speak Lord for your servants are listening. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well family for the last few Sundays we've been in some Lenton lessons as we follow Jesus making his way towards Calvar's cross. We listen to Jesus as he first predicted and prophesied about his death trying to prepare his disciples and had to rebuke Peter because Peter rebuked him. We looked at that beautiful scene and setting where Mary anointed his body in preparation for his death and burial, revealing the power of her perfume. And last week we learned how and even why possibly Judas betrayed Jesus with an inside job. Today is Palm Sunday and today we walk with our Savior as he makes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, marking the last week of his life before he would die on Calvar's cross for your sin and for mine. Darren Johnson, all the gospel writers record the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It's there in Matthew 21. It's there in Mark 11. It's there in John 12. Today I want to invite you to how Luke records the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in Luke chapter 19. It is our custom to ask those who are physically able to stand with us as together we reverence the reading and the hearing of the word of God from Luke chapter 19 beginning in verse number 29. And today I'm reading out of the New International Version of God's word. Listen for the word of the Lord. As he approached Bethage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tithe there which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why you are untying it, simply tell them the Lord needs it. Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They replied, "The Lord needs it." They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and Jesus and put Jesus on it. And as he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Hey teacher, rebuke your disciples. I tell you," if he replied, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. Do me a favor. Give your neighbor the subject of the sermon. Would you turn to somebody and tell them, "Neighbor, neighbor, oh neighbor, oh neighbor, you don't have the right you don't have the right to remain silent." to remain silent. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. You don't have the right to remain silent. On the night of March 3rd, March 13, 1963, Ernesto Arturo Miranda, a lifelong criminal who had run a foul with the law since the age of eight, was once again arrested outside of Phoenix, Arizona under the suspicion of kidnapping and rape. After two intense hours of interrogation by the police, Ernesto Artura Miranda confessed to the crime. When they subsequently went to court, his lawyer, Alvin Moore, argued that Miranda's confession should be inadmissible because the police did not inform him of his rights under the fifth and sixth amendments of the Constitution to protect himself from self-inccriminating evidence. Although Miranda was convicted, his case was appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States of America, who in 1965 overturned his conviction, forever changing police procedure. From that moment on, they created a warning named after Ernesto Arturo Miranda that must be shared with you if you are ever arrested by the police. Some of you have heard it on Law and Order and some may have heard it face to face. [Applause] But if you are ever pulled over by the police and arrested, they have to give you a Miranda warning. You've heard it. It starts like this. You have the right to remain silent. Beloved, I came by to tell you that that may be your constitutional right, but it is not your Christian responsibility. If you are a citizen of the United States and you're arrested by the police, you have the right when they ask you where you've been, where you're going, and how you got here. You've got every right under the fifth and sixth amendment of the constitution to cross your arms, fold your legs, zip your lips, and invoke your right to remain silent. But if you are a child of God, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, washed in the blood, redeemed by his death, saved by his grace, walking by faith, protected by mercy, kept by the hand of God, living in the grace and the peace of God, then whenever your mind is arrested by how good God has been, whenever you begin to wonder how you made it where you are. Whenever anybody dares question the road that led you to where you are right now, I come by to tell you that you don't have the right to fold your arms, to cross your legs, to zip your lips, but you have a constitutional commandment by the word of God to open up your mouth and be thankful to the Lord for all that the Lord has done for you. C can I read to you from the constitution of Christianity? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom the Lord has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Let him or her be thankful unto God. Can I read from the Constitution of Christianity? Uh, praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the stringed instruments. Praise him with the loud sounding symbols. As a matter of fact, let everything that has breath praise ye the Lord. Oh, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye land. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with thanksgiving. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Therefore, you ought to enter his gates with thanksgiving. You ought to walk into his courts with praise. You ought to be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord, he is good. His mercies everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my It is my commandment to praise God. Now, now, now if praising God irritates you, if you come to church and want to tell folk, I need you to sit down and act like you got some good sense. If you can come in week in and week out and never think thank you. If you can sit during the whole praise and worship watching your watch wondering what time this is going to be over. If people stand up next to you and you want to give them it don't take all of that. If that's you, I want you to see the scene and the setting as Jesus makes his way into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. All the gospel writers agree that here he is mounted on this donkey making his way to Jerusalem and a crowd has gathered. Folk have come out to see this Jesus. And I had to ask, why is a crowd gathered for Jesus riding on a donkey? There's no Instagram. Nobody posted he was on the way. There's no content creator putting something out on TikTok. MSNBC didn't report it. Why does a crowd gather to see Jesus ride on the donkey? Well, the Bible says there are few reasons why they gathered. And it's the same reason some folk are in church today. Siobhan, on one hand, the Bible says that there were those who came because they had heard of all the miracles he had performed. And they gathered because of what he had done. Uh they heard that uh he had multiplied bread and fish in the wilderness. They heard about that man at the pool of Bethesda. Uh they they heard about Zakayas getting saved. They heard about that woman with the issue of blood reaching out and touching the hem of his garment. They heard about him walking on water. They heard about the wind and the wave obeying his voice. Uh they they heard how he had raised Lazarus from the dead. They heard how he had opened up Barnameus blind eyes. And they came because of what the Lord had done. This was the crowd that when Jesus showed up, they start hollering hallelujah. Praise the Lord. For what the Lord had done. Because there's some folk they gather because of what God has done for them. Beloved, whenever you gather in the church, in the sanctuary, I want you to know there's always a hallelujah section somewhere. There's always some folk that came to church for one good reason. Because the Lord has done some things in their life and they just came to say hallelujah for what the Lord has done. He made some ways out of no ways. He answered some prayers I lifted up. He kept my family together. He blessed me financially. He opened a door in my life. Can I pause for the hallelujah crowd just to give thanks to God for what the Lord has [Applause] done? I'm I'm I'm in the Hallelujah crowd. I'm here today because God's been good to me. I'm here today because the Lord kept his hand on me. I'm here today because the Lord walked with me through that valley. I'm here today because God shut the lips of my enemies. I'm here today because he prepared a table for me in the presence of I'm here today because of what he's done. That that's that's the hallelujah crowd. Uh but there's another crowd there. They're not hollering hallelujah. They're hollering hosana. H hosana. Hosana. You translate it. Hosanna is not a praise. Hosanna is a prayer. Hosana is a prayer that goes like this. Lord, save now. Uh that there's some folk gathered not because of what he's done, but because of what they need. And whenever you come to church, not only are there some hallelujah, but there's some hosas. There's some folk you came to church today cuz you need God to do something. Not now. Right now. I need God to move on this thing right now. I need God to fight this battle right now. I need God to make a way out of nowhere. Not now. Right now. Are there any hosanas in church? I'm here today cuz there's something I got to put in God's hands. Now, now I know I know I know you can understand the hallelujah. But you get messed up by the hosas. You you you only here cuz you need God to do something. Let me tell you why God loves Hallelujah and hosana. Because it seems to me that if you got any good sense, you never go to a store looking for what you know they don't have. Um if if you get a cold and you need some Dayquil, you would be a fool to go to Nordstrom's. cuz you know they don't carry what you need. If baby needs some shoes, you don't go to Safeway. Harris Teter ain't got sneakers, you got enough cents to go to Foot Locker. So if you're in church today cuz you need something. It is a declaration of faith that you believe that the God you serve has everything that you need and that if you can just get to God, God will give you what you need. Oh, we I came by to tell you whatever you need, God's got it. That joy you need, God's got it. That peace you need, God's got it. That answer to your problem. God has it. The strength to make it. God has it. God has what I need. Uh uh there there are some hallelujah that are there because of what he's done. There's some hosanas that are there for what they need. But then there's some folk who showed up just to see who he was. Because every now and then, you ought to make your way to the house of God, not just with a hallelujah, and not just with a hosana, but you ought to come to church just to worship God for who he is. Oh, that that that that's a good word. Because every now and then it's going to be hard to find a Hallelujah. Every now and then you going to have a rough week with God. Every now and then God ain't going to do what you thought God should do and hallelujah is going to be hard to find. Or you may enter a season with no hosana where life has been pretty good to you. The Lord has answered prayers. Things are looking mighty good. If you don't have a hallelujah and if you ain't got no hosana, that ain't the reason to stay at home on Sunday. I if if I can't find a thank you. And if there's nothing I need, then I come to church just to affirm who God is. And there's some grown folk in Alfred Street who can declare, "I'm here today not just to say thank you, not just because of what I need, but I'm here because he's still Jehovah. He's still Rafa who heals my body. He's still Ni who fights my battle. He's still Gyra who makes a way out of nowhere. He's still the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth. Is there anybody in worship today who can declare, "I'm just here cuz God is still God. And I came to worship the eternal, the majestic, the