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Surrender
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Do you ever feel like you're leading a double life, burying secrets that are eating away at your soul's health? Join us on a soul-searching journey as we share a stirring tale of duplicity and redemption, navigating the spiritual depths of Romans chapters 1-11. We're going to challenge the common notion of turning to God only in times of distress, arguing instead that complete surrender to the Lord can fortify our bond with Him and serve as a protective shield against life's secrets and trials.
Let's illuminate the profound power of surrender in the fight against the destructive force of addiction, revealing how yielding to God's will can invite freedom, soul health, and a life filled with goodness and perfection. We'll urge you to seek wisdom from those who have surrendered to God and caution against the snares of false religious doctrines. Our discussion is sure to inspire a fresh perspective on the importance of surrendering your will to God's as the pathway to a fulfilling and purposeful life.
We will also delve into the essence of daily surrender to God's will, emphasizing the cruciality of taking up our cross and entrusting our lives to His divine plan each day. Ponder with us Jesus' words about the danger of gaining the whole world but losing our soul. We'll end by encouraging listeners to kickstart each day with a surrender prayer, placing their trust in God's plan for their lives. Join us, and let's discover a deeper meaning to the act of surrender and its transformative power on our lives.
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You are welcome at Northgate just like you are. Life may be going great for you or you may have hurts, hang-ups, and habits. No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome at Northgate. We value the process of journey. We believe in the transformative power of Christ. Northgate has a clear vision of transforming our homes, communities, and world by Pursuing God, Building Community, and Unleashing Compassion.
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Soul Health and Avoiding Duplicity
Speaker 1To celebrate real quick . One thing , man , a handful things . Last week was epic . Some of you weren't here . Actually , there was a person here that wasn't here that I want to know about this specifically . Many of you haven't maybe even ever met him , or you've seen him because he's come up here and spoken a couple times through the summer . Ken Jensen , our family pastor , right there , stand up real quick because you've got to hear this . Hold on , you've got to stand up for this , hold on . Yeah , this is so good , all right , so , yeah , so you were doing good work .
Speaker 1Last week he was actually in Uganda and took a group of people , even from Northgate and other places , took our dress or girl stuff there , gave him to orphans . Let it trip out there through Hope for Kids . Next week we're doing some stuff for admissions . But get this . So , northgate , you started this almost 33 years ago coming up . This year we baptized over 100 people . Are you kidding me ? Can you believe that ? That is insane ?
Speaker 1Last week , 49 people made a decision over there to surrender their life . You can sit down . You're allowed to sit . No , that's good man . I ran into somebody in Costco . I ran into a lot of people in Costco . That's what we do . And he came over and he was like man . I thought the water was going to start boiling when my friend got in that thing and I was like I have heard that so many times but he was like and he got teary-eyed . He's like never in my life would I have thought I'd get to see my friend get baptized and he's like . It meant the world to me because it means that I have a comrade and eternity Like I'm going to be with my guy , my friend . So many good stories from last week . It was so , so good and ultimately , really what it was about was surrender and surrendering your will . I mean , some of you wonder , like , what do you guys say in there when you're talking to them ? One specific thing I say is are you ready to surrender your will from this day forward to the Lord , who gave his life for you Surrender ? So we're going to talk about that a little bit today .
Speaker 1Here's something that I think that all of us maybe have thought or at some point you may have said out loud after we've seen so much of this someone was found out , someone was found out . You know , we're like it's in the news where somebody who's found out . In other words , they had this secret , they had this thing going on in the background where everybody knows and maybe it's someone in your personal life , or maybe it's somebody in your family , somebody at work , somebody and they got found out , they got exposed . Suddenly , it's been discovered that they've been living this double life and they had something going on that nobody knew about . They were harboring this secret , lying to people that were closest to them , lying to the people that depend on them , lying to their family , to the public , the people at work . And then now they've been discovered and when they got called out and they got caught , you have , or someone you know has all said how could they live with themselves ? Have you not thought that ? How could they live with themselves ? I mean , how could they be this publicly and this something completely different , privately ? How could they carry on without like melting down ? How could they keep up the charade ? How could they show up at dinner and look their spouse in the eye or their kids in the eye , knowing that what was going on , that one day it would become public and it's just going to destroy their family or undermine the company or their career or the people that depend on them and devastate them . How do they live with themselves ? Or how about this ? How do they show up at church , like , how do they show up and worship ? Or let me bring it into my industry , because maybe you've seen documentaries or there's these stories out there too how do they show up at church and preach or lead worship ? And they have all this stuff going on in the background ? And there's those stories out there and we've all heard these stories .
