When God is at Work

Intro

I often fall short at giving people public thanks

Not because I’m not thankful But I was raised to work for the Lord, and understand that I have to get acknowledgment by people

People don’t mean any harm God sees and will reward you

I Apologize, because many of you have put in a lot of work and have not received as much public thanks as you should have

That’s why this past week, I tried to let you know who was working behind the scenes

The evidence is there, but we can forget to recognize it

Clean, neat, refreshed, soap in the dispenser, lights still on, water is running, ladies restroom stall is bigger . . .

Somebody has been working/giving but we can miss it

Palm Sunday represents such a day, God is at work, preparing for the greatest event in human history . . . sacrificing his own son . . . but the people fail to realize WHEN GOD IS AT WORK

Background - let me set the scene for our scripture

Palm Sunday , the beginning of what some call Holy Week, is the name given to mark the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the Sunday before he would be crucified.

It is such an important event that it is recorded in all four gospels

Setting the Scene

In the time of Jesus, there is no such thing as Palm Sunday, but they are about to celebrate a very special holiday, Passover.

The biggest Jewish holidays, Passover, is about to start, a God ordained holiday that celebrated the time when God delivered His people from their oppressors in Egypt.

So the streets of Jerusalem are swarming with the regulars, pilgrims, tourist, and vendors

The mood for this particular Passover is extra special

speculation has been building about this man, this prophet named Jesus, from Galilee

No one has ever taught like this man

No one has done the miracles that he has done

Healing lame, deaf, mute, blind, leprosy, feeding multitudes, casting out demons

Now, the report from several reliable witnesses is that He just raised Lazarus from the dead after four day

And this man, Jesus is leading a procession, right now, to Jerusalem, holy city during the most holy of holidays

For the question on many hearts is, “Is this Jesus, the promised Messiah, the Savior, the promised King?”

And here he comes! And his disciples are cheering and shouting, and they throw their clothes and the branches of palm trees on the ground in front of Him, celebrating his arrival

cloaks on the ground symbolizing royalty

palm branches symbolizing victory

all the while crying out, “Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord!”

and in the midst of all this celebration, Jesus weeps

Luke 19:41–44 NASB95

41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Let me summarize that last part of verse 44:

City of Jerusalem, the peace you have been longing for is here, but you don’t recognize it

the answer you have been seeking is here, but you don’t recognize it

the help that you need is here, but you don’t recognize it

City of Jerusalem, God is at work, but you did not recognize ot

let that sink in . . . there is a lot of praise, celebration, and excitement . . . but no real understanding of why they are celebrating

people are being very religious . . . but they don’t recognize God at work in their midst

Some people don’t recognize when God is at work because they have HARD HEARTS.

Pharisees

Luke 19:39–40 NASB95

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

Jesus, whom the Bible nicknames Immanuel . . . meaning God with us, is right there before their very eyes, but the hearts of the Pharisees are so hard, that they want the people to stop praising Jesus

sometimes we don’t see God when he shows up because our hearts our hard

What’s a hard heart?

That’s when we’ve chosen how we are going to be, how we are going to think, how we are going to live, and no one, not even God can change it, our minds are made up (in a bad way)

Jesus had done mighty miracles, Jesus taught with such authority, Jesus lived such a perfect life that even lying witnesses couldn’t get him in trouble

but yet they don’t seek to follow him . . . in fact, they seek to kill him . . . cause their hearts are hard

Can I note that they were very religious . . . but their heart was hard

Can I note they were well respected . . . but their heart was hard

Can I note that they knew the Scriptures . . . but their heart was hard

they could see Jesus fulfilling all that they read about but . . . nah, He’s not the messiah

cause if I acknowledge Him, that would mean change

and because their hearts were hard, they did not recognize when God was at work

Is your heart hard?

Is there some are of your life, you refuse to yield to God?

no matter how precise the scriptures are? No matter how clear the teaching is?

You see it . . . but you say, “nah”

Please don’t let your heart become hard, because if you do . . . it will make it hard to recognize when God is at work in your life

and like the Pharisees, you will find yourself fighting against God

even though you are religious, respected, and know the scriptures

Some people don’t recognize when God is at work because they have hard hearts, and

Some people don’t recognize when God is at work because they DON’T UNDERSTAND WHO JESUS IS.

people in the city

Matthew 21:10–11 NASB95

10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

they think Jesus is a prophet . . . no!

Jesus is God in the flesh, Jesus is God

his nickname is Immanuel, meaning God with us

The Bible, speaking of Jesus says, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

so many people don’t get that, and that’s why they don’t recognize God when he is at work

Jesus is more than a prophet, great teacher, hero, one of many choices

you have a choice, but Jesus is the only real choice!

Jesus died for your sins

took your punishment

did the time for your crime

made it possible for us to be washed clean and made righteous

and Jesus rose from the dead, he laid down his life . . . and then picked his life right back up

he returned to heaven, but he is coming back again

but when we don’t understand that, we have a take it or leave it attitude with Jesus

we have trouble committing to Jesus

now, We’ll take a commitment to the military seriously (screaming at you, following orders you disagree with, get up at certain times, move when they say move, lay your life on the line)

But Jesus . . . . Meh . . . I don’t really have to follow him/follow him, right?

some people get tripped up at the first thing, baptism?????

that’s why when he rose, and his disciples sho nuff, for real knew who Jesus was . . dying for him was nothing

you’ve seen the show Undercover boss (explain)

Just because he came to earth and played the part of undercover boss doesn’t mean that he is not the boss!

