Palm Sunday

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- Hey, it is such a great time of the year

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because we are kicking off into our Easter season

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where we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus,

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and we're so excited because it's not just about Easter,

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it's actually about the full Holy Week,

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which is the full story.

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- Yes. So Holy Week is designed to help us

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get rooted in that story so that Easter

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doesn't just come and go and with pastel sweaters

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and little plastic eggs, but actually help us

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capture the meaning and the beauty

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and the power that Easter is all about.

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So there's all kinds of experiences,

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and it starts right now with Palm Sunday

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all the way through Easter.

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And actually, we've got a quick documentary

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that will help catch you up wherever you are

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into the story that we're walking into right now.

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- Hey, have you heard about Holy Week?

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That time every spring where Christians

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all over the world celebrate Palm Sunday,

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the Last Supper, Good Friday, and Easter.

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Also bunnies, pastel colors,

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that one Sunday of the year

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your mom drags you to church.

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But there's so much more to discover about Holy Week

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and what it means for our lives today.

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It's quite literally the week that changed the world.

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Filled with political turmoil, conspiracies,

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betrayal, prophecies, public showdowns,

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murder and miracles, all unfolding at a breakneck pace.

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Holy week is wild.

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Everything I'm going to share today is from the Bible

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in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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Let's check it out.

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It all starts with Passover.

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Passover was a big deal, with Jews

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from all over Israel traveling to Jerusalem

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for the annual celebration.

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The population of the town would more than quadruple in size,

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so this was no ordinary week.

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It's more like it's all happening when the city

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is hosting the Olympics or the Super Bowl.

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On Saturday, before the chaos of the festival,

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Jesus got some alone time with his closest friends.

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Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus,

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you know, the guy who used to be dead,

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anointed Jesus head and feet

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with a wildly expensive perfume.

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Judas took offense, calling her worship wasteful.

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But Jesus sees Mary's heart, honors her

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and foreshadows His coming death.

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He knew what no one else understood;

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she was preparing His body for burial.

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The next morning, Jesus rode into the city

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on the back of a donkey.

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Not a warhorse or a carriage, but a humble mule

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fulfilling Old Testament prophecy.

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But He didn't rest on his laurels, or His palm branches.

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When He found merchants selling

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the animals people needed for sacrifices

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inside the temple for crazy high prices,

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He destroyed their stalls.

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Unfazed by the opposition and unbelief

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of the religious leaders, He proceeded

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to perform miracles and teach.

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And His authority was so undeniable

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even some Gentiles believed that He was God.

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From the triumphant entry, to turning over the tables,

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teaching, doing miracles, and arguing with the Pharisees,

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Jesus was unbelievably productive in 24 hours.

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Over the next three days, Jesus stayed busy

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with his followers and critics in Jerusalem.

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The crowds only grew creating quite the audience

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for Jesus's teachings as well as

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continual run ins with the Pharisees.

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He condemned their hypocrisy,

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called out their greed,

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and grieved their inability to see Him for who He was.

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It's a brutal smackdown,

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one in which the Pharisees had no answer for.

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Instead, they scurried away, plotted in the dark.

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And that's when Judas came to them

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with an offer they couldn't refuse.

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He offered up Jesus on a platter

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in exchange for 30 pieces of silver,

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the same price as a slave,

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according to the ancient Jewish law.

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On Thursday, Jesus shared a meal with His disciples,

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now called the Last Supper.

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It was so pivotal,

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it takes up to one quarter of the entire book of John.

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It's no coincidence it was the Passover meal,

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the celebration of Israel's rescue from slavery in Egypt.

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Jesus was about to become the new Passover lamb,

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the new, perfect and final sacrifice

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that would save the world from its slavery

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to sin for all of time.

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After dinner, Jesus and His disciples

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went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

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Jesus knew what was coming,

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He knew the pain and suffering waiting for Him.

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So He begged His Father for mercy so passionately

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that He sweat blood.

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Meanwhile, Judas led soldiers into the garden

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and greeted Jesus with a kiss to mark him as the target.

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Betrayed by one of his closest friends,

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Jesus surrenders Himself,

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but not before Peter cuts off a random dude's ear.

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Immediately after His arrest,

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Jesus was put on trial in a kangaroo court.

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He didn't have a right to a defense attorney.

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In fact, He didn't even defend Himself when given the chance.

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In mere hours, He had been sentenced to death.

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Jesus knew what His mission was,

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and God's great rescue plan required a sacrifice.

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He's beaten, mocked, and finally crucified.

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On His final breath, the ground shook and split apart.

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The sun was blotted out by darkness

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and the temple curtain that separated

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the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple

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was torn in two.

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It was an earth shattering scene,

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so powerful even the soldier overseeing the execution

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couldn't help but believe.

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It was all over by midday Friday.

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Ever heard of Saturday of Holy Week?

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Not surprising, because nothing happened.

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No record of anything.

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Peter's already denied even knowing Jesus

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three different times.

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The rest of the disciples are terrified.

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They still honored the Sabbath,

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but that's all Scripture tells us.

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You can only imagine what they were thinking

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or feeling or worried about.

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Everything had come crashing down.

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Jesus's tomb was shut, under guard.

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The Pharisees and authorities thought they'd won.

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Some of the women closest to Jesus,

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among them Mary Magdalene,

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worked up the courage to visit Jesus's tomb,

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only to find it empty.

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Believing someone had stolen the body,

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Mary began to weep,

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only to hear Jesus's voice behind her.

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He was alive!

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He appeared to His defeated disciples,

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first on the road to Emmaus

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and finally in the upper room.

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He gave them renewed hope and put all their doubts to rest.

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He defeated death and redeemed the world.

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Life doesn't stop when death begins;

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that's the promise of Holy Week.

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Jesus's death and resurrection make a personal relationship

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with the God of the universe possible.

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This was the week that changed the world.

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If you're a Christian,

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it's the cornerstone of your faith and worth celebrating.

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- Welcome to Holy Week, everyone.

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Hey, they say one of our greatest fears in life

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is public speaking.

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I think an even greater and stronger fear

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is singing in public. Can I get an amen? Right.

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So here's what you might be thinking.

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This is a vulnerable spot for you every week,

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or maybe you're brand new, great.

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And you're like, "Well, I'm just going to hold back.

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I'm going to sing quiet so the person

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in front of me doesn't hear me," right?

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Can I get another Amen? Yeah, I see it, I see it.

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Here's what I'm going to say to you.

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I'm not going to hold back,

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and therefore I don't want you to hold back. Right?

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So nobody's going for pretty and soft.

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We're going for loud and ridiculous. Okay?

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Can you get behind that?

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This is the truth.