Speaker 1And when the truth comes out and when this story breaks , a family is devastated , reputations are ruined and careers are destroyed and we think , we think to ourselves how could they live with themselves ? And behind that , how could they live with themselves , is this assumption I couldn't live with myself . I don't think I could live with myself . And the reason it's so difficult for us to imagine how they could live with themselves . And you put yourself in that situation and think I could never live with myself and do what they did , in light of the people that it's going to impact , or the suppose that they love and say they love , and the people that have put their trust in them , and we say , man , my conscience , my integrity would never allow me to live with myself with that going on . But here's the truth , friend . The truth is this you could live with yourself . You could . You couldn't live with your current self , but left unattended , neglected . If neglected , your current self may not be your future self . Left unattended , your future self , you wouldn't even recognize it .
Speaker 1And the reason that this happens all of the time ? The reason this happens is because people think it can't happen . People think it can't happen because they think it can never happen . Specifically , they think that could never happen to me . I couldn't get to the point where my external life , what other people see , is so far afield and far away from what I am on the inside . That couldn't happen to me . And the reason that it happens to people is because the assumption to them is that it can't happen . And the best way to keep that from happening to you or to me is to actually assume that it could and then take the steps to ensure that it doesn't . Let me put it this way Healthy souls , even if you're super healthy right now , healthy souls the inside of you , if left unattended , become unhealthy .
Speaker 1Here's the deal . We know this . You know this . Nothing gets better when left unattended . Can you think of one thing that gets better when it's left unattended . I mean like this is why , when you woke up this morning , you looked in the mirror and you went , oh , that needs some attending too . Right , it got left unattended too for eight hours , six hours , three hours , whatever it was , I better attend to that . There's this thing right With our appearance or our performance , our reputation . We attend to those outward things because people are watching and they're expecting and we're competing for approval and acceptance and progress . So it's natural for all of us to pay attention to the exterior . We all do that . But this is so important . I cannot emphasize how important this is . There is only one person who can be attentive to your soul , what's going on inside of your heart , and that's you . That's you . And here's why this is so important Because the health of your soul determines your capacity for duplicity .
Speaker 1The health of your soul , what's happening on the inside of you determines your capacity for duplicity . And here's what I mean by that . Duplicity is that you're one person with this group and you're a completely different person with this group . Amen , you know exactly what I'm saying , right ? I'm one person around this . I'm one person on the outside . This is what I look like , but I'm a completely different person on the inside .
Speaker 1The health of your soul , how you care for , how we care for our soul , determines how much duplicity that we can actually stand . What that gap , what that difference looks like , how much duplicity we can actually live with and the ability to live with the version of ourselves that you don't really like , how much of the ability you have to live with the person that you used to be , or that you no longer are the self that you want to be or the self that you always thought that you would be , that you now are the people , the thing that people see , which means that a healthy soul has very little tolerance for duplicity . A healthy soul realizes uh-oh , like time out . What's going on in the inside doesn't really reflect what's going on in the outside , and what's reflected on the outside is actually better than what's going on on the inside . I actually have some work to do . A healthy soul this is what healthy souls do . They stay one . There's an integrity . The two are in sync . But when you neglect when you neglect the health of your soul and I neglect the health of myself we then create a capacity for duplicity and ultimately , ultimately , it then comes back to haunt us and hurt us , but more specifically hurt the people who we say are the most important to us . You know this . Like you can just go sideways If we're not focused on this .
