In Remembrance of Me | Sunday, April 10, 2022

Hello, friends, and welcome to Cross Connection Church online. It is Palm Sunday, and we are really glad that you are joining us today.

Before we get started and join our worship leaders for a time of worship, I want to share with you just a few quick things. First, because it is Palm Sunday, we will be partaking of communion together at the end of the service. If you would like to partake of communion with us, you might want to get prepared. While we are spending some time in worship with our worship team, go and grab some bread and some juice for communion. I hope that you have something to partake with as we share in this moment at the end of the service.

The second thing I want to let you know about is that, obviously, because this is Palm Sunday, it marks the beginning of Passion Week. This means that Easter is next Sunday, and Good Friday is this coming Friday. I want to invite you to join us for our Good Friday services. We will have Good Friday services here at Cross Connection Church this coming Friday, right here in the sanctuary, from noon to 1 PM. If you're available and want to come down, please join us for a time of worship, prayer, and reflection on the Scriptures together.

Third, next Sunday is Easter Sunday, and we will be doing our online services a little differently than we normally do. Typically, the service comes to you at 9 o'clock, but next week we will start a half hour earlier. We will be live streaming our service that happens here in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. Our 8:30 service will be coming to you live on YouTube, so you can join us at 8:30 as we gather in the Word and reflect on our Lord's resurrection. I hope to see you online next week as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.

With that, it's time to join our worship leaders as we praise the Lord together.

Oh, the mystery! Your final breath became eternity.

Jose, forever majesty! There's never a year beyond your victory. You are the one that we are welcoming. You are the one that we are welcoming.

I was recently driving somewhere with my oldest son sitting in the passenger seat next to me. He is 13 years old and now as tall as I am; I'm about 6 foot 2, and he's actually a little bit taller than me. As I looked over at my son while we were driving, it struck me how it is possible that he has grown so much in such a short period of time. Thirteen years is not very long, yet it feels like just yesterday he was this tiny little baby. I remember the first time looking at him, his little hand holding my finger. My two fingers were as big as his tiny hand at that time. Now, I look over, and he is 6 foot 2, looking like a man. It’s a scary thing.

Time is interesting, and I think you would agree that it is amazing how quickly it can go by. We mark time, especially here in Western culture in the United States, in a significant way. We are constantly led by time; we have watches and follow certain schedules. Maybe you have a routine that you follow week to week, knowing what will happen during that time. We take our schedules seriously in our culture.

I've traveled to other cultures where wristwatches are not a big deal, and people don’t seem to mark time in the same way we do here in the West. However, we keep a close watch on time, and the markers of time are really core to who we are and how we live—not just here in Western culture, but as human beings.

The opening words of the Bible highlight the importance of time for us. When we read the words "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," we see that concept of the beginning in Genesis chapter one, verse one. A few short verses later, and really just a few short days later in the creation story, if you've ever read Genesis chapter one, you know that it presents the six days of creation.

Just a few short verses and four days of creation after "In the beginning, God was the creator of the heavens and the earth," we read these words in Genesis chapter 1, beginning at verse 14. The Scriptures say, "Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. Let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.'" And it was so.

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

As I mentioned, we mark time and keep track of it with day and night, night and day, and weeks. We have days, nights, weeks, months, seasons, and years. Going back to the very beginning of human civilization and history, as it is recorded, we have kept track of our times and seasons.

Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, is the speaker of Deuteronomy, which we have been studying together here at Cross Connection Church. Moses is not only the speaker and writer of the first five books of the Bible; he is also considered to be the author of Psalm 90. In Psalm 90, Moses talks about the days of our lives. He writes in verse 10, "The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years." Then, a couple of verses later in verse 12, he says, "So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

I'm sure you recognize there is a number to your days. There is a number to our days, and the Scriptures tell us that God knows how many days there will be for my life and for yours. In Psalm 139, Moses tells us those words in Psalm 90, verses 10 and 11, that we need to keep track of our time. It is wisdom to recognize the number of our days.

Do you remember when you were younger, like my 13-year-old son or my nine-year-old son?

Time seemed like it went by so slowly. When I was younger, I remember looking off into the future to some season or a specific time, and it always seemed like it was taking forever to arrive. This was especially true when I was thinking about things like my birthday or looking forward to Christmas. Perhaps the season I was looking forward to was summer.

