Acts: A Surrendering Church

Well, good morning, so good to see you. Glad that you here

with us worshiping. Hope you have your Bible. Show me, show me

if you got your Bible, and raise them love. Look at all these

Bibles. Amen. Now I encourage you not only to have your word right,

but to be in the word during the week. So hope that you've

been able to do that. If you're turning with me, that to Acts

Acts chapter twelve, and we're gonna pick up in verse twenty five, and

then we're gonna go into chapter thirteen. Now I want to ask you a

question this morning as we start out, do you want to be a church?

As we've gathered together as the body believers, do you want to be

a church of Bethesda that changes the world. I think you'd say yes,

right. Do you want to be a church of bathesa not only changes our

world, but also changes Durham, changes North Carolina, changes the United States?

I think we all come together and say, you know what, we

not only want some amazing things happen inside the walls of this building, but

we hope that what happens here will not only impact the lives are people in

this place, but it also will impact those in Durham, in our state,

in the United States, and to the end of the earth. Right

that's our goal as a church is to make change lives of people here and

all throughout our world. Can I tell you a church right here in North

Carolina. It's about seven to eight years old, and then it's seven to

eight years of existence. It has sent over seventy missionaries from the church members

into the nations to reach people for Jesus Christ. In seven to eight years,

seventy church members they have sent out this church. Also, they have

a goal for next year that there would be two hundred families in their church

that would adopt children in North Carolina. I tell you that's a church right

now, this in our state, and that church is changing the world for

the gospel of Jesus Christ. That church is changing North Carolina through adopting children.

And can I tell you as we come to Acts chapter twelve, we

see a church that a church that Luke shows us, a church that changed

the world as we know it as we hear today as a result of the

work of the church and the churches. The name of the church is the

Church of Antioch. Antioch was a church that changed the world. And today

I want to see how did they do that? You would say to me,

Pastor, Okay, you've got me. Yes, we want this,

we want this for our church. So how do we do that? How

did the Church of Antioch do it? And I tell you today how they

did it? Was they lived to complete the mission. And you say,

pastor, what is the mission? The mission was they surrendered their lives and

their church to fulfill the mission and the mission that they believed in and they

lived for and they surrendered to was this mission? It was Acts one eight.

Jesus told his disciples, but you will receive power when the Holy spirits

come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea

and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You see, this

church in Antioch believed that they had a mission from God and that mission was

to take the Gospel to Jerusalem, ju Do, to Sameria and to the

ends of the earth. And they lived as a church with God. How

are we going to fulfill that mission? And as a result of being committed

to surrender their lives to that mission, they changed the world. And today,

as we come to this passage, scripture titled my Church's told of my

sermon is a surrendering church, because that's what Acts was Antioch the church and

the Acts tells us about, was a surrendering church. They surrendered to the

mission. And so this morning, Luke, as we come to Luke the

end of chapter twelve, it goes into chapter thirteen, Luke gives us a

little summary of this church of Antioch, and it kind of shows us kind

of behind the scenes, what happened, what started this surrender in this church,

what started this movement that changed the world. And so this morning I

want to see how this church this morning became a church that's surrendered to God's

mission. And then how we as as Bethasda, how can we become a

church that surrenders to God's mission. Let's stand together and lets read God's word

together. It's Acts, chapter twelve, and we were starting verse twenty five,

and we'll go to verse three. The Bible says, and Barnabas and

Saul returned from Jerusalem. And when they completed their service, bringing with them

John whose other name was Mark. And now there were in the church and

Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas Simeon who was called Niger Lucius of Sirene Manaan,

a lifelong fring of Herod Textriarch and Saul. And while they worshiped the

Lord and FASTI the Holy Spirit said, sat apart from me, Barnabas and

Saul for the work to which I've called them. Then after fasting and praying,

they laid hands on them and they sent them off. Would you pray

with me every hit about every id close as we just start in prayer this

morning, as you every individual here as you've come, would you just say,

today, God, right now, I surrendered this time to you,

Lord. I surrender my thoughts, my worship God, I you God.