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Every note you sing has perfect pitch

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in the ear of your Creator and your Father.

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He loves hearing your voice, so sing as loud as you can

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and don't hold back.

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If you believe these words, sing loudly.

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If you don't believe these words, fantastic,

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then listen loudly, because you're about to hear

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a room full of people whose lives

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have been changed by this King Jesus.

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And we sing like this.

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- Come on, louder!

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- Come on. He's worth celebrating. Yes.

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So, King Jesus, I've given my heart to You and my life to You

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because You set me free and rescued me.

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And so this is my party, this week.

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I put You front and center,

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back on the throne of my heart and say,

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"You give me the deepest joy, gladness

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and strength like I couldn't imagine."

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And I want that for every single person

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in eyeshot or earshot of me, because I found life in You.

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So I say all those words to You, King Jesus, and only You.

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And I pray this because of You. Amen. Amen.

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Come on. So, so good to be here together.

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Why don't you turn to somebody around you

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and say, "Hey, happy Holy Week."

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Glad to be here with you.

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If you're online, glad you're with us to.

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- You should know what happens here isn't normal.

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- Live with a dream and a hope of the impossible.

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- We choose to go to the moon in this decade

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and do the other things,

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not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

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- He is now calling us to not hold back.

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- To bring real change and hope

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for life on earth as it is in heaven.

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- It's time to make history.

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-That starts now.

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- In November 2024, God called Crossroads to a moonshot.

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He asked us to grow the four territories

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He gave us 10X in ten years.

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Over 5000 people and families pushed themselves

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faithfully committing $210 million

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above and beyond our regular giving.

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As soon as money comes in, we release it

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to resource the territories God called us to expand.

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Things are moving fast and these are exciting times,

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so we'll be updating you every month

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with the progress our community is making

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to 10X our ability to pursue God's call.

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You may feel the pinch as you start

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to fulfill your financial commitment,

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but you can be confident that the impact you envisioned

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is already happening through your investment

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in the Kingdom of God.

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After eight years of meeting in schools

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and setting up and tearing down every weekend,

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this Easter Sunday, our faithful community in Dayton

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will open the doors to their permanent site,

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where they can invite even more friends and neighbors

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to experience the new life that God has for them.

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There's no denying the power of thousands of people

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gathering together in a building,

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but God also uses technology to change lives.

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Did you know 75% of our Sunday viewers

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watch a broadcast of our teaching online

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or at their Crossroads site?

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Some might say the technology we have now is good enough,

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but we believe in offering God our best,

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and that includes using the best available tools

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to tell the greatest story ever told.

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When Crossroads was founded in 1996,

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we drained our bank account to buy a projector

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the size of an oven because our friends

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who didn't know Jesus weren't into overhead transparencies.

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Today, technology is advancing faster than ever,

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and our current systems will feel like felt boards

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to the next generation in no time.

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So we're following in the footsteps

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of those who went before us

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and investing in cutting edge technology

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at our broadcast site, allowing us

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to capture God's life changing story

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in the most captivating way possible.

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This will vastly improve both the online experience

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and the experience that all of our physical sites,

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where upgraded technology will allow us

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to tell the story of Jesus in an even more

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immersive and culturally current way,

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attracting more people who need the hope

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that only Jesus brings.

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Phase one is almost complete

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with new top of the line cameras

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and a best in class, immersive LED stage

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to bring our teaching to life for broadcast.

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Phase two rolls out over the next year,

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upgrading the experience at all sites

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to deliver the most compelling message

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and experience possible.

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We know this sounds confusing,

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but the good news is it's happening.

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And when you see it, it'll blow your mind.

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And this Easter, you'll get just a small taste

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of this sweet new tech.

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In the last four months, we've taken ground

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to expand all four territories as we pursue

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revival for our friends and neighbors who don't know Jesus

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and an awakening in our land.

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And we are just getting started.

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- Apollo 11, this is Houston. You are go for staging.

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- Yes, that's right, we are just getting started.

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The 10X Push and all of the work that it encompasses,

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man, spans the globe.

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And I just want you to know if you are contributing

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to the 10X Push and a part of that mission, man, thank you.

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And you need to know you're making

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a huge impact across the globe.

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And if you've got questions around

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what does Crossroads believe about money

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or what do we spend money on,

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we've got info at crossroads.net/give.

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And if you want to join the team of faithful givers

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who are making incredible work happen all across the globe,

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head there as well to join the team.

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Now in that video you saw there's 10X work

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happening across the globe, and one,

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just one small piece of it is telling the story of God

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as far and wide as possible

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and using new technology even to do that.

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And actually, we've got behind us

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a little sneak peek for you, a little sneak peek

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of what that's gonna look like.

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And man, you need to know that the best story,

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that is the story of God, deserves the best tools.

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And that's what we're looking at starting this Easter.

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- That's right, this Easter, yeah, we're so excited,

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giddy almost. We got some stuff up our sleeve.

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We're going to be using those tools

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to tell arguably the best part of that story,

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which is Jesus is alive and risen.

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And so we want to make sure that you know

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that Easter is going to look and feel really, really cool

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and different this year. It's going to the next level.

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And so if you're near a physical site,

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you're going to want to get to that site.

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If you know someone near a physical site,

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invite them to that site.

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And if you plan to be online,

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we have a great experience planned there as well.

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Invite and share and share and share

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because this is the best, the best message.

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It's the hope. It's the hope that we have.

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- That's right. So make sure you're there. Bring a friend.

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Whether you're here in this building,

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at one of our sites or watching online,

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the experience is going to be incredible and just powerful,

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whoever you are, wherever you are.

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And we're not just jumping in on Easter, right?

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- Right.

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- We're talking about this story is longer

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and more beautiful that God is doing in our lives

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and throughout history.

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But it doesn't just start with Easter.

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It actually starts with Holy Week and Palm Sunday

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that we're jumping into right now,

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where we just look at the reality

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that no matter who we are,

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no matter how independent and strong we think we are,

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we all serve somebody.

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- Man, Bob Dylan. Anyone seen the new Bob Dylan movie?

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Yeah, it was pretty good, like a rolling stone.

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Well, today we're going to take a takeoff on that song,

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not really.

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That takeoff of the song that Bob Dylan wrote

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is a takeoff on what Palm Sunday is.

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This is the beginning of the high Holy Week

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for Christians all over the country.

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It starts with Palm Sunday,

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which is the week before Easter Sunday.

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I'm gonna explain that today.

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And in Palm Sunday, the question is

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who will you serve? That's the question.

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Palms are nice. Palms are sweet.

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I'm explaining them,

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but it's about who do you serve?

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Not who do you say you serve

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and I don't mean, like, volunteer for.

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That's a good thing.

