PALM SUNDAY: WELCOMING THE KING

DISCOVERING JESUS He is my King

CATCHY OPENING

I love animals! I think they are so cool! God was so creative when He made all of the different animals in this world! Like did you know that male ostriches can roar like lions?

(INSERT CLIP)

Or that Gorillas can catch colds just like us

(SNEEZING GORILLA CLIP).

Or that a lion, the king of the jungle, can roar and be heard 5 miles away!! That’s like 88 football fields or 27000 kids standing side by side

(GRAPHICS ON SCREEN).

Wow! God’s creation is so cool! Today we’re going to talk about a different kind of king…though I love the king of the jungle…this king changed everything!

SCRIPTURE

So let’s set the scene of this fantastic story!

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate a holiday called Passover…and He knows the end of His life is coming…He knows that very soon He was going to need to die for all of us so we could be saved and so we could be with Him forever!

Matthew 21:1–3 NLT

As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”

Can you imagine the disciples faces when they heard what Jesus told them to do?

“Go to the village. You will find a Donkey and her baby and just tell them that “GOD NEEDS THIS DONKEY” and they will will just give it to you!

(INSERT CLIP OF SILLY FACES - maybe .5 of staff)

But it worked! The disciples came back with the donkeys, placed their coats on them and Jesus road them into Jerusalem…and you know the craziest part of all of this?

God had already told us this was going to happen hundreds of years ago!

(REWIND sound byte - Slomo clip of “hundreds of years ago”)

Woah!

CREW PAUSE

Okay…we’re going to take a pause here!

(RECORD STOP SFX)

Get into your crews and discuss this question:

What does this verse tell us about Jesus and why do you think God told us this would happen hundreds of years ago?

I’m going to put the verse up on the screen! You guys have 2 minutes to discuss this question! GO!

(2 MIN TIMER with Matthew 21:5 on the screen)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Alright come on back! So what did you guys think was happening in this verse? What did we learn about Jesus?

Well I see God telling his people that a great king, their promised king, is coming…but he won’t be wearing a crown

(CROOKED CROWN IMAGE ON MY HEAD)

…and he definitely won’t be in a golden chariot

(pop gold chariot on screen)

being pulled by white horses

(pop white horses on screen - it would be cool if they could drive off screen).

Instead their king would ride humbly into Jerusalem on a donkey and her baby.

Let’s read the rest of the story and see what happens next!

Matthew 21:6–7 NLT

The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.

Crowds began gathering around Jesus, recognizing that what God said in His Word was true. They began lining the streets and started taking off their coats and cutting leaves off of trees and placing them on the ground so the donkey’s hooves wouldn’t touch the dirty ground.

Matthew 21:9–11 NLT

Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked. And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

They saw that Jesus was their promised king! They saw God’s promises….ones that He made hundred’s of years ago come true! And they were so overjoyed that they shouted “hosanna, hosanna” which is a plea, or asking God for salvation, asking God to help them! They recognized that Jesus, the promised king, that He would be their salvation…but not in the way they expected…because we know He came to do so much more than just sit on a throne, He came to die on a cross, raise from the dead, and save us from our sins if we choose to believe in and follow Him… And that is what we will talk about more next week, on Easter Sunday!!

For now, let’s recap! Discovering Jesus shows me that HE IS MY KING! He is the king God promised us. He is the king of my heart. He is the king that provided me a way out of sin and into eternal life! JESUS IS MY KING!

I will see you guys next time! Bye!!