Currently, my kids, especially my youngest, are counting the days until summer, and it's actually not too far away. In fact, I was taking my kids to school today, waiting for school to start with my youngest son, and he was even asking me about when summer is coming. Looking forward to it makes time seem to go so slowly when you're younger.

As a kid, you look forward to certain events in your life. You anticipate becoming a teenager at 13 or being considered an adult at 18 or perhaps 21. It seems so far away, and it feels like it takes forever to get there. But now, looking back, 21 for me seems like so long ago. In fact, 21 is 21 years ago for me. Time seemed so long ago, and yet in retrospect, it went by so incredibly fast.

That's one of the frightening things about time. It goes by pretty quickly, especially as you get older. The days and weeks fly by, and the months and seasons quickly move from one to the next. In the midst of the ticking by of time, God, who created the world in this way where time is a reality, commanded that throughout the year, His people would pause. He commanded that they would mark time with a Sabbath—a rest, a break, a breath, if you will—a moment to just stop, breathe, and reflect on the passing of time.

These pauses were for the people to remember, reflect, and hopefully rejoice as they were reflecting. These moments were for the people of God, and they were holy. They were set apart and consecrated. That's what the word "holy" means: to be set apart and consecrated. So, these were holy days.

In addition to these holy days, which were times to rest, reflect, remember, and rejoice, there was also one day in seven called the Sabbath. This day was set apart to the Lord, allowing the people to pause and breathe. The Sabbath and these holidays—after all, a holiday is a holy day—were meant to be a pause from work and from all the other pressing things in life. It was a time to stop, rest, and rejoice.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word in Genesis chapter 1, verse 14, that we read a moment ago, translated as "seasons," is the very same word used when God commanded Israel to rest and reflect on holy days in the book of Leviticus, chapter 23. There, it is not translated as "seasons"; instead, it is translated as "feasts." In Leviticus chapter 23, God ordained that His people, the children of Israel, would annually gather together as one people in one place for a time of rest, remembrance, reflection, and rejoicing.

We read about this in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The feasts of the Lord'." The word "feasts" there is the Hebrew word "moed," which is the same word translated as "seasons" in Genesis 1, verse 14. The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, are indeed His feasts.

Six days shall your work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

The law of God, as seen in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, makes it very clear that God has set appointed times for us to rejoice in His goodness and blessings. One day in seven, the Sabbath, was an appointed time every single week where the children of Israel were to rejoice in God's blessings and goodness. Additionally, throughout the year, as outlined in Leviticus chapter 23, there were specific times when the entire nation of Israel would gather together as one people in one place.

These appointed times were for the children of Israel to rejoice in God and to remember His goodness and blessings. About 3,400 years ago, God ordained through Moses that these times would be set throughout the year. Three times a year, they were holy convocations, gatherings where the people would come together to celebrate. At these three different times of the year, they would celebrate seven different feasts.

When we read in Leviticus 23, we find an outline of these seven different feasts at the three different times of the year. I hope I'm not confusing you; just follow along a little bit, and I'll try to explain all of this. Three times a year, the children of Israel would gather together as one people in one place, which God ordained in the Promised Land. Ultimately, that place would be in the city of Jerusalem, coming to the temple that would be there.

So, three times a year, all the people would come from all over the nation of Israel to Jerusalem to celebrate seven different feasts. The first gathering would be in early spring, around this time of year, coinciding with the barley harvest. The people of Israel were predominantly farmers, and the season for cultivating barley would lead up to this point. They would bring in the harvest of barley and go up to Jerusalem to celebrate three feasts: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of First Fruits. This was the first season for gathering to remember and rejoice in God's goodness and blessings.

After the first three feasts—Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits—the second gathering would occur seven weeks later, 49 days after the Feast of First Fruits. They would come up a second time to Jerusalem during the wheat harvest, which would be in late spring or early summer. They would celebrate the next gathering, known as the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, which we know today as Pentecost.

The third time that the children of Israel would gather together for a holy day, a holy convocation, was to celebrate and rejoice in all that God had done.

God had done would come at the fall, at the time of the harvest of the grapes or the harvest of the vine. During this fall time, they would have three more feasts: what we know of as Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets; Yom Kippur, or the Feast of Atonement; and Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. They would gather together for the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles, as well. This would come in the fall, and these gatherings were meant to be a great time of rejoicing for the children of Israel.

