Transcription
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Today, I want to talk to you for just a few moments from Leviticus chapter 23. If you've got it, verse 40: "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, and branches of leafy trees, willows of the brook, and you will rejoice." Everybody say, "Rejoice." "Before the Lord your God for seven days."
This scripture caught my attention because it is a strange instruction that God gave His people during one of the feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles. The high priest was to go into the presence of God with two things in his hands, one in one hand, one in the other. God said, "When you come in during this feast to represent the people, high priest, I want you to have in one hand a palm branch, and in the other hand, I want you to have a willow." We would call it a weeping willow branch. And I want you to come and rejoice before me with both of these branches, one in one hand, one in the other, the other hand, and I want you to rejoice before me. What a strange instruction.
It shows us the mixture of life in these two branches because the palm tree represents prosperity. It represents victory. It represents success. It represents joy. When I think of a palm tree, I think of sunshine. I think of happy days. I think of good times. I think of the beach. Come on. I think of spring break. I think of good things. I think of, you know, the happy times of life. That's why they were waving the palm branches because in Jewish culture back then, it represented victory. Victory. And so it's powerful, good, wonderful, happy things that are happening.
But then, on the other hand, you have the weeping willow branch, which represents weeping. I mean, when you see a weeping willow tree, it looks like tears. It looks like it's flowing. It's crying. It's been over. It's, uh, it represents distress and looks like weeping and sad times and trials and adversity and, and, and what's astonishing about this instruction is one represents health, one represents sickness. One represents prosperity, one represents destitute and struggling and need. And what I love about it is that's really how life is. That life is constantly either one of those limbs or the other. You're either having palm days at this particular season that I'm talking to you right now, or you're having willow days where tears are flowing and things are tough and it's hard.
And I just want to remind you that you're not going to have palm tree life, the palm tree life, all the time. You've got to learn to worship with a willow and a palm because whether you're in good times, bad times, palm days, or weeping willow days, here's the key: God is the same. Amen. God does not change because we're in a different time. He's faithful. His goodness is all the time. His blessings are all the time. And He said, "Come in and rejoice before me because I don't take my favor from you when you go through the bad times. You don't have any more of me than you had when you were in the good times because I'm not just the God of the good times and the hills and the mountains. I'm the God of the valleys and the tears and the weeping. I'm there all the time." Everybody praise Him just a moment for the willow and the palm. Hallelujah.
You know, God puts palm days in our life. Just sometimes it's just going good. I wonder how many of you are in palm days right now? Just, just good things happening. You don't really have anything to complain about. That's right. See, some of y'all just barely raised your hand. I said, "How many of you are in palm days right now? Let me see." Look at there. How many of you are in palm, palm days? Well, you're not supposed to be reserved in your palm days. You're not supposed to be quiet about it. In your palm days, man, life is, life is so crazy that that I've learned that when it's good and things are going good, and the marriage is good, and the children are good, and my health is good, and the church is good, I'm going to rejoice. Don't tell me to quieten down. We need to celebrate the good times. When you're having palm days, be happy about it. Rejoice about it.
And here's why: because Isaiah 15, in verse 7, said, "They who have abundance shall carry it away to the brook of the willows." That means that you can start out with a palm branch, but it's a matter of time before you get a willow. Ain't that a good picker-upper today? It's the truth. That's this is life. This is the world we live in. And if you're only going to be happy and rejoice when you've got palm days, you're not going to be rejoicing a whole lot. But if you've ever learned a secret of, "I praise Him in the good times and in the bad times, in the willow days, in the palm days," God's good all the time. He said, "Come to me. Come to me."
There are two times when you're most vulnerable. Number one, when you've got nothing. Number two, when you've got everything. That's when you're most vulnerable. And just because you're having willow days, if you're having them, and you're going through tears and sorrow, and maybe your children, or something's going on in your family, your home, your finances, your health seems to be, you know, in fading from you and struggling physically, just because you're going through willow days, this is a great lesson in this. It does not mean you're out of the will of God. And you're certainly not out of the presence of God. Sometimes we equate, you know, happy days and blessings and successes and prosperity to being with God. But notice that God is trying to teach us that you're with me not just when good things are happening in your life, but when doors shut, and when you lose your job, and when you get a bad doctor's report, I'm the same God. Come with all of it and rejoice that I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you, and I am faithful. I'm faithful.
