"A Triumphal King" - Mark 11:1-11

Do you welcome Jesus as a triumphal king on the throne of your heart?

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, if you're here for the first time, welcome. We're so grateful that you're with us. And if it's been a little while since you've been here, welcome back as we are now in the month of September. I know Labor Day is a marker in the year that summer is over. It doesn't feel like it weather-wise, but we are ready for cooler weather as things are transitioning. And we're also transitioning here at the church into a new sermon series. What I like to do every fall, I've done it almost every fall, is go into the Gospel of Mark and go verse by verse through a couple of chapters. My goal is to preach every single word of the whole book, but I knew it would take more than one year. So I started in 2016, if you remember. And we started in Mark chapter 1, verse by verse, and did a couple of chapters each year. We had to take some time off with COVID and other things. But now as we enter 2026, we are making our way to Mark chapter 11 in a series. You can see it on the screen, Jesus Is. The series is called Jesus Is because Mark, as well as the other gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John are telling us over and over and over through all the supernatural miracles that Jesus, in fact, is the Son of God. In fact, Jesus demonstrates in Mark that he's the Son of God through his power and authority over everything from nature, demons, religious traditions, blindness, deafness, paralysis, sickness, curses, death, and finally eternal salvation itself. Mark screams in every scene and in every word, Jesus is the Son of God. And so we're going to be in Mark chapter 11, starting a new chapter. If you're new to the Bible or you missed any of this series, what I love about the Gospels is you can jump right in and we'll catch you right up. We'll be in Mark chapter 11, verses 1 through 11. And our title here, as we look at Mark 11, is A Triumphal King. A Triumphal King. Now, I asked some people on Sunday night, we were studying the Gospel of Luke together on Sunday night, and I asked last week, I believe it was, when I say the name Jesus, what's the first word that comes to your mind that describes your relationship with him? When I say Jesus, what's the first word that you think of? It's amazing in a room of about maybe 30 people last Sunday night, we got about 25 or 30 different answers. And all of them I would say are biblical. Some people said Lord, Savior, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, Friend, High Priest, Intercessor, Brother. It's amazing how Jesus fills all of these roles in a very unique way. Now, on Sunday night I mentioned that we rarely talk about him as intercessor, but it does say in Hebrews, also in Luke, that Jesus is interceding on our behalf. Right now, if you knew what Jesus was doing, petitioning the Father on your behalf, it would blow your mind. But there's another word that we typically don't use for Jesus that we should, and today's going to help us to understand, and that word simply is king. We don't talk about Jesus as king an awful lot, and I think the reason why is as 21st century Americans, we live in a democracy. And by the way, in a fallen world, I think a democracy is about the best form of government we could ever hope for. It's flawed, but it's about the best I think we can do until heaven. But the reason that we don't think about king is because we don't think about living in America as part of a kingdom. But Jesus is a king. And he is building a kingdom. And let me let me just say this out loud: the kingdom is not of this world. It's not a political kingdom, it's not a geographical kingdom. It is a kingdom right now that is starting in the hearts of human beings who acknowledge him as Lord. And the kingdom that he is building on the inside, make no mistake about it. It is a kingdom that will be on the outside upon the second coming of Jesus Christ. When he judges the living and the dead and makes all things new, he will refine this earth by fire, and his kingdom will finally be every square inch of the world. But right now he's building a kingdom that starts spiritually and works its way out. He wants to be a king in your life. He wants to be the king on the throne of your heart. And we can see in this portrait today as we look at Mark 11, how people responded to him as the king of Israel is the same way that you and I should respond to him as the king who sits on the throne of our hearts. And today we're going to be looking at a very familiar story. Perhaps most of the time you and I hear this leading up to Easter Sunday, because what we're going to be looking at is the classic Palm Sunday text as Jesus is getting ready to enter into the Holy City. All right, and so there's a lot of things happening in this passage that at Easter time, when we look at it, we don't fully recognize it. So we're going to slow down today a little bit. Then we're going to look at Jesus riding on a donkey. And we're going to look at people waving palm branches and laying down their cloaks as he enters into the holy city. And I'm going to do my very best with the help of God to explain what the donkey means, to explain what the palm branches mean, to explain what Jesus is doing and explain how it applies to you today, right where you are in the pew. No matter who you are, no