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I'm talking about who do you lay your life down for?

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That's the question between Palm Sunday.

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Let's pray before I go any further.

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God, I am just humbled to be able to talk

00:27:56

about transcendent things that

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have altered the course of history.

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And I am, gosh, I don't feel worthy of it.

00:28:06

But man, I'm so thankful that I get to do it.

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And I am praying that all of us see things

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about You and ourselves in Holy Week

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that we haven't seen before,

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and something changes inside of us.

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I pray these things according to

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the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.

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Holy week starts with Palm Sunday.

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It goes to what's known as Maundy Thursday,

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which is the Last Supper celebration

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when Jesus instituted the Last Supper.

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On Thursday, which we have all of our Crossroads sites,

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and then it goes to Good Friday service

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and then it goes to Easter service.

00:28:46

This thing we're talking about though today is Palm Sunday.

00:28:49

It's about -- it's about recognizing

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what it is you lay your life down for.

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And there's three things, three key elements

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that are in this story that are not random.

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They seem like they're just interesting things there,

00:29:03

but they're specific things they're trying

00:29:05

to communicate a spiritual point to us.

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So let's go ahead and read the story.

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It comes from Matthew 21.

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It's actually in every book of the --

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All four of Jesus's authorized biographies,

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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It's in all four of those.

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It says he comes into Jerusalem.

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He's been, up to this point, He's been out

00:29:27

in all the sort of suburbs of Jerusalem,

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out in the hick towns of Jerusalem,

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at least what Jerusalem would say is the hick towns.

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The small areas out around the Sea of Galilee

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and all these places.

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And He's been doing great things.

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He's been teaching great things.

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But now He's coming into the big time.

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He's coming into Jerusalem because

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as the Jews were all around,

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they would gather there

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for their high Holy Week of Passover.

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So everyone's coming, and this is sort of

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when Jesus actually gets put on display

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and people are waiting for Him.

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They've heard stories about Him.

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They're wondering what He's about.

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And they are hoping that He's going to do for them

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what they want Him to do for them.

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Here's how the story goes.

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I'll read the Matthew version, Matthew 21.

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And if anyone says anything to you,

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you shall say, 'The Lord needs them, '

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and he will send them at once."

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Apparently Jesus has preordered,

00:30:43

if you will, a donkey and a colt.

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And He's gone into town,

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or He sends somebody to deal with it,

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and they've worked this owner out,

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where he is, and we're going to have this.

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So he says, "Okay, we got this all worked out.

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Just go in there and get these things

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and bring them, tell them the Lord needs them.

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Maybe this guy who owns the colt and the donkey

00:31:01

had had a significant experience with Jesus

00:31:04

and now looks at Him as the Lord,

00:31:06

not just a teacher, a miracle worker.

00:31:09

But he's like, "Oh, you're the -- okay, good."

00:31:11

He gives it to them.

00:31:12

And the question or the verse continues here.

00:31:31

Jesus is aware that there are prophecies

00:31:34

that have been written about the coming Son of God,

00:31:37

about the Messiah, about the Christ.

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And so He's going through

00:31:40

and sort of checking these off like,

00:31:42

"Oh, okay, the Son of God,

00:31:43

the Christ used the donkey.

00:31:45

Let's have this handled. Let's deal with this."

00:31:47

He's fulfilling prophecy. Verse six.

00:32:00

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road.

00:32:05

So here we have the first sort of prop

00:32:09

of Palm Sunday we're going to talk about today.

00:32:11

It is the cloak. The cloak.

00:32:14

The cloak is something you lay your life down for.

00:32:17

They took off their cloaks

00:32:20

and they laid them on the donkey,

00:32:22

and they put it on the ground.

00:32:23

Kind of like those old Western movies.

00:32:25

I don't know if they ever did this or not.

00:32:27

Ever see those old Western movies

00:32:28

where it's a muddy dirt road

00:32:30

and some damsel is walking across the road

00:32:33

and some cowboy figure comes up

00:32:34

and takes his coat off,

00:32:36

puts it on the mud puddle and let's her walk.

00:32:38

I don't know if that ever happened or not for real,

00:32:40

but it's kind of in the same vein.

00:32:42

People are taking off their cloaks, putting them down.

00:32:45

It's a sign of honoring royalty.

00:32:48

It's what you would do for royalty.

00:32:51

And this is the big question today,

00:32:54

who will you lay your life down for?

00:32:56

What are you laying your life down?

00:32:59

You have to serve somebody. All of us.

00:33:01

All of us do lay our life down for somebody.

00:33:04

All of us do lay our life down for something.

00:33:06

All of us. All of us have an overriding narrative

00:33:10

that's guiding our life, even if you don't know what it is.

00:33:13

Because we are wired to make sense of our life

00:33:16

and know why we're doing what we're doing,

00:33:18

and how do we filter things to make decisions.

00:33:21

So your thing that you lay your life down for,

00:33:24

your guiding principle, it could be [money, ]could be money.

00:33:28

It could be women, it could be men,

00:33:32

it could be status.

00:33:35

It could be accomplishments,

00:33:37

which is why we always try to do new things.

00:33:40

Or for some people, it's why

00:33:41

they always got to hang their degrees on their wall.

00:33:44

Like, we really don't care, but I know you do.

00:33:47

Hang our degrees in the wall, if that's us.

00:33:49

Some people, it's our body.

00:33:52

It's our body, it's our guiding thing.

00:33:53

And so, like, if you gain 5 pounds

00:33:57

and it's your body, it's crisis mode.

00:33:58

"Oh my gosh, I gained 5 pounds.

00:34:01

Oh no I can't."

00:34:03

What is your thing?

00:34:05

For some people it's power.

00:34:08

And it may not be sex, but sex

00:34:10

is maybe the way they have power over somebody.

00:34:12

They have multiple partners because

00:34:14

they feel the power over that person.

00:34:18

For other people, it's fame.

00:34:21

For other people, it's the perfect image of family.

00:34:24

You're laying your life down

00:34:25

for the perfect image of family.

00:34:28

And so when your family starts later

00:34:30

than you thought it should,

00:34:31

you're in a crisis situation.

00:34:33

When something happens in your family

00:34:36

that's difficult or shameful,

00:34:38

it's a crisis situation.

00:34:40

And again, all of us

00:34:43

have an overriding objective to our life,

00:34:46

something that we serve,

00:34:47

something that is the most important thing.

00:34:51

If it's money, like, this is a rough week for everybody,

00:34:54

I guess, this last week, if it's money.

00:34:56

If you've got stocks and bonds,

00:34:57

there's this thing called [stuttering]

00:35:03

Remember that from Dumb and Dumber?

00:35:05

You don't, okay, okay.

