Sermon Notes

"This Day Is Salvation Come to this House"

By Brother Parrish Lee

April 13^th, 2014

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                As Pastor Paine says, “We don’t want to keep y’all too long.”  Let’s see if we can get through this.  He says ten minutes, but I know, I know, if you’re going to keep me to ten minutes, you need to tie me down, you’d better tape my mouth shut, and throw me someplace it would take me too long to get out.  It’s impossible for somebody who is, shall we say, verbally gifted…

                What a wonderful day to come and to serve, and to worship, and to give obeisance to the One true, and wise God.  Who is likened unto our God? nobody.

                So, this month, and, as everybody knows, this month is the Easter month.  Everybody’s asking all these preparations, and doing their little things, and this Sunday, or course, is Palm Sunday, and there’s a lot of reverence about it; it’s kind of exciting.  I appreciate what you said, Kirk, I appreciate it, “There’s a whole meaning behind all that excitement.”  There’s a whole meaning behind that.  We have taken out this month, that we would just focus on our Scripture of the month:

John 14:6             Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

                Giving honor to that God, that One self-same God, the only true and wise God, the deliverer, the healer, the Savior, the One who corrects and there is no follow-up, the judge whose judgment is correct and final, the One who is able to cross the distances that nobody else could, the One who walks on water, the One who dwells in our hearts and our lives, the One who has never lost a battle, the One who has ever been with us, for ever and ever and ever, giving honor to Him.  Giving honor to our founding pastor, his family.  To our bishop, he and his family, and all those who have gone before us.  Pastors, and elders, and leaders who were able to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, to do the service that God had called them to, to even see this ministry here today.  Giving honor to all of them.  Giving honor, of course, to all of you, who present yourselves in the beauty of holiness, the Bible talks about, that you might come and offer a sweet-smelling savor, and to present, with yourselves, an offering from God that is that benefit and blessing to your lives.  That’s why we come to church.  That’s why we assemble together.  That’s why we come assemble in the name of Jesus because we believe that He is more than able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask and pray.  Amen?  Amen.  We pray that the theme of the month, “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” might be a blessing to all of us, that we can say, “Truly it ha been good to be in the house, and good to be in the service, of the Lord our God.” 

                Great praise and worship time.  Great praise and worship time.  Good stuff. 

                We’re going to start with our Scripture for the day:

Luke 19:1-10       And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.  And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.  And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.  And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up , and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.  And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.  And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.  And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.  And Jesus said unto him , This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

                If you could bow your heads with me for just a moment.  Lord God, we thank You.  God, if we were to stand here and thank you for all the blessings, and the richness, and the goodness, mercy, and compassion… all the things that You bestow upon us, God, we would never leave.  For, truly, You have been a wonderful Lord.  We thank You right now for what You have given us, God.  Lord, we pray that, as You have said in Your word, that Your Word would not go out and just be void, but that it would return unto You, and that it would accomplish exactly what You have sent it to do.  We pray for Your blessing on the Word at this time, that it would feed us and be nutritious to us, God, that it might guide us and direct us.  God, answer questions in our lives, heal areas that need a touch, give us comfort, Lord, where we need the comfort, direction where we need direction, and correction where we need correction.  Do abundantly what is that your will.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  Amen.

                So, it’s Palm Sunday.  Our theme for the month of April is, The Way, the Truth and the Life. Last week, Brother Chris, he was able to  talk about the way, and as he was talking about it, he summarized it that Jesus Christ is the answer, that’s the Way.  The way is Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

                Today we want to talk about the truth.  We are going to go over four specific points in talking about this:

1.            We are going to talk about the road from Jericho to Jerusalem,

2.            We’re going to talk about Zacchaeus,

3.            We’re going to talk about the parable of the talents,

4.            and we are going to talk about a conversation, a conversation that the disciples had while they were in Jericho.  Because, you see, we know about Palm Sunday, and they were laying the palms in the way, and they were saying, “Hosanna, hosanna.”  They sang the happy songs, and it was a great day that day, because they expected great deliverance.  But, before the got to that point, before they got to Palm Sunday, there was Jericho.  In Jericho, the Lord did several things.   