matter where you're from, no matter what you've been through, Jesus wants to be your king. Do we recognize him as the king on the throne of our hearts? We're going to talk about that as we look at this together, but I want to get right after it. What's our big idea as we start this new series and enter into Mark chapter 11? In one sentence, here it is. The celebrated arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem reveals his true identity as a triumphal king of Israel. The celebrated arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem reveals his true identity as a triumphal king of Israel. And as you read this text and as we walk through this passage together, the question I want you to keep asking yourself, is he king over your life? Would you say that he's king sitting on the throne of your heart? If he's not, I can tell you this, he wants to be. He wants to be. So join me, if you would, to the Gospel of Mark. If you're new to the Bible, turn to the middle of the Bible. And as you get to the New Testament, it's Matthew and then Mark. So it's the second book of the New Testament. If you don't have a Bible, grab the Pew Bible in front of you or beside you. We're on page 1007 in your Pew Bible. And if you would stand at this time, out of the reverence to the reading of God's holy, infallible, inerrant, and fully sufficient word. We're in Mark chapter 11. Reading verses 1 through 11. Hear God's word to us, starting here in verse 1. It says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If any one says to you, Why are you doing this? say the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? And they said to them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields, and those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Let's pray. Lord, we look at this passage. It's so familiar to most of us. We look at it at Easter time. We think about Palm Sunday and entering into the Holy City a week before the crucifixion. And yet there are so many things we can glean from this passage that we look past so quickly every time we read it. Slow our hearts and minds down right now, dear Lord. Help us not to think about what we have to do an hour from now. Help us to just sit quietly, Lord, and listen as you speak. Show us, dear Lord, how this applies to where we are right now, Lord, because I believe that Jesus, you want to be the King on the throne of our hearts, Lord. And we don't always recognize you as our King the way they did here in Palm Sunday in this triumphal entry. So just be with us and speak to us right now, I pray. In Jesus' name, and God's people said, Amen. So one of the reasons why it's hard for us to understand this passage is it doesn't fit our culture. This is not something you would see in America in 2026. But let me just explain in the first century, if there was a king or if there was a military general who was successful after a military battle, when they returned home, they would come back home in a triumphal entry. All right, it would be a procession where this king or this general would be celebrated and typically in tow behind them as part of this procession. There would be the spoils of war. There would be prisoners of war, typically famous kings of other lands, would be held in shackles, or maybe the spoils and the goods of a foreign land would be brought back, and they would celebrate, and they would pay proper tribute to the king or to the general who won the victory. But this is what makes this unique. Jesus is entering into the holy city and he's being acknowledged as a triumphal king, but yet he does not come with people in shackles. No, he came to break the shackles of sin for the people who put their trust in him. He's a king, but he's a king building a different kingdom. A kingdom that is not of this world. And as we look at this passage, we're going to find out that even the people that were there that day did not fully understand his mission. They did not fully understand why they were calling him king, but we know the end of the story. We know who Jesus is and why he wants to be the king in our lives. And so we're going to look at this together, but there's a lot of things I want us to acknowledge. Not only that, I want to say that he is riding in town on a donkey. Don't miss the importance of this. Now, when most kings or generals would ride into town after a military victory, they'd be riding on a war horse. They'd be high and lifted up. It would be majestic and full of honor and glory, and they would be receiving proper tribute. And here comes Jesus. And he's entering into Jerusalem the same way he entered into this world in a Bethlehem manger. Same exact word fits his birth and his entry in this final week of life into Jerusalem. And that word is humility. Jesus is not only fully God, he's fully man, he's the portrait of who you and I should be. To be human should mean to be humble. If you've never known this, the prefix for human is humus. And humus means from the dirt. And when you realize that Adam was taken out of the dust of the earth and God made him out of dust, it should lead us to be humble, recognizing that we come from dust, and to dust we shall return. And if we come from dust, we ought to be fully dependent on the one who made Adam out of the dust. To be human means to be humble. But our pride does not allow us to be humble the way that we're called to. But Jesus shows us the way. He doesn't