09272020 The Greatest Show on Earth Al Robertson

morning church who's excited to be here today come on you do better than that all right that's exciting it's good to all of us to be here uh they're still rocking over there it looks like so i just want to welcome all of our our live stream guys here um especially uh a special shout out uh to all of our folks that are from wfr and they're just here at home i just want to give you our love our support would everybody give a round of applause just to let those folks know we love them i thought about it when i've been you know praying over our prayer requests and our folks who are sick and you know i just i feel for you because part of when you're going through something really difficult part of the the lift up that you get is um is being around your family and uh i mentioned uh ron to you last week and ron called me this week which was great i mean i was getting all ready to head down there and uh were they with us now fellowship center are you there all right they're here awesome i was just feeling until you got through singing uh but i was gonna tell you about ron because uh it was really you know his voice is weak he's got this brain tumor and got some infection issues but overall got better news than that they had figured they were going to get and you know it's just important to be able to share love with somebody i was going to load up and head down there in fact david brown was there this weekend and karen and we were going to go see him and then you know because of cobit you can't even go see it i thought man what a time to be isolated so i just want everyone that's watching that's isolated at home that's just trying to stay away and stay safe your family loves you deeply we love you deeply and so yeah give it up so i know i didn't go over to the fellowship center side but if ryan lee is here i know he's happy because miami is finally good again so uh probably put a little spring in his step today good for you congratulations today my sermon title is the greatest show on earth and i thought it was interesting because it kind of took me back into doing a little research into ringling brothers and barnum and bailly because of course that was their claim right for 146 years uh which is pretty good run for a show really is the greatest show on earth right and i ran across an interesting story when they were i think was 1934 lsu was going to host southern methodist on their opening game but the circus was in town uh in baton rouge and so the ticket sales were really not going very well and so huey p long our governor decided he would step in to pep up those sales and he found a little-known animal dipping law that was on the books in the state of louisiana so he forced them to have to dip all their animals or leave and so you know it's hard to dip an elephant i don't know if you probably so he ran the circus out of town and then they sold out tiger stadium so don't you miss the good old days of louisiana politics so daniel if you could be making your way up here a few weeks ago daniel johnson read our scripture and if you remember one of the things that daniel told us he could do was juggle and i said that i had never met a juggler until now and i also told you guys that one day we would see this young man juggle and so i think for the first time in the history of white sphere road ladies and gentlemen the aerial artist the tantalizing trickster and the only juggler i know give it up for daniel johnson daniel juggle i love it so daniel how how long can you do this because i don't have anything prepared for today at all okay that's good i like his confidence he's right there with it i had some inman jokes oh just just the name of tommy inman wreaks havoc all right another round of applause especially fellowship center give it up for this man all right i'm gonna be reading john 12 13. 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 all right thank you daniel awesome awesome i guess he could have you know if inman were juggling it would be uh pill bottles just a joke speaking of jokes did you watch the lsu game yesterday you know what i'm not even going there we want this to be an upbeat time this morning so our recent events that lead us into our text today in john 12 as rick said are that jesus has gone back to bethany judea to raise lazarus from the dead and that turned out great right except that there was because of that now there's so many more people wanting to follow jesus that the the plan is hatched to kill him and so jesus goes away again but then they're going to have a big party i guess it's a lazarus's back party and so he comes back into town for that and it's really interesting because not only were they planned to kill jesus but they wanted to rekill lazarus if you think about how ridiculous that is if you're with a guy who could raise him from the dead right and yet that's their thought process and so as mike uh painted a beautiful picture for us last week at this party we see sort of a tale of two hearts we see extravagant uh giving on mary's behalf and she understands the moment and she understands where jesus is in the moment and it's very beautiful what she does and i love that idea of that's the way we want to give our hearts and lives to him right and then we had judas there which was representative of the other side he always got that as time he preached a few weeks ago that good and evil you just see him clearly right he's stingy he's greedy there's nothing extravagant about him at all he's just worried about what he's not going to be able to get his hands on and that's of course what satan does to people that's the way he guides and that's the way he leads today uh we're going to look at we're now we're inside of the last week of jesus's life and mission what he came to do on this earth that's why i call it the greatest show on earth it's the greatest event in history or the future of the world you think about it i mean anything that's ever happened up to this point or anything that ever will happen again the events that are going to unfold this week in this text are the greatest ever because they impact and they change and they literally change destinies no disrespect to ringling brothers or hugh jackman this is the greatest show on earth right because of its impact within a week the earth will have witnessed the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ of nazareth the son of man and the son of god sinless perfect hybrid of god and humanity here as a sacrifice this event had been planned outside of time and outside of space before the creation of the universe before the creation of the world before the creation of humanity all this was unfolding in this week truly the greatest show on earth well how would you start the greatest show on earth what would you do well the first