Darla and I just, just got back from Israel.
I'm still jet lagging a little bit. We actually went to Bethlehem and toured. Y'all remember last year when y'all built that school in Bethlehem? We toured it. We got a lot of video. We're gonna be sharing that with you in the coming weeks. I didn't realize, honestly, how big of a project it is. It was, it's huge what's going on there. They're gonna impact the entire Middle East for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can't wait to show you some of that video.
So it's gonna be, it's gonna be great. While we were there, we took a couple days and just toured Jerusalem. We had the whole place to ourself with the war going on.
There's not many tourists at all there. And kind of getting ready for this October when we take a group here to Israel. And one week ago today, we climbed to the top of the Mount of Olives and we stood at the very spot where Jesus Christ rode in to Jerusalem.
It was amazing. And I took a little video there because I'm gonna read about this in just a second. And I want you to be able to visualize what that looked like on Palm Sunday.
And so watch this video if you would. We're standing here on the traditional path that Jesus took on Palm Sunday. Actually, this is about a week before Palm Sunday that we're here. And Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey right through here, we think.
Could have been here, could have been a little farther over. But this is the traditional road fulfilling Zacharias' prophecy that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. And it's interesting when Jesus gets to, there's a double gate down there. That's called the Eastern Gate. Now, that's not the actual gate that he entered. That's an Ottoman-era gate that's from the 1500s. But you can see the remnants of the gate that Jesus Christ entered into right where that double gate is. The Muslims have actually blocked up that gate. They have built a cemetery because they understand that the Messiah is going to return to Jerusalem. They believe it's going to be through that gate. And so they have bricked it up, put a cemetery there to try to keep Jesus from coming back. And obviously nobody can keep Jesus from coming back to Jerusalem, fulfilling ultimate prophecy.
But that's the location. Instead of when he entered again where that double gate is, instead of going to the right and going to the Antonia fortress where the Romans were garrisoned and taking over Israel and fighting the soldiers, Jesus actually went to the left to where the dome is. That's on the site of the temple that Jesus Christ would have gone to and overturned the money changers tables and basically proclaimed that that was to be a house of prayer. But at any rate, this is the spot, possibly. This road, Jesus entered where the double gates are there and then went to the left where the temple was.
All right. So today we're remembering the fact that somewhere 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem for the last week of his life. At the end of the week, he'll be crucified, he'll be buried, and he will rise again from the dead. And I love the Palm Sunday story, and I talk, you know, look, I don't know what's wrong with me. I talk about the donkey all the time that Jesus rode into going into Jerusalem. I don't know why I'm obsessed with that donkey.
In fact, I'm starting to think, I'm not sure, but donkey's action might now be my new favorite animals. You know, it used to be monkeys. I used to love monkeys until I read about some chimpanzee that ripped the face off of a lady.
Sorry, kids. But have you read about that before? So monkeys all of a sudden aren't as cute as they used to be. And so I'm thinking donkeys are going to be my favorite animal. I'm not sure.
I'll keep you updated and let you know. But that donkey that Jesus rode on going into Jerusalem, I've always been fascinated by that. Speaking of donkeys, I heard a story of a preacher in a little small community who went into his office one Monday morning. And when he went to the church, there was a dead donkey outside the church and they're just lying there dead. So he doesn't know who to call. He calls the police and says, look, there's a dead donkey outside my church. The police.
What does it look like? There's foul play involved. He said, no, it looks like he just died. They said, well, we're not the people to call. You need to call the health department. So the preacher called the health department, the small little town, and the health department said, it's not a health hazard. It's not our business. You need to call the sanitation department.
Since you've got to be kidding me. So the preacher hangs up the phone. He calls the sanitation department. He said, look, I've called the police. Who told me to call the health department?
Who told me to call you all the sanitation department? Can you help me with this donkey? And they said, look, a big animal like that in this small town. We can't remove that donkey unless we have permission from the mayor. The mayor of that town is just a mean, grumpy old man.
And nobody liked him. Don't know how he got elected. But the pastor said, okay, I'll call the mayor. So he calls the mayor's office. The mayor picks up the phone.
What do you want? He said, look, I've called the police about this dead donkey. Who told me to call the sanitation department about the dead donkey? The health department about the dead donkey? I've been told to call you about the dead donkey. Can somebody come and get my dead donkey that's out in front of the church? And the mayor said, why are you calling me? I'm the mayor of the town. You shouldn't be bothering me with this.
