Make a Way for the King

[00:00:00] Matthew, chapter 21, verse number eight. [00:00:04] The Bible tells us this. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way others cut down branches from the trees and strolled them in the way. The multitudes that went before and that followed cried saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. [00:00:32] Very familiar passage of scripture, where the people began to wave the branches and began to shout out triumphantly, Hosanna. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. I want to preach to us today on this subject. Make way for the king. Make way for the king. Could you lift your hands? Let's raise our voice. Let's ask God to speak to us today. Father, in the name of Jesus, your spirit is here already. God, you've anointed the singers and the musicians. God, you've been here as we dedicated a child to you. God, we're praying now that you would speak to us from your word. Speak with certainty and clarity and conviction. Pray in the name that's above every other name. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:01:27] In Jesus name, amen. You may be seated. Thank you so much for standing with me. [00:01:36] It seems like now more than ever, thanks to the ever increasing popularity of social media and the apps such as YouTube and TikTok, the people are constantly and consistently looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Some will go to great lengths, others will perform outrageous antics. If it means they can just get a view, they can get a click or a like. But when we began to open up the word of the Lord, we find that the children of Israel were not looking for the newest sensation. [00:02:19] No, they were not searching for a superstar, a celebrity or an entertainer. But they were looking for the promised savior, the one that would come and save his people from their sins. [00:02:36] It was the one that was prophesied of old, Isaiah 714, that therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son shall call his name Emmanuel, the one that Isaiah nine and six said, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, and the prince of peace, found in Zechariah, chapter nine and verse number nine, they said, rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion. The king is coming unto thee. He is just. He has salvation. You see this verse building to a pinnacle. It's telling us that it's time to rejoice. Time to celebrate, because the king is getting ready to come. He is just. He is full of salvation. He has power in heaven and in earth. And when he comes in, he's going to be riding in on a donkey. [00:03:53] Something just doesn't make sense about the last part of that verse. I mean, we're getting excited. You can feel the emotions beginning to move. The king is getting ready to come. The king that's going to leave the hallelujahs of heaven, the king that's going to leave that eternal ecstasy and the celestial choirs. He's coming and he's just. He's full of power. He has all salvation, but when he rides in, he's going to be riding in, you guessed it, on a donkey. [00:04:29] If it was me, I think maybe I would adjust that. Maybe riding in on a white stallion. That sounds a little better. [00:04:38] It was 2024. Maybe he'd be riding in on a stretch Hummer limo. Now that sounds like a king, but instead it says he's going to be riding in on a donkey. Not exactly what you would think a king would choose or select. And this can be because God does not operate like Mandy. We are mortal, but God is immortal. We are finite, but he is infinite. We are limited in power, but he is unlimited in strength and glory and majesty. And Isaiah 55 tells us that God's ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He doesn't always work like you want him to work, doesn't always move the way we want him to move. [00:05:35] He does what he chooses fit. He does what he wants. He does what is right. [00:05:44] Sometimes that always doesn't make sense to humanity. It was that same Jesus that taught the people in Matthew 20 and 26. He said, whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. He said, if you want to go higher in this kingdom, if you want to get elevated in the kingdom of heaven, you don't do that by stepping on the heads of others. [00:06:18] If you want to be promoted, if you want to be exalted, you don't tear others down so you can go up instead. If you really want to be great, if you really want to be amazing, if you really want to become outstanding in God's kingdom, you have to be a minister, you have to be a servant. You have to be willing to humble yourself and do what others don't necessarily want to do. Luke 18 and 14, Jesus said, he that exalts himself shall be abased, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted. It's God's ways. If you really want to be great, you've got to be willing