Dwelling Place

Guest (Male): Why was Jesus born? That seems like an obvious question, but consider this from Pastor Al Pittman.

Al Pittman: Jesus said for this purpose I was born. Why? Because the main purpose for which I was born is that the Father may be glorified. Is that our purpose? Is that our purpose? Lord, I'm going through this. It's it's uncomfortable. My my soul is troubled. I I don't like it. And boy, there's a lot of stuff that I go through that I don't like. But I have to come back to what my master lived out for me. Is is what matters here, Lord. I don't understand it. I don't like it. My soul is troubled, but God be glorified.

I don't know how it's going to happen, but Lord, I look to you.

Guest (Female): Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place. You are my dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place.

Guest (Male): Calvary Worship Center in Colorado Springs presents the dwelling place with Pastor Al Pittman. Today we'll bring you the conclusion of a message Al began yesterday, looking at one of the most well-known and important events in the Bible, the Lord's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Okay, so Jesus riding into town on the back of a colt is important? Very much so. It fulfilled Old Testament prophecy and proved once again that Jesus is who he said he is, the Messiah. Our scripture reference for this scene is John chapter 12. Here's Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: He says in verse 27, and whoever does not bear his cross come after me cannot be my disciple. If you're not willing to die to yourself, then you cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the costs? In other words, count the costs. He's talking about building here, but somebody you you you start out to do something, I'm going to serve the Lord or whatever, you better count the costs. Lord, I'm going to go and I'm going to You better count the costs. Amen.

Count the costs. And he says whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it began to mock him saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. So he's talking about counting the costs. Make sure you're all in. Make sure you're completely surrendered to Jesus. And then he uses another illustration, that a sacrifice in relationship to uh being his the servant and following him. He says in verse uh in verse 31, or what king going to make war This is Luke 14.

What king going to make war against uh another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able to with 10,000 to meet the him who comes against him with 20,000 or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and makes conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. He's talking about the king forsaking his ego. Did you catch that? You got 10,000 troops, they got 20,000 they're coming against you. Don't let your ego get in the way.

You know, humble yourself and go and make, you know, peace. Go make nice with your enemy. Humble yourself. He's talking about humility here. He's saying, you know, if if you if you're not willing to humble yourself because you show me a believer who always has to win, I'll show you a believer who's living for himself and not for the Lord. Because Lord, if I go apologize to that person, if I go do this, it will make me look bad. But it's not about you, it's about him. Here's a king, a king, all the pride of a of a king and a kingdom and all this, who capitulates, who humbles himself.

Kings don't do that. But if I'm your king, Jesus said, and I ask you to do that, to humble yourself, you will be more than willing to do it. Why? Because your reward is the honor of the Father, not a greater a bigger ego. Amen. You see you you see how he's tying that in with being a servant and follower. He starts out. The context is you got to lay your life down. The context is you got to love me more than anything else, even your pride. God gives grace to the humble. He resists, the Bible says, the proud.

Amen. So we talk about being a servant of the Lord. We're talking about Jesus's triumphal entry. That entry, him going into the city was him saying, I'm coming here to die, but also those who follow me must identify with my death so that they can truly serve me and follow me and be with me and be honored by the Father. You see that? That's true servant hood. Just how far are we willing to go? Is it about the Father's honor or is it about my honor and my pride? So we go back here to to John.

That's a lesson from our Lord. You got to love me more. Got to identify with my death. He so he talks about here's what the triumphal entry entry means. It was the hour. It was a time to die and a time for those who will follow me to die so that they indeed can live, serve and follow me. Here's the the the last component here that he speaks about in relationship to his triumphal entry, and that is his purpose, why he came into the city. He goes even deeper, beginning here in verse 27. He says, now my soul, Jesus said, my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Wow. Now the Lord is supposed to be our example, amen, in suffering, right? And here we see the humanity of Christ. He's fully God, but he's fully man. That he is his soul is troubled. And yet, even though his soul is troubled, he says, what am I to say? Father, deliver me from this hour. I was born for this. This is my purpose to come and to die for the world. And I think sometimes like us as believers, sometimes, you know, we we we're going through a difficult time and and it's like, oh, my soul is troubled.