Why would you call me? Isn't it your job, preacher, to bury the dead? And the preacher said, yes, that is my job, but I always like to contact the next of kin first. Well, in March chapter 11, we're taught about a little donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem. Now, you got to read Mark 11, and you also have to read Matthew's account of Palm Sunday in Matthew 21, because in Matthew 21, Matthew specifically says this isn't just a cult. It's not a cult of a horse. Matthew 21 says it's a cult of a donkey. He specifies donkey. So Mark 11 one says this.
Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and he said to them, go into the village opposite you. And as soon as you have entered it, you will find a cult tied on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say the Lord has need of it. That's all you have to say.
And immediately he will send it here. So they went their way and found the cult tied by the door outside on the street and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, what are you doing loosening that cult and they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.
So they let them go. Then they brought the cult to Jesus and through their clothes on it, and he sat on it and many spread their clothes on the road and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who follow cried out saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David that comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. Let me give you five lessons. Five lessons. This little donkey teaches us about Jesus Christ today. Five lessons. Lesson number one is this. This donkey teaches us that Jesus is Lord. Lord means master, ruler, owner, the one who calls the shots. Look at verse three.
And if anyone asks you, why are you doing this? Say the Lord has need of it and immediately he will send it here. So imagine there's donkeys tied out front. The disciples don't know who owns this thing. All they're doing is untying this donkey and the owners are saying, what are you doing?
It'll be like you walk out of the parking lot after service today and somebody has one of those little things and they're like kind of shimmying the lock here trying to get into your car and you're like, why are you stealing my car? Well, Jesus wants it. Okay, you can have it. You see, that's what's going on here.
And now it's interesting. Mark says the who has need of it? Lord. The word Lord is not used that often in Mark's gospel, but it's used right here. Again, Lord means owner, master, ruler.
So what in the world is going on in Jesus's day? Watch this. There is a concept of eminent domain. That means if the king says, I want your horse, the king gets a horse. If the Emperor says, I need to use your house.
He gets to use your house. And so what's happening here is Jesus Christ is assorting his Lordship and says, disciples, I want you to know I am Lord. I am master. I am king. If the king wants the donkey, the king gets the donkey. That's the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Now look. To be born again, you need to listen to me. We trust Jesus Christ as Savior. He saves us from the fires of hell. He saves us from our sin. We're good with that one.
We want some good fire insurance, don't we? But he's also Lord, which means I turn the control of my life over to Jesus Christ. And it sounds like a bad thing, you know, because we're Americans. This is a democracy. I get to vote on what's right.
No, no. When you become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're not in a democracy. You are in a dictatorship. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is king. He is sovereign. And that's not a bad thing.
That's a good thing. I don't know if I saw this. I don't know if it's like a YouTube video.
All right. I can't remember if this is a YouTube video, Instagram video, or if I actually saw this happen in real life, but I saw it happen. There was this father at a restaurant. He's trying to teach his young son, little kid, how to cut steak. And so the kid is there and he's got the knife in the steak and he's got his fork trying to like saw it with the fork. And the dad is like, no, no, no, that's not how you do it. And he's like, no, dad. And the kid's kind of pushing his dad away because he knows better than his dad how to cut the steak.
And the dad's like, no, that's not how you do it. Okay, that's Lordship. Where you say, I know how to live my life. I know how to rule my family. I know how to do my marriage.
I know how to manage my finances. And Jesus is like, no, no, I'm Lord. You're doing it all wrong. Surrender your life to me.
I can show you a better way to do this thing. That's the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And again, we don't emphasize this in American Christianity.
We don't like the idea of Lordship. In fact, when we were in Jerusalem last week, John and I are talking to an old Jewish guy in the middle of Jerusalem. We started talking, the concept of religion came up. And here's what he asked.
He asked this question. He said, now, is everybody in America, are they all Christians? I said, no, they are not all Christians in America.
Yeah, but they all say they're, listen to me, they're not all Christians. I go back to the hotel room. It's been a long day. I turn on Jerusalem TV. And the first thing that comes on the screen is a raunchy video from Lady Gaga. We're good at doing that in America. We ship our sewage all around the world.
I'm watching this vile, I'm going to say it's a perverted video. And that thought hit my mind. Not all Americans are Christians. Now, I know what you're going to say. Well, if you do a Google search here, actually Lady Gaga is a Christian.
