Yeshua

We are live streaming this, and I was in tears when I was reading the Word yesterday. Such a powerful story that we’re going to look at, as we look at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem of the Lamb of God, Jesus.

We’ve been in this study for the year called the Names of God, and we’ve been talking about the different names, which oftentimes are characteristics. It’s just who He is. You guys know what I mean? They’re attributes. And last week we talked about Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider. And we talked about how the ultimate provision of God is not a blessing. It’s not a check in the mail. It’s not an opportunity. It’s not an open door. The ultimate provision is the Lord Jesus Himself, and that He made Himself available as the Lamb of God.

And so we’re going to talk about that this morning, and just how precious that is — and really, I think, a little bit of a warning to the church. We think of Palm Sunday, and what do we think of? We think of the palm branches, right? And the waving and the celebration. And how many of you know it is a real celebration? Amen. There is a real celebration, and it is a time of worship and a time of expectation, realizing this is Jesus, the Savior of the world, who came to save us from our sins. And all of that is true. But I believe there’s also this caution: what kind of savior are we actually looking for?

And so what I would like for us to do is, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 21 this morning. Matthew chapter 21. And I don’t know about you, but I like to bring my Bible with me to church, and the reason I like to do that is I like to mark it up. I like to highlight. I like to write what the Lord is speaking to me, and then I go back to it later.

One of the habits that I try to have — we like to read our Bibles every day, and many of you know we have a daily reading plan — and something that I’m trying to also get better at is I often will read in the morning and I’ll spend time with the Lord and pray and go through the reading and jot down some things that I sense the Lord is speaking to me specifically. But it’s very easy for us to read it, write it, and then forget about it. And I find that it’s just so much more cemented in my heart when I go back that night and I read again what He spoke to me.

And that’s something that we have an opportunity to do. When you come on a Sunday, it’s good to hear, to be engaged, and to receive. But I would encourage you: what is the Holy Spirit speaking to you specifically? What is it that you’re hearing God speak to you? Oftentimes you’ll hear my words, but you’ll hear something inside. That’s the Holy Spirit. Amen. He teaches us. He speaks to us, and He guides us. And so when the Holy Spirit starts teaching you and speaking to you, that’s the stuff you want, by the way. We don’t need more words from a platform. We need more of the Holy Spirit.

And so when we hear the Lord, write it down. And I would encourage you, don’t just leave it. Go back to it. Amen. It’s food to us. His Word is food. And so we should treat it as something that is special, not common. If we just disregard it and throw it away and say, “Oh, that was nice,” and then we just go about our way — how many of you know that’s not caring for the word that was sown into our hearts? I said, that’s not caring for the word that’s sown into our heart.

Church, I need you to hear: you have a responsibility to steward the word that the Lord gives you. He can speak, and you can throw it away. He never forces Himself on anyone. The Lord Himself could be in the room — and He is. The Lord Himself could be looking you in the eye and speak to you, but if you don’t receive that word, it won’t do anything for you. He will not force Himself on anyone. That’s not the kind of lover that He is. He loves us, and He calls us, and He comes to us, and He offers Himself, but only to those who would receive Him. Is this okay? All right.

A buzz in the air

So we’re going to start at Matthew chapter 21, and I want to read this verse. And I kind of want to set the scene just for a moment. I want you to imagine yourself on the side of the road. We’re going to be looking at the triumphal entry. And Jesus is coming down the Mount of Olives, and He’s riding on a donkey — a borrowed donkey. And the people are outside on the road, and they are gathered together, and there is a high energy in Jerusalem.

For those of you that don’t know, it’s Passover week, right? When Jesus was walking on earth, it wasn’t called Palm Sunday, okay? It was Passover week. And this was a weeklong celebration and a feast that God had delivered them out of the bondage of Egypt. And it was a remembrance and a reminder that God is with them and God is the one who delivers them. And there was this expectation of a savior to come to rescue them and to lead them in victory.

