if you do that, then I won’t have any of these issues or problems anymore. Hey, God, I know you’re busy up there, and I know it seems like you’re blessing some other people, but don’t forget about me.

And let me just tell you, if you get these things in order and you get these things just right, then, you know, then my worship is going to increase and I’m going to feel a whole lot better about my relationship with you. Think of this is riding into town, knowing the hearts and the minds of the people that are putting their cloaks down and wreaths and waving these palm branches and putting them down as well, knowing that there’s a far greater purpose for his mission. Well, Mark tells us that the chief priests and the teachers of law began to look for a way now to kill Jesus. They’re already talking and discussing how to take Lazarus out. Now, of course, they’re going to try to figure out how to take out Jesus. And these crowds that are amassing, what are they drawn to? Jesus teachings. It’s me. I’m the way. I’m the truth. I’m the life. No one comes to the father except through me. I’m going to lay down my life. I’m the one that’s going to orchestrate all the events in the upper room, which we’ll celebrate on Monday. Thursday, all of the preparations. Oh, by the way, I’m going to go to a garden. That’s going to be very easy for them to find me very close to all the other things that are going on in and around Jerusalem. I’m going to let them take me captive. I’m going to go through all of the stages that I’ll go through that night and into the morning. And oh, by the way, the only reason that pilot’s going to be able to tell them to crucify me is because my father in heaven has given him the the ability to do that.

Hey, don’t forget, I’m the one who’s going to hang on the cross. And when I decide it’s time, I’m the one that’s going to breathe my last breath. And I will release my soul to my Heavenly Father. And three days later is when I’m going to take that bold first step out of that empty tomb and indulge in so doing. I’m the one that will declare victory over this world and all of its issues, over the devil, over every single sickness and disease and sin we could ever hope or imagine to commit. God Almighty in flesh, Jesus Christ, the most beautiful week we could ever pause and celebrate. But yet here we are, still on this earth, still going through the same struggles that people just like you and me dealt with 2000 years ago. The same struggles we will continue to go through until Jesus comes back for his church. This is what’s so important. Jesus did not come to save us from our earthly enemies in a war. Did you know that he didn’t come to make life super nice and super special on earth? He called us to lay down our lives, to take up our crosses, to follow him, to be obedient to whatever it is that he has called us to do.

And he did something none of us can ever do for ourselves. He saved us from the enemy of our souls. Do you know who the enemy of your soul is? It’s two things. Go ahead, say it. Satan and ourselves. Now, while we were dead in our sins, Christ is the one that died for us. That while we were blinded by our sins, he’s the one that looked down from the cross and said, father, forgive them. They don’t even know what they’re doing. That’s how much you and I are loved by him. That’s how much this week means to us. As we pause long enough and we reflect long enough on his mercy and grace. So let me just tell you this Holy Week, we don’t want you simply to learn the accounts that are in the Gospels. This is what we have for you this Holy Week, that the Savior you have just heard about. He’s here, he is alive, and he is well, and he is active. And he sits at the right hand of God the Father, and he intercedes for you. He’s concerned about you. He knows the struggles that you’re going through. And he knew that you would be here today.

He knew that you’d be streaming online because you needed to hear the hope that you can have in Jesus. We bring nothing to the equation. God does everything for us, and he produces faith in our hearts and our lives. That we can leave here and be people of peace. So that’s what we’re inviting you to this week. We’re inviting you into his Holy Week. We’re inviting you into his account in all that he said. And all that he did was for you because he loves you. Amen. So this is what we’re going to do as we close our time and the worship teams coming up, we’re going to sing and we’re going to declare his praises once again. And as we sing these words, realize what we are doing. We are enthrone him with our praises. We are shouting out to God. Save us from ourselves, save us from the devil. Save us by your grace and your mercy in our lives. And again, may this be one of the most impactful and meaningful holy weeks we have ever experienced as a church and as God’s children. Amen. So you stand with me and let’s continue to worship our God this morning.