Sermon Notes: It's Palm Sunday! 2019~ Revisited in 2026

It's Palm Sunday!

Today is Palm Sunday!!  I hope that your church recognized this eventful day in the life of Christ, which begins the Holy Week leading up to Resurrection Sunday...Easter! 

Sadly, today, March 29, 2026, I was unable to attend church due to illness, but here is the message from our pastor and the choir singing "Welcome the King", which was pre-recorded this past week. I am sorry I wasn't able to be there today to actually sing with the choir in person, but I am sure they sounded just fine without me. I hope you will enjoy this song and our Pastor David Miller's message for today, if you wish to listen. I'm sure you'll be blessed.

Welcome the King!

Here begins the original post written back on Palm Sunday back in 2019.  The sermon notes that I have quoted from (below) were given by our former Pastor, Rev. A.C. Myers, who has since that time passed on to heaven. I can well imagine that he is enjoying eternal life with the King of kings, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ...and seeing Palm Sunday and Holy Week and Easter from a whole different perspective now. I wonder what his message to us would be today if he could come back to preach again!  I expect there would be even more conviction and urgency in his delivery of God's Word to us...because I can well imagine that he recognizes even more the consequences of not obeying God's Word and what we would be missing if we don't accept God's free gift of salvation now...before it's too late...

(The Palms sung by the Crystal Cathedral choir)

  Our choir sang the song shown above (in 2019)...We may not have sounded quite the same as "the Crystal Cathedral" choir shown above, but I can assure you we sang it with our whole hearts and souls!

The palm branches that the throngs of people waved as they cried "Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Mark 11:9) may not have looked exactly like these palmettos that we have here in Florida, but they were definitely similar to these...

Listen to how John's gospel  (John 12:12-13) described this scene:

"The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out, 

'Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' The King of Israel!"

Our scripture for today's sermon actually came from Mark's Gospel of this same scene, found in Mark 11:1-10.  and in these verses we see Christ entering Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey colt.  (See also Matthew 21;1-11,  Luke 19:29-38, and John 12:12-19 for more details).

The people of Jerusalem were hailing Christ as the King of Israel...their Savior, the Messiah.  But their expectation of what that would mean for them was not exactly what Jesus came to do.  At this particular time in history, Jerusalem was held captive by the Roman government.  The Romans occupied their country and ruled the Jewish nation with a very powerful and demanding government.  The people of Israel were in hopes that Jesus had come to save them from this evil government and to set them free from the tyranny of Rome.  Jesus did not come exactly the way they thought a conquering king should come...on the back of a young donkey? Where was His white stallion, where was His sword? He had no weapons, He had no saddle...only the clothing of the throng as they laid their clothes on the ground and on the back of the colt and waved the branches and shouted Hosanna...

But what we see instead of a conquering king, we see the heart of God.  Jesus does not come to us on our terms.  He comes on God's terms.  The people wanted a Messiah to rescue them from the evil and oppression of the  Roman government...But Jesus came to rescue their hearts from the evil of sin...He came to change their hearts inwardly...

Our expectations vs. God's answer...

God's answer is always the best for us.

The crowds wanted Jesus to conquer in a worldly way...But Jesus would conquer through laying down His life for their sins...

Jesus comes as our King to bring salvation...not from an oppressive government, but from self hatred, selfishness...to save us from greed, fear and death.

To restore our broken relationship with God...

Jesus gave us life--life of humble service and love...

A little side detail...The colt had never been ridden...and yet Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an unbroken colt...one that should have bucked Him off and been difficult to manage...

But Jesus was able to transform that wild unbroken colt into a peaceful animal.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem as a hero...

Is your life like that unbroken colt? Is life trying to throw you off...we may think that life seems to want to get rid of us...but God has a better plan for us.  Jesus is the only One who can ride into my heart and give me what I need to live...

Back to the crowd at Jerusalem...they were cheering and shouting Hosanna that day...they believed He was the Messiah and coming King, but then they still called for His death several days later...

We've all seen the bumper sticker that says, "Honk if you love Jesus".  Perhaps a better one would be: "Tithe if you love Jesus...any fool can honk!"  Or, how about, "Serve if you love Jesus", or "Humble Yourself if you Love Jesus", or "Love your neighbor if you love Jesus"...

On Palm Sunday Jesus came with a choice...We could join the crowd...cheering and waving palm branches, welcoming Him to our "city",  but that is as far as it goes as far as a relationship goes...On Sunday we cheer and wave our palm branches and proclaim Him King,  but what about the rest of our week...our lives...it's harder to actually serve the King of kings...

What does it truly mean to welcome Jesus into our hearts?

When we make a decision to follow Jesus, we choose to leave the old world behind...we choose to march to the tune of a most fulfilling and different kind of drum.

