I Surrender All
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Biblical Reference: Luke 2:36-38
Last week, we looked at another individual that God used in the process of bringing Christ into the world. We looked at Simeon. He was one of many that God chose to use during that time.
Today, we are going to be looking at yet another person that God used to bring Christ into view.
Her name was Anna.
Let’s take a look:
36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity;
37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Context
Context
We do not know a whole lot about Anna. Matter of fact, to the best of my knowledge, all we know about Anna is what we have here in these 3 verses.
With that being said, we are divinely given by God a brief introduction of her and I think there are a few things of great importance that we can learn from her today.
Anna’s name means “gracious”, and according to what we see here about her, I would say that is fitting for her.
She is a prophetess of the temple. This rare in two different ways.
Israel has not seen a prophet of God in over 400 years. Now we have a prophet on the seen.
She is woman.
She was a Godly woman to whom God meant everything.
She was evidently on a spiritual par with other saintly women used by God throughout Scripture such as Miriam, Hannah, and Deborah.
One thing we notice about Anna in this text is that she completely surrendered herself to God in all aspects of her life.
That is title of the message today: I Surrender All
This message might not speak to everyone today, but I believe there are some here today who are at the brink of breakthrough. You have been contemplating whether to follow the leadership of God and move forward in His will, or to continue where you are and not disrupt the system.
For some of you, it is a decision of salvation.
For others, maybe it is a decision concerning the church, like joining the church or stepping into some type of ministry.
For others still, it is something in your personal life that you have been praying about. God has been speaking to you, but you are nervous, scared, confused, or doubtful that you have what it takes.
If that is you, I want you to lean in close today, because this message is for you.
My prayer is that this message will be the last words of confirmation that you need to move forward in God’s guidance.
Content
Content
Her Hope
Her Hope
We find out in this text that Anna got married many years ago. We don’t know how old she was when she got married, but we suspect by the numbers given that she was probably pretty young. This was not all to uncommon during that time.
We are told that she has been a widow now for 84 years. We are told she lived with her husband for 7 years after getting married, so that puts her at 91 years old....plus however old she was at the time of her marriage. If she was 15 years old when she got married, she would now be 106 years old etc....
Regardless, as the text tells us, she “was of great age.”
So, she marries as a young girl, or maybe a young woman, lives with her first husband for 7 years and then he dies. That is just horrible, but then she never remarries.
Let’s take a second and five into this. During this time, it was uncommon for a woman to make a living for herself. It was done, of course, in certain circumstances, but that simply wasn’t the culture of the day. The men provided for the family. The women worked along side their husbands as needed of course, but the mainly took care of the children and the home.
The great hope of any young lady was that one day, a man would come along, fancy her, take her as his bride, and then make a family with her. That was the dream.
Anna had part of that dream realized. A man comes along, takes a liking to her, takes her as his bride, but then he dies. Her dream is stolen from her. Her dream stops prematurely. Her dream is never fully accomplished.
God had given stern warnings unto His people regarding the care of widows.
19 ‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
22 “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
23 If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry;
The religious leaders were tasked by God to make sure the widows were well taken care of. It was their responsibility to do so. Unfortunately, we see from the words of Jesus that this was not exactly the case during this time.
46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts,
47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
During Bible days, widows held little to no power in the court system. It was not uncommon for a husband to appoint in his will a Jewish legal expert - a scribe or Pharisee - to be the executor of his widow’s estate. Essentially, this gave the executor authority to oversee the widow’s finances and assets. It would not be hard for a corrupt lawyer to find legal ways to trick widows out of her house and other property - and this is precisely what these men were doing.
Now we do not know if this happened to Anna or not, but we do know this type of thing was going on during this time.
Not only was her dream cut short of having a family, but now she has more than likely been put into a situation that is less than ideal concerning her property and assets.
What does she do? She gives every ounce of hope to God.
