Surrendering Your Faith

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Introduction and C1Kidz Update

Good morning every one. Hope everyone’s doing well. Like we’ve already mentioned, today is Family Sunday which gives us the wonderful opportunity to invite our children into the Sanctuary to worship along with us. They get their very own bulletins and can follow along with us this morning. I always look forward to Family Sundays. And today especially because it gives me the chance to come and look at Scripture along with you which is always a privilege and an honor.
Before we do that, I want to give you an update on what’s going on upstairs with our Kidz ministry. Upstairs, throughout this summer, we’ve been going through a series called Press Play, and we talked about what it meant to press play on our faith and gain confidence in God, his promises and who he is.
Our amazing preschool and nursery teachers have been knocking it out of the park. Always faithfully showing up and serving your children on Sundays and Wednesdays. We’re so thankful for them and their passion for kids.
I want to let you in on the loop on something that is coming down the pike. Kidz Blast, our service that we have with our kids on Wednesdays at 6:30 during adult Wednesday Connect time will be rebooting next Wednesday, August 11th.
What do I mean by rebooting? Well, in the past, we have invited our school-age and preschool kids to stay at daycare until 5:30 and at that time, we would bring them under the church umbrella, and feed them, play games, do a lesson, and have fun. We used to have a pretty large group of kids that would stay after and join us on Wednesday nights.
Well beginning next Wednesday August 11th, we will be rebooting that aspect of Kidz Blast and asking daycare kids to stay and eat a meal with us. I would also love to see us go around into the community and pick kids up with a bus ministry again. It’s the perfect way to engage the neighborhoods around us and bring kids into our church where they can engage the Word.
We want to make Wednesday Kids Blast bigger and more impactful then ever, but we are going to need your help. I’ve already talked to some of you about the possibilities of volunteering but wanted to get the word out that we need more help.
We are looking for food volunteers. Maybe you and a group of friends would be willing to help cook a meal for that week. The kids department would cover the cost of food, we just need someone to help prepare it and serve it.
We are also looking for children’s volunteers. With more kids in our building, we are going to need more help in our various areas on Wednesday–upstairs and in our preschool rooms. If you’re interested in that please see me.
And finally, we’re looking for bus drivers. If you would be willing to drive a bus from like 4:30-5:30 on Wednesdays and pick up kids. Please, let me know.
Some of you might just say, hey I’m here to help, put me wherever you need me, that’s great too! We need all the help we can get.
A lot of exciting things are happening in our kids department and we wanted to get you involve. The children of your church are worth investing in. Because while they are a huge part of the present life of our church, they are an even greater part of our future. Investing in the younger generation now, sets this church up for success in future generations. You don’t want to miss out on what God is doing.

What is Faith?