Jesus totally revealed himself when he rose from the dead, and stated that he has all power

Yet we still Jesus like a fellow employee, even though he reveals himself to be the boss

if you don’t get Jesus, who is God the son . . . then you don’t get God the Father . . . your basic concept of God is off

and thus, when God is at work, you remain clueless like the people in the city . . . who is this?

and you will turn on God, even though God is working on your behalf

Some people don’t recognize when God is at work

because they have hard hearts

because they don’t understand who Jesus is

Some people don’t recognize when God is at work because they DON’T UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES.

disciples

John 12:15–16 NASB95

15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.

Here we have people who believe in Jesus

they believe he is the Christ, son of the living God . . . but they don’t understand the Scriptures

In this situation, Jesus showed up, just like the Scriptures said, and His DISCIPLES (the supposed to be learners) don’t understand

We’ve got to do a better job of understanding the Scriptures or we too will not recognize when God is at work

What messes us up is preconceived notions . . . . What we want to believe makes us miss what is actually in the scriptures

his disciples want to believe in a king, coming into Jerusalem on a war horse, leading to glorious battle

that’s Peter and the rest all agreed that they would die with hin and form him

But the scriptures say he will come in on a young donkey

The scriptures also say, he was

Isaiah 53:3–5 NLT

3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

and yet they still see . . . war horse, glorious battle

so when Jesus would not let them even raise up a sword to fight (Remember Peter) . . . they ran away

Jesus was doing the exact things the scripture foretold, but their pre-conceived notions prevented them from recognizing God at work

we do the same thing, Like Romans 8:28 - we see, “all things turn out good”

but it says, work out for our good, for those who are living for his purposes

but we still see, “everything is going to be good”

then when everything in life is not good, we get confused and can’t see when God is at work

I’ve had some whoopings work for my good, but the whipping itself was not good to me

Like Isaiah 54:17 - we see, “no weapons in my life”

but it says, no weapons formed against you shall prosper

that means the weapons will form, will come, will fight, will strike, you will have to battle, but you will win in the end

and when those weapons form and come , we get all bewildered

It’s time to understand the Scripture, so that we can recognize when God is at work in our lives

otherwise when things get tough, we will deny Him just like the disciples did

Some people don’t recognize when God is at work

because they have hard hearts

because they don’t understand who Jesus is

because they don’t understand the scriptures

let me clearly say

God is at work in your life!

But his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts, so it can be very hard to see him working,

when you look at the situations you are dealing with

when you think about the circumstances you are facing

things won’t add up to your natural mind

But if you have a tender heart towards God, if you understand who Jesus is, if you understand the Scriptures, you will have the faith to recognize that God is at work in your life

On this Palm Sunday that we are reading about, the people cried out Hosanna, which means save us . . . they wanted political salvation

and Palm Sunday did signify that Jesus came to save them, but save them from a much bigger problem than the Romans

Jesus came to save them from damnation in hell

Jesus came for more than a temporary salvation in this short life . . .but a permanent salvation, an eternal rescue

this was bigger, this was better . . .salvation on a whole new level

That’s how God works, He is always doing more work than you ask or think or imagine . . . God is at work in your life, doing big things

for example, God sent the prophet Samuel to tell David that he would be king, but God was working on more than that

God let David go through some things that led to him writing some of the most famous scriptures in the Bible

thousands of years later, we’re still praising God through those Scriptures

“I will bless the Lord at all times . . .”, David wrote that

God was at work, it was big!

we’re still being encouraged by, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth

David wrote that

We learned how to repent because of those scriptures God used David to write

Create in me a clean heart, o God; and renew a right spirit within me

on time, things got so bad that David lost everything that he had, including family

and the Bible says he had to encourage himself in the Lord (that’s where we got that from)

David had to believe that despite everything going wrong, God was at work

and God was at work, he helped David, rescued David, did a Hosanna for David . . . and God also did a work that is helping us thousands of years later . . .

and that same God that was at work at David’s time, and was at work on that Palm Sunday, is at work on this Palm Sunday!

There is nothing new under the sun the Bible teaches, and if you are like me, you are crying out to God, with our own Hosanna! . . . . . Lord save me, help me, rescue me, deliver me, come see about me

let this Palm Sunday remind you of the fact that God is at work in your life!

don’t let the circumstances overwhelm you

don’t let the situation overwhelm you

don’t let the trouble throw you off

don’t turn on God like the pharisees

don’t give up on God like the city

don’t doubt God like the disciples

but While you’re going through

continue to have a tender heart - let Jesus lead you

remember who Jesus is 0 he is able to do all things

seek to truly understand the Scriptures . . .

and you will know by faith that God is working, and he is working on something Big in your life

Because God has a lot more in mind than just saving you from your present situation

he has a whole new level of saving he wants to do in your life

delivering

miracle working

waymaking

for you and for others whom your life will bless

God is at work . . .God is at work

believe that, receive that

Let God do what He wants to do, How He wants to do it, when He wants to do it. . . be faithful, not faithless

Invitation

But when you don’t know God is at work, you respond the wrong way.

Jesus wept because he was saying . . .

if your hearts were not so hard, if you understood who I am, if you understood the scriptures, then this day could have been a benefit to you, it would have brought you peace . . . . but since you will reject me in a few days, this is the beginning of the end for you . . . because you did not recognize God at work.

in this situation, Jerusalem and the temple was totally destroyed 70 years later, many killed and enslaved

seige that happened during a Passover celebration

God was at work, but the city rejected him, like they did many of his prophets that came before him

and when you reject Him, you reject all the blessings that come from God

Don’t reject God because He doesn’t come in the type of package you were looking for

“Well if God wanted to save us, then he should just appear in the sky . . . and make a huge announcment”

Sorry, once again . . . despite all of your pre-conceived notions, Jesus has decided to come in on a donkey . . . the foolishness of preaching the Bible calls it (that’s how he has chosen to work)

If you are not a real Christian

harden not your heart

understand who Jesus is

understand and believe the scriptures

meditate on that for a while