Sermon by: Kathy Larson; February 12, 2017; Text: Daniel 5 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."   :: Scripture and Music :: Call to Worship: With Songs of Rejoicing (Bach/Hopson) Singing Together: Let All Things Now Living (Davis) Singing Together: The Wonderful Cross (Watts; chorus, Tomlin/Reeves) Song of Sending: Be Unto Your Name (DeShazo/Sadler) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: No manuscript available this week. :: Slides ::

Sermon by: Robert Austell; February 19, 2017; Text: Daniel 6 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."   :: Scripture and Music :: Song of Assurance: Don't Be Afraid (John Bell/Iona) - throughout service Singing Together: How Great is Our God (Tomlin, Cash, Reeves) Singing Together: Hiding Place (Ledner) Offering of Music: Total Praise (Smallwood, arr. Youngblood) Hymn of Sending: My Faith Looks Up to Thee (OLIVET; arr. Austell) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. Today we conclude six weeks in the book of Daniel. One of the consistent themes we’ve seen there is faithfulness, specifically in the face of opposition, hostility, and persecution. Today you heard the story of Daniel and the lion’s den in Daniel 6. Following his accurate interpretation of the fall of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Daniel was appointed to a high position under the new ruler, Darius “the Mede.” Darius made Daniel one of three vice-regents over the 120 governors of the area. Daniel quickly distinguished himself even there, so that Darius planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom (v. 3). As you might imagine, there were power struggles and jealousies, and a number of the governors and the other vice-regents began to plot against this successful foreigner. Knowing Daniel’s faithfulness to his religious practices, they convinced King Darius to pass an irrevocable decree that would trap Daniel in his practices and lead to his death. Then comes the story of the lion’s den. The King reluctantly must throw Daniel in the lion’s den overnight. He returns sorrowful in the morning and finds Daniel miraculously safe and unharmed. The King brings Daniel out, punishes the malicious accusers, and then declares the worthiness and glory of the God Daniel worships. It makes a great story, doesn’t it? God comes through and rescues the faithful believer in the end… is that the lesson of Daniel? Actually, I don’t believe that it is; but I do believe there are several key lessons to be learned from the story of Daniel and the lion’s den. Faithfulness is Noticeable The first lesson for us is that faithfulness is noticeable! Daniel wasn’t just a hard worker (though he was clearly that). We read in v. 3 that Daniel was “brimming with spirit and intelligence.” And then, as the vice-regents and governors began checking him out and trying to find a way to accuse him, they found nothing, for “he was totally exemplary and trustworthy” (v. 4). They concluded, “We’re never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can cook up something religious” (v. 5). Daniel had a reputation and he had integrity. His faithfulness was noticeable. How many times have I “ducked” my faith to avoid notice? Enough for me to be embarrassed. Have you been out to eat with someone and paused to ask yourself the question, “Should I say grace or just jump right in?” One person shared with me about a business meeting where the participants were asked to share with the person next to them about life goals and priorities. They thought, “Should I say anything about wanting to know God better or be a more godly husband?” It’s so easy to let our faith and expressions of faith glide under the radar. “My faith is a personal matter,” we say. Daniel wasn’t trumpeting his religion, but when his behavior came under scrutiny, there was no mistaking his faith. I am challenged by Daniel’s example to have a faith that others will notice! Persecution Doesn’t Always End Well Unfortunately, a second lesson from Daniel is that sometimes faithfulness to God brings on persecution. By persecution I mean being opposed

 Sermon by: Kathy Larson; February 26, 2017; Text: Ephesians 4:20-29; Matthew 15:10-20 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."   :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: Come, Christians, Join to Sing (MADRID) Singing Together: You Have Shown Us (Baloche, Tomlin, Chapman) Hymn of Sending: Our God Has Made Us One (WEBER) :: Sermon Manuscript ::  There is no manuscript this week.