to serve. You've got to be willing to surrender. It's not all about me. [00:07:11] It's all about him. And if you're too big to serve, you're too little to lead. Because God calls servants. He calls those that are willing to help, those that are less fortunate than others. [00:07:28] And so we find Jesus teaching this revelatory message, and he finishes his sermon, and he leaves Jericho. While he's on this journey, there's a multitude of people that have surrounded him, trying to get as close as humanly possible, trying to navigate this surge of individuals, because they've got to get as close as they can. And here Jesus is walking. And as he is walking, somebody says something in passing. They hear the name of Jesus whispered somewhere at some point, and the word of God tells us there were two men that were sitting by the wayside that were blind. And when they heard Jesus was coming by, they decided, I'm not letting this moment pass me by. And so they began to cry out to the Lord. They began to lift up the volume of their voices and said, have mercy on me. They were getting so loud, they were becoming so outrageous, they were getting so demonstrative. But the people said, hey, you got to calm it down. [00:08:51] You ever been around somebody, you say, you got to calm down if you're going to be around me. They said, listen, now, the Bible says they rebuked them, said, listen, you don't have to be so loud. You don't have to be so boisterous. He's able to hear you just fine. But do you know what the scripture says they did? It says they cried even more. They lifted up their voices and got even louder. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. They weren't about to leave that place without coming in contact with him. Hey, I want to let you know, I found out through the years that I just cannot live without Jesus. I can't operate without him. I can't function without him. I can't go one day without him in my life. I have to have him. [00:09:54] Trying to live without Christ. Christ is a life that is empty. It's like having money but no meaning. It's like having a career but no purpose. Existence but no life. It's like having knowledge but no wisdom. Living without Jesus is like having a marriage but no love. Music but no harmony. Formality but no integrity. It's like having talent, but no humility. Services but no anointing. Preaching but no power. Death but no hope. I don't want to live without him. [00:10:32] Acts 17 says, in him, we live, in him, we move, in him we have our being. [00:10:41] So these men had made up in their minds. They had determined in their hearts. They had decided for their soul that I'm not leaving without him. [00:10:54] And they started crying. They started to worship, and they started to praise. And in verse number 32 of Matthew, chapter 20, it tells us what happened next in verse number 32 of Matthew 20, those very first words, the very first four words, it says, and Jesus stood still. [00:11:18] We realize that he's on his way to walk down the street of Jerusalem. This was about to be a palm Sunday celebration. This was going to be a historic moment. This was going to be a day that would live an infamy. This would be the time that we would celebrate every year that the Messiah is getting ready to come. This was a moment unlike any other moment, but two people that said, I need him now. [00:11:52] You know what jesus will do? He'll stop everything else. If there's just one person that says, I need him, and I need him right now, he'll stop everything else. The one that named the stars, the one that hung the planets into orbit, the one that caused the trees to grow and the flowers to bloom, the one that made the sun to shine and the moon to glow. But if there's just one person that is in need, jesus will stop everything else, and he will come to the one that is hurting. [00:12:30] Hey. If you are down, Jesus will find you. If you are hurting, he will heal you. If you are broken, he will fix you. If you are fallen, he'll restore you. If you're lost, he will find you. If you're stabbed, he can reenergize you. If you're confused, he can enlighten you. If you saved, he can keep you. That is what he does. [00:13:00] So the others that were telling them to be quiet, those that were telling them to sit down, you don't have to be so loud. Jesus comes over to them, and in just a moment, he doesn't go through a big production. He doesn't have to have the lights in the cameras. He doesn't need the smoke in the mirrors. But instead, he begins to pray for these two men. Would you believe that in a moment, in the blank of an eye, those men were healed and they left, seen and no longer blind? [00:13:35] It's because they said, I've got to make a way for the kingdom. [00:13:40] I remember I was in a service a few years back, and I had gotten there, and I was praying before the service