God's Parade Or Man's Charade

That you know when the priest was the only one that could really read the word We don't want we don't believe that we believe how many believe you can read it and get something out of it All right, that's what it's for. All right Matthew 21 and so as they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives Jesus sent two disciples saying to them go to the village ahead of you and at once You will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her Untie them and bring them to me If anyone says anything to you tell him that the Lord needs them and he will send them right away This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Say to the daughter of Zion See your king comes to you Gentle and riding on a donkey on a colt the foal of a donkey The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them And they brought the donkey in the colt and placed their cloaks on them and Jesus sat on them a very large crowd spread their cloaks in the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road and The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted Hosanna to the Son of David Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna and the highest And when Jesus entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred and asked who is this The crowds answered. This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. How many of you love a good parade? And we we love parades in our culture and I I have to tell you it's always been that way a few months ago We were home for a holiday for give us Thanksgiving right and my kids pulled out the old eight millimeter films of dad Marching in the high school band, you know the funny uni and the big hat and the trombone and and they had a big laugh out of that and promised them that One day God would make them pay And I know even the cool ones out there among you love parades too I Was at the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup Championship celebration at River Stadium and all these beer guzzling hockey fans They went nuts when the Penguins came out of the little underground area and marched in a big parade around the stadium They didn't hold back. They were they just went wild I've been at the high school games when the homecoming Parade goes by and even high school kids like get cool uncool for a little bit. Oh, yeah, you know, we love parades It's something about the excitement and the enthusiasm and the color and all the rest of it. What we have here Is God's parade? We have the Son of God not a hockey player not at the Super Bowl champion not an astronaut back from the moon We have the Son of God Coming in to establish his kingship this is a Sort of a finale of the earthly ministry of Jesus just prior to his passion It's crucifixion and resurrection, which we will be looking at throughout this week But something happened at the end of this parade Something unforeseen For rather than coming in as a hero and setting up his kingdom The Bible says that Jesus came Luke 19 verse 11 and he wept Over the city He wept you don't weep at parades Somehow God's parade you see Didn't meet the expectation when it ended of all the people who were watching it So they turned away from him their allegiance wasn't real their praises weren't authentic their hosannas weren't to be heard again You know, what is it about us? Church about you and me that makes us so like these people, you know We want to celebrate right up to the place to where we're supposed to get what we think we're supposed to receive And when it doesn't happen We vanish like the Pittsburgh Sun Not to be found anymore, I Want to make this application of this message today very Vital and relevant because I believe with all of my heart That right now in the season of our church's life. God is coming in I don't want I don't think it's stretching the analogy too far to say that there is an entry of God right now at North Way Christian Community some of us have been praying for this for a number of years And you don't see it at any one place. You don't You can't come to one service and make an evaluation. You have to hear what's going on in the big picture of things You have to hear the life-changing kinds of things that are happening behind the scenes But God is making an entry right now. You know, there's a hundred and twenty-five women here in this auditorium on Tuesday morning for a breakfast 50 of whom had not been in this church before they came to hear the gospel simple gospel 75 of our kids gathered last Sunday night to go to a crusade in Oakland for the Billy Graham rally They didn't make it because the bus didn't show up I know but I mean if they came we felt bad about that There's reports about things happening in our home groups and our our generations groups where lives are literally being turned around God is making an entry now. My point today is this if that in fact is so If God is doing something now, he's coming in to bring his rulership And by the way, how many believe there's times and seasons there are times when it just isn't happening This is a time when it is what can we do? to ensure that that rule will abide here and have its full impact and not become a Place where Jesus six months from now weeps over what has happened at this church Are you following me? Very important Bill captured it. We are on we are on the verge of many things that we have longed to see the question is what makes a welcome to the presence of God that causes him to abide and By the way, if today you're not in a place where you really need a touch then praise God But many of us do what can we do? How can we participate in this thing? Well, first of all, I want you to notice here that Jesus does not rebuke the people for the parade Do you notice that I Mean, he doesn't say in fact He says to them when the Pharisees acted up and said tell them to shut up. I mean, that's a paraphrase, but The Pharisees said tell these people to stop crying Hosanna hail to the Savior What did Jesus say if they are silent the very Stones or rocks will cry out. Jesus said this has got to happen. My name has got to be praised My presence has got to be announced and welcomed And so Jesus never