Before we get into our text, we're gonna be at Luke 19, it is Palm Sunday, we're gonna be at Luke 19, but before we get there, I would like you, somebody, you're gonna be bold, relatively small crowd here today, we're good, you're gonna be bold and open, and share with us your memory surrounding the time that you became a Christian, your testimony. I'd like somebody to share with us, when you got saved, the events surrounding that, just give us a thumbnail sketch of how you came to Christ. Somebody like that. For the sake of all those around you, you're going to be bold and share your personal testimony. Each of those stories is incredibly different. Right? Josh is saying, well, I was seeking this, and so I was trying to figure out what I actually believe, and so on. John's on the road and he's working and feeling the pressures and feeling overwhelmed, kind of at a loss there. Justin was at a place of brokenness and almost desperation in his situation. You see many differences that cause it. And then you have Nathan, who's six or seven years old. Everybody's story is incredibly different. you know, some dramatic change, revolutionary change in my life, you know, that happened. And others, I just kind of grew up into it, and I was six years old, I received Christ. The stories are incredibly different, but there's a few things that are exactly the same. You know, one of the things is, all men and women, regardless of your context, regardless of your upbringing, regardless of your history, regardless of the quality of person that you are, regardless of how well it's going in your life, you need to be saved, right? Number two, the thing that's common is the salvation is the same. It's receiving the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way. And we did hear a repetitive theme in that it's, I thought I knew it, I thought I was saved. Then, you know, God, impresses it upon my heart that salvation is of the heart, not of the mind. It's of the heart. We need heart transformation. And so it must come from the mind to the heart. And so stopping it, the intellectual knowledge is not enough. So there's incredible differences, but the lesson's the same. Everybody must be saved. And so it doesn't mean that you're going to have as clear a testimony as those who just spoke up. There's going to be some here maybe who are hesitant about giving a testimony because you say, maybe I've been exposed to this for many, many years and somewhere along the line the change took place. Somewhere along the line I began to see fruit develop in my life even though I feel as if I believed the gospel for many years. And some of you have a testimony similar to that. One of the things I want us to see this morning is that the salvation that you have received, and all of those who have just spoken up, the commonality there is, and I know Josh used the term that he was seeking the truth, but the reality is God himself came to each of you in your different contexts, at different times of your life, and he did the same work, which he revealed to you the reality of who Jesus Christ is. The truth of the identity of Jesus Christ came to bear upon your heart by divine revelation. God enabled you to see who He is, and for that to be so impactful upon you that it led you to personal movement, for you to say, I need to receive Christ. And so this is a divine revelation from God, and this is something that not all men and women experience. So what does that mean? It means count yourself incredibly blessed. The fact that the revelation of Christ's true identity and how you must respond to it has come to bear upon your heart is a gracious work of God. And so in our passage in Luke 19, verse 28, this is Palm Sunday. We have an amazing situation, and I hope that you can kind of visualize it this way. We'll read it, verse 28 through 40. says when he had said these things, he just told some parables, when he told these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. And when he drove near to Bethpage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying, go into the village in front of you where on entering you'll find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat, untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say this, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, his owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt? And they said, The Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their coats on the road, As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. an amazing situation here, an amazing occurrence. This is often what we call the triumphal entry. And I think that the phrase triumphal entry, I understand from a divine perspective and from a biblical or prophetic perspective, it is a triumphal entry. But to understand, and this is what I want us to see, to understand that from a cosmic perspective, or a heavenly perspective, or a spiritual perspective, from that perspective, the full weight of this situation is clearly seen. The very Son of God, the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of all mankind is here. God has stepped into His creation, and here He is. So the weight of that is understood from a spiritual perspective, from a cosmic perspective. That is understood. But you look at it from an earthly perspective. We call it the triumphal entry, but it's almost a misnomer. It's almost like a mock triumphal entry. What I mean by that is that you have the disciples who are throwing their coats on the ground, and they get palm branches, and they lay them down like this red carpet of sorts, as if they're welcoming a king. But even the praise that's being offered to Christ at this moment is misguided, is uninformed, is ignorance. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. It's the son of David who's come to ascend to his throne. And they all have different conceptions as to who he is. And so even the praise and the worship that they're offering to him is ignorance. So what a contrast we have. It is the entry of the Son of God, the King of the Jews, coming into Jerusalem, and it is the fulfillment of hundreds of years of prophecy, and all of God's redemptive plan here is coming to a head. That is all true, but the best that mankind can offer in that moment is misguided, ignorant, self-centered praise. Leading up to this point, You have the confluence of multiple things coming to a head at this moment to make it such a significant situation. Christ's earthly ministry was what it was because He healed the way that He healed and He taught the way that He taught for one singular purpose, which was for that climax which happens at this moment and at the cross. He's spreading the information that He is the Son of God, the Kingdom of God has come, now is the time to repent and so on. He's doing that in such a way to inform those who God would save, He's also doing it in such a way to harden those who would reject Him. He's doing both things at the same time. And so His message goes out and it hardens His critics and it also softens the hearts of those whom God is drawing to Himself. Both those things are happening at the same time. And so you have the critics, you have the genuine believers, and then you have the ignorant masses who look at Christ and they see whatever they want to see in Him. They project what they want in a Savior upon Christ. And so Christ's earthly ministry has led to this point, and up to this point, these massive crowds are gathering. And here they are. It says the whole host of his disciples are there crying out at this moment. So the crowds have been gathering. He has this massive following of disciples that are by him, and don't be confused by the word disciple, because that just is any follower. It's not a testimony as to whether or not they're genuinely saved. It's just those who attach themselves or hitch themselves And so, the crowds have been growing up until this point, and with the crowd, the messianic hope is also building. It may be Him. He may be the One. And so, many are saying in John 17, 31, or 7, 31, yet many of the people believed in Him. They said, when the Christ appears, who will do more signs than what He has done? It's got to be Him. Look at His signs. And then some in John 7, verse 45, The officers came, and they were meant to arrest Jesus. And they came back to their leaders, and they didn't have Christ with them. And they said, well, why didn't you bring him? And they said, well, nobody's ever spoken to him. And so this messianic hope, based upon the signs that he had performed and based upon the words that he spoke, was building. There was speculation all over the place. He's the one, he's the one, he's the one. There was no social media. It's just kind of like between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. this morning. There was no social media, if you know what I'm talking about. Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp were all down for a few hours, which means some people actually went outside. Not really, they just went to Twitter. So there's no social media, and so word spreads slowly. But at this point, after three years, the region is saturated with knowledge of this man who's coming, speaking with authoritative words and actually healing. And so this speculation is building and has come to a fever pitch that He is actually the promised Messiah. And so the atmosphere here when Christ is coming into Jerusalem by virtue of God's divine wisdom and plan, the way that Christ conducted His earthly ministry, the atmosphere here is electric. And so in John 7, 25, Some of the people at Jerusalem therefore said, is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that he is the Christ? And that's the type of whispering that was all over the place up until this passage where it comes to a fever pitch. And so the crowds are increasing and the messianic hope is building. The religious rejection is solidifying. And so his enemies are becoming increasingly hardened in the rejection of who he is. John 12, 17, The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard that he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, You see that we are gaining nothing? Look, the whole world has gone after him. they're losing control because the whole world, Christ strategically designed in following the Father's lead, strategically designed that the healing And his miracle working was done in such a way so as to build the appropriate time, the speculation and the desire for the Messiah. And so that's why at certain times in earthly ministry he would heal and say, don't tell anybody. Why? Because it's not time yet. Because this is God's divine timeline. He wants all of this coming to a fever pitch at this moment of the triumphal entry. And so the healing of Lazarus was part of that, and so it encourages many