Looky right here. Lady Gaga is not a Christian. Okay, but she says she is. Jesus said this, not everybody who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom, only those who do the will of my Father who's in heaven. First Corinthians 6, 9 says the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God. But see, in America, we think, no, I just claim to be a Christian. Therefore, I'm a Christian. And Jesus says right here with this donkey illustration. No, you can follow me. If I say I want the donkey, I get the donkey. If I say I want 10% of your income, I get 10% of your income. We don't like that one, do we?
Yeah, I'll skip on it. If I say I want Sunday worship, I get Sunday. You see what I'm saying? We think some of these things are negotiable.
They're not negotiable. You follow the Lord Jesus Christ, he's now calling the shots, okay? And so Jesus teaches us through this precious little donkey that he is Lord. Second lesson this donkey teaches us about Jesus is this. The donkey teaches us that Jesus, watch this, when we get saved, Jesus begins to change our very nature. I want you to look at verse 2. And he said to them, go into the village opposite you, and as soon as you have entered, you will find a colt tied, look at this, on which no one has sat. Nobody's ever sat on it before. Verse 7, then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it.
Now, here's what's amazing about this and here's what's supernatural about this. Two things. Number one, donkeys are the most stubborn animals in the world.
That's number one. Number two, you can't ride on a colt, whether it be a colt of a horse, a colt of a donkey, unless that colt has been broken. You've seen these old westerns where the old cowboys tried to get on the colt and the colt starts to buck and throw them off and all this kind of stuff.
Nobody had ever ridden on this colt. It had not been broken. And yet, when Jesus Christ sits on it, that animal becomes the most compliant animal in the world, which shows me. When you surrender your life to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ comes into you, something supernatural begins to happen. He begins to change your very nature. Incidentally, first service, we had 27 people surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't that great? When Jesus comes and sits on you, when Jesus Christ comes and takes control of your life, you begin to change. Your nature begins to change. The things that used to thrill you don't thrill you anymore. The sin that used to kind of get you going doesn't get you going.
Things begin to change. In fact, there's a messianic prophecy. When the Messiah comes, Ezekiel 36, this is several centuries before Jesus, Ezekiel 36, 25 says, when the Messiah comes, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean. I'll cleanse you from all your filthiness and your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I'll take out the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you'll keep my judgments, and you will do them. When you get saved, something happens to you that happens to that donkey. Your nature begins to change. You tell me you're saved, but you live like you've always lived.
Nothing has changed. I don't know that you're saved. You're going to say, okay, if that's true, then why do I still sin?
If I'm saved and Jesus is changing my nature, why do I still sin? Well, let me just give you an analogy. When I was a little kid, I used to love sugar drinks, candy bars, cake with thick icing. I loved all that sugary stuff. How many of you all know something happens to your metabolism when you're about 40?
You can't do that anymore. And so, years ago, I said, you know what? I'm going to just really cut back on sugar. I'm not going to drink this stuff and eat all that stuff like I used to. And so, now, my taste buds have changed.
And this is weird. If I eat a big thing of cake with like icing on it, I feel blah. Now, why do I eat it? I don't know why, but every now and then, I'll eat it. I had a Coca-Cola a while back. Well, I don't know why I had a Coca-Cola a while back, but I drank it. I was like, man, this is... I just didn't feel good.
Watch this. When you get saved, Jesus comes into your life. And the longer you walk with him, your taste buds begin to change. And hopefully, when you sin, you feel blood, you don't feel good. I don't know why I sin, but I do. But when I do, there's a spiritual blood that comes over me.
Why? Because Jesus has begun to change my nature to the point that Psalm 34.8 becomes a reality. Taste and see that the Lord is good. That's my new appetite right there, more of Jesus. So, what does the donkey teach us about Jesus? Number one, it teaches us that Jesus is Lord. Number two, it teaches us that Jesus begins to change our nature. And number three, the donkey teaches us that Jesus is who he says he is. He is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
Several centuries, about 500 years before this event takes place, a prophet named Zechariah looks into the future. And by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes this. Rejoice greatly, Zechariah 9-9, oh, daughter of Zion. That's Jerusalem. Shout, oh, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey.
A colt, the foal of a donkey. This donkey is showing us, I mean, Jesus, he wasn't just a man. He was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. There's so many prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament.
We see this all over the place. Jesus fulfilled so many. For example, the Old Testament said the Messiah would come from the Jewish tribe of Judah. The Old Testament says the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Old Testament said the Messiah would begin his ministry in Galilee.
