WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Palm Sunday - Aletheia Publishing Date: 2026-03-29T03:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/palm-sunday-aletheia/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.160 This is the series we are doing over this week. Focus on Palm Sunday, on the events of the 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:21.560 Passion Week leading up to Resurrection next Sunday. Then we will go back to the series 00:00:21.560 --> 00:00:34.160 we were doing. I don't think I'll be teaching today. I'll be preaching today. If you ask 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:43.200 me—the time taken is the same. It won't be any shorter. But if you ask me the difference 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:57.040 between teaching and preaching, I can't define it, but I kind of know it. In preaching, this 00:00:57.040 --> 00:01:06.600 side of the room can't ask questions. That's part of the preaching rooms. So guys, Palm 00:01:06.600 --> 00:01:16.800 Sunday. Can I have a little more volume, Jonathan? Palm Sunday today. I titled it Aletheia. Aletheia 00:01:16.800 --> 00:01:24.960 means non-concealment. The reason I call it non-concealment is because unlike what we think, 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:31.760 everything that happened on Palm Sunday was very confrontational. It was very deliberate. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:39.480 The intent was to—it's too echoey now, man. You'll have to find that sweet spot where it's—yeah, 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:47.640 right now it's too echoey. Yeah. So Palm Sunday, everything Jesus did was very confrontational. It 00:01:47.640 --> 00:02:00.240 was meant to upturn things. It was deliberate. It was to reveal who he was and how his people 00:02:00.240 --> 00:02:05.040 were supposed to function. And so Aletheia comes from two words, er, which means not, 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:10.880 letheia, which means hidden, not hidden anymore. And so like I was saying earlier, 00:02:10.880 --> 00:02:16.920 yesterday he was at Lazarus' place, and there were people that were gathered to see both him 00:02:16.920 --> 00:02:27.080 and Lazarus. He was still healing because later on yesterday afternoon, when he left Lazarus' house, 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:33.560 he found a man calling out saying, Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me. 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:39.320 And he looks and it's Bartimaeus sitting by the road in Jericho. And people tell him to hush, 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:45.000 but Jesus says, bring the man to me. And he prays for Bartimaeus, and Bartimaeus gets healed. 00:02:45.880 --> 00:02:52.440 And then he's on his way to Jerusalem, and he knows that he's going to be arrested in Jerusalem 00:02:52.440 --> 00:02:57.400 because the chief priests have already said that if you see him, arrest him. 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:04.520 And he knows he's going to die. Three times he's told his disciples, I'm going to the cross, 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:10.520 and third time was last night. And then this morning he could have done what he always does, 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:17.160 come in quietly, but he doesn't. Hundred miles he's walked from all the way from Galilee, 00:03:17.720 --> 00:03:25.560 all the way from Nazareth to Bethany last night. He's walked about 98 miles. I mean, 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.320 one of the things I think to myself is, man, if I was a disciple in those days, 00:03:29.320 --> 00:03:33.480 I'd get myself a donkey because walking with Jesus would be quite tiresome, eh? 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:41.160 And so you come to this place in Bethphage, and now there's just two miles to Jerusalem. You go 00:03:41.160 --> 00:03:45.960 down the Mount of Olives, you go through a valley, and you go up the ascent towards Jerusalem. And 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:52.920 those two miles he decides to take a donkey. And it makes it obvious that he wants people to know 00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:56.520 that he is coming into town. Otherwise, he could have easily hidden himself. 00:03:57.320 --> 00:04:02.040 And so he starts coming in on a donkey, and people immediately know what's happening. And remember, 00:04:02.040 --> 00:04:09.000 the crowd has gone from 30,000 who normally live in Jerusalem to 180,000. The place is 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:13.800 thronging with the crowd. And following him are people from Galilee because this is Passover 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:19.400 season, and the pilgrims come out in droves. It's like going to Mecca. The only comparison we can 00:04:19.400 --> 00:04:27.000 have is Hajj in Mecca. And so you've got hundreds and hundreds of Galileans with him, and they know 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:31.320 what he's done. They've seen his miracles. They've seen his wonders. And they are the ones that begin 00:04:31.320 --> 00:04:36.200 to praise him, take off their cloaks and throw it on the ground, wave palm branches. What are they 00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:43.000 being reminded of? Three, probably four situations. First one, they know that when David left, when 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:50.920 Absalom came in, he went up the same trail on a donkey. They know that Solomon, when David crowned 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:58.200 Solomon king, David actually says, David actually says to Solomon, listen Solomon, there is a guy 00:04:58.200 --> 00:05:03.960 called Adonijah who's trying to take the throne. I want you to take that off the priest, and I want 00:05:03.960 --> 00:05:10.040 you to take my donkey, sit on my donkey and go, because it was the king's donkey. We think that 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:17.480 Jesus was being humble by riding in on a donkey. Not true. Kings in times of peace rode donkeys. 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:25.080 Kings in times of war rode horses. So it wasn't a humble thing that he was doing. 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:32.440 He was just being king. And people recognized it. There was another scene in Second Kings 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:39.000 where there was a king called Jehu. And Jehu became king. The same thing happened. He mounted 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:43.800 mounted a donkey, started coming down towards the throne, and people started taking off their cloaks 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:49.400 and throwing it down on the ground so that the donkey could go over it. So these scenes that 00:05:49.400 --> 00:05:55.160 are being repeated in Jerusalem, suddenly the crowd is beginning to realize that the one here 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:59.560 is more than a prophet. We've seen his mighty deeds. But when they say, Hosanna, blessed be the 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:06.120 one who comes in the name of the Lord, son of David, they are beginning to declare him as Messiah. 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:11.320 And strangely enough, Jesus is not hiding his messianic identity. He's letting it be known. 00:06:11.320 --> 00:06:19.640 Non-concealment. I'm okay being known now. The same man who hid his kingship for all this time 00:06:19.640 --> 00:06:24.040 now doesn't have a problem. You know who has a problem? The Pharisees, the Sadducees. 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:33.080 They're saying to Jesus, stop them from saying this. Because he's declaring himself as king. 00:06:33.080 --> 00:06:38.280 And everything he does between today and tomorrow is confrontational. 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:48.280 There's nothing sweet and nice about it. And this is where it starts, see, where he allows them 00:06:48.280 --> 00:06:57.160 to see him as king. It's this place where he lets people call him son of David. He lets them shout 00:06:57.400 --> 00:07:02.120 Hosanna. He lets them treat him like they treated David, like they treated Jehu, like they treated 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:07.640 Solomon. And then he also knows that a prophecy is being fulfilled. Zechariah 9.9, 00:07:07.640 --> 00:07:14.680 Behold, rejoice, O daughter of Zion, behold your king who comes riding on a donkey, righteous 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:23.800 and humble. And he brings salvation with him. And he knows this prophecy. And he knows that 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:29.400 he brings salvation with him. And he knows this prophecy is being fulfilled. The disciples didn't 00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:33.400 know it. People didn't know it. We just assumed that everybody knew the prophecy is being fulfilled. 00:07:33.400 --> 00:07:40.680 You usually have one of the gospel narrators writing later, when Jesus rose, they remembered. 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:49.800 It was not like they knew what was happening on the spot. And so here comes Jesus into Jerusalem. 00:07:50.200 --> 00:07:58.120 And you'll find this in Matthew 21 and Mark 11. And it infuriates the Sadducees who want him to 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:03.880 stop the children and the people from doing what they're doing. It upsets the Jerusalemites. So if 00:08:03.880 --> 00:08:13.960 you go to Matthew 21, and you get to verse 8, and you'll see it, Matthew 21 8, A very large crowd, 00:08:14.520 --> 00:08:22.520 echo, echo, echo, a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from 00:08:22.520 --> 00:08:27.400 the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed 00:08:27.400 --> 00:08:32.120 shouted, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:37.640 the highest. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred. And now they are asking, 00:08:37.640 --> 00:08:41.960 who is this? Because the Jerusalemites are completely different from the crowd that's 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:48.920 coming in. They're having hassles with this. It's like two, it's like two groups. The crowds 00:08:48.920 --> 00:08:54.360 answered, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee. The Galileans are owning this prophet 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:58.520 from the Northern territory as their own. The Jerusalemites see it as a threat. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:07.560 And this is where Jesus then quotes Psalm 8, verse 2 and 3. Haven't you heard, he says to the 00:09:07.560 --> 00:09:14.600 Pharisees and Sadducees, haven't you heard that God has ordained praise or ordained strength out 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:21.560 of the mouth of children and this praise shall silence the enemy and he wouldn't stop them. 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:27.800 At one point he says, if they stop, the stones will begin to cry out. But the point is that he 00:09:27.800 --> 00:09:36.360 was beginning to reveal his messianic identity. And so there are certain attributes you have, 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:41.320 certain roles you have, certain positions you have, certain things you were made for 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:49.800 that you need to now begin to reveal. It's an emergence of Gideon from the wine press. 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:57.880 It's a calling of the eighth son of Jesse. Remember there were seven sons that were lined up, 00:09:57.880 --> 00:10:04.680 the eighth son was missing. The calling of the eighth son of Jesse. It's changing water into 00:10:04.680 --> 00:10:11.560 wine under pressure and revealing your identity. It's the striking of Jordan with Elijah's mantle 00:10:11.560 --> 00:10:17.400 and the Jordan begins to part. Why am I saying this? What did I mean by preaching? I'm just saying that 00:10:17.400 --> 00:10:25.000 as we take what Jesus did, the four incidents between now and tomorrow, I'm trusting that the 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:30.600 Holy Spirit will begin to cause something to rise in your heart regardless how old you are, how young 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:35.880 you are, how hopeless you are, how hopeful you are, how confident you are, how cowardly you are, 00:10:35.880 --> 00:10:41.400 that something will begin to happen in your heart. That there are people here that continue, 00:10:42.520 --> 00:10:46.840 and all this applies to me, that continue to behave like Gideon in the wine press, 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:52.840 not willing to come out. There are people here that are like Saul, head and shoulders above the 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:59.160 rest but still hiding in the luggage. There are people here that have been given a mantle, 00:10:59.160 --> 00:11:02.520 all they need to do is take it and strike the waters and the waters will part. 00:11:07.800 --> 00:11:13.160 It's time for non-concealment where you begin to actually believe who you are 00:11:14.280 --> 00:11:18.760 and thus far you've kept it quiet, it's been hidden. Great, now it is time 00:11:19.880 --> 00:11:22.520 to go into a phone booth and come out looking like Superman. 00:11:29.800 --> 00:11:34.520 It is the end of being Nicodemus. You know some of the guys that didn't make it, 00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:38.200 Nicodemus. Was it not for Mordecai, Esther would have been just a queen. 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:48.040 Gamaliel never spoke till Jesus died. Moses, thank God he was saved from his own dumbness 00:11:48.040 --> 00:11:54.600 when he has an argument with God saying, but I can't speak on your behalf. Or Jacob, who just 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:59.160 tried getting what he needed to get through deception and through manipulation and not 00:11:59.160 --> 00:12:10.680 through knowing that he was chosen. Time to come into your own, not based on your circumstances, 00:12:10.680 --> 00:12:14.680 not based on whether you have a job or not, not based on whether you have an education or not, 00:12:14.680 --> 00:12:22.280 based on the confidence that starts building in you with regard to who God has said you are again 00:12:22.280 --> 00:12:31.000 and again and again and again. It breaks bonds, it breaks boundaries. All of us here have limitations 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:35.640 and boundaries. Some of them are sin boundaries, some of them are sin limitations, some of them 00:12:35.640 --> 00:12:44.760 are in here. One of the ways they shoot vultures in South Africa is they let the vultures feed on 00:12:44.760 --> 00:12:52.200 the carrion till they're so full of dead meat that you can go after them and send your kids 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:56.760 to shoot them because when they try flying their weight is greater than their ability to fly and 00:12:56.760 --> 00:13:04.760 you can just pop them off. Time to get rid of the things that entangle me so that I can actually 00:13:04.760 --> 00:13:13.720 begin to live up to the name that God has changed. He healed my heart, he changed my name. 00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:31.000 And so I just pray that unlike these guys I just mentioned that you will decide that oh God it is 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:40.360 time for Aletheia and it is time for me to end avoidance, end deception, end comfort, end being 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:51.000 hidden, end waiting, end my non-relevancy, end stubbornness. Sometimes all that prevents me 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:53.720 from stepping into the next place is my own stubbornness. 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:06.920 And when you do guys you'll find that God will give you the humility, God will give you the 00:14:06.920 --> 00:14:10.920 resolve and God will give you the power of the Holy Spirit. Three things God will give you. 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:17.000 One of the things that scares us is if I actually begin to function as who I am then I might get 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:21.960 proud, I might be abrasive, I might be aggressive, I might end up doing things I'm not supposed to, 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:28.920 I might end up making mistakes. All true but with it will come humility, resolve and the anointing 00:14:28.920 --> 00:14:34.760 of God. There'll be a humility that will begin to develop inside. Why? Because one who is most 00:14:34.760 --> 00:14:41.800 invested in you becoming who he wants you to be for his benefit is him. A strange humility will 00:14:41.800 --> 00:14:47.320 begin to develop. You can shut it down but it doesn't mean it won't develop. Resolve as in the 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:54.200 determination to keep going ahead and the anointing of God because you need an anointing when you begin 00:14:54.200 --> 00:15:00.280 to step into something. The anointing is the supernatural empowerment by the Holy Spirit 00:15:00.280 --> 00:15:07.080 to accomplish a task long term. These are the things that God is willing to give us 00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:15.640 as we decide that okay I know what you're saying, I will put in the work, oh God but please help me 00:15:15.640 --> 00:15:22.280 step into this. It will provoke people, it will infuriate people, it will offend people especially 00:15:22.280 --> 00:15:28.040 the religious, the traditional, the joyless and the legalistic, it will infuriate and provoke them. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:34.760 Four people that you will provoke if you become relevant, if you walk in non-concealment, the 00:15:34.760 --> 00:15:43.640 religious, the legalist, the joyless and the traditionalist. It will provoke them. 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:55.720 That's part of the package. It will invite scorn, it will invite accusation, it will cause people 00:15:55.720 --> 00:16:01.560 to be offended, especially people that are close to you, it will invite derision, it will invite 00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:10.440 all this but through it all one thing God will give you is humility. You know this beautiful thing 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:17.240 about humility is this, humility has nothing to protect. Humility has nothing to protect. 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:24.520 One who is humble has nothing to protect. Take away everything from him, he has nothing to protect. 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:31.960 Shame him, he has nothing to protect. You take away, when a man has nothing to protect and he 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:39.400 does not mind being shamed then you can't even make him angry. I know the flip argument that's 00:16:39.400 --> 00:16:44.520 happening but we should not be do-mats. I'm so tired of that argument. You hardly get to be do-mats. 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:49.960 You get to be do-mats once every two years. Do-mats get used every day. 00:16:55.080 --> 00:17:01.080 One of the cool things that happens with non-concealment is a gift of humility. It's given to you. 00:17:05.080 --> 00:17:07.080 Do not define yourself by what you do. 00:17:10.520 --> 00:17:16.920 It's very limiting. What is Jonathan, a sound man? What is Brandon, an internet man? 