Full Service | Sunday, March 28, 2021

hey good morning ap creek if you're here in the room would you stand up if you're out in the foyer make your way in and if you're joining us online we're glad that you're here with us on this palm sunday morning uh let's spend some time worshiping our savior he is worthy of our parade so sing to him [Music] me back together lift me up to where you are every tragedy my [Music] [Music] oh and then the age of death is over in this world [Music] this is [Music] [Music] my [Music] always [Music] [Music] and you are able to provide you are faithful imperfect time your goodness [Music] overwhelmed i am [Music] through the fire you're my shield your protection never fails [Music] god [Music] [Applause] got my peace i trust you i trust you [Music] for your glory god [Music] you are the god who always what the [Music] are bigger circumstances all my dreams god my hope got my fears [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] i trust in you [Music] [Music] you give [Music] you restore every heart that is [Music] [Music] our lungs so we pour out our praise [Music] you give hope [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] our [Music] our hearts will cry in these bones our hearts will cry and these bones will sing great our hearts will cry [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Music] our praise to you [Music] [Music] [Music] i see the king of glory oh [Music] i [Music] [Music] generations rising up to take their place [Music] selflessness we're on our knees is [Music] is me show me [Music] as i walk from earth into [Music] eternity [Music] in the highest hosanna in the highest [Music] and lord on this palm sunday morning we're just excited lord just to be able to stand in your presence to be with you and and know that that word hosanna has so much weight to it lord that you are the one who saves and lord you saved us the whole world when you died on the cross for our sins and dealt with the biggest problem in humanity and and we're so thankful on this sunday morning we can stand not ashamed of our sins or the mistakes we've made but lord you forgive us and you put our sins as far as the east is from the west you remember our sins no more lord you give us reason to be glad on a problem sunday morning like this lord and we pray that you just cause our hearts to swell with joy lord as we think of you as remember your word and what you've done for us what you have in store for your people lord we pray that you just bless each person today as we gather around you so we honor you we give you glory we pray that you'd speak to us now as we open up our bibles and look to your scriptures and we thank you lord in jesus name amen amen and welcome good morning once you have a seat make yourself comfy and thanks you guys well it's good to be back my family we took a little vacay and we went and saw the grand canyon i'd never seen the grand canyon so i thought i'd better do that before kick the bucket and uh so we we went and did that it was great uh we went and hiked all around zion uh national uh what do they call it national something it's it's beautiful under underestimated nobody talks about zion everybody talks about it it's an amazing uh beautiful part of our country and we just kind of did a little road trip and stuff me and the kids and and um deb and we uh one of the things we did is this is great we stopped in prescott arizona has anybody how many have been to prescott um uh the reason i stopped there just because on the way where we were going and we thought it reminded me when i was a little kid my grandparents took me to prescott arizona and there was a frontier days parade and i got to meet festus uh he was the grand marshal for those of you that are old enough to remember who festus is the the deputy on gunsmoke but i he threw me and my grandfather in jail it was kind of a fun thing back when i was a kid so um so anyway uh we drove through and went through past but one of the fun things about our trip is we bumped into people kind of all along the way in prescott there was this nice lady that came out and said pastor brett and she saw me and joey my son and she goes i couldn't believe it she said i've never really been to oregon but uh we're achy creekers you know uh and she said our she said a bunch of the neighbors get together every sunday morning and we do church you know and and uh it was just really cool they were they were like excited you know that we were in prescott arizona uh we were hiking through zion uh forest up in the higher trails there and this uh this guy hey pastor brett and his daughter with an aether creek sweatshirt i was like this is great man people all over the place uh you know that are meeting so all of you are watching on in prescott man god bless you guys let's get glad to have you with us and um but we had a blast and we got back yesterday afternoon and it was just totally totally nice refreshing vacation for us but uh man we're hitting the ground running we got palm sunday today we've got easter sunday next week so don't forget six services next sunday so um uh this will be uh the let's see i'm gonna carry the one the fourth service on next week if you're because we're gonna do a four o'clock on saturday is six o'clock on saturday and then sunday morning a six a.m and eight a.m at 10 a.m and a 12 p.m so that it would come to whichever one you want except for the 10. uh don't come to the tent uh because it'll be i think that's going to be the crowded one probably um we're a little worried uh about the crowd control on that one so uh if you can maybe bump into the other ones a little bit um and what have you sunday night worship tonight we have worship prayer communion right here in the sanctuary if you do want to join us online you can just get your communion elements together at your house there and uh the worship team will lead us all through prayer communion good time of worship tonight one hour long 6 p.m this evening and then one other thing uh don't forget next uh i should say this friday uh we're gonna be doing our uh next prophecy update uh friday at 7 p.m right here in the sanctuary you can join us uh what we do if you're new to 80 creek is you know we go verse by verse chapter by chapter through the bible which is really the best thing i think to it's just so much fun to be able to write through the scriptures but once a month it's fun to look at the bible as it relates to bible prophecy and some people say why are you guys so into bible prophecy well a couple reasons one the bible one-fourth of it is bible prophecy so if you're into the bible one-fourth of the bible is prophecy so you kind of need to be into it and then also the bible teaches us and jesus taught us to watch and be ready and don't be ignorant of the times and the seasons that we're living and there's a lot of people say oh it's too controversial and you know people have been talking about the rapture of the church and the end times for a century and i would always say good that's what the church is supposed to be doing uh no matter who you are you're supposed to kind of be watching and waiting and the