Paul said, "You've got to learn to abound." He said, "I've learned to abound, or I've learned to be abased. I've learned to worship God on my palm days when I'm on top of the world, and I've learned to worship God when I'm in my weeping willow days and it feels like my world's falling apart." Whatever state, if I'm in a palace or I'm in a prison, it's okay. God is with me. You know, the amazing thing about it is this, that ought to be encouragement into you, is you, you can start out with a palm day, and before the day is over, it can become a willow day. One phone call, and just like that, a palm day can go to a willow day. You were shouting and happy and fun, life was good, and just like that, you get some news and tears are flowing and trials and burdens and weeping.
But miracles can strike just as suddenly as tragedies. So you can be in weeping days, and just like that, God can put a palm branch in your hand and say, "The storm is over. It's time to bounce back, little palm tree, and shine." And you know how those branches do, and the sunshine, it's going to shine.
See, the Bible says this about God. We, we count days as, as, as from morning to night, but that's not how God counts a day. Read it. When He created the days, the Bible said He started with the night and He went to the day, and then He called it one day. In other words, God says, "It's not over until the sun shines." And God wants you to understand, no matter how dark your night is, He will not leave you in the darkness. He will finish, and you will finish in the sunshine. You'll go from a willow to a palm. He's going to be faithful to you. Everybody take a praise break. I don't care what you're going through. Willows or palms. Come on, let me hear from the willows. Let me hear from the people in. Let me hear from the palms, people who are really blessed. Let me hear from you. There ought to be a lot of rejoicing. We ought not to have to have anybody pump us up. He said, "Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice."
Philippians 4 and verse 4 says, "Everybody say it big. Say it fat. Come on, get into it. Are you ready? Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice." Turn to somebody near you and say, "Whether you got a willow or a palm today, the Bible commands you to rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice." God is with you. God is going to be good to you. He's good. He's faithful.
Some days I walk in, I feel down. It's a willow day. Nothing going good. Kids acting crazy. Sharice is not treating me right. Money acting funny. Tore up from the floor up, jacked up, everything wrong. But the Bible said, "Bring your willows and still rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice." Hallelujah.
You see, I'm not in a willow right now. I've been there, though. I've been there. I've had to preach through willows. I'm in palm days right now. All my children are [Applause] gone. It's a blessing. I mean, in a good way. I don't mean that ugly. It's just, it's just palm. It's calm. Palm is calm. But you know, I, I wrote this down yesterday. I've learned that we make a bigger deal about our willow days than our palm days. When we get up with a headache, "Oh God, I got a headache. It's a willow day." And we call 20 people before we get to the kitchen. "I got a headache." We make a big deal about our willow days. But when we get up, every one of you, pretty much, got up without a headache this morning. You didn't call anybody. You didn't call me. Say, "I don't have a headache today." But you make a big deal about your willow days, but you act like the palm days are no big deal. And that's why I'm preaching to you today, that some of you, the only time God can get your attention is when you're in trouble. Which explains why you stay in crisis after crisis. If you've ever learned that in the good times, that's when you really need to rejoice and come in with your palm branch and say, "Thanks, Lord. I got a promotion this week. Thanks, God. I've been blessed. Thanks, God. I sold a house this week. Lord, you've been good to me."
I don't really worry about the willow people because they're desperate. They're going to keep coming. They're going through trials. They're crying. They need change. Every service, "Oh God, help me. Keep me alive." I worry about the palm people because we're not real good at being faithful to God in the palm days. What we do is, in the palm days, we get in the boat that God blessed us with and go out on the lake on Sunday instead of coming with that success first. I mean, hitch it up and bring it in the parking lot and come and worship God and teach your family church matters, and then go celebrate. That's that stuff. That's what I'm preaching. That's what I'm preaching.