As I said, it was a time of rest, remembrance, rejoicing, and reflection on all that God had done. We have talked about these things a little bit previously in the Book of Deuteronomy, just in the last several weeks, when I discussed bringing in the tithe, or the first ten percent of all the increase of your harvest, to the Lord. Those tithes would be brought to the Lord in Jerusalem during these three seasons of the year.

At the end of the barley feast, they would bring their tenth part, their tithe, to the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate Passover. Then, seven weeks later, they would go back at the time of the harvest of the wheat and bring their tithe to the Lord for Pentecost. After waiting several months, they would come back in the fall and bring their tithe from their harvest when they were harvesting their vines. They would celebrate the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles.

These were the times that the children of Israel would bring all this to the Lord, and they would worship Him there in Jerusalem. These celebrations, these times of rejoicing, were a Sabbath, a rest for the people. They had just worked hard laboring in their land, bringing in the harvest, which is incredibly hard work. After bringing in the harvest, they would take some time to rest, reflect on the Lord, and remember all that God had done for them in the past and all that God was going to do in the future. They would rejoice in all that He had done right then.

Now, why am I sharing all this? I am sharing this for several reasons. First, I am sharing this because today we really are in Deuteronomy chapter 16 in our study through the Book of Deuteronomy, even though we will be putting our study in Deuteronomy on pause for the next several weeks. In Deuteronomy chapter 16, Moses is reminding the children of Israel of their commitment to observe these feasts: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Trumpets and all these different things happen three times a year. Deuteronomy chapter 16 talks about the feasts that the children of Israel would observe. In Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 1 through 8, Moses commands them to observe the early spring feasts at Passover. In verses 9 through 12, he tells them to observe the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. Then, in verses 13 through 17, he calls them to observe the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot.

It is important to recognize that Israel had not observed these feasts the entire time they had been wandering in the wilderness, from the time of Exodus through to the time of Deuteronomy. For about 38 years, the children of Israel had not observed these feasts. However, as they were preparing to come into the Promised Land, Moses reminded them in Deuteronomy chapter 16 that when they came into the land, they were to observe these feasts.

The first reason I am sharing all this about these different feasts—three times a year and seven different feasts—is because this is the text we are in. Second, I am sharing this because this coming week is Palm Sunday. If you are watching this on Palm Sunday when it is broadcasting, this week we are coming into the time of Passover. In fact, Friday marks the beginning of Passover. The first of the seven feasts, Passover, is this very week. I didn't plan it like this; it just happens that we are in Deuteronomy 16, which talks about the feasts of the Lord, and this week is the time of Passover.

The third reason I am bringing this up is actually a more important reason. I am talking about all of this for us, living at this time, who are not observant Jews following Passover, but who are believing Christians. Just as the children of Israel had important holy days of rest, remembrance, reflection, and rejoicing, we Christians have holy days and holidays to celebrate what God has done in the past, what God is doing right now, and what God will do in the future. Today marks the beginning of what is, for Christians, and I would suggest ultimately for all...

People all throughout the world, especially Christians, recognize that this marks the most important season or week in the annual calendar. For Christians, it is a time for rest, remembrance, reflection, and rejoicing. As I shared at the very beginning of the service broadcast today, today is Palm Sunday, which begins what we refer to as Passion Week. Just as Israel had appointed times for rejoicing in God's goodness and blessing, Passion Week is our appointed time to rejoice in the greatness of our God and His goodness.

As a follower of Jesus, this is a significant time in our annual calendar. Time goes by so quickly, but these moments where we pause and reflect are intentionally given to us by God. They allow us to slow down for a moment and remember the great things that God has done, rejoicing in His greatness and goodness towards us. I have to say, as I look at my life, I am so grateful for God's greatness and His goodness. He is constantly good to me.

This is a really important period for us as a church and as the people of God to set aside time to rejoice in the greatness and goodness of God. In times past, Israel would gather to celebrate the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of First Fruits. They were remembering and rejoicing in their redemption from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. It was not only a time of rejoicing in the present harvest, which they had just brought in, but also a remembrance of what God had done when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and they were remembering their past redemption.

We read this in Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 1. Moses says, "Observe the month of Aviv and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Aviv, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd in the place where..."

The Lord chooses to put His name on the people. You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it. That is the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt quickly, in haste, that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

So, when the Jewish people in Israel, in the United States, and throughout the world—wherever there are Jewish people—are celebrating this week the Feast of Passover, they are celebrating their exodus from the land of Egypt 3,400 years ago. They had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and Moses, by God's power, brings them out of the land of Egypt. They are celebrating that at Passover.

