Worthy of our Surrender
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Intro
Intro
and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
We are in a series about realigning | Humility | Ascribing to God all that is his | He is the one worthy opening scroll and we are not |
Series: Worthy of it all | 4 weeks |
Last week, Worthy of our First Fruits and this week, I want to ask you, Is God really worth giving everything up for.
I truly believe no other message will be as impactful.
Title: Is He Worthy of our Surrender
My Hope: That thing that you have been trying to control, that you let it go, that you are FREED from it.
**Prayer**
Jetty Jumping, need to surrender.
3 questions to answer;
Why we should surrender
How do we surrender
What might happen if we surrender
Who would believe that we have a Good God?
Who believes that He has good plans for our life?
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
2 concepts I want to unpack - Sovereignty and Providence.
God’s Sovereignty is his right and power to do all that he decides.
Providence; Come together or disconnect as he so chooses.
Prodividence is the subset of Sovereignty - If we can understand this we will view life differently and sermon will matter today.
Foundation: God is Soverign. What we might look at as random is actually orchistrated by his Providence
Sovereignty is so complete and providence is so intrecant that he is even in every small detail. God controls the big things and the small things. God never caught by surpirse
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
You can’t Google his Providence or His Ways.
We don’t understand why he does what he does
Isaiah says, thoughts are not our thoughts, ways are not our ways.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
We don’t understand - and we can only figure out what God wants us to figure out.
So then, what about Free Will and Freedom then? If God is Soverign? Do we get to make decisions?
Within His Sovereignty He has created freedom and Free Will - You can choose to say Yes, or No, to Go or Stay - We are free and yet, God has created boundaries.
That brings me to the two wills of God;
Sovererign Will/hidden/decerative - What WILL OCCUR
Preceptive Will /revealed/moral - What SHOULD Happen - Where can we find His Preceptive Will? In His WORD !!!
Chess Illustration - When Dealing with the providence of God, don’t get to see everything - Always doing more than one thing at a time - Why would he speak if he knew? So that you can look back and know to TRUST HIM.
Joseph, Remenber, went from the Pit to the Palace -
Illustration
Remember Jacob his father.
Thinks Joseph is Dead, Benjamin is being held hostage by Joseph, getting ready to lose simeon, hungry because there is famine in the land
Jacob “All these things are against me”
Little did he know - Joseph was fine - Ben was fine, Simeon was gonna be fine and they all getting ready to go to egypt to eat.
We rarely know the whole story!
Why important?
This is important, Following God’s Preceptive Will, will lead to God’s Sovereign Will, and God’s Sovereign will, will always lead to LIFE.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
And it’s always for HIS GLORY and for our good
Football Analogy - Just great to play for winning team - HIS PLAN IS WORTHY OF BEING FULFILLED
Point 1: God’s Will is worthy of our Surrender
So if God’s Sovereign will leads to LIFE, Why don’t we let go?
Because we have an issue with…Control. We have an issue with Control. Can anyone think about one area of their life they LOVE to control? if you find yourself wanting to put up the hand of the person next to you…that’s yours.
Listen
Point 2: You don’t always have the power to control, but you always have the power to surrender.
let’s look at Mary - Teenage Girl, Living her life, Youth Group, Met Joseph, Life together, and Angel came and said
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
God then tells Mary will concieve by Holy Spirit
Confused - Disturbed - You might be feeling like this?
What will Jospeph think? What will parents say? How is this? Why God are you asking this of me?
application; How will I pay my bills? My spouse doens’t want to change? I can’t afford to tithe, why?
What does Mary Say?
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
**Video**
LET IT BE - LET IT BE.
If you want to be free, let it be.
Mary submitting to God’s sovereign will.
She is not trying to control, she is trying to surrender.
When we choose to control in ANY AREA of our LIFE, we are saying that “I want to be like God” - God is asking for full surrender.
How do we surrender? let go of control. Let it be, hand it over. “It’s all yours” Bill? Desease? Faith?
You don’t always have the power to control, but you always have the power to surrender.
What will happen if we surrender? - Defence (Sports analogy)
I want to show you a story of control gone bad;
Abram and Sarai - God promised something - but in the waiting, they tried to control.