Sermon by: Robert Austell; March 5, 2017; Text: Luke 6:20,24; Isaiah 40:1-7 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."   :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: Bless the Lord/10,000 Reasons (Myrin, Redman) Singing Together: In Christ Alone (Getty/Townend) Offering of Music: (choir) Cry No More (Joncas) Hymn of Sending: Be Thou My Vision (SLANE) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. Today we are starting a new series that will take us through Easter and a bit beyond. It is entitled, “What does it mean to be blessed?” I chose this question and topic for a couple of reasons. One is that I think the culture (Christian and otherwise) like to talk about being blessed, but doesn’t have a good handle on what it means. I decided to look at what Jesus had to say about being blessed. And part of what I found there is that Jesus often challenged his listeners pretty significantly when he talked about blessing. You may have heard of the Beatitudes, his teaching on blessing in Matthew 5 in what we call the “Sermon on the Mount.” In Luke’s version of that teaching, Jesus no only says things like “blessed are the poor” but also “woe to you who are rich.” In other words, he called for folks to repent around some of the topics he related to blessing. So that seemed like a fitting series for Lent, which is a season of turning from sin in repentance and humility. I also found Jesus using the word “blessing” in texts associated with Palm Sunday and Easter, so it seemed like a great place for us to focus as we move through Lent and come up to Easter. My hope is not only that you will come to understand the biblical concept of “blessing” better, but that you will hear and respond to Jesus’ challenges to turn toward him and experience the blessings he describes. So with that, we will start in Luke 6 with the first of several pairs of blessing/woe starting with verses 20 and 24. Blessed are the Poor Jesus begins his teaching by saying, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” He goes on to pronounce blessing on several other groups of people – the hungry, the weeping, the hated, and more. It would be easy to miss the context and think there is some special blessing that directly correlates with being poor, but we can’t miss the obvious pairs that begin in verse 24. For each blessing Jesus offers a corresponding ‘woe.’ He mentions the poor in verse 20 and the rich in verse 24, so we must take that pair together to properly understand what he is teaching us. The second half of “blessed are the poor” is “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.” (v.24) So, it is not the state of being poor or being rich that brings blessing or woe, but something having to do with how and where we find our “full comfort.” It is not too hard to tease that out. One of the commonly understood benefits of riches (across cultures) is that they provide comfort, security, and peace. And that is one of the promises of the prosperity theology and thinking prevalent in our own society, that blessing means riches resulting in comfort, security, and peace. And I can’t think of scripture that more directly contradicts that thinking than this pair of verses. Jesus not only said about riches and poverty that it is blessed to be poor, but said “woe” to those who are receiving their comfort in full. He flips the common understanding of riches and blessing on its head. Why would he say that and what is wrong with receiving comfort in full? In a sentence, it is that true comfort, security, and peace cannot be found in anyone or anyth

Sermon by: Robert Austell; March 12, 2017; Text: Luke 6:21a,25a; John 6:25-35 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."   :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: Blessed Be Your Name (Redman) Singing Together: All in All (Jernigan) Offering of Music: (worship team; Karla Katibah, vocalist) Hungry (Scott) Our Song of Praise: Hungry (refrain) (Scott) Hymn of Sending: More Love to Thee (MORE LOVE TO THEE) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. “What does it mean to be blessed?” Today we are continuing a series by that name which will run to just the other side of Easter. In a culture (Christian and otherwise) that doesn’t have a good handle on what it means to be blessed, we are looking at what Jesus had to say about it. Also, Jesus called for folks to repent around some of the topics related to blessing, so it seemed fitting to look at this during Lent, which is a season of turning from sin in repentance and humility. Last week we looked at the two phrases, “Blessed are the poor” and “woe to you who are rich,” hearing Jesus’ challenge to find true comfort and security in God’s healing and salvation rather than the stuff of this world we so often pursue. Today we are going to look at the next pairing of blessing and woe in Luke 6: “Blessed are you who hunger now” and “woe to you who are well-fed now.” Jesus speaks here