Sermon Central
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It's All In The Planning!
Contributed by Ernie Arnold on Apr 4, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: This is a Palm Sunday sermon that focuses on the reality that we serve a God who plans and who works in the details of our lives - it focuses on the way Jesus planned His Triumphant Entry in Jerusalem.
Scripture: Luke 19:28 – 40
Theme: The God Who Plans
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God Our Father, Jesus who Redeems us and the Holy Spirit who infills us with grace, mercy and love!
Welcome to Palm Sunday. Welcome to the Sunday before Resurrection Sunday and the Sunday that begins Passion Week!
I want to talk to you this morning about the God who loves both TO PLAN and loves to pay attention to the DETAILS in His Creation.
Our passage takes us along the journey that Jesus traveled from the city of Jericho to the city of Jerusalem. It’s approx. a 16-mile uphill journey that as we read Luke’s Gospel took Jesus and his followers several days.
It is also a journey that begins at one of the lowest points on earth. The city of Jericho is located approx. 850 feet below sea level while the city of Jerusalem sits around 2500 feet above sea level. That means that while Jesus and his disciples were traveling some 16 miles in distance, they were also walking up over a half a mile in altitude.
Most of the year the area surrounding Jericho is hot and dusty. Even during the spring time, the temperature hovers around 70 to 90 degrees. And due to its arid climate, it was difficult at best at the time of Jesus to grow trees, vegetables and plants around Jericho.
The city of Jerusalem, however, was the exact opposite during the Passover Season. Having plenty of water nearby and climate conditions around 55 to 75 degrees the city of Jerusalem bursts in full bloom during spring time. Almond trees are in full bloom and the hills are covered in all kinds of wildflowers.
You see, God planned it that way. Just about the time a person would want to give up because of all the heat and the dust coming from Jericho they would suddenly see all the green and glory of Jerusalem in the distance. The Temple at the time was covered in alabaster and gold which made the city radiate. It was a magnificent sight. The city and the Temple looked like Heaven on Earth. It looked like a small representation of the Garden of Eden with all the green and God’s Temple shinning in the distance. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY had planned it that way.
In fact, the more you read the Bible the clearer it comes to you that we serve a God who takes great care to plan, to arrange and to program. We serve a God who knows how to strategize, lay out and arrange things, people and situations. We serve a God who loves to bring order out of chaos. We serve a God who cares about the smallest of details.
In saying that we do not mean that the Lord God Almighty likes to nick pick or to micro manage. That is not the case whatsoever. But God does like for everything to be able to enjoy life to its fullest. We can be assured that when things are placed in God’s hands that they are going to be turn out the best that they could possible be. That is the Good God of Creation that we serve today.
The Apostle Luke in verses 30 thru 35 shares with us a rather unusual story. It is the story of the little donkey colt that Jesus will ride as He enters the city of Jerusalem. In doing so, Jesus will fulfill the scripture passage we find in Zechariah 9:9 where the Prophet speaks of the Messiah riding into the city of Jerusalem on a little donkey.
Verse thirty tells us that Jesus sent two of his disciples on what we could call - “Donkey duty”.
All they were to do was to find the man who owned the donkey colt and tell him that Jesus needed it. Jesus had already made plans/arrangements so that it would be an easy task. They wouldn’t have to haggle with the man or anything like that. All they had to do was to follow Jesus’ directions because God in flesh had already set everything in motion. Everything was going just as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had set it up.
Those two disciples may have been a little confused and wondered how it was going to all work out, but the fact is we serve a God who plans. We serve a God who is always multiple steps ahead of us and only needs us to follow His will and way. God has a plan for our lives much in the same way as he had for these disciples and for this little donkey. Not a plan to embarrass us or to manipulate us but one that will enable us to grow in wisdom, strength, knowledge and favor.
