APR 10 2022 | Worship: More Than A Song S1E4 | Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

Sea Change Church · APR 10 2022 | Worship Ep 4 | Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
John 12:5-6
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

and we live in a culture that wants fast food everything. We don't want to wait, and we've lost the ability to wait, or we've given up waiting. Let's go to number one. Sometimes we are wanting and waiting to be saved from the wrong thing. Once again to the question, what are you waiting for? Go to John, the primary text for today, for Palm Sunday.

They took palm branches. They also used willows and other branches, not just palms. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now this is interesting. Blessed is the king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written, and then it goes on. Jesus comes, and they're out there.

They are so excited because they are waiting for the king to come and supplant the Romans to be David, King David, to be King Solomon, to take the Romans by the throat, to cast them out, and to bring peace as the king of Israel. That's not why Jesus came, and that's why these people, when Jesus was being tried less than 72 hours later, stopped crying, Hosanna, they began to cry, crucify him.

What they didn't understand is that was the only way that he could bring peace. What are you waiting for? Is there a king of your heart that is not Jesus? I think Sade had a song, King of My Heart, or something like that. It was like, you're the king of my heart. Is there something that is the king of your heart, that has taken your heart hostage, and won't let it go?

It provides a promise of happiness and joy and fulfillment, but it's not Jesus, and it's not him making peace with your desire to be saved from your own sin. That is the gospel, and it's hard to swallow. It's a hard gospel to swallow, and that's why Jesus says that he is a stumbling block. I want to say that these Jews, in this time, many of these Jews, because many Jews did believe in Jesus and died for Jesus, but this particular group of Jews were more interested in an earthly kingdom than having a heart that was put at peace with God and to be saved from their sin.

As it says in your notes, Jesus did not come to be enthroned as the king of Israel, but rather over all eternity. The Jews that welcomed Jesus longed to be saved from the Romans while neglecting the idea that the most salvation they needed was from themselves. If you are a Lakers fan, I'm reading, I think it's Ron Perlman's book right now, it's called Three Ring Circus, about the first three championships that the Lakers got, well, not their first three, I think they have 17, but with Kobe and Shaq together, and I'm reading it.

Now, before the Kobe and Shaq days, if you're a Laker fan, there were some dark, dark days. Good players, but some dark, dark days. I really like the Bearcat from Cincinnati, Ohio, Nick Van Axel. I think he's a hustle player. I really like what he brought to the team, but we weren't going to win a championship with Nick. I mean, let's just call a spade a spade.

There was another player on the team. His name was Cedric Sabalos. Here's a picture of Cedric Sabalos. I want to say, Cedric Sabalos is one of my favorite players. Cedric Sabalos, he scored 50 in a game. I mean, he's an incredible player. He is top-notch player. He's a great defender. He's hustle. He's just amazing. I want to let you know that in 1994, when right before Shaq came to the team, Cedric had given himself a nickname.

Now, if you know anything about nicknames, you can't give yourself a nickname. You can't nickname yourself. You just can't. When I was in college, I had a friend, and he came up to me, and I walked down the hall, and he goes, Big Daddy A! And that was when Big Daddy Kane was there, and then everyone started calling me Big Daddy A. And so in college, if Bucky went to college with me, he can attest to this.

I didn't come up with Big Daddy A. They called me Big Daddy A. I thought it fit, so I stuck with it, you know? It didn't really fit as a 52-year-old, but it fit in college. Cedric came up with a name for himself, Chize. Chize was his nickname. Now, what does Chize mean? It means franchise. It means that he is the franchise player. Let me name a few franchise players.

Michael Jordan, franchise player, right? He is like the face of the franchise. Let's just go with the Lakers, okay? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic, Gail Goodrich. I mean, you can go on and on. Shaq, Kobe, they were after him. But Cedric Sobalos called himself Chize. Cedric Sobalos was ostracized from the team, and because he had a picture that he needed to be the face of the franchise, and unless he was the face of the franchise, he could not be happy.

You could take this down. He ended up in Phoenix, had a pretty solid career, but he was never Chize. Why do I tell you that? Because from the time I was 21 years old, and people started saying, you can preach a little bit, because I got saved, and I started showing I had some gifts and some talents. People would say, hey, and they were trying to be encouraging.

But you know what I started thinking? Chize. I'm the Chize, man. Man, I need to write a book, because I'm the Chize. I need to be the head pastor of a church, because I'm the Chize. I'm 44 years old, and I feel like the window's closing, and my life is starting to fall apart, because I'm not the Chize. You know what I am? I'm an associate pastor, which I love, at a church, which was awesome, but I definitely wasn't Chize.