She could have pursued another relationship. She would have been young enough to do that. Instead, she decides to give the rest of her days to the Lord.
Maybe you thought your life would turn out a certain way, but it simply didn’t pan out the way you thought it would.
Maybe your job hasn’t worked out like you thought it would. Maybe it’s where you live, or how much you have financially that didn’t go according to plan.
Whatever it is.....Can we stop for just a moment and say.... “I wonder why?”
Do you think it is coincidence, or do you think maybe God had a different plan for you all along?
Regardless of where you thought you would be, take a second and look at where you are, and then take another second and ask God, “God, where do you need me to be?”
“Why am I here?”
“What is your plan for my life?”
“Where are we going, God?”
“What am I failing to see? Open my eyes to see Your will in my life right now.”
When things did not turn out the was she wanted them to, when her dream was cut short, Anna completely surrendered all of her hope unto the Lord.
I hope in nothing else. If I have no money, I’m okay, as long as I got you Lord.
If I never have another husband, I’m okay, as long as I got you Lord.
If I never achieve some type of greatness, I’m okay, as long as I got you Lord.
“My Hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
Her Time
Her Time
37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Notice with me that she not only surrendered her hope to God, but she also surrendered her time to God.
It said that she “did not depart from the temple....”
Now this could mean that she was given a room in the back of the temple and that she literally lived there. It could also simply mean that she spent the majority of every day serving at the temple.
Regardless of that, what we do know is that when Anna surrendered her hope unto God, she also surrendered her time unto God as well.
In layman’s terms, it simply means that she made herself readily available for the service of God, whatever that might have been.
We live in a culture today that is fast paced. Everything keeps us on the go. Both parents are working jobs in order to get the bills paid. After work, you come home and supper has to be cooked, chores have to be done, maybe there is a honey-do list of things that have to be fixed around the house, maybe you work a high-profile job so you bring it home with you, baths have to be taken, somebody has to keep up with the checkbook and balance the finances and pay the bills, somebody has to take care of the dogs and cats, the yard has to be mowed and house has to be pressure washed, clothes have to be washed, dried, and folded, floors need to be swept and vacuumed, etc...
That does not even include the kids....homework, sports and extra-curricular activities, chores for the kids, etc....
We are so busy with everything in life. This world wants us to be on the go. The busier we are, the less likely we are to focus on God, and the less likely we are to participate in the spiritual disciplines He has given unto us.
Reading the Word of God, meditating on that Word after we have read it, praying intentionally, worshipping God, evangelizing to a lost a dying world, serving the church, fasting, having an intentional quiet time so that we might hear a word from God, journaling the thoughts and events of our day so that we might go back later on and see how God has blessed us, and learning for the purpose of Godliness.
I know what some of you are thinking right now, “Brother Thomas, there’s no way. If you knew what my life looked like, you would understand.”
Let me be the first to tell you that I perfectly understand. I have been preaching for 15 years come this August, and for everyone of those years, up until this one, I was a bi-vocational preacher. That means I worked a full-time job and pastored a church at the same time.
I know a thing or two about being short on time. I know a thing or two about not spending time with my family so that I could fulfill all of my other duties. And I know a thing or two about how the kids get so used to going to Mom for everything, even the things they should be coming to Dad for, because Daddy was never available. I know a thing or two about being distant from your wife because you are so busy that you never get to spend any quality time together.
I have felt those pains of parenting, of marriage, and especially of a spiritual leader who is counted on by so many to have it all together while everything in your own life is absolute chaos.
I GET IT!!!!!
I wish there was an easy answer for this dilemma of life, but the truth is, it is going to look differently for each and every one of us. God called me to be a pastor. God may have called you to something else, which is going to look differently for you than it does for me.
But here is what I do know. When you get to that point in your life to where you are willing to surrender all of who are to Him, He will begin to make clear the steps you need to take moving forward. It will probably not happen over night. In my own case, it took a couple of years, but Keshia and I just kept on praying. We kept praying for God to open doors and to make a way where it seemed like there was no way.
