Palm Sunday: Expectation, Disruption, and God's Purpose

But here's the problem, y'all. When you misunderstand what kind of king Jesus is, you will misrepresent or misinterpret what Jesus is doing in your life. Just like the people in the New Testament, they wanted the king to fix Rome, but Jesus came to fix sin. They wanted external change, but Jesus came for internal transformation. They wanted immediate relief, but Jesus came for eternal redemption. And if you are not careful, you will reject what God is doing because it does not look like what you expected. [00:38:26] (41 seconds)  #MisunderstoodKing

Some of us want God to remove pressure while God is using pressure to shape us, and the danger is this. You will call it delay when it's actually development. You will call it absence when it's actually intention. You will call it confusion when God is working deeper than what you can see. God's still king even when you don't understand. God's still working even when it doesn't make sense. God's still moving even when it doesn't match your expectations. So don't let your expectation make you miss the king. [00:39:19] (36 seconds)  #DelayIsDevelopment

You can't manage Jesus. You can't reduce Jesus. You can't reshape Jesus. Jesus is king whether you understand him or not, king whether it makes sense or not, king whether it feels good or not. And I want you to know that you're not the first persons or people to have to go through some of this. Our ancestors believed God was gonna believe deliver them, and and God did, but not when they expected. Sometimes not how they expected. Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:36] (38 seconds)  #JesusCantBeManaged

Will you follow a king who doesn't always move the way you want God to? I'm trying to get out this first point. Will you trust a king who doesn't always fix, listen, what you thought God would fix? Will you stay with a king who is working deeper than what you can see? So don't let your expectation make you mister king. Here's the second point. God will not conform to your expectations. You must conform to God's purpose. God won't conform to your expectations, and I'm gonna add in this addendum, as hard as you may try to make God, you must conform to God's purpose. [00:42:17] (49 seconds)  #ConformToGodsPurpose

We reshape Jesus to fit our comfort, to fit our timelines, to fit our preferences. We want a Jesus who fixes quickly, a Jesus who explains everything, a Jesus who makes life easier. But the real Jesus does not conform to your expectations. You want fast? Jesus might be working slow. You want Jesus to remove it? Jesus is developing you in it. You want clarity? Jesus is showing you the process. You're calling it delayed? God is calling it a design. God is still God even when life doesn't match what you expect. [00:41:37] (36 seconds)  #JesusDefiesExpectations

Rome could limit their freedom, but sin distorted their identity. Rome controlled the environment, but sin corrupted their nature. And Jesus knew if I overthrow Rome and leave sin untouched, they will be free politically but still bound spiritually. So, yeah, we're praying for things to change, and we should. Praying for justice, and we should. Praying for relief from the pressure, and we should. But God is never only concerned with what is happening around you. God is always concerned with what's happening within you. Because you can change a system and still have broken people operating it. [00:48:52] (44 seconds)  #FixSoulsNotJustSystems

So let me ask you this. Before we shout, before we celebrate, before we move, what are you holding on to that God never promised? What expectation are you still measuring God by? What picture are you still trying to force God to match? Because maybe God didn't fail you. Maybe God just didn't do it your way. Palm Sunday is loud, but it's also tragic because the same people who got caught up in the moment missed what God was actually doing. [00:54:05] (40 seconds)  #ReleaseFalseExpectations

And I wonder this morning how many of us have been quietly disappointed with God because God didn't do it the way we thought God would? You didn't say it out loud, but you felt it. God, I thought it would look different. I thought I would be further. I thought this would have turned around by now, but but you're still here. You're still faithful. You're still showing up even though there's a quiet tension in your spirit because God didn't come the way you expected. And here is the invitation for this moment. Can you release what you expected God to do, watch this, and trust what God is actually going to do? [00:54:58] (43 seconds)  #TrustBeyondExpectations

And that's where Palm Sunday becomes real because the crowd is praising Jesus, but they're praising him based on what they expect him to do. Hosanna means save us now, but but what they meant was fix this situation, change this system, make life better immediately. And Jesus does not reject their praise because but he also does not fulfill their expectation because Jesus did not come to adjust the surface. Jesus came to transform the root. [00:30:17] (31 seconds)  #RootTransformation

