Matt 21 King of Who? Who's in charge?

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 21:1-46
Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King 1 As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers 2and said to them, "Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, say that the Master needs them, and he will send them at once." 4This was to bring about what the prophet had said: 5"Tell the people of Jerusalem, 'Your king is coming to you. He is gentle and riding on a donkey, on the colt of a donkey.' " Isaiah 62:11; Zechariah 9:9 6The followers went and did what Jesus told them to do. 7They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus and laid their coats on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8Many people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The people were walking ahead of Jesus and behind him, shouting, "PraiseF59 to the Son of David! God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Psalm 118:26 Praise to God in heaven!" 10When Jesus entered Jerusalem, all the city was filled with excitement. The people asked, "Who is this man?" 11The crowd said, "This man is Jesus, the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee."
Jesus Goes to the Temple 12Jesus went into the Temple and threw out all the people who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. 13Jesus said to all the people there, "It is written in the Scriptures, 'My Temple will be called a house for prayer.' F60 But you are changing it into a 'hideout for robbers.' "F61 14The blind and crippled people came to Jesus in the Temple, and he healed them. 15The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw that Jesus was doing wonderful things and that the children were praising him in the Temple, saying, "PraiseF62 to the Son of David." All these things made the priests and the teachers of the law very angry. 16They asked Jesus, "Do you hear the things these children are saying?" Jesus answered, "Yes. Haven't you read in the Scriptures, 'You have taught children and babies to sing praises'?" F63 17Then Jesus left and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. The Power of Faith 18Early the next morning, as Jesus was going back to the city, he became hungry. 19Seeing a fig tree beside the road, Jesus went to it, but there were no figs on the tree, only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, "You will never again have fruit." The tree immediately dried up. 20When his followers saw this, they were amazed. They asked, "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?" 21Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, 'Go, fall into the sea.' And if you have faith, it will happen. 22If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer." Leaders Doubt Jesus' Authority 23Jesus went to the Temple, and while he was teaching there, the leading priests and the older leaders of the people came to him. They said, "What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?" 24Jesus answered, "I also will ask you a question. If you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 25Tell me: When John baptized people, did that come from God or just from other people?" They argued about Jesus' question, saying, "If we answer, 'John's baptism was from God, ' Jesus will say, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 26But if we say, 'It was from people, ' we are afraid of what the crowd will do because they all believe that John was a prophet." 27So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said to them, "Then I won't tell you what authority I have to do these things. A Story About Two Sons 28"Tell me what you think about this: A man had two sons. He went to the first son and said, 'Son, go and work today in my vineyard.' 29The son answered, 'I will not go.' But later the son changed his mind and went. 30Then the father went to the other son and said, 'Son, go and work today in my vineyard.' The son answered, 'Yes, sir, I will go and work, ' but he did not go. 31Which of the two sons obeyed his father?" The priests and leaders answered, "The first son." Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do. 32John came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you still refused to change your ways and believe him. A Story About God's Son 33"Listen to this story: There was a man who owned a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a hole for a winepress and built a tower. Then he leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip. 34When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent his servants to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. 35But the farmers grabbed the servants, beat one, killed another, and then killed a third servant with stones. 36So the man sent some other servants to the farmers, even more than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to the servants that they had done before. 37So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. He said, 'They will respect my son.' 38But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, 'This son will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, it will be ours!' 39Then the farmers grabbed the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40So what will the owner of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?" 41The priests and leaders said, "He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the vineyard to some other farmers who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42Jesus said to them, "Surely you have read this in the Scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone. The Lord did this, and it is wonderful to us.' Psalm 118:22-23 43"So I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people who do the things God wants in his kingdom. 44The person who falls on this stone will be broken, and on whomever that stone falls, that person will be crushed." F64 45When the leading priests and the Pharisees heard these stories, they knew Jesus was talking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the people, because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.
FOOTNOTES:F60 Praise - Literally, "Hosanna, " a Hebrew word used at first in praying to God for help. At this time it was probably a shout of joy used in praising God or his Messiah.F61 Praise - Literally, "Hosanna, " a Hebrew word used at first in praying to God for help. At this time it was probably a shout of joy used in praising God or his Messiah.F62 'My Temple…prayer.' - Quotation from Isaiah 56:7.F63 'hideout for robbers.' - Quotation from Jeremiah 7:11.F64 'You…praises' - Quotation from the Septuagint (Greek) version of Psalm 8:2.F65 Verse 44 - Some copies do not have verse 44.

