Sunday, April 5, 2009

Celebrate Palm Sunday!






















The next day, a huge crowd assembled in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming there for the festival, they took palm branches and went out to meet Him, loudly shouting to Him, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in God's name. Blessed is the King of Israel!" But Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, to fulfill what was written: "Don't be afraid people of Israel. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."

At first, His disciples didn't get it at all. But after Jesus was glorified, they remembered all this and realized that everything had happened exactly as the Scriptures had said it would. Those in the crowd who had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, were talking about it incessantly. And as they kept recounting the story over and over, the excitement from the whole thing just spread like wildfire among the people.

And that's why the crowd was so huge and noisy that day. The whole town was so electrified with the news of Jesus' power and ability, that a kind of mania had set in among them. So when the Pharisees saw what was happening, they said to one another, "This thing is out of control! Look! The entire world has gone after Jesus!"

(John 12:12 - 19 - JITN)

13 comments:

Northern Light said...

They talked about it "incessantly" and the crowds of people grew. So, that's it.....we must talk about Jesus and the wonders HE does today in our lives, INCESSANTLY....so the crowds in our churches will grow !

Keep talkin', keep preachin', keep keepin-on Bishop..........the crowds will grow.

You built it and they WILL come ~

Peace,
Northern Light

Northern Light said...

Can I say that I really get a warm feeling and appreciate when the pastors wear their collars like they are today...........that was a great suggestion and it just sets a different tone some days. Today IS a special Sunday....and it's cool to see.

Peace,......back to the service, still singing the first song !

Peace,
NL

jon scott said...

Very nice Bish.

Northern Light said...

Hey Bishop,

Just wondering if there's any chance that the First Sunday of the month evening services that your parents do will be able to be streamed in live OR available on DVD ?

Peace,
NL

Anonymous said...

Hey NL - no streaming at this time for Spirit Life but yes on a CD or DVD.

robyn

JB said...

I do love the JITN rendering on this. You definately sparked my interest when you made an opening comment about John being more in touch with the spiritual than the natural. The way you expounded on verse sixteen was also very good for both palm Sunday and the understanding of Jesus the man for the communion service. I think most of us consider Jesus way above us when it is very well explaned in the Bible that he was very human and had to learn the same life lessons that we do, such as obedience. JITN does and excellent job of showing both sides of Jesus and MITN seems to be doing that also. It is important for me to be reminded of the humanity of Jesus earth mission. It helps to understand the areas where we are good eternally and separate them from our human experience of learning what that eternal goodness is all about. The communion service was especially meaningful today.

Northern Light said...

Thank you, Robyn, for answering that for me.
Awesome, as always!
My standing order just increased to include those evenings, as well. :)

Peace,
NL

Northern Light said...

Bishop,

I have to say I agree with you on the Hosanna song this morning. I love that one.
We sing & worship to that song weekly as one of the opening songs at our Youth Group. The Sr. High band loves to play it and so lyrical, yet upbeat - they get the kids really into it. Us adult counselors, as well.

This morning,as we were streaming in before leaving for our home church service (DVD of CITN ordered of course...ha)same time I heard "Mom, they're singing OUR song". I thought that was funny. I said, Yes, it is "ALL OUR" song, that is what HE means it to be. Several of your songs have been new to our/their ears, so hearing Hosanna just connected them in a different way.

It was so cool.....

Peace,
Northern Light

tracy said...

I agree JB-very thankful for communion today-very differentand glad it has been brought back to Sunday morning. It is well with my soul.....

jules said...

Bishop-

That was so cool hearing "Jesus Christ Superstar" as a part of your sermon this morning! As a member of the "Class of 1976", I certainly was a huge fan of Ian Gillan's portrayal of Jesus in that rock opera. (for those who don't know, Mr. Gillan was also the lead singer of the heavy metal band, Deep Purple back in the 70's and this band was often classifed as "satanic" by the religious folks). Religious churches would recoil in horror if their pastor even mentioned a rock opera in church, but hey not you, you rocked out a rendition of the opening number this morning! Bravo! I pray that got the attention of someone watching this morning who like me, came to know the real Jesus from listening to you talk about HIM like a real person instead of being all religious.

Brenda said...

Service today was off the chain, I was just happy to be ITB.

Izumi/JOY said...

"...they took palm branches and went out to meet Him, loudly shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in God's name. Blessed is the King of Israel!"

What I appreciate about this, is the interpretation of the word, (Hosanna! "Praise the Lord!" and, "Save, Lord!")

Yesterday, you (Bish) mentioned something about seeing in pictures. (my paraphrasing)

About the time we sang, "Hosanna!" (excellent, by the way!) and waved our palms upwards, the gesture seemed magnified.

The participants in Jerusalem waved their palms branches to One who would be carrying their names in His. On a dead tree!

Oh man, talk about a proverbial light bulb moment. It's so Isaiah 49:16. (had to go look for it, but it's there) Their branches waved at Jesse's stem. (forgive me, if you've taught on this before; it was a "suddenly" moment for me)

But, after all the adulation, check out Jesus' reaction.

Re: Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, makes my mind wander. (stuff like, anyone curious where he went when he died & stunketh?)

Sooo love that last paragraph's wording. A town electrified by Jesus' power, the world gone after, and loss of control because of Him.

Wow!

Butterfly said...

Bishop, you spoke to my spirit yesterday. Each & every word hit my heart. I appreciate you & the man of God that you are. I woke up this morning with a different spirit.

God Bless,