Speaker 1Our technical director , zach , in the back he's got a self-driving car and the other week he was driving . He was driving and decided to let it drive for a minute and it drove him off the road . You take your hands off the wheel . But you've all done this right . You're driving , you take your hands off the wheel . All of a sudden it starts to veer off to the side a little bit . If you're not attending to those , it's that same thing .
Speaker 1A healthy soul determines how far you can go before your conscience just won't let you pretend any longer . And a healthy soul has a very active conscious assuming that there's any conscious left if you let this go on for too long . The health of your soul determines your capacity for hypocrisy , how willing you are to lie at the drop of a hat to other people or get lost in that lie so much yourself . It then becomes your own truth To lie to yourself , to posture and pretend . The health of your soul determines whether you choose to actually close the gap between who you are and who you should be , the work that we can do here and not merely manage the gap , what's going on ? Because we all know this , that just managing eventually will break down . So here's the point , here's the point . Don't kid yourself . I'm not gonna kid myself , I won't kid myself . Let's not kid ourselves .
Speaker 1The bad news is that all of us that you have the potential to become someone you would despise if you met them . You have that potential . You could become the unimaginable , you could become unthinkable to live with yourselves . People do it all the time . People do it all the time and they do it all the time because they think it could never happen to them . And the difference between those who avoid this and the difference between those who don't is the health of their soul , their willingness and their ability to monitor , to pay attention to what's going on on the inside .
Speaker 1So now for today , I'd like to read you some statements from a letter that the apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament to Christians living in the first century Rome . It's called the Book of Romans . That , I think , can help us today . Paul , when he wrote this , he had never been to Rome . He didn't know most of the people . He kind of , though , outlines in this book and describes his version of what it means and it looks like to follow Jesus , and in this passage that we're gonna look at today , he asks people that he had never met to do something that , on the surface , as we read this , sounds and seems so irrational and so illogical . I'm sure that when they read this , or heard this being read to them , they kind of tap the brakes a little bit , to be like he said what , he's asking us to do what , and he's about to make a case that this thing that seems so irrational , so illogical that it's actually the most reasonable thing that you can do . And for us , those of us here in the room today , we gotta have to shift our thinking . Here's what he says Starts in Romans , chapter 12 , verse one . Therefore , I urge you Now , right off the bat , we have to say what's the ? Therefore , therefore , right , there's obviously some sort of thing that's happened . Yes , you're right , there is 11 chapters that have happened before that . So I have just a little bit of time . I'm gonna give you a quick synopsis of
The Logic of Surrendering to God
Speaker 1these chapters .
Speaker 1Here's the deal Romans , chapter one . What he's talking to . He's speaking to the Gentiles those are us , it's everybody who's not a Jew . Romans , chapter two . He starts speaking to the Jews saying I want for anything and everything for you to come to know Christ . Romans , chapter three . Chapter three , he says the Jews and the Gentiles , all of us that means everyone , everyone in this room , everyone , wherever you came from have fallen short of the glory of God . No one is abstained from that . And then Romans , chapter four and five . He says now , because of sin , there's separation . That only the grace of God , that we have a right standing in him . Romans , chapter six .
Speaker 1Then he asked this question that we are all worth thinking . That he knew that people were thinking and they were like well , if it's all about grace , then we can just like in mercy , then we can just keep going on with life how it is right . We got a free pass here . And he says no , that would be making a mockery of grace . So then in chapter seven he says this is why I understand , I keep doing the things that I don't want to do , and then I don't do the things that I actually want to do . And then chapter eight , he begins with but in light of all that there is now no condemnation , even though I keep doing that , even though I keep messing up for those who are in Christ Jesus , in this grace and mercy . Then in chapter nine he says it's because of our sin . Then there's actually no human effort , there's no thing that anyone can do to make us righteous in God's eyes and in God's sovereign grace .
Speaker 1And then Romans 10 , he says and before you think that you don't have a role just because it's all taken care of , he got it all done . You do have a role . There are people everywhere , and this is even to us church today . There are people everywhere and our responsibility is to actually go and share this news with another person , imadjodea , a human being , and let them know that God is for them , that God is loving . We have a responsibility to do that .