He began his ministry in Galilee. Old Testament said the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. This is several hundred years before Jesus, and Jesus, several hundred years later, was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Hundreds of years before the Assyrians had invented crucifixion, a thousand years before Jesus Christ, King David said the Messiah will come, and his hands and his feet will be pierced. The Messiah's hands and feet were pierced. About a thousand years before Jesus Christ, the Bible said that they would gamble over his clothes as he was dying. They gambled over the clothes of Jesus while he was dying. And Zechariah adds to that prophecy, he would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, and Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Professor Peter Stolner of Westmont College says just take eight, forget about, just eight of these dozens and dozens of prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament.
Just take eight of them. The chances of one person fulfilling just eight of those prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th power. That's 10 with 17 zeros behind it. He said if you want to understand what 10 to the 17th power looks like, take a silver dollar and mark it red. Then go to the state of Texas, 10 to the 17th power, silver dollars, would cover the state of Texas from one end to another two feet deep.
Now you take that one marked silver dollar, you put it in there, you take a giant stick and you stir it up, you blindfold a man, put him in the helicopter so you can fly anywhere you want in Texas, and we'll put you down wherever you tell us to put you down, and you just pick a coin, the chances of that man picking the marked coin is one to 10 in the 17th power. In other words, Jesus Christ, if you don't believe what I say about Jesus, believe that word right there. And man, who was who he says who was? He was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Number four, the donkey teaches us something about Jesus's character.
Who is he? He didn't come on a white stallion. See, if you're a conquering soldier, you come into the city on a white stallion dressed up and you're the man and everybody's cheering you and you're a conquering king, that's not how he came this time. It says in Zechariah 9, 9, again, rejoice, great little daughter of Zion, shout daughter of Jerusalem, behold your king is coming to you, having salvation lowly, lowly and riding on a donkey. You want to know who Jesus is? Jesus is humble.
You know, Jesus only described his personality one time in the New Testament and that's in Matthew chapter 11 where he says, come to me because I am meek and I'm lowly. Tell you something, we got this thing all messed up and backwards here in America. We think to be happy, we exalt ourselves. That's not the road to happiness.
In fact, I want you to remember this acronym. How many of y'all want joy? Raise your hands if you want joy. You don't want joy. You don't want to have any joy.
Raise your hand. Okay, remember the second one, here's joy. Jesus, others than you, in that order.
Jesus, others than you, that's happiness. It's interesting, jot this down, you can look at it in your quiet time this week. If you're having a hard time figuring out what to read in your quiet time, write this down, Isaiah 14, 12 through 24. Isaiah 14, 12 through 24. It's talking about Lucifer, Satan, when he was in heaven as God's choir leader wanting to be like God. There are five I wills. I will ascend, I'll go higher, I'll do this.
I will, I will, I will, and it's higher, higher, higher, higher. Read that and then read Philippians 2 that talks about Jesus coming from heaven to earth and there are five steps downward. Satan exalts himself, Jesus humbles himself.
If you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, let me just put it this way. There's more of a satanic attitude in the American church than a Jesus attitude when it comes to this. Because we bought into this self-esteem thing.
It's all about me, us. It has infiltrated the body of Christ. We are in a miserable culture. We are in a depressed culture and I can't help to think it's because our culture has embraced this whole thing of self-esteem and exalting ourselves. In fact, one person said this, the cult of self-esteem is based on an unbiblical perspective. The Bible has nothing positive to say about self-esteem, self-love, or any other variety of self-centeredness.
The more you love yourself, the less likely you are to feel that you need a savior. It's infiltrated our educational system. I was listening to a teacher, a lawman, she says, I want you parents to understand, the first thing we teach our kids here is how to love themselves. Okay, what about just teaching them reading, writing, and arithmetic? They don't know that, but they do know how to love themselves.
So that's good. It's in our educational system. It's in our entertainment system. God rest her soul, Whitney Houston says, learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.
No, it's not. It's to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It infiltrates the church. We quote Luke 10 27, it says, love your neighbor as yourself. And then we have preachers to say, so you can't learn to love others until you've learned to love yourself. Okay, that's not what he meant. That's Dr. Phil Pops psychology that we're reading back into the Word of God. That's not what he meant. And in fact, do you know that there are actual self-esteem surveys, assessments that social psychologists can use to measure how much self-esteem?