to follow him, but also those who are his enemies to solidify the rejection of him. So this is all happening at the same time. Why would Jesus allow things to come to such a fever pitch where you have people who are even giving misguided worship and his enemies who are fomenting hatred while at the moment that he's coming into basically their territory in Jerusalem. Why would he allow all this to happen? Well, John 12, 27 says, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? A father saved me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. This is all according to God's sovereign plan. And so we can say that at this moment of Christ's triumphal entry, the crowds are increasing, a messianic hope is building, religious rejection is solidifying, but in all of it, God's sovereign plan is unfolding. God's sovereign plan is unfolding. This is all according to God's divine plan. We see a picture where Christ is placed upon a donkey And he prearranges this and says, hey, go to his disciples, go and untie, you'll find a colt that's tied and untie it and so on. You see it in the passage there. What is that? Did Christ prearrange this? He didn't prearrange this, this is omniscience. You saw it elsewhere in Luke 22 when he arranges for the upper room and says, hey, go into town, you'll find a guy carrying a water pitcher and follow him and so on. It's his omniscience. It is him giving a signal to his disciples, things are about to get really bad. So let me help you to understand that I'm in control, right? So look at my omniscience, look at my sovereignty. And so he says to them, go, this is what you'll find, this is exactly what they find. And here Jesus Christ is put upon a donkey. This seems like a very insignificant detail, but in reality, this is a fulfillment of a 500-year-old prophecy in Zechariah 9.9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation. Is He humble and mounted on a donkey?" On a colt, the foal of a donkey. This is a fulfillment. This is biblical prophecy also coming to a head. And so you have the religious rejection solidifying, you have the messianic hope that is building, you have the crowds that are gathering, you have biblical prophecy being fulfilled all in this one moment. So here Christ, He didn't seek to avoid this. He understood it. This was all according to God's design. This was all for a purpose. He did not seek to avoid confrontation. He actually instigated it at times because He knew that this was God's plan from the beginning. So He had to teach and heal and perform miracles for three years so that the news would spread. So the word of his power and authority would be spread far and wide, thus beginning a wave of speculation as to who he was. That was his design. That's why he did his earthly ministry the way he did. He had to continually expose the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders of the day, to challenge their authority, to ensure that their opposition, though simmering for three years, would come to a boiling point at this moment. Why did Jesus keep the reality of His Messiahship a secret for so long, even telling those who believed in Him not to tell anybody? Why? Because He was following God's sovereign timeline. And so, here He is, in the fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9, 500-year-old prophecy, set upon a donkey, coming into Jerusalem. And what does the Bible say in Zechariah 9.9? He is the King. coming into Jerusalem. And so it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Jewish people, this is your king. This is the fulfillment. Here he is. And so Mark 11.8. Many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!" And I said, this is the best man could offer. God's sovereign redemptive plan coming to an apex, coming to a culmination in this moment. So many events, so many themes, so many messages, so many realities coming to a point at this moment, and the best that man can do is this. You say, well, this is wonderful praise, but the reality is, as people are praising Christ as the King of David, in reality what they're doing is they're praising the change in circumstances that they are going to experience. The kingdom is coming. This is our Father David. The Jews are finally going to rule. We're finally going to subjugate Rome. This is our moment. So in praising Christ, they're really praising themselves because of all that they thought He represented for them. And so here we learn a lesson. I'm not trying to be too hard on this crowd, but the reality is when Christ is crucified, there's very few left. Massive crowds crying out, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and when the crucifixion comes, there's but a handful who remain." The reality is many come to Christ misguided, ignorant, self-centered, projecting upon Christ what they want Christ to be for them, and then they receive Christ on that basis and that basis alone. So let me ask you this morning, Many give testimonies. You came to Christ, you understood who He was, He's Savior, He's Lord, and you understood what He required of you. And I actually heard the word repentance, which is wonderful to hear. Who is Jesus Christ to you? In this moment, right, heart examination, is He the Savior and Lord, the Son of God, whose authority has come to bear on your life, and so that your reception of Christ is a response of obedience to His declaration that you must repent in order to enter