marvelous, the magnificent, the merciful God. Uh, I'm here to give him thanks. I'm here because of what I need. And I'm here because of who he is. Can't you see the scene? Jesus riding in And the Bible says that the crowd gathers and they cutting up. Oh, we they they shouting, they waving palm branches. They taking their coats off. They hollering at Jesus. They having a good time. And here come the Pharisees. Pharisees see everybody shouting to the Lord, lifting up holy hands, praising the Lord, and listen to what the Pharisees say. It shouldn't shock you. Uh Jesus, um can we have a word with you and the deacons? Um tell your folk to stop making all that noise. Tell them to act like they got some good sense. Let them know y'all may have done that at that Pentecostal church in Galilee. But we are refined Baptists here in Jerusalem. And and it it don't take you know some Pharisees. It isn't it amazing that whenever you make up in your mind that you're going to give God glory for what God has done, whenever you make out in your mind you going to cry out to God for what you need God to do. When you going to worship God for who God is that there's always a Pharisee somewhere in your section, somewhere on your pew that wants to look at you and tell you it don't take You ever met a Pharisee? You ever met somebody where it gets on their nerve that you stand up too much? You shout too loud. You do this every Sunday. Well, we need you to act like you got some good sense. They they the Pharisees tell them, "Listen, tell everybody sit down and and and watch the response of Jesus." I like this. Nah. Let them go on and praise. They've been holding it in too long. They've been waiting all week. They couldn't do it at the job without getting thrown out. They couldn't do it around their friends without getting an eyeball rolled. So, I'm going to go ahead and let them act up and praise me and shout and [Applause] rejoice. Cuz if ever there was a reason for the crowd to shout is that they realize I'm on my way to Calvary. Pause. You missed it. If ever there was a reason to rejoice, it's when you remember that Jesus went to Calvary. If ever there was a reason for you to stand and lift your hands, it's when you remember that Jesus went to Calvary. Okay. Um [Applause] um listen, listen. I don't fault anybody if if making a joyful noise ain't really your thing. I I mean may maybe maybe clapping that that's about as far as you can go. A hand wave. I I get it. Uh you you're not a stander. You're not a shouter. You're not a runner. I don't fault you for any of that. But if ever there was a reason for you to get happy about God. It's when you remember that Jesus went to Calvary to save a wretch like you and me. That he died for your sins. He shed blood for your forgiveness. He sacrificed his life for you. That he canled your ticket to hell and put you on the easy pass to heaven. in I [Applause] think uh I I'm I'm I'm so sorry. But listen, if Jesus going to Calvary doesn't make you feel anything. If you can hear that he died for you and you never get happy about it, I need you to do me a favor. Grab your Bible. Grab your pocketbook. Put your Baptist finger up in the air. Tell your neighbor, "Excuse me, I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time." And I'm going to tell the ushers, "Open the door. Open the door. Open the door and let them out." Cuz I only want to worship with folk who get excited about Jesus dying for my sins. Uh he says no no uh he said no. Watch what Jesus says. He said, "No, no, let him go on and praise. Stop telling them to sit down. Stop telling them to shut up. Let him go and praise." Cuz he says to the Pharisees, "You've got a bigger problem. If I tell her to sit down, if I tell them to shut up, if I tell them it don't take all of that, it ain't going to solve your problem. Cuz if they get quiet, the rocks will start to praise God. [Music] Denzel Jesus says the goodness of God is so universal [Applause] that even the rocks know how good God has been. Uh y'all sit down. You scaring me. [Applause] Um, Siobhan, this really don't make a lot of sense. The rocks will cry out. Rocks can't shout. Rocks are incapable of giving God glory. The Bible says everything that have breath. Praise the Lord. Rocks don't breathe. Rocks have no reason to praise the Lord. Jesus, what you mean the rocks will cry out? Well, seem to me the only way a rock can praise God is if God touches the rock and allows it to do what nobody thought a rock would be able to do. The The only way a rock can cry out is if God uses it in a way that you ain't never seen a rock be used before. The only way a rock can give God glory is if God gives it the capacity to rise above the stereotype of other rocks and become what no rock has ever been before. I'm looking for the rocks in the sanctuary who know that God has touched your life and you have survived what nobody thought you could survive. You've gone further than any teacher says you could. You've gone beyond where your mama and your daddy went. Everyone who doubted you was wrong. God has used you in [Music] ways. And it's not cuz you were so good or so smart or so wise, but God touched your life. God graced your journey. God favored your resume. God protected you from your mess. God sent the right people in the right place at the right time to do the right thing. God's been good to [Applause] you. Can I pause for 5 seconds and find some rocks in Alfred Street who know that if it had not been for the Lord on my side, if God hadn't made a way, come here. C can c can can I tell you why Pharisees can't shut me up? It's real simple. Because God has been too good to me for me not to praise him cuz it bothers you. [Applause] Let me say it again. God has been too good to me for me not to praise him cuz it bothers you. I'm just of the mindset that if you didn't wake me up, you can't shut me up. [Music] You weren't there when I needed you. You didn't make the way for me. You didn't bring me out of my mess. And so when I think what