started. I was at the front of the church, and I was kneeling down to pray. And so I just was about done praying, and so I stood up and kind of looked to the back of the sanctuary where the door was, and I saw this woman come in. And when she came in, she kind of looked at me a little side eyed. You ever had somebody look at you a little side eyed? Somebody said, I happened this morning, brother. What you talking about? She kind of looked at me a little strange and so kind of caught my attention. And so she had her purse in her hand, and she just kind of put it on the table where she was standing at and started walking towards me. [00:14:27] And the longer she walked, the more intense her walk became. And her walk turned into running. And so she started running full blast. [00:14:38] She was a fairly large sister. Okay, I'm trying to be kind, but she was running at me full blast. And I'm just standing there thinking, well, girl's going to have to slow down. She's getting awful close. [00:14:51] She never did slow down. She grabbed me, tackled me, and then picked me up in the air and held me up and said, brother, you got to pray for me. [00:15:02] I said, sister, you put me down, I will pray for you right now. [00:15:06] I will do that. [00:15:09] The only thing I could think was, this is the friendliest church I've ever been in in my life now. [00:15:14] So she dropped me and I fell to the ground. And I said, what's going on? And she said, well, I need help. I said, okay. She said, well, I'll tell you long story short. She said, but I've been having this problem that I'll lose all of my eyesight. She said, it would happen when I was working on the job, when I was at home, even I was driving in my car, everything would go completely white, and I couldn't see anything. [00:15:46] Oh, my goodness. So she said, so I went to the doctor, and they sent me to a specialist to figure out what the problem was. And so she said, I waited, and finally the main doctor came into the room and said, well, ma'am, I want to tell you, you got a couple issues going on. The first is you have an extreme case of glaucoma. [00:16:08] She said, also you have a severe case of diabetes. The reason why I'm telling you that is because that's the reason why you're losing your vision. As these diseases progressed, oftentimes it will cause you to lose your eyesight. He said, so he pulled out these x rays and showed her the x rays of her eyes, and there were little spots all in her retinas. He said, that's a result of the diabetes and the glaucoma working together. We call them blind spots. [00:16:39] So what's happening is you're having these moments where you lose your eyesight, and unfortunately, that's going to continue to happen, and eventually you're going to be completely blind. [00:16:51] So she's telling me the story, and she's starting to get overcome with emotion. She said, I just don't know how I'm going to handle being blind. I've got to work and provide for my family. Don't know how the bills are going to get paid. What am I going to do? I need God to help me now. [00:17:11] Okay, we going to pray together and believe. [00:17:13] So we were in the service and we had praised and worshiped God. And the power and presence of God began to move, just like it's been moving here today. And the spirit of the Lord began to permeate the atmosphere. And I just felt to go over and just grab her by the hand, say, sis, I'm going to pray for you. And I believe that we're going to pray and agree and God's going to heal you. [00:17:39] All right? So we prayed and called on the name of Jesus, and I kind of left the service, left that church, and went on the next week to the next place, really. I hadn't thought a whole lot about it, but I was driving in my car. My phone started to ring, looked down, wasn't exactly sure who was calling me. And so I answered the phone. And soon as I answered the phone, the voice on the other end said, guess where I'm at. [00:18:08] Not like this is so and so, or hello, how you doing? Guess where I'm at? And I thought, who in the world am I talking? Okay, I think I might know who I'm talking to. I kind of remember now. And she said, you know where I'm sitting at right now? So I was ready for the praise report, pastor, I was ready for the testimony to come in. I said, all right, tell me where you're at. She said, I'm in the emergency room right now. [00:18:36] I thought, oh, man, that's not good. I said, what's going on? She said, well, I came in here after that service we had on Sunday. She said, the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became. I need to go in. See that same doctor. She said, so I just checked myself into the ER and told them who I needed to see. And they said, ma'am, I don't know if we can do that for you or nothing because we're not sure what needs to happen. And she said, I've got good