thing you need any great show has to have fanfare right you got to have some fanfare you got to have people there willing to witness it i said i wasn't going to talk about lsu but it just wasn't the same with a stadium 25 full did anybody else notice that i mean don't you feel like at an lsu game that even if the other team is better and that certain that team was better than us yesterday no doubt about it even if the other team is better somehow the crowd and the fans are just going to will those young guys to win the game just something magical about it right and yet yesterday they weren't there because of covet i mean i was excited to have football again it just wasn't the same and that's what you look at this story in this situation that's fans can bring that people can bring that if the greatest show on earth happened and nobody was there to witness it that'd be a shame right and yet there were people who were there and we talked about it we've been singing about it all morning listen to what happens because jesus is larger than life and death and so he deserves our best look at john chapter 12 however you read your text these days in verse 12. the next day the great crowd there's your fandom they had come for the festival and they heard that jesus was on his way to jerusalem so they took palm branches and they went out to meet him and they were shouting hosanna save us blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord blessed is the king of israel they're just shouting it over and over and over again what a scene jesus found a young donkey and sat on it as it is written do not be afraid daughter of zion see your king is coming seated on a donkey's coat old prophecy over 500 years before this day pointing that this was going to happen in verse 17 the crowd that was with him when he called lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word i mean jesus is the talk of the town the buzz is strong many people because they had heard that he had performed the sign went out to meet him that raising of lazarus is still buzzing about who jesus is and what he did it's a moment they recognize this triumph that's what you see with the palm leaves these things represent from ancient egypt it represents victory peace and immortality that was what it was conquering kings would come home and and their armies with them and people would lay those palm branches out and said we victorious immortal this civilization will always be here which of course was not true because one fell right after the other but this king was different and they were recognizing him they recognized his ability to save hosanna that's what that word means save us hosanna i don't know about you guys but 2020 is the year of hosanna i mean is it not pandemics race riots looting strife division a presidential election all these things roll into one ear hosanna is what i say save us lord it's the year of hosanna they recognized him as the true king of israel the messiah that would establish an eternal presence the kingdom of heaven now they didn't quite understand that obviously we'll find out later because they like a lot of people still today misunderstood they thought just that physical strip of land in israel was everything was about that place but jesus consistently said as well as john the baptist the kingdom is so much bigger than that you don't stop the kingdom with borders you don't stop the kingdom with walls you don't start the kingdom with parties and ideologies the kingdom of heaven rules everything and it was brought here and established in this week in this moment but you know there's always fans that don't get it right i meet people and they say there will be talk at the show about dynasty and i said well i'm so sorry i didn't watch your show i said it's okay it wasn't for everybody right some fans are just like meh right we got two p two groups consistently everywhere jesus goes that don't seem to get it the first group unfortunately is his own disciples they spent a lot of time being clueless you know and look what happens in verse 16. at first his disciples did not understand all this they're watching it they've been with him now for three years but they're not getting it only after jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him in defense of the disciples sometimes when you're a part of something that's big and huge and bigger than you and you're in the middle of it you don't always realize the implications until later and you look back and you think wow look at what god was doing during this period of time so in their defense i've been like that sometimes god's doing something and i'm not clearly sure what it is until he's done it and then the other group that doesn't get it verse 19 the pharisees said to one another this great spectacle this great fanfare here was their response see this is getting us nowhere i mean you witness it and it's like see what is this i mean we got to kill this guy then this statement now they actually wandered into a truth here they said look the whole world has gone after now that was hyperbole right because they're not looking at the whole world but they stumbled into something it's actually our second point you need fanfare but you also need a new element if you're gonna have the greatest show on earth and the pharisees had just stumbled into something that nobody really understood except for jesus why he came now you look at the circus if you have a circus for 146 years you better have some new elements right do you think the the circus was any different from the 1871 version to the 2017 version a few new acts right jesus is going to bring something new and and it's just a snippet it's just a picture of something here and nobody gets it at all but we get it looking back on it and i'm telling you what as someone who's standing here today as a son of god i am so appreciative of what jesus did look at verse 20. now there were some greeks who jews don't like greeks so there are some greeks among those who went to worship at the festival i can promise you they were not welcomed they came to philip who was from messaida in galilee with a request sir we would like to see jesus i just when i when i first read that when i was preparing this i mean i just got chills thinking about that you think about i mean i get emails i get letters from people all around the country i want to change my behavior i mean i love what you guys are saying it's impacting me i want to do more i want to do more and i think back to that one line they just need to see jesus for who he really is and all the behavioral stuff that's plaguing you can be brought into a clear focus and can be taken away if we see jesus right i love this simple request we would like to see jesus 22 philip told andrew andrew and philip in turn told jesus nothing else is said about these guys but