come riding into town on a valiant thoroughbred or war horse. He comes into town on a donkey. Donkeys are humble. You know what people do with donkeys? They throw all their burdens on top of the back of a donkey. The donkey's supposed to quietly carry the weight. Nobody cheers for the donkey. In fact, I'm mindful of Adrian Rogers, the great Baptist preacher. Uh, one time he got a standing ovation at a conference and he told everybody to stop cheering for him. He said these words. He said, They cheered for Christ, not the donkey. The preacher needs to be like the donkey carrying the message, but what a privilege. This is Jesus, meek and humble. And he's coming in, and also the donkey not only represented humility, it represented peace. And the people are there cheering him, and they recognize that he is a power that is not of this world, but they don't recognize the kind of kingdom that he is building. Now let me just say this quickly about Jesus, and then we're going to walk into the text. The way Jesus came into this earth the first time, and the way that he entered into Jerusalem the first time is not how he's coming back. Make no mistake about it. Jesus came in humility, born in a Bethlehem manger, raised in obscurity in a carpenter's shop in a podunk town called Nazareth, entered in in his final week to take on the punishment for our sins, and rode into town on a donkey. But the Bible says in the book of Revelation, when Jesus returns, he is going to be riding on a majestic horse. He's coming the second time in glory and in power, and he will judge the living and the dead, and he will make all things new. But let me just say this: before Jesus returns, we are still in the age of grace. We can still hear the voice of the humble and meek Jesus saying, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. While he is still in humility, offering himself to us. We must respond to his voice before he returns in glory to judge those who rejected his grace. So let's look at the passage together. We're going to move through this in a good pace. I want to look at the prophecy of a triumphal king, the promise of a triumphal king, and third and finally the procession of a triumphal king. And I'm going to do my best to show you what this truly means and how it applies to where you and I are today. The Bible is as relevant today as it has ever been, no matter what you're going through in the pew right now, no matter what's on your mind, what's ahead for you on Monday morning, God's going to speak to you right now if you're open to hear his voice. So let's start number one with the prophecy of a triumphal king. As you look at verses one through two, here's what it says it says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphage and to Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a cult tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. Now he's given the disciples a clear direction, but this did not come out of thin air. This is a prophecy of what was going to happen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before it actually does. This is what I love about the Bible. This is what separates the Bible from every other book that's ever been written in the history of human literature. In the book of Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9. This is written centuries before Jesus ever stepped foot on planet earth. Here's what it says. In Zechariah 9:9, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey. God prophesied in his word that this was going to take place. Jesus Christ is entering into this sacred moment and he is saying out loud, I am the one who is going to fulfill this prophecy. And as Jesus mounts the donkey and he rides into town, he's doing two things. The first thing he's doing, he's announcing to Israel, I am the chosen Messiah and I am here. And the second thing he's doing, he's getting ready to confront the religious leaders of Jerusalem who are not ready for the Messiah's arrival. They are not ready for what he is about to reveal to them, although he knows how it's all going to end on a Roman cross. This is fulfilled prophecy. Now, why should it matter for you and me? Here's why. As you and I are walking through so many things in our life right now, we're always looking for answers to the problems that we have. And I'm not saying some of these things are wrong. Okay, today people may turn to TikTok, they may turn to YouTube, they may turn to whoever the latest and greatest speaker is, whatever the latest and greatest best-selling book is, to find an answer to the problem that they have. Now, some of these things can be good. All truth is God's truth. Whether the authors recognize God as the author of their truth or not, we can learn from people and we should want to learn everything we can about our physical bodies. We ought to learn everything we can about the world that we live in. We ought to be learning about how we can manage our finances and retire well. All those things are good. But all these gurus and best-selling authors and speakers, they come and they go. And year after year after year, the word of God endures. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. It is eternal truth. And every time you read a prophecy in the Old Testament that centuries later is fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament, you ought to celebrate that God is a God who keeps his word. And so for the things that have not yet been fulfilled, mainly the return of Jesus and the promise that you're going to get a brand new body fit for a brand new earth, how do I know all those promises are going to find their yes and amen in Jesus? Because I have evidence of all the things that He's already done. When people reject the Bible, my question to them is: okay, if you don't believe the Bible's the Word of God, where are you putting your trust? Because whatever your answer is, whatever that trust is, it's not going to be anything that has the foundation that the scriptures do. The Bible was written over the course of 1,500 years by more than 40 different authors on three different continents in three different languages. It was written in such a way it could not be manipulated by human hands. And when God says He's going to do something, over and over and over, He will do it. Maybe you're in this room right now and you're trusting for God to fulfill a promise in your life. Maybe God has not moved in your life the way that you want him to. Or maybe you're dealing with something that you know on this side of heaven is not going to change, and you're starting to wonder, is there a heaven? Is Jesus actually coming back? Well, let me just say this. I believe on the word of God, heaven is more real than the pew that you're sitting in. And you will get a brand new resurrected body fit for a brand new resurrected earth. You will have inexhaustible energy, and all the best days that you've ever had are before you and not behind you. And I say this on the authority of the word because he told us. And every time he tells us, he does what he says he's going to do. And that is the most, the safest place that you and I can place our trust. God said he would send his Messiah to come and save us from our sin, and we would know his arrival because he'd ride into the holy city mounted on a donkey, and that's exactly what Jesus did. You can trust him as the king of your life. When Jesus says he's going to do something, he does it. And he does it in humility, and he does it in love. That's number one. That's the prophecy of a triumphal king. Let's look number two at the promise of a triumphal king. As you look at verses three through six, pay attention here as we look at a few key words. It says in verse three, Jesus is saying to his disciples, If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? say the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, Why are you doing, what are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. What's our application for this as we look at this promise of a triumphal king? Jesus says, There's a cult. No one's ever sat on it. That's meant for me. And when you go, I'm going to remove every barrier. People may question you, but you tell them I need it, and they're going to let you go. Because that cult was meant for me. Now let me just say this. How does this apply to you? Here's the good news. I don't have to guess. Every single one of you in this room has been given great gifts by God to be used for God. I don't care what it is. Some of you are very gifted leaders. You're incredibly strong administrators. Some of you are very mechanically gifted. You're skilled. You can use your hands. You can fix things. You can see things. You can make things. I don't care what it is. There's no vocation in this room that's better than another in the eyes of God. All right? We need everybody together doing what God's called us to do for this world to work the way it should and for God to build his kingdom. But most of us never stop and think that God That you have primarily is not so that you can support your family. Of course, that's important. But it's to be used for the glory of God and the building up of His kingdom. I don't care what it is. Whatever gift God has given you, whatever vocation you have, whatever qualities or attributes that you know God has given you a gift in, how are you using those to honor God? How are you using them to honor God? Because if you're willing to use them to honor God, you know what He's going to do? He's going to remove barriers for you to be able to do it. Here's what I've learned. You know, years ago, I remember a pastor that I've listened to quite a bit over the years, John Piper, used to say that America's the hardest place in the world to be a Christian. And you thought, well, that's kind of strange. I mean, America has been greatly influenced by Christian values. We don't, you know, why would you say that? And the answer is, we are so prosperous that we are so self-dependent and we see our faith as individual instead of corporate. That's why, by the way, and I've seen this in Candler County, I've seen this everywhere I've lived since I've become a Christian, there are droves of people who claim to follow Jesus, who've prayed to receive him as Lord. They read their Bibles, but they do not attend or serve in any local church. And they say, I don't need church. What I have with Jesus in the deer stand, what I have with Jesus on the boat, what I have with Jesus in my living room is between me and him. I don't need the church, to which my response is, you don't understand your accountability before the church. We're not just saved as individuals. God is building a body, and we are part of the body of Christ, and every one of us has a gift to contribute to the body. If you're in this room and you're in your 90s and physically