Hosanna in the Highest

0:00When you've done everything and nothing changed

Amen. Well, today I want to ask, or answer, this question: what do you do when you’ve done everything you can do and nothing has changed? What do you do when you’ve done everything you can do and nothing has changed? So join me in your Bibles in Matthew chapter 21. And while you turn there, I do want to make a small distinction in what I’m going to preach this morning. I’m preaching a message on what you do when you’ve done everything you can do and nothing’s changing. What I’m not preaching is what to do when you’ve done nothing that was in your capability to do and you gripe and complain that nothing has changed.

I can’t help you with that. That is beyond the power of this pulpit. If the amount of time — man, I came out the gate here, my bad. The amount of times that I have people come up to me and complain about things that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt they’re not participating in the process. Don’t come talk to me about having money problems if you won’t go get a job. I’m not the preacher, because I’m not going to pray for you. I’m going to look you in the face and say that, because that’s the answer you need to hear. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about how to have a better marriage, or what do you do, how do you have a better marriage when you haven’t participated in having a better marriage.

Some of y’all want better marriages, but you go home and you create a hostile environment. That’s why you’ve got the marriage you’ve got. Don’t create a hostile environment and you won’t have a hostile environment. Amen? So today I’m talking about what do you do when you’ve done everything you can and nothing is changing. Today’s message is called “Hosanna in the Highest.”

2:17Matthew 21:1-11: the King comes in

Matthew chapter 21, verse 1 says, “Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.

Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord needs them.”’” Let me just pause right there and remind you Easter Sunday is coming up next week, and I think it’s interesting. Another version of the Bible says that the Lord told them to say, “The Lord has need of you,” or “The Lord has need of it.” And I just want to say to you this morning, as we go into next week, if you’re not serving in any ministry at the church — hey, listen, the Lord has need of you as we go into next week. Test drive. Smiling and shaking hands. In fact, you don’t even have to join the team to turn around to six people near you and say, “Good morning, it’s good to see you.

Is this your first time? Oh, it’s not your first time? My bad.” Because y’all know we’d be making those mistakes too. “No, I’ve been coming here for two years.” “I’m sorry I said anything.” So the Lord has need of you. Okay, “and he’ll send them at once.” Verse 4: “This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”’” Verse 6: “The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.” Those were palm branches — that’s why we call it Palm Sunday. “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowd said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.’” Again, my message title today is “Hosanna in the Highest.”

Hosanna in the highest.

4:30What Hosanna means

Hosanna is a word we kind of toss around and nobody’s real sure what to do with it. In fact, I remember Ashleigh’s pastor — she went and asked him one time. She said, “What does Hosanna mean?” He just goes, “It’s just another name for Jesus.” That ain’t true and that ain’t right. “It’s just another name for Jesus.” So we just toss this phrase around not knowing what it is. But Hosanna is a word, it’s a phrase that means “God save me.” God save me. God save us. God save us. This is a plea for God’s mercy, and it helps to understand a little bit of what was going on at the time that the Jews were screaming out as Jesus rode in on a donkey, “Hosanna to the Son of David!

Hosanna in the highest!” God save us. God, do something in our situation.

5:28A people under pressure

And at the time, the Jews — just to give you a little context — they had been living under almost a hundred years of Roman occupation. They had become virtually second-class citizens in their own geographical location. They were a big deal only in the circles where they were a big deal. But when they got into the greater context of the world, they were nobody. Maybe you feel that a little bit today. Maybe when you get around your friends, you’re somebody, but if you get in the wrong circle, you ain’t nobody.

I know I feel that sometimes. And so they feel this, they feel like they don’t have any representation or any value in the culture. They’re also facing very critical economic circumstances, in that they’re being taxed by Rome, but they’re also being taxed in the temple. Now, they expected the tax in the temple. That was something that had been employed by the law of Moses. It’s something they had been doing forever at this point. It wasn’t something that they had not expected. But when — I think it was Pontius Pilate — had come in to govern in Jerusalem, he had actually come in and brought in most of the Roman economic system into Jerusalem.

They had been operating kind of in their own Jewish fashion, but now he’s bringing in this Roman economic system, which basically meant that Caesar’s face was on the coins. And now there was a real question of, is bringing Caesar’s face on a coin into the temple, is that idolatry? A fair question. Is it idolatry? And so what had happened to avoid doing that — by the way, I think it was Pontius Pilate who had gone in and stepped foot into the temple. I think they call it Pontius Pilate’s boot. I might be off on these details. They’re in there somewhere. Amen.

