Preparing Hearts for Easter: Obedience, Compassion, and Sharing

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I'm suggesting that the first thing we do to prepare for Easter this year is do what Jesus says. Two of his disciples obeyed his unusual instructions. Doesn't it grab you as a bit unusual that he calls two guys, and we don't know which two he called? They're not named for us. I think that's an advantage in terms of it could be any of us, right? [00:06:02]

Their simple obedience brought glory to God. They went and did what they were told to do, and as a consequence, Jesus was mounted on a Colt, came riding into the city of Jerusalem, and the crowds erupted in praise and honor and glorification of God. Their simple obedience paved the way for the greatest day in human history. [00:08:34]

We know broadly speaking that we exist to make Christlike disciples, so we can expect that some of what he tells us will be along those lines. We know that our purpose as a local church is to love God and love others, so we can be tuned into the love channel, expecting that Jesus will tell us some things about loving God and loving others. [00:09:36]

He wept over Jerusalem. Today, on the hillside that Jesus was descending on that first Palm Sunday, stands a tiny Chapel with a tear-shaped dome that commemorates that moment when Jesus wept. The Greek word translated as wept suggests more than tears. It suggests the kind of soul-racking, gut-wrenching, teeth-gritting sobbing that a person does at the grave of a friend. [00:11:38]

He didn't cry for himself. You know, he was on his way to die. He knew that they didn't get it, but he knew that. But he wept over the spiritual condition of the people in Jerusalem, over the lostness of those people, over the fate that was coming to them. He wept for them. He had liquid compassion for the sheep of Israel. [00:14:38]

When is the last time you had a good cry over those you know who are lost and facing destruction? And again, I'm not talking about some made-up tears. I'm talking about something that comes up deep from within, a God-induced weeping because you recognize the desperate fate toward which people are heading. [00:15:58]

Our praying is consumed with things that are temporary. It's ironic that the Lord sent me to talk about this today when in Sunday school we talked about the temporariness of physical bread, right? But our passion level is on a scale of 0 to 10. It scores about a zero as far as I can tell. [00:20:08]

I do think there's an issue about how concerned we are about the lostness of people, at least concerned enough to bring it up for prayer. And I do think that some people aren't getting saved yet because they're not being prayed for enough. I'll fight about that. [00:20:48]

What do we have to tell? That we have a risen savior, that death could not hold him, that he loved us so much he died for us. Man, I'm glad I don't have to tell about Mary Baker Eddy or Joseph Smith or Buddha or Krishna. We've got Jesus to tell about. [00:22:21]

The whole city was stirred as a result of two disciples who did what Jesus told them to do. If you go back to the top, those two men went and followed those odd instructions to the T, and the end result is that the whole city of Jerusalem, a pretty significant city, was stirred. [00:24:36]

I think if you look at scripture, the answer would be yes. We've got it complicated and convoluted all over the place, but if we will do what Jesus tells us to do and we will feel what Jesus feels, I think our city will be stirred, and we'll have opportunities to tell people about Jesus. [00:29:28]

The church grows through OAS evangelism. OAS is a Greek word that means household. You go through the New Testament, you see that it was Cornelius who had gathered everybody in his household, his servants, his relatives, everybody he could think of, right? People who know people, people who know Jesus. [00:33:57]

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