March 29, 2026 | Mt. Olive Austin Palm Sunday Worship

This is the language of resolve, of purpose, of someone who knew exactly where he was going and exactly what it was gonna cost him when he got there. And so, yes, Jesus is riding into Jerusalem not to receive a crown, but rather to make a bold declaration. A declaration that says that he is the king, that he is the messiah, that he is God, and that he has come to usher in a different kind of kingdom. [00:30:18] (32 seconds)  #KingAndMessiah

We expect Jesus to rescue us from our financial pressures, from the pain of a relationship, from the diagnosis or the illness, or sometimes even from the consequences of our choices. Right? We love the idea of God's power especially when it's being used on our behalf in the direction of our choosing. Right? It's us looking to Jesus knowing and seeing, yes he is all powerful and his power is for me. [00:42:29] (35 seconds)  #RescueNotOurTerms

And so today, as we celebrate Palm Sunday, as we head into Holy Week more fully and relive the death and then the resurrection, here's what ultimately that means for us. It means that we don't have to manufacture the rescue anymore because he has already absorbed it for us. And he gives it to us. The king who entered Jerusalem on a donkey, who let them crown him with thorns, who died the death for the wrong choices that we deserved, that king, he welcomes you and I into his rescue. [00:47:19] (45 seconds)  #RescueAlreadyGiven

And for some of us this is something that we've been carrying, asking Jesus to intervene in for a long time. And yet, here we are like the crowd, longing for a king on a war horse. The king that, yes, could have overthrown Rome and established a new earthly kingdom, and yet the reality was that Rome was never the enemy. That the real enemy that both God's people and us still today are facing up against is sin, [00:43:03] (35 seconds)  #SufferingServantKing

And so you see this picture of Jesus literally laying everything out before them. He sends two disciples, which was the number needed for a testimony to be accepted. He tells them exactly where to go, what type of animal, not just a colt, but a one that has never been ridden, is gonna be tied up in this place, and here's the password that you need to say if anybody asks. And everything happens exactly as Jesus tells them. [00:36:54] (31 seconds)  #DonkeyDeclaration

Now everything about this scene points toward the declaration that Jesus makes. Jesus is riding on a donkey. And so in the ancient Near East, the the kings, the royalty, the the people of power, the elite, they rode, everybody else walked. So now here's Jesus on the back of this colt that has never been ridden. Again, meaning that it's a ceremonial set apart. It's been saved for this occasion. [00:39:01] (32 seconds)  #MisplacedExpectations

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, save us, save us now. It's a royal language from Psalm one eighteen in which in the old days, the Old Testament, it was worshiped for when the king would return from war victorious because God had delivered the people. God had delivered them the victory. So it's them worshiping and praising God for what he has done. [00:41:05] (26 seconds)  #GiftOfTheSpirit

He gives us his spirit to live inside of us, to empower us, to equip us, to follow him, to walk with him, to face today's challenges with him. He's given us his hope and the idea that the promise of a future secured that nothing in this world can take away. He gives us the joy that comes from knowing, that we are his beloved son or daughter, and that he is always with us. [00:46:44] (35 seconds)  #FestivalAndPolitics