the kingdom of God. Or is it some self-centered notion that Christ is going to deliver me from my struggles, Christ is going to deliver me from my difficulty, Christ is going to make my life more enjoyable, He's going to make it more livable. What is it? Christ is my entree into spiritual fellowship in the church. I don't know. Christ is my deliverance from my personal struggles, from my personal addictions, from my deliverance from the sin that I struggle with so consistently. Christ is the one who's going to deliver to me a clear conscience so that I can kind of finally live down my past. What is it? Christ is the one who's going to give me moral authority that I can wield over others. What is it? The guilt of the crowd here was missing the moment. I see the triumphal entry and the phrase bothers me a little bit. I understand that the phrase is almost meant to paint the contrast. We call it triumphal. It was not triumphal. It was a meek and mild Savior sitting upon a donkey. Have you ever seen a donkey? Have you ever seen a donkey walk? There's nothing triumphant about the gait of a donkey. The triumphal entry, in my mind, is the parting of the clouds and the appearance of a white horse and Christ coming written upon him, Lord of Lord and King of Kings. That's the triumphal entry. This is not the triumph. This is Christ coming upon a donkey and it's not a red carpet. It's not a street of gold. There's coats and there's palm leaves and he comes just plodding into Jerusalem upon this humble donkey. This is the best mankind could do. Man, in his blindness, in his rejection of God, even the worship that they offered was so meager, it fell so short of what the moment actually was. And it's sad. This is historic. This will never be repeated this way. This is the final fulfillment of the redemptive plan. And here we are, having misguided worshipers. Their words were right. As Robert Stein said, the crowd's response was more correct than their understanding. Their words were right. Everything they were saying was correct. But this was not the moment. They really missed it. They're crying out, hosanna, but what they mean is salvation from the Romans. They cry out, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, but what they're really crying out is salvation from tyranny. They say our king, but really they mean our political ruler. So here they are ready to receive Christ as Messiah, because Christ at the moment represented whatever they wanted to believe the Messiah was. They were simply projecting what they wanted upon Christ instead of receiving Christ for who He was. They were ignorant. Christ continually taught that He was the spiritual Savior, not an earthly deliverer. So He taught that. It was clear they could have known. They're so blinded by their own lusts that they wanted Him to be whatever their hearts desired. Yet the fact is, He ultimately would be all those things, yes. That's why their confession was truer than what they understood. The day was coming when there would be a genuine triumphal entry. He would come as the King to rule upon a throne, but that was yet future. And so He receives praise. Verse 38, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Verse 39, Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. What do we have here? Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. The best the people could do in that moment All of the, how would you say this? All of the stars in the universe of redemption have aligned in this moment, right? All of the planets, all of the stars in the universe of redemption have aligned in this moment. It's the most spiritually significant moment on earth regarding the redemptive plan. The best man can do is not appreciate the gravity and the weight of the moment, but simply to offer misguided, ignorant, shallow praise, which is really self-centered, then projecting themselves and what they want upon Christ. And even that, even that, the Pharisees say, tell them to shut up. That's the situation we have. And what does Jesus say in verse 40? This is so significant. I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. What does he mean? All of creation, all of heaven and all of creation understands the significance of this moment. All of heaven is... I mean, it's not a great image, I understand, but all of heaven, if they could peer over the edge of heaven and look down upon the earth, they are all there watching. This is what has been anticipated. And so all of heaven and all of creation understands the significance of this moment. And so Jesus says, if I told them to shut up, the rocks would cry out. All of the creative order is on edge, understanding the weight and gravity of this situation. But what are we learning? The rocks have more spiritual discernment and appreciation for the moment than the spiritually dead men who are watching it happen. That's why I said to those of you who gave a testimony this morning, you're understanding and appreciation for who Christ actually is. The fact that you came to a place in your life where you said, He is Savior, He is Lord, I must bow the knee and confess Him. The fact that you came to that place in your life is nothing short than a divine work of God shedding the light of that knowledge into your heart. God did that. And so in John chapter 1 verse 6, It says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light that came to bear witness about