wicked servant says ah the lord delays is coming that's what jesus said but it's the wise servant that's watching ready waiting for his return so we like to spend you know a little bit of time each month uh talking about what's going on in the world as it relates to what the bible says about the last days and there's plenty of material to talk about trust me so we'll be doing that friday night 7 p.m i'd love to have you join us and exciting we're starting a new book the book of ezekiel starting right now well brett aren't you going to do a palm sunday service yes i am but i'd like to start from our new book because this this actually begins at an interesting place that sets the stage for that day when jesus would ride into jerusalem on palm sunday morning so once you grab your bible turn with me to ezekiel chapter 10 we'll start there this morning one of the things we're going to learn is ezekiel man he's deep uh mystical mysterious he's going to talk about all kinds of uh things that will make your head spin i mean this guy he's he's a quite a dude ezekiel sees these visions that the lord gives him now uh first read some of you might be thinking man ezekiel's been smoking some weed or something what's wrong with this guy he's he's a little uh but no no when you read the bible you realize that everything ezekiel is saying is from god inspired by god and it gives us deep and incredible understanding uh on chapter one we're gonna talk about wheels within wheels and these cherry bim flying everywhere and and all this stuff it's going to get a little crazy but it's really good stuff so i hope you can join us wednesday night we'll be covering these chapters and getting through this book but speaking of cherry bim and wheels and what what have you we've got this interesting but it's ever so sad the the scripture we're about to read it's ezekiel chapter 10 uh verse 18. let's check it out ezekiel 10 18. it says then the glory of the lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims and the cherry bims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went out the wheels also were beside them and everyone stood at the door of the east gate of the lord's house and the glory of the god of israel was over them above what's going on here well uh again flowery language and we're talking about wheels and cherubim and eastgate and all that what's that all about well this is the sad moment that ezekiel sees in a vision by god of god's glory departing from jerusalem now when did the glory of the lord show up in jerusalem well it was even before jerusalem was around do you remember the glory of the lord does anybody remember quiz time bible question where was the glory of the lord sensed or felt in early israel days anybody huh the ark of the covenant somebody said it i heard it the ark of the covenant remember how it says the well we remember you know there when the ark of the covenant was made there by moses as they were wandering in the wilderness the lord said i will put my glory and the the word there is kabad in the hebrew khabad and what is khabad it means the glory the and the word glory is a hard word to translate into english our word glory is a little clumsy because we say man that's you know glory old glory or what what is glory the glory days like what does the word glory mean well in the hebrew the word glory you'd almost define it as the weighty presence of god the part of god that you can feel where you sense his presence uh what is that like well i don't know for sure except i think we get a sense do you guys know what i'm talking about have you ever been to a church where you don't really feel like the lord's even there uh dead religion uh you know there's a lot of churches around the globe the world that you can go into that maybe once had the glory of the lord but the glory has departed uh there's churches in downtown portland that i think once we're you know filled with god's glory but the more they moved away from the bible and the more they went into their uh crazy theologies and stuff god left at some point you walk in there it's chilly man you don't sense the glory of the lord and i've always said it if the glory of the lord ever leaves this place have you ever since when you come into church at eighth you're just gonna go man in fact the lord is here he's being worshipped and his church is here and people that love jesus are here and you just sense the presence of god i can't really explain it other than you sense it but if the glory of the lord ever leaves eighth grade just shut the doors man we gotta turn this into a bowling alley and go find like where where is god's glory go where the glory is that's that's what i would always say um the reason i say this because many churches because they had a building and bills to pay or something like that they thought they had to try to keep something going that god left a long time ago i want to be where god's glory is well the glory was on the mercy seat the lid of the ark of the covenant which was made the lid was made of pure gold the box itself made of acacia wood or satin wood uh covered in gold and and the lord says on the mercy seat they'd sprinkled the blood and when the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat of the of the sacrifice the glory of the lord came there and then they put the ark in the holy of holies and then that time once a year the high priest got to go into the holy of holies and he'd see the glory of god's presence the uh some call it the shekinah glory which is the the shining out did it glow i don't know but there the the high priest would come in there was the ark of the covenant uh that that's really something now the glory departed here but before that you know there was another time the glory departed do you guys remember in first samuel chapter four when the the jews were being defeated by the philistines and they said man we need some help let's get the ark of the covenant it will save us it will help us big goof they were trying to say our god is in a box and he's going to come and help us it was just kind of a bad airbrained idea so they bring the ark in the camp they you know haul it down there and the philistines oh no we're in trouble they brought their god into their camp and the jews we're going to be you know they were to beat the floats they were all excited well the next day they went out to battle and the philistines crushed the jews stole the ark and took it home to put it in their temple to dagon and they set the ark right next to dagon and you remember the whole story the the fish god dagon kept falling down in front of the ark and they kept saying dagged on it and they'd pick it back up and you remember that and they all got hemorrhoids anyway it's an amazing story no time to cover that one but do you remember do you remember during that time where the ark of the covenant was gone from israel there's just a woman that's mentioned in the bible who gave birth to a boy and she named his his name was ichabod who was he the guy that rode the horse with the pumpkin right no not ichabod crane that's that's uh disney or whatever i'm talking about um i'm talking