But it’s Pontius Pilate’s boot. He had gone in and he had stepped into the temple, desecrating the temple. And so there was a real tension there. And what happened as part of all of those tensions, the Jewish leaders, the leaders in the temple, were exchanging currencies. So when you read about Jesus turning over the table of the money changers, this isn’t people selling bracelets in the church foyer. This is an actual economic thing where people would bring in their Roman coins and then they would have them exchanged for coins that were acceptable to use in the temple, to put in the temple treasury.

First of all, this is just a burden. It’s just a general burden. That is an annoyance at the least. It’s an annoyance. But it gave an opportunity for people to take advantage of those who were doing their best to serve the Lord. So people were coming in trying to give to the temple. They were trying to give their tithe. They were trying to give their offerings. And there was a middleman who had gotten in there who was putting an exchange rate on it — kind of like Bible bucks to kids’ coins, now that I think of it. I don’t know why. I had to be careful with that.

Amen. We’re going to have money changers upstairs. Hallelujah. But they were taxing them additional. There were additional fees. There was additional payment. So it was costing more and more and more. And I don’t care how spiritual you are. At the end of the day, when it keeps hitting here, you feel it. People in Alabama — and I really don’t know anything about it, I’m out of the loop a little bit — people in Alabama are freaking out on Alabama Power all the time because we don’t know what they’re charging us for. Imagine that kind of exchange happening in the church foyer.

And you may think of it as optional. This wasn’t an optional thing for them. We treat the tithe flippantly. This was a part of the deep Jewish culture. So they’re facing that. They’re also under a very cruel Roman governor. They’re under a Roman governor who is a Pontius Pilate. He led for about 10 years. But I mean, this is a man who made their life miserable. It was a dangerous time for the Jews. He was in there killing people, persecuting people. It was a tense time in the government. They also felt like they had been betrayed by their religious leaders, because the same men who were letting the money changers in the temple — one of the reasons they were doing this is because they had made agreements with the government that they would be able to keep their wealth and they would get some benefits if they just kept everybody happy, kept everybody going with the flow. “Let us get in here and take over the governmental system.

But y’all keep the peace as religious leaders, and we’ll give you a little breaky-break on everything that you’ve got to pay.” And so they feel betrayed by their preachers. And then on top of that — how many of you know Jesus is the Messiah? Okay. Amen. Good. You’re in the right place this morning. That’s church 101. Jesus is the Messiah. But here’s the thing. Jesus was not the first person that the Jews thought was the Messiah. There had been a handful of people who had risen up who they thought would be the Messiah. And generally the Jewish people had been disappointed.

They’d been let down. They thought they were on the verge of breakthrough. Am I speaking anybody’s language here now? They thought they were on the verge of breakthrough and it just didn’t happen. This is kind of the situation they’re in. By the way, they’d been looking for about 200 years intently. The nice thing about when you’re looking for God to do something is you’ll find his handiwork, because guess what they got? They got Jesus. There was a lot of disappointment on the way to Jesus Christ. All that to say, they’re under this heaping load of burden.

It brings — when Jesus says “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” — kind of to a new level when you know what all is going on. And so they get to this moment, this Palm Sunday moment. They’re heading into Passover. It’s in Jerusalem. Jerusalem normally, I think, had about 50,000 people in it, but because of the religious holiday there’s somewhere between 100, 200, 300,000 Jews that have descended upon Jerusalem, and it’s time to celebrate Passover. And Passover is the time when they celebrate when God delivered the people from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea and delivered them from captivity and slavery.

So you’ve got 200,000 Jewish people who are celebrating freedom from a tyrannical leader and a system of oppression, in Jerusalem, where they’re facing a tyrannical leader, lots of oppression. And right there in Jerusalem is a powder keg cooking. If you ever wondered why they went from “Hosanna” to “crucify him” in one week, it’s because when tensions get hot, people make bad decisions. I don’t know where all this is coming from. I like this message. Amen. It’s feeling good. So as Jesus comes into town, people have been hearing — because notice, some of these people didn’t know.

That’s why they say, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth.” That’s the best they knew how to identify him. People are going, “Who’s this guy that everybody’s throwing palm branches at?” And he’s coming into town and they’re crying out, “God save us,” because they’re in a situation that is beyond their control.

13:58God, save me in the highest fashion

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? You’ve done everything that you can do. You’ve gone with the process. You’ve gone with the plan. You’ve cooperated. You’ve been kind. You’ve been nice. You’ve given and you’ve given and you’ve given and you’ve given, and nothing is changing.

