Dwelling Place

Al Pittman: A lot of times we're more concerned about what the world is doing than what Christ has already invested in us. In other words, being about our Father's business, doing business until he returns, Jesus was saying to his disciples is the essence of true joy.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Thank you for partnering with us. Now here is Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: This is Palm Sunday and we are in Luke chapter 19. I pray that God will bless you through his word today. I've entitled this message "The Visitation." We'll be looking at verses 37 to 44. But let me set the scene. It's the same story every year, but it gets better and better every year as we get closer and closer to heaven.

After traveling through Jericho, Jesus arrives at Bethany. Where is Bethany? It is about two miles east of Jerusalem and it's on the mount called Olivet, also known as the Mount of Olives. According to John chapter 12, the night before, Jesus spent time enjoying a meal with Lazarus and some others along with Lazarus' two sisters, Martha and Mary. That's a beautiful story in John chapter 12. Get a chance, go back and read it.

It was the beginning of the week leading up to Passover. The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus estimated that the normal population of Israel was around 600,000. And then Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived from 37 AD to 100 AD, he declared that the population of Jerusalem during Passover would grow to an estimated number of about two million people. You can imagine this place is packed, it's flooded with people there to celebrate from all over the region, all over the known world, to come into Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover.

In Luke chapter 19 verses 30 and 31, Jesus dispatches two of his disciples to go and acquire a colt. He tells them where it will be found, a colt the foal of a donkey, for him to ride upon. And Jesus in riding on this donkey is approaching or descending, rather, the Mount of Olives. He descends from the Mount of Olives and the two crowds converge together.

What two crowds? One crowd that was with Jesus, people all excited about his great works and about what happened with Lazarus, how he was raised from the dead. That crowd is descending down from the Mount of Olives with Christ riding on that foal of a donkey. And then a crowd coming out of the city meeting Jesus, rejoicing, cutting down palm branches and waving them.

The waving of the palm branch, according to one scholar, was representative of the fact that the Jews were longing for the return to Israel's former glory. It was a patriotic deal to wave that and also it was a sign of the hope that they had of the Messiah coming. Christ is coming and they're cutting down palm branches, taking off their outer cloaks the Bible says, and laying them on the ground for the donkey to walk across. So this great fervor is going on at this time as the Lord is descending from the Mount of Olives toward the Kidron Valley. It's a very short distance, only a couple of miles, but this is the scene that we have on Palm Sunday.

The Lord continues on and these two crowds are excited and the fervor of celebration and yet there seemed to be chaos to a lot of people. We pick it up here in Luke chapter 19 verse 37. We'll read to verse 44. Then as he was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest."

Some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." But he answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." Not the Rolling Stones. Of course, they were probably there they're so old. Anyway, let's move on. Verse 41. Now as he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this day, the things that make for your peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you and surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Jesus' entrance into the city was a fulfillment of prophetic scripture given by Zechariah around 520 to 518 BC, over 500 years before Christ was on the scene. Zechariah 9:9, the prophet declared concerning the Messiah, the promised savior of the world, "Rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion. Shout, oh daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

This prophecy was a direct fulfillment of the promise of the coming Messiah in that day, in that time. And the coming Messiah would usher in everlasting joy, everlasting peace, everlasting truth. He would also usher in a time of judgment. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. Those four things that are significant to the entrance of Christ on that Palm Sunday. Much of it you have heard if you're a seasoned saint. You've been around for a while, you've heard some of these things, but every time I look at these things, they're new to me and fresh to me. I pray that God will give you fresh eyes and a fresh mind as we consider the significance of Christ's entrance into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

We think about the joy and the peace, the truth, and the judgment. All of these were fulfilled with the triumphal entrance of Christ into the city of Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago. And yet, not only Israel but the whole world missed the true significance of his entrance on that day. We begin with joy. His entrance represents everlasting joy. The rejoicing manifested by the disciples and the crowd was appropriate. They were rejoicing in hope. This is our Messiah.

Yet, it was misplaced. Verse 37 says the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen. Their joy was then based upon what they had seen: the mighty works of Jesus, the miracles, Lazarus being there, and all of that. But also they were rejoicing because they were anticipating the immediate establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Remember the sons of thunder who sent their mama to ask Jesus if one of them could sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of Jesus when he came into his kingdom? The disciples actually expected Jesus to immediately set up his kingdom. Luke chapter 19 verse 11 tells us Jesus recognized this and he spoke a parable to bring some balance to this misconception or this false assumption of when the kingdom would be established on earth.

The Bible says there in verse 11 in Luke 19, "Now as they heard these things, he spoke another parable because he was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately." What is the parable that Jesus taught them in hopes of bringing balance to this false assumption? It's known as the Parable of the Minas.

It's in verses 11 to 27 in Luke chapter 19. What it's basically about, Jesus said there was a certain nobleman who went away to a far country to receive his kingdom and before he left, he gave a mina each to ten of his servants. A mina was money. Probably around $484 each that he gave to them. And then he charged them after giving them the money and said, "Do business until I return."

In this parable, some explanation needs to be given. The nobleman represents Christ who went into a far country, Heaven, to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. We're waiting for the Lord's return. The servants in the parable is the church, the servants of the Lord. The citizens that are mentioned in this parable is the world. Jesus made it a point to point out in verse 14 that the citizens of the world hated the nobleman. They said, "We will not have this man rule over us." And we live today in a Christ-rejected world.