God, get me out of this. But I believe if you are a believer and you're a follower of Jesus Christ and God is in charge of your life, that there's some things that we're in, they may trouble your soul, but God is saying, you were born for this. Because I'm trying to do something in your life, create something new in your life. I desire to glorify myself through your life. I brought you to this point in your life. I am not talking about sin and what the devil does and and the demonic and lustful and stupid things we do.

But some things in our lives that have come into our lives, no fault of our own, a tribulation, a trial. And I think is God, get me out of this. Jesus said, no, for this purpose I was born. Why? Because the the the main purpose for which I was born is that the Father may be glorified.

Guest (Male): Yes.

Al Pittman: Is that our purpose? Is that our purpose? Lord, I'm going through this. It's it's uncomfortable. My my soul is troubled. I I don't like it. And boy, there's a lot of stuff that I go through that I don't like. But I have to come back to what my master lived out for me is is what matters here, Lord. I don't understand it. I don't like it. My soul is troubled, but God be glorified. I don't know how it's going to happen, but Lord, I look to you. Be glorified. Amen. Be glorified, Lord, through my life.

Jesus was fully God but fully man. Man, when he entered through that the gates of that city, he wasn't, you know, cruising along. He was torn the very people. They weren't getting it. They were It was trouble trouble in his soul. Why is he troubled? Because they missed it, man. They missed the breaking news. He was troubled in his soul. He was tempted as we were. Sometimes we think with the Lord, he doesn't understand. Jesus was tempted as you were in every way. Yes, even sexually, but without sin. The Bible says that we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

He never sinned. Yet he says it says, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain grace and and find mercy and find grace to help in time of need. In other words, we have a high priest. The Lord can Aren't you glad he can sympathize with you? That mean that word means in Greek as I looked it up some time ago, it means literally to feel what you feel. That he doesn't kick you to the curb and say, suck it up. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Hang in there.

He doesn't do that. He comes into that feeling with you and sympathizes with you and feels the pain that you feel and he's empathizing with you and then he says, here's some more mercy, here's some more grace to help you through. Amen. Oh, I love it. Thank you, Lord. It's not a throne of judgment. It's not a throne of condemnation. It's a throne of grace and mercy to help in time of need. Aren't you glad about that? Jesus the Bible says here rather finish up verse 28 and 29. It says, then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, glorified the Father's name, glorified his name, and will glorify it again.

Amen. He might have been looking at Easter. Amen. The Father. I will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by heard it. They heard this voice and they said, man, it's thundering. Is that thunder? And others said, no, it must have been an angel that spoke to him. And Jesus said, this voice did not come because of me but for your sake. I don't need to hear the Father's voice. I know the Father's voice. You need to hear it. Praise his holy name. The truth is of the matter is we need to hear his voice today.

We need to hear the word of God. For your sake this happened, so that you might know that I am the son of God. And then he says and he breaks it down, he gives us in verses 31 and 32. He gives us three reasons why he entered the city that day. Three purposes for which he entered the city that day. He says, now the judgment is for now is the judgment of this world. And now the ruler of the world will be cast out. And if I am lifted up from the earth, we'll draw all people to myself.

This he said, verse 33, signifying by what death he would die. Wow. No one knew that but the Lord. There is one thing to not know you're going to die. It's another thing to know you're going to die. And the way you're going to die and to gladly embrace it for our sake. We'll have the second half of Pastor Al's message in John 12 in just a few moments right after this special announcement.

Guest (Female): This Easter can change everything for you.

Al Pittman: The only way to find true hope is to seek hope in the living God.

Guest (Female): Join Calvary Worship Center at the Pikes Peak Center Easter morning, April 21st at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and noon with Pastor Al Pittman along with People and Songs. Easter morning at the Pikes Peak Center April 21st, 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon. cwccs.org

Al Pittman: There's always hope in Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Again, for more information on our Easter Sunday services at the Pikes Peak Center, go to ccob.org. Now with part two of today's message in John 12 titled Breaking News, here's Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: There's three things that I find, three purposes for which Jesus came. Uh we talk about his purpose. He's talking about his purpose here. Number one is for judgment. Judgment in verse 31. He's not talking about judgment of the world. He's talking about judgment of the world, but he's not talking about him coming back judging the world as he will in Revelation chapter 19 when the Bible says the lamb who came at the first advent and the second advent, his second coming will come as a lion. And he will rule the world with the rod of iron.