the light. That's John the Baptist talking about Christ the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. Why would the rocks cry out? Because here's the creator of the rocks. The world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. This morning, if you're a believer, it's because the Lord Jesus Christ, His divine authority, has chosen to reveal Himself to you. The men and women with Jewish heritage and all the Jewish privileges, having the prophets and having the covenants and having the scriptures and so on, could not appreciate the moment when the creator of heaven and earth, the fulfillment of all Jewish prophecy, the promised Messiah, was riding into Jerusalem. They could not understand the gravity of the situation. They couldn't understand the weight. All they could do was offer self-centered, ignorant praise, and even that, the Jewish leaders said, tell them to shut up. Yet you've come to a place where you fully embrace and understand who the Lord Jesus Christ is? What a divine privilege. 2 Corinthians 4.6 says, For God, it is who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is a divine work of creation. And so if you're a believer this morning, it's because God himself produced a creative act on par with Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And he said, let there be light, and there was light. On the level with that creative act, the Bible says that God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of what? The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He has revealed in your heart to know the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care your age this morning. We're almost done here. I don't care your age this morning. I don't care what your personal testimony is. I don't care how you came to know Christ. Give God praise for the revelation of His own glory in the person of Jesus Christ. Here He is. Come to me through Him. He's the way. He's Savior. He's Lord. That's the revelation that God has given to you. So, in many ways, you and I have an incredible privilege, even greater than those who watched Jesus Christ Himself enter into the holy city of Jerusalem in fulfillment of hundreds of years of prophecy. So powerful is the worth and power of Christ that in the presence of the revelation of His glory, even the inanimate rocks cannot withstand the compulsion to praise Him. Jesus says in verse 41, when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it and saying, would that you, even you had known on this day, the things that make for peace. You're missing the moment, but now they're hidden from your eyes. I'm saying to you this morning, what I'm trying to drive home is it has not been hidden from your eyes. They miss this tremendous moment, but God has, by His grace, just taken back the veil, and He's shown in your heart, and He's revealed it to you, who Christ is. Don't miss this. You didn't stumble upon the truth. You didn't one day decide, oh, I'm going to look into this Christ figure. Maybe I'll decide to receive. This is not what's happened. God's taken back the veil, and He's shown the light in your heart, and He's done a creative work in you so that you can know who He is. So praise God that like one of those dull and deaf and dumb rocks, we as those who are spiritually dead have no ability to come to Christ except that God do His creative work in us. So God has brought the reality of Christ's glory to bear upon the deadness of our hearts. And so if we are believers this morning in who Christ is, if you know who He is, praise God for His creative work. If you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Christ, If you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, what has happened? Just like those people who are watching Christ come into Jerusalem, no concept of who He is, all of creation is kind of at an anticipatory pitch as Christ is coming into Jerusalem. All of creation is on edge. All of the creative order understands what's happening. All of the heavenly host understands what's happening. All of the spiritual realm understands what's happening. But you have dull, dumb, spiritually dead people just watching the parade go by. If you're here this morning and you're not a believer, you're part of that crowd. If you don't respond to the Lord Jesus Christ, He's being paraded in front of you for who He is. Savior and Lord, preacher of the kingdom of God, one who must be honored in order to honor the Father, one who must be submitted to, before whom the knee must be bowed and the tongue must confess. That's who He is. And to allow that moment to pass puts you in that same crowd as the dull and dumb ones who will reject Christ when the crucifixion is about to happen. So if you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, your failure to receive Christ as your personal Savior and Lord is nothing short of utter ignorance of His true nature. You're missing the moment. You've encountered the only Savior and Lord, the true Son of God, the glory of the Father, and your rejection or failure to submit to Him reveals the deadness of your soul. So our responsibility is to respond to Christ. Our responsibility is to join a chorus who can say the words that are here, but understand the significance of them. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And to join that chorus and to know the depth, to know what you're saying, to not be projecting yourself upon Christ, but to receiving Christ for who He is and allowing Him to come to bear upon you. And so I understand that the crowd that I'm teaching this morning is primarily our One of the reasons I wanted you to give a personal testimony this morning is because there are some here this morning who are part of church, who are part of the Christian community, and so on, but you do not have a personal testimony of salvation. You do not have a testimony of a time in your life where you came to see Christ for who He is. That moment occurred where God revealed the Lordship of Christ, the reality that Christ is Savior and that you must trust Him exclusively and submit to Him exclusively, understanding that He is the primary love relationship above everyone and everything else. You don't have that testimony. So my challenge for you is respond to what God is revealing in your heart. Respond to that. So there's two sides here. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. God is doing the work of shining a light into your heart. What ought to happen in your life is you respond. You submit. It's a heart posture. I receive Christ as my Savior. He's the only way to be saved. I'm not trusting myself. I'm not trusting any religious tenets. I'm not trying to accomplish salvation on my own. I understand with absolute and utter desperation He is the only way. And so I submit to Him. He's the only way to be saved. I also recognize He's authority. And so to receive Christ is to receive Christ for who He is. He's Lord. He rules and reigns. And so what is my responsibility? To bow the knee. He's authority to me. And then we heard testimonies this morning, and one of the things I liked about what many of you shared is that you said things like, I thought that I was saved, or maybe I prayed a prayer at some point in my life, but then this happened, and then I began to see change. Because that's what true, genuine salvation does. Genuine salvation is a transformation, spiritual transformation on the inside, which results in fruit, evidence. And so you have that testimony, wonderful. If you're here this morning and you're not saved, this is the evidence of the genuineness of your faith. Spiritual formation, you're forming spiritual desire, you're forming character qualities of Christ in your life, a love for the Word of God, a love for the brethren, a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. You become a worshiper. who can praise God and worship Him with sincerity in your heart. And so, I have mixed feelings. Palm Sunday, triumphal entry. We can celebrate that and say, wow, look how Christ is being exalted. It's not sincere worship. There's some in the crowd, sure. Even Peter, some time from this, is going to deny that he even knows Christ. To understand the gravity and the spiritual and the heavenly weight of what's happening in this moment, and to see the human response, I think is just kind of pitiful. And so we're different, I hope. Seek to understand the gravity and the weight of who Christ is. Allow your response to Christ to be commensurate with the revelation of who He is. Understand the weight of His character and how it comes to bear upon your life. and then seek to live for His glory. Well, we're going to pursue this and we're going to, as we approach Easter, we're going to look at Christ's death and His resurrection and see exactly what God accomplishes as the redemptive plan comes to a head. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's almost embarrassing to look at the human response to the triumphal entry. Such an ignorance of the gravity and the weight of what was actually happening in the moment. So that Christ would look back at the city and just weep over their ignorance. They didn't understand the day of their visitation. They didn't understand the gravity of the moment. What a sad state of affairs. And yet in the midst of their ignorance, there's people yelling words of praise. There's people yelling theologically accurate statements. And yet even this brought Christ to tears as He considered the city. Lord, I pray You would help us continue to shine in our hearts. Help us to grow in our knowledge of who Christ is. Help us to grow in our understanding of His power and His authority and His majesty. Help us to grow in our understanding of all that we have received through salvation. I pray that it would have a deep impact on who we are and our response to You. Lord, I pray that our human responses would be honoring to You as we seek to praise and as we utter words of worship. I pray that they would be accurate reflections of our deep understanding of who Christ is. Lord, I thank you for those who are willing to share salvation testimonies this morning. There are some here this morning who don't have such a testimony. I pray that you would impress upon them the need to respond to Christ. I pray that you do that work in their heart. And I pray that they would respond, receiving Christ as Savior and Lord, so that today may be their day. They can give a testimony in the future, saying, I remember hearing of Christ and hearing the testimony of others. It made me realize that I, too, need to be saved, genuinely. So I pray that you do that work. Lord, we thank you for this. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank you for the Easter season when we can celebrate the resurrection. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.