Sermons from Good News: the Importance of Palm Sunday, part 1

Blogger's Note: On Sundays, I will be copying and pasting on this blog notes I take in my phone from sermons at the church I attend. I'll be sharing sermons from the current week. On Wednesdays I'll also be sharing sermon messages dating back to October, when I first began attending my current church. Because of the backlog of sermons, I will be running posts on Wednesdays until sometime in May. My goal on Sundays is that sharing these sermons will theoretically be perpetual, or until I feel God nudging me to do something different. I want to also clarify that these are not my sermons, but rather the bullet point notes I put together. I enjoy our pastor's messages very much, and more importantly he preaches the Word of God as-is, which means the Spirit of God is imparting wisdom and knowledge through him. To God alone be the glory.

Church 3/27/2021

Palm Sunday

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! ” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”
John 12:13 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%2012:13&version=NIV

Offertory scripture:

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.” Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
2 Kings 4:1-7 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=2%20Kings%204:1-7&version=NIV

How does this apply to us? What did God's word via the prophet say? What do we do when we have a need? Sometimes God's direction to us when we call out to Him isn't what we expect. But He often works what little we have. God is a good God and He works through what we have. The extent of a miracle does depend on our faith. God does want to bless us but also so we can bless others. Challenge is for our faith to be stretched.

Sermon message:

Palm Sunday. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, and it ends with Resurrection Sunday.

Why is Palm Sunday important?

2.3-2.5 billion Christians in the world, and they're thinking about Palm Sunday and resurrection Sunday. Even when they don't read scripture as much as we would like, they certainly remember Palm Sunday and reflect on it.

Even in the Psalms there are Psalms about ascending to Jerusalem. "Blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord!"

The question: what is so important about Palm Sunday?

Thesis: the answer to the above question.

Knowledge = wisdom.

Knowledge = power.

my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
Hosea 4:6 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Hosea%204:6&version=NIV

32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:32 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%208:32&version=NIV

God made a way for Adam and Eve when they could not.
They made a garment out of leaves once they realized they were naked.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:7 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Genesis%203:7&version=NIV

Mankind has always tried to cover up their sins. But they can't.

God made a covering for Adam and one for Eve.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Genesis%203:21&version=NIV

God skinned an animal to make garments for them. It took blood to make it happen, to pay the price. The garments don't cleanse heir sins but it covers them. A picture of the savior who would save us by cleansing us.

God made a way for Adam and Eve when they could not make a way.

God made a way for the Israelites when they could not.
They were held in bondage in Egypt for 400 years. It was a time of great darkness. The Israelites could not get out no matter what. They couldn't work their way out, they couldn't fight their way out, they couldn't reason their way out.
At the end, none of the plagues worked against the Egyptians. Not until animal blood was shed.

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.
Exodus 12:21-24 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Exodus%2012:21-24&version=NIV

The difference was the sin of the Israelites was covered because they had the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts, whereas the Egyptians had not. As a result, the Israelites could leave and not die. This is a picture to remind us that the blood of Jesus delivers us from the power of darkness.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Colossians%201:13-14&version=NIV

The Jewish people still celebrate Passover even today. They still observe Seder.

God made a way for us because we can not.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%203:23&version=NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%206:23&version=NIV

But God still made a way for us.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%2014:6&version=NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=John%203:16&version=NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Romans%206:23&version=NIV

To be continued next post...