Surrender - April 11 Wed

Opening Prayer

Please turn to Romans 6:12-13

SURRENDER

Romans 6:12-13

SURRENDER means to:

          give up

          let go

trust

SURRENDER also means to SUBMIT to something or someone.

SURRENDER is a very unpopular word in the world today.

SURRENDERING in the world means,

          giving up

          quitting

          weakness

          loser

To truly WORSHIP God you have to TOTALLY SURRENDER EVERYTHING to Him.

If you won’t TOTALLY SURRENDER EVERYTHING to Him,

          you will never be able to WORSHIP or SERVE Him.

SURRENDERING TOTALLY to God is the true heart of WORSHIP and of a SERVANT.

Rick Warren talks about this in his book Purpose Driven Life

          Who did that Bible Study here?  I want to read from that book.

Read page 78a, b

Rick Warren says there are 3 barriers that block our TOTAL SURRENDER to God:

1.                 Trust

Trust is a key ingredient to TOTAL SURRENDER.

Fear to trust keeps us from TOTAL SURRENDERING to Him.

2.                 Pride

Our PRIDE keeps us from TOTALLY SURRENDERING to Him.

We think we have to be in CONTROL of everything.

Read page 79

3.                 Confusion

SURRENDERING to God is not passive resignation.

Or an excuse for laziness.

It may mean the exact opposite:

          God often calls SURRENDERED people to do battle on His behalf.

SURRENDERING is not for cowards,

or people that want to stay in their “comfort zone.”

                   It does not mean giving up rational thinking.

                             God will not waste the mind He gave you.

                             God does not want robots.

                             God gave each one of us a unique personality.

                             He uses us according to that unique personality.

If you are TOTALLY SURRENDERED to God,

          you will say “YES, LORD.”

When you refuse to obey God,

          you can not call Jesus your Lord.

If you are TOTALLY SURRENDERED to God,

          you will obey God’s Word,

                   even if it doesn’t make sense.

Abraham followed God’s leading without knowing where it would take him.

Hannah waited for God’s perfect timing without knowing when.

Mary expected a miracle without knowing how.

Joseph trusted God’s purpose without knowing why circumstances happened the way they did.

Each one of these people were TOTALLY SURRENDERED to God

You know you are TOTALLY SURRENDERED to God,

          when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to,

manipulate others

force your plan

or control the situation.

Read page 81a

Read page 81b

TOTAL SURRENDER is hard work.

We are in strong warfare against our selfish natures.

God wants and needs TOTALLY SURRENDERED people today.

Closing Prayer