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:20.920 What is Tooney? Nothing today, he's just sitting there. 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:22.120 Nothing today, he's just sitting there. 00:17:28.520 --> 00:17:33.480 We are so much more than what we do. We have to have a grasp of it. Some of us are getting older. 00:17:34.280 --> 00:17:37.160 If not now then? When? 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:47.800 In all of it, be teachable. It comes with humility because pride always unseats me from the donkey 00:17:47.800 --> 00:17:55.640 I'm riding. Pride always unseats me from the donkey I'm riding. I read this story long ago 00:17:55.640 --> 00:18:02.840 about how Jesus was riding on a donkey coming into Jerusalem and the donkey suddenly began to 00:18:02.840 --> 00:18:08.440 swagger because the donkey thought the people were clapping for it. They thought, wow, waving 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:13.080 branches, throwing their jackets. The donkey didn't realize that Jesus was the one they were doing 00:18:13.080 --> 00:18:22.520 this for. So the moment you become proud and you get a swagger, you get unseated. 00:18:27.320 --> 00:18:31.880 It'll reconstitute your praise life. Others will join you at the break of dawn. 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:39.240 These are some of the words that are so prophetic in terms of preaching. It will reconstitute your 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:46.040 praise and others will join you at the break of dawn, resplendent in holy armor with the 00:18:46.040 --> 00:18:52.360 vigor of youth. Psalm 110, verse 3. You go down this road, you will find yourself as someone who 00:18:52.360 --> 00:18:58.200 does not wait for a Sunday or a Monday or a Tuesday for praise. You will find God reconstituting 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:05.160 praise within you where a joyful heart will make melody and you will find that others who have the 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:13.320 vigor of youth will dress up resplendently in holy armor and join you at dawn. With relevance 00:19:13.320 --> 00:19:19.560 comes the ability for others to see there is a man, there is a woman that if I attach myself to, 00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:28.040 I am hitting my wagon to the star. I pray God that two or three here try that. I expect much 00:19:28.040 --> 00:19:40.520 more but two or three at least. Soon. People will lay down their allegiances and they will join you. 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:47.160 Prophecies spoken will be prophecies that are fulfilled. That's the other thing that will 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:53.080 happen. Guys, prophecies spoken will be prophecies passed. You will begin to say this is that which 00:19:53.080 --> 00:20:00.600 was spoken and today it's fulfilled. It applies to you, it applies to Acts 29, let it be so. 00:20:01.800 --> 00:20:08.840 I'm saying this and then move on to the next incident with Jesus. When you begin to decide that 00:20:08.840 --> 00:20:17.000 I am going to reveal who I am, who I really am, who God called me to be and in revealing that, 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:23.160 I will take on the pressure of becoming that. It is by grace but the pressure that you take on 00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:31.080 to walk in the grace. Let me pick on someone. Let me pick on Ashish. There are words spoken over Ashish. 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:38.280 Either Ashish can continue doing what he's doing with Jonathan and Subin building a motorbike or 00:20:38.280 --> 00:20:46.840 Ashish can say this is who I am. Let me move out of concealment into who God has been saying 00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:51.080 I am. God said it when I was born. God said it through prophets. God has been saying it 00:20:51.080 --> 00:20:54.760 through my mother. God has said it through Derek. God has said it through Tooney. God has said it 00:20:54.760 --> 00:21:01.160 through Jacob. This is who I am and I can never escape it. Wherever I go, this is who I am and I 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:08.120 am willing to reveal it and take on the pressure of walking in this grace. The moment he does that, 00:21:08.760 --> 00:21:15.080 prophecies that were spoken will be fulfilled. This becomes that. Prophecies will become things 00:21:15.080 --> 00:21:20.920 of the past. Otherwise, we will go to heaven not with a sack full of sins but a sack full 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:27.800 of prophecies. Knock, knock. Who's there? Me, Peter. What you got on your sack? Prophecies. 00:21:27.800 --> 00:21:42.360 Unfulfilled? Yes. Go back. Any questions before we move on? Hey, if you're getting older, God can 00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:50.680 accelerate it. If you're younger, God will do it on time. You know what procrastination really is? 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:54.920 Here's the definition of procrastination. Procrastination is not the absence of doing 00:21:54.920 --> 00:21:59.880 things. Procrastination is choosing to do the less important things and setting aside the 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:03.400 more important things and being obsessed with the less important things saying, 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:07.320 if I don't get this, I can't do that. That's what procrastination is. 00:22:07.320 --> 00:22:14.840 Procrastination is where we take on less important, easily doable, pleasurable things 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:21.720 to doing the more important, hard things. If you think you're going to sort out your life 00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:28.680 after you sort out the three drawers in your house, you'll be celebrating 75 with me. 00:22:31.320 --> 00:22:34.840 Isn't it command 75th or just past? Okay. 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:46.520 Do you think that religious and religious people will actually walk in you? 00:22:46.520 --> 00:22:51.880 Yeah. The religious, the legalists, the traditionalists will rise up when you begin 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:58.520 to actually walk in you. Walk in who God has continuously been saying you should be. 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:05.800 They will start challenging it. Because as long as you are a volunteer, as long as you are 00:23:05.800 --> 00:23:11.400 concealed, as long as you turn up occasionally and do a flash in the pan dance, you're okay. 00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:17.320 But my God, when you begin to decide this has been who I am, and I'm going to take on the pressure 00:23:17.320 --> 00:23:21.160 of walking in the grace, it is taking on the pressure of walking in the grace. 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:31.000 And the moment you do that, there will be traditionalist, legalists, 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:35.560 joyless people and religious people who will challenge you on this. This has been the history 00:23:35.560 --> 00:23:41.160 of the earth. And it's not just in spiritual aspects, it's in every aspect. 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:57.560 The next thing Jesus does is that he finishes entering Jerusalem and then he has this habit 00:23:57.560 --> 00:24:03.160 of going back to Bethany or Bethphed. And so he went back that night to Bethphed and decided, 00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:07.080 okay, it's morning, I'm heading back to Jerusalem. It's the time of Passover. 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:11.640 And every time he is heading back to Jerusalem, I don't know whether he counted the days, 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:16.840 but he knows on the day of Passover, when the lamb is sacrificed, I will be sacrificed. 00:24:21.800 --> 00:24:27.720 And so he goes back the next day. It's Monday morning, tomorrow morning, and he's on route from 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:33.720 Bethphed to Jerusalem. And if you want a title for the first bit, it's the end of concealment. 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:39.560 It's the end of concealment. The end of concealment. Is it the end of concealment for you? 00:24:40.120 --> 00:24:47.320 Is it the end of concealment for Evan, for Aaron, for Ann, for Mike, for Lenny, 00:24:48.760 --> 00:24:55.800 for John? Is it the end of concealment? Once you take on the pressure of the grace that God has 00:24:55.800 --> 00:25:02.840 for you, you will have to change and grace will help you change. That's the beauty about grace, 00:25:02.840 --> 00:25:11.720 right? It helps you change. If you look at it, you'll be frightened by it. And every time you're 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:21.320 frightened by it, what comes in? Waves of grace. What is required? One step at a time, one step 00:25:21.320 --> 00:25:29.640 at a time, one step at a time. Ask any prolific writer how they write, and they'll say one word 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:39.720 at a time. So he's now walking to Jerusalem. It's not a long walk. This one I could have done with 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:45.480 him. And so as he's walking, he suddenly feels hungry. And so because he is feeling hungry, 00:25:46.040 --> 00:25:53.880 he begins to look for a fruit tree and he sees a tree that has tons of leaves and it's a fig tree. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:01.080 Now, whenever we talk about the fig tree being cursed, authors have criticized Jesus like crazy, 00:26:01.080 --> 00:26:05.720 saying, how could a man who was kind and who had the power turn to an inanimate object and curse 00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:10.760 it so that it withers away? And yet what is happening here is just so confrontational and 00:26:10.760 --> 00:26:16.440 so symbolic. He actually was looking for something to eat and he sees a tree with leaves on it. 00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:21.560 And he goes towards the tree, even though it was out of season. It should not have leaves 00:26:21.560 --> 00:26:27.720 and it should not have fruit. But this tree had all the leaves that usually was indicative of 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:34.920 early fig fruit. And so he goes towards it. And when he goes towards it, he finds that there is 00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:44.200 no fig on it. That is pretending to be a tree that has borne fruit when there is actually 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:51.400 no fruit on it. And it's at that stage that he begins to say what he says, where he 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.080 looks at the tree covered with leaves, which means it's time to look for early fruit. 00:26:57.080 --> 00:27:00.680 And here's the thing, guys, I haven't written anything. Here's the first thing I want to write. 00:27:01.080 --> 00:27:01.400 It 00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:16.520 offered promise without fulfillment. 00:27:19.320 --> 00:27:22.600 And this is what later we'll see is the condition of the temple, 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:28.360 is the condition of the priests and the scribes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, 00:27:28.360 --> 00:27:38.280 and is the condition of Judaic religion. We'll go there later. But the fact is, 00:27:39.320 --> 00:27:45.720 he now comes and he finds that it offered promise without fulfillment. And what Jesus is doing here 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:51.480 is symbolic and yet it is a miracle and a sign too. He curses the fig tree. He renders it important. 00:27:52.040 --> 00:27:57.160 Mark focuses on how you can pray. Whatsoever you say in prayer, 00:27:57.720 --> 00:28:01.880 believe that you receive it and it shall be yours as long as you don't doubt, even if you have a 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:07.080 little faith. This is what Mark says in Mark 11, 23, and it's worth just detouring and listening to 00:28:07.080 --> 00:28:11.240 that. Here's what Mark is saying. Mark is saying, hey Jacob, if you have a little bit of faith, 00:28:12.600 --> 00:28:18.200 when you pray, if you believe that you receive what you have asked, then if you have a little 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:23.320 bit of faith and you do not doubt, it will be yours. No caveats there. 00:28:26.600 --> 00:28:32.440 But Jesus looks at this tree and he curses it and it dries up. And here's the thing that we need to 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:39.400 understand, that what is it in your life that you know has promise but you offer promise without 00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:49.640 fulfillment? One of the saddest things that you will deal with when you lead a people or grow your 00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:57.000 children or teach in a class is the gap between potential recognized and potential realized. 00:28:58.360 --> 00:29:04.520 It's one of the saddest gaps that exist where you look at someone and you think here is someone 00:29:04.520 --> 00:29:09.400 who has tremendous potential, promise, but it remains unfulfilled. 00:29:11.320 --> 00:29:13.640 And it's present in every life here starting with mine. 00:29:16.840 --> 00:29:25.640 And that gap has to be shortened. And the strange fact is it cannot be closed without external help 00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:30.040 because it could be closed without external help. You would have closed it by now. 00:29:35.080 --> 00:29:36.920 It cannot be closed without external help. 00:29:44.120 --> 00:29:48.360 So no more talk, guys. No more excuses. I'm writing this. You know, it's odd, 00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:54.600 I was supposed to, I usually type out everything in one sheet, but today it was right, right, 00:29:54.600 --> 00:30:01.080 right, right, right. Because it is almost like God is saying, can you hear it yourself and 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:07.720 say it as I'm saying it. That Jacob, no more excuses, no more talk, no more gap between 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:13.400 the potential you have and the potential you realize. Can you be confident in who I say you 00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:20.520 are? Who I say Acts 29 is? Can you work it out with fear and diligence and trembling? Can you 00:30:20.520 --> 00:30:25.400 set aside the things that entangle you? Can you make sure that you don't disqualify yourself? 00:30:26.040 --> 00:30:31.240 The days of promise without fulfillment must come to an end today. 00:30:34.840 --> 00:30:39.720 The days of promise without fulfillment must come to an end today. 00:30:42.520 --> 00:30:48.520 Once God sees the resolve in your heart, that's the first thing he wants. He sees resolve in your 00:30:48.600 --> 00:30:54.360 heart. He sees resolve in your heart. He begins to work. Resolve in your heart is like 00:30:56.360 --> 00:31:02.120 rainwater on dry soil. It breaks it up. It breaks it up and God goes to work. 00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:08.680 Tomorrow, he'll expect that resolve again. Where we fail is not in the lack of resolve today. 00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:14.120 It is in sustaining the resolve tomorrow because tomorrow's circumstances can be pretty overpowering. 00:31:14.120 --> 00:31:20.200 But today is all we have. And today if I resolve this, this God of the universe who knows me, 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:24.840 who made me, and who made me with a plan and a purpose, goes to work immediately 00:31:26.040 --> 00:31:30.040 saying, I see your resolve. And he goes to work. 00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:40.040 And that's what he's looking for. Thank God he's invisible, powerful, and omnipresent. 00:31:40.520 --> 00:31:45.560 Some of the things he says will break your heart, man. The days of promise without fulfillment must 00:31:45.560 --> 00:31:51.720 come to an end. Delight in me. Teach yourself how to discipline yourself and I will pour out my grace. 00:31:52.680 --> 00:31:59.880 Delight and then work on disciplining yourself and I will pour out my grace. And then listen to this. 00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:07.480 People are hungry. They are hungry. They are hungry. They are hungry. They are hungry. They are 00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:13.720 hungry. Listen to this. People are hungry. They are looking for early fruit. There's an inability 00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:22.440 to find it. Can they find it in you? Or will they come and look and you will be full of leaves? Or 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:36.440 will they find in you what will satisfy their hunger? Draw, thirst, drink from me and then 00:32:36.440 --> 00:32:43.320 pour out and bear fruit. Spare no effort. Extend your tent. See they're coming from afar. You will 00:32:43.320 --> 00:32:50.280 not be ashamed or disgraced if you start down this way. Then he shifts and he says, that which is 00:32:50.280 --> 00:32:56.920 fruitless will be thrown into the fire and replaced. For behold, I have started a fire and it will not 00:32:56.920 --> 00:33:04.920 be quenched till it has burnt up all the chaff. Do you know why? 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:16.520 See there's a parable in Luke 13 verse 6 to 9 where a tree is not producing fruit and the 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:23.800 gardener comes to chop it down and the landscaper comes and says, do not cut it down yet. 00:33:24.360 --> 00:33:31.160 Give it another year so that it grows up again. But here the fig tree is not given that room. 00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:37.880 It's cursed immediately. We don't know where the point of no return is but you don't want to play 00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:46.040 with that. Do you know why sometimes trees are removed? It is because they are taking up precious 00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:53.720 soil and producing no fruit. The space, the oxygen, the manure, the fertilizer, 00:33:54.360 --> 00:34:01.640 everything that that tree needs, it is ingesting but it produces no fruit. And you and I have 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:06.280 been through this at different times in our lives where it doesn't matter how much is poured into me, 00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:14.520 there's a lack of fruit. A time comes when there is a point of no return where in that area 00:34:15.240 --> 00:34:21.000 all that I was supposed to do, I'm not able to do and God has to shift to other areas. 00:34:22.040 --> 00:34:27.960 It's like Jeremiah who had a beautiful vase and it got disfigured. So what did God do? Couldn't 00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:32.680 continue with that vase, took the clay, put it back on the wheel, kneaded it again and came up 00:34:32.680 --> 00:34:37.080 with another vase because that was over. Now something new has to be restored, started. 00:34:37.720 --> 00:34:43.800 Some things have a restoration point like in a computer reboot but some things don't. 00:34:44.520 --> 00:34:55.000 Let me read that last bit again because it doesn't scare me, it doesn't make me feel condemned. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:00.760 It's just God saying what he's going to do. Draw from me, thirst after me, drink from me, 00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:06.360 but pour out and bear fruit, spare no effort, extend your tent. See, see they are coming from 00:35:06.360 --> 00:35:13.400 afar. They are coming hungry, they're looking for early fruit. Will they only find you full of leaves, 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:19.480 Jacob, or will they find in you what will satisfy their hunger? See they are coming from afar. You 00:35:19.480 --> 00:35:24.280 go down this road, you will not be ashamed of this grace. That which is fruitless though will be 00:35:24.280 --> 00:35:29.880 thrown into the fire and replaced. That's in John 15. For behold, I have started a fire and it will 00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:41.320 not be quenched till it has burnt up all the chaff. This is why sometimes Jesus would say in 00:35:41.320 --> 00:35:47.160 the book of Revelation, repent otherwise I'll have to come and remove your lamp stand. 00:35:50.680 --> 00:35:51.800 He's saying that to a church. 00:36:01.480 --> 00:36:03.800 Any questions before we go on to the next one? 00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:17.320 I'm sorry. Refuse to be clouds without rain, trees without fruit. If offered, 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:25.960 it's offered promise without fulfillment. We will not do that. Yeah. We will not do that. Yeah. 00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:32.760 I pray God that a day will come when I'm preaching like this and someone will stand up and shout, 00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:38.920 I will not do that as a response to the work of the Spirit in your solar plexus. 00:36:41.240 --> 00:36:42.760 I did zoology for my undergrad. 00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:59.160 You know, I was listening to a reporter on BBC. She does really good little 10-minute thingies 00:36:59.720 --> 00:37:06.920 and she was doing a survey on young people today, 20s and 30s. And here were the stats 00:37:06.920 --> 00:37:11.160 collected over a long period of time that three out of five young people do not know. 00:37:13.640 --> 00:37:17.800 These are Ivy League students who've gone to Harvard and Oxford and places like that. These 00:37:17.800 --> 00:37:24.120 are guys with really good jobs, but three out of five, that's 60% of them, do not know why they are 00:37:24.120 --> 00:37:29.160 here and they do not have any purpose and meaning in life. And anxiety and depression is three out 00:37:29.160 --> 00:37:36.520 of five. In universities across North America. And she was speaking to this guy who said, 00:37:36.520 --> 00:37:44.360 I asked them a few questions that AI cannot answer. He said, any question that you can ask Google 00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:51.000 or chat GPT or AI, if any question you ask them, it's not a question that has meaning or purpose. 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:56.360 And that's what we do. We go and ask AI questions. AI does not, AI can produce facts. It cannot 00:37:56.360 --> 00:38:04.120 produce deep thinking. And here's the questions he asked them. The first question was, why do you 00:38:04.120 --> 00:38:10.040 think you are alive here on earth? The second question was, what would you die for? And the 00:38:10.040 --> 00:38:17.160 third question was, what can you give your heart away to? And he says, most of them cannot answer. 00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:24.520 These are brilliant kids, 20s to 30s. They do not know why they are here. They do not know what they 00:38:24.520 --> 00:38:30.280 would die for. And they don't know how to give their hearts away. They haven't fallen in love. 00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:37.800 They don't even know what it is to have a broken heart. Things that AI will never solve. 00:38:38.760 --> 00:38:40.440 Things that AI will never solve. 00:38:47.240 --> 00:38:51.080 It offered promise without fulfillment. What are you here on earth for? 00:38:51.080 --> 00:38:54.040 What are you willing to die for? What can you give your heart away to? 00:38:55.560 --> 00:39:01.880 These are existential questions that should ruin a Christian if you can't find the answer. 00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:04.680 And the answer can't be Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. 00:39:06.040 --> 00:39:10.520 Has to be a little more than that. Yeah. Even our Sunday school kids don't do that nowadays. 00:39:13.720 --> 00:39:21.880 Monday, later in the afternoon, after he had cursed the fig tree, Mark breaks it up into 00:39:21.880 --> 00:39:28.360 two passages where he curses the fig tree. He goes to the temple and then on the return, Mark 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:34.920 sees the disciples see the fig tree withered. And here's the other thing that we need to know. 00:39:34.920 --> 00:39:39.320 When it comes to the fig tree, Jesus was only with his disciples. There was no crowd with him. 00:39:40.280 --> 00:39:44.360 He was just walking with the disciples, the 12 of them. They're the only guys who witnessed this. 00:39:45.640 --> 00:39:54.040 It was done quietly. Now we come to the third scene. Monday, tomorrow, later in the day, 00:39:54.520 --> 00:39:59.720 if you want the title for this second one, the fruit, the fig tree, you can say, 00:40:01.240 --> 00:40:06.120 confronting fruitlessness. The first one was end of concealment. The second one is confronting 00:40:06.120 --> 00:40:15.800 fruitlessness. The third one, he is in the temple precinct and he goes to the outer courts. Now, 00:40:16.600 --> 00:40:22.200 our idea of the outer courts might be pretty simple. We're going to go to the outer courts. 00:40:22.200 --> 00:40:27.480 Our idea of the outer courts might be pretty small. The outer courts were about 1.6 kilometers 00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:34.280 square. It is huge. If you've been to Trafalgar Square in the UK, this is about nine times that. 00:40:34.280 --> 00:40:41.960 1.6 kilometers square. Huge area. This is where people would come for festivals. The ones that 00:40:41.960 --> 00:40:46.040 couldn't enter the temple would come because this was an area where the Gentiles could come. Women 00:40:46.040 --> 00:40:53.080 could come. Non-Jews could come. The beggars would come. The ones that had defects would come. The 00:40:53.080 --> 00:40:58.520 ones that were not allowed to enter the temple could come. That was the area. And he enters 00:40:58.520 --> 00:41:04.600 the precincts and what he sees there is people selling and buying. We think he was upset with 00:41:04.600 --> 00:41:09.160 the trade of the buyers and sellers. What is happening here is a direct attack upon the 00:41:09.160 --> 00:41:13.800 leadership, upon the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high priests and the scribes because they 00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:21.480 are the ones allowing this. And he calls it a cave of bandits. We've translated it to den of thieves. 00:41:21.480 --> 00:41:29.160 It's actually cave of bandits. And when he begins to turn things over, what he's doing is 00:41:29.160 --> 00:41:37.080 challenging the very authority. It would be like in a town like this, in a religious town, it would 00:41:37.080 --> 00:41:42.360 be like challenging the ones who run that town. It'd be like going to Mecca and challenging the 00:41:42.360 --> 00:41:48.360 religious leaders there or going to Dharamsala and challenging the Buddhist leaders there, 00:41:48.360 --> 00:41:53.960 going to Rome and challenging the Vatican there where they are both rulers legally, 00:41:53.960 --> 00:42:00.760 spiritually, religiously. And he begins to throw things up and down. In John chapter 2, it says he 00:42:00.760 --> 00:42:07.160 made a whip out of cords. It might look like John chapter 2 because it's right at the beginning of 00:42:07.160 --> 00:42:12.600 John. You might think there were two cleansing of temples. No, there was just one. John just puts it 00:42:12.600 --> 00:42:19.400 in the beginning. And Jesus goes in there and he uses three different words for the temple. The 00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:24.440 first word he uses is a Greek word called Heron which means temple. The second word he uses is 00:42:24.440 --> 00:42:31.400 oikos which means house. And the third word he uses is critical. He calls it the sanctuary or naos. 00:42:31.480 --> 00:42:37.640 And then he says, you just watch. In three days, I'll destroy this sanctuary and in three days, 00:42:37.640 --> 00:42:43.560 I will raise it up. And it's in John that you hear what is happening. If you want a title for this 00:42:43.560 --> 00:42:50.760 part of the conference, the clash that happened on Palm Sunday, it's consumed with zeal. Consumed 00:42:50.760 --> 00:42:57.640 with zeal. We have this in this church but sometimes it is zeal that is unexpressed. 00:42:58.600 --> 00:43:03.320 Zeal that is unexpressed still lacks a critical element and the critical element is boldness. 00:43:05.720 --> 00:43:11.960 Zeal is like a steam engine that has coals being thrown into the furnace and it's building up. 00:43:11.960 --> 00:43:18.680 It's building up but it will blow up or it will fizzle out if boldness doesn't put feet to it. 00:43:18.760 --> 00:43:23.400 Now I understand why taking people on trips or taking people into adventures matters. 00:43:24.120 --> 00:43:29.080 Most young people do not know what they're living for, what they would die for, 00:43:29.080 --> 00:43:31.000 and what they could give their hearts away for. 00:43:35.480 --> 00:43:42.840 And so he goes into the temple precincts, the outer court where the Gentiles are, 00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:44.280 and he begins to... 00:43:48.280 --> 00:43:52.280 Here's the thing. We may have been under the impression that Jesus goes in there, 00:43:52.280 --> 00:43:59.320 he's like carried by the fervor of the crowd and he looks at the temple and he gets indignant 00:43:59.320 --> 00:44:05.320 and he goes, does this. Nope. It is the day after. It's a very deliberate intentional act. It is not 00:44:05.320 --> 00:44:12.360 a spontaneous act. It is a very deliberate act. It is not a spontaneous act. It is a very 00:44:12.360 --> 00:44:19.400 deliberate act. That's the beauty about this. It's not spontaneous. It's not, oh, I need to 00:44:19.400 --> 00:44:25.880 clean this place up now. No. It is very deliberate. He went home, he came back the next day. It's very 00:44:25.880 --> 00:44:32.200 deliberate. It's very intentional. The act is a direct attack on the leadership and the priesthood 00:44:32.760 --> 00:44:38.440 that allows the court for commercial activity. It's become a bandit cave where people are 00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:43.880 in trade in front of a watching world. That's the worst thing. The rest of the world is watching. 00:44:44.520 --> 00:44:53.000 And isn't it the same today? Where we watch as... I mean, I've been in India when prosperity gospel 00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:59.160 preachers come on regular Indian TV because there's a Christian channel and they ask for 00:44:59.160 --> 00:45:06.200 eight dollars, which is not much in dollars but is a lot in Indian rupees, from the poor and the rich 00:45:06.280 --> 00:45:14.280 to plant olive trees on the Mount of Olives so that when Jesus returns, there will be trees on 00:45:14.280 --> 00:45:20.280 the mountain and he will be glad and prophecy will be fulfilled. And if for 16 dollars you will get a 00:45:20.280 --> 00:45:24.760 piece of land, you will never stand on it because your ticket will cost more than that, but you will 00:45:24.760 --> 00:45:35.960 get a certificate saying you own 12 square inches of land in Israel. This is what is happening 00:45:35.960 --> 00:45:44.200 that day. And what did Jesus expect this place to be? Jesus expected this place to be a place 00:45:44.200 --> 00:45:51.160 where there was reverence and he gets upset to see the temple precincts, the outer courts being used 00:45:51.160 --> 00:45:56.600 as a thoroughfare. Like if your house is there, instead of taking the road, the temple's open, 00:45:56.600 --> 00:46:01.880 everyone's trading, let me go right through. He stops them. You see that by the way in every church 00:46:01.880 --> 00:46:10.280 with a parking lot, people cut in. Jesus decided no cutting in. He stops them from cutting in. 00:46:10.280 --> 00:46:16.840 What is he calling out for? I want you to recognize the moment he says sanctuary, everything changes. 00:46:16.840 --> 00:46:21.320 He starts with temple, then he moves to house, and then he goes to sanctuary. And when he goes to 00:46:21.320 --> 00:46:29.240 sanctuary, he says you will not keep being irreverent here. This was a place that was supposed to be the 00:46:29.240 --> 00:46:37.000 dwelling of presence. This was a place where Shekinah was first brought to dwell. And now you 00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:44.120 can't treat it so irreverently and make it a cave of bandits. He isn't taking the whip to whip people. 00:46:44.120 --> 00:46:55.800 He's chasing the animals away. Up turning tables. There are two very sad statements in the New 00:46:55.800 --> 00:47:03.400 Testament and the Old Testament. One is in 1 Samuel. This woman gives birth and they name the child 00:47:03.400 --> 00:47:11.320 Ichabod. And Samuel hears it. He falls backwards and he dies. And Ichabod means the glory has departed. 00:47:12.200 --> 00:47:20.520 The other scene is in Luke 18 or 19 where Jesus is standing overlooking Jerusalem. And he looks at 00:47:20.520 --> 00:47:25.560 Jerusalem and he says, Oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, how I've longed to gather you as a hen would gather 00:47:25.560 --> 00:47:31.720 her chicks, but you would not have it. And then he says something so sad. He says, behold, I leave 00:47:32.280 --> 00:47:37.960 your house to you, decimate. It's his house. 00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:48.840 But it can come to a point where if zeal doesn't consume me for this amazing thing called the people 00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:57.560 of God, where he now dwells, you know, when tradition comes in, when legalism comes in, 00:47:57.560 --> 00:48:01.960 when the ways of man come in, do you know when it comes in, when power grabbing comes in, 00:48:01.960 --> 00:48:07.480 where personal gain comes in, you know, when it comes in, it comes in when a person begins to lose 00:48:07.480 --> 00:48:15.080 zeal for the house of God. It should be like a passion in you. He had that zeal when he created 00:48:15.080 --> 00:48:20.760 the earth. Every day after the day would be over, he would put his feet up maybe on a planet and he 00:48:20.760 --> 00:48:29.640 would say, boy, this looks good. It is good. And then he would start working the next day. 00:48:29.640 --> 00:48:37.240 Everything God does, he does with zeal. Zeal has in it passion. Zeal has in it holiness. Zeal has in 00:48:37.240 --> 00:48:42.840 it creativity. Zeal has in it boldness. Zeal has in it obsession. 00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:52.360 So my question to you and I is what is it in your life besides your wife and child that you have this 00:48:52.360 --> 00:49:04.680 about? We must have an answer to this. If we don't have an answer to this, we have someone who can 00:49:04.680 --> 00:49:13.160 give us an answer to this. What is it besides your spouse and your children or child that you 00:49:13.800 --> 00:49:23.160 have this kind of a zeal about? What is zeal? Boldness to do something. Creativity. Obsession. Passion. 00:49:23.160 --> 00:49:28.920 And purity because it comes from God. 00:49:36.520 --> 00:49:44.760 The triune God has this. It just boggles my mind that he has this passion and zeal. 00:49:46.200 --> 00:49:52.920 Guess who or what it is about? You and I. Christ, the bridegroom, is obsessed with the bride. 00:49:53.240 --> 00:50:00.440 The father is obsessed with the son's bride. The Holy Spirit is obsessed with the bride. 00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:07.480 The church has become his magnificent obsession. Resplendent, decked out she will come down from 00:50:07.480 --> 00:50:21.320 heaven. The bride of Christ, Holy Jerusalem, you, I. And so this need to be consumed with zeal is 00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:23.320 important. 00:50:31.320 --> 00:50:37.880 Matthew 21, something else happens, guys. When the temple courts are cleansed, you will find a strange 00:50:37.880 --> 00:50:44.280 line there. It's only in Matthew. When the temple courts were cleansed, the lame and the blind came 00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:46.280 and they were healed. 00:50:46.280 --> 00:50:52.040 Because the tradespeople who were selling and bartering wouldn't probably allow beggars to spoil 00:50:52.040 --> 00:51:00.520 their trade. Whenever the temple is cleansed, two or three things happen. One, the blind and the lame 00:51:00.520 --> 00:51:05.640 will come in. Two, the book will be recovered. When Josiah started repairing the temple, he found 00:51:05.640 --> 00:51:12.680 the book of the law. Whenever the temple becomes your church, you will find the book of the law. 00:51:12.680 --> 00:51:17.880 The book of the law. Whenever the temple becomes your obsession, the word will become your 00:51:17.880 --> 00:51:22.280 obsession. You cannot separate Christ and the body. 00:51:27.960 --> 00:51:34.600 So be zealous, be relentless. Like Josiah in the repair of the temple in 2 Kings 23, 00:51:35.160 --> 00:51:37.400 you will find the book of the law and you will live by it. 00:51:37.400 --> 00:51:46.200 Be zealous about the liberty of the spirit. Be zealous about ending legalism in your life. Be 00:51:46.200 --> 00:51:52.920 zealous because the letter kills. Be zealous to end performance in your life. End performance. 00:51:53.880 --> 00:52:00.120 Be zealous that you and I will not live by a mind your own business culture. If you are part of the 00:52:00.120 --> 00:52:06.280 church, your business has become our business. Your sin affects us. Your obedience or your 00:52:06.280 --> 00:52:11.000 disobedience, your participation or lack of participation affects us. I read that scripture. 00:52:11.800 --> 00:52:15.960 There is no myob culture once you enter the body of Christ. 00:52:20.440 --> 00:52:23.720 Do you see how rotten to the core our churches have become? 00:52:26.360 --> 00:52:33.880 And to persist with them for what? Years and years spent in a decaying edifice that had grace 00:52:33.880 --> 00:52:47.480 for two years, 50 years ago. I don't understand it. Sheep stealing should be legal. 00:52:49.960 --> 00:52:52.360 It saves the sheep from dying in a bad place. 00:52:55.320 --> 00:52:59.640 I hope I'm so glad I'm not famous yet because this could end up on Twitter. 00:53:04.280 --> 00:53:10.840 Be zealous about Richmond. Be zealous about the revival among 20s and 30s. Be zealous about the 00:53:10.840 --> 00:53:14.440 order of the household of fathers and sons that we've been talking about. 00:53:14.920 --> 00:53:20.680 Religious spirits will rise up. Cessationists will rise up. Legal systems will rise up. 00:53:22.040 --> 00:53:25.240 Things in the world that are sodom-like will rise up. 00:53:26.840 --> 00:53:32.040 Why? Because every time a church or a person or a people decide 00:53:32.600 --> 00:53:40.600 that they will have the zeal of the Lord consume them, the enemy knows, the satanic hoards know, 00:53:40.600 --> 00:53:45.400 that if these people rise, at least two generations will turn to God. 00:53:46.680 --> 00:53:49.960 Choose today who you will serve, Baal or Yahweh. 00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:55.480 And so it will be resisted. So what? 00:53:57.320 --> 00:54:01.000 We have a God who preempts and he pours fire on altars. 