So it's a parable about the world situation, of course, including Christ and the church. When the nobleman came back, Jesus said the nobleman called those ten servants and asked them to give an accounting for the mina that he had given them. He called the first servant. The first servant came and said, "The mina you gave me, I've invested it and now you have ten minas." The nobleman commended that first servant and said, "Great job. I'm going to give you ten cities to have authority over."

Then the second servant came in and said, "The mina you gave me, I've acquired five minas." He commended him and told him that he's given him authority over five cities. Then we come to another servant. This servant shows up and says to the nobleman, "Master, here is my mina which I kept hidden away in a handkerchief. Master, you are an obscure man, you're a strict guy, and so I was afraid to do anything with it. So I kept the little mina you gave me. I just put it in a napkin and just kept it." The Bible tells us Jesus said in this parable that the master chastised this servant for his unbelief for not investing what the master had given him.

What does that all have to do with Palm Sunday's joy? Jesus was trying to bring some balance to their misconception to show them where true joy really lies. The master in relationship to his servants, in relationship to the church, was more interested in what the return on his investment in his servants than he was in what the world was doing.

A lot of times we're more concerned about what the world is doing than what Christ has already invested in us. In other words, being about our Father's business, doing business until he returns, is the essence of true joy. Focusing in on the imminent, the coming of the Master, rather than the immediate wins and losses in our lives so that your joy may be sustained to the very end.

Our joy as followers of Christ should not rise and fall on our assumptions. Our joy as followers of Christ should not rise and fall on the passage or the failure of certain governmental legislation. Our joy should not rise and fall on fads nor the opinions of men. Our joy is of the Lord, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. We derive joy from knowing that we are doing our Father's business, that we are in his will.

Why is this important? Because the joy that the disciples had on that day was shortsighted. Because when the immediate didn't take place, there was no immediate kingdom and Jesus was crucified, their joy evaporated. They were hiding. They were afraid. I wonder sometimes when the immediate doesn't happen for us, when things don't work out according to our plans, that if our joy evaporates then maybe our joy really wasn't in the Savior but it was in that thing. I meet believers who have their joy robbed because their person didn't get elected to office or the legislation they were fighting for didn't pass. We should be light and we should be salt, don't get me wrong. But your joy is robbed.

Maybe it's because you're focused on the immediate and not the imminent. You're focused on your wins and losses rather than on his victory. There's a difference. The imminent mentality focusing on what the world cannot see, the coming Kingdom of God. Paul the apostle said it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, "While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Give God praise and glory. I'm trying to teach you how to hold onto your joy. When things don't go your way, it won't be taken away from you. You still have the joy of the Lord, which is our strength. Here is the question we need to ask ourselves. Jesus again trying to bring balance, telling them this parable to help them to understand that your joy will not come from things working out the way you think they will. It comes from doing the Father's business, being about our Master's business. That's where our joy is.

When the Lord returns, I believe in some form or fashion, he's going to ask us the same question that the master asked the servants in the parable Christ told. And that is, what have you done with the mina I deposited into you? Is he going to ask me about my financial affairs? No. Mina, the other part of the parable represents faith. The Bible says God has placed a deposit within every believer, a measure of faith, and God demands a return on his investment.

Without faith, you cannot please the Lord. When we exercise our faith, we produce fruitfulness to the glory of God. God wants a return on the faith he's placed within us. And that return on the faith he's placed within us is the essence of our joy. Doing our Father's business, by doing his business, we bear fruit to his glory.

I've been guilty of it, but don't get caught up in this not passing, that not passing, legislation and this and that. I want to stand for righteousness and to be salt and light in the earth, but my joy is not based upon those things. It's based upon Christ. It's based upon doing my Father's business. And I pray your joy will be too.

Jesus came to bring us eternal joy, not based upon worldly experiences but joy based upon him, the joy of salvation, the joy of being about our Father's business. He also came to bring us peace, the other aspect of the entrance into Jerusalem. The people cried out to Jesus saying in verse 38, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest."

The peace the Jews were seeking, however, was because they thought they were going to be freed immediately from Roman oppression. They wanted peace. In other words, their peace was based on social justice and not the Savior. Now, I believe in social justice and social justice is important, but sometimes people get the cart before the horse. Our peace should be in Christ.

Today the constant clamor for social justice regarding gender and sexuality and race has only yielded confusion. Why is that? Why is the world more confused? Because they will not include God in the conversation. You cannot have peace without the Prince of Peace. World War I was fought to end all wars. NATO was created to protect the nations from war. But our military might and our strong economies and no matter how many riches and all of these things we have has not brought peace to mankind. Why? Because it can only come from the Prince of Peace.

Guest (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting alpittmanministries.com. Also consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949, or visit us online. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing info@alpittmanministries.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us and we will see you next time on the Dwelling Place. God bless.

Have you been wanting to hear Pastor Al teach live? Well, now's your chance.

Al Pittman: Your sanctification is under the Father's authority. How God's going to provide for you is under his authority. How God is going to strengthen you is under his authority. Faith is trusting God for his part while doing my part.

Guest (Male): Join Pastor Al at Legacy of Faith Church in Denver, Colorado on Palm Sunday, March 29th. There Pastor Al will be teaching a dynamic Palm Sunday message that you don't want to miss. Doors open at 9:15 AM. Service begins at 10:30 AM. Head to legacyoffaithchurch.com to get directions or get more information. That's legacyoffaithchurch.com. We'll see you there.