I like this little sermon. See, I've learned, and, you know, and somebody say, "Is that all you got today?" See, I feel that sometimes from, I can preach better, better than that. But, but I'm here and you're not. But, but here's my point. This is a palm day. But what you don't know that made me what I am is I went through willow days with this ministry where I didn't have a bunch of people and didn't have a lot of money and didn't have, but, but if you're faithful through the willow days, God will give you the palm days. And people have scratched their head and they don't know the other side of the story. But, but if you're faithful in the willows, God will bring you to the palms. Everybody take a shout opportunity right here and praise God. Praise Him right where you are. You got a lot to praise Him for. You made a big deal about your willows. Make a big deal about your blessings. Hallelujah. I hope you shout so much you get on your neighbor's nerve. I hope you shout so much God's been too good for you for you to be silent.
The truth: bring it before the Lord. The good times and the bad times. The willows and the palms. And rejoice. The Bible said, "Rejoice." You got a whole lot more willows or palms than you do willows.
Psalms 34 and 1: Everybody say this, ready? "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth."
Psalms 103 and verse 4: "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives your iniquity and heals all your diseases." Everybody take a praise break right there. It's the truth. Rejoice.
One more. Psalms 30 and verse 5. Psalms 30 and verse 5. You ready? Here we go: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." You know what He's saying? He's saying if you've got a weeping willow in your right hand right now, don't give up in the night. Don't quit in the night. Don't throw in the towel because I promise you that God has a palm that's coming your way. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy, palms are coming in the morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
One more. Psalms 115 and verse 18: "But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord." What does that mean? That means from this day forward, make a decision. Make a choice. You're blessed. The goodness of God is still in your life. You're not out of the will of God 'cause you've gone through some tears and some trials. But from this day forward, "I will bless the Lord. I will praise Him."
There was a, there was a preacher that I heard about, true story, that was dedicating his brand new building. And he had a guy who was real fired up, a Pentecostal church, and this guy would really get fired up in the praise and just erupt in praise. And they hadn't really trained him to not go berserk, you know. And, uh, and he would get real excited. And by the way, I'd rather have a fool on fire than a, than a scholar on [Applause] ice. I can deal with wildfire, but when you're dead, you're dead. Give me a little fire. I, I can calm them down a little bit. But, but he was dedicating his new building, this preacher was, and he, and he got, and he had a bunch of dignitaries and big shots in the town were coming, mayor and all that kind of stuff, you know, politicians and people like that. And so he wanted it to be a good, respectable service. And so he, he had the guy, he, he pulled him aside before the service and said, "Now, listen," said, "We got a lot of big shots coming, and we want to make a good impression. We don't want you to freak them out or anything. I know you love the Lord, but could you keep your praise a little sedated? Could you keep it calm? As a matter of fact, if you will not act up and you will just sit there through the service and not really praise God like you normally do, I'll buy you a brand new pair of cowboy boots." This guy liked cowboy boots. He said, "Pastor, I, I'll do it. I'll do it for a new pair of boots." He said, "Well, you got it. I'll buy you a new pair at the end of this service."
So they got to having the service, and the music was going. Boy, the guy was sitting on the front row, and they started singing some of his songs, and he really liked it. He's tapping his toes, but he's, he was suppressing that praise and not really getting into it, calming himself down. He was doing good till the preacher got to preach. And halfway through his sermon, he quoted his fa-, his favorite verse. And when he quoted his favorite verse, something hit that boy, and he shot up on his feet and he said, "Preacher, boots are no boots! I've got to praise the Lord!" Sometimes you need to tell the devil, "Boots are no boots! Blessing or no house, or no house, promotion or no promotion, whether I get it or I don't get it, I've got to praise the Lord!" Willows or palms, give Him praise. That's the message today. And I'm saying to you that if you keep praising God in your weeping and your willow days, it's a matter of time before your willow becomes a palm. God won't leave you in your darkness.