Copyright Statement: New Century Version

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Did you ever realize there were two donkey’s? A mother and her colt?
Donkey’s have a certain characteristic about them that they are known by, that is a stubborness and a rebellious nature.
Which did Jesus ride, the matured tried mother or the untried untamed colt? The mature or the immature?
He rode the colt. He mounted and rode the colt! He mounted stubbornness and rode on rebellion! Mine and yours and everyone ever born after us. He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Those in the crowd that day called out to Him as though He could answer their prayers! As though He was King and God! They shouted “Hosanna”, meaning “save us, come save us!”. This crowd had a revelation.
Do most kings ride donkeys? Didn’t that seem odd? A King riding a mule? Not with a Divine revelation it didn’t. To the natural eye, it was heresy.
Are we natural men who do not see or understand the things of God? Or are we spirit beings who can see into a world not yet seen and bring it into manifestation in our own personal worlds?
This is what prayer is and what prayer does.
Prayer brings God’s Divine and heavenly desires into manifestation in the earth realm. It uses human earth beings who have legal right to do what they want, who have freewill’s to decided to be earthly or heavenly citizens, no matter where they live. Prayer brings revelation and then takes the revealed things of God and calls for them, just as God, the Lord of the Universe said, “Light be” and light was, so human spirit beings, who’s citizenship is not of this world, can call into being what they do not yet naturally see, and make it visible to natural eyes. It takes agreeing with God and His word. He’s written it all out for us to decide to agree or disagree with Him. When we disagree there is a stubbornness unleashed and curses are active, when we agree with God’s word we nullify curses and bring blessings, we ride on rebellion and conquer over opposing forces that have tried to illegally dominate earth. This is why we are here to change the world from the inside out, from the invisible to the visible.
So why would an enemy steal our times of prayer and use them for something else? If you understand why we pray you’ll see it very clearly. Why is praying silently what he’d rather we do? Those prayers are more like wishes or communion times with God, but prayers that are said aloud and declarative are the kinds that move atmosphere’s. We’re atmosphere movers. How do we know what to move out of God’s way? We have to know His word and be in fellowship and communion with his spirit. When was the last time you asked God what he’d like for you to declare for Him today? I think for most of us that is a new thought. I don’t think we’ve acknowledged we have that much power or authority, but we do. If we are Christians, we are little Christ’s. That does not mean we are small and without as much power, that means we are back to the garden where God made man in His own image and likeness, just like the Father, Son and Spirit, 3 in 1.We’re a restored people, taking off where Adam and Jesus left off, except we’ve multiplied, there are many of us. The only way we stay a few is to listen to the wrong voice, the voice of a liar who says we have no authority and no power, the voice that says How can a little me make any difference?”, and so we don’t.
We are who allow an enemy to come take over our times with God, we are the ones that say yes or no to that. We can let the thief stay or tell him to go. We are the lords of our own houses. Jesus says , This house was designed as a house of prayer (that house He’s speaking of is humans), but YOU have made it a den for thieves. If we made it that way, we can also unmake it, no matter how inconvenient that may be! Time to move the enemy out, there is a spiritual work to be done in the earth. Jesus said pray- “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..” That’s the work. Let’s go for it. It’s not about whether we deserve the work or are even wholly equipped for the work, when we put on the full armor of God and we’re equipped, we accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus and in that we deserve, not for any other reason. Yeah you are rotten sometimes and rebellious and don’t work hard enough, so what! His blood paid the price for all of our shortcomings. He is King of even rebellious kings and Lord of stubborn lords. He can save by many or by few and nothing is impossible to this God we serve, Rise up in the blood bought strength of Christ being at least willing to be a participator in the execution of the will of the Lord and He’ll absolutely strengthen you!
Say “yes- Lord”. To say “Lord” and not say “yes” is contradictory. Jesus said there are people who will have said “Lord, Lord”, but did not do what He said while they still had time to in the earth. He told them at the gate of heaven that He does not know them.
True love is reflected by obedience. Let’s repent today while today is still a day to live in and turn to serve Him because of His great love for us. He first loved us in such a mighty demonstrative way. We also ought to love Him and one another the same sacrificial way.

Daily Repetitive Verses -
John 17:15 I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.