you can't do what you used to do, you are still a very valuable part of the body of Christ because your being here on this earth and your testimony makes a difference for the church. And even if you are sitting in your couch most of the week, you can pray and you can help God expand his kingdom. I don't care what it is. At every age and every stage of your life, you have a gift from God, and that gift is not just for you. Yes, it's to be enjoyed, but it is to be used to build God's kingdom. Whatever it is. Again, it could be, as I look around the room, I see so many different gifts. Some of you are so gifted with mechanical skills. Guess what? Your preacher is not. I need your help because God did not give me that gift. But then I'm here to help you because I have gifts that you don't have. The church needs both. What gifts has God given you that are not just being used to pay your rent or your mortgage, but is being used to help people and is being used to build the church, is being used to build the kingdom. You ought to be thinking about your own salvation, not as an individual experience, but a family experience. We need each other. We need each other. And we're reminded of this as we see this cult is being used for a lot more than just what a donkey is used for. It's being used to carry the king into the city. That's number two. Third and finally, we've seen the prophecy of a triumphal king. We've seen the promise of a triumphal king. Let's look at the procession. What's really happening as he's coming in here, okay? It says in verses 7 through 11, and they brought the cult to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. We believe those to be palm branches. And those went before, and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Now, some of this looks really honoring to Jesus, right? I mean, they're spreading their cloaks in honor, they're waving palm branches, and they're calling out these words, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna can be translated, save us now. They are saying, Save us now. You are the promised king of Israel. You are here to save us. That's the good news. Here's the bad news. They thought that Jesus was coming to give them political salvation, not eternal salvation. All right, when they're calling him the king of David, they're picturing David at a time in the glory of Israel when he was on the throne and they experienced majesty and power and peace. David, a great king of Israel. And the Bible prophesied that from the line of David would the Messiah come. And so that as they recognize that Jesus is from the line of David and that he is the king, they're celebrating him. But here's what they think is going to happen. They think that he's going to ride into town on this donkey, and the religious leaders of Jerusalem are going to recognize his power, and they're going to put him on the throne as King of Israel, and then Israel is going to overthrow Rome, and Israel is going to be a powerhouse on planet earth. And Jesus told them during his three years of earthly ministry, that is not the kingdom I'm building. I'm not coming to give you salvation from Rome. I'm coming to give you salvation from sin. And we make the same mistake that they made in 2026 when we use Jesus as a political figure. When I watch on the news and political rallies and people scream the words Jesus is Lord, my blood curdles. Because what they really want is a political savior to make America great. And I'm just going to say, making America great is not on the priority list of Jesus Christ. Saving souls out of every tribe, of every tongue, and of every nation, that's the business that our Savior is under right now. Now that does not mean that we don't care about our country. That doesn't mean we don't pray for our country. That does not mean that we don't vote to protect Christian values in our country. Of course we do. I want to be a good citizen and lead this country better than I found it. But it does mean I'm not surprised when things don't go well in this country because that's just not his priority. Jesus wants to change human hearts. He wants to be the king on the throne of your heart. Now the good news is Planet Earth eventually will be the kingdom of God. He will sit on a literal throne, and every tribe, tongue, and nation will gather around it and worship for all of eternity. And so, yes, the kingdom that starts in the human heart today will make its way into all four corners of the earth upon the second coming of Christ. But we are not there yet. So when you worship Jesus, recognize that he's doing for you today exactly what he started in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. He wants to save you from the bondage of sin. And how did he do that? He had to live perfectly the way that we should have lived but couldn't. He went into Jerusalem knowing he was going to die on a Roman cross to take the penalty for our sins. And he rose from the dead three days later, making a way from death to life. So death does not get the final word. If you're in this room right now and grieving over a lost loved one, just know this death does not get the final word. And then he ascended to the Father to send out his Holy Spirit to help us and to grow us and to transform us and to change us. And he is coming back to judge all people, to separate the sheep from the goats, to refine this earth by fire, and give us a brand new body