My Sweet 16 picks were horrible, resulting in only one of my final four ending up in the actual Final Four. That is horrible! I took some chances and none of them worked out. So, now I must redeem myself in my Final Four Picks.

Here goes:

• Ohio State will defeat Georgetown even though this one is tough to choose!
• Florida will defeat UCLA even though the Bruins will give it their all!

Therefore, for the first time ever, you will see Florida and Ohio State playing for the NCAA Basketball Championship after playing for the Football Championship against each another. It is hard to believe this could happen, but I believe it will. Based upon that, the big question now is, “Who will win this game?”

Back-to-back National Championships will be won by the Gators in Basketball as they make it the second national championship in just months in the two major sports in universities today. The basketball game will be more of a game than the football game was, but the outcome will be a Big W for the Gators and they will make modern history.

Based off of my past picks a week ago, if any Bruin or Buckeye fans read my blog, you are in good shape…

Later.

We wrap up this three-day look at “Palm Sunday Preparations” by visiting the institution of “The Lord’s Supper” once again. I want to encourage you to be here this coming Sunday as we celebrate together the Lord’s Supper and look forward to Easter Sunday on April 8th.

In our own Baptist Faith and Message, it states that “The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.”

Matthew 26:26-29 records our Lord’s introduction of this Supper to His disciples and to each believer. Following the departure of Judas, Jesus changes the Old Covenant Passover into the New Covenant Lord’s Supper. John MacArthur says:

“In fact, Christ ended the Passover and instituted a new memorial to Himself. It would not look back to a lamb in Egypt as the symbol of God’s redeeming love and power, but to the very Lamb of God, who, by the sacrificial shedding of His own blood, took away the sins of the whole world. In that one meal, Jesus both terminated the old and inaugurated the new.”

Jesus first took some bread and offered a prayer thanking the Heavenly Father. After breaking it in two, He gave it to His disciples to eat. He followed the bread with the cup, and after giving thanks He instructed His disciples to drink.

First, Jesus gives a brand new meaning to the bread. The bread represents Christ’s own body, sacrificed for the salvation of man. Luke adds the phrase “given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), recognizing the fact that He was setting up an ongoing memorial of His sacrificial death for His disciples. Jesus did not mean to imply that the bread actually became His literal body; but just a symbolic picture.

Second, the disciples drank from the cup as Jesus said,

“This is my blood of the covenant.” “Obviously there was nothing in the chemistry of Christ’s blood that saves. And although the shedding of His blood was required, it symbolized His atoning death, the giving of His unblemished, pure, and wholly righteous life for the corrupt, depraved, and wholly sinful lives of unregenerate men. Representative of the giving of that sinless life was the pouring out of that precious blood for many for forgiveness of sins and that blood made atonement for the sins of all mankind, Gentile as well as Jew, who place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (MacArthur New Testament Commentary)

The Lord’s Supper is the Lord’s Table and as often as we partake of it, we celebrate and remember His sacrifice and free gift of eternal life until He comes again.

I will meet you this coming Sunday morning at The Lord’s Table. Together, let’s remember and celebrate His sacrifice on our behalf as we also look forward to His return with grateful hearts.

Preparing for the upcoming Easter celebration necessitates a quick look at Palm Sunday itself. Yesterday we took a brief look at the subject of “Passover” and how it was the foundational picture of that which Jesus Christ would literally fulfill on Passover when He would offer Himself up as the perfect, spotless Lamb to be slain for the sins of the world. Now, what significance does Palm Sunday play in this entire redemption picture?

Palm Sunday is the day Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem! Jesus had just walked from Galilee with thousands of other pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and did not need to ride a donkey the last few miles, but did so in order to signal His identification as the Messiah. He also wanted to clearly reveal His authority and superiority over the Jewish leaders and everything for which they stood.

Few incidents in the life of Jesus are reported in all four gospels, but every gospel writer presents this particular event. (Matthew 21:1-9; Mark 11-1-10; Luke 19:29-38; John 12:12-15) The time had come and Jesus was presenting Himself officially to the nation, the world and to His Heavenly Father as the sinless sacrifice who had come to take away the sins of for all of humanity.