Christians throughout the world this week, at the very same period of time during the same season, have a celebration that they are observing as well. This celebration has very clear connections to Passover, though it does not celebrate the exact same thing. As we will see, we Christians are not remembering our redemption from Egypt; we are remembering and celebrating a much greater redemption.

In fact, what you discover as you study the feasts of the Lord, which Israel observed and continues to observe today, is that all of the feasts of the Lord—Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Pentecost—look forward to Christ and what He came and accomplished. The feasts remember what God had done in the past, but they also look forward to what He would do in the future.

I am not going to do a deep dive today on all that took place in the celebration of the Passover, or the different intricacies of the Seder feast, if you will, the Passover feast. I will not delve deeply into unleavened bread and first fruits, but as a simple overview, I think it is important to remember what this is all about or what it was originally grounded in.

As I said, the children of Israel lived in Egypt for some 400 years, and much of that time they lived as slaves in bondage. Until God heard their cry, He sent Moses as a deliverer to go down to Pharaoh. You can read about it in the opening chapters of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible. God sends Moses to go and tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Of course, Pharaoh refused to honor Moses's request, and so God brought a series of plagues on Egypt—ten plagues.

All culminating in that very last tenth plague, there was going to be a destroyer, some spiritual being that would go through the land of Egypt, and every firstborn son in Egypt would die. It is actually worth reading the whole story surrounding this event, this tenth plague and this destroyer coming in. It is found in Exodus chapter 12.

I am going to read a large section of verses from Exodus chapter 12. Follow along with me. It says this in Exodus 12:1: "Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month, the tenth day of this first month, every man shall take for himself a lamb.' Note that tenth day; they shall all take a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. If the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons, according to each man's need. You shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Now you shall keep it from the tenth day until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly, the whole congregation of the nation of Israel, shall kill the lamb or the goat at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of their houses where they eat this Passover meal. They shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains until morning you shall burn with fire.

Thus you shall eat it, eating this lamb with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, the night of Passover, the fourteenth night of that month, and strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the house where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over. That is where we get the idea of Passover. I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a...

Memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast of the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. This event that Moses describes here to the children of Israel in Exodus chapter 12 was to be an everlasting ordinance in Israel, something that they were to observe every single year. They were to remember annually what God had done in bringing them out of Egypt. By His grace and by His power, He redeemed them from their bondage in Egypt.

This means the anniversary of Israel's exodus from Egypt is this next Friday and Saturday. As the Jewish people are celebrating Passover, they are remembering what happened 3,400 years ago. They partook of the Passover meal on that Passover night, which is celebrated this coming Friday. Then, they left quickly from the land of Egypt, having not enough time to leaven their bread; they only had unleavened bread. That's why Passover goes right into the very next day, the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So, we have this celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is next Saturday. Friday is Passover, Saturday is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then they woke up the day after that, experiencing their first morning as free people. They had been in bondage for four centuries. That third day after the Passover meal was partaken of, they were celebrating their first day as free people. The children of Israel will be celebrating the Feast of First Fruits.

It goes Passover, the next day is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the following day is the Feast of First Fruits. Israel has been continuously celebrating these things for about the last 3,400 years. But what does that have to do with me? I'm not Jewish; maybe you're not Jewish. I'm a Christian. What does it have to do with us? Because we don't follow these things.

Well, Passover wasn't only meant to look back to Israel's redemption from bondage in Egypt. The lamb of Passover was a foreshadowing of the coming Lamb of God. This becomes completely clear when you come to the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where we are introduced to Jesus by John the Baptist. In John 1:29, when John the Baptist is proclaiming, "This is the one, this is Jesus," it says that John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God has a direct connection to the Passover. There, John the Baptist looks at Jesus and proclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The Passover lamb was a remembrance of Israel's redemption from bondage in Egypt, but it also pointed forward to our redemption—not from the bondage in Egypt, but from the bondage to sin and death.

In the same way, as we read in Exodus 12, the Passover lamb would be selected. I mentioned that this selection occurred on the tenth day of the month, as stated in Exodus chapter 12, verse 3. The lamb would then be inspected by the priest to ensure it was without spot or blemish for the next few days until the fourteenth day of the month, when it would be sacrificed.

On the tenth day of the month of Nissan, or Aviv, the month when the Passover would happen, that is the very same day, 2,000 years ago, that Jesus came into Jerusalem. He was selected by His people on what we know today as Palm Sunday. This day, which we are celebrating today, marks the moment when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month, the selection day of the Lamb.