And he will smite the nations with his mouth, with the sword of his mouth, that he would judge, you know, the the the nations. And that he would separate in his church the the the sheep from the goats. Amen. And that he would put the sheep on his right hand and the goats will be cast in the everlasting hell. That's what the Bible says. Oh, it's not it's not going to be a good day for some people. It's going to be a bad day. But when he comes back, he's not coming back as a as a lamb.

He's coming back as a lion. But here he's coming back the first he's coming the first time. This is his first advent for judgment. What what judgment? The judgment of the world that's placed upon him on the cross. He came to be judged for us, to be crucified, to be to be judged, to be condemned in our place. Now the judgment has come. The judgment of the world. The world is found guilty and our guilt was laid upon Jesus. But Isaiah tells us that when he says all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity, the sin of us all.

He came for judgment. He also came to destroy the works of the devil. Verse 31, the latter part, he says, now the ruler of this world will be cast out. He will be cast out. But in the life of the believer, he's already cast out. The works of the devil in your life are destroyed. The devil has no power over you but that which you give to him. He roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may. In other words, the devil knocks on your door and says, can I come in? Amen. Come on in, though.

Take your usual spot over here. Amen. We have to invite him in. The Bible says don't give the devil an opportunity. But he has no power over you. And a lot of believers fall for the lie that somehow oh, the devil has power over me. Jesus has already not going to Oh, one day the devil will be he'll be he'll be defeated. No, he's already defeated. Amen. And that's a lie that for us as believers, he's already defeated. Oh, we see the handiwork of the devil in the world every day. We see his handiwork. He's still out there working through people through lies and deceit and deception.

He he's still doing his thing. He has come to do three things, to kill, steal and to destroy. He's come to condemn, but none of those works of the devil apply to the life of the believer because Jesus came and when he died on the cross, he destroyed the condemnation and the judgment of the devil against your life. And so John tells us in 1 John, the same John of the Gospel of John, he said, he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the son of man, the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

When is he going to do that? He's already When is he going to do it? He's already done it. The devil was defeated on the cross because all of our guilt, condemnation, shame and everything was placed upon Jesus so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. Thus Jesus said, the devil came to kill, steal and to destroy, but I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Why? Because the works of the devil has been destroyed. And isn't that the conflict in our lives? It's for us to come to the realization and understanding.

I don't have to serve, be a slave to sin. I don't have to be a slave to the old man because I've been born again. And the devil has no ownership rights in my marriage, in my life, in this church. We belong to the most high God. He is already defeated, already defeated. Here is the last of the three purposes for which Jesus came, and that is for judgment, to destroy the works of the devil and to be lifted up. He says, if I be lifted up, we'll draw all people to myself. The cross stands.

Jesus said, I entered the city today so that I could be lifted up. That's why I came. The cross stands and it remains as a symbol of God's of hope and of everlasting peace. Jesus, when he went into the city of Jerusalem according to God uh Luke's account of his triumphal entry into the city, the Bible says the people were rejoicing shouting, hosanna, hosanna, which hosanna means what? Save now, right? And yet they weren't looking for a savior. And the heart of Jesus was breaking. And the Bible says in Luke chapter 19 that Jesus said, if you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes.

As the people were shouting and partying and celebrating and waving palm branches all, Jesus was weeping because they knew they missed it. They missed the breaking news. They missed it. He was weeping. He said, now this peace is hidden from your eyes. And I wonder how many people here, maybe even today, are watching online or over at Creek side, how many of us have peace hidden from us because we're looking for peace and something else rather than Jesus. Oh, we're in the multitude and we're shouting hosanna. We're the witnesses. Some of us are religious, maybe like the Pharisees.