Jesus is the only way to peace, joy and real life...Jesus came to die for us...

John 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this, 

than to lay down one's life for his friends."

As followers of Christ we are to love each other as Jesus loved us when He went to the cross.

Palm Sunday is a great time to become a true follower of Christ.

There is no such thing as "Spectator Christianity".

Jesus conquered evil when He died on the cross.

People then did not understand He was offering them more than just to stand and cheer as He passed by...He was offering them an opportunity to make something beautiful out of their lives...

Think about the potter and the wheel...we are that blob of clay...a horrible mess...

But God can take our mess and shape us into what He wants us to be.

It is our choice...the invitation is here now...

Will you just be a spectator along the road, cheering Him on as He passes by...or

Will you follow Jesus all the way to the cross?

Our final hymn of the day...

(this is not our church choir singing, but please sing along and enjoy the music)

This is a song of triumph!

Christ is triumphant over death and hell,

and we are victors with Christ.

"Hosanna!!!

Blessed  is He who comes in the name of the Lord!!!

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David

That comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!"

Mark 11:9-10

Sermon Notes: FUMC, Interlachen, FL, Pastor A.C. Myers, 4/14/2019

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given. I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously. Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said. Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear... That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts. So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.

This cross is from our front yard. This photo was taken a few years ago. I wanted to do this again today, but it is extremely windy here today and the palms would just blow away, so I'm glad I have this picture.

I hope you will be blessed on this Palm Sunday, and draw even closer to our Lord throughout the week as we approach Good Friday and then the glorious Resurrection Day on Easter Sunday.

Welcome the King!!!

Happy Palm Sunday!

Our cross this morning, adorned with palm branches.

Matthew 21:8-9 NKJV

8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 

9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest!”

Beautiful Easter Lily plant, a gift from Rose and Benton. I know it was meant for Easter, but it's already blooming, so we will enjoy it all week long.

I had also bought one at the store yesterday, and it is just starting to bloom as well. We will plant them in the Memorial Garden once they are done blooming, and they should come up again next year.

I also bought this little pot of miniature daffodils, since they finally got some in our grocery store this week:

I wish they had been available the week of my sister Doris' birthday so I could've taken them to her, but it is what it is. I sent her a picture of these so she can enjoy them from afar.

If you'd like to listen, here is our choir singing "All Hail King Jesus! All Hail Emmanuel!, King of kings, Lord of lords, Bright Morning Star."  This was our choir anthem this morning for Palm Sunday. This was pre-recorded this past week at choir practice.

Following our song the Pastor will preach the Palm Sunday message, "The Triumphal Entry" from 

Luke 19:28-47

Did any of you see the Pink Full Moon last night and this morning?  Although my camera doesn't do the moon justice, and it really doesn't look very pink, I still thought these photos were pretty amazing.  I got up at 5:30 this morning, and I looked outside at Still Waters Pond, and this is what I saw:

Do you see what I see standing in the water along the shore?  Yep, those are the Canadian Geese!

There are two of them, but the one on the left is kind of hard to see. They were standing there, basking in the moonlight. I thought that was pretty amazing!  I've never known them to be up and awake at that hour before...but then again, I usually wouldn't be able to see them if they were. It's only because of the moon reflecting on the pond that I can see them this time!

I guess it's kind of pink...

These next pictures were all taken last nigiht from our front porch around 9:00 p.m.  It was rather cloudy, and at first the clouds were obscuring the moon, but when the clouds broke, it made for some dramatic photos:

I know, they all look pretty much the same, but I just loved the cloud formations all around the moon. It was really beautiful!

I'm sure many of you are wondering about our kitty-cat situation...Well...Here's a picture of Blackie Sue right now:

That blue chair was a "gift" to us last week. Apparently someone must have lost it from the back of a pick up truck or something, because it appeared on our front lawn out of nowhere. We left it there for a day thinking someone would come back to claim it, and when no one did, it became our chair and was moved to the back porch. I rather liked it and thought it was comfy.  Well, apparentlyMiss Blackie Sue also thinks it's comfy, and has adopted it for HER chair! This is where she's been taking most of her afternoon naps lately.  But like I said before, Let a pregnant girl sleep wherever she's comfortable, right?  And yes, she's still pregnant and getting larger every day.  I thought maybe the Pink Full Moon would make her go into labor, but so far nothing is happening in that department. It's a waiting game.

Meanwhile, Sunshine has moved his naps to the front porch, on top of the little wicker table:

"Hey! Are you looking at me? You woke me up from my nap!"  (How did he know I was looking at him? I guess when I moved the blinds back to see him he detected the motion and had to see what was happening.

A little later the two of them were reunited for supper on the front porch, which is where I am still having to feed them because those pesky Muscovy ducks are still out there on the pond and if I dare try to feed the cats on the back porch the ducks will fly in out of nowhere and want to be fed!