rebukes them for it. In fact, he encourages That expression and I want to look and it's going to get uncomfortable for just a few minutes here Because I'm going to challenge some of us. I you know standing up here you see so much I wish I could take an individual video camera and just shoot it in and then hand you a copy of yourself on the way out the door Watch the rerun of your worship this morning. I Want to talk about how we can welcome the presence of God in our lives First thing I see here look with me now Matthew 21 It says in verse 8 that this large crowd cut down branches from the trees And spread them on the road John's gospel, by the way, this account appears in all four Gospels this story, which is unusual In John 12, we read that they were palm branches that these people climbed up they climbed up in the trees They cut these things down and then they waved him. You know what that tells me What do you think what picture do you get when you see a person a grown man or woman waving a palm branch Well, I'll tell you what it tells me these people were no longer inconspicuous I Mean they were willing to be Discounted as among those who were following the Lord these weren't people who would come in and sit in the back row They were people who were willing to stand up and say hey, I'm I believe this. I'm part of this. I'm one of his I'm committed. It's a bold statement of belonging Now we're not talking here today about you going out and cutting off the little branches of the trees outside That's not the point the point is are you willing to be among those who will stand up and be counted? I want to make a statement to the man if you're seated near a man poking right now say this is for you Men listen, I warned you last week. I was going to be coming right at you There is something foundational about men learning the wisdom Open-hearted praise and worship That cannot be replaced by any other point of spiritual growth you show me a man who is unashamed to openly praise God to wave his palms and I'll show you someone in whom the Holy Spirit is flowing What is it men What is it about us that would just as soon kind of play it? Like safe and reserved. I mean I walk up here and some of your videotapes Here's what you'd see when it came time to say Hosanna you'd go Hosanna And right there, you know, but beltline it's like oh I can't do it It's something in us It's something about who we are that makes us just kind of want to we don't want to be seen as one Who would be just a little bit like fanatic? And then I want you to know until you confront that reservation in you You're gonna limit what the Holy Spirit would really want to work through you And by the way, unless you think you know, if you think this was easy for me. Remember I Started my Christian life in the Presbyterian Church like a lot of you and there's not anyone with Presbyterian But I was never exposed to this stuff And I was a Marine lieutenant And I want you to know there was more than one time that people had some things to say to me there about my praise and worship But there's something inside of me that wasn't satisfied with just sort of the Sophisticated praise I Wanted to be among those who wholeheartedly you see it's weird to me, but somehow It's strange that today. I'm even today amongst church leaders and church people throughout America Lifting of hands as an expression of praise is still viewed as a sectarian practice of an aberrant few Emotionally kind of disturbed people, you know, I mean, it's kind of like only weirdos really do stuff like that Rather than something that's normal. Yeah, you have to cut out a lot of a Bible If you want to take lifting hands out of the Bible and express you have to I mean from through the Psalms David the warrior king Frequently said I will lift up my hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. No doubt about it folks Your willingness to openly praise Is an invitation to welcome the presence of God hear what I'm saying? How are we gonna how are we gonna see this become something that we own together we're gonna open to it now the point isn't Just lifting hands. I don't want anyone to say well if you don't lift your hands, you're not well That's not what I'm saying at all. I am saying this that as we open to God as We surrender you see lifting your hands as a as an expression of surrender. It's humility We are saying God I am on your side and I don't care what this person next to me thinks I belong to you I'm one of yours all the way Whose side are you on? Hey, I'm on the Lord's side. Amen, and if I'm on the Lord's side, then I don't care if the guy at work knows it in fact, I hope he does know it a guy in the neighborhood who Kind of thinks it's nuts that I have a bumper sticker on my car about the Lord or whatever it might be also look here that the people the Bible says Shouted verse 9 Oh shouted Let's talk about speaking our praise for just a moment. You see the Pharisees again They hated it when the children said Hosanna verse 15 Hosanna the children are crying out By the way, where do the kids learn to say Hosanna to the king? What did they learn that? Sunday school teacher No from their parents just a little aside here parents What are your kids learning from you What do they hear coming out of your mouth Do they see you as a worshiper Very interesting what kids pick up, isn't it? Speaking to the Lord talking to him Worshiping him. You know what's you know Why it's such a wonderful thing to learn to do because when you're praising God and speaking to him You can't be speaking about yourself How many can speak about more than one thing at a time Try it sometime when you're speaking to God you can't speak about you and that's one way just one little way that you can Decentralize all of this stuff you see praise coming from our lips Welcomes God it's an invitation that he come and take up his residence people Someone's got to be thinking. Oh, you know, I understand that but you know, I It's just I'm a little more mature than that Well, how mature are you are you over 25 Over 45 over 75 over 95 Not even Werner's over 95 yet Well, you know what God says is mature God says maturity is becoming childlike