Some of us are Greeks who are seeking truth. But we have our own agenda and we have missed that which makes for our peace. I was watching young people, Parkland students, they marched in Washington, D.C., I think it was the other day. The hope and these young people, man, it was it was inspiring, really was. You can see the hope, man, and they're crying out, you know, where they the march was entitled we're marching for our lives. March for our lives. And if how many young people are desperate, man, they want answers and these politicians that let them down and all these different things and so we look for somebody to blame, right?

Back in my day we blamed Joe Camel or whatever. Yeah, cigarette companies are What's his Joe Camel? Was it Camel? Whatever his name was. Cigarette dude. Cigarettes are killing or getting you And we still see some of that today. But you don't hear as much because we're passing marijuana laws. Just say it. We make allowances for devices we want to keep, don't we? And now it's oh, you know, if we can just get rid of all the guns, take the guns away, you know, these kids are just there and I understand that and and something needs to be done.

Let the politicians deal with that. We'll vote on it, whatever. But I'm not here to just debate that. Here's the reality. You can get rid of all the guns and ammunition you want, you still won't have peace. Amen. Before there were in you know, AK-47s and and all these other things, you know, Cain slew Abel, his brother. When when AK-47 probably beat his own brother to death with a rock. It's not the instrument, it's the heart. And when we kick God out of our out of our schools, when we say, God, we don't want anything to do with you, people have no moral compass.

So we got folks down in Texas, you know, who are planning bombs all over the place and all this. They have no moral compass. There's nothing guiding them. And so they began to serve their own master who came to kill and to steal and to destroy. What we need is to come to the prince of peace in order to have peace. Amen. In order to have peace. And as I watched those young people, I I was reminded of another generation, my generation back in the late '60s and '70s who were protesting and marching in the streets and all we are saying is give peace.

Come on, y'all. There's a couple of you in here. Come on, you know. Give peace a chance, right? And we were just as, you know, desperate as the generation is today and peace never came for us because we were looking forward through the government and and all these other things. If we could just get rid of all the nukes and the atomic bombs and all this, oh, we'd have peace, but no peace. Peace, peace, they will cry, but there will be no peace. Jesus wept because the world and even today he's weeping have missed that which is makes for the our peace.

But I'm hopeful that out of that generation, my generation, God birthed something called the Jesus movement, that out of this generation today that God would birth a mighty revival out of kids who were desperate and they're sick of the lame answers they're getting from politicians and they turn to the living God to that which makes for their peace. Amen. That is my hope. God hasn't given up on this generation. They're speaking truth, but I pray that they would bring them to the author of truth for the truth will indeed make you free. The triumphal entry of Christ is breaking news which none of us can afford to ignore.

Peter said it well, they were given an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. We cannot afford to miss this news. It is the good news. He entered the city on Sunday and he would rise from the dead a week later. Amen. So the crucifixion Friday came, but Sunday is coming. Amen. We thank God for that so that we can have hope, everlasting hope and peace through faith in him. Do you have that peace today? Watching online over at Creek side here in this auditorium and our overflow areas, do you really have the peace of God?

It was his hour. It was his death. And it's his purpose that has led to our peace.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to the dwelling place with our Bible teacher Pastor Al Pittman, the pastor of Calvary Worship Center in Colorado Springs. If you're interested in hearing Pastor Al's message again, go online to cwccs.org or call and request a CD copy at 844-221-3363. Again, we can be reached at 844-221-3363. And while you're at it, subscribe to our free podcast. We always enjoy hearing from our listeners, whether it's a prayer request, comment or question related to the study, we want to hear from you. Email us today at amen at cwccs.org. That's amen at cwccs.org. At the dwelling place we're committed to delivering God's word one verse at a time.

We hope your walk with Jesus Christ has been strengthened by these messages and we're grateful for those who choose to partner with us to see this ministry continue and even expand. To make a secure donation, drop by cwccs.org or text the word give to 719-354-2778. That's give to 719-354-2778. You can also write to us at Calvary Worship Center, 505 Castle Road, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80904. And would you take just a minute or two today and drop Pastor Al an email to let him know that you listen to this radio program. It would mean a lot.

Just go to cwccs.org and click the contact tab. This has been the dwelling place with Pastor Al Pittman, a presentation of Calvary Worship Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Guest (Female): Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place. You are my dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place.