00:35:08

I'm not talking about that T word.

00:35:11

Tariffs. Tariffs. Whew, man. Tariffs.

00:35:16

Now, your reaction to whatever happened

00:35:18

in the market is a function of a lot of things.

00:35:20

It's a function of how much you have in the market.

00:35:23

It's also a function of how much

00:35:26

you understand the market, they go up and down.

00:35:28

It's also a function of how important

00:35:31

investments are to you.

00:35:32

The more important money is to you,

00:35:34

the more you lay down your life for,

00:35:38

the more you ultimately serve money,

00:35:40

the more catastrophic and difficult

00:35:42

this last week will be.

00:35:44

Where you know if you don't

00:35:45

and you don't have any stocks,

00:35:46

it's been a fine week. No problem.

00:35:48

You know what's the big deal?

00:35:51

Do you know what it is?

00:35:52

Do you know what it is?

00:35:54

Because you have something. It is.

00:35:56

These people are laying down their jackets to royalty.

00:36:01

You're the one that we want.

00:36:02

You're the one we want to serve,

00:36:04

or at least it looks that way.

00:36:06

Not really.

00:36:08

Let's keep reading here.

00:36:12

And the crowds -- Excuse me. Here it is.

00:36:35

So this is the second prop, if you will.

00:36:37

It's not just the cloaks, it's the palms.

00:36:39

They're throwing down palms.

00:36:41

And for sure, if they're throwing down palms,

00:36:44

they're waving palms, that would have been

00:36:45

a normal thing to do at that point.

00:36:48

And what are the palms about?

00:36:50

If the jacket is a statement of service,

00:36:54

if the cloak is a statement of what I'm serving.

00:36:56

The palms are a statement of freedom.

00:37:00

They're a sign for Israel of their freedom.

00:37:02

They're waving their palms, wanting their freedom.

00:37:06

I don't know anybody who doesn't want freedom.

00:37:08

All of us want to be able to do what we're able to do.

00:37:10

All of us want to be able to be in control of our own life.

00:37:13

All of us shun and hate shackles that are put on us

00:37:18

or things that box us in. All of us.

00:37:20

We all want our freedom.

00:37:22

Crossroads is about freedom.

00:37:24

You getting free in a relationship with God

00:37:27

and we spend significantly for that.

00:37:30

Jesus spent significantly for our freedom.

00:37:31

He dies on the Cross,

00:37:33

which we're going to get into in great depth on Good Friday.

00:37:36

And Crossroads also spends for our freedom

00:37:38

because we invest in things that could

00:37:40

bring more people into spiritual freedom.

00:37:43

We had the ability this last Monday.

00:37:46

I don't know if you were there.

00:37:47

Everyone who made 10X commitments

00:37:50

to push for 10X commitments were invited

00:37:53

to our our Dayton dedication service.

00:37:56

We were dedicating that building.

00:37:58

For those of us there, was that not really awesome?

00:38:00

It was great. You can clap for it.

00:38:02

It was -- It's a beautiful building.

00:38:05

It's a beautiful building

00:38:07

taking our Dayton community to the next level,

00:38:10

a tool to bring more people freedom.

00:38:14

One of the people I met there,

00:38:16

I was so thankful to meet because

00:38:17

it was just earlier in the day

00:38:20

I was looking at some videos that

00:38:22

were showing this week and next week

00:38:24

of people who've had their lives changed

00:38:26

and have been made free by what Jesus has done for them.

00:38:29

And I met this woman, like,

00:38:31

"Oh, I just previewed your video today.

00:38:33

Thank you. It was amazing."

00:38:36

You probably want to see it. Let's look at it.

00:38:40

- I was in a place where I was desperate,

00:38:42

depressed, very anxious.

00:38:45

Um, at one point, I was suicidal.

00:38:47

My marriage was in ruins.

00:38:49

Um, I didn't feel like my kids cared

00:38:52

or that they hated me.

00:38:53

Nothing that I did could take those feelings away.

00:38:58

I needed to find myself again.

00:39:01

Woman Camp started showing up, um, in ads on Facebook.

00:39:05

Checked into it, and I'm like,

00:39:07

"Oh, this sounds really interesting."

00:39:08

You know, because I'm kind of soul searching

00:39:11

and trying to figure out what it was that I was lacking.

00:39:14

When I signed up, I was scared.

00:39:16

I didn't know anybody.

00:39:17

I didn't ask friends if they wanted to go.

00:39:21

A little over halfway down, I started feeling very heavy.

00:39:24

You know? I had it in my head

00:39:26

that He wasn't going to meet me there.

00:39:27

God wasn't going to be there.

00:39:29

You know, I had doubted

00:39:30

His existence for my entire life.

00:39:33

I was begging for Him to show me

00:39:35

He does love me and that He is there.

00:39:38

So then we went out to solitude.

00:39:40

You know, we have our little book

00:39:42

and we get into this book,

00:39:44

and it was talking about how I was feeling,

00:39:48

which at the time was anxious and depressed

00:39:53

and, you know, worthless and lost.

00:40:01

And they had a spot out there.

00:40:04

They had rocks and chains,

00:40:07

all of the words that I was feeling,

00:40:09

all the lies, I wrote them on the chain.

00:40:11

And I'm reading this message from God.

00:40:15

And I broke in a good way that I had never felt.

00:40:21

It was a gut punch.

00:40:23

That volunteer came over and placed her hand

00:40:28

in the middle of my back to comfort me.

00:40:31

I felt this surge, you know, a wave come over me,

00:40:38

up over my head and down my back.

00:40:40

I knew that was the turning point for me,

00:40:43

because I knew that I was forgiven.

00:40:46

In that moment I couldn't believe it,

00:40:49

because after everything I had said

00:40:51

and done in my life to people that cared about me

00:40:54

and loved me and to myself,

00:40:56

I didn't think that was possible.

00:40:58

And there He was.

00:40:59

I was like, "You know what, girls, I'm doing it.

00:41:02

I'm going to go down and get baptized."

00:41:04

And as soon as I hit the water, it was --

00:41:07

It was silent. It was dark.

00:41:10

I had died.

00:41:12

And when they pulled me back out of the water,

00:41:15

it was so bright and so amazing.

00:41:19

Before I went to Woman Camp,

00:41:22

my husband and I had had a conversation.

00:41:25

At that point, I wasn't sure

00:41:27

where our marriage was going to go.

00:41:29

When I was there with them in the prayer tent,

00:41:31

God showed me that was my person.

00:41:35

That's who I'm meant to be with.

00:41:36

I walked in the door

00:41:37

and I'm smiling ear to ear.

00:41:40

And he's just like, "Wow."

00:41:43

Immediately he could see a change.