But I found something that's going to bless you. If you have your Bible, turn there with me to Revelation 7 and verse 9. Revelation chapter 7 and verse 9. And this is what it says: "And after these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne in heaven, before the Lamb, clothed with white robes." Watch what they had. "With what? Palm branches in their hands." When I read that, I heard the Lord say, "Notice what's missing in life. We have days always of both, but when we get to heaven, there'll be no more weeping. There'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no more sickness. There'll be no more dying. There'll be no more crying. There'll be no more diseases. There'll be no more trials." Oh, you ought to get happy. All, all we'll have is good days, happy days, joyful days. We'll lay our burdens down. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Forever.
So I want you to get up on your feet, and I want everybody, I don't care if you're a teenager, I don't care who you are, I don't care if you're a multi-millionaire, I don't care if you drove up in a Mercedes or you rode a mule, I don't care. I want you to take in one hand your willows, the trials, the problems, the adversities, and I want you to take in the other hand the blessings, your health, the goodness of God. You got clothes, you got food, you got a house, you got family, you're blessed. And I want you to take both of them, and I want you to rejoice for just a moment and say, "God, You're worthy of the praise. I thank You. I thank You. I praise You." Even while you're praising God, He can turn your willow into a [Applause] palm.
So, so let me say this. So, listen, check this out. So, so the Lord impressed me. I'm careful when I say that, but I, I really felt this, that that we do make a bigger deal about our willow days than we do our palm days. And the Lord said, "I want you to give a different altar call this morning." Thank you, Jesus. If you don't know Jesus as your Savior, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. He can turn your weeping into dancing. He can turn your sorrow into joy. Turn your shame into praise. And this is your chance to receive Him. I promise you, He won't turn you away. This can be the greatest day of your life. I'm getting thrilled in my soul because somebody's been through hell, but God's going to use the bad stuff to make a good thing happen in your life. Only God can do that. And you've been weeping long enough. It's time for the palm, the good times in your life, in your family. "Pastor, pray for me. I need a change in my life." Right where you're standing, be bold as a lion. If you want Jesus to save you, we can't pull you down front, but if you'll acknowledge Him, His grace will come. "Pastor, pray for me. I need a change in my life. I need to repent. I need to get right with God. Pray for me." If that's you, raise your hand boldly all over this room, high, and lift it up all over this room, high. It's awesome. Raise them high. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. Keep them up a moment. Keep them up. If you raised your hand, keep them up all over this room. It's amazing. Raise them high. Raise them high. Keep your hand up now. If you see someone with their hand raised, gently put your hand on their shoulder right now. Gently do that, just as an act of kindness and agreement. Gently put your hand on their shoulder. Pray these words. Are you ready? "Lord Jesus, I thank You for the cross. I thank You for the cross. You came into Jerusalem. Came into Jerusalem, and everybody was waving palm branches. Five days later. Days later, Your palm became a willow. Your palm became a willow, and You were hanging on a cross. Hanging on a cross, bleeding for me. For me. Your mother was weeping. Mother was weeping at the foot of the cross. At the foot of the cross. And I thank You. That You love me. That You washed me. That You are on my side. My side. Thank You, God. And I receive Your forgiveness. Receive the blood of the cross. Blood of the cross washes all my sins. All my sins. I am forgiven. I am forgiven. And it looked bad, but then You turned that willow three days later. Three days later into a palm when You rose from the dead. Rose from the dead. I believe. I believe. Therefore. Therefore, I receive. I receive eternal life. Eternal life. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name."
Register now for Forward Conference 2015 with special guests Steven Furtick, Beth Redmond, Reggie Dabbs, Rich Wilkerson Jr., Banning Liebscher, Jensen Franklin, Larry Stockstill, Elevation Worship, and Jesus Culture. For more information and special group rates, go online at forwardconference.org.
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Life is real. There's joy, there's laughter, and chaos. Lifelong friendships are forged, love is found, moments cherished and never forgotten. Life is a gift, and together we are real family, real friends, real people experiencing real life. This is Free Chapel.
This program has been brought to you by the friends and partners of Jensen Franklin Media Ministries. For more information on this broadcast or for additional resources, go online at JensenFranklin.com.org.