Marcus Mecum - When You Feel Unworthy Put Jesus On It
- Watch
- Donate
- Prayer Request
In this Palm Sunday message from Luke 19, the preacher focuses on the Triumphal Entry where disciples place their cloaks on an untied colt and "put Jesus on it," interpreting cloaks as symbols of identity (who you are, whose you are, and why you are) and the lowly colt as ordinary limitations or burdens; the core call is to surrender every aspect of life—past wounds, relationships, purpose, and weaknesses—to Jesus, allowing Him to redefine identity, loose bonds, bear weight, and transform disadvantages into divine purpose for His glory.
Scripture Reading and Key Phrase
If you’ve got your Bibles, turn with me to Luke chapter 19, and we’ll look at verse 30. This is Jesus speaking. It says, «Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord needs it.'» Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. And they were untying the colt. Its owners asked them, «Why are you untying the colt?» And they replied, «The Lord needs it.»
They brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. If you brought your Bibles, underline that: «Put Jesus on it.» Why don’t you say that with me? Say, «Put Jesus on it.» One more time at all our locations: say, «Put Jesus on it.» That’s what I’m going to talk to you about. It’s a simple message. No deep thought today. I just want to talk to you about putting Jesus on it. The Bible here in the main verse we looked at says they threw their cloaks on the colt and they put Jesus on it.
So, in this story, there are two things they said: «Put Jesus on it,» and those two things are the cloaks and a colt. Cloaks and a colt.
Cloaks: Symbol of Identity
So, cloaks in the Bible speak of identity. You see the image of cloaks woven throughout all of Scripture. You see it with blind Bartimaeus. You might remember he was given a government-issued beggar’s cloak, white with a red stripe on it. That basically said he had a legal right to beg. Jesus came walking by, and you might remember the story. The first thing he threw to the side was that beggar’s cloak. When Boaz married Ruth, he placed his cloak on her, saying, «You belong to me from this day forward.»
Elijah and Elisha’s relationship starts out with the throwing of a cloak and it ends, of course, with the mantle falling from heaven. Jesus is mocked by having a purple robe placed on him. The point is that in Scripture, cloaks or garments of some type are a very relevant subject, and they speak primarily of identity. It has other references, but primarily it speaks to identity. Identity is who you are, whose you are, and why you are. So, during the triumphant entry, Jesus is riding in, and they take the cloaks and a colt, and it says they put Jesus on it. The first thing they did was put Jesus on the cloaks. They put Jesus on their identity. They put Jesus on who, whose, and why they are.
Who You Are: Overcoming History
Now, most people, when you ask them the identity question, «Who are you?» they’ll focus on their upbringing. They’ll focus on the way they were raised. «Well, I was poor. I come from a broken home. I was abandoned. I was abused.» I’m not making light of those things. But really, what they’ll do is say, «I am who I am because of my history. I am who I am because of where I come from. I am who I am because of something that happened at a stage and place in my life, where things were kind of out of my control. That’s why I act the way that I act. That’s why I make the decisions I make. That’s why I choose the way that I choose.» And it’s all linked back to their history. But 1 John 4 says, «Whoever is born of God overcomes the world,» which means you might have been born into a disadvantage, but when you are born of God, you’ve been born to overcome. You’ve been born to overcome the disadvantages you were raised in.
Blind Bartimaeus had to throw off the beggar’s cloak. They said to him, «Be quiet. Be silent. Just stay right where you are. You should be happy enough with where you’re at in life.» But the Bible says he threw off that cloak and cried out even louder, «Jesus, have mercy on me.» The point is he said, «I’m not going to keep wearing that identity that attaches me to where I’ve been and where I come from.» Instead, he said, «I’m going to put Jesus on this area of my life.» And his blind eyes opened, and he could see. I don’t know what areas you’re blind to, but I can promise you this: if you’ll put Jesus on it, you’ll begin to see things in a whole new perspective. The deaf ears would open if they put Jesus on it, right? The lame would walk, the lepers would be healed, the dead would be raised. Whatever the situation, the goal of Scripture was, why don’t we put Jesus on it and see what happens?
Whose You Are: Heavenly Father’s Voice
Who’s you are? Who you are? A lot of people attach who they are to relationships in their lives. But I love the fact that in the Old Testament when fathers would grab their children and prophesy over them, they were speaking specifically to who that person is, who God had designed that person to be, the gifts he had given that particular child. And the fathers in the Old Testament, which I think we need to get back to, by the way, looking at your children as a father, having the ability— you know them more than anyone else knows them. You know their uniqueness, their leanings, their quirks, their habits.