Do you know that? There's actually assessments there. According to Roy Baumeister at Case Western University, in our society, do you know who ranks the highest in self-esteem as a group in our society? Prisoners in the prison system.
They rate the highest in self-esteem, which makes sense. If I want your car, I'm going to take your car. You cross me, I'm going to kill you. In our society, the people who rank the highest in self-esteem are prisoners in the prison system. And Jesus comes along and says, my way is different. I don't exalt myself. I humble myself. Jesus says, my followers pour out their lives.
They serve others. It's, I want to go back to it. My followers, if they're going to follow me, it's Jesus, others, then you. You want to be miserable. You keep doing this navel-gazing, it's all about you and everybody. Let me tell you something.
Our society is breaking down, I think, because of this whole self-esteem thing. When I don't get my way, I get even. When the election doesn't go my way, I'll burn down your Tesla dealership.
Because it's all about me and my wants and my desires. And Jesus Christ comes riding on a donkey and he says, my kingdom is different. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Let me give you one more lesson that the donkey teaches us.
Let's review this real quickly. So the donkey teaches us, number one, Jesus is Lord. He wants a donkey, he gets a donkey, he calls the shots. Number two, the donkey teaches us that when we get saved, Jesus does for us what he did for that donkey. He sat on that donkey and the donkey's nature changed. Number three, the donkey teaches us that Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Number four, the donkey teaches us about Jesus' character.
And then number five, jot this down. The donkey teaches us, y'all ready for this? It's all about Jesus. I am, I've preached some incredible, great, deep theological concepts to y'all.
I've dug deep into the scripture, I've exegeted the Hebrew, the Greek, all that kind of stuff. Do you know the one concept that people just keep seeming to remember that's the only concept is, remember I've talked about being jackasses for Jesus? You remember, I've talked about that before?
Now, we're on the TV soon, this might be on the TV. I don't know if we're gonna use this sermon or not, so I don't know if I can say jackass or not. You know, that's not a cuss word, you don't understand that, okay? But to be on the safe side, maybe I'll just say we're donkeys for Jesus, okay? But when I say donkeys for Jesus, you know what I'm thinking, okay? You know what I mean, all right?
This concept that it would be ridiculous for the donkey, as he's carrying Jesus into Jerusalem, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at all these people cheering for me. Wow, I must be looking good today, my hair must be clean and I must be looking good, I must be walking, they're all cheering for me.
No, they're not. They're not cheering you. They're cheering the man sitting on top of you. Hey, if you're a flower pot with beautiful flowers, everybody's talking about the beautiful flower arrangement. They're not looking at the flower pot, they're looking at the flowers. Paul says we are earthen vessels.
We're plain vases and we're holding forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not the focus. He's the focus. I'm not the focus.
I am not the focus. John says this, he must increase, I must decrease. That's a donkey for Jesus right there.
That's a donkey for Jesus that says, it's not about me, it is about Jesus Christ. I remember one time Ron talked about somebody, I don't know, whatever, I don't keep up with this stuff, but our pastor Ron was talking about a guy that helped lead worship in another campus. And he said, Ron, I've got a problem. He said, what? You're sticking me at one of these campuses over here.
I need to be at Yonkers Campus, the main campus. He said, why is that? Well, you know, I have this special worship gift. I'm not like these other guys up here. I've got a special talent.
And I need as many people as possible to be able to experience that talent. I said, Ron, I don't want that man on our platform. He's not acting like a jackass for Jesus.
He's just acting like a jackass. I don't want him on the platform. Because for you to say, I'm on this platform, or for me to say, I'm on this platform, and they're cheering me, will be like the donkey riding into Jerusalem saying, they're clapping for me. Y'all ain't clapping for me.
You're not clapping for this team. You're clapping for Jesus Christ. Hey, our worship department is not about helping second-rate musicians fulfill their high school musical fantasies. It's about anointed men and women of God leading God's people into the presence of God. That's what worship ministry is about. And so if you have this, I'm a donkey for Jesus, what you're saying is everything that happens to me, good or bad, is pointing to Jesus.
I was talking to a man in our church a while back. He was diagnosed with leukemia. And leukemia is bad, but there's some that's catastrophic, others that can be managed.