Anybody ever been there? Anybody? I know I’ve been there. Well, when you get to that point, that’s when you look to heaven and you don’t just say “Hosanna.” This isn’t just a “God, thank you for the day, and be with us, and put a hedge of protection.” This is when you look to heaven and you say, “God, I need you to show up in a way that is transformative in my life. I need you to do something that I ain’t ever heard about or seen you do before.” It’s when you don’t just cry out, “God save me,” but “God save me in the highest fashion.” And so today what I want to talk to you about — because I’m very, and I recognize this about myself —

I’m very, “Hey, let me put some tools in your hand” when I preach, and I give you some stuff you can go do today. I’m not talking about what you go do today. I want to preach about what God does. Somebody give the Lord a praise right there. Amen. So I want to talk to you about some ways that the Lord saves us today.

15:291. He is a refuge

So number one, you can write this down: he’s a refuge. He’s a refuge. Unless you’re my autocorrect on my iPad, then he’s a refugee. But he’s a — thank God I know the message. Amen. He’s a refuge. He’s a refuge. Psalm 46, verse 1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble.”

He’s a very present help. He’s our refuge. He’s our strength. You know, I like the way — and I said this earlier this morning — that Proverbs 18 says, I like this, it says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it and is safe.” I learned that in an early season. See, I miss when we used to sing scripture songs in churches. For those of y’all who just got saved in the last few years, let you know, there was a time when most of our songs, we were just singing stuff that’s in the Bible. We’d just grab a line or two out of the Bible.

We would sing this stuff. You didn’t know. We’d get the word in on you in secret. Amen. We’d sneak the word in into your life. We’d help you memorize verses. You wouldn’t even know they’re verses. People think they’re songs. No, honey, that’s the Proverbs. Amen. And we used to sing this little song that says, [worship] And I got saved and I started going to church and I was hearing that when I was a kid: [worship]

I mean, talking about just some good old church songs. Amen. And the name of the Lord is a strong tower. That’s why we sang that this morning. Those names of God — you need to know some of the names of the Lord. You need to know some of these attributes of the Lord, because sometimes you’ve got to run into a different door of the strong tower. Amen. Sometimes you’ve got to run through the healer door, and sometimes you’ve got to run through the Jehovah Jireh door, my provider. And sometimes you’ve got to go through the Jehovah Nissi door and go, “God, I can’t — I don’t know, my daughter’s dating this little boy.

I can’t stand him, and I need you to just, you know, kill him.” I don’t know. I don’t know. It takes what it takes. Amen. I’m not here to tell the Lord how to do his job, but I make suggestions. Hallelujah. And so you need to know some of those names. But the name of the Lord is a strong tower. He’s a refuge. He’s a very present help in a time of need. You know, there’s going to be seasons of your life that you serve the Lord and you’re going to call on the Lord to make changes to things in your world, and you might not see any obvious change. Bare minimum, you’ve got the period of time between calling on the Lord and the thing actually just working.

Even if God answered your prayer today — if you had a loved one in the hospital who was dying and you said, “God, I need you to heal him,” and God did — you still wouldn’t know about it until you got out of here, because you got your phone off. Amen. He said, “Preacher, your phone’s going off in church.” That’s none of your business. Okay? That’s what I want to tell you right now. You need to stick with your business. Amen. But so there’s still a period of time, even between knowing — there’s going to be a minute, there’s going to be some period of time where you call on the Lord and you wait. When Jesus tells the man whose daughter is sick, “Hey, go home.

She’s healed,” he’s still got to walk to the house before he knows. Healed that very hour. Still got to walk to the house. You’re still operating in the “I don’t know” of the situation. So, and then there are other situations where you may call on the Lord and call on the Lord and call on the Lord and nothing changed. We don’t talk about this in the Pentecostal church enough. We talk a lot about “now” and “it’s your season” and so a $10,000 seed. And I like that. Somebody bring me a bucket. Amen. Now we talk a lot about that stuff and — that’s great. And I believe there’s something about having a now faith.

I’m just believing God’s going to do it, and he’s going to do it now. I don’t want to be resigned to, “Hey, whatever happens happens.” We don’t serve a Que Sera, Sera God. We don’t serve a “whatever will be, will be” God. We serve a God of the breakthrough. Baal Perazim is what his name is, and he’s the God of the breakthrough. But nevertheless, there will be moments when you walk through things and you’re just not sure what’s happening. The Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that he causes all things to work together for the good of those who believe. It doesn’t mean everything works good.