00:41:45

And then he signed up for Man Camp for this year

00:41:48

because he just saw such a change that he wanted that too.

00:41:52

It's been, you know,

00:41:54

a really great transformation in our relationship.

00:41:57

And I'm like, you know, this experience,

00:41:59

it was -- it was -- It was something.

00:42:00

We need to go check out the church.

00:42:02

You know, had our first service

00:42:03

and we're like, "This is great."

00:42:05

My 16 year old came with us once to Crossroads.

00:42:09

And when we left, he was like,

00:42:11

"That was actually pretty cool. I really liked that."

00:42:13

Fast forward to now he's bringing

00:42:15

all of his friends and his brother.

00:42:18

His brother was very much in the other direction,

00:42:22

and he saw such a change.

00:42:24

He's like, "I want some of that."

00:42:26

The Jennifer then died.

00:42:30

I mean, that -- that -- that girl is gone.

00:42:32

Future is very bright.

00:42:34

I started going back to school

00:42:35

and I'm taking theology so I can,

00:42:38

you know, get to know Him even deeper.

00:42:39

My marriage is flourishing.

00:42:41

My kids are thriving.

00:42:43

It's a whole different view now.

00:42:44

Our house isn't dark.

00:42:45

It's so bright. It's so bright in there.

00:42:51

[applause] - Mhm.

00:42:55

He still sets people free.

00:42:58

He's still, for all those

00:42:59

who would lay down their life for Him.

00:43:04

Now, while the palm branch is a symbol for freedom.

00:43:11

Let's go a little deeper here because

00:43:14

all is not as well as it actually looks.

00:43:18

In the history of the Jews,

00:43:21

the palm branch was meant to be a sign of freedom.

00:43:24

It was meant to be something that they would shake.

00:43:28

In the book of Leviticus,

00:43:29

written hundreds of years earlier in the Old Testament.

00:43:32

Here's what it says. It says:

00:43:33

And you shall take on the first day

00:43:35

of the fruit of the splendid trees,

00:43:37

branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees,

00:43:41

and willows of the brook.

00:43:44

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, seven days.

00:43:48

So rejoicing, rejoicing who God is,

00:43:50

rejoicing freedom, using it that way.

00:43:53

But there's something else that's actually happening here.

00:43:57

There's actually something that's a bit sinister

00:44:00

that's going on here.

00:44:02

It would be very common to take palms

00:44:06

and lay them on the ground

00:44:07

when a king was walking in,

00:44:10

kind of like along the line with what the cloak is.

00:44:12

But there's actually something different here

00:44:14

that's happening that scholars

00:44:16

are pretty, pretty united on.

00:44:18

The palm, while it was a universal sign

00:44:21

of victory and freedom,

00:44:23

there's something else happening here.

00:44:25

When the Gladiators would win,

00:44:27

they would have a palm.

00:44:28

When you had a win in the Olympics,

00:44:30

the ancient Olympics in Greece,

00:44:32

they'd give you palm,

00:44:33

put a Garland around your head to signify that you had won.

00:44:40

Constantine memorialized this on the coins

00:44:43

with the garlands. It was important to them.

00:44:47

But it was also something in their history

00:44:50

that is influencing this.

00:44:52

150 years earlier the Greeks had taken over this region.

00:44:57

And they had taken over

00:44:59

the Jews' High Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

00:45:03

And in that temple he hadn't just

00:45:05

defiled the temple by going in it.

00:45:09

He defiled the temple by going in it

00:45:11

where only the the priests should go

00:45:12

in the Holy of Holies, and took out

00:45:15

the holy objects and used them for other things.

00:45:18

Of course, this was horrendous for the Jewish people,

00:45:22

and they just had to take it.

00:45:24

Until there was a family that rose up,

00:45:27

the Maccabees, and the Maccabees was led

00:45:31

by one of their strong men.

00:45:34

His name was Judas, Judas Maccabees.

00:45:37

And they called him the hammer.

00:45:39

And so he led a revolt,

00:45:41

and they kicked out the the Greeks,

00:45:44

they took back over the temple.

00:45:45

And this was a massive, monumental thing.

00:45:48

It was an eight day conflict.

00:45:50

This has led to what the Jews celebrate today with Hanukkah.

00:45:54

It's about the retaking of the temple and the Maccabean Revolt.

00:45:59

2 Maccabees 10:7 memorializes this event, says this.

00:46:04

This is not in the Bible.

00:46:05

It's one of the intertestamental books

00:46:07

for some people of faith.

00:46:09

Carrying green palm branches

00:46:11

that people paraded around singing grateful praises.

00:46:16

Paraded around singing grateful praises.

00:46:18

And there's a coin that's been archeologically dug up

00:46:22

that shows this scenario, the palm branch,

00:46:26

Judas Maccabeus and all that stuff.

00:46:29

This is what's happening here with Jesus.

00:46:35

They are thinking that Jesus is the next Judas Maccabeus,

00:46:41

that He is coming to upend this political oppression

00:46:47

that they have at the hand of Rome

00:46:49

the same way that the Hammer did

00:46:52

when the Greeks had oppressed the Jews.

00:46:55

They are hearing and wanting this Jesus,

00:46:58

who we've heard raises the dead,

00:47:01

heals people, calms the sea.

00:47:05

That guy, that power we need right here, right now.

00:47:10

In fact, He's coming to the Holy City right now,

00:47:13

the center of Roman power,

00:47:15

where they've sent up thrones and all that stuff.

00:47:21

He's coming here.

00:47:22

And so everyone hears that this guy who's been out,

00:47:25

He's making his grand entrance.

00:47:27

They're like, "Oh, this could be the guy.

00:47:29

This is it. All we need Him to do is what He does

00:47:33

and we could have freedom right now.

00:47:36

The kind of freedom that we want."

00:47:39

Now, I've got to tell you this. Relax. Here we go.

00:47:46

Trigger warning. [alarm]

00:47:51

Trigger warning. Trigger warning.

00:47:54

I'm just telling you right now.

00:47:55

Right now, everybody is going to get a little bit offended, okay?

00:47:59

If you're not offended at first, you're going to be offended.

00:48:02

Okay? So trigger warning, just so you know.

00:48:05

Trigger warning. And this is a trigger warning.

00:48:07

I'm telling you why it's a trigger warning,

00:48:09

because I think no matter what some of you say,

00:48:13

I don't think you'd laid your life down for Jesus.

00:48:17

I think we are trying to co-opt Jesus for the life that I want,

00:48:22

instead of having Jesus co-opt my life

00:48:24

for the life that He wants.

00:48:26

It's a very -- it's a very subtle thing.

00:48:28

It's a very subtle thing to lay your life down before Jesus.