I've been extremely careful to not let the ducks know when I am feeding the kitties on the front porch, because I certainly don't want them to come around there and try to eat their food!  But wouldn't you know, I came out on the front porch the other evening, and there were those ducks in the front driveway!!!!!

I shooed them  back around the house...

And off they flew bac toward the pond:  (See the white wings?)

They are pretty when they fly, but that's the only good thing I will say about them.  By the way, our son Scott did come last week and clean out all the eggs and disposed of them in the woods.  They haven't come back to the nest to lay any more eggs since then.

The couple who is trying to capture the ducks and take them to their pond did come by one evening this past week and tried unsuccessfully to catch them. Apparently there are only two ducks now as that is all that is showing up on shore now.  They said they would come back the next day, but then they texted me that their daughter was sick and they had her at the ER.  Later I found out that little "Gracie", who is 5 years old, has strep throat, and their 4 month old baby boy is also sick. So they will not be back to try again to catch the ducks until the children are well. Thankfully she said the antibiotics they gave her at the ER are helping, so hopefully both children will feel much better soon.  

 Then hopefully the duck saga will be over.

I did something silly the other day.  A sweet friend who loves to give me little things for my "doll family" had sent me this cute little toy cat carrier with these two cats in it.  However, originally the cats were one brown and one yellow.  Well, since receiving that little gift some time ago and putting it in "Pamela's Victorian Cottage", I inherited our two real kitties, and one is yellow, but the other one is black, so I decided that to keep things more authentic here at Pamela's Victorian Cottage, those kitties should match our real kitties...so here you go...

The little mother at Pamela's Victorian Cottage continues to wonder what she is going to do with so many mouths to feed. LOL.  Little does she know that Blackie Sue is expecting kittens.  (but please, no one needs to send me any little plastic black kittens...it's okay...we can just pretend, okay? LOL.)  My paint job on Blackie Sue's eyes didn't come out too well. LOL. She looks a bit like an alien kitty, but she's still cute.    I know, I must have too much time on my hands. LOL.

Have you decorated your house for Easter yet?  I have not  actually done anything inside yet...I managed to bring in the big tote full of bunnies and things from the shed, but it's still sitting there waiting for me to get busy.  However, I was "gifted" this very Eastery wreath last week...the lady I met at the farm market made this and she gave it to Benton to give to Rose, but they decided that I would probably enjoy it even more, so they gave it to me...

Here's the closeup of the middle part...see the sweet little bluebird?  Speaking of which, the bluebirds never have built their nest in the birdhouse this year. They must've decided to skip nesting this year...I do still see them fly in and look things over now and then, but they just never have gotten around to nesting. Maybe Mom Bluebird needed a rest.

Anyway, I did try to put this on the front door, but it was really too big and bulky for our storm door to close over it, so I moved it to the inside of the door and put this cross on the door instead, which was actually created by the same person at that Farm Market. Her name is Pamela also...she's the one who said she'd like to have a kitten...so I am wanting to stay in touch with her!

I like the cross better for the door because that is the message that I prefer to give to the neighborhood for Easter...the Cross is what made all the difference in our lives and brought us salvation! But the resurrection of Christ from the grave is what gives us eternal life!

One more thing...we were given this beautiful flag actually as a Christmas gift from a dear blogging friend.  We thought Easter time would be a wonderful time to display it.

This is on the front of our storage shed, which faces the street we live on.

I love it and the message it conveys.  

Psalm 33:12-22  NKJV

"12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

The people He has chosen as His own inheritance."

Well, I think it is time to bring this Palm Sunday post to a close. I hope you are having a blessed Palm Sunday, and that this Holy Week will be a time of reflection and prayer as we prepare for Good Friday and then the most important Holy Day of the year, Resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter!

I serve a risen Savior

He’s in the world today.

I know that He is living,

Whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy;

I hear His voice of cheer;

And just the time I need Him

He’s always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

He lives within my heart.

2

In all the world around me

I see His loving care,

And though my heart grows weary,

I never will despair;

I know that He is leading,

Through all the stormy blast;

The day of His appearing

Will come at last.

3

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,

Lift up your voice and sing

Eternal hallelujahs

To Jesus Christ the King!

The Hope of all who seek Him,

The Help of all who find,

None other is so loving,

So good and kind.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

He lives within my heart.

 

Wednesday Treasures~Easter is Coming!

We started out this week with Palm Sunday...

This photo was actually from a couple of years ago. I did put out our cross with palm branches again this past Sunday morning, but it was still too dark in the morning when I cut the palms and put them on the cross before church, so I couldn't take any pictures. And then when we got home from church it had been so windy that the palms had blown away and it was still too windy and cloudy for pictures, so this one is much better.

