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[0:00] 12 reading from verse 12 to 26 and that's on page 1079 in the bibles in front of you the next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that jesus was on his way to jerusalem they took palm branches and went out to meet him shouting hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord blessed is the king of israel jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it as it is written do not be afraid daughter zion see your king is coming seated on a donkey's colt at first his disciples did not understand all this only after jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him now the crowd that was with him when he called lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word many people because they had heard that he had performed this sign went out to meet him so the pharisees said to another see this is getting us nowhere look how the whole world has gone after him now there were some greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival they came to philip who was from bethseda in galilee with a request sir they said we would like to see jesus philip went to tell andrew andrew and philip in turn told jesus jesus replied the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified very truly i tell you unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed but if it dies it produces many seeds anyone who loves their life will lose it for anyone who hates the life in this world will keep it for eternal life whoever serves me must follow me and where i am my servant also will be my father will honor the one who serves me this is the word of the lord thank you very much for reading katrina and good morning everyone as one said i'm robbie i'm the youth pastor in training here and it's always a great joy to come up and get to share god's words and today boys and girls it'd be great if you could all come down to the front no matter what age you are i'm going to need your help a little bit later on it should be really good if you could just come sit down the front whilst they're all running to meet me and join me up here and it's just a great reminder that the reason we have these all-age services is because we believe that the whole bible is appropriate and applicable to the whole church and so sometimes we do services where we're all together because what we're going to say today is just as important for all of you guys down the front as it is for all of you sitting in the back and so we're going to say in a way that everyone can understand but it's a truth that actually everyone needs to hear today boys and girls if you're a friend of jesus living for jesus can be quite hard we want to be christians who follow jesus and we then do what he says but often it's just really difficult sometimes we see our friends doing things that we want to do but we're not allowed to do sometimes it means saying no to really fun events because they're happening on sundays maybe you're not able to play football or go to a dance class on a sunday because you come to church maybe it's hard because being a christian means that you have to say no to a job that you think would make you do things you shouldn't do as you grow up it gets really easy to think that the reason we say no to all these things is because jesus is a bit grumpy and he doesn't want us to do fun things boys and girls that's not true what we see today on palm sunday is that jesus

[4:00] is a great great king and because he's a great king it means he knows exactly what we should do and he's an example for us of how we should live so that's what we're going to be thinking about today and the more we realize how good a king jesus is the easier it'll be to live for him now today's story if you're listening carefully it started i'm going to move this so i can see everyone there we go and today's story started with jesus entering jerusalem that's one of the really big cities and a great crowds came to meet him now this is a big crowd okay john means big if you look around this morning boys and girls look around this this is quite a lot of people this is maybe 200 people it's quite a big crowd if i were entering glasgow and this amount of people came to welcome me i'd feel pretty big for jesus it was way more there's a historian who writes about 30 years years after jesus that for passover this great big festival for the whole israel and the whole nation of israel over two million people would come to jerusalem two million this is 200 so that is like 10 000 times more people than in here that's like over double the amount of people that live in all of glasgow it's like half of scotland all gathering in one city and then going to meet one man as he walked in this is a lot of people this is a great big crowds and that's what verse 12 says in our passage they went to see jesus and they all grabbed palm branches like these they'll grab their palm branches and they started waving them and shouting things at jesus it's a bit weird but uh what the reason the boys and girls the reason people grab palm branches is they thought jesus was the promised king of israel what they called the messiah they thought jesus was coming to jerusalem to take control and free israel they thought they were going to make them a great nation again ruling and conquering all the people around them they thought he was going to free them from the romans now this is something that they had waited on for hundreds of years hundreds of years waiting so they got palm branches you see palm branches for israel were like this sign that for the nation grabbing a palm branch meant we are israel we are the jewish people and we will be free is what they were trying to say they'd been waiting so long that they had a huge celebration now that the king had arrived i can't even imagine how loud it must have been having over two million people i don't know if you've ever been anywhere with that many people i can't think of any situation i would have but even though i can't imagine it what i want us i want us to try and imagine it yes everyone all of the adults are rolling their eyes at me boys and girls but we're going to do this anyway we're going to try and be as loud as we can and we're going to shout some things so i need i need everyone right boys and girls have you all got your palm branches with you no do you want to run back and get your palm branches i think we're going to wave our palm branches so everyone else grab your palm branches on the screen behind me we're going to have the three things that the people shout out to jesus the way we're going to do this right if you're between the ages of zero and 20 you're going to just shout out hosanna hosanna hosanna as loud as you can if you're between the ages of 21 and maybe let's go for 38 you're going to shout out blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord that's the wordy one it's a bit confusing so i thought you are the you know the youngest you'll nail it and everyone else blessed is the king of israel right let's practice that so boys and girls in a second all i want you guys to do is shout as loud as you can hosanna hosanna and you're going to keep shouting hosanna okay great so if you're between the ages of zero to 20 we're just going to start with hosanna when i say go just start shouting really loudly hosanna okay three two one boys and girls nailing it i know there are more people back there between the ages of zero and 20

[8:04] right throw your shame away we're a family this is fun right i want you i want you all waving these okay between the ages of zero and 20 yes i'm making eye contact with people who i know should be doing it okay let's try this again three two one boys and girls you're in a language right we'll do the second group between 21 and 38 three two one maybe i've just misinterpreted the age groups okay and everyone else the second one three two one okay i apologize for shaming people back there maybe there's just less of you than i thought okay so what we're going to do all together boys and girls let's imagine the long-awaited king is walking down the aisle everyone you can you can even look pretend he's walking up grab your palm branches and everyone as loud as you can okay three two one it was all right boys and girls i think you're nailing this right i need your help right can you all turn around and look at all these people behind you can you give them your angriest stare because i think they're letting you down i need you like make eye contact and they're not doing what they're meant to be doing okay so we'll do this one last time i need louder i need the loudest you've ever shouted i want the person beside you like oh this guy's gone too far that's why one okay three two one much better much better you can imagine that that was kind of loud that was 200 people shouting imagine almost 2 million people shouting all of those things constantly as jesus walks towards jerusalem it's incredible the noise must have been deafening you can imagine as jesus got closer to where you were standing it got louder and louder this is the man that they'd been waiting up for their entire lives and he's arrived finally we're going to be free they all thought he was the king and they were right jesus is the king he's the king of israel but the thing is the crowds kind of were maybe half right but what they were saying teaches us some really important stuff and what john tells us too so we're going to we're going to look into what they said and what john says and we're going to learn three important things about this king and we're going to sing a song and i'm going to come back and think some more okay so the first thing we learn is that jesus is a king who saves boys and girls you were shouting so well you were shouting the words hosanna it's gone off the screen but that's okay you're shouting the word hosanna hosanna hosanna hosanna is an old hebrew world words hebrew is the language that the people would have spoken back then and what it means is save us please save us please but when the jewish people use it here it's more like a celebration they're shouting they're thanking jesus that he's going to do it no it's not a request asking lord save us they're saying he is going to save us they know it they know it to be true it's almost like they're shouting hooray that we're going to be saved hooray that jesus is here salvation we are going to be saved and when we sing hosanna some of the songs that we sing as a church use that word that's what we're doing we're declaring the victory for jesus and we're thanking him that he has saved us so the people who were shouting hosanna they knew that they were going to be saved soon because the great king was arriving king jesus is going to save everyone the second thing we see is that jesus is the king of promise

[12:09] so after in john's gospel i keep pointing to the screen there's nothing on it and after we get there we get a quote from zechariah now zechariah was born a long time ago and he promised a long long time ago that messiah that a king was coming for israel the people have held on to that promise for so long that when jesus comes they're like this must be it but this in john 12 and then the bit we're looking at today this isn't the first time in john that people have wanted to make jesus their king way back in chapter 6 after jesus performed a miracle a group came but and just try and make jesus their king by force they want to make him their king but jesus knew that it wasn't the right time so he went away and he hid from them but here in john 12 jesus says the time has come for me to be glorified he knows that this is the moment that he came to earth for this is the king thing he came to do so rather than hiding and pretending that this wasn't the right time or waiting jesus finds a donkey donkey and he climbs on the donkey he rides the donkey into jerusalem and jesus hears what they're shouting and he knows what they expect of him so what we see when jesus finds a donkey is him accepting the role of king of israel because of that promise from isaiah is achariah it says your king is coming on a donkey colt jesus by finding a donkey proves that he is the promised king that they've been waiting on he's fulfilling that prophecy because he knows as he arrives in jerusalem his great kingly moment has arrived now that's not the only thing we learn from the donkey and the promise we also learn that jesus is a king of peace the masses of people were expecting freedom through battle they were expecting their king to come with a sword and take control now if a king was coming for battle boys and girls what do you think a king for fighting would ride on you think he'd ride on a big