about ichabod it was the guy named by this this woman and why did she call her son ichabod well the word kavadh means the glory of god ek means no so no glory the glory was gone the glory had departed from israel so she named her son ichabod remember this story so that's another time where god's glory seemed to have departed now the philistines took the ark stuck in on a cart and put some cows on a team of cows and and and the ark came back to israel and they got the glory back at that point and then solomon built the temple and if you remember when solomon built the temple they put the ark in there and the glory of the lord settled on the temple in jerusalem and for hundreds and hundreds of years the jews knew that that was sort of the epicenter of where god met them there at the temple on the temple mount in jerusalem and his glory was filling the temple his presence you could sense it you could feel it but that's why here in ezekiel chapter 10 it's such a sad part of the story of the jews they had gotten so far away from god so rebellious and by the way ezekiel's a contemporary of jeremiah he's talking about the same events that we've been covering in lamentations and jeremiah in the last few months and and so now he's saying oh we he could see it the lord gave him the vision to see the glory is left the cherubims the wheels everything kind of lifted went out through the east gate where the people were standing and the glory just left jerusalem what a sad day in jerusalem for the jews in israel the glory was departed man i hope that that's something we would fear as christians to have the glory of god depart from our lives i want to be wherever god's glory is i don't want to do anything that causes god's glory to leave you know whether it's sinful stuff or just goofy stuff that we shouldn't be doing but i want the lord's glory just to fill my temple this temple but i'm getting ahead of myself so for 500 years after you know ezekiel shares that the glory has departed from jerusalem for 500 years the jews just kept going they had their temple they had their priests they had their religion but the glory was not there dead religion is what it was in the inter-testamental period you know from the time of ezekiel all the way to jesus man that temple well it was just a political thing by the time jesus came on the scene 500 years later it was just a political deal caiaphas the high priest if you know who he is and studied him he was a politician he wasn't a religious leader it's a little bit like some some of the religious leaders today um i wonder sometimes about these so-called reverends and pastors that are all into the politics and stuff where they i don't even think they know their bibles not even slightly um but they they're somehow called ministers and pastors and what have you um that's kind of the way it was in jesus's day there were a bunch of religious guys by the way who did jesus get the most fired up at was it the sinners the adulteress uh the tax collector no it was the pharisees it was the religious leaders of the day the you know the sanhedrin and the sadducees and the pharisees and all the rest and and jesus man he hammered those guys it's because they were dead there was a dead religion going on well you say brett what does that have to do with palm sunday well that's just it the glory had left jerusalem when would be the next time after ezekiel's prophecy here or you know insight here when would the glory of god return and what would it look like you know if if you're a jew and you're you're realizing the messiah is supposed to come the glory of god must return someday to jerusalem when is that going to be and what will that look like you know were they expecting something magnificent you know if the king of kings is going to show up man who's he going to show up like what's that going to look like well see therein lies the story of palm sunday where the king of kings the lord of lords the god of gods will come into jerusalem and how does he come on palm sunday on the little cult of a donkey kloppity klopp into the city uh let's take a look at that would you turn with me to luke chapter 18. uh pardon me luke chapter 19. i want to show you in luke 19 something by the way before we get into luke 19 and read this uh i want to get you into the scene and the setting and the best way i know to do that is you know one of the last times we were there in israel um uh micah and i and brynn and our crew that was there we shot some video of where this this happened the whole palm sunday road thing happened well you know they got the colt from a place called bethlehem or near bethany which is on the back side of the mount of olives if you go over the mount of olives over the hill you see jerusalem and then you come down the kidron valley and i'll show you i'd like to show you some video footage we shot uh one of the last times we were there this of course is taken from the top of the mount of olives there's the dome of the rock shrine uh where the temple used to sit right there where that dome of the rock is and that's the um the wall of jerusalem around and there's the east gate that's the gate ezekiel's talking about that the the glory of the lord went out through that east gate so here we are just cruising down this little this little ancient road and this road kind of winds down through this massive massive cemetery um it's one of the biggest cemeteries in the world uh you know all these um jewish uh graves there um and the graves are all facing jerusalem and they're not like our graves where um you know they're they're uh doesn't matter which direction these guys are all laid toward the temple mount toward jerusalem and a lot of famous you know jews buried there in that cemetery but as you kind of wind down this road um this palm sunday road as it's called it's because this is where jesus rode um his uh his little cult down into jerusalem this is also where you can get pickpocketed very easily there's a lot of pickpockets in this area uh you kind of got to watch your pocket um there's my beautiful wife deb uh and we're we're we're cruising down this little road where jesus rode now um as it turns out this goes down right next to the garden of gethsemane when jesus and his disciples would get out of the city of jerusalem they'd come to this little garden that's on this little palm sunday road and so we go in this little walled area where the garden of gethsemane is and we'd always get to do worship and communion and it's there's an olive garden right there and we the olive trees are a thousand years old it's really kind of cool um but these old olive trees you can take the olives off and if the right time of the season you can crush them and the olives are like blood red it's really quite a picture you know the press there they all have press um but we do some worship there in the garden of gethsemane but but after that the road continues and we continue our little walk down the palm sunday road where jesus would then go into this gate where he would go into jerusalem and that is when the glory of the lord returned to jerusalem because jesus is the lord himself right