And so there’s this buzz that’s happening, because this Passover week is a little bit different. Because there is someone who is going around who is rumored to be the Son of God, who is being called the Messiah. There are stories being told of this man who is doing miracles, where blind eyes are being opened, where the dead are being raised to life, where the sick and the lepers are being healed. This was before social media. There was no reposting to your stories. There was no slick marketing or advertising. It was all word of mouth. And the story was going out, and there was this word: “Someone is coming, and this might be the guy. This might be the Messiah.” There was a buzz in the air.

And so the people gathered outside the city of Jerusalem, and they were waiting. They were looking for this king who was coming to deliver them and to save them. And as Jesus is coming, this buzz and this excitement begins to get louder and louder, until all of a sudden there’s this roar. And they see Jesus coming into Jerusalem, riding on a borrowed donkey. And as He comes, the people begin to throw down their coats to make way for the king. On the road, they begin to cut palm branches, and they begin to wave them and lay them down. It was a sign of honor. It was a sign of worship.

And they began to cry, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” Now, we hear that word “Hosanna,” and oftentimes we associate it with worship. It sounds worshipful, doesn’t it? It sounds something like “Praise Him.” It sounds something like “You are worthy.” It sounds something like “This is awesome,” in this wonderful celebration. You get this picture of this awesome, awesome celebration. But the word was on everyone’s lips, and it was all the same: “Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

And I want to read this out of Matthew 21, starting at verse 8. It says, “A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”

I wonder — and I want us to consider — what they were thinking when they were shouting these words. I want us to think about where their heart was at. Where were their minds at? Because again, when we hear the word “Hosanna,” we think it means something like “Praise God” or “Hallelujah.” It sounds like a celebratory word. But the word “Hosanna” is actually the word “Hoshia na,” which means “Save us. Save us now.” This was actually a cry of desperation. There was a recognition that they were in a bad place. They were in a moment of desperation. They realized that they needed saving. And here is the Savior coming. And it was not a shout of triumph. It was a cry for rescue. And they’re shouting it at a man who is riding, again, on a borrowed donkey.

Now, last week we were talking about Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. And we looked at the story of Abraham and Isaac, and how Abraham and Isaac carried the wood up the mountain, and Isaac looked at his father and said, “Father, I see the wood and I see the fire.” But Isaac asked a question that hung in the air for almost two thousand years. He said this: “Where is the lamb?” Abraham makes one of the most prophetic statements in Scripture. He said, “God will provide Himself the lamb.” This was a powerful message. I encourage you guys to listen to it. And we see that God did provide a ram who was caught in a thicket. Isaac lived, and Scripture says that Abraham named that place Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide, or the Lord will see to it.

And here we are on Palm Sunday, and the Lamb is coming into Jerusalem on a donkey. And the crowd doesn’t know that Jesus is the Lamb. The crowd doesn’t know that it’s Palm Sunday. It’s Passover week, but they’re in a desperate place. And they think that what they’re looking at when they see Jesus is a king who is coming to deliver them in battle. They think they’re looking at someone who is coming with might and with power to deliver them out of their oppression, from the control and the bondage of the Roman Empire.

Now we, standing on the other side of the cross, know what Abraham saw: that this wasn’t just a king on a donkey. This was provision Himself. This was the Lamb that God provided for us, who came to take away the sins of the world. Amen.

Yeshua: the Lord saves

I’m going to build something, so I need you guys to stay with me. The very name of Jesus speaks to what He came to do. If you don’t know what the name Jesus means — it is actually Yeshua. We say “Jesus” in English, but it literally means Savior. The Lord saves. Jireh said that God would provide the lamb, and Yeshua tells you what the Lamb came to do. He came to save us.

And so there’s this crowd that’s gathering outside of Jerusalem, welcoming the king coming in. It was a crowd of desperate people who were under Roman oppression. Now, I want you to consider this. The people of Israel were under captivity, and they were occupied by Rome in Jerusalem, for four hundred years. We hear that sometimes, and I think we underestimate what that actually means and what that looks like.

