His Mercy Endures Forever

In one paragraph

This Palm Sunday message from Pastor Carl worked through the word "Hosanna" and the greater Hallel, Psalm 136, to show that the crowd's cry at Jesus' entry into Jerusalem carried a double weight: desperate need and confident trust in the One who could meet it. The sermon drew on family memory and Scripture together to press the point that God's mercy, repeated twenty-six times in a single Psalm,...

Read together

1. Luke 19:39-40 Pharisees telling Jesus to rebuke His disciples, Jesus responding that if they keep quiet the stones will cry out
2. Matthew 21:6-9 The disciples bringing the donkey and colt, the multitudes spreading cloaks and branches, crying out Hosanna to the Son of David
3. Psalm 118:25-26 Identified as what the crowd was quoting: Save now I pray O Lord, send now prosperity, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord
4. Psalm 136 The greater Hallel, read antiphonally with the congregation, praising God for creation, the Exodus, wilderness provision and care for all flesh
5. Joshua 2:10-11 Rahab speaking to the spies about hearing how the Lord dried up the Red Sea, destroyed Sihon and Og, and declaring the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth beneath

Talk about it

1. The pastor described how the word 'Hosanna' carries two meanings: a desperate cry of 'save us now' and a confident shout of 'salvation, yes.' Which of those two postures do you find yourself in most often when you come to worship, and why?
2. Psalm 136 repeats 'His mercy endures forever' 26 times as a way of rehearsing what God had done for Israel. What are some specific moments in your own life or your family's history where you can point back and say, 'that is how God provided for us'?
3. The pastor noted that Rahab, a pagan woman outside of Israel, knew about God's power because the Israelites habitually recited what God had done. He said, 'In our habitually praising Him, God will make the way for others to know and to trust in Him.' Have you ever seen someone come to faith partly because of how a believer praised God through a difficult time? What happened?
4. The pastor said he has seen people insist on praying their way through hard circumstances over the past two years, and that God has brought people into His family as a result. What does it look like practically to praise God in the storm rather than waiting until the storm passes?
5. Toward the end of the sermon, the pastor said God's mercy endures forever and is available for everyone, but not everyone will accept it, and that no one will stand without it at the judgment. How does holding both of those truths together, God's unlimited mercy and the reality of human choice, shape the way you think about people in your life who do not yet know Him?