right after they said the whole world you see these greeks show up and jesus doesn't address it it's not addressed in the text but i get a feeling they got to see it and it changed them don't know for sure but that's what i think you see until jesus came the jews saw themselves as us and everybody else the people we will rule one day that was their mindset that's what they thought jesus revealed a secret from god he loves everybody he created the universe he created humanity he doesn't want one person to fail or to fall not a one and jesus brought that together in romans chapter 1 verse 1 paul said i'm a servant of christ jesus i'm called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of god the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scripture regarding his son as to his earthly life was the descendant of david the son of man jewish heritage the israelites totally understood that but there was more and who through the spirit of holiness was appointed the son of god in power by his resurrection from the dead jesus christ our lord he was killed he was killed gave his life he was put into a tomb and he was raised to live and now it's a game changer and here's why through him we receive grace and apostleship to call all the gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake and you are among those gentiles who have been called to christ and i point my finger at the computer screen to your phone to the fellowship center to right here because of this moment we now are in christ i think that's a hosanna answer don't you man see being a jew is not what saved them they thought it was faith in god is what saved them even under law it was always still about faith in god and trust that he would send the messiah keeping the law is not what saved them they couldn't do it anyway but even if they could have it wasn't their own perfection that they were striving for because nobody could keep the law it's just a reminder of that faith in christ is what saves paul would put it this way in ephesians chapter 2 verse 13. but now in christ jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of christ for he himself is our peace who has made the two groups one and destroyed the barrier the dividing wall of hostility by setting aside in his flesh the law with his commands and regulations in him i hear commentators and people say every day you know we're so divided we can never be brought together oh yes we can you know how in the blood of jesus christ that's what brings people together that's what's going to save people that's going to take away the desire to to always have these ideological warfare it was right here no jew could have ever seen this happening and that jesus says you ain't seen nothing peter said god doesn't want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance you see it's no us in them it's just us we're just human beings who sin who fall short of the glory of god who need that salvation that hosanna john and i were touring a prison john godwin in utah and we heard a testimony from two young ladies who were there because they were involved in two murders because of gang situation and one of them was her story was so compelling i was just you know sitting there just you know on the edge of my seat listening to it and something she said that was so powerful she said you know and she talked about she was just a troublemaker and the guards and all these problems you know all the time she was because she'd been there like 12 years and she said you know what finally changed it for me when i realized one day that all this time i had seen is us and them the inmates and the guards inmates and the jailers she said then one day it just hit me it's all us they're locked up in here with us too so we need to figure out how to get along together and it changed for and now here she was giving us her testimony she was about to get out and she was so fearful about the evil one in her old life but she now had had a relationship with christ and she was different and she was changed and i thought that's it she walks out of that prison with a mindset there's there's no us in them there's just us those who believe who jesus is and trust in him so you got fanfare you've got a new element but you still need a y moment and a wow moment to have a good show right and this is the greatest show look back at the text jesus is the ultimate ringleader he's going to explain exactly what's going to happen verse 23 jesus replied the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified this is it ladies and gentlemen the greatest show is about to begin very truly i tell you unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed but if it dies it produces many seeds and boy did it ever anyone who loves their life will lose it with anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life nothing in this world nothing in your life can be bigger than jesus that's what he just said whoever serves me must follow me and where i am my servant also will be my father will honor the one who serves me in his death he offers us a forever alternative what a gift i recently did a wedding and it was in missouri and so a lot of people were coming up to me because you guys you here at wfr i've done so many weddings here you've heard all my wedding stuff i've got a lot of from tommy's stuff and you kind of do your thing you know you've got your words and in my vows i say i promise when they're speaking these to one another i promise to work alongside you to help get our family to heaven it had a lot of people that were in the audience that had never heard that before and they were like one that guy actually took a picture of my notes somebody ever done that time into your notes you have silence that's right several he said yeah yeah he took a picture of the notes which i would laugh because i thought that's funny you know that somebody would want the but but that's was the impacting nature but it it was good for me because you know i do the wedding i've said these things for a long time and i thought you know what that is a big statement if every marriage was lived in such a way that everything in it was to get our family to heaven how much better would the marriage be i mean every problem she's not meeting my needs and you know we're not communicating well yeah but are we working to get our family to heaven because if that's happening life will be better on the plantation on the house wherever right jesus it's a why moment he is everything but we need a wow moment we gotta have a show stopper to have a good show and we got one verse 26 whoever serves me must follow me right and i believe he said that for his disciples and the converts because let me just tell you something those first century christians they had to really mean it i mean it may happen again to us the sort of persecution