00:48:36

The difference between that and co-opting Jesus

00:48:41

to validate your life and to do for you

00:48:44

what you want done for you.

00:48:45

And so as the Jews are doing this,

00:48:48

what they're saying is, "Jesus. Jesus.

00:48:50

Oh, yeah. Yeah yeah, yeah.

00:48:51

Lead the political revolt. Come on. Free us. Free us.

00:48:54

You're the next Hammer. You're the next Hammer."

00:48:57

You know what this is like?

00:48:59

This would be like waving a Maga hat.

00:49:04

This would be like waving an LGBTQIA+ flag.

00:49:10

This would be like waving black lives matter,

00:49:14

blue lives matter, red hammer and sickle,

00:49:19

Crossroads trail marker.

00:49:23

It is anything, anything that isn't Jesus,

00:49:27

anything that isn't Jesus.

00:49:29

Jesus may be okay with, He may be.

00:49:32

But the main thing is that thing that we serve.

00:49:36

Anything that isn't Jesus is a false idol

00:49:42

that God wants to shatter.

00:49:44

Anything. Anything.

00:49:48

And the problem is, we don't really know

00:49:51

because few of us are self-aware enough,

00:49:54

few of us are really aware enough to know,

00:49:57

am I really into Jesus?

00:49:58

Is God really my thing?

00:50:00

We think it is. We think He is.

00:50:02

But many of us think that because we just think

00:50:05

He's approving of the choices that I'm making right now.

00:50:08

And as soon as something pushes on you, woo! Woo!

00:50:11

Man, Woo! Woo! Man.

00:50:15

Can't tell you how many people tell me

00:50:19

I should be talking more about the political situation.

00:50:22

Can't tell you.

00:50:23

I just got another email last time.

00:50:25

They think, like, if more people are on the email,

00:50:27

then it's more going to be listened to more by me.

00:50:30

No, it's not.

00:50:32

No, I'm not against talking about politics sometimes.

00:50:35

I'm not. I mean, someday, maybe something will happen,

00:50:38

I'm like, okay, I need to say something about this.

00:50:40

But nothing, nowhere even close.

00:50:42

Because I want to talk about Jesus.

00:50:44

I don't want to talk about politics.

00:50:45

And here's the thing. [applause]

00:50:47

Here's the thing that's so interesting.

00:50:49

People on either sides are upset

00:50:52

that something should be said about something.

00:50:54

You know? Who claimed the name of Jesus?

00:51:00

You know, you know, if something has a hold on you

00:51:03

based on how you react when it's taken away from you.

00:51:07

Like when you lose money and money is your thing,

00:51:10

your reaction goes, "Woo, money was a bit important to me."

00:51:13

When you lose your girlfriend, your boyfriend,

00:51:17

your reaction to that shows how wedded you are,

00:51:19

how much you needed that person.

00:51:22

When you lose or gain 5 pounds,

00:51:25

like some of us, "Huh, I lost 5 pounds,

00:51:28

Gained 5 pounds. Oh, interesting."

00:51:29

Others of us, "Like my belt.

00:51:31

Oh my gosh, there's another -- another loop. Oh oh, my!"

00:51:35

Crisis mode. Crisis mode.

00:51:38

These people who are doing this for Jesus,

00:51:40

I don't think they're interested in Jesus at all.

00:51:43

I don't think they're interested at all.

00:51:46

I don't think they're -- I don't think fan of Him at all.

00:51:48

In fact, they might have liked Him as soon as he came in.

00:51:52

And it's like Jesus goes out of His way

00:51:54

the next several days to just piss everybody off.

00:51:58

Yeah, I just said that word. Yeah.

00:52:01

I probably pissed you off that I said piss off, didn't I?

00:52:04

Because that's probably a word --

00:52:05

You're probably pissed to hear that in church, aren't you?

00:52:07

You're probably just turn your neighbor.

00:52:09

By the way, that's why we have a thing called Kids' Club,

00:52:11

in case you wondered.

00:52:12

Just turn your neighbor, just say that word.

00:52:14

Go ahead. Get out of your system.

00:52:16

No, you don't have to do that.

00:52:17

I'm just kidding. Just kidding, just kidding.

00:52:21

The next week, the next week, all these people

00:52:23

who are waving flags, because He doesn't do what they want,

00:52:26

they will all abandon Him.

00:52:29

Let me tell you what happens from this point on.

00:52:31

He's going to go directly to the temple.

00:52:33

He's going to going to go to the temple,

00:52:35

and He's going to overturn the money changers table,

00:52:38

people who are making money in the temple.

00:52:41

It's one of the times you see Jesus

00:52:43

get really, really, really upset.

00:52:45

That's why here are Crossroads

00:52:46

we never sell anything in the atrium.

00:52:47

We don't have any book resource centers or anything.

00:52:49

We're like, "Yeah, one time Jesus got really, really mad

00:52:52

that people were selling something in the atrium,

00:52:54

so we're just never going to do that."

00:52:55

He turns it over. Turns over the tables.

00:52:57

And people are upset about it.

00:53:00

He goes from there and He sees this fig tree

00:53:02

with these nice leaves.

00:53:04

He walks up the fig tree and He sees this beautiful leaves,

00:53:07

but there's no figs and He curses it.

00:53:08

He puts a curse on the fig tree,

00:53:10

because the fig tree represents many of us

00:53:12

who look real good, but there's no fruit in our life.

00:53:15

We look really cool and sweet,

00:53:16

but when you look at the fruit,

00:53:18

the fruit doesn't represent anything about God.

00:53:20

We just look good.

00:53:21

We look moral, we look nice, we look happy,

00:53:24

and Jesus curses it.

00:53:25

And then He comes back around, it's dead.

00:53:27

Cursing things.

00:53:29

He questions authority.

00:53:31

He talks about a son who doesn't do the will of the father.

00:53:33

When he talks about a son

00:53:35

who doesn't do the will of the father,

00:53:36

he's talking to all the Jews.

00:53:38

You're the children of God

00:53:39

and you don't do the will of the Father.

00:53:41

That's not a very affirming message. Not at all.

00:53:44

He goes from there and He talks about

00:53:46

tenants who are owning the land, and the manager

00:53:50

or the owner of the land sends a messenger,

00:53:53

and the tenants kill the messenger.

00:53:55

Saying to them, "Oh, the prophets you used to kill,

00:53:57

you always killed the prophets.

00:54:00

And now there's one coming. Hint, hint, it's Me,

00:54:02

and you're going to kill Me like you always do.

00:54:05

You always resist the will of God."

00:54:07

"Why are you saying-- Jesus, You got--

00:54:09

You just got this crowd.

00:54:10

Everyone's happy, but, man, you're pushing."

00:54:12

He tells the story of a wedding feast.

00:54:15

He says all the elite people,

00:54:16

the people who are the cool kids,

00:54:18

the people who have all the stuff going,

00:54:20

they're invited to the feast.

00:54:21

And they say, "Ah, you know, I just don't have time.

00:54:24

I got stuff to do. My cow is giving birth.

00:54:26

I got this, I got -- I can't come."

00:54:29

And the person representing God says,

00:54:30

"Okay, well I won't take any of them.

00:54:32

I'm going to go to the people who are the least of them,

00:54:34

to go to the people who just don't have all that they have

00:54:36

and are struggling and are hurting.

00:54:38

I'm going to compel them to come."

00:54:40

He talks about taxes.

00:54:42

Woo, taxes that'll get people fired up.

00:54:44

Say what you do with the tax situation?

00:54:46

What should we do? Should we pay to Caesar?

00:54:48

He says, "Hey, let me see the coin. Can I see the coin?"

00:54:50

They give Him the coin. He goes, "Huh? It's a coin.

00:54:53

Sure enough, it's a coin. Whose image is on that?"

00:54:55

They go, "Oh, Caesar's." "Huh?

00:54:57

Well, so if his image is on, I guess that's his.

00:55:00

So just give to Caesar's what's his.

00:55:02

Just -- Who cares? You shouldn't be upset about taxes."

00:55:05

My gosh, I just said -- I just said

00:55:07

some of you are going to blow a freaking lid.

00:55:09

Don't be upset with taxes?

00:55:11

I'm not saying I'm a fan of taxes.

00:55:14

I'm not saying we have a tax code that I'm excited about.

00:55:17

I'm just saying it's never going to have my affections

00:55:21

like Jesus has my affections.

00:55:23

I'm just saying none of these things

00:55:24

are going to get me fired up like Jesus is.

00:55:26

And so that's what Jesus says.

00:55:28

Oh, that's good to see. Why is Jesus saying that?

00:55:30

He said He says this because, you know, he implies this.

00:55:33

You know whose image is on you?

00:55:36

God. You're made in the image of God

00:55:39

so give yourself to God, all of yourself, give it to God.

00:55:43

Give Caesar the coin. Who cares?

00:55:45

That's not your destiny. That's not your identity.

00:55:48

But you have the image of God stamped on your heart.

00:55:52

That's who you are. Give it to God. Woo.

00:55:56

People did not like that.

00:55:58

Then He gives the seven woes to the religious leaders.

00:56:00

Like, "Woe is you! Woe, woe, woe.

00:56:02

When I say woe, I mean woe, woe, woe, woe."

00:56:07

He burns all the bridges of all, all the palm flaggers.

00:56:12

All of them, all of them.

00:56:14

We know this because at the end of the week,

00:56:17

He goes to get tried, and Pilate actually likes Him.

00:56:21

He's like, "Huh? I like this guy."

00:56:23

Pilate's trying to --

00:56:24

Pilate is the Roman governor who oversees the region here.

00:56:28

And he's kind of, him and his wife

00:56:30

are kind of smitten with Jesus.

00:56:31

And they're like, "Huh? I like this guy."

00:56:33

He thinks he's going to get Him off.

00:56:34

He says, "I know what I'll do.

00:56:35

I'll tell everybody there's a tradition

00:56:38

that whoever you want me to release, you can have.

00:56:42

So here's your options: There's Jesus of Nazareth

00:56:44

and Barabbas, this criminal, this horrible guy."

00:56:47

He puts him up, and what do you know?

00:56:49

What do you know? What do you know?

00:56:51

The same people who are woo-hoo, when he gives them the choice,

00:56:56

they say, "Barabbas. We want him, Barabbas. Barabbas!"

00:56:59

They're going. "Jesus? Barabbas! We want Barabbas."

00:57:02

They elect to have Him killed, the same people. Why?

00:57:07

Because He didn't do what they wanted Him to do,

00:57:10

because He wasn't about what they were about.

00:57:16

A lot of us have to come to places

00:57:18

where we evaluate our faith,

00:57:21

perhaps deconstruct our faith before we construct it again.

00:57:26

Like, look at our faith, "Do I believe that?"

00:57:31

That's good and healthy to do.

00:57:33

But without exception, without exception,

00:57:35

the people I know who have walked away from the faith,

00:57:39

who claim to be a person of faith,

00:57:41

without exception, it's always because

00:57:44

they didn't get what they wanted.

00:57:47

They didn't get what they thought they would get with God.

00:57:51

They thought they would have a pain free life, and they didn't.

00:57:55

They thought that they would rise

00:57:59

and have the family beautiful, and they haven't.

00:58:03

They thought that there would be this this clarity

00:58:07

and they would always know the right thing to do.

00:58:09

And they still don't,

00:58:10

because God doesn't tell us everything like a blueprint.

00:58:13

They thought that --

00:58:15

And it's because it's because we were waving our flag

00:58:19

because I became to faith because God was going

00:58:21

to do in my life what I wanted Him to do in my life.

00:58:25

And God will have none of it.

00:58:27

No, He will do in your life what He wants to do in your life.

00:58:30

And He'll do it when He wants to do in your life.

00:58:32

And if you lay your life down before Him,

00:58:35

lay yourself on the altar, it will be okay

00:58:39

whatever you do, whatever he does.

00:58:41

It's about Him.

00:58:44

And this leads us to the third significant thing

00:58:48

here in this in Palm Sunday.

00:58:51

Got the cloak, got the palms, and we have the donkey.

00:58:55

Come along now, Donkey.

00:58:57

We have the donkey. The donkey. Yes, the donkey.

00:59:03

Why the donkey? Why is this?

00:59:07

Well, Jesus is going through

00:59:09

and he's checking the box on the prophecies.

00:59:13

He's doing these prophecies.

00:59:15

Not only is He checking the box of these prophecies,

00:59:18

but these prophecies are in there because

00:59:21

the prophets, without knowing this,

00:59:23

the prophets have been inspired with this prophecy

00:59:26

because God knew the situation that would exist

00:59:29

in the first century that made this prophecy necessary.

00:59:33

Here's the prophecy in the book of Zechariah 9.

00:59:36

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion,

00:59:38

shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem,

00:59:41

behold, your king is coming to you,

00:59:43

righteous and having salvation,

00:59:45

as he humble and mounted on a donkey,

00:59:48

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

00:59:51

There's actually two animals, it's redundant.

00:59:54

It's a form of parallelism.

00:59:56

There's actually two animals, you only ever see one,

00:59:58

but there's two same,

00:59:59

just different names for the same animal.

01:00:03

A donkey, a donkey.

01:00:05

Why? Why this, why this?

01:00:07

It's like God is setting up the prophets

01:00:12

to clue Jesus in on the solution of all these palm branch wavers

01:00:18

who want their way and want Jesus to validate them.

01:00:21

It's like, here's what we do.

01:00:22

We don't come in with a big white horse

01:00:25

that a conquering hero comes in.

01:00:27

We come in on a donkey.

01:00:29

We come in on a stupid, the most stupid animal there is,

01:00:33

that's stubborn, that isn't inspired by anybody.

01:00:36

It's slow. It doesn't run.

01:00:38

If you were conquering king and you were coming into a town,

01:00:41

you would always come in on a horse or a white horse.

01:00:44

Spoiler alert, that happens later.

01:00:46

It's in the book of Revelation, that's yet to come.

01:00:49

Or if there's no white horse there,

01:00:51

the conqueror walks, walks into the city.

01:00:54

Jesus comes on a donkey.

01:00:57

And what he's saying here is, "I'll have none of it.

01:01:01

I'll have none of it. You wanting your way

01:01:04

and wanting Me to fit into your agenda.

01:01:06

No, no, no, no. I have none of it.

01:01:08

I'm going to send you a signal

01:01:10

that I'm not going to be your political hero.

01:01:12

I'm not going to be your political conqueror.

01:01:14

I'm not going to be the guy who does what you want to have done.

01:01:17

I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it."

01:01:19

Riding on a donkey, this is sort of the beginning

01:01:21

of the pinprick of public sentiment going away.

01:01:25

As it was sinking in for people like, "Wait, wait, wait.

01:01:27

A donkey? I don't -- I don't understand this."

01:01:30

It's because as we follow false gods

01:01:40

and false idols for our life and set up,

01:01:43

lay our life down for the wrong thing,

01:01:45

we bring with it a whole host of

01:01:48

really bad assumptions for how God operates.

01:01:53

And those assumptions lead us

01:01:54

away from having a life of power.

01:01:57

When you have anything other than God

01:02:02

that you bow down to that you serve, you can't see

01:02:05

the ways of God because you keep expecting God

01:02:07

to do what you want Him to do through the lens

01:02:09

of who you want God to be.

01:02:12

And God isn't on anybody's side except His side.

01:02:15

That's whose side He's on, His.

01:02:18

And we wave our flags and get all confused on it,

01:02:21

something breaks inside of us,

01:02:23

and that's why we become anemic spiritually.

01:02:26

We have the sort of spiritual weakness

01:02:29

that permeates our culture.

01:02:31

And I don't mean just American culture.

01:02:33

I mean church culture. I mean professing Christian culture.

01:02:38

We have to lay down our life for somebody.

01:02:40

We have to lay it down on the altar.

01:02:43

Jesus is coming into Holy Week

01:02:45

to lay it down on the altar, on the Cross.

01:02:49

What will you do this week, Holy Week?

01:06:48

- This is the only spiritually sane position to be in.

01:06:52

I say, God, whatever You want, whatever You're doing,

01:06:55

I'm on that page. I'm on that page.

01:06:59

I'm not asking You to validate me,

01:07:01

put Your sugar finger in my life and sweeten it up.

01:07:04

It'd be great if You do. Thank you, if You do.

01:07:06

But, man, I'm, -- It's You and Your agenda,

01:07:11

and I'm lowering myself to that agenda.

01:07:15

That is our call this Holy Week.

01:07:19

That's why we have a special guide in the app,

01:07:22

the Crossroads app.

01:07:23

It's why we've got amazing experiences

01:07:25

on Thursday and Friday.

01:07:27

Do your spiritual journey a huge favor, huge favor,

01:07:31

and engage and settle, whether you're on the altar or not.

01:07:37

God, thank You for being clear

01:07:41

and speaking not just in parables,

01:07:43

but with objects like donkeys.

01:07:48

God, I pray you grow our church this week.

01:07:51

I pray you grow us individually and communally.

01:07:55

And, Jesus, I just I'm sorry for --

01:07:57

I'm sorry for the times that I've subtly been about me,

01:08:05

I've been subtly about me. I make it subtle.

01:08:07

I know I can't make it obvious, but it's subtle.

01:08:10

It's an internal drive.

01:08:12

I confess that as sin and I want to --

01:08:15

I want to do better.

01:08:17

I'm spiritually saying, "You're the One.

01:08:21

You're the One, whatever You want,

01:08:22

that's good enough for me." Amen.

01:08:27

Hey, why don't we stand and sing

01:08:30

one last thing before we're done today?

01:08:32

Let's set our hearts right

01:08:34

before we walk out of here for this week.

01:14:48

- So, King Jesus, we just say we're just getting started.

01:14:56

We're just getting started.

01:14:57

I want You to have my whole heart

01:15:01

because I know You have what's best for me.

01:15:04

And so I start this Holy Week by saying,

01:15:07

"I want more of You, more of You on the throne.

01:15:11

I step off the throne of my heart

01:15:14

and put You back in Your rightful place and say,

01:15:17

'You can have all of me.

01:15:18

To the best of my ability,

01:15:20

I want to give You my full attention,

01:15:22

my full life, my full choices,

01:15:24

my full heart because You're worthy.'"

01:15:27

Thank You, King Jesus.

01:15:29

If you agree with that in the room, you can say Amen.

01:15:33

Amen. That's right.

01:15:36

- Wow. What a powerful time we've had today.

01:15:38

I mean, we're all serving something,

01:15:40

and that message was loud and clear.

01:15:42

And if we're not serving Jesus,

01:15:43

then we are just living an empty life.

01:15:45

It's fantastic, fantastic time here at Palm Sunday.

01:15:49

- Yeah, that's right.

01:15:50

And man, for me it's like it's just a reminder,

01:15:52

like, we don't just need another church service.

01:15:54

What we need is an encounter with God.

01:15:57

We need an experience that changes us.

01:15:59

And so that's what Holy Week is about.

01:16:01

It's not about putting more stuff on your calendar.

01:16:03

It's about you experiencing God and the hope

01:16:05

and the new life that He has for you.

01:16:07

So do the things with us.

01:16:09

Go on this journey with us.

01:16:10

Get the most out of, not just Easter,

01:16:12

not just Palm Sunday, but Good Friday,

01:16:14

Last Supper, communion, all the things

01:16:16

happening at our sites, online

01:16:18

and in the Crossroads Anywhere app.

01:16:20

- That's right. So invite your friends,

01:16:21

invite your neighbor, invite your enemies,

01:16:23

whoever, and engage this week with Holy Week.

01:16:26

I think God has so much for us and so much for you.

01:16:29

We'll see you next time.

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