Sometimes you’ve got to have some things happening, and you may be agonizing — and here’s a word maybe for someone today. You may be agonizing over what’s going on with your adult children right now, or maybe your teenagers, and you’re agonizing because God’s not just changing it. Well, if God just changes it, that makes it better for you. Sometimes your kids need to go through something so they can experience the goodness of God in a way that they actually have a testimony and a juxtaposition to how it could be versus how it is. Sometimes you need to know what you came from.

I know some of y’all go, “Man, I just, you know, we didn’t raise up, we aren’t in the environment that we were raised in. We don’t know why our kids are acting this way,” and this side or the other. Jocelyn just went to New York. I’m going to brag a little bit here, tell y’all how great we are. Amen. But Jocelyn just went to New York and she came home. She said, “I love y’all.” She told her mother twice since she got home. Twice. You know, when the teenagers be saying it twice or so. She goes, “I’m so grateful for y’all.” Why? Because I was around some of the other kids’ parents and they’re horrible. But she don’t know.

She thinks we riding her about stuff all the time. She ain’t got no juxtaposition. Sometimes your kids need to go through something so they know it ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. So while you may be crying out and going, “God, where are you?” he’s saying, “Hey, I’m working something out for the good of those who believe.” But I’ve got good news for you: if you call on the name of the Lord, he is working on your behalf. Somebody give the Lord a praise. Hallelujah. But I know when I got saved — I’ve talked a little bit about my upbringing — and I came from a home.

Both of my parents were alcoholics. Both of my parents died early because they abused their bodies so much. And I got saved at 12 years old and nothing changed. Nothing changed. And at first I was frustrated about it, for years, but nothing changed in my house. In fact, not only did it not change, it got worse. I got saved and things got crazier and crazier and crazier. And I’m not talking about little crazy, talking about crazy stuff that I get uncomfortable talking to y’all about. Y’all look at me like, “Good night almighty.” But I’m telling you, it’s that level.

Good night almighty level. That’s the level it was at. And it got worse and worse and worse and worse. And if you look at the first 10 years of serving the Lord, it looks like this God that he’s serving doesn’t come through at all. Well, that’s not the truth. Because if you back up and you look at the 30-year version, you’ll see that God’s done a great work in my life — not only through me or in me, but for me. There’s some stuff that me and Ashleigh are walking in that none of our family could have ever imagined walking in. I remember Ashleigh walked into a room one time.

They kind of laid off of it now, but they used to ride her a little hard because she doesn’t have a college degree. They probably ride her a little hard because she almost got one. Amen. She was real close. But they were riding her one time about it, and I’m thinking, my God, y’all need to lay off of her. She makes more money than all of y’all. She’s making more money than anybody in the room. And they’re yaying about having a college degree. And everybody’s got to get it because grandma gives a thousand dollars when you get a college degree.

I’m thinking, man, that’d get $30,000 worth of debt under your belt. But my life wasn’t getting any better. My life wasn’t improving. My life wasn’t going anywhere. And the Lord taught me at an early age — the Lord taught me that I can be in a situation, I can be going through a situation, a bad situation, and I can be going through it, but because I’m full of the Holy Ghost and power, that situation doesn’t have to go through me. See, you look at 30 years and you go, man, there’s been some powerful stuff that’s happened. We’ve had breakthrough and gone to next-level living in our life.

And God’s done a great work, and he’s used us, and we’ve been places, and that’s fine. But in the 10 years that nothing was changing, it felt like nothing’s changing, and there’s moments of frustration. But it turns out that even though I was in it, it wasn’t in me. It wasn’t getting me. It wasn’t taking a hold of me. And sometimes you don’t realize that until you learn that he’s a refuge. He’s a refuge. Refuge doesn’t mean things change. Refuge means you are under attack. You are going through it. But if you get into the presence of the Lord, he’ll protect you.

He’ll keep you safe. He’ll keep you. He’ll make sure that whatever happens to you doesn’t happen in you. Amen. He’s a refuge. We don’t talk about this enough in the church. We don’t talk about this because we like the change and the breakthrough, and we show everybody who got a $100,000 check showed up in the mail, and we give the testimonies about people whose lives have been completely turned around. There is a moment in your life where God is working and it seems like he isn’t. That’s because he is a refuge. He’s a very present help in a time of need. The name of the Lord’s a strong tower that the righteous run into and they’re safe.