Point #1: The Road

                Between Jericho and Jerusalem there was a road.  This road was a very tortuous, very dangerous road.   It had quite an elevation, if you will.  This road was a road of thieves and robbers.  This road is mentioned about by our Lord, and when He talked about the road of the Good Samaritan, and when he went and he fell among thieves, and the Levite and the Priest passed him by, but the Good Samaritan had compassion on him.  That’s this road that the Lord was talking about.   This road was about 15 to 17 miles long, depending on what reference you look at.  This road was well known and well-traveled; after all, people knew that you needed to get to Jerusalem if you wanted to get some praise, if your wanting to get some offerings.  If you’re wanting to get closer to God, you’ve got to get to Jerusalem.  To get to Jerusalem, you gots to go on this road.

                So, before we get to Jerusalem, we have to go to Jericho.  Now, there’s something really significant about Jericho.  We know the story of how the walls were great and high of Jericho, in the time of old, and we know the story of how they shut it up.  We know that nothing could get in or out during the time of Joshua.  We know that symbolized the wall and the very stronghold of a city.  Jericho symbolizes things that we lock up, that we put up walls between us and everything else.  Jericho symbolizes things that we put a stronghold on, and it’s fitting that He would start in Jericho.  The lessons that He taught—He taught many lessons, but, with the lessons that He taught, it’s fitting that He would start in Jericho.  The song says—and we all know the story—for, as the song says, the walls come a tumblin' down.  That’s point number 1.  Yes, this is truth, because the truth of the matter is, we all have some Jericho’s in our lives.  We all have some Jericho’s in us.   

Point #2: Zacchaeus

                Now, several things happened while he was in Jericho.  As we’re talking about Zacchaeus—we just read the story, yes—but, as we were reading this story, the Bible says that this man was a tax collector, a publican.  Now, tax collectors had a terrible reputation.  The Bible says that this man was a rich man.  well, how did he get rich?  It wasn’t like the IRS, where you had to have a trail of paperwork, and they have computer programs, and they define it down; if you owe them a nickel, you’re going to pa a fine of a hundred dollars.  It wasn’t like that.  Somebody would come over to your place, and say, “In the name of Caesar,” or whoever the king was, or the magistrate, or whoever the governor was, “We’re here to collect taxes, and you owe a certain amount.”  So, you had to take it, and they were always skimming off the top.  That’s how he got rich; that’s how they knew he was a sinner; they knew all these tax collectors were cheats.  They didn’t have the stock market then, and they didn’t have some fancy lotto, no, they cheated people.  They took from everybody else.  But this particular tax collector understood something.  The Bible says that he understood, he knew that Jesus was going to pass a certain way.  But, even as rich as he was, and even as much of a sinner as he was, he was a shorty.   He was of short stature.  He wasn’t one of the tallest guys.  He couldn’t see who was coming!  He knew it was Jesus, but he couldn’t see, because he was short, and the press of the people blocked him out.  So, the Bible says that this Zacchaeus ran on ahead.  He knew where he was wasn’t good enough.  “I can’t see!”  So, he ran on ahead.  Love it.  Love that verse; verse four: “And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see Him: for He was to pass that way.”  He knew that the Lord Jesus was coming, and he ran on ahead, and he prepared himself for the coming of the Lord.  He ran on ahead. 