Thanks you for allowing me that shameless plug our children’s ministry. Let’s go ahead and dig into our Scripture for this morning. This morning, as my sermon title gives away, we are going to be talking about Faith.
A lot of us have preconceived notions of what faith means and what it means to have faith. Whenever I say the word, different people, Bible characters, situations, circumstances, pop into your mind. Whenever I say faith, you have a certain idea about what that is.
For many of us, we probably go back to Paul. And we think of that verse from the letter he wrote to the Hebrews: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Okay, and maybe we understand that, but I would venture to say that while we may know how faith is defined, we may think of faith differently in our everyday lives. Practically, on the ground, in the midst of tough situations, I think we may think of faith a certain way.
I think a lot of us probably think of faith like this.
(Pull out grocery bags)
By show of hands from my kids in the room, how many of you are responsible for carrying in the groceries? Any of you?
Okay, second question. How many of you are determined to carry in the entire load of groceries in one trip.
I was too. Back in the day, that was my brother Trent’s and my job. My mom would come home from the store and we’d hear the garage open and that was our cue that it was time to carry in the groceries. So we’d go down to the garage and open the trunk of the car and there was just mounds of groceries there (Which is typically the case when you have two growing young men in your house), and I’d always look at Trent and go like this (Spread arms) and say, “Load me up.”
And he knew what that meant, right? It meant, “Feed as many grocery bags over my arms as I can carry, then stuff boxes underneath my arms, under my chin, around my neck. Anything you can think of! We’re getting these groceries all in one trip.
And we’d pack eachother up and then make the long grueling waddle back to the kitchen. And it probably sounded like the afterwork hour at a Planet Fitness. We were heaving and grunting and sweating as we hauled arm and leg fulls of groceries to the kitchen. And when we made it onto the tile, it was like crossing the finish line. And we’d just (boom) drop everything where it laid. Bread was crushed, cereal was spilling, milk was busted, eggs cracked. But it didn’t matter. We’d made it all in one trip. Success!
I think a lot of us, maybe without even realize, begin to think faith a lot like that. It’s almost as if faith is all about how much you can carry. It’s about how many burdens that you can bear. How you hold up under the pressure.
We think about these people of great faith, the spiritual giants in our lives, and we see them go through difficult circumstances, trying times, hard situations, and we’re like, “Wow! They must have a lot of faith! Look at how many bags they’re carrying. Look at all the bags on their arms and under their chin and around their neck. And they’re carrying it all in stride! You wouldn’t even know their carrying it! What great faith they must have!
We think faith is all about how many burdens you can bear before you buckle.
But this morning I want to challenge that definition of faith. I want to look at a person in the Bible who, I think, shows us that faith is much more than the burdens you carry. Faith has never been about carrying heavy loads with ease or about how well you hold up under pressure.
The argument I want to make this morning is this: Faith isn’t about how much you can carry, rather it is all about where you place what you’re carrying.
People great faith don’t just carry their large, heavy, burdens with a smile on their face. Instead, they’ve learned to place their burdens in the right place.

Why does it matter to me?

We’re going to be talking about this in more detail this morning and I want to step out on a limb and say, “If you’re here. If you’re watching online. You want to have faith.” Sure, you may not believe in God, but if your here watching today, you probably wished that you could have faith, even though it may not come easily. Or maybe., you do believe in God, and you’re going through something right now, you’re carrying heavy burdens of your own, I would venture to say that you want to have faith that God will come through in your situation. You want more certainty that God will provide. You want more hope that everything will be okay. If you’re here today, faith is important to you.

Transition

So, if we’re going to have a conversation about faith, I feel like we need to look to the place that has the answers for our question. Kids, if we have a question where is the best place look? Right! It only makes sense to talk about one of the greatest stories of faith in the Bible. A man who made a decision of faith, so radical, that he has been forever named the “father of faith”.
So, go ahead and flip to Genesis 22. That’s where we will find this great story of faith, in the person and story of Abraham.
Great Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote about the story of Abraham’s faith in his book Fear and Trembling. In that book, Soren said that this story we are about to read used to keep him up at night. He couldn’t sleep because this story so disturbed him. This is what he said about the story we are about to read:
“I am constantly aware of the prodigious paradox that is the content of Abraham’s life, I am constantly repelled, and, despite all its passion, my thought cannot penetrate it, cannot get ahead by a hairsbreadth. I stretch every muscle to get a perspective, and at the very same instant I become paralyzed.”
Soren Kierkegaard was a great thinker and Christian philosopher and even he couldn’t figure out the faith element of the story we are about to read. It’s a story that has trouble theologians, Christians, and Jews for centuries. And my prayer is that as we read it, we will be trouble as well. That we’ll let God’s Word effect us and strike us to our core. That we wouldn’t read this familiar story passively, but let the paradox within paralyze us as we try to gain a perspective on what makes great faith. I pray that God would give us fresh eyes.
So, if every one’s ready. Let’s begin reading Genesis 22 verse 1.