The story unfolds in the Gospel of John. In John chapter 12, verse 12, we read, "The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, the feast of Passover, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went to meet Him. They cried out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.'"

When they cried out "Hosanna," they were expressing a plea for salvation. The word "Hosanna" means "save now." They were looking at Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and saying, "Save now! Rescue us!"

What was it that Jesus came to save His people from? In Matthew chapter 1, verse 21, it states that His name was called Jesus because He was going to save His people from their sins. He was not saving them from physical bondage as slaves in Egypt; He was saving us from spiritual bondage to sin and death. Jesus came into Jerusalem on what we know of as Palm Sunday, the tenth day of the month.

The month of Nisan is the time when they would select the lamb for the Passover meal. After he was selected as the lamb, he was inspected for the next several days by the religious leaders of Israel. You can read about that in the Gospel, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapters 22 and 23. Jesus is questioned by all the different religious leaders: the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. They are all questioning him, trying to see if there is any blemish in him because he is the lamb that is selected. They are looking to see if he is holy.

On the 14th day of the month, at sunset, all the people in Jerusalem, all the pilgrims who had come up for Passover, would gather together in their various places to partake of the Passover meal. Jesus partook of the Passover with his disciples, and we read about that in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verse 14. When the hour had come, Jesus sat down with the twelve apostles with him. He said to them, "With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."

Everything of the Passover that Israel had observed for nearly 1,400 years, from the first Passover in Egypt in Exodus until the time that Christ came, all looked forward to this very moment when Jesus sat in an upper room with his followers in Jerusalem. He says to his disciples, his twelve apostles, that he has looked forward to this Passover with great desire. Not just that year, but for many centuries, the eternal Christ had been looking forward to that moment when he would partake of that Passover meal. The whole of the Passover feast had been anticipating and looking forward to this ultimate fulfillment of the Passover lamb in Jesus Christ.

As he partakes of the Passover with his disciples, he does something extraordinary. He does something amazing, something out of the ordinary from what would normally happen in a Passover meal. If anything, the Passover meal was one of the most well-known and followed traditions among the people of Israel, especially by the time of Christ, after 1,400 years of observing it. However, Jesus, as he was with his disciples on that night, partaking of the Passover that he had been looking forward to for a very long time, breaks with tradition.

Jesus partakes of the Passover with His disciples, and at a certain point in the Passover meal, He is there in the upper room in Jerusalem. We are told this in Matthew chapter 26, verse 26. As they were eating the Passover meal, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom."

This is so important and so key. Picture this: Jesus is with His disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem just a few days after entering the city on what we know as Palm Sunday. People were announcing that He is the King of Israel, saying, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," and shouting, "Save us now! Hosanna!" Now, He is partaking of the Passover meal with His disciples. He breaks tradition by taking bread, breaking it, and giving it to them, saying, "This is My body which is broken for you." Then He takes the cup, blesses it, and gives it to them, saying, "Drink this, all of you; this is My blood of the new covenant."

He is doing all of this because the ultimate focus of Passover is its fulfillment in Christ. The ultimate focus of Passover was not what happened centuries before in Egypt, although that was really important and significant, as it brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and ultimately into the Promised Land. However, all of that was looking forward to Jesus, who is the pure and spotless Lamb, the one without any blemish. He is the perfect Lamb of God, just as John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

He is accomplishing, as He is with His disciples, or preparing to accomplish the very next day after this Passover, which would be Good Friday, about 2,000 years ago. He is fulfilling exactly what the prophet Isaiah foresaw 700 years before the time that Jesus did this. In Isaiah 53, let me read this beautiful passage. This was written 700 years before Jesus came by the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 53:3, it says, "He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief; and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."

Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, the Lamb of God taken to the slaughter. As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generations? For He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. They made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge, My righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

This day, this Sunday, Palm Sunday, is the day of the selection of the Lamb 2,000 years ago. This is the day when we remember and reflect upon what Jesus did to redeem us from sin and death and to give us rest from all of our labors. Jesus is the one in Matthew 11:28 who said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Today, on Palm Sunday, we are remembering what Jesus did to redeem us and to give us rest. This is a day and a week—this Passion Week—a time for great rejoicing, even though it is a somber time. We remember, as we will when we gather together on Good Friday this week, Jesus's death on the cross, which is horrific. Though it is a somber day, it is a time of great rejoicing because Jesus is the Lamb of God who came and died to save us from our sins.