The Bible gives the account of Jacob. He’s on his deathbed, leaning on his staff, and he calls each of his 12 sons into the room, and he’s going to speak a blessing over them. He’s going to prophesy over each of them. To each of them, he uniquely speaks to their giftings, the things that were rare about them, he locates and begins to speak to, because it gives them a sense of identity, a sense of what their future would be like, a sense of their strengths and maybe their weaknesses, their struggles, where they come from—things they would have to overcome. He would speak to that child uniquely, giving them like a compass on the inside. So as life hit them, they would know who they are. When the difficulties would come, when the problems would come, when the struggles would show, or when they would fail, they had that identity that had been given because of the father who had spoken to them.
Now, the Bible says this: take note of this, that it was Jacob’s sons that they called into the room, but it was the voice of Israel that spoke over them. So Jacob means deceiver, liar, supplanter. But it wasn’t Jacob who spoke to them; it was Israel, which means prince of God. Some of us have to look at our lives and say, «Maybe in the natural, your father wasn’t all that he needed to be. Maybe he wasn’t there for you, or maybe he didn’t say the right things over you, or maybe he didn’t model the way.» But notice, it wasn’t Jacob who was the one speaking. The voice was the voice of Israel. You have to remember that you have more than an earthly father.
If he did not do what you needed him to do—maybe he did, but if he did not, remember you have a heavenly father. Amen. And you’ve got to ask yourself the question: have I been allowing my heavenly father to speak over my life, to speak over my future, to speak into who I am? Have I allowed God to bring out my gifts and my potential? Have I allowed God to see the uniqueness and the rarity of who he has uniquely made me to be? My point is simply this: many of you are allowing your life to be so limited because you’re just looking at your life through some earthly relationships and what they said to you or what they didn’t say to you. More importantly, you need to be asking, «What’s God say about me?»
Yes. Who are you? Whose are you? Do you belong to man, or do you belong to God? Ask yourself the question: who died on a cross for me? Who gave their life for me? If, if all else failed and I’m at the bottom, and nobody wants to say anything, no one wants to look my way, who could I reach out to? And they’ll be there, and they’ll be faithful and they’ll stick closer than a brother. Why don’t you let him speak over your life? Why don’t you let his word begin to resonate inside you?
The Bible says the prophet Jeremiah was grabbed by four men and thrown into a slimy, muddy pit, left there for dead. They saw him as worth nothing. Then the Bible says the king heard about it, and he says, «Go grab 30 men, and I want you to pull Jeremiah out.» Notice it only took four men to throw him in the pit. It took 30 to pull him out. Because it takes a whole lot less to get you in a pit than it does for people to pull you out. Wow.
So many people’s lives have been shattered by one, two, three, or four relationships. They look back, and their whole life is defined by that one relationship or those two experiences in their life. Eventually, you have to recognize the king is not going to just let you stay in that pit unless you want to be there. He will send whatever he needs to send to pull you out. That might be 30, that might be 300, that might be 3,000. That’s why I think this church is the church that it is: because we’re the type of people that will say, «We don’t care what it takes; we want to find somebody that’s been thrown in the pit.» We’ll use everything we got to pull you out. If you want out, we’re here to cheer you on, encourage you, love you, and believe in you. We say, «Don’t stay there. Let God pull you out of that thing.»
Why You Are: Discovering Purpose
Who you are, whose you are, and why you are. The two most powerful days in your life: first, the day you were born; second, the day you found out why. Put Jesus on your why. Jeremiah, before you were formed in your mother’s womb, he knew you and predestined you. Who? Who’s now? Get your why. Your why can be located several ways, but one of the ways is that it’s the things that get you ticked and make you tick. If it bothers you, if it makes you mad, if it frustrates you, if it irritates you, if it gets under your skin, you’re likely somehow uniquely gifted for that thing. If you walk into an environment and it feels disorganized, and you start putting things in place, ensuring everything is together, then you’re probably gifted in that way.