majestic horse wouldn't you maybe have some armor he'd have a big sword in his sides and he'd be riling the people up it's a bit weird that jesus is on a donkey that's not very battle like have you guys ever heard of a donkey being in a battle i've not a king would choose a strong and majestic horse to show his power but jesus shows a donkey a lowly donkey jesus isn't a king who's coming to show power or might on the battlefields but he is a king who's going to bring peace forever the next part of zechariah 9 says this the king will proclaim peace to the nations his rule will extend from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth he will remove the chariots and the war horses and the boats because there'll be no need for them anymore what jesus the king is going to do when he enters jerusalem is bring the greatest peace that the world has ever known peace from fighting peace from strife peace from having to to do things to earn from god the peace from the pharisees coming and shouting at people peace from the darkness and the misery jesus is coming to bring perfect peace for everyone these are the things john is telling us jesus is the great king the king who saves promised long ago to bring peace for the world but john doesn't finish there the gospel doesn't end with jesus's victorious victorious arrival in a few minutes boys and girls we're going to come back and we're going to think about what did jesus the king come to do if he's not a king of power and victory what is he but first we're going to sing a song because the right thing to do when we see that jesus is the king is sing praise to him so boys and girls get on your feet oh i've done that thing i'm so sorry jamie i could have so i didn't mute myself

[16:26] that is a very bad habit i've got um sorry jamie okay so has anybody seen this is one of my favorite disney movies uh the animated robin hood film it's quite old yes some people have seen it it's one of my favorites um now right at the end of the robin hoods right robin hoods is a fox who steals from the rich and gives to the poor and in particular he's been trying to take away prince john's all of his money because prince john is a bad guy he's been taxing too much and he's a cowardly lion who sits on thrones of gold and takes from all the poor people even though they don't have anything to give and robin hood is trying to rightfully do the the right thing and then take the money well rightfully he's stealing anyway at the end of the movie after all the battles after all the the the to and fro and all the shenanigans of robin hoods king richard returns king richard is the big lion on the on the the right um and he comes back victorious after being away for a long time and he comes back with big parades and there's great cheering and rejoicing because king richard has returned finally king richard is going to get rid of prince john and he's going to take the throne and everything's going to be amazing we're going to be a there are going to be people who who live in joy and victory after all the battle because he's going to fight the fight he's going to rid of all the the pesky prince john's and sir hisses of the world it's one of my favorites you go watch it catch his tune in the world and now king richard returning it's a little bit like what we might expect jesus to be like so we've we've heard jesus has come in he's paraded towards jerusalem people are cheering they're so glad the king has come but the story of jesus in john doesn't look like the end of robin hoods it doesn't look like jesus coming in victorious getting rid of all the bad guys through might and strength it doesn't look like we're going to get the happy ending that robin hood did but actually the story of jesus is a much greater happy ending than robin hoods it just might not look how we think of it beforehand so for jesus we're going to see boys and girls that being a king means that he will die for his people so jesus in this little bit he uses the example of wheat being sown now does anybody know boys and girls what what is wheat used for does anyone know we grow wheat at farms no wheat is used to make flour to make bread wheat is ground down and it's grown all around the world because like everyone eats bread so when you plant wheat it grows up and then the stalk grows and the head grows and then the seeds grow in the head and then the seeds kind of fall out of the head and then they they plant themselves and but this is a bit abstract so i've actually asked for some help so i don't know where david is he's gonna everyone give a round of applause for my wheat seeds thank you david you're gonna come and stand right here and you're gonna go down like little seeds now brilliant so boys and girls this is a wheat seeds and what happens when wheat seeds grow is that they grow up and they start off with just the stalk and after a little bit longer they grow the kernel and then the kernel gets lots of seeds inside and that grows up into the head and then one day all of the seeds have to fall and get scattered everywhere what the the seeds have to fall and and die the plant itself has to die so the seeds will fall and what happens now can i get some people to come and be more seeds for me boys and girls yeah come up stand on where you see one of these seeds come on anyone just everyone go and stand up and go down into like a little seeds down a little seeds great look at all these seeds this is fantastic and then what happens is the seeds fall and then they stand up because they grow up into the stalks and then the head grows up here and then that grows up and the seeds grow in the head