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
God’s timing was not consistant with their timing, so what did they do? THey took control - more we try control more out of control, more control.
This would impact people for Centuries to come;
Ishmael - Leads to Mohammud
Isaac - Leads to Christ
Deeply Spiritual Note - Don’t get involved with a girl called Hagaar.
But seriously;
We might have to wait - God’s ways, not our ways, and in the waiting we might face a storm
a time when Jesus was preaching
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”
Remember Jesus with the disciples said let US go to the other side - Everyone tired, everyone ready for bed - Promise: “let US goto other side”
says desciples TOOK HIM WITH THEM - Don’t forget Jesus in the surrender.
went out, a fierce storm came up - it’s not possible. But I surrendered, and now I’m worse - How? Jesus was meant to be with me. It’s not possible.
You can have Jesus and have a Storm.
Storm is coming whether you have Jesus or not. In the surrender, you have to stay surrendered.
Any storm that you go through does NOT CATCH GOD BY SURPRISE.
HE KNOWS THE STORMS ARE COMING. JESUS SLEPT!!!
Jesus remained in PEACE in the STORM, and so can we. God is the only one that gives peace. HE will give us PEACE.
Some of you are going through a storm.
Point 3: Don’t give up surrender for the storm.
When we look at Mary’s surrender, what is so interesting, every time she chose to surrender, she eventually saw evidence of the faithfulness of God.
Think about it - Through every Storm, on the other side was GOD!
Virgin - Pregnant - She has to tell Joseph this - What does God do? Sends Gabriel in a dream - She didn’t know that was going to happen -
People around town = whispering around, Mary is shamed, then the Holy Spirit confirms to elizebath -
9 months pregnant, riding on the donkey, no holiday inn - No where to stay - She trusts God, and God gives her a cave.
Herod gets word, wants to kill Jesus, goes on the run. Wise Men came, frankensense, murr and Gold (gold is good when on the run)
Fast Forward - Jesus Knows what’s going to happen to him, in a garden, agonising knowing what’s about to happen, He cries out to his father, his Heavenly Father and said…if there is any way you can remove it?
Then he says the SAME GREEK WORD that His Mother Said - LET IT BE YOUR WILL, and NOT MINE. And Jesus goes to the cross and his mother Mary looks at him on the cross - Beaten so badly, doesn’t even recognise her son - don’t romanticise her as the mother Mary. A MOTHER - (Look at your child please)
There spitting on him, cursing on him, JESUS Could of called a legion of angels, give them all hemroids - That’s what I would have done.
What did Jesus do? He said…Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, and He surrendered.
Inspo and Close
Inspo and Close
Let me ask a question;
What is it, that you’re trying to control? That God wants you to surrender?
*Peice of paper and pen*
I can’t force you - It could be a relationship your hurting for, a child relationship, a fear, a diagnoses, an addiciton, guilt you’re carrying, unforgiveness, If you would like to - write it down on a piece of paper and then we are going to give something.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
When I say I LOVE YOU, you might be thinking “You barely even know me” - Well that’s true, but I am trying and there is this spiritual responsibility I have as your pastor. It’s not a job I am employed for, it’s a burden I deeply want to carry.
That I feel called to carry. And I care more than you can ever imagine. I agonise before sharing God’s word because I want you to find LIFE in CHRIST.
Here is what I need to realise - I can’t control you. I wish I could, I wish I could talk you into surrender something.
When you surrender - here is the good news.
Our God can do WAY MORE, through your surrender, than you can ever do through your control.
That which is on your heart you are trying to control, is so much better in His hands.
Write it down, take it home, and give it to God.
I am going to set the table, there is a feast for you, but the Holy Spirit needs to change you.
Why?
God’s will is worthy of your surrender.
Don’t always have the power to control, but always have power to surrender.
**A moment with the holy Spirit** Worthy of it all.
Don’t give up your surrender for a storm
Write it down, and give it to God.
**Prayer**
Altar Call - God is not calling for a partial sacrafice - He is calling for a full sacrafice. God sacraficed Son.