god the father god the son god the holy spirit god three in one jesus is there and here's what i want to do is i'd like to take a look at this little section of luke luke chapter 19 and kind of read the poems on this story and then we'll get into it it says in luke 19 28 and when he had thus spoken he went before ascending up to jerusalem and it came to pass when he came near to beththaji and bethany at the mount called the mount of olives he sent two of his disciples saying go ye into the village over against you in the witch at your entering you shall find a cold tide whereon yet never man sat loose him and bring him hither and if any man ask you why do you lose him thus shall ye say unto him because the lord hath need of him so they that were sent went their way and found even as he said unto them and they as they were loosing the cult the owners thereof said why lucie the cult and they said the lord hath need of him and so they brought him to jesus and they cast their garments upon the cult and they set jesus thereon and as he went they spread their clothes in the way and when they when he was come near even now at the descent of the mount of olives the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise god with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen saying blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest and some of the pharisees among the multitudes said in a master rebuke your disciples um they didn't like what they were all saying they were saying this is the messiah rebuke your disciples they said verse 40 and he answered and said unto them i tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out i kind of wish everybody would have stopped singing at that point um and see the biggest rock concerts you ever did see that would have been great all the all the rocks hallelujah hallelujah i don't know that would just be great to see by the way uh sideline uh did you know the rocks are crying out what do you mean brett well even in jerusalem today they're doing all these archeological digs and they continue to find more and more perfect proof of the early church and jesus and his ministry all these harebrained college professors that you know if you went to a secular school or even a christian school sad to say there's all these calls you know jesus really it was just more of a theme or an idea he wasn't really a man who really existed that's ridiculous all you got to do is go to jerusalem and see uh all the evidence it's it's incredible and it's ridiculous that these guys are trying to make this narrative that jesus never even existed or whatever all these bloggers and atheists online trying to hack you know christian kids that you know jesus never really existed that's just ridiculous the rocks are crying out that jesus is the messiah even this day archaeologically but i digress uh verse 41 this is kind of the crux of the matter and when jesus was come near he beheld the city and wept over it saying if thou had known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes why would jesus on this glorious as you know your bible title says christ's triumphal entry you know or whatever they call it in your bible uh you know titles why would jesus in this glorious moment suddenly start weeping and say oh jerusalem he's really saying you know when it says here even thou he's saying even you jews if you'd only know what happened today this is a huge event but brett they're crying hosanna and they're all excited well do you understand this is a tiny handful of disciples uh we don't know exactly how many but these are called disciples these are the people that were following jesus down the road spreading their clothes and we know there were levels of disciples you know that right there was there was john the apostle who was probably the closest to jesus and then there was peter james and john you know the three that got to be at the transfiguration and a few of the more intimate events and then after the three pardon me there was the twelve uh after the twelve there was the seventy after the seventy there was a hundred uh remember the hundred and the seventy they all left when jesus showed communion remember those disciples that said he wants us to eat his body and drink his blood uh we're out of here pure that happened in the upper room that was that group of disciples probably some of the same people that were here spreading their clothes saying hosanna those were also the people left at the upper room said we're out of here so it wasn't all of jerusalem seeing jesus coming saying hosanna you know the reason jesus is weeping he's saying jerusalem jews you guys if you'd only known in this thy day well how could they have known what day it was and what's the deal with this how why does he come in on a cult riding a cult of a donkey like that's that's that's weird if he's the king of kings why does he come in like a king show himself as a king don't blame the jews jesus you came riding in on a cult and a bunch of weird disciples saying hosanna how are people supposed to know who you are what's going on there well there's an answer that's kind of interesting um and it starts to make us wonder why a nameless little cult carrying jesus into jerusalem i marvel at this you know there's been a lot of triumphal entries of kings over the centuries as a student of history if any of you guys that study history you know that's one of the big deals after you conquer a city the king will ride in alexander the great was probably the most famous of that uh you know he had he had you know writing in after conquering a city or um even napoleon he had a famous horse named moringo moringo he'd ride in as a conquering little short guy you know he'd ride in and say i'm the boss any questions and it was it was intimidating it was powerful that's what jesus should have done it reminds me of a story in 345 bc there was a you know a leader there of the greeks whose name was philip philip ii of macedon he was the macedonian or macedonians however you say people say it but but um philip was a guy who was uh powerful but his little son loved his dad and thought it was cool that he rode a horse the little son kept asking his dad for a horse well well the dad said you're too young for a horse so philip this leader of the greeks gave one of their slaves to to uh the son this kind of cruel uh thing that they made this poor slave become the horse of this little five-year-old and the little five-year-old put a bridle in his mouth and sometimes wore spurs and wrote him around the house this this slave now interestingly enough the slave of philip ii uh the name of the slave was oxhead if you translate it from greek to english his name meant ox head so there's um you know this little boy riding a little poor oxen around the house with spurs and bridal kind of a horrible deal well finally the sun gets old enough and philip ii buys his son a black stallion and this black stallion is beautiful it has a white star on its forehead but everything else is shiny black a powerful horse beautiful horse and guess what this little kid he named his new horse oxhead after the slave that he wrote around the house all the time well as it turns out if you translate oxhead into the greek the word oxet is bucephalus and if you know who bucephalus is probably the most famous horse in history was the horse of alexander the great alexander the great got this horse named bucephalus and and and it's an interesting story because um that horse went through many uh military campaign and rode into battle uh many a times um and what exactly happened to bucephalus uh there's there's history that's kind of it's debatable but eventually the horse was slain in battle and there's a couple cities named bucephalus after the horse of alexander the great because they believe maybe alexander's horse was buried there but there's a whole debate about that bro why are you talking about alexander the great and bucephalus and the horse and all this stuff well i find it interesting did you know that bucephalus and alexander the great rode into the very same jerusalem that jesus rode into but these two kings or conquerors came in very different ways in fact i find it kind of encouraging and lightning to compare the two alexander the great with his horse bucephalus and jesus the messiah with his little cult of a donkey let's compare and contrast just for a moment i find this interesting you got alexander and jesus number one the first thing that we look at is alexander and jesus they both um started their careers at an early age um but uh both also died at an early age they were both right around 33 when they died uh at the peak of their you know life and their their work alexander was born the son of a king jesus was born the son of a conqueror alexander was born in a mansion jesus was born in a manger alexander at the end of his life was thought to be a massive huge success jesus at the end of his life was thought to be a dismal failure alexander died in splendor in babylon you know conquering the whole world and all jesus died seemingly in humiliation at golgotha alexander shed the blood of millions of men for his own personal gain by the way you know as again if you're a student of history one of the things we sort of romanticize these ancient kings and their conquerings and you know if you study you know whether it's uh you know genghis khan or or alexander or you know uh people like julius caesar you know these guys we all think they were amazing guys they slaughtered men women and children by the millions like these guys were really brutal dudes alexander killed millions of men for his own personal gain jesus shed his own blood for the gain of millions of sinful men alexander enslaved men jesus liberated men alexander conquered lives jesus conquered death alexander cried out you know at the end of his life to his followers that there were no more worlds for him to conquer jesus comforted his followers because there was a better world to come what a difference alexander with bucephalus jesus riding on the cult of a donkey what a crazy compare and contrast by the way if you ever want to do interesting stuff compare jesus to all figures of history compare jesus with muhammad i mean there's a comparison you know muhammad was a bloodthirsty warlord jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world like i'll take jesus over all these people every single time well the first thing we want to look at here about the why the donkey number one the number one reason why jesus rode in on the donkey instead of bucephalus or a fancy fancy horse number one to fulfill god's word what why is this fulfilling god's word well this is where the bible is just so great the jews should have known that's why jesus in you know luke chapter 19 that's why jesus said oh jerusalem you should have known in this thy day what's happened to your peace but it's hidden from your eyes what was hidden the word of god said the messiah is coming and it gave very exacting details for example zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. the prophet zechariah 100 several hundred years earlier said rejoice greatly o daughter of zion another name for jerusalem shout out daughter of jerusalem behold thy king cometh unto thee he is just having salvation lowly and riding upon an ass and upon occult the full of an ass the bible hundreds of years earlier said when your king comes he's going to be coming humbly lowly riding on the fall of an ass that's sacrament ezekiel 9 9 daniel chapter 9 verse 25 this is a famous prophecy the 70 weeks prophecy of daniel and the word week there by the way is a bit confusing for us english readers because we talk about a week as being only you know seven days but in bible you know the word here heptad uh is actually a week of seven days or a week of seven years but you just made that up nope i didn't um genesis remember genesis 29 uh where uh isaac uh pardon me jacob worked for rebecca for those seven years and the bible says that when he fulfilled her week that seven year period he uh got married and the uncle laban you know did a trick on old jacob and married him to rachel who made your eyes hurt the bible says uh so he says what happened you're married so yeah it doesn't work another week heptad um so you say okay brett what does that have to do anything here's the thing in daniel 9 the prophecy was given about the coming of the messiah when the glory of god would return to israel after it had departed remember daniel was a contemporary of jeremiah and was a contemporary of ezekiel so these prophets were saying stuff that all lined up perfectly and here's what the prophecy that was given to daniel said know therefore and understand in other words figure this out that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build jerusalem unto the messiah the prince shall be and here's this confusing number seven weeks and three score and two weeks huh seven weeks and three score in two weeks well if you figure out the king jimmy there uh basically it's this i'll replace it with 69 weeks or the the the word there should be heptads 69 seven year periods are you guys still with me what 69 seven year periods well carry the one do a little math uh 69 times seven is 483 years okay so what did the verse say it said the messiah the prince shall shall come and here's the definition from the commandment to restore and rebuild jerusalem to the time the messiah comes will be 483 years so the jews could have figured this out pretty easily but it was hidden from their eyes that's what jesus said when he rode into jerusalem that day how was it hidden well this is how it works out if you just kind of figured out the jewish calendar which is uh you know we whether you're using a gregorian calendar or a lunar calendar it changes the whole thing so if you're getting out your calendar you first of all have to use a jewish calendar that is a year of 360 days and uh and then also there's no year zero like there's people that have done the math on this and figured it out it's not super easy but basically um if you break down this this 483 years with the jewish calendar 483 years times 360 days that gives you 173 880 days so all you've got to do is if you're a jew like daniel or one of the jews in captivity or the jews of even jesus time you go from the time when the commandment was given for the jews to go and restore jerusalem now here's where it gets interesting the jews were in captivity in babylon for 70 years when along came one of the leaders at the time named artaxerxes and artaxerxes gave the commandment to restore and rebuild jerusalem when well as it turns out march 14th 445 bc the commandment was given now remember when the jews were in captivity ezra nehemiah's or rubbable those guys went to restore and rebuild jerusalem the command was given march 14th 445 bc if you add to that 173 880 days it brings you to an interesting date april 9th ad 32 which is the very day that jesus would ride into jerusalem on the cult of a donkey is that pretty cool i think that's pretty cool that the bible gave the jews that kind of precision on the first coming of the messiah as he rides in jerusalem here's the bible giving daniel hundreds of years earlier check this out when the commandment goes to restore you can set your watch and they that's why jesus when he wept over jerusalem that's why jesus would have said oh jerusalem you should have known in this thy day what's happening to your peace but it was hidden from their eyes what was it this the math that i just showed you now what's interesting brett are you saying that the second coming of christ is going to be masked out like this it's not as it turns out one of the things the bible says about the this is the first coming of christ the second coming of christ no man knows the day nor the hour we don't have that kind of calculation the reason i say that is because people love this stuff i i love this stuff but then they try to say well we can figure out when the second coming of christ is going to be well the answer to that is no and if somebody's claiming they know when the second coming of christ is uh they've been drinking their bathwater uh so so don't listen to them uh go with what the bible actually says that's that's really important so so you say brett what's the point well the point is jesus riding on a cult of a donkey zechariah 9 9 was fulfilling god's word and the very day that he wrote in was fulfilling god's word the reason christ did what he did on that day the way he did it was fulfilling scripture confirming that he was legitimately the messiah and what an interesting thing it was that day that the jews largely missed it and they didn't understand so number one on our list you know to fulfill god's word that's why a nameless little cult of a donkey on that day but the second consideration on this palm sunday about this nameless little donkey that he rides in the second reason he does it this way is to reveal god's heart reveal god's heart what kind of king would ride into jerusalem on that day on a cult of a donkey now you know when i was a kid i rode horses didn't like it because horses bucked me off all the time i wasn't a great horseman as a little kid so i got into dirt bikes because then if you crash it's your own fault uh nobody was bucking you off you just were dumb and i could i could live with that but my sisters they were you know into horses and we had a couple horses on our little farm as we were growing up um but uh horses man they're tough now i i have ridden a donkey have any of you guys ridden the donkey my next-door neighbor kirk daley had donkeys we'd wake up every morning oh oh i do that pretty good because i woke up every morning with that in my ear but one thing about writing donkeys you cannot look cool riding a donkey it's impossible i i challenge any of you to get on a donkey and try to look cool like try to be john wayne you know they're just really bouncy and it's like a little vibration and when we go to petra uh you can rent a donkey some of our people rent donkeys to you know the donkeys carry people around the cliffs there and petra um it's a little sketchy but some of our folks have done it and they don't look cool at all and it's like i just uh but the thing is um isn't it amazing that jesus rode in you know it's it's it's always funny to me because the when you watch the jesus movies and stuff um you'll never see the actor in the jesus film on palm sunday you'll never see the whole actor of jesus riding the donkey and the whole picture because they always show this donkey and jesus standing there but then they zoom out and then they just show jesus but and he's and he's riding like in like this you know like i was like i got a horse you know saundering down the palm sunday road but they'll never show the real picture of the whole thing because he'd be more like it's not very royal it's not very kingly what's your point brett my point is this god came to man and came in the most unintimidating most unimpressive really way and he came that way for a purpose he wasn't coming to condemn the world like alexander the great or to judge them or to say i'm in charge you better get on board or you're going to be dead that's not what jesus came to do he came in such a unique fashion no other king in history has done it and how did he come well psalm chapter 2 sums it up perhaps the best psalm apparently not psalm philippians chapter 2 it says let this mind or attitude be in you which was also in christ jesus who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god but made himself of what no reputation he took upon himself the form of a servant was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross what king comes in this way you know napoleon with his little uh height complex um riding his moringa and by the way napoleon's horse moringa you can see the bones the skeleton of that horse in a british museum to this day morengo's skeleton is on display but napoleon would ride in on his glorious morengo because he was a short little guy he wasn't impressive so he'd ride in on the horse and look impressive but jesus he comes in and makes himself of no reputation takes upon the form there's some operative words here no reputation servant better translation slave and also it says he humbled himself and became obedient even to the death of the cross the king of kings came to do a work and it was a work of humility and it was a work of meekness and and um and it was unimpressive it wasn't meant to blow everybody away it was meant to draw people to himself it's not just philippians chapter 2 but they're in matthew 11 verses 28 through 30 where jesus said you know that classic scripture come unto me all you that lay be labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest and he says take my yoke upon you and learn of me now here it is what do you learn of jesus learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart what is jesus meek and lowly in heart man our culture our world we're so into making ourselves look cool and look at me and you know like i'm always amazed at the music that we listen to and these musicians and famous people it's all about making themselves look as cool as they possibly can look you know our instagram accounts make me look cool as i could possibly look or as good as po but jesus did the exact opposite and by the way it says you know let this mind be in you which was also in christ philippians 2 where he made himself of no reputation we're all about reputation that's humanity but jesus he makes one autobiographical statement about himself in his whole ministry in life he says one thing about his personality and his demeanor and there it is he says for i am meek and lowly in heart so number one we we see that the little beautiful picture to god's people to picture god's people um it's a interesting picture of you and me it's a picture of god's will brett come on a donkey a donkey comes into play when it's talking about humanity when you think of the personality of a donkey or a mule what's a characteristic that a lot of times people stubborn stubborn as a mule that stubborn old donkey boy that's a picture of you miss and they were required to do something so that their kids would learn the lesson can i take you all the way back just for a quick moment to the book because here's where the mosaic law is about the donkey listen to this this is an interesting little story it says in every first thing of an ass thou shall redeem with a lamb donkey's neck that's the rule and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou read them with that donkey gave birth to the firstborn of its donkeys dad you deserve to have your neck broke like this poor donkey but if you want to save the donkey's life you've got to give a lamb as a sacrifice for the firstborn of the donkey and then when junior asks hey uh dad why are you doing all this stuff we're supposed to remember that we're the ones who should have been the ones dying but because of the redeeming work the blood of the lamb of course in old testament they were looking forward to jesus remember john the baptist behold the lamb of god that takes away the sins of the whole world all of that old testament stuff's pointing forward to jesus so here's this little donkey who's given jesus a ride you say brett what does that have to do with laws well this all this stuff fits together perfectly but the thing that i'm amazed and amused by is that the lord compares you and i to a donkey in the old testament here in this picture of the redeeming of the of the donkey and some of you and i you know many of us you know you and i we we we've we thought we were morengo or bucephalous i'm a mighty person i'm amazing but the older you get your eyes no i'm just a little donkey but good news the lord's redeemed us first of all we've been saved by the blood of the lamb but secondly isn't it interesting that the lord uses donkeys like you and me i love that phrase in the luke 19 narrative that we read earlier where um you know the owner of the cult if he comes up and says what are you doing the disciples what was their response supposed to be anybody the lord hath need of him question does the lord need anything well it sure seems like he does either jesus was lying there says the lord tell him the lord hath need of him is that what was going on no i i here as it turns out the lord says i needed that so tell them i need it and and i wonder about this you know you i get what you guys are saying when you say yeah the lord doesn't need anything it's true but isn't it interesting jesus said yeah the lord needs a little cult of a donkey to carry him into jerusalem to bring him to all the people and why does the lord use a donkey why does he need a donkey well he he's using the donkey because he wants to come in to fulfill bible prophecy but also to real reveal his heart of humility and in the same way the lord wants to use a donkey like you who's unintelligent and stupid like me brett come on now you're crossing like you called us an ass and you told us we're stupid hey listen does the bible tell us god uses the weak and the foolish things of this world guess what we qualify we can be used by the lord because we're we're the donkey we thought we were going to be bucephalus we thought we were going to be morengo but no we're just these little donkeys lord says i'm going to use that guy brett not because he's an amazing bastard he's really smart and good looking too no i'm going to use a guy that everybody will go wow that's amazing that god can use a guy like that that's amazing god is amazing see if jesus would have wrote in busepolis people said wow that's impressive but jesus wrote in on a donkey and i think he's still doing that he's still riding in if you would uh what does the our city portland need people need to see jesus people need to see jesus and people need to see jesus through people like us who are not that impressive who've made some big mistakes in life who who the lord can say yeah i can write in on that and then that they might see me that they might glorify me it's not about the donkey it's about the lord jesus and i love that the lord chooses to use the weak and the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and you and i guess what we qualify we're qualified for this is the lord using you right now to carry himself in that's what the lord wants us to do the last things jesus said before he ascended into heaven is he said go ye into all the world and preach the gospel make disciples baptize people like this is what we should be about i'm pointing people to jesus glorifying jesus it's not about the donkey it's not about me how much of what you do in your life is about you and how much of what you're doing in your life is about magnifying jesus glorifying jesus because guess what the glory is departed from portland um even as ezekiel this is where we kind of take it full circle ezekiel sees in ezekiel chapter 10 the glory leave the temple in jerusalem what a sad day that was the glory came back on palm sunday when christ entered in jerusalem yeah but brett then jesus died on the cross and then he rose from the grave and then he ascended into heaven so the glory is still gone from jerusalem yes but do you remember what jesus taught his disciples he says this is really good that i'm going to leave you john 14. it's good that i'm going to leave you because after me comes my holy spirit that's going to fill you comfort you and remind you of truth and dwell in you my holy spirit is in you and he'll be with you and in you and upon you remember when jesus taught all that stuff how could jesus say it's good that i'm leaving you the disciples they were troubled that's why he starts the whole thing off let not your hearts be troubled remember that john 14. why because he was about to leave but he was leaving them with the holy spirit and then paul the apostle comes along the way and says what don't you know that your body is a what temple to the holy ghost so ezekiel sees the glory leave the temple in jerusalem jesus rides in jerusalem the glory returns then he ascends and leaves but then he says guess what i'm leaving my glory my presence my you know beauty i'm gonna fill your body that's a temple you know your your body are we that big of a deal no what does the bible say your your body is this earthen vessel a mug of mud a jar of clay that's all we are but we have in these jars of clay what does the bible say the excellency of the power of god that's not of us but it's in us that's why paul would say it's christ in you that's our hope and our glory it's christ in the church in us that's why it's so important it's not about the building of the church it's about the building the what's the body of christ and it's our bodies where christ dwells that's why you know if you come to this building on a you know monday morning it's just a big empty warehouse and some people even told me brad when there's no people here it's creepy big empty building a warehouse that's all it is but what makes this the church you jesus is riding into this place on the cult of a donkey that's you and you're the temple where god says i'm going to dwell in that temple i'm going to be in that temple and it's about what you and i get to bring to the the whole experience as a church but also what you bring to the rest of the world so when you start to realize this dynamic of the lord using the little cult of a donkey it's a great picture of you and me we're the ones who are supposed to carry christ that people might see jesus it's not about the donkey i finished with this final little story and it's not about palm sunday it's about palm monday what did the little donkey the cult of the donkey do on palm monday well someone wrote a little story i'll just read it quickly the little donkey woke up monday morning his mind was still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life never before had he felt a rush of pleasure and pride and joy when people laid palm branches before him and their clothes so he could walk on so that morning monday morning he walked into town and found a group of people by a well he said i'll show myself to them he thought but they didn't even notice him they went on drawing their water and paid him no mind throw your cloaks down he said crossley don't you know who i am and they just looked at him in amazement someone slapped him across the rear and ordered him to move out of the way miserable heathens he muttered to himself i'll just go to the marketplace where the good people are and they'll remember who i am but the same thing happened no one paid attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the marketplace paul branches where are the palm branches yesterday you threw down palm ranches hurt and confused the donkey returned home to his mother foolish child she said gently don't you realize that without him you're just an ordinary donkey i like that story because that's you and me we think we're big stuff but without christ in our temple without christ filling us we're just an ordinary person one of you know seven billion people on this planet that's kind of meaningless but with christ in you not only does that mean you're saved and you're going to heaven for all eternity and you're not going to go to hell that's really good news but also christ in you gives your life meaning and value you were created according to you know revelation chapter 4 11 you were created for his pleasure and and for that purpose only when we live to make ourselves magnified or to have everybody see us it's a lose-lose but when you live your life to say i'm gonna i'm gonna be the one the donkey that god uses to to point people to christ that gives your life legitimate meaning and value whatsoever do do heartily is unto the lord and not unto men don't store up treasures on this earth where moth rust and you know thieves come and break in and steal but set your affections on things above like the bible teaches you and me that it's kind of all about jesus and if you don't realize that if it's all about you and building yourself up you're going to be the most miserable but if it's all about realizing you're just the little you know donkey vehicle that christ can use to be magnified to be glorified i see a beautiful picture here for us and a reminder to glorify god to have christ in your life that's the best thing you can do so on this palm sunday a word to the wise it's all about jesus amen amen lord how thankful i am that you use the weak and the foolish things of this world to confound the wise that you can use each one of us no matter how small we are whatever personality gaps or quirks we have no matter what our weak areas are lord you choose to use us help us lord to remember this not to try to be glorified or honored among people of ourselves lord but i pray that on this palm sunday we'll remember it's all about you we thank you for your word this palm sunday story perfectly fulfilling your word the lord it just confirms the truth of scripture once again but also lord i pray that we'd understand your heart that it's a heart of meekness and humility and let letting that same attitude be on our lives lord help us to be humble and and remember who we are and who we aren't and that we would give glory to your holy name so lord just bless these your people on this palm sunday morning thank you for your word we bless you in jesus name amen amen let's all stand together and we're going to close with one final song of worship but here's what i want to tell you if you're not a christian your life you can try all you want to try to figure out your life and try to get where you want to go but it's it's futile a lot of us have tried that it's just not good but if you accept christ you start to realize your value and your worth has everything to do with is christ in you are you saved are your sins forgiven are you headed for heaven and if you'd like to become a christian we'd love to pray with you right after the service there's going to be pastors right here at the front front steps just come on up after we dismiss you and be prayed with we won't you know gather all your information or do weird stuff we'd love to just pray with you and you can confess christ and be forgiven of your sins and be saved don't miss that opportunity so may the lord bless you on this palm sunday let's just close david why don't you lead us with one more song [Music] the sun up it's a new day dawning it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me then we be singing when the evening comes senior rich in love you're rich in love and you're slow to anger your name is great in your heart is kind and all your goodness i will keep on singing 10 000 reasons for my heart to find [Applause] [Music] [Applause] bless the lord of my soul oh my soul worship his holy name sing like never before oh my [Music] [Applause] [Music] and on that day when my strength is failing the end draws me in my time has come still my soul [Music] forever [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] name [Music] oh my soul worship his sing like never before oh my soul i'll worship your holy name [Music] we want to go from this place today worshiping you in song but also in sacrifice of praise lord with our lives i pray that we would represent you that we would shine christ everywhere we go this week we pray your blessing in jesus name amen amen hey you are dismissed we will see you next time

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 12,245

Rating: 4.8888888 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

Id: 6lurhY0SiqU

Length: 78min 23sec (4703 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021