God has done for me, I will bless the [Music] Lord. Okay. Uh uh. All right. All right. So So let me get out of here. The The only way a rock can praise is if God uses it in a way no one thought a rock could be used. That's my story. But Sharice Tomlin, I got another problem. If a rock could praise, why would a rock praise? I I mean, what has God ever done for a rock? Why would a rock praise God? That's a good question because there gonna be some moments in your life when you feel like God ain't done nothing for you. [Music] The prayer you lifted up is still on hold. The blessing you ordered has been delayed in delivery. The sickness got worse. The child went prodical. The money got low. The marriage is still in trouble. It's going to seem like there's some moments when God ain't done nothing for you either. Why would a rock praise even if a rock could? Well, well, I had to do my homework since it's coming to Alpha Street. That word rock stone that Jesus uses it is this Greek word lethos. L I t H O S. And you have to understand in modern in that culture in that modern day what they thought a stone was. Can I tell you what they thought a stone was? They believe Charles material that a stone was a broken piece of a mountain. [Music] Um it it it used to be on a mountain, but there was a earth shape and the the stone broke off of the mountain. So the stone wasn't what it used to be, but it was still strong even though it had been broken. Uh, can I tell you what a rock is? A rock is something that's been through some shaking, but it's still as strong as it was on the other side of what it's gone through. There are some rocks in Alfred Street that can declare, "I've been through that shaking. The bottom of my life fell out. I went through all hell, but God still gave me strength. And the reason I can shout is cuz I'm still here after everything I've been through, after everything I [Applause] survived. You know why I don't let Pharisees shut me up? Cuz you don't know like I know what the Lord has brought me through. You don't know how close I was to giving up on life. You don't know how close I was to putting a gun to my head. But when I think of how God brought me through, and I'm stronger today than I was on yesterday, I will bless the Lord cuz I'm broken but stronger. You you know when folk tell you it don't take all of that. You got to tell them you don't know what it [Applause] took. U I'm got I got to go. I I want to preach hard day. We got Easter coming. Uh it's it's a stone that was broken off of a mountain, but it's still strong. And and I thought the sermon was over. The Holy Spirit told me, "No, no, you you you got to you got to look at how often Jesus talked about stones to understand why a stone would shout." Marcia, can I tell you why a stone would shout? Let me tell you why a stone would shout. Because Jesus uh when when he entered Jerusalem according to Matthew 21, the very next time he talked about a stone uh was when the Pharisees didn't accept that he was the Messiah. Uh they were rejecting him. They said, "You can't be who you say you are." So Jesus opened up his Bible. He went back to Psalm 118 and he said, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone of what God is doing. Goodbye Alphford Street. May the Lord bless you mighty good. Can I tell you why a stone would rejoice? Because a stone was rejected, but a stone has still been redeemed. And that's my shout right there. That I may have been rejected by some, but I was chosen by God. I may have been kicked out by others, but I was welcomed by grace. Is there anybody here that can just thank God? That God chose you when other folk rejected you? That God used you when other folk kicked you out? I've been redeemed. And the Bible says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord." Okay, somebody holler. He chose me. Okay, I got to go. Here it is. I found out what this meant drinking a bottle of water yesterday. Um, I'm at my son's track meet and I've got a bottle of water in my hand. I'm drinking the bottle of water and all of a sudden the bottle of water start to talk to me. Yes, it did. I'm drinking the bottle of water and the label began to talk to me cuz on the bottom of the label it said made out of recycled plastic. I I said, "What kind of testimony is that?" And the bottle water said, "Well, I'm just trying to let you know. I didn't always look like this. I used to be in another shape. I used to be in another form. But somebody used me and threw me out cuz they thought I didn't have any more value. But somebody came along and picked me up out of the trash and reshaped me and remade me and filled me with something new. And that's why I'm praising God because when others rejected me, God pulled me out and God filled me with something new. Is there anybody here that's a recycled saint? Ain't always been what I am right now, but I thank God that God pulled me out. The rocks will cry out. Come on, let's stand and get out of here. You don't have the right to remain silent. God's done too much for you. God's kept you through too much. God has recycled you. And when you think about the goodness of the Lord, don't let some Pharisee tell you to be quiet. Beloved, here it is. As we get ready to open the door of the church, I'm talking to the water bottle. It's telling me it's made out of recycled plastic. And then Denzel, I saw five cent next to Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine. That the label said that in Connecticut, I'm worth 5 cent. In Maine, I have value. Cuz see, everyone can't appreciate the value God is giving you till you get in the right state, till you get in the right place, till you join the right church. Someone today, you know what it's like for other people not to see the value of who and what you are. We want you to join other recycled folk who know that your life has value. that your life has purpose, your life has meaning. God didn't save you for nothing. God saved you to fill you that you may be a blessing to others.