Some of the hardest battles that you will fight are not out there. They're in here. In your mind, in your heart, in your habits, in your responses. And Jesus didn't come to make life easier. Jesus came to make you whole. Listen. If Jesus had done what they wanted, he would've fixed their situation but let their soul left their souls unchanged. And God loves you too much to fix your situation and ignore your soul. So sometimes, y'all, God will go deeper first before God goes wider. [00:49:57] (39 seconds)  #BattlesWithin

And then Matthew does something intentional. He connects this moment to Zechariah nine nine. Behold, your king is coming to you gentle and mounted on a donkey. So let's be clear. They are not wrong about who he is. He is the king. He is the fulfillment. He is the one God promised, but here is the tension. They are right about his identity, but wrong about his mission. [00:25:26] (27 seconds)  #FulfilledYetMisunderstood

Because sometimes, watch this, God doesn't look like things are changed. Sometimes victory doesn't look like things are changing. Sometimes victory looks like you changing in the middle of things changing. That's what Palm Sunday is trying to show us. They wanted a king who would change their situation immediately, but Jesus came to change them eternally. Tragedy is they almost missed them because God didn't match their expectation. And I wondered this morning how many of us have been on the verge of missing what god is doing because it did not look like what you were expecting. [00:53:18] (46 seconds)  #VictoryInTransformation

You thought life would look different by now. You thought you'd be further along by now. You thought some things would've changed around by now, and you're still praising, but internally, you're asking God, what are you doing? Listen. I wanna encourage you today. You can shout and still be confused. You can worship and still be wondering. You can still lift your hands and be wrestling. You can say hosanna on Sunday and question everything on Monday. [00:37:59] (28 seconds)  #WorshipAndWonder

Maybe the reason some of us are uncomfortable is because Jesus is not just trying to bless your life. Jesus is also disrupting your assumptions, because we don't mind Jesus being present as long as Jesus is predictable. We don't mind Jesus moving as long as we know where Jesus is going. We don't mind calling him king as long as he rules the way we prefer, but Jesus refuses to be managed. You can't script them, can't schedule them, can't control them, can't reduce them to your expectation. Jesus is king, not your consultant. [00:43:40] (36 seconds)  #JesusIsNoConsultant

And here is the tension that we've gotta wrestle with. What do you do when God shows up but not the way you expect God to? Because that's where faith get real. Do you trust God when God doesn't match your assumptions? Do you follow God when God doesn't follow your plan? Do you still call God king when God doesn't fix what you thought God would fix? Y'all Palm Sunday is not just a parade. It's a moment of revelation. [00:30:54] (30 seconds)  #TrustWhenConfused

My brothers and my sisters, one of the hardest things to deal with in life is not when things go wrong. It's when things don't go the way that you expected. Because when things go wrong, you can usually identify it. You can point to it. You can say that shouldn't have happened. But when something doesn't go the way you expected, it is harder to process. Because nothing is necessarily broken, but something still feels off. It's the job you got, but it's not what you thought it would be. [00:20:57] (38 seconds)  #ExpectationGap

Because we don't just have expectations about life, we have expectations about God. We don't expect God to move a certain way. We expect God to answer a certain way. We expect God to move a certain way. We expect God to fix things on our timeline. We expect God to open up doors and then close some others. We expect clarity and direction. We expect resolution. And most of the time, we don't even say those expectations out loud. [00:23:08] (29 seconds)  #HiddenExpectations

We believe in God's name. We sing about God's power. We declare God's goodness. We teach it in church school and bible study. But when it comes to how God actually moves and works, how God actually works, how God actually governs our lives, that's where tension shows up because we love God, but we build expectations around God. We build an idea of Jesus and who Jesus is that fits our preference. [00:33:39] (27 seconds)  #ExpectationsFitPreferences

a king who follows our sense of time, and we want a king who fits into our understanding instead of a king who stretches it. But the problem is if Jesus only operates within your expectation, then Jesus is not lord. You are god. If Jesus only does what makes sense to you, then Jesus ain't leading you. You leading Jesus. If Jesus only moves when you're comfortable, then Jesus is not king. You're just using Jesus to support your plan. [00:35:58] (31 seconds)  #DontMakeJesusYourTool

But hear me, y'all. They're there, quiet, assumed, unspoken. And when God doesn't meet those expectations, we don't always lose faith, but we do start asking questions. God, what are you doing? Why is it taking so long? Why didn't this work out? Why did this happen like this? And here's the part that we don't always say publicly because we feel it privately. God, this is not what I expected from you, [00:23:37] (31 seconds)  #UnspokenQuestions