Just for a frame of reference, we’re celebrating this year 250 years of the United States being a nation. I want you to think about all the history that’s happened in those 250 years — all the sacrifice that’s been made, the battles that have been fought and won, the political powers, the movements, the rises, the falls, the nations that have come and gone. Hello? Two hundred fifty years. I want you to think about what this is. This is four hundred years that they were under bondage, where they were heavily taxed. They could not make their own rules. They were allowed to worship, but they were not free. They were heavily taxed. Most of them could not pay the taxes. They were weary. They were tired. And they knew that there was this promise of this Messiah that was to come to deliver the people and to establish the kingdom.

Now, the reality is, here they are, and they’re shouting “Hoshia na,” or “Hosanna” — “Save us, save us now.” And the man that they’re shouting at, His name is Yeshua, which means “the Lord saves.” They’re crying out for salvation. And notice: salvation is riding right past them on a donkey. They just don’t know what that salvation is about to cost.

Now, this was more than just a parade. Many scholars and historians point out that there were likely two processions happening at this time. At this moment in Jerusalem, historians estimate that there were about a million people gathered in Jerusalem to worship and to receive this Passover meal. The city could only hold a fraction of that. And so Rome would always send an army to keep the people in control. They didn’t want an uprising. In fact, the whole thing that they were celebrating was God delivering them. They didn’t want anybody to get an idea: “You know, maybe we should do something about this. Maybe we should fight back.”

So Rome would send an army. And as Jesus is coming into this procession, this celebration, on the other side of Jerusalem that day there was very likely another procession. There was Pontius Pilate coming in from Rome with an army, with warhorses, with banners, with power, to let everybody know: “You can worship, but we’re in control.” Are you guys good?

But from the east, from the Mount of Olives, Jesus comes. Not with an army. Not with armor. Not with banners. No warhorse. No chariots. Just a donkey. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9 — this is a prophetic declaration of this day. It says, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly” — everybody say “lowly” — “lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The crowd knew the Scriptures. They had spent their whole lives, and generations, hearing the stories, and they were looking for the Messiah. And they recognized the prophecy is unfolding in real time. He’s coming. He’s riding a donkey, and they think, “This is it.” Can you imagine the excitement in the air? The expectation, the longing. “We’re about to be set free.” The weight of what they’ve been carrying — everything’s about to change. They think that He’s coming, the Messiah is coming, He’s going to overthrow Rome, and He’s going to restore the kingdom, and He’s going to save us. And how many of you know they would be correct? He did come to save them — just not the way that they thought.

The most human prayer

The crowd knew that they needed to be saved, and they were right. The word “Hosanna,” or “save us,” is probably the most human prayer we could ever pray. In fact, everybody here, I would imagine, has prayed a prayer like that at some point. “God, would You help me? God, would You come through? God, would You rescue me? Would You change my circumstance? God, I need You. I can’t do this.” We’ve all prayed a prayer probably pretty similar.

But here’s where the crowd got it wrong. They were thinking that salvation looks like power. They were thinking it looks like dominance. They wanted a king on a warhorse. They wanted someone who would crush their enemies and give them back their land. They wanted a Messiah who would change their current condition: “God, we’re in slavery. Free us.” That is what they wanted.

But how many of you know Jesus didn’t come to save that way? He didn’t come to save that way. Not because He couldn’t. How many of you know He absolutely could have? Are we here? Yes. He didn’t come to save that way, but He could have. He made the universe with His word. In Him all things are held together. He could have ridden into Jerusalem on fire if He wanted to. He could have called ten thousand angels in that moment and turned Rome into dust. It’s who He was.

But I want you to notice what Jesus chose. He chose a donkey. He chose lowly. Because He didn’t come to save them from Rome. He came to save their soul. He came to save their spirit, which was forever separated from God. There was no hope. They wanted a king to defeat their enemy here on earth, but how many of you know Jesus the King came to defeat death? Amen.

