What Are You Laying Down? by Brother Curtis Hansen

         The message for this morning is going to be about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem for Passover. The story and observation of Palm Sunday is very important and the start of the holy week. We are going to be reading from Matthew chapter 21 and we will read the first 11 verses.

        And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Beth-pha-ge, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples.

        2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an donkey tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.

        3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.

        4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

        5 Tell ye the daughter of SI-on, Behold, thy Kind cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon a donkey, and a colt the foal of a donkey.

        6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

        7 And brought the donkey, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him theron.

        8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

        9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

       10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?

        11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

        In verse 5, the scripture references the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. This moment was fulfilled by Jesus. This moment is the most significant sign to fulfill the prophecy.

        The question I want to ask you this morning is what are you throwing down? What king do you want versus what king do you need? We will explore these questions more in the message today.

        Jesus is the man in this personal relationship and the church is his bride. An example of intentional honor was in the laying of clothes before Jesus as well as psalms. Laying down of the clothes was an identity. Look at Joseph with his coat of many colors or how the priests garments had a precise and specific way of being created. Their identity is in your clothes, your status in the world. Clothes represent systems. When the world mandates dress to you, you quickly fall in line. When God asks you to change the identity, you often bristle and resist his request. Clothes are a symbol of comfort, familiarity, security, who they are, and status. You're covered whether you use it or not. We have dignity and protection as well as comfort with Jesus' covering. When we lay this identity down, God wants to take it all. He wants your identity, status, comfort, covering and for you to trust in him.

        The people laid their garments down in emotion. There's a difference between public worship and private submission. It's unbalanced if you haven't surrendered yourself to Jesus. Your public worship is all show. What you're laying down is what you're willing to surrender and what king you think Jesus is in your life.

        I ask again, what are you laying down? The multitude cried "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord." There's not a lot of reverence nor gratitude in the world today.

        We do the same thing; we have a version of Jesus that we are ok being our God. You need to know the full God. God will be God as much as you will allow him. What are you looking for with God this morning?

        There were 3 things the multitude were seeking in Jerusalem in that moment. 1) People wanted to overthrow Rome 2) The people wanted political power and restoration 3) Make life easier. Jesus wasn't going to fulfill any of these.

        Jesus is not going to overthrow Rome for you. He isn't restoring your political power or make your life any easier. We need more obedience. All these things we seek are external changes when Jesus wants you to change internally in your heart.

        It was praise built on expectation when Jesus entered Jerusalem. They praised him what they thought he represented. When they threw down their garments they didn't surrender their expectations.