and a brand new planet that we will live on forever. It's good news and it's eternal truth and it's going to happen. But right now, right now, God wants to be the king on the throne of your heart. God wants to have control over your life. God wants you to take your burdens to him and your questions to him and your frustrations to him. He wants to for you to surrender your relationships to him and your finances to him and your health to him. All those things that you're worried about, all those things as we're thinking about the fall coming up right now, and we're praying about all these things, right? I'm sure everybody's hoping that the Bulldogs go undefeated in SEC play. You guys are already thinking about if we're going to have hurricanes, if you know what the weather's going to look like within El Nino, all these things we're thinking about these next few weeks and months. All right. There's nothing wrong with thinking about those things. But at the end of the day, where's Jesus fit in all this? What if Jesus doesn't answer our prayers and we have the worst hurricane in Cameron County we've ever had? I know Jesus is still on his throne and he's going to do some of his best work no matter what happens. Is he the king on the throne of your heart? And if he is, do you welcome him in your life the way these folks laid their cloaks and bowed before him as the king as he entered into the holy city? I want you to picture him entering into your heart the way that he entered into Jerusalem. Do you acknowledge him as king? Do you acknowledge him as king? As we get ready to land the plane here, I'll just sum it up with one easy sentence. Okay, this is the way we sum it up today. Do you welcome Jesus as a triumphal king who wants to reign on the throne of your heart? Do you welcome Jesus as a triumphal king who wants to reign on the throne of your heart?

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Gosh.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Let me say this as clearly as I can. If you for five minutes could taste and experience the intensity of the love that Jesus has for you, you would not worry about the things that you're worrying about right now. You are loved far more than you could ever, ever understand. Now, he is holy as well as he is loving, and so he wants us to live for him, but he knows apart from his grace we are going to stumble and fall all the time. Part of the Christian life is learning to grow in grace, learning to recognize how weak all of us are and how desperate we are for his help. Part of evidence that Jesus is the throne, is the king on the throne of your heart is that you're trusting less and less in yourself and you're trusting more and more in him. You're waking up in the morning and saying, Jesus, I can't, but you can. Please take control of my life. I'm learning this more and more in my own life. The grace-filled life is the only life that God wants us to live in. The grace-filled life is a life of dependence upon God. If he is the king, he's the one in control. Our lives belong to him. And so we take our desires to him, but we leave them at the foot of his throne and we recognize he will do what's best. Maybe not what's easiest, maybe not what we've been praying for, but if you let him make choices in your life, he will choose what's best for you. And you'll look back in eternity and say, Praise you, Jesus, that you said no to this request and yes to this one, because you know better than I do what I need in my life. Make no mistake about it. Jesus is many things. He is our best and most constant friend. He is our Lord and our Savior. He created us and he is sustaining us. He is interceding for us. He is our brother. But today, as we pray out, here's the invitation. Is he really your king? Is he really in charge? Can you look at the decisions you've made in the last 30 days of your life? And can you say with clarity in the house of God, He is King? I do what I do because He He tells me what I need to do. If the answer is no, this is a guilt-free zone. Okay, guilt is not of God. Conviction might be. Today's a day to make this right. Today's a day to re-surrender. Lord, I need you. I want you to be in control. When I make decisions, when I'm in control, I know where it leads. I want you to be the king on the throne of my heart. That's the invitation. As we pray, I trust the Holy Spirit will speak to you. And if He's not your King, don't leave this room without asking Him to be your King. So let's pray. I pray right now, dear Lord. I pray right now, dear Lord, that you know every heart in this room, you know every ache, every sigh, every frustration. You know all the questions that have gone unanswered, health issues that have not been resolved, finances that are in dire straits, relationships that are fractured. And Lord, you don't promise that you're going to make everything perfect here on this earth. You won't. It's not your will. But you will do what is best and you hear the prayers of your people. So I pray right now, Lord, for myself included, for everybody in this room, Lord, if if we have not recognized you as King, help us today. Help us right now to surrender and offer control to you, Lord, that you would make the decisions in our life, that you would guide our path, that you would be the triumphal King who takes your rightful place on the throne of our hearts. Be with us now, I pray. In your name, Lord Jesus.