Speaker 1Then chapter 11 , he then just breaks out and worship . He has like a little mini worship break and he says God will keep his promises and he's specifically even calling back to his brothers , the Jews , saying that he loves you so much he will not close his eyes to you . He has this promise for you and what he's done now in chapters one through 11 , is try to give us right theology , and right theology leads to right thinking , and right thinking leads to right living . That's what the therefore is . Therefore , now , therefore , in light of all of that , I urge you . He's leaning in right now . He's like grabbing us by the collar and saying come on , like if you haven't heard anything that I've said already . Don't miss this .
Speaker 1I urge you , therefore , brothers and sisters , in view of God's mercy here's the twist . It's not view of God's authority , it's not in view of God wagging his finger in your face , it's not in view of God's rules and commands . He's like no , no , no , no , no , no . That's not the Christian faith in how it works . We don't do things in order to gain God's love and approval . We do things because he has given us his love and his approval and his mercy and grace .
Speaker 1And he's like in view of everything God has done for you , everything that God has provided for you , brothers and sisters , in view of his mercy , he says here's what I want you to do to offer . To offer this is choose , willingly to present , to yield , to submit , to place at God's disposal your bodies and in that context , what he's talking about is your bodies , is all of you , it's the inside of you and the outside of you . It's the exterior and the interior . He says I want you to present your whole self , inside and out , everything about you , to God . And then this is where it gets a little crazy for them right your bodies as a living sacrifice , which means nothing to us because we don't do sacrifices . We don't understand the culture that was hearing this .
Speaker 1Sacrifices were a physical thing people did all the time . In every pagan culture and Jewish culture , ancient Judaism , there were physical sacrifices , and so they had a visual of what a sacrifice was . You took an animal and the animal died . It did not survive the sacrifice right . And he says I want you Paul's like . Okay , hold on a minute , just stay with me for one second .
Speaker 1He goes I want you to consider presenting yourself to God as a living sacrifice , and the good news is you don't have to die . But the bad news is you have to be willing to submit yourself to God , to which we say okay , like my entire self to God , like surrender everything , like write a blank check for my entire life over to him , some of you guys . So checks are these little small pieces of paper that are rectangular things . Old people use them . Sometimes we're like whoa , wait , wait , wait , wait , wait . Some of the old people are giving me the side eye right now . Well , that's too much . Like blank check life . No , no , no , like that's the crazy thing . Here's the crazy thing .
Speaker 1Actually , most religious people do this . Maybe some of us in here do this right . Maybe this is what some of you do . I'm picking on you just a little bit . We go I don't wanna surrender my whole life to God . What if I just call on Him when I need Him ? I mean , like , isn't that good ? Let me tell you a little bit about that approach . If your approach to faith in Christianity is I'll just call on God when I need Him , then you find that you're gonna end up calling on Him a lot more than you should need to when you surrendered Him . Because you need Him more , because you keep doing the stuff to get you in trouble . You keep doing that stupid thing over and over and over again . You keep confessing the same sin over and over . The relationship is starting to feel like the last relationship . The marriage is starting to feel like the last one , right Round and round , because when you try to live an unsurrendered Christian life , it doesn't work , and I can prove it .
Speaker 1Think about the greatest regret . I don't know you , obviously , and we're not gonna do confession time right now , but think about it . The season of life , of regret , and the season that you ran , that you wish you could go back and undo . That weekend , that week , spring break , I don't know , pick your thing . The move you made , the job you took , the relationship , maybe even that marriage . It took place during a time of I'll call on God when I need him season , didn't it ? You were not surrendered to the will of your heavenly Father .