Listen again now. Listen to Matthew chapter 1, verse 21. This is when the angel appeared, announcing the Savior of the world. The angel comes and says to Mary — or says, I’m sorry — “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save people from their sins.” You see, the people thought that they were in bondage to Rome, but they were actually in bondage to sin. Oftentimes we think the problems that we face are everything other than the actual problem itself. More often than not, you’re the problem. Spoiler alert: you’re the problem. All right, moving on. We’re not going to sit there. Yikes. All right.

They thought they were in bondage to Rome, but they were in bondage to sin. And this was more than just about winning a battle. They needed salvation from their sin, and only a lamb could fix that.

From “Hosanna” to “Crucify Him”

I want to just share briefly an uncomfortable thought that I had, because oftentimes Palm Sunday is a celebration, but it’s more than just a celebration. It’s a warning. Because this same crowd that was welcoming Jesus, that was crying “Hosanna,” that was laying down their coats, that was putting down the palm branches, the ones that were shouting, “Hosanna, save us” — five days from now, this same crowd will be yelling, “Crucify Him.” Yes. It’s the same people. It’s the same mouths. It’s the same week.

I mean, we hear this and we think, “How could that ever happen? How can you possibly go from declaring and worshiping and saying, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,’ to ‘You know what? Crucify Him. Give us Barabbas. Release Barabbas. Release the murderer and crucify Jesus’?” How can you go from praise to having a heart that is so hard and so wicked that you would say to God, the Savior, the Messiah, “I don’t even want You here”?

Here’s how: they wanted a savior on their own terms. When Jesus didn’t overthrow Rome by Wednesday, they were mad. When Jesus didn’t establish His throne by Thursday, they were disillusioned. And when Friday comes and Jesus stands before the crowd in front of Pontius Pilate, He didn’t say anything. No fight. No battle. Silence. Yes. And at that point, they were mad, angry, and they began to yell. Just like they yelled “Hosanna” earlier that week, they began to yell, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

They wanted Yeshua. They wanted a savior. How many of you know we all want someone to save us? We just want to be saved the way we want to be saved. I can’t tell you how many times people say, “Why is Jesus the only way?” Man, you should be thankful He made a way. We want it on our terms. And I would tell you there is no greater — oh, it’s the grieving of the Spirit. That is the grieving of the Spirit, where you reject the work of God in you and you say, “You know what? It’s not enough. It’s not how I want it. I want to do it my way. No, You need to meet my expectations.”

You see, when the salvation that He brings didn’t match the picture that was in their heads, it didn’t meet the expectations, and they actually rejected the very thing that they were praying for.

And so when we pray prayers like “God, save me,” and He begins to move in our lives, and He starts to do things that maybe we didn’t expect — we didn’t see the rescue plan going the way that He has ordained it. The rescue doesn’t look or feel how we pictured it. And what happens? We get frustrated, and we pull away, and we begin to say things like, “God didn’t come through for me.” But we rejected His salvation.

So we can pray prayers like, “Save my marriage. But Lord, I don’t want to actually admit that I was wrong. I’m not going to apologize. You’ve got to figure something out. You’ve got to do it a different way. Lord, save my marriage, but I don’t want to actually have those difficult conversations.” Or maybe we’ll pray something like, “Lord, I need You to save my finances. I need You to help me and bless me and bless my life, but I don’t actually want to change how I live. I want to maintain my lifestyle. Lord, I have a standard here. I’m not going to actually make any adjustments.”

Or maybe we’ll say things like, “Lord, save my heart. I’m hurting, and I’m wounded and broken on the inside. But I don’t want to actually let go of the things that are dear to me. I’ve put too much time into that. I’ve put too much of my heart into that. I don’t want to actually let them go.” You see, so often the Lord’s trying to bring His salvation. He’s trying to rescue your life. But because it doesn’t meet our expectation, we reject Him.