This is such important good news. This is what the Church has been focused on for the last 2,000 years. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which we are celebrating this week, are the most important events in all of human history and are core to the Christian faith. Because they are so important, we are going to remember our Lord today.

By partaking of communion, just as He taught us to do during this week 2,000 years ago, Jesus came into Jerusalem on that Sunday, that Palm Sunday, the day of the selection of the lamb. Four days later, He gathered with His disciples and partook of that lamb as He celebrated the Passover that He had eagerly desired and waited for. There, He partook of the bread and the cup with His disciples. Just as Jesus taught us to do, we're going to partake of this together today.

I hope that you have the elements of communion. If you don't, maybe you could do this another time with your family. You could cue this video up at another time in the future, or you could just do it by yourself without me guiding you through this. I want to read from the Scriptures out of First Corinthians, chapter 11, where Paul speaks about this event. He says, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, took bread."

I have this little piece of bread here. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." At Cross Connection Church, we do not believe that this is Christ's actual physical body, but this represents His body. It is how we remember what He did for us.

Two thousand years ago, the Lamb of God came to this world and died in my place, offering His body in the place of mine on the cross so that through His body that was broken, He could rescue, save, and redeem me from sin. Jesus said, "As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of Me," as recorded in Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. So, if you have bread today, let's partake and remember our Lord who gave His body for us as the Lamb who was slain to take away our sin.

Paul continues in First Corinthians, chapter 11, and he says in the same manner, in verse 25, "Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.'" Jesus's blood was shed for us. The Scriptures say in Hebrews, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission or removal of sins." But Jesus, the pure and spotless Lamb...

His blood was shed; He gave His body up for you and me for our sins to be purged and paid for. We do this in remembrance of Him as often as we do it, remembering His blood that was poured out for us. If you have juice, drink with me.

Lord, we thank You so much for Your goodness and Your grace. I thank You for this moment in time, this week. With all the busyness, time just flies by. One week flies into the next, one month into the next, one season into the next, and then it's ten and twenty years. It just flies by.

Lord, I am so thankful that in the midst of all the time going by so quickly, You give us these markers: a Sabbath each week, a few times a year, where we pause to reflect, remember, and rejoice in what You've done and who You are. This week, we pause to remember Your greatness, to rejoice in Your goodness, and to give thanks to You for the salvation that we have.

Lord, You came into Jerusalem; You wept over the city, and then several days later, You bled over the city. You gave Your body to be broken and Your blood to be shed so that we could have life, so that we could be redeemed—not from a physical enemy in this world, but from the spiritual oppression of sin and death.

We thank You and give praise to You, Lord. I thank You that we have this time this week to remember Your body that was broken, Your blood that was shed, and to remember Your crucifixion. But even greater than that, we remember Your resurrection, which we will celebrate next Sunday.

Lord, we rejoice and look forward to the joy of the resurrection—not just the resurrection that we celebrate that You have brought about in the past, but the resurrection that You are doing right now as You bring new life to people who have been dead in sin. You continue to raise people to newness of life, and You've promised in the future to raise us unto eternal life.

So, God, we look forward to that. Just as that passage said in First Corinthians chapter 11, we do proclaim Your death until You come again. We believe You will come again because You're not dead; You're alive. As we rejoice in You, we remember that today. In Jesus' name, amen.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Join now and sing; Jesus is King. He reigns forever. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now, sing Jesus forever. Hallelujah!

Thank you for joining us for our broadcast today. That was an excellent message, and I pray that it really impacted you. We heard from the Holy Spirit.

If you'd like to find out more about Cross Connection Church, please visit our website at lifeinconnection.com. We would like to invite you to our in-person services at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. here in Escondido, California. If you're around, we would love for you to be here live in person at 8:30 and 10:30. God bless you all, and have a great week!

Hey, Cross Connection Church! A couple of announcements this morning. First of all, welcome, and thanks for being here. Save the date! If you're interested in going on a fishing trip, this will be a day-and-a-half trip from September 13th to the 15th. If you're interested, go ahead and mark those dates on your calendar.

May 1st is a big day. We are going to have a baptism here at Cross Connection Church. If you haven't been baptized yet, this is the perfect opportunity. We would love to see you all out there for that. That's going to be on Sunday, the first.

This Friday, we have our Good Friday service, and we would love to see you there!