Again, I can just tell you, Gio—we already call him the boss. He’s the boss today. He’s two and a half. He’s the boss. The man is decisive. He’s determined, and he’ll let you know when he’s mad. The things that get him ticked. If we’re not careful, we won’t mold that properly. Does that make sense? I can’t explain to you what it is about me, but nothing bothers me more than watching the local church not done right. It’s been that way since I got saved. I’ve never had that kind of passion before, never had that kind of eye before, never had that kind of interest before. Immediately, I began to be sensitive to anything about the local church.
I believe it’s our job—my job, leadership’s job—to remove anything that stands in the way between you and Jesus. So, distraction-free, obstacle-free—anything we can do to remove. You shouldn’t have to get over things when you come to church to get to him. When I walk into an environment, if I sense anything, it bothers me. If I see a little wrinkle on the stage or find out someone was in the hospital and we weren’t there or hear that we didn’t care for a child in the right way, or if someone slipped through the cracks and every time I hear that stuff, it drives me crazy. What are we doing wrong? How do we get better? How do we disciple better? How do we love better?
How do we connect with people better? How do we ensure that when people come in here, they sense the presence of God and know that God is for them? What can be against them? It gets me ticked, but it makes me tick. I used to go to bed when I was 16 years old, listening to preaching every single night. What a weirdo! But I was drawn to it. There was something about me that was drawn to those things and I’m just simply here saying: you find your why. What is it that bothers you and frustrates you? Now, add to that making sure it’s biblical. Don’t get in the flesh with it. Go at those things the way God calls you to—God’s heart would be with a spirit of grace and mercy.
It frustrates you, but you still have to approach it with: how would God want me to approach this? Now, what are the things that not just get you ticked? Because a lot of people are judgmental but don’t do anything about it. So, I’m not talking about being critical. I’m talking about now what are you doing to be part of the solution? What are you doing to make sure that you can add value to the situation?
Everybody say, «Put Jesus on it.» Put Jesus on your why. Put Jesus on your identity.
The Colt: Bearing the Weight and Limitations
Number two, it was the cloaks and the colt. Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem. He knows he’s going to be crucified. He knows he’s going to be brutally beaten. He knows he’s going to be tied to a whipping post, his back torn open. He knows the cruel soldiers are going to force him onto that horrible cross and nail him there. It’s strange to me that of all the things that could be on his mind was this little insignificant, unimportant colt tied up, never been ridden before, and the Bible says to put Jesus on it.
I love the part that it was tied up to some regular ordinary, not much to it post. It was pretty much all it was tied to. Every day, it woke up, saw the same scenery, lived in the same little geographical area every single day. It was tied up. But the Bible says Jesus sent them and said, «I want you to loose that. I want you to untie that colt, and if they ask you, I want you to tell them the Lord has need of it.»
They brought that colt and put Jesus on it. Now, what I want you to notice is life in this little place where it had the post and was tied to it. It was an easier life, a simpler life. It had no pressure, no stress, no weight. It was not heavy. Because the second they bring it to Jesus, what happens? The weight of Christ, the heaviness of Christ is now sitting on it. Every now and then you have to ask yourself, do you feel the weight of what it is that you’re called to carry?
When you come to church, you should have a sense of, «I’m here to help carry the body of Christ.» You’re not just here to be carried. If you need to be carried, of course, we want to carry you. But at some point, you have to be saying, «Am I showing up to be a burden bearer? Am I showing up to help lighten things? Am I showing up to say I want to put my strength into what God is doing?»
But the problem is most people feel weight and think, «Oh, I just want to go back to simple, basic, no-pressure, easy life.» But when you really go after God, unfortunately, when you hear, «The Lord has need of you,» that’s not the way it’s going to go. You’ll feel some weight. You’ll feel some heaviness.
Personal Testimony of Weight
I’ll never forget when I just started pastoring and felt like a complete failure. I don’t know what was going on in my life. I probably was—if I had the money to go see a psychologist—I probably was clinically depressed. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I had nightmares.