insurance. You're going to let me see that doctor now? [00:19:09] You can't pick up on it by now? She was a little bold, all right. [00:19:13] I said, well, what they do? She said, they got that doctor. She said, so I went in and they said, well, ma'am, we just saw you a few weeks ago and we told you what the diagnosis was. And she said, but I know, but something happened to me and I need you to run those tests again and tell me what you find. [00:19:32] So we just ran the test. She said, my insurance going to cover it. I called before. She said, let me see those tests again. I said, all right, if you want to do it, let's do it. So they ran all these tests and she said, I was sitting here in the room, and that same physician came in that saw me a few weeks back. She said, when he walked into the room, he asked me what my name was, said, what's your birth date, asking me all these questions. She said, what seems to be the problem? He said, well, this doesn't make any sense. He said, look at all these x rays we took of your eyes just a couple weeks ago. Pulled them up, said, look at all these spots all over your eyes. [00:20:13] He said, but look at the x rays we took today holding up no blind spots on our eyes whatsoever. They were completely gone. [00:20:23] He said, furthermore, I can't tell that you ever had glaucoma. I can't ever tell that you ever had diabetes in your life. He said, there must have been some kind of misdiagnosis. [00:20:36] She said, no, there wasn't a misdiagnosis, but there was a God in heaven that came through and he healed my body last Sunday. [00:20:47] I'm going to tell you, there's something that happens if you just give him a chance to work, if you just give him a moment to move, just make way for the king, I promise you, there's nothing too hard. There's nothing too difficult, there's nothing too complicated for him. He's able to sit high and look low. Heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool. He can heal you when you are sick. He can lift you up when you are low. He's the God that can do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. [00:21:26] His word says that he is able to rise with healing in his wings. Isaiah 53 five said, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of peace. It was upon him with his stripes. We are healed. Do you know that? His word is sure. His word is forever settled in heaven. His word said, if you are tired, if you are weary, you can come and you can find rest. Hey, his word does what absolutely nothing else can do. [00:22:07] James 121 says, his word is the engrafted word. One Peter 125 said, it's the enduring word. Isaiah 50 511 said, it's the accomplishing word first. Peter 123 said, it's the abiding word. John 15 and three said, it's the cleansing word. Psalm 33 six said, it's the creative word. Psalm twelve and six said, it's the purified word. Two Timothy 316 said, it's the profitable word. [00:22:38] Psalm 18 and 30 said, it's the tried word. Hebrews four and twelve said, it's the sharpened word. Psalm 107 and 20 said, it's the healing word. John 114 said, it's the living word. [00:22:52] And that living word came in the form of Christ, and he is the one that healed those blind men sitting by the wayside. [00:23:04] This unbelievable miracle took place. [00:23:08] And Matthew chapter 21 opens up by telling us those same men decided to follow him. [00:23:16] Jesus was finding himself surrounded by those that were unworthy, surrounded by those that were unfit, undeserving, unqualified, unsuited. I'm thankful that God calls us when we are unworthy. When he calls, he doesn't do a background check when he calls, he doesn't run your credit score when he calls, he doesn't look through your past when he calls, he doesn't go through the skeletons in your closet. But he calls. He seeks us out. He finds us when we have no other hope to be found. [00:23:59] He's surrounded by those that were thieves, those that were former prostitutes, those that had done wrong. He was surrounded by men that used to be unethical, unrighteous, ungodly. He surrounded himself by those that you would not suspect to be following after Jesus. But here they are following him every step that he takes. And he comes into the streets of Jerusalem and instructs them to go and find me an animal. And they go and they get this donkey, and they begin to lay their clothes on top of this animal. And Jesus sits on top of this donkey and begins to ride through the streets of Jerusalem. [00:24:48] And when he does, something comes over the heart of the people, to the outsider looking in, that may seem like unorthodox. To the outsider looking in, it seems a little crazy. But to the children of Israel, it was the fulfillment of the prophecy that the king, when he comes, he's going to be just and he's going to be full of salvation. When the king comes, he's going to