                Saints, here we are on Palm Sunday, and we have to make the connection, that before all the joy, before we celebrate all that triumphant coming, before we receive all that good blessings, we have to make sure that we take care of our Jericho.  And, yes, we have some Zacchaeus’s here today.  I’m not talking about short in height; we’ve got some tall people here today.  Some people are six-foot—How tall are you, Andy?  6’2”.  I feel like a shorty around Andy.  Anybody ever feel like a shorty around tall people, and you’ve got to look up?  It gets the best of me, sometimes; I’ll say, “Hey, God, bring him down a little bit, and bring me up a little bit, and we’ll both feel better.”  Some people may not be short in stature, but they’re Zacchaeus’s because right now they’re short in strength.  Just, “Oh, I’ve had a hard week, and I ain’t as strong as I know people want me to be.  I just ain’t got it.”  Some people maybe just a little short in faith.  There’s some people that just rattle off the Word, and there’s some people, maybe you’re a little short in the Word.  Some people are a little short in dedication.  Yes, yes, we have some Zacchaeus’s here today.  The truth is, I’m a Zacchaeus.  Every day of my life, I have to make sure, I have to prepare my life, because I know that the Lord is coming by that way.  You know what? there’s something about being short in stature.  I always look at some of these brothers and sisters that come up here and sing.  It’s like they can pick a note out of the air.  When it comes to that, I am definitely a Zacchaeus.  I look at them, and I listen, and I try, and it’s like, “Is it supposed to sound like this?”  The truth is, God is some kind of God, because He has a way of giving everybody something to bless the body.  Somebody might be the mouth, or a voice.  Somebody else, they might be the eyes.  Somebody else, the hands, and somebody else, the heart.  That’s what makes up the whole body. 

                When I was in high school, I had a friend, and he was shorter than me, and we always loved athletics.  So, this particular time—we always played basketball with everybody else, but it was just him and me that time—he said, “Hey, let’s play some basketball.”  I was like, “I’m gonna smoke this guy.”  So, we played, and he kept going up to take a shot, and I would Hai-ya-ya! Kapow! knock that stuff down.  I was like, “Really?  Ha,, ha, ha!  That’ funny!  That’s funny that you think you’re going to bring that stuff.  I’m going to reject it.  I’m going to reject it all the way back in your generations.”  I would just laugh.  I must've rejected him 20 times in that game, and every time I would reject him, I would laugh, “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,” and every time I would laugh, he would get that ball, and he would go up and score.  Every time.  While I’m busy laughing, because I rejected his shot, he made up the difference.  By going up, and getting the rebound, after the rejection, he would go up and score.  Guess who won that game?  Because I had a little bit of height, and maybe a little bit of jump in that situation, I didn’t have the persistence, I didn’t have the focus, I didn’t have the determination, I didn’t have the right mind-set to get the job done.  I learned a real important lesson from that:  The race isn’t given to the one who can jump the highest or reject the most—the game wasn’t given to that guy; the game was given to the guy who had his mind on the game. 