Speaker 1And then and I know I'm pushing a little bit you mistakenly thought you could pray your way out of a situation you had behaved your way into . If I get in trouble gosh , we are tiptoeing I will call on God and I will pray my way out of the situations or the circumstances I have behaved into . And it doesn't work . And then God didn't come through and you wondered what's up with God . And God wondered what's up with you . He's like I've already covered this . I already sit in my son , I already gave the grace and mercy , I already paid for your sins , but what you're doing right now is you're just undermining your own success , your relationships , your future . You continue to just go into this cycle of sin . I've paid for this . But look it , here's the deal . I'm inviting you into living a different kind of life . I'm inviting you to follow my son , to surrender yourself to me and to trust . And there is nothing up with me , I'm just hoping you kind of come to your senses .
Speaker 1And then Paul assures us that presenting ourselves now to God as a living sacrifice as crazy as that sounds , especially to them right ? He assures us that it is not unreasonable . In fact , he assures us that it's actually the opposite . I'm gonna throw a little Greek word at you , because this is just so amazing . He says this . Next , he says offer your body as a living sacrifice .
Speaker 1And they're like oh , that's irrational , that is crazy . Who would do that ? This is the little Greek word log and key , where we get the word logic . He says this is the most logical and reasonable thing you could possibly do . Wait , surrender my life , my body , everything about me , to God is the logical , reasonable thing to do .
Speaker 1And Paul's like absolutely Well , why ? Well , paul would say this guy loves you , he's actually for you , he actually has your best interest in mind . Did you know that he created you , which means he knows what's best for you , he knows what's not best for you and he knows everything about you . You should trust him . And why would you not surrender to your heavenly Father , who loves you and invites you into a life where there is a God who actually cares for you and is willing to guide and direct your life ? And he's not gonna force his will upon you . He's not Because it's by the mercies of God , not by the power and the authority and the force of God , because love does not operate that way . Besides , as you read the New Testament , you discover Jesus is one another and others first . Ethic really is the best way to live . It's the best way for your family , your relationships , your morality , your future , the best way for our nation , the best way for people .
Speaker 1So Paul says look , I know the idea of surrendering this blank check life to your heavenly Father . I know that on the surface it sounds like too much , but it is the most reasonable , logical thing that you could possibly do . This is the framework , the framework for the eternal life , for the entire Christian life that we respond to God not to gain something , but we respond to him because he's given us so much . In light of what he has given us , the most logical then thing that we can do is , in the morning , get down onto our knees or sit on the edge of your bed because it hurts some of us and surrender your life once again to your Father in heaven . Now the apostle Paul . He actually teased this same idea that he got earlier in his letter to these first century Christians living in Rome in chapter six , but he states it negatively .
Speaker 1So let me read that version of well , here's what he writes in Romans , chapter six . He starts with this instead of do , he starts with do not , do not offer , do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of unrighteousness . Now , I love that . This is so cool . Right here , the apostle Paul personifies sin . It's like he's making sin an entity , a living , breathing entity , which I think actually makes it a lot easier for us to understand what's going on inside of us , because there's somebody in there . I mean , like , what's wrong with me ? I do the very thing I do not wish to do . Well , it talks about that . I think about the things I'm not supposed to think about . I behave the ways that I'm committed to not , and yet again , I did it . Again . What's wrong with me ? Paul would say look , don't ask me to explain it . It's sin . There's that thing in you . Now don't offer any part of yourself as an instrument , like to be played , of unrighteousness .
Speaker 1We're going to offer ourselves to either God or sin , and the best way I think to understand sin in the New Testament is this word selfishness . Selfishness is my way . We're going . We're going to eat what I want to eat . We're going to do what I want to do . My appetites my appetites at your expense , my appetites at your expense , my appetites at my wife's expense , my appetites at my children's expense , my appetites being met at the expense of people I work with , my appetites being satisfied at your expense and your appetites being met at my expense .
Speaker 1This is the nature of sin as described by Jesus and taught in the New Testament . And he says don't let sin reign in your body , but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life . That's what he said in chapter 12 as well . Offer yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life . And here's the applicable part . Offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness , every part . Imagine if you did this to offer every part of yourself to Him , to God , as an instrument of righteousness .