And this is our cross decoration inside.  The little palm cross at the top was what we received in church on Palm Sunday.  I will place this crown of thorns on our outdoor cross on Good Friday.

This cross is in the narthex of our church, draped in black in preparation for the Good Friday Service.

Our choir will be singing a song at the end of the service called: "When Hope Fell Silent".

If you would like to listen to this very moving and deep song, here is an audio video of the music and words.  It is very powerful.

We had another pop up rain storm today, and again the mother Sand Hill Crane dropped to the ground and her baby chicks (colts) ran to shelter under her wings...

We read this verse on Sunday when talking about Jesus entering Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover week, and in one place it says He wept over Jerusalem.  In another scripture this is what He says:

Matthew 23:37 NKJV

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

When the Pastor read that verse, I couldn't help but visualize this mother Crane and her babies doing exactly that.  What a beautiful picture of what Christ wants to do not only for Jerusalem, bur for all of mankind.  This is what Easter is really all about. Christ coming to rescue and save us from our sins. May we continue to remember this picture in our hearts as we go through the rest of this Holy Week.

Meanwhile, I know this is a big gear switch, but then again, Easter is also about new life and renewal and hope.   And we humans like to decorate our homes for Easter with happy Easter bunnies and other signs of spring and new life.  Here are my Easter bunnies, collected over the years for each family member.

I finally got around to decorating with more of a springtime look here and there...

Happy Bunnies on swings and little fairies and birds make us smile and rejoice in the joy of the resurrection and new life that Easter brings because Jesus overcame death and lives forever!

Our immediate family will be having our Easter dinner on Saturday because our DIL Rose has to work on Sunday afternoon at Home Depot. You'd think they'd be closed for Easter!  Sad.

But as far as dinner is concerned, it works better for me since we leave for church on Sunday by 8 a.m. for Sunday School and then our choir is presenting our cantata during the worship service, and to be honest, by the time I've stood for about 40 minutes singing I am worn out and ready for a nap when I get home!  I know there is also a sunrise service in our community at 7 a.m., but this gal just can't quite get her act together for that too!  Getting old isn't for sissies! LOL.

Oh, this is a different picture. I had to share this last piece of St. Patrick's Day decor with you because I just got it the other day...why? Well, it was actually a door prize from our Women in Faith meeting a couple of weeks ago, but I left before they drew my name and so I didn't know that I had won this! It got to sit out a few days before I packed it away until next year.

Lily Grace and her friends are all getting ready for Easter:

Lily is "in the pink" with this cute little pink and white dress and pink shoes. She has her Easter basket all ready and waiting for it to be filled with Easter eggs and treats.

Speaking of new life. and eggs...I guess Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird have finally gotten serious about laying some eggs and sitting on the nest to bring about new life:

I took this series of pictures of Mrs. Bluebird today as she stuck her head out her window to breathe some fresh air and begin her time of waiting while her baby birds develop safely in their eggs in the nest.

I'm not sure if she is smiling at me or telling me to please give her some privacy as she waits...

I think she has a sweet face. I hope these eggs produce a happy brood of new baby bluebirds.

And speaking of new babies...Look at how big our young Sand Hill Crane "colts" are getting already! They are barely a week old and it looks like they've grown about 3 inches taller already!

Mom and Dad are getting more adventurous and taking the youngsters Abe and George closer and closer to the street out in front of our house.

Although this makes me nervous, I promise not to interfere with their parenting.  They know what they are doing.

I don't think they crossed the road just yet, but it won't be long and then they will be taking them to explore many different places in our neighborhood in search of more good food.

Interestingly, This Canada Goose pair also stayed out in the front yard and beside the road all day long. They are so funny. They are like hovering Aunts and Uncles, keeping a close watch on the activities of the Sand Hill Crane family as if they had something to say about what they do and where they go!

They were the official greeters in the neighborhood today!  Our friend Pamela came by for a quick visit, and they stayed right in our yard and welcomed her.  Speaking of which, Pamela has now sold her home here and is packing things up to move back up north by the end of next week.  We are going to be sad to see her go, but she knows it is time for her to go back to her home roots and closer to her own family. On Sunday after church a group of us took her out to eat at our local "Hog Wild Country Cafe'"

(Pamela is the one with the bright orange scarf around her head. She's always so colorful and full of fun!)

We had a great lunch together, even if it was a bit chilly and windy on the back screened porch of the restaurant, the only place they could accommodate our large group together...

Thankfully they did have some big heaters that they turned on for us as it was a much cooler day than expected. But we warmed up once we got talking and eating.

It was a great time, and I know Pamela enjoyed it.  We are really going to miss her here.

Well friends, it's time to close for tonight. I hope you and your family have a blessed Easter in some special way.  

See you again soon.