I walked around at about 200 lbs and was probably 140 lbs. One Sunday morning I woke up. I had nothing to preach. I was scared. I was tired. I was spiritually dry. I had nothing—literally nothing to say. I felt like a hypocrite to even show up because that’s how low I had gotten. Tears streamed down my face, and I was just like, „God, how do I get out of this? I just don’t want to do this anymore.“ I told the Lord, „You trapped me. You trapped me. If I had known back then what I know now, I would have never done this.“
The Lord said, „You’re right. I trapped you. If I wanted you to know then what you know now, I would have told you then what you know now. I told you everything you needed to know to do exactly what I wanted you to do.“
Wow. You’re right. I trapped you. Wow. I said, „No, no, no, no. Theologically, this is wrong. I know I have free choice. I have free will. You’re not going to impose yourself on my choices. That’s just poor theology.“ And then I really felt the Lord say, „You really think Jonah had a choice in the belly of a whale?“
„Do you want to go to Nineveh or not, Jonah? I’ll send you storms. I’ll throw you into the deep. I’ll have a fish swallow you. You don’t have to go to Nineveh, but you kind of have to go to Nineveh.“ Saul, on his way to Damascus to kill Christians, suddenly sees a bright light, hits him so hard he falls off his horse. God hit Saul so hard he went blind.
I’m not feeling gentle, and then God says, „If you want to see again, you’re going to have to go hang out at this guy’s house. Wait there for a few days. I’m going to send somebody else. As long as you do what I tell you to do, you can see again. But by the way, you’re going to preach Jesus from this point on.“ Wow! Did Saul, who became Paul and wrote half the New Testament, have a choice? Kind of.
The Lord said, „You’re right. I trapped you.“ Think about it. He holds you in the palm of his hand. Yes, he does. The point was I felt like the Lord said, „You’re exactly where I want you. You’re in the palm of my hand. You’re in my will. It feels heavy. It feels weighty. But your life is never going to be just tied up to the same old ordinary post. I have need of you.“
When God loosed me from that, I’ve seen things I never thought I’d see. I’ve gone places I never thought I would go. I’ve done things I never thought I could do—wow! Not because of anything in me, but because I was simply willing to put Jesus on it.
God Chooses the Lowly
So good! Disconnect from what’s holding you back today. Notice they didn’t put Jesus on a highly trained thoroughbred. They didn’t go find a warrior. We think that God’s looking for the seminary-trained, religious pedigreed, but Jesus said, „I’ll tell you who is on my mind moments before the cross: My mind is on the insignificant, unimportant, overlooked, bound and tied up, lowly colt—not even a full-grown donkey yet.“
„Go find that one and tell them the Lord has need of them.“ This is the only place in all the Bible where it says that the Lord needs something. And notice, he didn’t go looking for a stallion to carry him; he went looking for the ordinary.
1 Corinthians 1:26 says, „Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him.“ It is because of him and him alone.
Heaven's Answer: Put Jesus on It
That’s why I love how the story ends. It ends with them grabbing those palm branches and crying out „Hosanna.“ Joyful praise because of the miracles he had done. The story ends with worship. The story ends by giving glory to God. The story doesn’t end with the donkey thinking, „Look how special I am.“ His whole life he was nothing and was tied up, trapped, and bound to that post. But the Lord sent for him, raised him up, and used him in a special way. All I’m simply saying is I want you to take any limitation, take your cloaks and your colts, take those areas of your life that you believe are a disadvantage, and put Jesus on it today.
I mean, think about it like this. When you go to the entire Bible story, if we were to go back to the very beginning: God creates the heavens and the earth. Then he takes man, forms him out of the dust of the ground, breathes into him the breath of life. He becomes a living soul. There he takes Eve out of his side, puts them in the garden of Eden to take dominion and multiply. Then we know the serpent slips in, deceives Eve. Eve influences Adam. The whole thing begins to fall. Sin enters the garden. Shame enters. The curse hits the earth. Thorns and thistles. Now there’s pain in childbirth—all of these things enter the planet.
God says, „I got to figure out how am I going to reverse this? How am I going to turn this? How am I going to redeem this?“ So he sent the prophets’ voices to warn people to turn back to him. Every generation another prophet, another prophet warning—not enough. Then he sends the law and says, „This is exactly what I’m looking for. Maybe if I list and I’m clear exactly what I want from you, but the law failed where the prophets failed, and the law, all of it failed. It fell short. It couldn’t accomplish what God wanted it to do.“ God looks at the planet: violence and evil and sin and confusion and heartbreak. He looks at it all, and you know what heaven’s answer was? „Let’s put Jesus on it.“
And God would send his only son not to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved. This is the point: if it’s good enough for heaven, it should be good enough for us. So, put Jesus on your trial. Put Jesus on the trouble today. Put Jesus on your heartbreak. Put Jesus on the shame. Put Jesus on the addiction. Put Jesus on your history. Put Jesus on your identity. Put Jesus on your limitation. Put Jesus on whatever it is that the enemy is telling you means you’re discounted or should be left out.