i mean we're starting to see the rumblings of it but it may cost you your life it cost a lot of them their lives literally so you talk about being up for the task he was getting a little heads up look this ain't gonna be easy verse 27 i love i love this now my soul is troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour no it was for this very reason i came to this hour i loved the the humanity of jesus because he said i'm troubled i mean this is not easy what i'm about to do what i'm about to go through and the human part of him said it's going to be rough and boy was it ever i think about people facing some disease or some terrible thing where you know it's going to be a battle and like i said earlier so many of them are going through that today jesus understands that's why he said that he he gets it it's fearful to face that moment but then he says gives himself a little pep talk but you know what this is why i came to this hour and then he says four great words father glorify your name what that means is is that no matter what happens in this life no matter what you're doing ultimately we want god to get glory right so we learned that john 9 all these things that have happened lazarus dies what's going to happen god's going to get glory i want to live my life where god gets glory every second of it here's the big wow moment he gets a shout out from heaven i don't know about you but i like a good amen a good kurt lively back there but nobody's i hadn't heard the one from heaven yet but he got one then a voice came from heaven i have glorified it and will glorify it again a shout out from the father the crowd that was there and heard it thought it thundered i mean they didn't hear the words but it sounded like thunder others said an angel had spoken to him i guess they thought angels could speak thunder right boom glorify jesus said the voice was for your benefit not mine in other words i got it i'm part of the plan but now you know this really is the greatest moment in human history or future wow that is a wow moment well you can't have a show without a big finale and here's jesus in verse 31. now is the time for judgment on this world now the prince of this world will be driven out now you think about that we're so frightened of satan and look the bible tells us look he's he's a bone to be chewed don't take that for granted because he's still here and he said well what what was jesus mean there i thought he was i thought he said he's gonna drive him out i mean what the hebrew writer said in verse chapter 2 verse 14 jesus's death destroyed him who holds the power of death the devil and freed everyone freed everyone from the slavery of the fear of death you see he's still here he's menacing he's problematic but do you realize now that he has no power only what you give him over your life i mean once we've been freed from the fear of death he helds nothing over us only what we give him only what we allow him to do we've been freed from that eternal life is ours when jesus has the pep talk to himself that's the peptide we give to each other when ron and i were on the phone do you know what i told him about heaven just a reminder just in case this is to glorify god what he's going through and he goes on to be with the lord it's the ultimate win there's no defeating us unless we give it away that's why this is truly the greatest show on earth in verse 32 he said when i am lifted up from the earth i will draw all people to myself he said this to show the kind of death that he was going to die the cross they lifted that cross up and it seemed like such a moment of shame and terrible and he's bloodied he's beaten and all these bad things are happening but when he's lifted up salvation is coming and not only that 43 days later he would also be lifted up without a rocket booster as a glorified son of god heading back to heaven to represent us neither the grave nor gravity can hold my lord down he's whoo you know what he said one day when i come back we're all going to fly i can't wait for that can you i mean i since i saw superman i want to fly we're going to do it well the crowd no the crowd the crowd spoke up we have heard from the law that the messiah will remain forever so how can you say the son of man must be lifted up not fit in our theology the son of man how can you say this in fact who is the son of man now wait a minute hosanna blessed is the king of israel blessed in the name of the lord what happened to those guys you know what happened they really were fans not followers saw the show missed the point think people do that today show hosanna who is the son of man that's a bad question john if you guys have come up so here's what jesus closed with you're going to have the light just a little while longer because you know think about it that would have been very dejecting to go through this whole moment and then they're like now who are you i won't be here much longer walk while you had the light before darkness overtakes you whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going if you don't get this now if you miss it you've missed it believe in the light while you have the light so that you may become children of light whenever he had finished speaking jesus left and hid himself from them i love it when he does the jedi thing at the end he gone you only have the light for so long i think about that when people have a moment where they look inwardly for whatever reason and they see it and they say man i i don't want to live like this anymore i need something more in my life it's just it's going down this place of just i'm going to be destroyed i'm destroying my family and i just i want to do something i just who is the son of man it's desperate times for you my friend i mean you got you think 70 80 years is a long time until you live here a while i used to think 55 was old till i was there that went by fast you got one shot at this thing to entrust your life to jesus christ to believe he is who he said he is to believe that he did what he said he did and to believe that he's going to come back and do what he said he will do that's the gospel story that's how it impacts and changes lives and today you have an opportunity to just simply trust in him i was so inspired yesterday with thousands and thousands of people walking down that washington mall you know what they were doing praying hosanna save our land save our people you can't reach anybody else until your reach to yourself and you have that opportunity today if you need jesus why don't you come while we stand while we sing

Channel: Whites Ferry Road Church

Views: 6,186

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Whites Ferry Road, WFR, WFR CHURCH, Church of Christ, Duck Dynasty Church

Id: i7-w76I9gVw

Length: 33min 50sec (2030 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2020