They’re not delivered. They’re just safe. You’re still going through it. You’re still under attack. But you are — that’s the word of the Lord this morning — you are safe. Hallelujah.

26:232. He is a deliverer

Number two: while God is a refuge and there’s seasons of your life where you go through that, he’s not just a refuge. He’s also a deliverer. He’s a deliverer. God is able, capable, willing, and faithful to bring you out of whatever you’re in. Psalm 144, verse 2 says, “He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer.” And my deliverer. In Acts chapter 12 — I’m going to invite you to turn over there and I’m going to read a little bit of Bible to you here.

Actually, I’m not going to read it. I’m just going to tell you what it says. Acts chapter 12: Peter has been thrown into a prison. The apostle James has just been killed. So he’s got good reason to not have any faith right now at all. But he’s in prison, and there are people who are praying for him, and an angel shows up and brings him out of the prison. He actually — this is so supernatural — he thinks it’s a dream. He doesn’t even realize it’s happening in real life, but God brings him out. He sends an angel. We’re talking about deliverance. And we in the church right now — and I probably got stronger opinions than what I want to share right now — but we talk a lot about deliverance ministry.

And I’m going to tell you right now, God is a deliverer, but I don’t know how much of that happens with you sitting in a chair and people crying in the room. And I think that stuff might be good and cool, but I kind of like to look around and say, “Hey, look what the Lord has done. And if he did it for them, he can do it for me.” I don’t want to sit in a room and get okay in a room. I want to see God do it in my situation. That’s why I keep talking to y’all about a real power, an authentic power, something where God will really move and do it. Not this mess-around stuff that we do.

And God is a deliverer. He is a deliverer. He is able and capable and willing and faithful to bring you out of whatever you’re going through. And there was a season that I had to live in that mess. There was a season where I didn’t know what I was coming home to. There was a season where I didn’t know if my mother was going to run off that night and I may have to call my father from the fire. There were seasons where I didn’t know if my dad was going to be in a mood where someone was going to get hurt that night. I had to live through that. I had to go through that for a while.

But there was a moment where the Lord said, “Now I’m going to bring you out.” Now I’m going to bring you out. Because he’s a deliverer. You won’t be there forever. You won’t be in it forever. Now there’s a tension you have to hold. On one hand, he is a refuge. He’s a refuge. So you get in there and you get safe. You get in the Lord and you get safe. But you hold the faith and you keep calling on the Lord and you believe for your breakthrough. There is a thing going on in the church right now — I don’t know what it is, but we’ve gotten to this place where we just accept everything.

And we just think, “Okay, this is just — I guess it’s just the way it is.” And I watch people walk through some of the most horrific stuff and treat it like it’s a gift. And you can get something good out of everything. But I believe in a God who is a deliverer. He is a healer. He will bring you out of whatever you’re going through. You don’t have to stay there forever. You don’t have to be broke forever. You don’t have to be in danger forever. You don’t have to be abused forever. You don’t have to be sick forever. There is a moment of breakthrough where God will bring you out and deliver you.

And you might as well just say, “God, I receive it today.” Amen. Hallelujah.

30:243. He is the King over all kings

Number four — or number three. Number three is the final one. He’s the King over all kings. He’s the King over all kings. He’s a refuge. He’s a deliverer. He’s the King over all kings. Ephesians chapter 1 says something really interesting. It says in verse 22 that “he put all things under his feet” — that’s Jesus, put all things under his feet — “and gave him as head over all things to the church.” Now, we read this and it gets interpreted as that Jesus is the head of the church, which is true.

But that is not what Ephesians chapter 1, verse 22 says. He is the head over all things, and he’s been given to the church. In your life, you will find that as part of doing whatever you can do — whatever you can do, because I’m talking, again, I’m talking about what to do when you’ve done everything you can do and nothing is changing. Okay? That’s what we’re talking about. There is a moment where you will start to exhaust certain resources, and the resource is called appeal. You will appeal. This is where the Karens go: “I want to talk to your manager.

I want to — I need to appeal. And can you put your supervisor on the phone?” I’m going to write my congressman. I’m going to visit my senator. I’m not going to just talk to my supervisor. I’m going to go to the vice president of the company. I’m going to send an email. I’m going to talk to somebody. In our house, if dad says no, let me talk to mom — the highest level of appeal in our home. But I’m talking about there’s resources that you’ll appeal. And maybe your appeal isn’t something official. Maybe your appeal is, let me send out my resume. Or your appeal is, let me see if we can get refinanced.