And I thought I was Chize. And the problem was, is I was waiting for the wrong thing. I'll tell you the story of what happened. I was on my computer one night. My wife was watching TV, and I'm just multitasking like we all do. And I remember saying to the Lord, you know what, Lord? I don't need to be the Chize. I didn't say that. But I said, I'm over this.

Like, I'm willing to be an associate pastor, because there's no hierarchy. Like, oh, the head pastors are here, and the associate pastors are here. It's like, it's all here in the kingdom, right? We all have a place. I said, I'm tired of it. I said, I'm willing. I will clean the toilets. I will do whatever you want. I'm just happy to serve you, Jesus.

And I got this thought in my head. Go look for a job. And I was like, what? Like, right at that moment. I went to three church websites. I was happy. I didn't really want to leave at that point. And there were three, first three jobs that came up, La Jolla Christian Fellowship. And I was like, all right. So I applied for it without telling my wife. Bad call.

Bad call. Bad call. I got to sit. I ended up getting here, and I realized there is a responsibility and a duty that comes with the thing you might want. And perhaps you want the thing, but you don't want the duty that comes along with it. And so to actually step into that role and get to the point where I don't think I'm the Chai's anymore, thank God.

You do not want to be the Chai's. You know who the Chai's is? Jesus is the Chai's. And so we see that here. And sometimes we need to be saved from ourself. What I needed to be saved from was my thoughts and my dreams of what I wanted that that would give me self-worth. And everything was built on that. If not enough people showed up into the seats, I would start getting tense in my chest.

Oh, what's happening? It's all falling apart. To be able to extricate that from your life and be able to just show up because whatever you do, that you just love people and you love to serve God in the midst of it has been one of the most fantastic journeys of my life. And so we see it here that they took palm branches. They had this idea. They said, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord because they had a destination that was different than the destination that Jesus was looking for and wanted to take them.

In Psalm 130, it says this. And it talks about actually putting your hope in the real chai's. The one who's actually going to take the franchise to the championship, that's Jesus. In Psalm 130, this is a psalm of ascent. So now we're moving from the Palm Sunday to actually what those Jews should have understood because of the psalms that had gone before them.

But I have a theory that every 60 years or so, you can fool a population or a civilization with the same path that is a wrong path because people forget. And so whether it's a governmental thing or whatever it is, in this, they had forgotten that the early psalmist, David, Solomon, and the Psalms of ascent was about Jesus being the chai's, was about Jesus or God being the one that would save them.

And that's why Hosanna means what? It doesn't mean save us from the Romans. It means save me, please, from myself or save us. Psalm 130, 7 and 8. Israel, put your hope in the Lord. For with the Lord is unfailing love. And with him is what? Partial redemption. No, full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from some of their sins. No, all of their sins.

We need to be saved. If you want to be a believer and follow Jesus, it's just like AA. The first thing you need to admit is that you have a problem. And admit that you have sin in your life. And you don't need to be saved from all the oppressors in the world. You need to be saved from yourself primarily. And then whatever happens after that, then we can trust God for the results.

So we see that. My whole being, let's just read that one more time. It says, put your hope in the Lord. For the Lord is unfailing love. And with him there is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all your sins. Once again, what are you waiting for? And is your hope in the thing you are waiting for? And has it supplanted Jesus as the primary hope of your life?

That you might be saved. There is nothing more than having a relationship with God where you know that he loves you and you are in good standing with him because his son died on the cross and God cares for you no matter what. Romans 8, 28, 29 says, all things are going to work together for you anyways. No matter what happens, it says, paraphrase, all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to himself.

So what are you waiting for? Where's your hope? Second point, final point of the day is this. Faith is manifested. What does manifested mean? It means faith becomes real. In Hebrews, it says faith becomes a substance. When you begin to walk into faith, it begins to chrysalize, it begins to have a catalyst in it that makes it as hard and real and it makes it a substance.

In Hebrews, the word says faith becomes real, becomes a substance. I've gotten to the point, the more I've stepped in believing, taking that step when the bridge wasn't there, like in Raiders of the Lost Ark number three, where Indy takes a step out onto a bridge and then the bridge appears. Every time he takes a step, another part appears. It actually doesn't become real and meaningful until you step to the place that you can't see.

See, it says that faith is believing, in Hebrews 11, faith is believing in what you cannot see. So they see that here and they're waiting. Now I said, when it comes to hope, one of the things that we have a problem with are the things that we want is we don't like the waiting. Waiting is part of the human condition and God put waiting and perseverance into the human condition for a reason.