John MacArthur states: “The Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders wanted Him dead but did not want Him killed during the Passover time because they feared stirring up the multitudes with whom He was popular. (Matt. 26:5; Mark 14:2; Luke 22:2)Jesus entered the city, however, on His own time and forced the whole issue in order that it might happen exactly on the Passover day when the lambs were being sacrificed. As the Scripture says, “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” (I Cor 5:7; I Pet 1:19) In God’s perfect timing (see John 7:30; 8:20), at the precise time, foreordained from eternity, He presented Himself to die (v 23; 10:17, 18; 17:1; 19:10,11; cf. Acts 2:23; 4:27, 28; Gal 4:4).

The Bible says in Matthew 21:8-9:

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!”

The spreading of their clothes was reference to an ancient custom reserved for high royalty. (2 Kings 9; 13) “Hosanna,” the Hebrew expression which literally means “Save Now,” (Psalm 118:25) and the “palm branches” two centuries earlier had become a national symbol which indicated the fervent hope that a messianic liberator was arriving on the scene. (John 6:14,15)

Just think, Jesus Christ arrived on the right day, at the right time, in the right place, the right way, and with the right sacrifice! Palm Sunday is a day for every Christian to rejoice! Our Messiah has come and praise God He has purchased for us the free gift of eternal life!

See you Sunday … Palm Sunday … as we celebrate and rejoice together the coming of our Messiah, Jesus Christ!

We are entering the Passover season on the Christian calendar. This coming Sunday has been designated as Palm Sunday; the day we celebrate our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

I want to walk with you through these days of our Lord’s preparation just before that final week of His arrest, trials, crucifixion, death, burial and of course, His glorious resurrection. To clearly grasp the importance of His final week it will be necessary to review the 3 key elements of the Passover, Palm Sunday, and the Lord’s Supper. Let’s look briefly at the Passover today.

The word, “Passover”, is the Hebrew word that literally means “to pass over”, “to spring over”, or to “spare”. It was and is kept in remembrance of the Lord’s passing over the homes of the children of Israel when God delivered the 10th and final plague in which the first-born of all the Egyptians were killed. The Passover meal, known as the “seder”, commemorates the Israelites’ deliverance from slavery in Egypt. You will remember that God sent Moses to lead the children of Israel out of bondage into the promised land of Canaan. Moses confronted Pharaoh as to the Lords’ command, but Pharaoh refused to release God’s people. It was after a series of 9 different plagues Moses had still not received their release that God pronounced and sent this 10th and final plague. It was the Lord’s decree that the first-born males of every house would die unless the doorframe of that house was covered with the blood of a perfect lamb. That night the Lord, literally, passed over… spared, the first-born of the homes with the blood upon the doorposts. This plague brought death throughout all of Egypt, even the death of Pharaoh’s first-born son. Finally, Pharaoh let God’s people go.

A detailed account of the institution of this feast is given in Ex 12 and Ex 13. It was afterwards incorporated in the ceremonial law (Lev 23:4-8) as one of the great festivals of the nation according to Easton’s Illustrated Dictionary.

The remarkable truth about the Passover is that it not only looks back to the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt but also as a foreshadowing and type of Christ’s death as the Passover Lamb offered for the sins of the world. Just think, Jesus Christ was slain as the spotless-perfect lamb exactly on Passover to offer to you and I deliverance from eternal death and the clear promise of eternity with Him in heaven when we die.

“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains” –William Cowper

In next week’s blog, I am going to try to get us ready for the Easter season. Monday-Thursday, you will read about some important and monumental moments in history that we need to understand in order to begin to grasp the significance of the Easter season. It will bless you. On Thursday, we will make preparations for the Final 4.

Another reason this is important is that I want all of our people to be present on Sunday, April 1, as we observe the Lord’s Supper. We already know the elements for the entire service, and we are building it towards a fabulous spiritual experience for you.

The march to the Final 4 really moves into full stride today. Look at my bold and incredible picks by scrolling down.

If you are not attending the Summit Business Persons Luncheon today, change your plans and come to hear Pat Williams, Vice President of the Orlando Magic … a phenomenal speaker and author. Tickets are still available. This is our last Summit for this season.

Enjoy today.

I have a wonderful opportunity today to speak for many pastors and their wives in Branson, MO. These Christian leaders are from all over the nation and are attending a Pastors and Wives Retreat that is being sponsored by FOCUS ON THE FAMILY. Some of the pastors are senior pastors, some are associate pastors, and others are all bi-vocational, but they have all committed their lives to spreading the gospel. And each of them face special challenges in their marriages and families because of this commitment. My hope is to be an encouragement to them today. Please pray for me as I speak and as I travel.

