Palm Sunday
On Palm Sunday, Jesus went into Jerusalem and people were laying palms at His feet. People thought He was there to free them from the Romans, but His call was much bigger than that. He was there to release them and us from sin and death.

The first 3 books of revelation are about spreading a message to 7 churches. They were going through a lot of the same things they were going through today. Many times the world would try to bring into the church the idea that we don’t just need to follow after Jesus, but that we also need to bring in rituals.

However, when we forget our first love of Jesus, we forget to live and reach out to love others. The church cannot become so preoccupied with being the church. We must reach out. We must stay connected to the source. God is our source. He is THE source.

He is the one that overflows our heart. It is His power that moves through us to go out to others. We connect to our source by spending time in His word. Our life must be a life of prayer. We do this so that every situation we walk into is powered by God. Every person we come in contact with is an appointment from God.

If Jesus did it, how much more should we? Without our connection there is no Power. We have never saved anyone or healed anyone. So why would I want to walk into a situation without the one who can heal and save.

We have the opportunity to tap into supernatural power. Not only that, but His power is a mandatory resource to do His work. We access this in prayer.

James 5:16 MSG Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

If we are going to spend a life that evangelizes we need to reflect the character of Jesus. The closer we get to Him, the more we are like Him.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

The change in us happens with time and proximity. He reveals what needs to change and gives us the power to change.

Have you ever noticed that most of the time people connect with us in our faults and flaws? Showing growth is more powerful than faking perfection. Faking perfection is tremendously time consuming. When we fake it till we make it, we will never grow.

Matthew 23:27-28 MSG “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.

When we are dead on the inside we don’t have power. The most powerful thing we can do is own it. Apologize. It’s never too late. The best thing we can do sometimes is say, you’re right, I’ve messed up and then share WHO changed our lives.

Sometimes we think all we have to do is live the right life and no one cares to hear about all that He has done for us. This could not be farther from the truth. We are called to share! Tell everyone about Jesus. We have made sharing complicated. He calls us to be a witness, to share our story. Not to be His defense attorney.

1 Peter 3:15 NIV But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hopethat you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

If God did it, we share it.

The story of the blind man

John 9:25 NIV He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

The blind man only shared what He knew. He was blind and now he could see.

Sharing what God has done in our lives is our witness. Real gratitude about what God has done in our lives is to share it with others. Our responsibility doesn’t stop at the invite. Don’t just invite, invest. We are called to discipleship. This is investment. We are guides.