Family didn't know which one this was. And I said, man, regardless, he had a long road ahead of him with treatments. I said, man, how can I pray for you? He said, Chad, here's how you can pray for us. Pray that somehow, someway, as we're in the hospital interfacing with doctors, sitting in the waiting room with other patients, somehow, someway, that what I'm going through, I'll be able to have an open door to share Jesus with somebody and draw somebody to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You hear what he's saying? He was saying, let my leukemia be a donkey upon which Jesus rides and get glory. It's all about Jesus. We've got, if I understand, I don't know who they are, I don't pay attention to this kind of stuff, but somebody told me we've got a couple social media influencers that go to our church.
I just grabbed, pray to God. I want you social media influencers to look at your million plus followers and your social media platform ultimately as a donkey upon which Jesus rides and ultimately, it's a way to give Jesus Christ all the glory. I was talking to a man in our church that lost his job. And I said, man, he had a great job. How can I pray for you? He said, Chad, I would witness to all my coworkers and friends when I had this job and they're like, well, yeah, I would follow Jesus by making the money you're making and having the life you make. Yeah, I'd follow Jesus.
He said, Chad, all that's been taken away from me. Now, pray that I will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ during this unemployment and show these people what it's like when you lose everything to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. What he's saying is, let my unemployment be a donkey upon which Jesus rides. You're going to be a donkey for Jesus. You're going to have to get this through your head. It's not about you. It's all about Jesus.
Well, we got to wind down. What amazes me, and as I stood there last week on the Mount of Olives, is to think that the very spot that Jesus, this humble carpenter rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, that's the very spot where he's coming back one day, and it could be today. Here's a picture of the Mount of Olives.
I love this place. At the top of the Mount of Olives, and again, this church right here is the Church of Gethsemane where Jesus Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives is a beautiful place. But in Zechariah 14, this is a future prophecy. Zechariah 14 says this, and in that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Half the mountain shall be moved to the north, and half the mountain shall move toward the south. What that saying is, he's coming back again.
He's going to stand on the Mount of Olives, and when his feet touch the ground, there's going to be an earthquake, and it's going to split in two. It's interesting. I don't think this is an urban legend. I've actually read the geologist's report on this. In 1964, Pan-American Airlines tried to build a hotel on the top of the Mount of Olives, and it kept having all these foundational problems. They couldn't get things to settle, things weren't going right.
They're like, what in the world's going on? So they bring in a geologist, and this geologist said, there's a fault line nobody has ever known was here. It's a fault line that runs east to west here on the Mount of Olives. That's why you can't build your hotel at this spot. You'll have to build it somewhere else because a fault line that we didn't know is running right here, and it could split this mountain in two.
If Pan-American Airlines had just read their Bible, they would have known, don't build it right there. Jesus Christ who came the first time, he's coming back again. I want you to listen to me. Some of you are not certain that you have eternal life. You don't know if you're going to go to heaven when you die or not. Some of you are dealing with guilt. You have sinned, and you know you've sinned.
And this guilt, you can smoke and drink and party and all that kind of stuff, but at night when you're by yourself, these memories come back again. You've sinned. Some of you, you tried to change. I want to do better. I'm going to buy some self-help books and go to some Tony Robbins conferences, and I'm going to make myself better.
It doesn't work. Only Jesus can change you. Some of you are trying to make your life work, and the more you're trying, the worse you're doing, and Jesus Christ says, I'm here. I want to come into your life, and I want to show you how to cut that stake.
I want to show you the better way to live your life. If you're not certain that you're going to heaven when you die, if you're not ready for Jesus Christ to come back, if you're dealing with sin or guilt, if you're tired of trying to make your life work, and you're ready to surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, I want everybody to bow right now. If you're watching online or if this is on TV one day, you're on TV, if you're online or you're here or you're one of our campuses, repeating a mantra doesn't save you. Repeating the magical words doesn't save you. Jesus saves you. But if this captures what's going on in your heart, wherever you're at right now, I want you to bow your head, and I want you to imagine there's just two people in that room right now, you and Jesus.
If you're in this sanctuary or Benson or North Riley, I want you to imagine there's only two people, you and Jesus. I want you to say this to Jesus, but I want you to mean it with all your heart. I want you to say to him, Jesus, I am a sinner. Lord, I deserve to be punished. Say this to him, but Jesus, I believe you died for my sin. You took my punishment at the cross.
Say that to him. Say to him, I believe you were buried. And Lord, I believe three days later, God raised you from the dead.
You're alive right now. Now, if you're tired of trying to make your life work, if you're tired of trying to live your life through your own power, I want you to say this to Jesus. Jesus, I turn away from my sins and I turn to you. Lord, come and take control of my heart. Come and take control of my life. Forgive me of all of my sins. And Lord, when I die, take me to heaven.