And that’s exactly what happened in this story. We can come to church on a Sunday and we can worship the Lord, and then by Friday we’re like, “You know what? I don’t even know if there is a God.” Do you see how we reject Him? Do you see how we turn our face against Him?

I mean this in the best way, but I just want you to so gently see how, as Jesus was descending into Jerusalem on the donkey, He knew what was about to happen. He could see the cross. He could see Friday, coming down the mountain. And He knew that the very same people that were worshiping Him, the people that were celebrating, the people that were rejoicing, the people that were calling on Him — He knew what they were going to do. He knew that they would betray Him. He knew that they would turn their face. And He continued on.

Every step down the mountain was a step to the cross. Every step down the mountain was Him saying, “I choose you. When you turn your back on Me, and when you say I’m not enough, when you say I’m not good enough, when you say I’m not answering your prayers because it’s not how you want it, I’m still coming for you.”

We want Hosanna on our terms. “Save me. Save me now. On my terms.” But how many of you know Jesus does not work that way? He never has. I’ve heard it said before: Jesus changes the rules for no one. Who do we think we are, to dictate how Jesus moves in our lives?

I mean, if you’re hanging on the edge of a cliff and I give you my hand, and you’re like, “Nope, you’re not strong enough. I only want the belt” — you know, I think that’s a thing, where you take your belt off and you use that. I don’t know. If I’m in need of rescue, I’m going to grab on to whatever I can get, right? I hope that we get so desperate for Him, and that our eyes are so opened to the love that He has for us, that we would never complain, that we would never question, but that we would say, “God, I don’t even see how You’re saving me right now. My picture and my circumstance don’t look how I think they should. You might not be moving how I expected You to, but I know that You love me, and that You’ve already said, ‘It is finished.’ You already came for me.”

Salvation is a person

Okay. So what does Yeshua then mean for us? It means that salvation is a person. Salvation is not a program. It’s not a five-step recovery. It’s not a strategy. Our salvation is a person. Acts 4:12 says this: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” There is no other — everybody say it — name. Let’s say it again: there is no other name. We’ll say it one more time: there is no other name. His name is Yeshua, the Lord saves. How many of you know salvation is a person, and that person is Jesus, Yeshua, the Lamb of God?

Now, the thing about Yeshua is that it’s not passive. Aren’t you thankful that He does not just sit in heaven and wait for you to come to Him? He rides in on a donkey, cutting through the noise, into the crowd that will betray Him, and He chooses to come anyway.

Listen to what this says about Yeshua. Luke 19, starting at verse 41, says, “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and he saw the city, he wept over it and he said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would actually bring you peace.’” He was weeping. They’re celebrating; He’s weeping because they don’t see it. You know why? Because they’re looking for the blessing, and they’re missing Him.

How many times do we look for the blessing? How many times do we look for the answered prayer, but we really want nothing to do with Him? He is the answer. He is the provision. He is everything you need. But why don’t we actually believe that? Why do we say, “Lord, You are life,” but we don’t actually believe that life is found in Him? Why do we say that He is the one that fills us and satisfies, but we don’t actually look to Him for our satisfaction? We look to everybody and everyone else. Do you see how it just doesn’t match?

And so here He is, He’s weeping, because He can see what they can’t. He can see the cost that is lying in front of Him. He can see the cross. Now, every other name that we studied — we’ve studied Jireh, Shaddai, Rapha, which mean He will provide, He makes righteous, He heals. And how many of you know — thank You, Jesus — those are true? But Yeshua is not just what God does. It’s what He pays.

Because how many of you know salvation isn’t free? It cost nothing for you to receive, but it cost Him everything to provide. It cost Himself. And so when the angel comes and says, “Call Him Yeshua, for He will save people from their sins” — how many of you know that phrasing, “He will save,” came with a heavy price tag? It was Him. It was Himself. Jireh — God, our provider — told us He would provide a lamb. Yeshua is the Lamb. Amen.