Let me get a second opinion. Different levels of appeal, appeal. But the longer you go through life, the more you realize how not in charge you are. Nothing will make you realize that like bringing contractors in to paint 60,000 — or 6,000 — square foot of your ceiling black. I had no control the whole time. I was out of control. The guys were going to do what they were going to do. You will go through your life and you’ll find there’s no appeal. When I was living at home and my parents weren’t — I didn’t have any appeal. I was 13 years old. I got a mom and a dad.

I got no appeal. I can’t go anywhere. Sometimes your appeals even fail you. You may appeal to a grandparent. Grandparent don’t intervene. It’s crazy to me what people — how people will fail you in these situations. It’s crazy to me the amount of grandparents that have let parents continue to abuse their grandkids because they’re their kids. And if that’s you, what is your problem? You crazy hillbilly. You need to shake that nonsense off. You need to let the kingdom of God get in you and change something in you. Sorry, I don’t know who that was for. That may have been for the camera. Amen.

Our life is a — when we can’t solve things, it becomes a series of appeals. Attorneys are appeals. Just appeal after appeal after appeal. And there comes a point where you realize that nothing is changing. When you talk to the supervisor and the assistant manager and the manager and the regional manager and the vice president and the president and the CEO and the CEO’s mama, and nothing’s changing. When you’ve talked to your primary care and the specialist and the heart person, and you’ve gone to try to get some kind of free medical care, and you’ve gone up and up, and “I’m not getting any better.”

That’s why, when the lady with the issue of blood came to Jesus, the Bible says that she had suffered at the hands of many physicians and she gave away all her wealth. All that is to say, if that was you, that would just mean you’d spend all your money on doctors and nobody’s figuring it out. They just keep playing with your body trying to figure out what’s going on. And that’s appeal, appeal, appeal. But the Bible says that he has given him as head over all things to the church. He’s not just the head of the church. Jesus is a resource for the believer.

Jesus works on our behalf. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will go to battle for you. When they stoned Stephen, he stood up out of his seat next to the throne of God and he looked down, and I think he was ready for action. I don’t know who was behind him telling him to sit down, but Jesus was ready to go ahead and make things happen. We almost didn’t have a rapture in the future, but Jesus almost came back in Acts chapter 8 and just got things taken care of. I’m telling you, he’s ready to fight on your behalf, and every authority on the planet answers to him.

Every authority, whether it be in business, government. Listen, we’ve been going through this government shutdown thing. Man, this is like having a faulty light switch in the house. We’re on, we’re off, we’re on, we’re off. And if you work for the government, you probably feel this back and forth. I just heard the other day that people that work for TSA are selling plasma to survive right now, because they’re back and they’re forth and they’re back and they’re forth and they’re back and they’re forth. And you’ve got congressmen who are going on Mediterranean cruises right now, while you’ve got people who are down on the ground who make the country actually operate, who cannot even pay their light bill right now.

36:48The highest level of appeal

And you want to know that appeal is broken. It’s a broken system. But we have a resource, and the resource is this: that the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. He is the highest authority. He is the highest level of appeal. So when these people were crying out “Hosanna,” they weren’t just saying, “God save me.” They were saying, “I’m going to your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss. I’m going to the highest level of appeal. I’m going to call on the one who can actually change the situation.” And here’s the problem: we like to do all of our warfare right here.

We like to do everything right here. Every issue that we have in life — you’ve got an issue with your adult kids, you get in there and you try to deal with it right here in the middle. If you got an issue in your body, you go to every specialist you can, you try to deal with it right here. If you got problems at work, you just go try to deal with it right here in the middle. We got problems in the government, let’s go deal with — we don’t even deal with it right here. We deal with it down here. Let’s argue about it on Facebook, where real life change is happening in the government, by the way.

And we fight here, but we do not war against flesh and blood, but against rulers and principalities. And we have a God who is living, active, alive. He’s risen from the dead. He’s the King of Kings. He’s coming again. But in the meantime, he’s answering the prayers of his people who look to him and say, “Hosanna in the highest.” God, I feel like preaching today. He’ll work for you. He’ll make a difference. He’ll be the one who says yes. When you get a no and a no and a no and a no and a no and a no, he’ll say yes. And when he says yes, it thunders through the heaven.

It rolls through the earth. And all of a sudden anything happening in the world has turned in your favor. God will do it. Give him praise.