                The truth is, we don’t know how old Zacchaeus was, we don’t know what he looked like.  He could've been an ugly man for all we know.  We don't know if he was fat, we don't know if he was skinny, we don't know if he was really, really smart or maybe not so smart, we don't know if he had both arms, we don't know if he had both eyes, all we really know is that he saw what needed to be done for him to get closer to Jesus.   So, we have to be able to see that the press is not always people.  When you’re in Jericho—and this is what the Lord has shared—and  many of us are in Jericho’s—the press isn’t always just people who are taller than us.  Sometimes the press is situations.  Sometimes, it’s distractions.  Sometimes, it’s a lack of benefits.  Maybe, you know what? my check just seemed to be a little short this month.  Sometimes, you know, I don’t understand it: the more I try, the harder it gets, because the press is keeping me away, the distractions.  It doesn’t matter what the press is made of.  It doesn’t matter if it’s problems with your family.  I’ll be honest, it doesn’t matter if it’s problems with your co-workers or your friends.  It doesn’t matter if it’s in your own nature; it doesn’t matter what the press is made of.  All that matters is, do we have our minds focused on the right thing, and we say, “Whatever it takes, I’m going to get closer to God.  Whatever it takes—I know I might be in a little Jericho right now, but I know I have to get closer to God.”  See, this is the story; this is the case:  I imagine there were a lot of people trying to tell Zacchaeus, “Get out of the way, you little shrimp!  You little runt, move!  Get out!  You’re worth nothing!  You might have lots of money, but we’re the ones who can get our eyes on Jesus.”  That sort of stuff happens in the church, too.  Sometimes people get a little high and mighty.  You know what?  I’ve been there; I’ve gotten a little full of myself, and God had to come along and chop me off at the knees, and rebuke me down, and send me on a path of repenting, and, “Okay, God, how did I get here?  Okay, God, I really messed up.  I really messed up.”  That’s not the end of that story, though.  You see, Zacchaeus had his mind made up, and this is where we have to get!  “I don’t care what the distractions are. I don’t care what the problems are. I don’t care what the press is that’s blocking my way from seeing You, Lord Jesus!  Devil, get behind me!  All this garbage and junk that you’re putting in my way, I rebuke it and cast it aside in Jesus’ name!  Lord, I’ve turned my focus around; I’m coming to You!  I’m going to get where I can see You, Lord, because this is the purpose that I’m going after.  We read in the chapter that the Lord saw him in that tree.  It doesn’t say he was the only short guy in the whole place.  It doesn’t even say that was the only tree, or that he was the only one in a tree, but it says that the Lord saw him, and said, “Come down, for I must dine with you.  We are going to have communion.  You have put yourself in a place to make this ready.  You and me, Zacchaeus, it’s our turn, because you have prepared yourself.”  And that’s not the end of the story, because, you know what? there were people around, and they said, “Hey, this guy is a sinner!  Don’t you know what he did?  Don’t you know how he is?  Don’t you know?  Don’t you know what he’s got in his past?  Don’t you know what kind of man this is?  Every time I turn around…  Why is God blessing him?  If God is going to be blessing somebody, it ought to be a righteous somebody.  If You’re going to bless somebody…”  So, they murmured against him.  Zacchaeus put all that murmuring to shame.  He said, “Lord, I give half my goods away to charity, to the poor, because I haven’t been paying my tithes and me offerings.  Lord, I haven’t been giving You anything!  I’m going to start right here, right now.  If I have wronged somebody, I restore that, and I pay them over, because we’re going to heal this things up.”  Then the Lord gave him the answer.  Now the Lord is giving him the answer because now he has repented and really made his life right.  He says, “This day is salvation come to this house.”  When we get this thing right; when we restore the pledge, yes, when we get to the place where we can see Jesus clearly.  This day is salvation come to this house.

                So, we said that—you know, I—thank you, Ashley, you just reminded me of something.  We had an awesome time yesterday, with the youth group.  I was only an hour late.  Well, I went to the wrong address, and, well, you know…  It just seems like things are certain to happen to me.  That’s another one of those Zacchaeus’s in my own life.  We had an wonderful time with the youth group, and we asked them a question:  “If God gave you the power to change one thing—anything, anything in the whole wide world—what would you change?”  We asked some of the young people, and they literally blew me away.  I figured I knew what they ere going to say:  Maybe change one of my teachers, maybe change the school, maybe change my allowance value, change me being able to drive!  Yeah, those are the things I figured they’d say.  But, no, that’s not what they said.  One of the young people, you know what they said? they said, “If I could change anything, I would do something about so many people being depressed.  That’s what I’d pick”  Another person said, “If I could change something, I would change so many people refusing God.  That’s what I’d change.”  As they went around, one person said, “You know, if I could change one thing, you know what I would change? I would change my attitude.”  A young person; a young person!  Out of the mouths of babes, I tell you.  Another person said, “If I could change one thing, you know what I would change? I would change my heart.”  Another person said, “You know what I would change? I would change the way that I walk with God.  I would change that.  I would get to the place where I’ve got more love for God.”  Somebody else said, “You know what I would change? I want to hunger and thirst after God more.”  I had this wrong!  These young people have this answered—young people and leaders, by the way—the leader were in that, too.  I knew I had this thing all wrong.  Here I am listening; I should be taking notes.  I need to go back and pray about this, because if I’ve got one thing to change, it might not have been some of the things that they were talking about.  They made it so personal about taking this God, on the outside, what they wanted on the inside, it had to be a lesson to anybody who was in the audience of God.  It had to be.  So, that was just a wonderful time of being with the Lord, and, yes, that was a Zacchaeus moment because they said, “Look, these are the things that I would change and that would bring me closer to God.”  That’s the way this one rolls out. 

