HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY CONTINUES

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HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY CONTINUES

A SERMON ORIGINALLY DELIVERED AT
THE HIGH HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
AND
THE FEDERATED CHURCH OF ATHENS

19 MARCH 1989

By Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References:

Psalm 118:22-29
        147:1
Zechariah 9:9
Mark 11:1-11
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Revelation 4:8-11

Preparation Verse: Psalm 147:1

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.

Hymn: All Glory, Laud and Honor

Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:22-29

22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief corner stone.

23 This is the Lord's doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 O LORD, do save, we beseech Thee;
O LORD, we beseech Thee, do send prosperity!

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD;
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

27 The LORD is God, and He has given us light;
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

28 Thou art my God, and I give thanks to Thee;
Thou art my God, I extol Thee.

29 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
NAS

Homily:

Throughout the world today it is much like it was in the days of Noah, when the floods came and destroyed all but those upon the ark.

It also isn't much different than it was in the days when Jesus was incarnate upon the earth.

In general, we seem to want to do our own thing, and we don't want to feel restricted in what we do. We want to be free to do as we please.

When we act this way, we may say that we have it all together; but usually there is something missing.

We never seem to have enough.

We are always striving after some new thing or pleasure.

But there is still no complete fulfillment.

There is only one way to achieve that inner peace of complete fulfillment, and that is to seek it through the Lord.

God's way is always the best way.

God is the master builder of all heaven and earth, and probably other things that we don't even know about.

He wants us to build upon His Rock and to follow His plan, because He knows that what we build in this manner will last forever and give us a peace and assurance that will surpass all the worldly understanding we have or will ever have.

But all too often we reject the Lord's plan, just as so many in Israel did when Jesus was with them and showed then all kinds of signs and wonders.

But nevertheless, Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone; and without Him as our base and starting point, we will always be wanting, and much of what we do will fail.

But when we build our lives upon Him, it will be marvelous to behold; for we will know true joy and fulfillment, and others will hear our Hosannas.

And they will know what it means when it is said, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."

We can't have this unless we have both of our feet firmly planted upon The Rock.

We can't have one foot on the Rock and the other in the world.

To be fully satisfied, we must allow the Lord to enter into our lives completely, triumphantly.

When we accept Jesus Christ wholly and completely, our entire being will give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and good for us; and His love is everlasting.

Truly His name is wonderful!

Hymn: His Name Is Wonderful

Homily:

His name is truly wonderful.

The name of Jesus Christ is above all other names.

But each and every one of us must ask ourselves a few questions about Jesus:

Do we consider Jesus to be Lord and, in particular, do we consider Him to be Lord of our own lives?

Do we submit ourselves to Him, respect Him, and do what He wants us to do?

Do we consider Him to be the mighty king, the ruler of our lives, so that we will follow all His commandments and truly love Him with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our might, and to truly love our neighbor as ourselves, no matter who they are?

Do we truly accept Him as being master of everything?

Do we follow Him as sheep led by the great Shepherd?

Do we accept Him as being the Rock of all ages, even for today, so that we are content to build our lives only upon Him?

Do we bow down before Him?

Do we love and adore Him?

Do we desire to do everything He wants us to do to bring peace to this world and end the suffering of millions of our fellow human being and billions of animals?

If we are struggling with an affirmative answer to some of these questions, then we have not fully allowed Jesus to enter triumphantly into our lives.

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

Remove those barriers.

Accept all that He has for you.

For when we do, we will know that His name is Wonderful, for we will be filled with everlasting joy.

Hymn: Fairest Lord Jesus

Homily:

Do you see the Lord coming?

He has come before, and we have read and heard many wonderful things about Him.

Did you believe what you heard and read?

Did you receive Him into your heart?

Has He made your life fairer, because you are filled with the light of His presence?

He Himself is the fairest of all, for He is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

His light shines on all nature and causes it to mature and to be filled with the knowledge of His presence.