And when He does give you guidance and direction, when He does open doors, you go. Don’t second guess it, don’t question it, don’t stress about money or anything else. God is not going to call you anywhere that He cannot keep you and sustain you.
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Surrender your time to God and see what He can do with your life!!!
Her Worship
Her Worship
37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Notice that she was not only at the temple, but that she SERVED God with fastings and prayers night and day.
She surrendered her worship.
What is worship?
Most of the time, when we think of worshipping something, we think of bowing before something or praying to something. That is a form of worship, but that is not exclusive.
To worship something means that you give value to it over something else.
We worship things by giving a large majority of our time to those things.
We worship things by giving our focus to those things. That could mean the focus of our time, the focus of our mind, or the focus of our emotions.
We worship things by choosing those things over other things.
Anytime you give value to something over God, it is worship.
Anna decided that nothing would have any more value in her life than God.
How did she do this? Through fasting and prayer.
Listen to this verse:
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
This verse tells us that in order to pursue God, we must deny ourselves and then take up our cross. Only after we do those two things, can we then follow Him.
Fasting is doing just that. Fasting is the act of denying oneself of food, for the purpose of drawing near Christ. Fasting is not just going on a diet. Fasting is not done to broadcast to others how spiritual you are. It is personal; it is private; and it is done for the purpose of worship.
As we fast, we put more value on that which we receive from God than that which we receive of ourselves. As we fast, we mentally focus on God’s direction for our life. As we fast, we deny ourselves, that we might be directed of our Heavenly Father.
When we pray, and we are speaking of intentional prayer, we do so in a sacrificial sense. Most prayers today are short, simple, sweet prayers. This type of praying spoken of here from Anna was anything but that.
She devoted herself to earnest, fervent prayer. It was agonizing prayer in pursuit of God. It was prayer that lasted great lengths of time. It was prayer on purpose.
It was getting herself into a frame of mind to where she could approach the throne of grace. It was being open, honest, and vulnerable before a righteous, holy God. It was pure and without fluff. It was waiting on the Lord in silence and meditation, giving way for Him to speak as she desperately wanted nothing more than to be in His will.
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
When verse 25 speaks of saving and losing one’s life, I do not think it is speaking of life and death per say.
It is speaking of saving or sacrificing the desire of one’s life.
In other words, if you continuously pursue the life you chose for yourself, then you will never be able to fully follow God. If you are willing to give up the desires of your own heart so that God might have the number one slot in your life, then you will lose “your life” for “His sake”, and then ultimately “find it”.
God has called each person to a different life. When we think of the cross, we think of Calvary, and rightfully so, but your cross does not lead to Calvary.
Only Christ was worthy enough to bear that cross. Our cross, does not lead to Calvary, it comes from Calvary.
Our calling is not to die for the sins of mankind. That was Christ’s cross to bear. Our calling is not to go to Calvary, it is to bring glory to God by modelling what Christ accomplished at Calvary.
In bearing His cross, He completely denied Himself to the point of death.
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, denied everything that was rightfully His for the love of the Father.
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
To deny God, in pursuit of your own glory, is to exchange worldly things for the salvation of your own soul. To deny your own will for your life for the glory of God, is to give up worldly things for cause of Christ and gain eternity.
“What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Anything you gain of worldly value in this life will be lost at death. You cannot take your clothes with you into eternity. You cannot take your house with you into eternity. You cannot take your money with you into eternity. I have never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse.
The only thing you take with you into eternity is your soul and the condition of it.
Adrian Rogers put it this way, “When you die, you are going to leave behind all that you have, and you are going to take with you all that you are.”
Have you made preparations for eternity? Have you truly surrendered all to Christ?
He who does not prepare for death is more than an ordinary fool. He is a madman.
Charles Spurgeon
Commitment
Commitment