Point #3: The Talents

Luke 19:12-16     He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for I himself a kingdom, and to return.  And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, a and said unto them, Occupy till I come.  But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.  And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 

                It’s a little different form the way it reads in Matthew.  You read here that he gave ten servants one pound.  Ten of them, one pound.  The Lord responds to this guy:

Luke 19:17           And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

                So, we see that the Lord imparted unto his servants money.  The Lord gave them money, and said, “Occupy ‘til I come,” because the Lord was coming back.  He was coming back to ask them, “What’s going on with what I have given unto you?  Let Me see what you have done with what I have given you.”  Hmmm.  He came back.  The Lord answered them, and he told this guy, “You’ve been faithful.  Rule over ten cities.”  Now, this is different than it says it in Matthew.  In Matthew, He says, “Your pond had gained more.”  But, in this one, He gives them, not more money, He gives them more responsibility.  He gives them authority.  He gives them testimony.  He makes their light brighter to shine.  This is one of the stories of Jericho, that the Lord is coming to see what we have done with what He has given us.   This is the truth, there is an accountability factor here.  He doesn’t reward us according to what we might want; the Lord rewards us with what He wants us to have fro the job that He has called us to do.

                Mark 10:46-48—This wasn’t really in the line, but I couldn’t dismiss this one.  This is a story that is every familiar; it talks about a blind man on the side of the road.  Still going along with Palm Sunday, because, you see, in that path, in that one week, the Lord was doing all these things.  These things were supposed to be what they were going to learn.

Mark 10:46-48   And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.  And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

                So, this story, this parable, these words say, this scripture says that He was going to Jericho, and he saw Blind Bartimaeus on the side of the road.  He cried out with a loud voice, “Have mercy on me.”  The important thing here is so many people wanted him to shut it down.  This is us, saints, so often people or situations or things, obstacles, problems, tell you, “Don’t dare try and get in tune with God.”  “Oh, yeah, you know, I would try to get a little bit more dedicated, I would try to get me a couple of hours of prayer, but I am just so busy!  I’m just so busy; I don’t have the time.  I would really like to attend a prayer meeting, or to have some time for myself or steal away some scriptural time, but you just don’t know!  I can’t get my mind focused, ahhh, there are just so many other things that are in the way, and it’s just shouting in my life, ‘Don’t do it; don’t come to God.’ And, you know, I would really fix this situation; I would really shore up things with my brothers or my sisters, or my mother and my father, or my sons and my daughters…  I’d really fix it up with my family; I’d really fix it up at work; I’d really apologize to this person that really gets the best of me, and makes the evil come out.  I really would, but, well, you know.  I just ain’t got it.  I just ain’t got it.”  That’s when you have to turn around, and just look  and say, “Devil, I don’t care what spirit you throw at me, any spirit that’s spiritual, any spirit of lack of faith, any spirit—I don’t care what you throw my way, I’m crying out to the Lord, my God, ‘Lord, have mercy on me as I turn around to do Your will.’”  Blind Bartimaeus.  

Point#4: The Disciples

                If we’re going to clean things up so that we can get to Jerusalem, this is what has to happen in Jericho, because it’s a torturous road.  It’s a torturous road, and things are trying to rob u of our victory as we get closer to God.  They are, they are; it is a fact.  Yes, and we find ourselves short in stature on several levels.  And, yes, we have to be faithful with our talents.  But, here, we’re talking about the disciples.  The setting for this was that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, their mother came to Jesus, and said, “Lord, I have a petition.  Grant that these two, my sons, that one would be able to sit at Your right and one would be able to sit on Your left in Your Kingdom.”  The Lord said, “You don’t even know what You’re asking.”  Amazing.  You know what’s so amazing about this one?  IT as the mother.  It was the mother that was watching out for her kids.  The Bible says that she was the one who came to Jesus, interceding for her children.  “Grant that these, my sons, God…”  I’m going to tell you something, there are some praying mothers that have kept so many areas of Christianity vibrant.  Getting on their knees and praying when nobody else could see, but them, the angels, and God.  Nobody else cold see it, but hitting it and saying, “Lord, I need You to bless my children; I need you to bless my sons.  God, I am interceding right now—they don’t even understand, but I am the one that You called to stand in this situation.  Lord, bless my child; bless my children.  Lord, I lift them up to You.”  I know I’m one; I’m a recipient.  I know I am, because I was a little holy terror.  Somebody had to be praying for me.  My mom would say, “You don’t know how many times I’ve hit my knees over you, boy.”  Amen.  Thank you; thank you.  But, this mother of James and John, she went to Jesus, and she said, “Bid that these two, my sons would be able to sit with You in Your Kingdom, one on the right, and one on the left.”  He said, “Ye know not what ye ask.  Are ye able to be baptized with my baptism, and to drink from my cup?”  And the sons were there, and they said, “Oh, yeah, lord.  Yeah, we’ll do it.”  And He said, “You surely will.  You truly will, but, to sit on My right and my left, that’s not yours.  That’ not yours, and that’s not mine to give, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.”  So, it goes on, and we pick it up in verse 24:

Matthew 20:24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

                Isn’t that amazing how God can bless somebody in the church—God can bless somebody with some anointing and power—and somebody else can get stone jealous, just filled with indignation.  “Why them?”  That’s why; anybody can press through; anybody can come to God.  If you get through to God, let’s rejoice, because we know that blessing’s going to feed the whole body.  But it goes on:

Matthew 20:25-28           But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many

                So, lastly, here they are, the disciples.  They had a discussion, they had asked who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom.  Jesus had to go in and expound to them, “It’s not like it is here on Earth.  You want to be great and have people serve at your feet, and, you know, have your scepter and have people bow to you.  No, no, no, it’s not like that in the Kingdom of the Lord.”  I read this book, a sociology book, and it was called, “The Nature Of Prejudice.”  It’s real interesting.  It talks about it doesn’t matter—any group of people you get together, the dynamics will be the same.  You get five men together—well, let’s make it ten.  You get ten men together, and you will see them separate into different groups.  They’ll have the primary group, or the in group, and they’ll have an outcast group.  They’ll decide whether that group is going to be defined by strength, or maybe it’s going to be by money, or maybe it will be by age.  They will make the determination in that group.  You can get a bunch of people together, all the same age, all the same race, all the same height, and they will still find some differences so that they can decide who’s going to be primary and who’s going to be secondary.  You can have men, women, boys, girls, you can have families; you can have a whole cadre of people together, and the dynamics are going to be the same:  They’re going to find in groups and out groups.  You just notice—you just notice—how certain people find each other in any type of gathering.  They kind of find each other, and they kind of gravitate towards, and somewhere along the line, in every one of those groups, somebody wants to be the leader.  Somebody ants to be the leader, and, generally, several of them want to be the leader.  They go in, and they put up the requirements of what it’s going to take to be the leader.  In any group, there are going to be those that are not “as good” s the others, and they’re going to b the outcasts; they’re going to be the ones who are trodden down.  These disciples were no different.   The disciples were no different, and, truly, we disciples are no different from that.  We do the same thing.  “Hey, you know what? I would really like to have a little more esteem in God.  You know, kind of like what he or she has, but more than that.”  They’re good at comparing.  You know, this conversation the disciples had, it was all about the flesh; not so much about the Kingdom, it was all about the flesh.  Jesus had to tell them, The Lord had to tell them, “No, this Kingdom ain’t like that.  For he who will be greatest among you…”  Verse 26:  “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  So, what re you telling me? what do I have to do, here?  You want to be great?  You want to have ore power and anointing, you want to have more strength in the Lord? learn to serve.  You really want to have that beauty of the Word come, and to have a greater testimony? learn to serve.  Learn to serve, and become the servant of all.  You want to be a better Christian? learn to serve.  

John 12:12           On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

                A lot of people came.  But, before there was this great coming forth, there was Jericho.  Before all these people were going to come and sing, “Hosanna, hosanna,” there was Jericho.  There was the learning to serve, there was the discussion, there was the putting aside of the flesh,, there was the increasing their stature, there was the recognizing of the road that we travel 

John 12:13           Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

                So, on this road, when we're faithful—we recognize there’s dangers.  When we do what we can to make sure our stature is sufficient, when we put aside the flesh and when we learn to serve, that’s when we turn and say, “Hosanna, Blessed is He who has come in the name of the Lord. “

                           Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd