What was Jesus thinking?

Today, I want to start by sharing a few items of encouragement that I have received this past week.

First, I want to invite you to tune into www.betheldc.ca on Good Friday the 10th of April at 10:30am for a multi church Good Friday service. The Dawson Creek Ministerial have chosen to honor the sacrifice of all the health care providers by staying isolated and yet providing a combined church service for all of you. Again that is www.betheldc.ca .

Second, I want to thank all of you who are providing feedback on our Sunday service and ideas to add into the service each week. We hope to bring more isolated people to you each week so it feels a bit more like fellowship.
I know that Ian and Bryce are doing wonders on providing surprises for me in the setup for producing this live stream. Do you like the new setting this week – let us know.

Third, I have been hearing how many of you are reaching out to others with calls, skype, facetime and emails. Keep up this much needed contact – it will help all of us get through this hardship.
It is amazing how a huge struggle can bring people and families back together – even if it is electronically.

Sermon Outline for FBC Apr. 05, 2020
Palm Sunday

Today the message is entitled “What was Jesus thinking?”

This Sunday we read the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem and the people are excited and cheerful. They were looking to Jesus for a new way of life, a life of freedom as a nation. We now call this event “Palm Sunday.”

Jesus knew what was really coming and He still followed through. As Jesus gets on the donkey and starts the ride into Jerusalem, He knew that this was going to be the toughest week ever for Himself and all His followers. What was on His mind? Where were Jesus’s thoughts?

The people of Israel knew what was happening that day because the prophets of old had prophesied about it.

Zechariah 9: 9 NIV Prophet give’s a prophecy
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So, the people are celebrating the arrival of the Messiah, the King of the Jews, the one who would lead them into a new world of freedom.

Matthew 21: 6-9 NIV Triumphal Entrance
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

The crowds roar and cheer without understanding what was really going to happen that week. Maybe if they had understood, they might have made less noise and tried to stop Jesus from going into the city.
That would have changed history and the life of the new Christian church. Again, I ask, “what was Jesus thinking?”

Jesus predicted His death three times before His ride into Jerusalem. He tried to prepare His disciples for what was to come but they did not understand the purpose of His words.

Matthew 16: 21-23 NIV
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 17: 22-23 NIV
22 When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.
23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

Matthew 20: 17-19 NIV
17 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said to them,
18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death
19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Jesus knew all that was coming and yet He continued on. Jesus was following the plan He had for all mankind and this next week was crucial to focus on the purpose of what He was doing. We need the grace that became ours through what Jesus did to sustain us in times like today, with the pandemic we face.

BARB’s SONG “Lord I Need You.”

It is in times like now that we need to cry out to God “I need you!”
God loves us and wants us to love Him. Jesus came to walk with us, in a human body, to go through a week of persecution, pain and death, so we could know that He understands how we feel right now.

Romans 5: 6-8 NIV Christ died for us!
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

READ PALM SUNDAY POEM

I started this morning with the question, “What was Jesus thinking?”
Take the time this week, before Friday, to read all the Gospel stories of the events leading up to Jesus dying on the Cross.
You will start to understand how Jesus felt and how the disciples went through the wringer of emotions.
Their Messiah, their King, despised and tortured and killed – just as Jesus had foretold three times.

I have had people, this week, tell me that they are worried about what our world will be like after this pandemic. They are afraid that they or their loved ones will not survive COVID 19. This is a real possibility and one we should not take lightly.

Jesus wants us to believe in Him! Jesus wants us to realize that He went before us, He died for our sin so that we can believe and have life eternal with Him.
Jesus wants us to be able to celebrate our freedom for real.

There is another story about palm branches that we should read. This is the celebration that now goes on after Jesus rose on the third day as He promised.

Revelations 7: 9-12 Palm branches in heaven
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

We cannot know what is coming over the next weeks and months. Many people are trying to figure it out and working at making the results less deadly. Whether or not they succeed, the more pressing issue is “are you ready to go if it is your time to leave us?”

Jesus is waiting for you – are you ready for Him? I am praying for all of you to find your relationship with Jesus. Many people are praying for you! Trust God and call out to Him for His saving grace to go with you through this time and into forever.

BARB’s SONG “Somebody’s Praying”

Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. He taught His disciples to pray!

What was Jesus thinking? He was thinking that what He was about to go through was all for you! His terrible week was to give you the chance to rethink your relationship with Him and to give you the opportunity to start over with Jesus.

God loves you and wants to walk close with you, guiding you through all the storms of life.

Hope you will tune in to www.betheldc.ca on Friday at 10:30am to share with us the second part of Jesus’s Easter story. And then tune back into this live stream for the final part of Jesus’ Gift of life over death.

Let’s pray!