of satisfaction and where we seek True Satisfaction. As we will do each week in this series, we will also turn to other scripture that speaks to the particular theme at hand to better understand the teaching. Today, we will also look at John 6, where Jesus teaches about the True Bread that satisfies our deepest hungers. Blessed are You Who Hunger Now (v. 21a) As with rich and poor last week, it sounds like Jesus is saying there is an inherent blessing in being hungry and a corresponding curse to being well-fed. But also like last week, it is important to take note of the qualifiers in his teaching. He didn’t just say, “Blessed are the hungry. Period.” He said, “Blessed are you who hunger now.” And he didn’t just way, “Woe to the well-fed” but “Woe to you who are well-fed now.” So that NOW is important. He also said to the hungry, “You shall be satisfied” and to the well-fed, “You shall be hungry.” So the SHALL BE (future) and the theme of satisfaction are important. Let’s look at each. First let’s look at the word satisfied. There is the literal surface-level meaning of hunger and satisfaction. If you haven’t eaten in a while, you begin to get hungry and what you want is food to satisfy that hunger. And there’s even a couple of layers there. There is enough food to stave off the hunger, to get by for a little while longer. And then there is enough food to leave you truly satisfied, not stuffed, but more than the bare minimum to survive. That describes literal hunger and satisfaction. Then there is a metaphorical meaning of hunger and satisfaction, right? We hunger for all kind of things other than food. We talk about success and getting ahead in school or sports or life and as the question, “Are you hungry for that success or that win?” And there is a corresponding satisfaction: achieving whatever it was that you were hungry for. Finally there is a third meaning of hunger and satisfaction. It is perhaps a subset of metaphor, but based on what Jesus says, I’ll say it is a deeper or higher meaning yet, because most of our metaphorical hungers are for stuff of this world, human achievements and the like. There is a spiritual meaning to hunger and satisfaction. When Jesus speaks of “hungering and thirsting for righteo

Sermon by: Robert Austell; March 12, 2017; Text: Luke 6:21a,25a; John 6:25-35 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."  :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: Trading My Sorrow (Evans) Singing Together: Bless the Lord/10,000 Reasons (Myrin, Redman) Offering of Music: O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus - Bobby White, piano; Linda Jenkins, organ Hymn of Sending: Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts (QUEBEC) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. “What does it mean to be blessed?” Specifically, what does Jesus and the scripture say that it means? And what should we do if we want to know and experience God’s blessing? Today we are going to talk about True Joy as one of God’s blessings. It is not something easily understood, but it is one of God’s great gifts to us in a world that is full of suffering and sorrow. We will look first at Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6, then consider several biblical texts that expand on his teaching. The Now and the New (Luke 6:21b,25b) Let’s start with Jesus’ words in Luke: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh… woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” As we noted last week, the word ‘now’ is critical to beginning to understand what Jesus is saying here. He is not saying that weeping makes you blessed or laughing makes you cursed. There is a here and now that is full of sorrow and suffering and sin. It is worth weeping over! But there is a future coming – God’s future and God’s Kingdom – and those things will be set right. Those who laugh now are, perhaps, those who cause or rejoice at the suffering of others; something about God’s future setting right of things reveals that group’s laughter to be temporary, replaced later with sorrow. Said another way: what Jesus holds up as blessed is sorrow over the brokenness of this world and joy that God will set things right. That promise has consoled many in this world in the midst of pain, suffering, and sorrow.  