00:54:02.360 --> 00:54:09.000 The reason we don't see some of the things we should see is because we have other options. 00:54:10.120 --> 00:54:14.760 I remember Jeevan telling me, I was with Jeevan and we were meeting a guy who asked Jeevan, 00:54:14.760 --> 00:54:19.560 why is it that you see more miracles in India? And Jeevan's answer was simple. In India, 00:54:20.120 --> 00:54:24.440 when you don't, when you are sick, you can't go to the doctor because the doctor will charge you 00:54:24.440 --> 00:54:29.640 $2 and you don't have $2 so you go to God. In India, when you have to pay off a loan, 00:54:29.640 --> 00:54:33.800 when you have to pay off a loan, you can't go to the bank because the bank will not even let you 00:54:33.800 --> 00:54:40.280 in. So you pray to God. People become dependent because they don't have the other places to go 00:54:40.280 --> 00:54:50.920 to before they go to God. And we can show them guys. You know, one of the things that will happen 00:54:50.920 --> 00:54:55.240 when we begin to stand like this is in Richmond, places that are decaying will shut down. 00:54:55.240 --> 00:55:07.240 There needs to be an end to places that have resources, but who are just spinning their wheels, man. 00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:19.320 And yet through it all, Zechariah 9.9 has to be maintained. You know, it would be so great if 00:55:19.320 --> 00:55:23.080 I learned, you learned judgment with humility. It's a hard thing. 00:55:24.920 --> 00:55:28.440 Jesus could do it and so can his people. Judah, what are you doing here? 00:55:39.240 --> 00:55:46.040 To walk. Guys, here's the other thing. Yeah, we got a few more minutes. Just imagine this. 00:55:46.040 --> 00:55:53.960 You're in a, you're in a huge square with thousands of people selling and buying. 00:55:55.640 --> 00:55:59.880 Your disciples are there with you and it's in the center of Jerusalem, a place 00:55:59.880 --> 00:56:07.960 which is kind of hostile to you. How do you have the audacity to create a whip out of cords 00:56:07.960 --> 00:56:14.120 and go around upturning tables, chairs, throwing people out, chasing the cattle? 00:56:15.080 --> 00:56:22.440 What kind of authority is that? Just imagine yourself in that situation. He was 100% man and 00:56:22.440 --> 00:56:28.440 100% God. He's operating there just as you would have to. How do you go do that? 00:56:31.320 --> 00:56:37.720 This is the authority that comes with a knowing and an anointing that is so powerful, so strong, 00:56:37.800 --> 00:56:45.720 that you become like Samson and the jawbone of an ass becomes a weapon of mass destruction in your 00:56:45.720 --> 00:56:52.600 hands. This is what we're talking about. This kind of anointing we haven't tasted but I've heard of. 00:56:52.600 --> 00:56:58.920 I've heard of this. I've heard of famous people who did not know what to do and would stand and 00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:10.680 nothing would pass. But the opportunity for anointing faith, the miracles of God and the 00:57:10.680 --> 00:57:14.840 marvels of God, the glory of God, if you want to see it, there must be an opportunity and the 00:57:14.840 --> 00:57:20.600 opportunity must be taken. When they asked Jesus, how can I increase my faith? Jesus' response was, 00:57:20.600 --> 00:57:26.440 come and serve. In serving, you create an opportunity and in the opportunity, you will find 00:57:26.440 --> 00:57:32.200 his strength and his anointing. Anybody who wants to see this without stepping out will die 00:57:33.160 --> 00:57:44.280 imagining it. Here's the other thing, guys. We do not step out when it's convenient. We do not step 00:57:44.280 --> 00:57:51.720 out when we are rich enough, old enough, young enough. We do not step out when we have time. 00:57:52.680 --> 00:57:58.840 We do not step out when we have the right leaders. We do not step out when we have all the 00:57:58.840 --> 00:58:04.680 conditions working right. We step out when either God asks you to or the people of God that you 00:58:04.680 --> 00:58:15.880 trust ask you to. That's when you step out. Any questions? 00:58:21.880 --> 00:58:25.880 If you cleanse the temple and repair it, you will keep creating room for the blind and the lame. 00:58:27.320 --> 00:58:29.880 I want you to read Amos 9, 11 to 14. 00:58:33.160 --> 00:58:37.720 Guys, when it comes to the presence of God, do not honor man, do not honor traditions, 00:58:37.720 --> 00:58:41.720 do not honor your own stubbornness and your mind. We honor our stubbornness. 00:58:42.360 --> 00:58:48.600 We honor our stubbornness. I hate it. I had a small time argument with my sister the day before 00:58:48.600 --> 00:58:57.480 yesterday, and I'm wondering whether I should be the first one to go and talk about it and fix it. 00:58:58.520 --> 00:59:04.760 Or whether, since I'm the older one and since I seem to be right in this argument, should I just 00:59:05.560 --> 00:59:13.960 wait for her to come and open the conversation? And I'm surprised at how I honored my stubbornness 00:59:13.960 --> 00:59:17.960 more than reconciling with someone that I care for. 00:59:24.360 --> 00:59:26.360 Stop honoring your stubbornness. 00:59:32.520 --> 00:59:34.520 How do you do that? 00:59:34.520 --> 00:59:51.080 How about, what did I say? Amos. Amos 9, 11 to 14. 00:59:53.640 --> 00:59:59.320 Amos 9. Amos is after Joel. Amos 9, 11 to 14. 01:00:05.160 --> 01:00:12.920 In that day, again, it's about zeal to restore his obsession. In that day, I will restore David's 01:00:12.920 --> 01:00:19.560 fallen shelter, as in the church. I will repair its broken walls, restore its ruins. I will rebuild 01:00:19.560 --> 01:00:25.400 it as it used to be. Why? So that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear 01:00:25.400 --> 01:00:30.760 my name. You know what it's saying? It's saying, Jacob, be consumed with zeal for my house. And if 01:00:30.760 --> 01:00:38.360 you're consumed with zeal for my house, I will come and I will repair it. I will set it up like 01:00:38.360 --> 01:00:43.720 David's tabernacle used to be. I will set it up on a hill. I will set up my presence on a hill. 01:00:43.720 --> 01:00:48.600 There will be no protocol. People will come and see. The very ones who long to see the ark and 01:00:48.600 --> 01:00:52.680 who could never see it because it was hidden behind a curtain, they will see it displayed. 01:00:52.680 --> 01:00:57.240 How will they see it displayed? Because I'm raising a people called Acts 29 in Richmond. 01:00:57.240 --> 01:01:03.320 They will see it displayed through jars of clay that are flawed. They'll see it set up on a hill. 01:01:03.320 --> 01:01:08.920 There shall be dancing. There shall be singing. I shall have a choir that is so loud that people 01:01:08.920 --> 01:01:15.240 will begin to hear who I am. I will restore the tabernacle of David. This is what he's saying. 01:01:15.240 --> 01:01:21.560 Why? Why? Not so he can get some praise and adoration. He will set it up again so that the 01:01:21.560 --> 01:01:26.840 ends of the earth can seek him so that the Gentiles will find him so that the ones called 01:01:26.840 --> 01:01:36.360 by his name shall be saved. You know, I was thinking this morning, I'm tired of also telling 01:01:36.360 --> 01:01:42.120 myself that the church needs to go out there. Yes, the church needs to go out there, but people like 01:01:42.120 --> 01:01:53.240 this will have people coming here. In a famine, if you know where food is being supplied, do you 01:01:53.240 --> 01:02:01.320 go there or do they say, we will go and distribute it? You go there. It's both. It's not one or the 01:02:01.320 --> 01:02:08.520 other. Then it goes on to say, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the reaper will be 01:02:08.600 --> 01:02:12.920 overtaken by the ploughman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the 01:02:12.920 --> 01:02:17.560 mountains and flow from all the hills. What's it saying there? Before one generation can mature, 01:02:17.560 --> 01:02:29.640 the next generation is already maturing. Hallelujah. And I will bring my people Israel 01:02:29.640 --> 01:02:35.720 back from exile. They will rebuild in the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards 01:02:35.720 --> 01:02:41.160 and drink their wine. They will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in my 01:02:42.600 --> 01:02:48.040 own land, never again to be a prudent from the land I've given them. Let's go to the last one. 01:02:50.120 --> 01:02:56.440 The last one is challenging status quo. Challenging status quo. So this villager 01:02:58.520 --> 01:03:05.480 who the Galileans from Nazareth are proclaiming as the prophet and his followers are now a threat 01:03:05.480 --> 01:03:11.880 to the position of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they ask the question that you 01:03:11.880 --> 01:03:18.360 will get asked, that anyone who walks like this will get asked. And the question is this, by whose 01:03:18.360 --> 01:03:28.360 authority? And when this question is asked of you and I, we usually try to defend our position. 01:03:28.920 --> 01:03:33.880 No, no, no. God told me, that sounds pretty sad. No, no, no. The church sent me, that sounds pretty 01:03:33.880 --> 01:03:39.640 sad. Look at how Jesus answered this. You know, I love the way he goes about it. He was evasive, 01:03:39.640 --> 01:03:45.160 he was cunning, he was smart. I'm talking about Jesus. By whose authority have you done this? He 01:03:45.160 --> 01:03:52.120 was evasive, he was cunning, he was smart. And he answers saying, well, John the Baptist, who do you 01:03:52.120 --> 01:04:01.720 think he was? Did he come from God or did he not? Shut the guys up. You don't argue and have a 01:04:01.720 --> 01:04:09.080 discourse with the religious. That religious spirit can spin a web around you if you go down that 01:04:09.080 --> 01:04:17.800 road. Very rarely do apologetics work, honestly. Some of you may think very highly of apologetics, 01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:25.960 bless you. But very rarely does it work to have an argument with someone about their religion that 01:04:25.960 --> 01:04:30.520 they would die for, which is why they are at your door and arguing, which is why you are not at their 01:04:30.520 --> 01:04:43.240 door. You don't win these arguments. Learn to be evasive, cunning, and smart. Cunning as a serpent, 01:04:43.240 --> 01:04:55.640 innocent as a dove. He was. And so he doesn't answer them. But here's the thing about Jesus. 