GOLIATH MUST FALL: DESPAIR MUST FALL

We hope you are anticipating the power of redemption as we start Holy Week. Tru-way Christ of the Risen Christ will join us for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at 7:00 pm each night. We will celebrate Easter Sunrise with Ortega Methodist Church and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 6:30 am at Stockton Park, just across from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Pastor Jon will be delivering the sermon. Kevin and the contemporary worship team will be providing the music. It will be a wonderful week of celebration. Please join us and invite a friend to celebrate with us the power of resurrection! We come to the end of our series Goliath Must Fall with a giant that was not named in the study, but is ever present with us. This giant is despair. In the sermon Despair Must Fall, we extend the spirit of this study in order to enable Jesus to confront this giant in our lives. What could ever conquer this giant? It is so subtle, sneaky, and seductive. Our scripture is Luke 19:32-44 and it is the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We cannot miss the joy of the disciples as the giant of despair loses its grip on the hearts and lives of those who join the celebration. Jesus refuses to stop the praise of his disciples because the very stones and rocks would take up the joyful chant to slam despair to the ground! These words are both historical and prophetic. They not only remind us of the King who will return, but they also give us a strategy to topple despair in our hearts! We earnestly pray that you will sense the power of Christ enabling you to fight the good fight that will transform doubt into decision, depression into devotion, and despair in marvelous delight!    

Luke 19:32-44: Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” ⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” ⁴¹ As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴² and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (NIV)