and There's no accident here. God wants you to confront everything in you that makes you just want to sort of be like well I don't want to get into this. I want to be sort of on the fringe. He's the ancient of days He's from everlasting to everlasting. So he's worthy of Our praise no matter how mature we may perceive ourselves to be and these people continue to praise him They walked alongside they shouted Hosanna But when he didn't deliver they stopped praising him Do ones I want to say to you today These people were expecting Jesus to come in kick the Romans out of the rule Take over and cause the children of Israel to take over the nation. Remember that that's that's what they were looking for And I want you to know there are people today Who are struggling because they feel somehow That when the election took place, I can't tell many people I've had to counsel through the election transition I mean when they when when the new president was elected for them It was like the end of I mean God no longer is on the throne That's not the case Just because it didn't turn out the way you thought it would doesn't mean you should stop praising God In fact this is a time to praise God because it says to me more than ever that the Lord is ready to come in in his people and establish something that we've just been frankly too lazy to open to We need to learn the wisdom of continuing to praise God even when we don't get what we want Hello, one of our problems is we seem to want to praise him when it's going our way I Continue to praise the Lord day in and day out even though I think some of our legislators need to have their pool balls Reracked don't you I mean, it's just a little weird things going out there. I'm gonna praise God Injustice and discrimination and violence and all that stuff We hate all those things, but I am NOT going to stop praising God just because it isn't necessarily going the way I think it should The third thing I see here People wave their branches they spoke their praise and this one you're really gonna love. I told you we're gonna love it The Bible says look at verse 7 and 8 they spread their cloaks on the ground before him Jesus is coming and what do they do? Well, you know, they take off their garments and By the way, this was not a small thing. They didn't have 15 suits in there. They took off their primary garment and they laid it on the ground kind of like this. All right Now just imagine would you get a mental picture here, what do you think took place when the parade came along? I'm not gonna do it. All right, that's just What do you think happened, what do you think happened to that garment as the parade came on it got It got pretty much destroyed. No doubt and if nothing else It smelled real funny. Okay That's a symbol that's a message to us these people didn't stop just with their praise Just with their declaration of belonging to God they laid down something of value to them And I have to say loved ones that there are many believers Who love to praise and love to exalt and love? To declare but when it comes time to laying down their garments, I don't think so Not ready for that yet. We're pretty unapologetic around here about our tithes and offerings we believe God has ordained that we learn to give in order to bring to rest that waging war of materialism in each of our hearts and Beyond that it's for our benefit, but we always release our guests and visitors from giving you'll never be embarrassed here about money As Bill said we're seeking to conduct ourselves with financial integrity, but let me say very clearly we're never gonna stop stretching here We're Always because God never You know God never says well, you know, that's just fine get comfortable. I'm gonna go comfortable is not a word in God's vocabulary He never says blessed are the comfortable I Want to challenge you to read a book if you've become a little comfortable and you're giving Read a book called money possessions and eternity by Randy Alcorn. We have in our bookstore I want to dare some of you to read that book You're not even writing the name down write the name down money possessions in eternity Read any book you want to on the subject of giving and then read that one It is a wonderful thorough scholarly and yet readable book and I agree with the author that God is here for the purpose of helping to realign our security When your security is the Lord you can take anything that comes when your security is anything else You're bound to be blown about by circumstances and all the rest. And so we're here to be stretched dear ones You know if you're here today and when the offering comes here in just a few minutes and the basket goes by and you know You kind of like well, you know, it's offering time and you've already written out your check, you know And you know, I'm thinking about it sort of a mindless like poop, you know drop it in Or you know while you reach into your wallet and well, let's see. It's offering. I guess we got to do this He always watches us There's a one and here's a ten, you know, it's now it's got to be the one today Let's let's just be real Frank here and say this When you put that offering in that basket today Can you say with an open heart God? To your glory To The advancing of your church in your kingdom I give this Is it representative to you of taking off your cloak? Or is it just taking the lint out of your pocket I Want to commend many of you have just you've blown me away by your sacrifices I Mean the story some of you tell me about the way you're prompted to honor God with your giving just it just challenges me But I want to say to some of you why are you waiting You know the Lord himself said put me to the test in this didn't he Malachi chapter 3 I want to submit to you a little test. This is the first Sunday of the second quarter I want to ask you to just consider a 90-day test to the first Sunday of the third quarter which happens to be July the 4th If you've not ever tithed Try a 90-day tithe test So, okay God, I want to obey you I want to honor you I'll take you seriously I'll give 10% of my income and I'll watch and see if in 90 days you honor your word or not How many of you ever done