01:04:55.640 --> 01:05:01.880 He's not afraid of being canceled because that's what they want to do. So he's not afraid of being 01:05:01.880 --> 01:05:07.400 canceled. He wants nothing for his own. He isn't coming from a place of pride and he knows where 01:05:07.400 --> 01:05:12.760 he came from and where he's going. This is essential to this kind of living. You have to know where 01:05:12.760 --> 01:05:18.760 you're coming from and where you're going. You don't have the fear of being canceled. You want nothing from it. 01:05:18.760 --> 01:05:31.320 Okay, okay, five minutes. Gosh, parents are sending their kids to do this now. Which child was that? 01:05:40.200 --> 01:05:45.880 He will be accused of being a blasphemer anyway shortly and he'll be put to death in a few days 01:05:45.880 --> 01:05:55.720 by war authority. Who do you think you are? Moses faces from his own sister and his brother. Aaron 01:05:55.720 --> 01:05:59.640 and Miriam ask him the same thing. You married a Midianite. Who do you think you are? 01:06:03.240 --> 01:06:08.200 Guys, the great thing is the more accusations you face, the easier you will find it getting. 01:06:09.160 --> 01:06:16.840 Yeah, it becomes easier to handle it. And then he begins to tell them parables. 01:06:17.560 --> 01:06:24.680 And in the parable he tells them that, listen, you need to know that you used to have the rule of God, 01:06:24.680 --> 01:06:28.840 but I'm taking it away from you and I'm going to give it to a people that produce fruit. 01:06:30.440 --> 01:06:35.480 This is again the outworking of the fig tree. He says to the Pharisees, to the Sadducees, to the 01:06:35.480 --> 01:06:41.240 High Priest, I'm taking your authority and your power away from you. And I'm saying to you, 01:06:41.880 --> 01:06:48.520 as this church begins to function the way it is supposed to function in Richmond, which it has 01:06:48.520 --> 01:06:57.960 begun doing, there will be pastors in this city that will go find a job elsewhere because what 01:06:57.960 --> 01:07:01.800 they have in terms of resources will be taken away from them if they're not faithful. 01:07:05.480 --> 01:07:16.200 It will happen. 01:07:25.320 --> 01:07:29.560 When you have the key of knowledge, what you will not enter or let others enter, 01:07:30.200 --> 01:07:37.800 when you mislead or deviate or keep others from going forward, when you reject truth and follow 01:07:37.800 --> 01:07:43.880 delusion, when you're okay being complacent and leading a people into greater complacency, 01:07:46.760 --> 01:07:53.800 when you lower your standards of morality, when you have a show of godliness but no power, 01:07:54.120 --> 01:07:58.600 when you begin to pray on people and go after their gain like Balaam and Korah, 01:07:59.720 --> 01:08:07.160 they know that it will be taken away from you and given to someone who can be more fruitful. 01:08:08.680 --> 01:08:17.320 Part of being prophetic is the ability to come from a place that is clean-hearted before God, 01:08:17.480 --> 01:08:25.000 clean-hearted before God, wanting nothing from it but speaking and saying that we will be a 01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:31.560 plumb line or a touchstone that will prove whether gold is gold or whether it is just glitter. 01:08:32.520 --> 01:08:37.720 As the moment we begin to step into this role, know that judgment will first begin in this house. 01:08:38.840 --> 01:08:46.440 It's always like that and I welcome it from the Holy Spirit so that 2 Corinthians 10 may come to 01:08:46.440 --> 01:08:52.200 pass that we will pull down every stronghold, take captive every thought, reasoning, argument, 01:08:52.200 --> 01:08:57.560 imagination against the knowledge of God and we will lead it captive in submission to the Lordship 01:08:57.560 --> 01:09:06.520 of Christ, punishing disobedience after our obedience is complete. We are not here playing 01:09:06.520 --> 01:09:19.560 church. We were given a city and strangely enough we will be held accountable, all of us, 01:09:20.120 --> 01:09:23.880 starting with me, for whether we were faithful to what we were given. 01:09:28.840 --> 01:09:35.800 Go to Zechariah 9 and we'll end with this. Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, 01:09:36.760 --> 01:09:44.760 Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 9, 01:09:47.960 --> 01:09:57.800 God is saying to Zion, to the people of God, rejoice. He's saying, shout. 01:09:58.520 --> 01:10:07.080 Why? Because the king or government is coming. He is righteous. 01:10:09.720 --> 01:10:14.280 He is victorious. He is humble. 01:10:18.040 --> 01:10:23.640 And he is coming. I want you to remember these lines because we will talk about government at 01:10:24.520 --> 01:10:37.480 some point. Key bearing authority, key bearing authority comes as a result 01:10:41.480 --> 01:10:44.920 of cross bearing humility. 01:10:54.120 --> 01:11:01.000 Key bearing authority comes from cross bearing humility. If there's one prayer I have for myself, 01:11:01.000 --> 01:11:07.800 I have for the leaders here, I have for you, is that may you and I have the same kind of key 01:11:07.800 --> 01:11:14.520 bearing authority that Eliakim had in Isaiah 22, 22. But that kind of key bearing authority is 01:11:14.520 --> 01:11:21.800 the result of cross bearing humility, which is what we are all here for. 01:11:23.640 --> 01:11:29.560 What Good Friday brings to us, humility has nothing to protect. It is okay being shamed 01:11:30.440 --> 01:11:38.440 and therefore it doesn't get angry. I don't know whether I saw this somewhere or I wrote this 01:11:38.440 --> 01:11:45.960 myself, but there is nothing you want to be 01:11:51.720 --> 01:11:53.080 in the eyes of man 01:11:53.720 --> 01:12:13.320 except what you are with him at any moment. 01:12:13.960 --> 01:12:27.880 It's all that matters. Unafraid. Walking in humility. Teachable. Cross bearing humility leads 01:12:27.880 --> 01:12:35.960 to key bearing authority. It's all that matters. Unafraid. Walking in humility. Teachable. Cross 01:12:36.040 --> 01:12:49.240 bearing humility leads to key bearing authority. Let's pray. Jesus, you're something else. 01:12:54.120 --> 01:12:54.840 All this time, 01:12:59.000 --> 01:13:03.960 I didn't know that you had these four deliberate confrontations lined up. 01:13:06.920 --> 01:13:14.440 You're so brave when you walk the earth and yet you were as human as I am. How did you do it? 01:13:22.200 --> 01:13:29.720 You were consumed with zeal. You were willing to confront unfruitfulness, not from an angry place, 01:13:29.720 --> 01:13:33.800 but from a place that always wanted that which is unfruitful to become fruitful. 01:13:34.440 --> 01:13:39.160 And then you challenged status quo. You always challenged status quo. 01:13:43.080 --> 01:13:50.520 And then you brought an end to concealment this morning. This was a difficult week for you, right? 01:13:53.640 --> 01:14:00.680 Soon you'll be going up the steps to that upper room where you wash people's feet and you 01:14:01.640 --> 01:14:05.960 eat bread with them and then you'll go to Mount Olive and you'll start sweating blood. 01:14:11.800 --> 01:14:15.080 And then you'll start praying and everyone else will fall asleep. 01:14:16.520 --> 01:14:20.680 And then they'll come with torches. 600 of them, 700 of them. 01:14:23.080 --> 01:14:29.960 Most will run away except John. They'll ask you, are you Jesus of Nazareth? 01:14:30.040 --> 01:14:34.280 And you will say, I am. And when you say, I am, 600 of them will fall backwards. 01:14:35.960 --> 01:14:41.640 Power was pressing then too. Legion of angels at your disposal, but no, you choose. 01:14:41.640 --> 01:15:00.840 I'm forever grateful to you. I'm forever grateful for the cross. I'm forever grateful 01:15:01.640 --> 01:15:02.040 to you. 01:15:02.040 --> 01:15:17.240 For you came to seek and save the lost. You did not wait for me to cry out to you. 01:15:17.240 --> 01:15:32.200 So we are grateful, Jesus. I pray that you'll make us alert to what you went through many, 01:15:32.200 --> 01:15:41.640 many years ago in real physical life this week. Just make us aware of it. 01:15:47.240 --> 01:16:13.640 Praise the name of the Lord our God. Praise his name forevermore. 01:16:14.360 --> 01:16:29.400 For endless days we will sing God's praise. Oh Lord, oh Lord our God. 01:16:30.520 --> 01:16:35.880 We love you, Jesus, and we are glad that you touch our hearts regularly. 01:16:38.840 --> 01:16:41.080 You touch our hearts regularly. 01:16:41.080 --> 01:16:50.520 We are grateful for that. Jesus, you had resources that had to be distributed, 01:16:50.520 --> 01:16:56.360 that was used for ministry. Judas was unfortunately pilfering from it, but you had people that took 01:16:56.360 --> 01:17:05.160 care of resources, treasury, finances. And we are going to do the same in about 20 minutes in our 01:17:05.160 --> 01:17:12.040 AGM that everyone can attend. But as we go about doing that, we just thank you for the 01:17:12.040 --> 01:17:15.160 monies that have come into this church and the monies that are going to be distributed. 01:17:16.120 --> 01:17:23.640 May it be done to your absolute pleasure and your will. May you just be thrilled at the way 01:17:24.360 --> 01:17:32.600 we go about the business of money for the extension of your kingdom. So be Lord over 01:17:32.600 --> 01:17:37.240 our session too, just as you have been Lord over our lives for the last two and a half or three 01:17:37.240 --> 01:17:49.720 hours. In Jesus' name we pray. There's more cake outside now.