[20:28] and all of a sudden all their seeds would drop and all of a sudden they would scatter way more seeds and then the process repeats itself but the important thing to learn boys and girls is that these seeds these seeds if they stayed in the plant they'd still be a live plant but the thing that had to happen is they have to drop to the ground and die so that something else can come up and take its place and grow and that we can have more wheat brilliant you can all go sit down round of applause for our wheat seeds this is the story that jesus uses to make an example of what he does he tells us that the seeds have to die and fall to the ground so that more things can grow up in its place if the kernels were to stay in the plants they would stay alive they'd still be a part of a plant but we'd get no more wheat jesus is telling us that just like the seeds he needs to die so that more things can grow up around him now this seems crazy jesus has just come in on a giant parades with potentially two million people telling him that he's the king if anyone at any point in history wanted to do an uprising and and win via victory it could be jesus maybe that's what the people the way is what the people around him thought maybe actually that's what we sometimes think maybe we think that it would be better if we could win via might and and power and wealth and influence but jesus realized that actually we need so much more than that we didn't need a military leader israel didn't need a military leader they needed to live forever they needed to defeat sin and all the sickness inside us of the heart that is sin we didn't need a king who would fight for us we needed the king who would die for us so that we might live and this is the kind of king that jesus is jesus is the king who does what his people need no matter the cost for himself because he loves them jesus is the king he tells us who's come to be glorified on the cross jesus found the greatest glory through the worst death imaginable when we think of glory we think of people shouting hosanna blessed is the king when jesus thinks of glory he sees himself dying so that we might live but jesus doesn't just tell us that this is what he's come to do no jesus calls his followers to live the same kind of life boys and girls jesus is not just the king who dies but he's the king that we're meant to follow verse 25 if you have your bible open says this anyone who loves their life will lose it while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life whoever serves me must follow me boys and girls if we are friends of jesus and want to follow him we need to live a life of sacrifice well we need to give up things we might want for his sake because we know that we're going to get a much greater reward if we do now this is really really hard boys and girls everyone here we know how hard this is if you live for jesus jesus tells us a few things that show how hard it is first we must die like this the grain of wheat that's verse 24 verse 25 says we must hate our lives in this world it doesn't mean we have to be angry and and rage against the world what it means is that we have to hate it so we don't hold on to it our lives now are nothing compared to what we will gain we are not to love what we have in this world we're to hate it and push it away instead reaching out for the greater glory that comes this is what it looks like to live for jesus today to be friends of jesus is difficult we would much rather have the glory of the parades

[24:30] than the glory of the cross but if we want to follow jesus we need to look to him above everything thankfully jesus doesn't doesn't only tell us that it's going to be hard boys and girls if this ended here with jesus just being like you're going to have to die to follow me we'd all probably not be here thankfully jesus gives us a much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much greater promise because if we follow jesus well it means our lives are going to be worth something we don't just die we you know we die to this world but we will bear fruit we'll help other people come to life in jesus we don't just lose our lives now and that's the end of it instead we lose our lives so that we may keep our life for eternity what we give up for jesus when we say no to football on sundays when we say no to bullying someone in our class with our friends when we say no to going out on that extra night out or sleeping with someone or all of these things what we're actually doing is saying yes to a much greater reward we cannot out sacrifice god's generosity we are to follow him to the cross but if we do the greater thing is is that he is already there waiting for us so verse 26 says living the hard life now means that we get to be with jesus forever and not just that boys and girls it's not just jesus we get to be with but god the father will honor us if we serve jesus he'll honor us forever this is the reason we give up things now as christians this is the reason we say no to things it's not because jesus is grumpy because he knows what is better for us by far when we choose to go to dangerous club or friday night live or church on a sunday or the weekend at home or say no to going to the rugby or the football or whatever we have on a sunday we know that what we've said yes to is so much better the honor of the father is the reason we don't live for success or wealth or power but it's why we can give money to the church without being afraid of or feeling selfish so why we can talk about jesus without being even despite the fact we might get rejected by our friends because we know that what we have here is nothing compared to what we will have boys and girls all of these things might seem really scary and hard but when we choose to follow jesus he promises us much more jesus the true king of the entire world the long promised messiah will bring peace for us no matter what we face now he has died to save us so that we might live so when it feels really difficult when it feels really difficult to follow these things boys and girls we can look to the cross we can look to jesus when we see him being really glorified on the cross we know that that is what awaits us but we follow that with glory in heaven forever it emboldens us it makes us confident to live like our king and encourages us to live the right way because that's what jesus did and when we realize that we can say forever hosanna he has come to save us blessed was he who came in the name of the lord blessed is the king of the whole world's boys let me pray and then the band are going to come back up father god thank you that you have sent jesus to save us that you promised him long ago and he came to bring peace father thank you that he died so that we might live thank you that he like the seed fell to the ground and died so that we may bear fruit now and that we have the choice to do the same lord help us to say no to the things of the world but say yes to following jesus to hate our lives now but live with the promise of eternal life to come we pray for these things in jesus precious name amen