The passage we heard from Revelation 21 is one of the classic descriptions of what that future will be like. We often read it at funerals, to remind grieving family and friends that this is not all there is. In his vision, John sees a new heaven and earth, a new Jerusalem, and hears a loud voice from the throne, saying: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them…” (v. 3) God is with us, in our midst. And it’s this next part that speaks to our sorrow: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things [the NOW things!] have passed away.” (v. 4) And Jesus then declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (v. 5) That is lovely and comforting, isn’t it? And yet, it seems so far off. Is all we are to know in this world, in the now, various sorrows and losses? No, there is more to say. Tasting the ‘Not Yet’ Jesus often speaks of “now and not yet” when he talks about the Kingdom of God. When he does, he isn’t just contrasting this world’s woes and eternity’s joys. A key part of his message about God’s Kingdom is that it is breaking into this world even now: “The Kingdom of God is already in your midst!” (Luke 17:21) While God’s perfect future is still “not yet,” we can know something of it in the here and now. Let me point to two scriptures to illustrate that. Psalm 126 A significant part of the Hebrew scriptures, our Old Testament, records the story of God’s people when they were in Exile, far from home, friends, and (they thought

Sermon by: Robert Austell; March 26, 2017; Luke 6:22-23,26; Colossians 3:23-25 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."  :: Scripture and Music :: Gathering Music: Thrive (Casting Crowns) Singing Together: Enough (Tomlin, Giglio) Singing Together: My Soul Finds Rest/Psalm 62 (Keyes, Townend) The Word in Music: Blest Are They (Haas, Joncas) Hymn of Sending: Jesus Calls Us (GALILEE) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. I’m not sure there is more provocative pair of statements than those we are looking at today: Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy… Woe to you when all men speak well of you…” (Luke 6:22,26) We are continuing in a series entitled, “What does it mean to be blessed?” And today’s text serves as a reminder: it may not mean what you think it means! In today’s text Jesus brings up the topic of ‘reward’ and challenges us on why we say the things we say and do the things we do. Little Rewards I don’t know why this particular blessing/woe pairing grabs my attention harder than some of the others. Maybe it is because I do so much like affirmation and praise. Yet here Jesus warns me, pronouncing ‘woe’ when everyone starts speaking well. At least I need to ask myself some hard questions: “Why all the praise? Is this empty flattery?” Now, as with all these teachings, there are exceptions to what Jesus is saying. There are certainly times when we receive or give praise for something done truly and well and in a godly way. But that’s not what Jesus is getting at here. He’s talking about that dynamic when we say or do things for the sake of human approval alone, and particularly when those things are in contrast to the will or way of Christ. Right? He’s set up a contrast with doing things “for the sake of the Son of Man.” He specifically mentions false prophets, those who spoke words to please others rather than speaking truth. We might extend that specific warning to any example of seeking human approval but NOT serving Christ. The flip side of that is when we do or say the right thing, or specifically the godly Christ-thing, and take heat for it. There’s a simple enough example of this: have you ever told a child or a teenager something true, even motivated by love for them, and it not been met with hugs and thanks? The temptation is to say what they want to hear and be “the greatest parent ever” but that’s not truly loving them. Or with a friend who is getting themselves in trouble. If you have a good enough relationship with them you might risk speaking the loving truth to them. I’ve been in that position as a friend as well as a pastor. I can tell you that sometimes – maybe even most times – that truth is hard for them to receive. I’ve also yielded to the temptation just to dodge the hard truth instead. How about you? Ever been in any of those situations? Let me offer two reasons (besides doing the right thing) that Jesus gives us to live “for His sake.” Two Reasons to Live for His Sake He Did it For Us One compelling reason to risk rejection for the sake of Christ is that he did it for us. I can’t help but think of Jesus when I read that list: hate, ostracize, insult, scorn as evil. Those were the things done to Jesus while he was teaching us about God and giving his life sacrificially for us. While he had followers, he had many opponents who tried to trip him up, trap him. And eventually they arrested him, beat and mocked him, and killed him. It was all while he was about His Father’s business, brin