something like that and found that it worked for your life? I mean God did something anybody I Want you to know God will keep his promises to you and there's no group Voice yourself from the selfishness and greed and materialism that's all around us then to learn to be a giver Now Waving the palms speaking the praise and laying down the cloaks Why in doing all that did the parade still fall apart at the end as I conclude? I want us to look carefully at what made God's parade become man's charade And the simple reason is this the people were worshiping the Lord Expecting to receive something they didn't get they had the wrong motive and So when Jesus didn't do what they were expecting him to do they spread out and abandoned their praise and Left him to be crucified What happened in Luke 19 and Matthew 21 and John 12 and Mark 11 also happens in? 1993 America dear ones we worship God and we welcome him in as long as we feel we're going to benefit That we'll gain something that will be helped in some way let me say it another way in many circles God is worshipped as a means to an end Someone who will meet my needs someone who can help me feel better someone who can just Make it easier for me in my life Listen to these quotes A.W. Tozer who was a man who wrote earlier in this century Christian missionary alliance heritage said this Whoever seeks God as a means toward a desired end will not find God For God will not be used Warren Wearspeed president of Moody Bible Institute said this if we see worship as a means of getting something from God Rather than giving something to God We make God our servant rather than our Lord Elements of worship become a cheap formula for selfish gratification See that's what these people were doing they were going through all the motions, but they weren't really doing it for him They were doing it for them They were doing it so they could receive what they felt they needed and wanted Now how many of you know sometimes when you worship God he does supply what exactly you need Anyone here ever been healed during a time of praise and worship? I've had that experience absolutely Anyone here ever been comforted in a time of praise and worship? Anyone here ever had wisdom imparted about a problem you face in a time of praise and worship? Absolutely God meets our needs but dear ones that should never be the motive The motive should be the glory of God Listen to this excellent quote by Stephen Charnock in his book The Existence and Attributes of God He says this listen carefully now come on open your head up here When we believe we should be satisfied rather than that God should be glorified We put God below ourselves as though he's been made for us Not we for him There's no greater blasphemy than using God as our servant There's no worse place to do it than in the realm of worship Where we make the worship of God to end in ourselves rather than in God Did you get that? I mean that's a heavy quote but listen When we believe we should be satisfied rather than that God should be glorified We put God below ourselves As though he has been made for us and not we for him Dear ones please know that it's wisdom to us to worship God No matter what we get out of it Because in time God will reveal himself One of the most touching stories I've ever heard on this was by Terry Law How many remember Terry Law? He was in our church what five years ago or so? He's led worship singer traveling groups all over the Soviet Union prior to the fall of communism He's based out of ORU He stood up here and told this story Of how his wife, his first wife Was killed in an accident suddenly while he was overseas serving the Lord And he came back, remember that story? It's so powerful because for about a year he could not praise God He was grieving, he was in depression He couldn't serve the Lord, he couldn't even speak the name of Jesus in worship And he told this story in this platform How one night Oral Roberts came to him and told him You've got to come back to praising God for who he is And he said I just can't do it Somehow I think God took away from me the one thing that I loved in this earth And he shared how Oral just said you've got to begin And one night at two in the morning he woke up And said God in my pain I still praise you And in that moment God broke the depression Broke the heaviness Broke all the oppression he'd been living under And changed his life I want to say there's some people here today right now And I believe this is a word from the Lord You're waiting for God to do something And you've been depressed and you've been discouraged And you've been defeated And you're saying God hasn't heard my prayer I want to say to you right now by the Lord, by the Holy Spirit Begin to praise him Begin to worship him and God for who he is Will undertake in your behalf How can you know if your motives are getting a little skewed? Let me conclude with this A couple of ways you can look at your life And church listen this is real practical One way you can kind of get a handle on whether or not You're just sort of praising for yourself or for God is Ask yourself this question Am I always evaluating what's going on? One of the signs that you're worshipping kind of for the wrong motive is You're a self-proclaimed evaluator of praise and worship Sort of the Siskel and Ebert of morning worship service Well I'll give it one thumb down People come in and I look out there and I see Some of you are looking around to see who's here Some of you are thinking well you know gee I just don't know if I like that banner although I think it's beautiful Some are saying well you know I'm not sure I like the songs we picked today you know And we just didn't do the ones I really felt we should do on Palm Sunday We didn't sing in the spirit today so it wasn't very spiritual you know We didn't do a country worship song I just want to kind of help you understand We will never do a country worship song Eliminate that expectation I hate to discourage Pastor Scott and other pseudo-cowboys But I just want to say to you We will never do that But I notice that some Folks those first 20 or 25 minutes They're unto God And the first thing I want to say is Get here on