be riding in on a donkey. When they saw him riding in on that animal, they began to cut down the branches and began to wave them in the air and say, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. [00:25:39] Yeah, I wish I could sing that old song. I'm in the wrong place for a bad singer to sing. I'm going to let you know. They say, hosanna, blessed be the rock. Hosanna, blessed be the rock of my salvation. They started to sing, they started to worship, they started to praise, they started to magnify the Lord, and they started to call on the name of the most high God. [00:26:07] They started carrying on, they started to lift up their voices. And those religious leaders, those Pharisees that tried to discredit, that tried to disprove everything that Jesus ever did, they got up in arms, they got so angry and beside themselves that they found Jesus. And they said, you need to tell these people, tell these uneducated people that they better stop shouting like this. Tell these unworthy individuals to go back where they came from and to hold their peace. [00:26:49] And Jesus looked at them and said, if these hold their peace, the stones are going to cry out because you don't know what they're doing. They are making way for the king. Hey, can I let you know that when you lift your hands and you begin to raise your voice and you begin to praise and worship the Lord, it's not just a religious obligation, it's not just some rhetoric that you quote, but you are making a way for the king of kings and the Lord of lords to come. [00:27:27] Somebody ought to lift your hands and let a shout of praise out to the Lord. Somebody ought to lift your voice and call on the name of Jesus for a moment. [00:27:40] Come on. He's a great God. And if he's a great God, I owe him great praise. Come on. If he's a genuine savior, I owe him authentic praise. If he's a loving Christ, I owe him heartfelt praise. If he really is a healer, I owe him miraculous praise. If he's a mighty God, I owe him high praise. [00:28:08] You know what I think jesus did in that moment? He started looking around at who was praising him. [00:28:16] I can't tell that woman over there to stop praising me because she had an issue of blood. She had been sent home by the doctors. They had given her no hope but she touched the hem of my garment and now she's made whole. I can't tell her to stop. I look over there at that group of ten. The others don't know their past. They don't know where they came from. But when I found them they were lepers and outcasts of society. They weren't allowed to walk down the main street in Jerusalem. But they cried out to me and I healed them and I sent them away and they were made whole. I can't tell them to stop praising. [00:29:00] I wonder if he looked over and saw a man that caused him to remember. [00:29:07] I remember that man. Mark chapter five tells us that he was demon possessed. He was tormented. In his mind he was so upset, he was so down, he was so depressed that he cut himself. [00:29:25] He had reached such a new low that he would live in the tombs, he would reside in the graveyard. The people tried to help him. They tried to tie him up with chains. But the Bible says that man would get supernatural strengthen and he would break free of those chains that had him bound. [00:29:49] See the people thought they wanted to help him and I'm sure they did. But they were trying to fix a spiritual problem with a physical cure. [00:30:00] They were trying to fix a spiritual problem with a physical cure. Can I let you know? There's something in your heart that was created by God and it cannot be fixed with drugs. It cannot be fixed with money. It cannot be filled with entertainment. You can try all you want but there's a void in your heart that can't be satisfied by anything in this world. [00:30:29] He would hurt himself, he would hurt other people. [00:30:34] Those that lived with him wanted nothing to do with him. [00:30:38] But the day came that he heard that Jesus was coming. Bye. [00:30:44] Do you know what he decided to do? He said, I'm going to go to Jesus myself. And so mark chapter five tells us that demon possessed man ran to where Jesus was at, fell down at his feet and began to worship him. [00:31:03] When he did that, Jesus looked at him and asked him a question. He said, what is your name? [00:31:10] That man responded back and said, my name is Legion. [00:31:15] That meant at least 3000. So when he said, my name is Legion what he was saying was I've got 3000 devils inside of me. I've got 3000 spirits tormenting my mind. I'm being pulled in every direction possible. People have tried to help me, but they can't. I've tried to take my own life, but it doesn't help. I've tried to hurt myself, but it doesn't do any good. He said, I'm being ripped apart. I'm being torn apart. My life is in shambles. I don't know where