Speaker 1I want to offer you my ears , what I listen to . I want you to offer your eyes , what you look at . I want to offer you my mind , what you think about . I want to offer you my hands what would you have me do ? I want to offer you my feet when would I go ? I want to offer you my tongue what would I say or not say ? I want to offer you my stomach what would I eat or drink ? I want to offer you my resources that you have entrusted with me . I want to offer you my hopes and my dreams . I want to offer you everything , god , and say God , I see all of these things as instruments that you can use for your will and they are available to you . I am surrendering to you , all of me , your will and intent , with your purpose and agenda in mind .
Speaker 1And then what follows ? That is one of my favorite little phrases of the New Testament . I think it's really misunderstood because of the way it shows up in our English text , but he says if you do this , this is so amazing . If you do this , here's the promise , here's the payoff . If you do this , then sin shall no longer be your master Again . He personifies sin , like it's a thing . Let me ask you a question Do you ever feel like sin is your master ?
The Power of Surrender
Speaker 1How about this ? Have you ever dealt with any kind of addiction ? I mean any kind of addiction . Don't go to the extreme . Stuff Like the stuff that you're actually dealing with , that you just don't want anybody to know about , like , oh , that one's kind of got me , don't you feel like you've had another master at times , like it's destroying your life , like it could actually destroy or it could over time destroy your family , your health , your thinking , everything about you . And Jesus says look . And Paul says look , I'm inviting you , I'm telling you right now if you step into this life of surrender daily , surrender your entire body as instruments of God's righteousness , then sin is no longer going to be your master .
Speaker 1When you say yes to sin , sin then becomes your master . I'm going to make it more practical for you when you say yes to selfishness , selfishness becomes your master . And you know what master selfishness will take you directly and guide you to and order you to , the land of self-centeredness . We all know that person , master Sin , will order you to say yes to every opportunity it gets , every chance that it gets , and you are free to do whatever you want to do because you're smart and you'll never get caught , because you're crafty and she'll never find out , because you're so deceptive and they'll never know . You can do whatever you want to do , say yes to yourself , live in the land of selfishness and self-centeredness but ultimately , ultimately , do you know what self-centeredness ultimately liberates you from , from you ?
Speaker 1You're divided . You wake up one day and you realize I am two different people . There is such a gap between what I present and who I actually am that I've gotten so accustomed to living with myself in this duplicity . And you know what ? The person who's been there , that's done that , that's actually had to claw their way back and try to patch their life together . Do you know what they would tell you If they were in the room right now and they were listening ? And many of us have this story some of you are like this is my song , you know , like you are singing my song right now . This is my life . I've been here . Do you know what they would say to you ? I don't know their exact words , but it would sound something like this I urge you , brothers and sisters , in view of God's mercy , to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice , because master , sin , master , selfishness it's all about me has no mercy .
Speaker 1Sin and selfishness and self-centeredness always baits you to the threshold of disaster and then and then it stands back once you step over it , isn't it true ? That's some of the shame that you live with . Wasn't something someone else did . It was a decision you made . The apostle Paul is saying look , do you really want sin to be your master ? No , that's why surrendering yourself to your heavenly Father , all of me , every part of me , inside and out , is the way to actual freedom , because God loves you .
Speaker 1And to finish this text , it becomes holy and pleasing to God . As the English version , it's the most logical thing you could possibly do . And then he says do not conform to the pattern of this world , but be transformed by renewing your mind , and then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is , his good , pleasing and perfect will . The pattern of this world , friends , will split you in half . The pattern of the culture we live in will split you in half . Sin resides in all of us as sin , as your master . It will eventually split you in half . You will become someone you are forced to live with that you cannot even imagine . Imagine that you're having to actually live with . It will put you at the center of your life and then you will become small , because self-centeredness makes you and makes me small , but transformed . But we can be transformed by the renewing of your mind , and here's the other payoff . I love this . And if you do this , you surrender , you allow God to renew your mind , to surrender every day . Then you will be able to and this is such a great promise you will be able to attest and approve that God's will is that God's will is Now here .