That's it? Yeah, you turn from your sins and you turn the control of your life over to Jesus. A very simple, beautiful thing comes in. I can't understand it.
I can't explain it. But at that moment, Jesus comes into your life and begins to change your life. In Jesus name, amen. And this is so important.
The first thing Jesus makes it clear he wants us to do after we give our life to him is not to keep it to ourselves. So if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer, there's a button there that said, you said yes. You said yes.
I want you to click that. We're not going to ask you for money. We're actually going to do the opposite. We're going to send you some material, an e-book on what your next steps in Jesus Christ are. The Bible makes it clear you're now a newborn baby. You're going to have to start growing in Jesus. Some of you are like, what do I do now? You click that button that said you said yes and we'll send you material. If you're in this sanctuary or in Benson or North Raleigh, you just pray that prayer.
Same goes for you. I think we actually have, I thought we had a little text number or something that we can, do we have that? Do we have the text thing? We had something that said text cross or whatever, whatever.
We hopefully will have that next week. Oh, here it is right there. Just text cross to that number. And I mean this because I, you've just made the most important decision of your life. Now, what do I do? You text that, we're going to send you a book and let you start walking with Jesus Christ and show you what your next steps are in Jesus.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. I've walked with the man. I've walked with him for about 40 something years of my life.
Let me tell you something. He just gets better and more dear and more dear. I just, I can't, I just love him.
He's great. Stand with it. Y'all agree the same thing? How many of y'all just say the more you walk with Jesus, the longer you walk with Jesus, it just gets better and better.
Hey, I love this. In Luke's account, Luke 1940, when Jesus is riding in on that donkey, everybody's cheering, they're shouting, they're praising. Here goes the religious leaders. You always have to have some of the religious spirit get mad and say, Jesus, tell all your followers to behave.
Stop acting crazy over you. And Jesus said, let me tell you what's going to happen. If I tell them to be quiet, what's going to happen? The rocks are going to cry out. Could you imagine that? Hey, that would have been the greatest rock concert in history, wouldn't it? I don't want the chairs to cry out.
I don't want the screen to cry out, the concrete floors to cry out. I want the people of God to start shouting and crying out and blessing and lifting holy hands. Can we just praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Wherever you're at right now, just praise the name of the one who died, came out of the grave.
It's coming back, the lover out of our souls. Praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, hallelujah. Come on, let's put our hands together. There's freedom in your name. You gave us power.
Send the keys to the sky. Now we proclaim in Jesus' name. Walls fall down in Jesus' name. Strong holds break in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah, we are healed in Jesus' name.
There are miracles in Jesus' name. I know you are, hallelujah. Just a mighty roar, oh God we echo. Singing, I'll sing, oh.
Oh, God we echo. All your victory now we, now we proclaim. Hallelujah, we are healed in Jesus' name. Walls fall down in Jesus' name. Strong holds break in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah, we are healed in Jesus' name. There are miracles in Jesus' name. Hallelujah, we are healed in Jesus' name. Hallelujah, we are healed in Jesus' name. Now if you say you want to see this Hebrew word floating around in this place.
Have you all seen that? Hazak. We brought it to give people in Israel. They're like, that's cool, that means people will be strong. We've actually been walking down the street before and Jewish people will stop us and say, what does this Hazak mean? I know it means be bold, be strong.
Why do you have it? And it's a great open door for us to say, we are bold and strong because we believe that Jesus Christ crushed the head of the serpent, walked out of the tomb, ascended the right hand of the Father, is coming back again one day and His Spirit is with us. And because His Spirit is with us, we're not afraid of anything. You all believe that? You receive that. All right, all right. Then I want to speak this over you right now.
Because I'm dealing with some people in this church. You're dealing with anxiety. The bank account doesn't look good. You already have a meeting with a boss this week and this might be your last week on the job and you're scared.
I'm not minimizing that. But several millennia ago, there was a man named Joshua. You're facing a grumpy boss in unemployment this week. Here's what he was facing. Demonic giants, superpower armies, people who wanted to slaughter him. He was leading a weak army against superior forces. Would you say he's a little bit nervous?
And yet God said to Joshua, what I want to say to you right now, I want to say to you right now, which means cross assembly. Be bold, be strong. You all don't be afraid and you don't be terrified of anything.
Why? Because the Lord Jesus Himself is going to be with you everywhere you go this week and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