Are you filled with that knowledge?

The King is coming!

Can you see Him?

Do you at least see His presence?

Doesn’t all of creation speak of Him?

Hasn’t the beauty of the meadows and woodlands spoken of Him?

Doesn’t the brightness of the sun, the moon, and the myriad of stars speak of Him?

Yet He is fairer and brighter than all of these, His creation.

The King is coming!

Can you see Him?

Can you see Him coming as the Savior of all who will believe in Him and follow Him?

Can you see Him coming as the Savior of all who cannot speak for themselves?

Do you see Him as the Son of God and also as the Son of Man?

And even more, do you see Him coming as Almighty God, the true Ruler of all nations, and even the whole of creation?

Do we see Him coming as our personal Savior?

Are we giving Him the glory and the honor, the adoration and the praise that is due Him?

Are we doing it now, and are we prepared to do it forever more?

Are we glorifying Him with our very lives, or are we just providing lip service?

The King is coming!

Can you see Him?

He will be setting His foot upon the Mount of Olives shortly.

Are you prepared to meet Him?

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:1-11

1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
"Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way;

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
'Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.' "

4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

6 And John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.

7 And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.

8 "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9 And it came about in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;

11 and a voice came out of the heavens: "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased."
NAS

Homily:

The King is coming!

Can you see Him?

Can you hear the words of the prophet Zechariah, 9:9, which he wrote 500 years before Jesus entered Jerusalem?

Can you see the fulfillment of this prophetic message?

9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The King is coming!

Can you see Him?

Are you prepared to honor His coming?

Are you prepared to spread palm bows and other leafy branches before Him, so that His path may be soft?

It's not hard to do this, for we can find these soft leafy branches almost anywhere.

Look! There are some in our neighbor’s yard. They won't cost us anything.

And after this service, we will be given palms, and they won't cost us anything either. We can lay them before Him also, can't we?

But maybe your heart is telling you something. Maybe it should cost each of us something to honor him.

Maybe we should lay down some of our own clothing.

That would really show that we care, wouldn't it?

And anyway, we can always retrieve our garments, and take them home and wash them.

Even if they get a hole or two in them, we can repair them, can't we?

Oh well! Even if they are ruined, it doesn't matter that much anyway, for we were considering buying some new clothes and this will give us the excuse.

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

Yes, the King is coming and I see Him!

I just can't lay something before Him that costs me nothing.

That won't really honor Him.

I have to do something that will truly honor Him.

What am I going to do?

What am I going to do?

I know; I will lay myself before Him.

And I know that even though I am soiled, He will pick me up and clean me.

But I must lay myself before Him; otherwise, He won't even take notice of me.

Even if I get injured, He will pick me up and heal me. I must go ahead and lay myself before Him.

And even if I die, I must still lay myself before Him.

It no longer matters about my life here on earth; for I know that even if I die, He will pick me up and take me with Him, and He will give me a new and glorified body, and I will always be with Him.

I know that's what I must do.

I must lay myself before Him.

Won't you lay yourselves down with me before Him, so that we might always be together with Him in heaven?

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

Perhaps you hear the distant shout and the trumpet sound as we are told in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:

16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

Do you hear Him?

Are you prepared to meet Jesus Christ face to face?

Are we prepared to praise Him right now and continually, as the four living creatures of Revelation 4:8 are doing?

8. And the four living creatures [animals], each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."

Are we acknowledging our Lord in this manner?

Don't you think we should?

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

Are you prepared to meet Him and honor Him as the animals and the twenty-four elders of Revelation 4:9-11?

9. And when the living creatures [animals] give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,

10. the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11. "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, almost 2,000 years ago, continues even to this day.

Are your gates open to receive Him?

Is your heart opened wide to receive Jesus Christ, our Savior and King?

The King is coming!

Do you see Him?

Are you praising Him?

Amen?

Amen!