Closing Worship and Altar Call
Come on! Today, the Lord has need of a great church—not a stallion church, just a bunch of lowly people who can say, „If you could use anything, God, I will let you use me.“
Come on, just lift your hands up right where you are and say, „God, you can have my life.“ That’s what Palm Sunday is all about. It’s about being joyful for the miracles—all the miracles that God has done. If you’ll put Jesus on it, he can take your worst thing and make it your best thing. Do you hear me? He can take your worst thing and make it your best thing. That’s what the cross is, by the way: they put Jesus on it, and they took the worst thing, and God turned it into the best thing.
So, Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, we thank you for Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, where you are brought into Jerusalem on that colt, never ridden before. You loosed it. In the same way, I’m praying that anybody here today that’s been bound and tied up, that you loose them. I thank you that you’re not looking for the crowd today, but you’re looking for that individual. You’re looking for the one today that’s been living their life limited, based on their history and their past, where they come from. Your eye is on them; it’s not on all the things we think it is, but somehow your eye is mindful of the person here who says, „I’m the furthest thing from the one that God should be looking for.“
But I’m praying, Holy Spirit, you find that person in their individual seat at every location, online, wherever they might be. As you find them, I thank you that even now, you’re giving them a vision of life that they’re loosed and free—they’re loosed from their history, loosed from where they’ve been, loosed from ordinary. They’re being set free to carry you into any place in life you call them to—in Jesus' name.
Praise the name of Jesus. Can we give God a big Palm Sunday „Hosanna“? Come on, at all our locations. Can we give God a joyful praise? Can we do it? You say, „For what?“ For the miracles he has done. Come on, if God’s been good to you, could you give him a big „Hosanna“? Come on, shout „Hosanna to God in the highest!“ Come on! Victory now is what „Hosanna“ means. Victory—victory in our homes, victory in our marriages, victory in our souls, victory in our minds. Come on, give somebody victory today—in Jesus' name!
Can we give God one more big Palm Sunday „Hosanna“? Come on! Can we celebrate him today? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Come on! You can do better than that, church. I don’t want to walk away from this moment without God knowing I’m one of the grateful ones. I’m one of the thankful ones. I haven’t forgotten where you brought me from. I remember. I remember. I remember when I was a nothing—and you found me. I bless you today, Jesus. I bless you today, Jesus. I adore you. We put Jesus on it today. Come on, put Jesus on it for just a few more moments. Praise God. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise God.
Put your hand on your heart. I want you to take that cloak, that identity, that colt—cloaks and colts—all the reasons the world tried to disqualify you: your failures, your mistakes. The thing I love about a donkey is it’s an animal of endurance. The stallion is shiny, but it’s a sprinter. That lowly colt was built for the long haul. The Lord has need of you today. Thank you for raising up people who know how to put Jesus on it. We put Jesus on this week. We put Jesus on all our interactions as we go into friends and family and as we see people that are far from you.
Let us be like those two disciples who found a colt and they loosed it. They allowed God to use them to loose someone else—in Jesus' name. At all of our locations, we put Jesus on this Easter season. Can we do it together? We pray for every lost person. We pray for every person—every family member, every son, every daughter, every friend, every person—that’s going to find their way here for some various reason. We don’t care what the crowds are. Just send us lost people—somebody that without you their life is going to be a wreck. Send us those people. Send us the ones that others would pass by. Send us the ones that others would overlook— the insignificant.
Let this next season give you honor and glory because that’s why you came. You came to seek and save that which was lost. We’re going to put Jesus on this Easter season. Praise God. Praise God. Maybe you’re here and you say, „Marcus, I’m not right with Jesus Christ.“ At all of our locations, Jesus is not the Lord of your life. You’re not saved; you’re not right with God. You need a new beginning, a new start. If that’s you, on the count of three, lift your hand as high as you can. One, two, three. Throw that hand up as high as you can. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. Keep that hand raised if you can. God bless you up there.
Let’s all put our hands on our hearts with those who have lifted their hands. Say, Jesus, Jesus, thank you for dying on that cross, for shedding your blood for my sin. I ask you now to forgive me and cleanse me. I give you my heart today. I turn toward you. I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that Jesus is God’s Son, His only Son. And I give you my life now. Fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I might serve you from this point forward. We all said a big amen. Amen.