It's because it causes character to develop within us. Scriptures in the New Testament says perseverance leads to proven character. It is in the waiting. It is waiting for your marriage to become what you always thought it would be when you were engaged. It is waiting for the child, perhaps, that has not come yet. It is as we are waiting, it is as, you know, even as you look at pregnancy, God didn't make the gestation period four days.

He made it nine months for a reason because waiting causes proven character. When I was a kid, I remember my parents couldn't take me to a baseball game and I was pitching that day. I played for Guftison's. It's a furniture. Now Sportland was the coolest team to play for in La Mesa National Little League. Jim's a tip of the cap to La Mesa over there.

We're both La Mesa kids. We're from La Mesa. Love La Mesa. Great little baseball field. The World Series of Baseball was actually in La Mesa once. And I remember I was pitching that day for Guftison's and we were playing Sportland and you want to beat Sportland. Sportland was like the coolest sports store ever in La Mesa, if you remember. It was right next to Jemco.

Little La Mesa history. And I remember the game was at four o'clock and I got out there an hour early in my outfit. My friend was coming to pick me up or somebody my mom hooked up to take me. We had a big driveway and I was ruining my leather baseball by throwing it on the car. Maybe you've done that. It's game day. Remember putting the uniform on when you're like nine years old?

How good did that feel? It was so good. Put the uniform on. It was blue. We looked good. And I had goofy hair but I looked good but I had a hat, big giant trucker hat back in the day. I was ready to pitch. So pretty soon it's 3.30. Game starts at four. Pretty soon it's four. Or 3.45. I'm starting to trip at this point. There was no texting, okay, when I'm 12 years old, nine years old, whatever it was.

There's no texting. There's no where are you? What's up? There's a phone, you know, and there's pay phones. So you can go get it. I ran down, made a phone call. No answer, no answer. Four o'clock comes. I'm pitching. 4.15 comes. 4.30 comes. I realize I'm not making the game. Walk down my driveway. My mom gets home. She's like, why are you here? I said, the person had forgot.

I completely missed the game. You know, I want to tell you something that I didn't do at that point. I didn't stop playing baseball. I kept showing up at the driveway. My mom would pick me up after work. And you know what? The next time she showed up and took me to work. The reason I tell that story is because that was so disheartening. And, I mean, can you imagine yourself as a little kid waiting and you're pitching?

I mean, you're the pitcher. You're the chise. You know what I'm saying? I thought I was the chise. I'm waiting and they never show up. Some of us have stopped waiting. We've just stopped. We've given up waiting. And waiting is part of faith. And not waiting forlorned, but waiting expectantly. First of all, we're waiting for God to save us from our sins.

And if we put our hope in that, that should be the primary thing. But then there's other things that we're waiting for. And the problem is, is when those things don't happen, we begin to lose faith in the bus stop that takes us to God's love. We begin to say, God, this hasn't happened. That hasn't happened. When will this ever happen? I'm never going to get that.

All of our dreams start falling apart. And we start doubting God. And that bus stop or the top of the driveway where you're there waiting, all of a sudden, you just give up hope. I want to say so many people have left the driveway. I stayed in that driveway until 5 o'clock. That was an hour. I was a nine-year-old kid that wanted to be in the game.

I did not leave the bus stop. That's just a nine-year-old baseball thing. But let's say when it comes to Jesus, when it comes to what you're waiting for, have you left the top of the driveway? You see, the Jews were used to waiting. Let's just look. It's impossible in your notes to understand God's story on earth without understanding the concept of waiting.

It was 2,000 years from the fall of mankind to Abraham in the scripture. It was 500 years from Abraham to Moses. It was 100 years from the birth of Moses until entering the promised land. It was 400 years until David becomes king over Israel. It was 1,000 years from David to the birth of Jesus. And it's been 2,000 years and counting for the return of Jesus.

What are you waiting for? And are you still expectant in the waiting? And are you waiting for the right thing? That's what Palm Sunday is about. You see, if they would have known, they would have still been at the foot of the cross saying, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord with the palm branches. And you wouldn't even be able to get to the cross because there would have been so many palm branches that were there.

Why? Because they knew that their sins were being forgiven on the cross, but they were waiting for the wrong thing. I don't know if you remember or if you followed the Chai, Cedric Sabalos, recently. But in 2020, Cedric Sabalos got COVID. And there's a picture of him right here. And if you see it on that picture, let me just read what it says. This is him.

51 years old. He survived. He said, on my 10th day, he was 20 days in ICU. On my 10th day in ICU, COVID-19 is officially kicking my butt. I'm asking all family, friends, prayer warriors, and healers, because he's a believer, for your prayers and well wishes for my recovery. If I have ever done anything to you in the past, allow me to publicly apologize.