The name above every name

And so the crowd on Palm Sunday, they’re waving their branches, they’re shouting for a king. But the King that they’re calling for is heading straight for the cross. Every “Hosanna” from the crowd is a cry He’s about to answer — not with a sword, but with nails.

Listen to Philippians chapter 2, starting at verse 8. It says, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.” How did Jesus come into Jerusalem? On a donkey. He came lowly. How did Jesus come to the earth? How did God come to earth? He humbled Himself, and He took on flesh. Listen: “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” — which was the most shameful way to be killed. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.”

He is the name above every name. Not because He conquered an army, but because He conquered death. He’s given the name above every name not because He conquered Rome, but because He conquered the grave. Jesus humbled Himself. He came in lowly. He let them shout. He let them misunderstand Him. He let them betray Him. Because how many of you know His name, Yeshua, was not just a title? It was a mission. The Lord saves.

Responding in worship

I’m going to ask that we stand together. I’m going to close our time. And I’m hoping that through all of this you’re hearing the Lord speak to you. And here’s what I’d like us to do. I said this last week, and I’ve said this before: I feel like when the Lord paints such a clear picture of His heart, of His love, of what He’s done for us, the only appropriate response ever is to worship the Lord.

I’m going to be honest. I actually really have the sense that there is going to be a time where we are preaching the Word and we’re feeding on it, and we’re going to have to all stop. At some points we’re just going to have to start giving worship to the Lord. We’re not going through the motions here, where, okay, we have our singing time, and then we have our giving and announcements, and then we have our teaching, and then we go home. This is a time to minister to the Lord and to respond. And when we see Him, you guys, the only thing that we should be doing is saying, “Lord Jesus, You are wonderful.”

And so what I would like for us to do is just respond to the Lord right now in this moment. So I’m going to ask that we close our eyes, bow our heads, but that we just lift our hands to the Lord in worship. Lift your hands to the Lord in surrender. This isn’t an acknowledgement, you guys. This is a humbling position for you to take. It’s saying, “I’m surrendering, Lord. I need to receive. Lord, You are everything that I need. And so I don’t look with my eyes, Lord. I lift my eyes to You, and I lift my hands, Lord, to receive from You today.”

And right now, I just want to encourage us: let’s just begin to lift our hands. Begin to lift your voice to the Lord and just say, “Lord, I need You. Jesus, You are wonderful. Jesus, You are glorious. Lord, I thank You that You are moving in my life.” Come on, church, begin to lift your voice and give thanks to the Lord. It’s the only right thing. Don’t worry about what the person to the left or to the right might think. Just begin to thank Him from your heart. Sing your own song to the Lord. Begin to worship the Lord. Let it be a symphony like in heaven, where we begin to hear these echoes of the worship that is taking place in heaven.

Lord, that is what You are seeking — not our performance, Lord. You’re seeking worship from the heart, those who worship You in spirit and in truth. Come into the room, Jesus. You are wonderful, Lord. You are worthy of our lives. You are worthy of our attention, Lord. You are worthy of every song that we could ever sing, Lord Jesus. Thank You, Lord.

Just tell Him you love Him. Tell Him how precious He is. Tell Him what a gift He is. Come on, He’s worthy. Do you see it? Tell Him He’s good. Tell Him He’s enough — that when you look at Him, you just want more. Can you see Him today? Jesus, we love You. We worship You, Lord. Holy, holy are You, Lord. You’re wonderful, Lord Jesus. You’ve overcome. You’re the giver of life, Lord. We worship You, Jesus.

If you’ve received your spiritual language, we’re just continuing to pray and to worship. Just begin to pray in the Spirit. Come on, let’s just invite the Lord in this time. Jesus, we love You. Holy are You, Lord. Holy, holy, holy are You, Lord. Come on. Let it rise. Holy, holy are You, Lord Jesus. We honor You. You’re wonderful and mighty, Lord. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Come on, just begin to sing the name of Jesus. Jesus, we love You. We receive You. We honor You, Lord. Thank You, Lord.