POINT ONE

22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

This should appall us! A loving grace-filled God asking Abraham to break the Law that God himself passed down and kill his only child. This was the child promised to Abraham. His wife Sarah was barren for most of her life, her and Abraham praying for a child, praying for descendants, and finally inexplicably, in her old age, Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
And now, God is asking for Isaac back. It’s atrocious. How can God ask such a thing. Well, before we get too far, I think it’s important that we see the heart of God that is injected into these first few lines of Chapter 22.
Look at verse 2, God’s command. “Take your son”. Now, it’s not in most of our English translation Bibles, but if you look at a literal translation, or your look at the original Hebrew of God’s command to Abraham you will see something so important with God’s command.
More properly translated, it should say this: PLEASE, take your son. Or Take your son, I beg of you.
This is not a heartless command of a distant God. This is a God who understand the underlying pain and weight of what he is asking. He understands what Abraham must feel about the task of his test. This is a God who realizes the costliness of what he is asking.
God is not indifferent to Abraham’s feelings, but empathizes with him on deep level.
God proposes the test for Abraham, although, Abraham himself does not know he is being tested. All Abraham hears is a sympathetic but specific command from his God. And notice how Abraham reacts. Notice the thoughts that spun through his mind. Look at what he spit back at God’s ridiculous command.
Do you see it? Nothing. The writer of this story gives us no account of Abrahams thoughts, reactions, or words. Instead, all we get is this.

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.

I don’t know about you, but this is one task I would put off. I’m already a procrastinator by nature, but you better believe that if God asks me to sacrifice my child, that’s going at the bottom of my to-do list and staying there.
But mysteriously, inexplicably, Abraham doesn’t talk back, doesn’t respond. Instead, early the next morning. At his first opportunity, Abraham obeyed. No excuses. No commentary. No complaining. No questioning. Just obedience.
I think this brings us to our first step in trying to figure out what faith is and what it means. Here it is:

Faith Means Swift, Quiet Obedience

So, If you want to know what faith looks like, it’s not carrying the heavy loads with a smile on your face. It’s not about how many burdens you can carry. But instead, what Abraham shows us, is one of the greatest aspect of faith is SWIFT, QUIET obedience.
When God commands us, when he provides a way, a calling, an opportunity, an open door. Faith doesn’t ask questions. Faith doesn’t provide time for commentary. No complaining. No posting of Facebook, no Tweeting, no text, no phone call. Faith trusts God and shows swift, quiet obedience. When God calls, we quickly and quietly obey. It’s that simple.
It’s every parents dream. I know my parents would have loved it if just once, just once, they were able to ask one of us kids to do something and we did it swiftly and quietly. Just once. One of the three of us had more of a problem with this then the other two, and I’ll let you try and figure out who that one was. But, just once, I’m sure they wish we would quickly and quietly obey.
But all too often, two things would happen:
A: They would ask us to do something like take out the trash and this was our reaction. We’d be sitting there watching TV. “Jarren can you take out the trash?” “Yep, Okay”. (Continue to sit).
Right parents? Happens all the time. I know my wife is probably thinking, “hmm, seems familiar”.
That’s not swift obedience right? But here’s the second option. That was A this is B.
B: They would ask us to do something like take out the trash and this was our reaction. We’d be sitting there watching TV. “Jarren can you take out the trash?” “But it’s not my turn I did it yesterday!” (Continue to sit).
Can any parents relate to that? Right, what do we as parents ask of our kids? Swift and quiet obedience.
That’s what we want of our kids, and guess what? That’s what God requires of us: Obedience right then and there, Obedience free of excuses and questions.
I know what some of you may be thinking: Well, this doesn’t apply to me. I’ve never heard God command me to do something. Or, God’s only commands me to do big things like move or take a new job, but I’ve not had him command me to do anything in a long time.
But the truth is that all of us are commanded each and every hour of the day. Look into your Bibles and you’ll find commands from God. Things that He calls His followers to do. And what about Jesus, I mean, Jesus had a ton of things that we need to be doing that we just aren’t!
What about:
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Swiftly, Quietly)
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Swiftly, Quietly)
Do unto others what you would have them do unto you (Swiftly, Quietly)
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave (Swiftly, Quietly)
When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. (Swiftly, Quietly)
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” (Swiftly, Quietly)
And many many more.
We can no longer be Christians who pretend like we’ve not been commanded by God. He’s commanded us to do some pretty big things. His Book if filled with commandments that each of us need to follow!
We need to follow Christ’s commands just like Abraham did! Swiftly and quietly.
Before we leave this portion of Abraham’s story, I want us to key in on one more thing. Continue reading with me.

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

We see Abraham obeying, Switfly and Quietly, but look at the order of events here:
Abraham gets up
Loads his donkey (gets it all saddled up and ready to go)
Gets his two servants together, gets Isaac out of bed and ready to go
And then the Bible says, while the donkey is ready, the servants are ready, Isaac is ready, THEN Abraham goes and cuts wood to bring along too!
Then they leave
What a bizarre series of events. It would be like if you got out of bed this morning, you got your kids out of bed, gave them baths and showers, dressed them nice for church, fed them breakfast, got them in the car, buckled them in, put them in their carseats, and then you went back into the house and took a shower.
It doesn’t make any sense why Abraham would do what he did in the order he did it. And it has Jewish scholars and Christian Commentators puzzled. Does it reflect his state of mind? What he distressed about what he had to do that he got frazzled? What’s going on?
I don’t know. Scripture doesn’t say. But here’s what I want us to notice:

God Requires Obedience. Not Perfection.

Yeah Abraham got frazzled. His mind was scrambled. He was probably distressed and forgot about the wood after making all the preparations. But notice, throughout all of the generations and centuries after Abraham, we don’t ever focus on his mistakes, instead we find ourselves enamored with his obedience.
God doesn’t require PERFECTION he simply requires OBEDIENCE. (Swiftly and quietly)
You don’t have to get all of Jesus’s commands right every time, but for goodness sake be obedient! You don’t have to get it right every time when it comes to loving your neighbor, but God is saying, I’d rather you wake up everyday and obey me than be perfect.
I hope that takes a weight off some of you who know Christ’s commands and you pray for His help, but you really struggle to carry them out. What’s the point in following his commands if I’m just going to screw it up? That’s okay, because God would rather you just be obedient, open yourself up to the change that His Spirit wants to make in your heart. You don’t have to be perfect. Only Jesus was perfect. But God is expecting you to be obedient.
If we humble ourselves and set our hearts and our minds to obeying God out of faith and we obey him swiftly and quietly, God is pleased! God will bless us! Why!? Because he wasn’t looking for perfection from Abraham and he’s not looking for perfection from you. Just obedience (swiftly, and quietly).

POINT TWO

Let’s continue reading Abraham’s story.

When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

I don’t know if you are people who mark in your Bibles or highlight or underline or post-it or whatever, but if you have your Bible with you or you have it on your phone, you need to underline those last few words: On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
At the beginning of our story, God said: Abraham, please, I beg of you, go to the mountain I will show you. It’s there that I want you to sacrifice your promised son to me! On a mountain.
And now, three days have passed, and I imagine each one is more grueling then the next. Abraham has to walk next to his boy, holding his hand for three whole days, this long trek to where the boy will die.
And I imagine that holding his sons hand is feels a little bit sweeter than it was a week ago. I imagine it’s hard to look his son in the eyes, knowing what is about to occur. But for three whole days, Abraham quietly obeys God’s command. Again, Scripture is silent about what occured for those three days so all we can do is imagine.
But on the third day, tired, haggard, Abraham looks to the horizon and he sees the mountain in the distance! The mountain on which he would sacrifice his son. The mountain on which Isaac would die.
He sees it and I imagine he trembles.
Here’s what I want us to pause and realize about faith. Here it is:

Faith Is Not Blind to the Mountains

And herein lies another misconception we have about faith. Whenever we see someone who is going through the trenches, carrying heavy burdens, stepping through trying circumstances, we think that they’ve somehow made themselves blind to the trials they are facing. Like somehow, they must be delusional to what they are going through. Somehow they’ve done the mental gymnastics required to make their mountains into molehills, so they just don’t have to worry anymore.
But Abraham saw the mountain. He wasn’t delusional as to what was required of him. He knew exactly how difficult he would be. He knew he had a steep mountain to climb and knew what lay at the top!
To be people of faith, we see our mountains. We know our circumstances. We are very clear about the trials that lay before us. We know the prognosis. We know how much money is left in the banks account. We know the state of our relationships. We know how bad our marriage is. We see our mountains!

Faith Sees the Mountains and Begins the Climb

Faith, for Abraham was not ignoring the mountain and turning his face away, avoiding the problem until the last possible second. Abraham SAW his mountain and began the climb!
Faith says, I know my problem is big, I know the prognosis is bad, I know the outcome doesn’t look good, I know I’m thousands of dollars in debt, but I’m going to face my mountain head on out of FAITH that I serve the God that moves mountains!
This is not a “if you work hard, all your problems will diminish” sermon. This is a “look at your mountain dead in the eyes, see how massive it is, how big it, how difficult it is, and then have faith in a God who is bigger” sermon!
Faith is not blind to the mountains that stand before us. Instead, faith sees the mountain and begins the climb.
(ILLUSTRATION)

POINT THREE

Keep reading with me:

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

So here we have Abraham, he looks in the distance and sees that horrible and impending mountain standing before him and he decides that it is a climb that he and Isaac must make by themselves. So they leave behind the donkey and the servants.
And there’s this careful description of how Abraham and Isaac prepare for this next leg of the journey. The Biblical author is very specific and wants us to see what is happening here.
Abraham unloads the wood that he had loaded on the donkey, the wood necessary for the burnt offering, and he takes the wood off of the shoulders of his donkeys and places it on the shoulders of his son.
The wood that after a short while, Isaac will be laid upon as he is sacrificed, is the very wood that his father places upon his shoulders. And what does Abraham carry? His son carries the wood for the burnt offering, but Abraham carries the knife and the torch–this whole description is foreshadowing the ghastly events which must soon take place.
Father and son begin their ascent up the mountain. We don’t know how long they walked in silence for or how far they climbed up the mountain before Isaac speaks his first words of the narrative:
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
I cannot imagine what ran through Abraham’s mind in the moment. But I imagine tears filling his eyes. He turns his head so Isaac can’t see. His throats chokes up. He chooses his words carefully.
His reponse:
The New International Version (Chapter 22)
“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together.

And our final aspect of the faith exemplified in Abraham is seen in verse 9:

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

And here we find the climax and the dramatic ending of our story. Abraham and his promised son Isaac reached the crest of the mountain where God had showed him. And there, together, they arranged the wood onto the altar. Stacking it strategically in a way that would produce the biggest, hottest flame.
And then Scripture tells us Abraham binds his son Isaac. He ties his hands and feet. And once again we find silence from Scripture. Isaac says nothing. Did he question Abraham? Did he scream in confusion? Did he cry out? Did Abraham have to wrestle and subdue his son in order to bind him? Scripture is silent. And in a way, it’s silence adds to the suspense of the story.
Abraham binds his son and lays him on top of the very wood that Isaac carried up the mountain on his own back. And then Scripture lay’s out the dramatic words, “Then Abraham REACHED OUT HIS HAND and TOOK the knife to SLAY HIS SON.
Make no mistake! Abraham grabbed that knife, with every intention of killing his son. Scripture makes it very clear. This wasn’t just going through the motions. It’s not just putting on a show for God. Abraham reached out his hand to grab the knife ready, with every intention of killing his promised child!
And this should give us pause. This should mystify us. Confuse us. Effect us. I think there are two options when we look at this man Abraham.
Either he was this great Knight of the Faith. A man who had great faith in God. A man who truly believed that what God was asking him to do was for his good. 100% faith in God.
Or…he was a crazy man. A murderer. A child-killer. A lunatic. Those are the only two options.
For a man to do everything that Abraham did. Climb up a mountain because he heard a voice from heaven, tie up his son, throw him on a pile of sticks, and grab the knife to kill him. Abraham had to either be a man of great faith or a murderer. There’s no middle ground here.
Such an amazing act requires perfect faith. And it distresses me, because I ask myself, “How can we ever come close to what Abraham does here?” How did he do it? How can we to do the inexplicable out of great faith. I think I have a hint.
(Grab truce flag with SUPERNATURAL written on it)
It requires surrender. It’s planting our white flag. Calling a truce. And Surrendering to the SUPERNATURAL. In order to what Abraham did, he had to surrender everything, EVERYTHING to God: His thoughts, his words, his doubts, his worries, his SON! Everything had to be surrendered to God. There’s no other way to climb the mountain, to tie up your son, to pick up the knife, it required that Abraham surrendered everything he had, everything he knew, everything he was to a God who he believed would provide!
You see, that is the key to mirroring the great faith of Abraham in our own lives. In our own situations and circumstances where we need God to provide. (Grocery Bag) We have this baggage. These heavy things that we’re carrying. Our addictions, our jobs, our relationships, our finances, our marriages, our stresses our anxieties. And we realize that we can’t carry them anymore. And true faith means taking that which we are carrying–and not just carrying them with a smile on our face, not just seeing how much we can carry before we drop–but true great people of faith instead take what they are carrying and surrender it to the SUPERNATURAL.
Have you ever considered that it may be time to stop and lay everything down and surrender it to a God who will provide! No more trying to work it out. No more doubts. Nothing is in me or of me anymore God, I surrender it to you! Surrender it to a God who can provide a ram in a thicket.
Because what Abraham shows us is that:

When we SURRENDER, God will PROVIDE

God WILL provide. Abraham named that mountain “God WILL provide.” Not God may, not God might, Not I hope God will. If we Surrender God WILL provide.
Surrendering out of faith strips away the excess, strips away all of the other options and puts the solution solely in the hands of God. Faith kicks in when we are the end of our rope and we have no other options. We’re climbing the mountain and there’s not a lamb in sight. We’re tying up our son and there’s no substitute. And all we can do is continue to surrender everything we are feeling, thinking, doubting, questioning, surrendering everything we are out of faith that God will provide. Surrender our baggage under the white flag of the SUPERNATURAL. Trusting that God WILL provide.
Here’s the problem though. There’s two types of surrender. There’s this one, Surrender to the SUPERNATURAL, the best one, but all to often, we surrender, but we instead surrender to (other flag) the SITUATION! We put up the wrong white flag.
We are extremely susceptible to this. We encounter difficult circumstances (grocery bag) and we’re met by the seemingly impossible. Mountains enter our path and we realize that we have no choice to surrender! But rather than taking our baggage and laying it under the white flag of the SUPERNATURAL–I can’t think about this anymore, can’t worry about it, can’t fix it, can’t change, it so I’m going to lay it under God’s watchful eye and let him provide–we instead surrender to our situation! We place our baggage under the white flag of our situation–I can’t think about this anymore, can’t worry about it, can’t fix it, can’t change, so I’m just going to give up. I surrender! Rather than surrendering...We surrender TO our addictions, our jobs, our relationships, our finances, our marriages, our stresses our anxieties
Here’s the difference between these two flags:
Amazement (God I’m amazed at what you’ve done) vs. Bitterness (God didn’t do anything)
Worship (Praise God, he came through!) vs. Anger (God left me down!)
Peace (I don’t have to worry anymore, it’s up to God now) vs. Anxiety (I don’t know what I’m going to do now!)
Freedom (It’s all in God’s hands now) vs. Disappointment (God has forgotten about me)
Focus on Future Provision (God will provide) vs. Focus on Present Circumstances (God’s done nothing)
“The Lamb Will Be Given” vs. “Nothing Has Been Given”
“What God will Do!” vs. “What God Hasn’t Done”
Where are you going to lay your burdens? Where will you surrender?

Conclusion/Call

As Pastor Nathan and the praise team comes.
I can’t help but think that some of you find yourselves in this corner. You’ve thrown up the white flag to your situation. You’ve seen how high the mountain is before you. You’ve been hit with questions and doubts. You don’t see any way out. Your finances are in shambles. Your marriage has hit rock bottom. You feel strangled by addiction. And you’ve surrendered. I can’t do it anymore.
But now you might find yourself angry, bitter, anxious disappointed.
Can I tell you this morning, even if you’ve already surrendered to your situation, it’s never too late to to pick up your bags and set them under the white flag of the SUPERNATURAL. It’s never to late to lay them on the altar. To trade your bitterness in for amazement. Your anger in for worship. Your anxiety in for peace.
It’s never to late to stop focusing on what God hasn’t done and begin having faith in what God will do!
This morning we took communion and we thanked God for all that he’s given for us. The sacrifice that he’s made. He surrendered everything for you and me.
Jesus surrendered his life, so that we can surrender our situations. And somehow, through the power of God, whenever we surrender, we still find victory.
If you find yourself standing at the foot of the mountain, and you’ve surrendered to your situation, but today you want to come and surrender to the SUPERNATURAL, the altars are open.
Would you come and Surrender your situation to God and there hear him whisper that He Will Provide.
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