My fight is not done. Thanks. You see, that's the Chai's. Chai's got it figured out. I've been watching him. He has a podcast. You can take that down. He's, you know, I really like Cedric Sabalos. He finally figured out what it was all about. He was so arrogant, so cocky, and so upset that he wasn't the Chai's. But when it came to 20 days in a bed, when he was facing death, he said, you know what?

I've been forgiven, and I want to ask forgiveness for you. You see, that's what it's all about. And his entire perspective has been changed. There's a song from U2. Chris is going to sing it to end the service. And it was from U2. It was called 40. And they would end their concerts with this song. And Psalm 40 says, I waited patiently for the Lord.

I'm going to give you an opportunity to step back into waiting. Maybe you've left the top of the driveway. Maybe you're not there anymore. Maybe you've given up. Maybe there's a thing that's just in the wrong place. It's here, but Jesus needs to be here. And you're willing to say, God, I just want to wait for you, or I need forgiveness for my sins.

If you would stand, Chris is going to lead us, and maybe you know this song. I'm going to give you an opportunity to step back into waiting. I'm going to give you an opportunity to step back into waiting. I'm going to give you an opportunity to step back into waiting. I will sing. I will sing. Sing a new song. I will sing. Sing a new song. How long to sing this song, how long to sing this song, how long, how long, how long, how long, how long, I can't do the every one, I can't�, I can't you, I can't.

How long to sing this song? How long, how long, how long, how long, how long to sing this song? I set my feet up on a rock, I made my footsteps in. I will sing, I will sing, I will sing, I will sing, I will sing, I will sing, I will sing, a new song, I will sing, a new song, I will sing, a new song, I will sing, a new song, the way, I will sing, a new song, to come, to come, to come, to come, to come, to come, I made my footsteps clear.

Many will sing. Many will see and hear. I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song. How long to sing that song? How long to sing this song? How long, how long, how long, how long, how long, how long, sing this song? The song says, I waited patiently for the Lord. He set my footsteps in a firm place. Then he goes on to say, how long, how long will I sing this song?

How long, how long, I waited patiently for the Lord. Maybe you need a new song today. Maybe you just say, I'm tired of that song and I want a new song. How long, I waited patiently for the Lord. Jesus says that you can meet him now in forgiveness, that all of your dreams and hopes, your greatest desire, which should be to be with God primarily, can be met today.

Chris is going to sing that one more time. I waited patiently for the Lord. If you need to change your song today, change your song. Let it go. Let the other ones, quit singing that other song. Maybe it's the wrong song. You might end up in Brindisi. God wants to meet you now in this moment. Chris, lead us again. I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song.

How long, sing this song. How long, how long, how long, how long, how long. I just want to give you a chance if you can. If you want to bow your head, I'm going to bless you in a second. Just close your eyes if you want. It makes it easier sometimes. Keep that jam going in the background. I like that. If you want a new song today, just raise your hand.

Just raise your hands or both hands. Say, I want a new song. Yeah, there you go. There you go. I want a new song. Jesus, give them a new song. Say, Jesus speaks a new song over you. You can walk out with joy today because God knows you and God loves you. I want a new song. I'm going to let go of the career goals or something that ain't happening in my timing, Lord God.

God, that you will meet these people, God, as they want a new song. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. We bless you that want a new song. If you want to know Jesus for the first time and you've just not experienced him in a real way, you've been waiting, just, you can raise your hands. Let me know. I want to know Jesus in a deeper, real way.

Is there anyone here today that's me? I want to know Jesus. Yeah, one in the back. Yeah. Yeah, I want to know Jesus in a real powerful way. Chris, sing it and then we'll finish the service with a blessing. I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song. How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song? How long, how long, how long, how long, how long to sing this song?

I want a blessing today. I want to bless you. Remember he said to Abraham, whoever you bless will be blessed. So I'm going to give away free blessing. Why not? God said he's going to do it today. I want to bless you. We bless you in a world full of curses. We bless you with a new song, with a new hope, with a new desire, with peace, and the freedom of letting go of the things that promise, something they can't deliver.

God, we bless you, Jesus. We set you on high and we bless these people today with joy and peace, God. And as they begin to let go and put their hope on you, you set their mind in perfect peace. Though he slay me, it says in Job, I will still hope in him. So we bless you with hope. We bless you with expectant waiting to get back to the top of the driveway and be waiting for God and knowing that he shows you up and he is there with you as you wait.

We bless you now. We send you out to be a powerful, a volcanic change, a seismic change in our culture by a smile on your face and they say, how can you smile today? With everything that's going on, how can you smile today? Because I know Jesus Christ is Lord and he loves me. We bless you now. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Get out of here and have a great day. I can do the right. I can do the right. I can do the right. Thank you.