I want to just tell you: the most powerful times of worship have not ever been in the moments where the band is the loudest, where every song is just hitting. It’s always when, with a sincere heart, I bring to the Lord my own song. It praises Him. It honors Him. Scripture says sing to the Lord a new song. Lift your voice. Lift your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord, because He is worthy. Lift up your heads. Lift up your voice. Lift up your hands. Jesus. Jesus.

He keeps showing up on a donkey

As we were going through the Word this morning — maybe you’re here today and you’ve been celebrating, you’ve been worshiping. But I believe that there are some of you here today who came in and you’re a little confused. And you’ve been praying, “Lord, help me. Lord, I need You to fix this. Lord, I need You to change something. Lord, I need You to come through.” But it hasn’t looked the way that you expected. And you came in today confused, because you’re wondering, “Did He even hear me?”

And I want you to know the Lord hears you, and He’s riding toward you right now. And I want you to notice how He comes. He comes humbly. Which means the only way that we come to Him is humbly. It’s the entrance into His presence: to come with a humble heart that acknowledges who He is, that acknowledges your need for Him.

Maybe you’ve been asking Him to change your situation, but the Lord’s been trying to change your heart. Maybe you’ve been asking for relief, and the Lord’s been offering Himself, and you’ve said it’s not enough. You were looking for a warhorse. You were looking for a different answer. You’re looking for an instant solution to change your circumstance, and here He is. He keeps showing up on a donkey. But behold, Jesus is saying, “I’m more than enough. Seek first Me and My kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.” The way He comes is not a weakness. That’s Yeshua. That’s His salvation: the God who saves by laying down His life, the one who wins by surrendering, being obedient to death on a cross.

And so maybe you’ve found yourself in that Friday crowd. You’ve been rejecting what God is doing because He didn’t meet your expectation. Maybe you’ve gotten angry. You’ve gotten distant. You’ve stopped inviting Him. You’ve stopped trusting Him. And the Lord is saying, “Come back to the road. Come back and look at Me, the one who comes to you as the name above every name, as the King riding lowly on a donkey.” Church, that is our salvation. He’s exactly what you need.

Come on, let’s lift our hands to the Lord again. I’m going to pray over you. Holy Spirit, come into the room. Lord, I pray that You would meet every person here today. Meet us, Lord, where we are. Lord, we ask that You would come. We thank You, Lord, that we don’t have to beg. Lord, You’ve promised Yourself. You are the Lamb who was provided for us so that we could have life with You, Lord Jesus.

Lord, I pray that You would meet the one who’s been praying, “Save me,” the one that hasn’t seen the answer yet. Meet the one who’s walked away because it didn’t look right, because You didn’t measure up in their eyes. But Lord, open their eyes, Lord Jesus. Let them see You in all of Your glory. Let them see Yeshua, the Lord who saves. Lord, not the version of You we invent. The real You, Lord. The one who comes lowly. The one who is heading to the cross. The one who saves on His terms, because His terms are the only ones that actually work. Lord, we think we know how to save ourselves. Lord, we don’t. Lord, we repent of trying to save ourselves, or of standing in judgment of who You are. Lord, we ask for You today.

So with our hands lifted, just begin to say, “Jesus, I ask for You. I want the real You, Lord, not the version I’ve invented. I want Your work in me.” Come on, let’s lift our voice. Repeat after me: “Lord Jesus, do Your work in me. Not how I think it should look, but let Your salvation come in every area of my life — in my home, in my finances, in my marriage, in my relationships, in everything. Jesus, You are everything. I give You my heart. I give You my life. Wash me. Cleanse me. You are wonderful.” Come on, say it: “You are wonderful.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Can we thank the Lord this morning? I hope that you guys received the Lord Jesus today. And I hope that you take this word and you don’t just push it to the side, but that our hearts would be good soil. So Lord Jesus, I pray for every heart. Lord, let Your word that was planted go forth. Let it produce much fruit. We thank You, Lord, that You go before us, that You are behind us, that You are with us. Fill us with Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.