to go and who to turn to. But I heard about you. [00:31:56] I heard that you care for people that nobody else cares for. I heard that you love people that are unlovable. I heard you believe in people that don't even believe in themselves. And I decided I'm going to go and I'm going to reach you. [00:32:15] So now that we know that that man has 3000 devils inside of him, but if you rewind the story just a moment, the man that is possessed, the man that is tormented, no doubt, the man that had battled addictions, the man that was violent, the man that was angry, the man that was suicidal, the man that was depressed, the man that was misunderstood, the man that was a misfit. When he heard Jesus was coming by, he said, I'm going to do what I can only guess to do. I'm going to run and I'm going to worship him. [00:32:59] You know what he was doing? He was making way for the king. [00:33:04] They sang it earlier. Just let the way maker through. Give him a chance. He falls down and worships Jesus. That tells me that it doesn't matter if you've got 3000 devils inside of you you want to worship, you can worship. Doesn't matter if you're battling all kinds of hell, doesn't matter what addictions you have faced, if you want to come to an altar, if you want. If you want your life to be different, if you want to be set free, all you have to do is make way for the king. [00:33:40] Jesus found him and he prayed. And the man that was so messed up, the man that was tore up, the man that had no hope in his future in one moment, in the blink of an eye, in the snap of a finger, in 1 second, he was clothed in his right mind. He was no longer possessed. He was no longer tormented. He was no longer living with that anger. [00:34:12] Some people here, you've been living with anger for too long. Some of us, we've been living with depression for too long. Some of you, you've been battling insecurities for too long. Some we've been dealing with suicidal thoughts for too long. I want to let you know, make way for the king. Give him a chance. Give him an opportunity. Hey, you may be confused. You may be discouraged. You may not even know what you believe about God. But if you will just make way for the king, he will come to where you at. Somebody ought to just raise your hands. Whoo. Hallelujah. The music is coming right now. Oh, the Holy Ghost is here. Oh, the presence of God is in this place. Can we stand all across the sanctuary? Can we stand all across the house today? Oh, hallelujah. [00:35:16] Hallelujah. I remember where I was at when God found me. [00:35:22] Didn't know anything about him. Didn't know anything about the lord. Addicted to every drug there was to take. Sold every drug I could get my hands on. Followed in the footsteps of my family, who at that time were mostly in jail and in the basement of a drug dealer's house. [00:35:44] God started to speak to me. [00:35:48] I didn't know what I was feeling. I didn't know what was happening, and I didn't know what was going on. But I decided to go upstairs to this room that nobody was in. The shut the door, locked it, got on my knees and started praying. Best I knew how to pray. [00:36:06] Now, remember standing up, saying, God, I'm not even sure that you're real, but if you are real, I want you to come right now. [00:36:17] I'm tired of living like this, tired of looking over my shoulder, tired of not knowing who to trust. Tired of going and doing what everybody else has done, because I knew where my trajectory was at. I was going to be dead or in jail. [00:36:36] But in that moment, I said, God, I'm going to give you a chance. [00:36:41] If you're real, come right now and let me know. I don't even know what I was doing in the moment, but you know what I was doing? I was making way for the king. [00:36:53] If you just give him a chance, he doesn't force himself on people. He's a gentleman. [00:37:00] He's not going to grab you and pull you to an altar. [00:37:05] He's not going to come and mess everything up and say, oh, you are going to pray. [00:37:10] But if you would just make way for him, he'll come through, and he can do what nobody else can do. [00:37:17] Because in that drug dealer's house, where there was nobody telling me what to do, nobody telling me what to do, there was nobody coaching me on what to say. There was nobody telling me how to pray. But in that drug dealer's house, the power of God came. [00:37:36] I was filled with the holy ghost, baptized in the Holy Spirit, started speaking in other tongues and didn't even know what I was feeling. [00:37:47] If God would do that for me, the unworthy of the most unworthiness. [00:37:56] What do you think he could do right now on a Sunday service at restoration apostolic Church? If there would be just one person that would say, I'm going to give you a chance. I'm going to make a way. I'm going to let the king come in.