Speaker 1Here's something that actually a lot of us struggle with . If the notion of God's will scares you , it's probably because you've never surrendered God's will for very long . You've never really lived in that state for very long . If the notion of surrendering to God it scares you , you know like , ah , it might limit my options , like life's not gonna be as fun anymore , like I'm not gonna be as much fun anymore . If the whole idea of surrendering and God's will scares you , it's because some religious person has put some false idea of God and Jesus in your head , like they don't get it . It's completely wrong , because it is sin and selfishness that should scare you , not God's will . If you are more afraid of God's will , then you are of the potential that sin can do to you . You have been deceived and perhaps you have been deceived and you have been confused by religious people who put like this religious faith paradigm out there that in no way actually reflects the teaching and the life of Jesus . You have been seduced and deceived .
Speaker 1But the surrendered folks around you , those men and women who've lived a season , two , three , eight , 20 of their life to the best of their abilities , surrendering to their heavenly Father , who have surrendered what it looks like to follow Jesus , they would assure you Come on , listen to this . They would assure you that God's will is everything that the apostle says . Here's what he says it's good that it'll be good . His pleasing , you will be pleased . His perfect will for you . Friends , it's all about this . You want a healthy soul . It's surrender your will . It's surrender
Daily Surrender and Following Jesus
Speaker 1your will .
Speaker 1But here's the catch it's every single day , it's at the beginning of the day . It has been my personal routine and habit for me for many , many years , every single morning . Heavenly Father , here's my hands , here's my feet , here's my eyes , here's my mind , here's my ears , here's my resources , here's my opportunities , here's my hopes and my dreams , here's everything I hope for God . I am presenting it , all of it , to you every single morning and here's how Jesus said it . He said in Matthew 16 , 24 , whoever that's us , we're the whoever wants to be my follower , must say no to themselves and take up their cross annually at the end of the year , or in January , because it's a new year , or at camp , because that song was . That song hit so hard and I had the goosebumps and I started crying At the end of that sermon when they did that altar call no , no , no . This is important and maybe you've been a Christian a long time , maybe you've missed this .
Speaker 1To follow Jesus requires a season , a decision every single day , because the world that we live in and the temptations that we face and what's going on in the inside . He says take up their cross daily . Now , those who really understand this and done some of the work , you understand . When daily don't work , we're down to the hour , and when hour don't work , we're down to the minute and when minute don't work . We're just second by second . We're blanking this thing out . Every morning , follow me .
Speaker 1In the New Testament era , a cross symbolized the end of independence . Jesus says every day I want you to declare your dependence and your independence from yourself and follow me . And then he concludes with this question , and I don't really don't know how to give the emotion around this question it deserves , but he like leans in right here I think he's such a good communicator and he goes what good Can you tell me ? What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul ? He uses that word soul there . Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul ?
Speaker 1Jesus is saying come on , I don't want you to get to your 30s or your 40s , 50s , 70s , or when you retire or when you've gone through and run through another marriage and realize I've got all this stuff , I got all the attention , I did all the things , whatever your answer is , but inside I'm a mess , he's like . I don't want you to get there . So here's what you can do and I want to encourage you . He's saying look , surrender , surrender . I want to encourage you this week or maybe from now going forward . I want to encourage you . Scripture begs you to this . I urge you to do this . Start with this . You can take a picture if you want .
Speaker 1I wrote out my little prayer . It's a simple prayer that goes something like this Heavenly Father , I surrender myself to you . Here are my ears Today . What would you have me listen to ? Here are my eyes Today . What would you have me see ? Here is my mind . What would you have me think about ? Here are my hands . What would you go and have me do ? Here is my feet . Where would you have me go ? Here is my tongue . What would you have me say today ? Not say today . Here's my stomach . What would you have me put in it to eat or to drink ? Here are my resources that I have been entrusted with . Here are my hopes . Here are my dreams . Here are my desires . I surrender all . Thy will be done through me today . Amen . Friends , surrender to the will of your heavenly Father and you will have less capacity to put up with becoming someone that you ultimately don't want to live with . Save God your soul and surrender all .