time to give God your very best You should be in here about 5 minutes to 9 just getting ready I evaluate the morning service not so much by what you say about the message But when I drive away from here and I'm heading home You know what the first thing I want to ask God is Lord were you pleased today? And I love it when I sense God saying you know My people were preoccupied with me And not themselves There is an orientation here we've got to learn as a church To put God at the center of our worship And not ourselves Second thing you can kind of monitor in your own life is Is your praise and worship radically dependent upon how you're feeling in that day By your circumstances You see me centered worship kind of says Well you know I yelled at the kids on the way over in the car And you know I just can't get into it today I had a bad week you know I lost an account I messed up on the job whatever I got here and I had to park up at the office building And I'm not going to praise God for that Learn to guard your heart because you see When pure hearted people worship God My experience is he cannot resist it God comes flooding in you want to see God show up here Then come no matter how you're feeling and say God I'm going to present with you If those five songs aren't my favorite It doesn't matter I'm going to enter in I'm going to contribute my voice And my spirit The third thing I just want to ask you to monitor What happens when you're home alone? Is it mayhem? Was the last time you really praised God last Sunday morning? How many of you found a few moments each day Just to exalt the Lord My own conviction is what happens in here is a reflection of what happens outside of here You don't come in here and suddenly change And if you find it difficult Let me encourage you a couple of things that I do To enter into a spirit of praise and worship I open the Psalms And I start out reading a Psalm out loud in the morning Every morning How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord Almighty My soul yearns even faints for the courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God I read it out loud And then I sing a few little songs to the Lord You say well I can't sing Well then let us fix you up with some praise tapes Again people sing for you Are you going to hum along with them or something? Enter in Again why are we saying these things? So that when God begins to move You can welcome His presence When the King begins to make His entry You can open heartedly commit to Him You can without reservation Welcome Him and humble yourself with your praise And you can lay down your cloak and say God I want your presence I want your spirit here Come and abide in me Church these are not just sort of charismatic options To me this is the essence of what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth And it's my goal in the balance of 1993 To exalt the Lord And to worship Him wholeheartedly We're going to grow in this I believe it's what's going to set the church apart from the world As things darken in the years ahead A church where the Lord is exalted and magnified And it's going to take each of us Contributing what we are And who we are To Him Let's stand together Lee's going to come and lead us We're going to sing a familiar hymn But we're going to sing it worshipfully to the Lord We're going to present ourselves to Him It's called crown Him with many crowns And as we sing each verse listen to the words And contribute your heart and your voice to the Lord's glory And let's as a sort of concluding act of worship today Enthrone God in our praises Let's sing together crown Him with many crowns Let's sing shall we Crown Him with many crowns The Lamb upon His throne Hark now the heavenly anthem Rounds all music by its tone Awake my soul and sing Of Him who died for me And made Him as my majesty Through all eternity Crowned with the blood of love Behold His hands and side Which moved at His command In beauty, love, and majesty The angel in the sky Can fully bear the sight The doubt of death is one behind That gives the peace of mind Crowned with the joy of life The triumph of the King Who was victorious to last night For those He gave His sight Sing His glory His glory shall we sing Yes Lord Who died and rose again Time to time to time What did I do wrong? I've done the wrong thing What did I do wrong? I've done the wrong thing I've done the wrong thing I've been wrong I've done it me Am I good You know it I'm good You've done it me Am I good Dance now Let me dance now Am I good I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, I praise the O hail, Redeemer of the land, for Thou hast died for me, and raised me up from the dead. Hail Thy name, O God, and blessed be Thy name. Our King, who art in heaven. Lord, it is so true that if we remain silent, even the rocks will cry out. Lord, teach the little ones among us, and teach the most senior among us, Lord, to never cease to praise You. And all the rest of us in between, Lord, help us to keep growing as we welcome Your rulership. And all God's people say, Amen, Amen. Well, I so look forward to this coming week. Thursday night, not Wednesday. This is real important, because this is the first year after 12 years of doing this on Wednesday night. I'm afraid you're going to, well, it doesn't matter, you can come back Thursday. But Thursday night at 7.30, we're going to have a very wonderful and powerful communion service focused on the cross of Christ. It's power and purpose in our lives. A very participated service, where each of you will have an opportunity to come before the cross. It's going to be powerful. I'm going to urge you to come early. It starts at 7.30. You probably will have a hard time getting a seat if you wait until then to come. We're going to fill this place, and we're going to come before God. And then on Easter Sunday, we have three services. Now, we don't need three services if just you come. But I believe you're going to be inviting people to come to a place where God is going to show up. And He's going to be here in His glory, in His presence at 7, 9, and 11. And I'm going to have a message that's targeted, really, to people who are kind of wonderi