Today is the first full day of Spring, and it certainly feels like it! New life is everywhere – look for it and enjoy it today. Just like God gives new life in the world around us each Spring, His love and mercies are new every single day.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

College basketball hits its finest stride in March Madness. Great stories are made during this season, and great coaches and their teams rise quickly among the others. Coaching strategies kick in at the highest level. Draft status of various athletes improve or decrease due to these moments.

Today I am going to give to you my Sweet 16 picks to help a few of you who may be in some league. I warn you – my picks could be harmful to the health of your involvement in that league. I will let you decide. Are you ready?

My picks for this weekend’s games:

• Florida over Butler
• UNLV over Oregon
• Kansas over Southern Illinois
• UCLA over Pittsburgh
• USC over North Carolina (USC coach has the right name!) *Upset Special!
• Vanderbilt over Georgetown
• Tennessee over Ohio State * #2 Upset Special (Just for my Tennessee members)
• Texas A&M over Memphis (Just for Katie Tucker and Jordan Lee–2 of my special friends who go there)

Yes, on those last 4 games I will get abused and I am taking some risks! However, what do I have to lose? Some would say, "What does he know?" Ah, you will never know.

Therefore, with the above picks, who is going to the FINAL FOUR?

• FLORIDA: This is their time of the year!
• KANSAS: Their tradition kicks in at this time of the year at a fevered pitch!
• USC: Coaching will get them there! (Again, he has the right last name!)
• TEXAS A&M: The Aggies will be "THE Surprise Team" … love their school!

I know, make fun of me. We will soon see. I am sorry, even though I think North Carolina is great and may win it all, I just think the Trojans will rise … that school knows how to win! Concerning Ohio State, I just love the orange of Tennessee too much … something tells me the same thing that happened to the Buckeyes football team is about to happen this weekend to their basketball team.

Okay, enough of this … have a great day and yes, I probably do need to stick to my day job!

I have a pressing burden on my heart for our church: We need spiritual revival. This pressing burden weighs heavily upon me. All of us, individually and collectively, need a fresh touch from God. I believe when God looks upon us many times, He is grieved over our lack of focus on Him and spiritual things. We are distracted by all the world has to offer and over the status of what our real priorities are in life.

Spiritual revival is the manifestation of God coming upon our lives and church. My heart is burdened to see our lives changed by the power of the risen Christ. Oh yes, we have sprinkles here and there of God’s activity. However, there is so much more the Lord wants to pour upon us.

Will you join in praying for personal and church revival? Dear friends, we must humble ourselves before the Lord. We must pray. We must seek His will above all. We must turn from our ways that do not bring glory to God. Our nation needs revival! It is time to seek the Lord. The church of Jesus is the hope for our country. “Oh God, help our church to become the hope for America. Raise us up spiritually to run after the things of God. Give our church and our nation a mighty move of God.”

A FINAL WORD…

Easter weekend is approaching on April 7-8. Be praying now about who you will invite and bring on Easter weekend. We will have six services between both of our campuses. We have one on each campus on Saturday night and two on each campus on Sunday morning.

Who will you invite to church on Easter Sunday?

This Sunday I will deliver the final message in our family series. We have gone nine weeks on this subject, with a guest doing the message on "Relationships." This coming Sunday, I will deliver a special word for each of us from God’s Word.

The message this Sunday is entitled "Seasons." It is a message that is really as much or more for us as individuals than as families. Will you bring someone to church with you this Sunday?

I appeal to all of you in the name of Jesus, pray for our church and for me. The Lord is working, but I am convinced there is so much more He wants to do. Please join me in this time.

God does answer prayer.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our basketball teams that may have or do have an affiliation with our church. As High School Basketball is over, College Basketball is rising high in the land.

Congratulations to the Har-ber High School Basketball Team. They went to the State Championship Game; however they came up on the losing end of the game. What a great effort by all and we congratulate them – only two years old as a school and playing for the largest division’s basketball championship.

Congratulations to the Shiloh Girls Basketball Team for a great year. Even though they lost the Championship Game by only 3 points, they came back from a major deficit in the first half. It was a fabulous game to watch, and I enjoyed everything about it except losing the game in the final minute. This team has a very, very bright future and should rank high next year among all classifications.

Congratulations to the surprise of March Madness, the University of Arkansas Razorback Team. Most did not even give them a chance to go to the big dance, but they had a winning weekend with the exception of the last game against Florida, and they are heading to major tournament. What a quick turnaround for the team, and we congratulate them.

May the ball bounce your way in life today.