Sermon by: Robert Austell; April 2, 2017; Luke 6:27-38 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."  :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (BEECHER) Singing Together: All I Have is Christ (Kauflin, Sovereign Grace) Offering of Music: I Believe This is Jesus (arr. McGlohon) Hymn of Sending: Here is Love (Lowry, Redman) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. Today we are in the same chapter (Luke 6) that we’ve been in for several weeks as we ask the question, “What does it mean to be blessed?” But today we move beyond the pairs of “Blessed are you if this… and woe to you if that…” to a different style of teaching by Jesus. He is still talking blessing though, but is remarkably directive (for him). So much of the time Jesus is asking questions or telling parables; but in today’s text he outright says DO THIS…. actually he says to do several things. But it is still in the context of blessing. Interestingly, we tend to think of blessing as something we receive, but Jesus links it here with a way of living in the world. Finally, another way to understand the more extended teaching today is that he is elaborating on what we looked at last week. I included last week’s blessing and woe in today’s readings: Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. As he continues in today’s text, Jesus turns to our side of that equation. How are we to respond and what are we to do when that particular “blessing” comes our way? What does it mean to engage and experience God’s blessing in that instance? Jesus tells us very directly: in return we are to LOVE, DO GOOD, and GIVE FREELY. He will circle through each response three times (as will we), but it is clear that the blessing comes through responding as Jesus would respond, showing the grace that God has shown. If you want specific instruction on how to be blessed, Jesus offers it here, giving much the same message that Jeremiah gave the Jewish exiles some 1000 years earlier: seek the blessing of your enemies and you will come to experience God’s blessing yourself. Love, Do Good, Give Freely – the instructions (vv. 27-31) I want to call the first pass through the triple command “the instructions.” Not only is Jesus simply directive here, he begins with “But I say to you who hear.” It’s the kind of thing parents might say to children: “Please turn your listening ears on!” And remember the context: Jesus has just said blessed are those who are hated, ostracized, insulted, and scorned for the sake of the Son of Man (Jesus). We saw last week that “for the sake of Jesus” includes what we say and do. In fact we ended up with the challenge from Colossians: “whatever you do, do it heartily as for the Lord.” So now Jesus is going to give some examples of what that looks like, particularly in the context of the kind of trouble those who serve him might face. Each of the instructions is more than challenging, perhaps even shocking. Love your enemies – These may be the very ones who hated, hurt, and came against you. It’s the last thing we’d want to do. I get that. I think Jesus understood that, too – completely understood. I think there are also qualifiers on this. This is not a universal teaching, for example, on how to treat an enemy in war or if someone is attacking your family. A fair starting point is the context already given: serving Christ. Jesus has already said that following him will make enemies of some people. What sense does it make, then, to stop following Christ when they stir up t

Sermon by: Robert Austell; April 9, 2017 (Palm Sunday); Mark 11:1-11; Psalm 118  :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."  :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: All Glory, Laud, and Honor (chorus and arr. Austell) Singing Together: Hosanna - Praise is Rising (Baloche) The Word in Music: Hosanna to the King (Courtney) Hymn of Sending: Great are You, Lord (Ingram, Jordon, Leonard) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. Today is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week, in which we remember the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, including the Last Supper on Thursday night, his crucifixion on Friday, and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. I am also continuing in our series asking, “What it means to be blessed?” because right there in the middle of the Palm Sunday story, right after “HOSANNA!” is this statement: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.” (vv. 9-10) So, though we have left the Beatitudes in Luke, it would appear there is something here to learn about blessing and being blessed. Prep Work (vv. 1-7) The text begins with what I’ll call “prep work.” Just before entering the city of Jerusalem, Jesus sends two disciples into the nearby town to get a colt on which to ride into Jerusalem. That mission was as fascinating and confusing as the rest of the day: Jesus seemed to know right where it would be, people questioned them when they were taking it, but seemed fine once they said “The Lord needs it,” and it was a very specific animal – a young colt (can mean young horse or donkey) which had never been ridden. In the Hebrew scriptures, a young unblemished/unused animal was used for a sacred purpose, and that seems to be the purpose here. When the disciples got it back to Jesus, they seemed to know what to do: they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. It turns out that this was one of the well-known things the Messiah would do. It came from the prophet Zechariah, who wrote: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9) The stage was set! If Jesus was going to claim to be the Messiah – if he WAS the Messiah – this is how it would be announced; this was a public sign to go with all the teaching and miracles that said, “The Messiah is here.” The Messiah We Want (vv. 8-10) So here’s the thing: Jesus was the promised Messiah, but not the expected Messiah.  