March 29, 2026 - Great News: Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:1-11

You know, God doesn't invite into his kingdom good people. He invites people whom he has saved, and that's a hard truth. So we don't just try harder. This is really doesn't make sense, but here we go. We surrender. Jesus, would you change me? Fill me with your love. Make me like you because through king Jesus, god does not just forgive us. He transforms us. Did you know that Jesus is king? Join me. Jesus is king, but maybe not the way we expected. [01:12:33] (57 seconds)  #JesusTransforms

You see, this is how God works. Before we ever reach out for God, God is already reaching out for us. Before we understand, god is already moving toward us, drawing us to him. This is grace. We talk a lot about grace here because this is a place where I personally have experienced a lot of grace. What does that mean? God's loving action toward us. It means God started first. [00:58:40] (41 seconds)  #GraceStartsFirst

And, beloved, this is the difference of Jesus. God we remember, we talked about God the father, God the son, God the holy spirit. This is the difference of Jesus. Do you know what drives Jesus? Holy love. Not the sword, not vengeance, holy love to restore and redeem what has been broken among us. Jesus is a king who comes close, not control, but to restore, who comes not just to rule, but to transform hearts. [01:02:25] (40 seconds)  #KingOfLove

Jesus is not just entering the city. He is revealing himself as the king that God promised generations before to his people, and he is saying, I have come near to save you. But the problem is he didn't look the way they expected. Have you ever shown up to a situation with an expectation and it look entirely different than you thought it was? He's saying, I am a king, but I come in peace not to crush people, but to save them. [00:57:50] (50 seconds)  #PeacefulKing

But king Jesus comes gently. He works patiently, and he works deeply. Hear this today, beloved. Jesus is not coming after you with a machete. He's coming to you with open arms saying, welcome home. There's a reason we start our worship services this way. He comes not to just forgive us, but to shape us into his character, to make us more and more like him, people who love God and love others. [01:08:04] (51 seconds)  #WelcomeHomeJesus

The people laid things down, their palm branches. They made space for Jesus in their lives and in their streets, and today, we are invited to do the same thing. So here's a tough question. What did you bring into this place that you need to lay down that you don't wanna have to carry back out? Control, fear, worry our own plans because we cannot say, Jesus, save me, and still try to run everything ourselves. [01:13:37] (49 seconds)  #LayItDown

But underneath the celebration, there's a question. Who is Jesus? I mean, who is this Jesus that everybody's celebrating coming in? And even more, the real underlying question to that is, what kind of king is he? Because remember, they knew what kings look like in the Roman Empire. They knew what they had heard kings were supposed to look like. But if Jesus is a king, what kind of king is he? And how we answer that question or those questions changes everything. [00:48:38] (40 seconds)  #WhoIsKing

Have you ever been in a place where all you wanna do is, god, would you save us now? It's a calling out, acknowledging who he is, but also saying, help. It's a cry for help. It's not just praise. It's a cry of help, and this, my friends, is where God meets us. This is where grace, god's loving action toward us, meets us in our need, in our brokenness. [01:03:56] (45 seconds)  #SaveUsNow