And that’s no reflection on Jesus or the promises of God; it’s a reflection on how people’s expectations can change. We often see what we are looking for, and we look for what we want to see! We’ve talked about this more than a few times before. The Hebrew scriptures – our Old Testament – is packed full of teaching, promises, prophecies, and anticipation of the Messiah, or God’s “anointed one.” The Messiah was God keeping His covenant promises to not abandon His people and to bring them BLESSING. Specifically, the Messiah was God keeping His promise to King David that the kingdom and the kingly line would last. But that’s where the promise and the expectations started to diverge, even as our concept of ‘blessing’ sometimes diverges from God’s definition of blessing. The kingdom was not ultimately David’s kingdom; it was an earthly manifestation of God’s Kingdom – God’s covenant blessing on His people. And while David was the earthly king, GOD was the Great King. And so as the earthly kings and k

Sermon by: Robert Austell; April 9, 2017 (Palm Sunday); Mark 11:1-11; Psalm 118 :: Sermon Audio (link) :: Click link to open and play in browser; right-click to save. Sermon audio is also accessible as a free podcast in iTunes. Search for "Good Shepherd Sermons" or "Robert Austell."  :: Scripture and Music :: Singing Together: All Glory, Laud, and Honor (chorus and arr. Austell) Singing Together: Hosanna - Praise is Rising (Baloche) The Word in Music: Hosanna to the King (Courtney) Hymn of Sending: Great are You, Lord (Ingram, Jordon, Leonard) :: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks  the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided  for that purpose. Today is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week, in which we remember the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, including the Last Supper on Thursday night, his crucifixion on Friday, and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. I am also continuing in our series asking, “What it means to be blessed?” because right there in the middle of the Palm Sunday story, right after “HOSANNA!” is this statement: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.” (vv. 9-10) So, though we have left the Beatitudes in Luke, it would appear there is something here to learn about blessing and being blessed. Prep Work (vv. 1-7) The text begins with what I’ll call “prep work.” Just before entering the city of Jerusalem, Jesus sends two disciples into the nearby town to get a colt on which to ride into Jerusalem. That mission was as fascinating and confusing as the rest of the day: Jesus seemed to know right where it would be, people questioned them when they were taking it, but seemed fine once they said “The Lord needs it,” and it was a very specific animal – a young colt (can mean young horse or donkey) which had never been ridden. In the Hebrew scriptures, a young unblemished/unused animal was used for a sacred purpose, and that seems to be the purpose here. When the disciples got it back to Jesus, they seemed to know what to do: they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. It turns out that this was one of the well-known things the Messiah would do. It came from the prophet Zechariah, who wrote: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9) The stage was set! If Jesus was going to claim to be the Messiah – if he WAS the Messiah – this is how it would be announced; this was a public sign to go with all the teaching and miracles that said, “The Messiah is here.” The Messiah We Want (vv. 8-10) So here’s the thing: Jesus was the promised Messiah, but not the expected Messiah.  And that’s no reflection on Jesus or the promises of God; it’s a reflection on how people’s expectations can change. We often see what we are looking for, and we look for what we want to see! We’ve talked about this more than a few times before. The Hebrew scriptures – our Old Testament – is packed full of teaching, promises, prophecies, and anticipation of the Messiah, or God’s “anointed one.” The Messiah was God keeping His covenant promises to not abandon His people and to bring them BLESSING. Specifically, the Messiah was God keeping His promise to King David that the kingdom and the kingly line would last. But that’s where the promise and the expectations started to diverge, even as our concept of ‘blessing’ sometimes diverges from God’s definition of blessing. The kingdom was not ultimately David’s kingdom; it was an earthly manifestation of God’s Kingdom – God’s covenant blessing on His people. And while David was the earthly king, GOD was the Great King. And so as the earthly kings and kingdom