Would you speak to my heart today and would you lead me as a believer

to surrender the Lord to you today? In my worship God, I surrendered

to you. Would you do that right now? Lord? We thank you

that you've led people to come here to gather to worship you Father. There

are people who are worshiping a person and watching on lining on TV this morning

who come for the purpose to worship you Father, to know more about you

God, so they can worship you greater. And I pray that this would

be a time, Lord, that we would surrender Lord, our thoughts to

you, Lord, our hearts to you. Lord. And Lord we allow

Lord you to speak Lord to us. So Lord, we know how much

we need Lord you and the working of your Holy Spirit to move in us

to lead us. Lord to you. So God, we pray that your

Holy Spirit would take over us today, take over this place, take over

our minds and our hearts. And Lord, lead us Lord to your mission.

To surrender to your mission. Or we love you, We thank you

for what you're doing, and we celebrate God your hand upon our church and

just seeing God, what you've done in our students this week. And God,

we want more of you Father. And so God we ask Lord now

in this time, Lord, may you do a work in us name.

We pray, Amen, you may be seated. How do we become a

church that surrenders to God's mission? Number One, We surrender first, we

surrender to the Holy Spirit. If we want to be a church that surrenders

to God's mission, it starts when we surrender to the Holy Spirit. The

Bible tells us as we come to chapter twelve, at the verse twenty five

of Chapter twelve, it kind of brings us back as you come to Luke,

and I mean come to Acts. The Book of Acts is actually separated

in two different parts. The first part of Acts is about Peter's ministry and

the ministry of the church in Jerusalem starting in here, and then chapter thirteen

it picks up with the ministry of Paul and the ministry of the Gentile Church.

And so we see two different churches here in this two different churches ministries

emerge. And now this church emerges in chapter thirteen. And it tells us

and if you remember, if you go back with us, and if you've

been with us in our study in Acts, in chapter eleven, if you

remember, there was some people who left Cyprus son Sireene, and they were

early believers, and they went into Antioch, a very wicked city, and

the Bible tells us they begin sharing the gospel, you remember. And as

people begin sharing the gospel, people got saved. You remember. The church

in Jerusalem heard about it, and they said, you know, we need

to find out what's going on in this church. And so they sent Barnabas,

you remember. And Barnabas comes in and hearing that what's happened, and

he investigates and find out that these are believers, right, And the Bible

says that that Barnabas preaches, and more people are added to the church,

so much so that Barnabaus couldn't handle it all. And so the scripture told

us in act chapter eleven that Barnabas went to Tarsus where Paul was, and

got Paul and brought him back to the church in Antioch. And for an

entire year Barnabas and Saul taught the church. And now as we come to

chapter thirteen, he's bringing us back to that. You remember, at the

end of chapter eleven, the Bible tells us there was a prophet in that

church in Antioch. You think Agabus. You remember, Agabus has a vision

that there was going to be a famine in the land, you remember,

and that they should take up an offering to the church of Antioch and send

it to the church in Jerusalem. And they did that. They took up

the offering, they went to and Paul and Barnabas took that offering back to

the church in Jerusalem. And so as we come to verse twenty five of

this passage scripture, Lucas bringing us back to that. He's kind of finished

Peter's ministry and the administry at the church in Jerusalem, and now he's transitioning

back to now Paul's ministry and the ministry of the Gentile Church. And it

starts by showing us what this early church, this church should changed the world,

what it was like, and so verse twenty five tells us that came

back and brings the offering. And then verse one of chapter thirteen it says,

now there were in the church at Antioch, and it gives us a

list of the different leaders. It us that there's prophets and there's teachers.

So it describes the kind of the leadership. Again, this is kind of

behind the scenes, what was happening, what was going on inside this church

before it it just blew its top off and God began using it in miraculous

ways. And the Bible says within that church there were prophets and teachers,

and it begins telling us about these different prophets and teachers. There's a guy

named Simeon there and there's a guy named Lucius, and both of them are

believed to be from Sirene, which is North Africa. The Bible tells us

about another leader named Menamee, and he is from He's a friend of hero

De Tetriarch and Herod Detellriarch actually was Herod to tenepas he was the one who

beheaded John the Baptists. He grew up in that Roman world. And so

we see a little bit about this. But I think the one thing that

I want you to understand that Luke wants you and see, is this church

started as a church that was founded on the teaching of the Word of God.

For entire year, Paul and Barnabas taught the Word of God. Now

you have to understand, Scripture tells us there's teachers and prophets in there.

So there were those. A part of teaching was on theological training, and

that's what Paul and Barnabas did for entire year. But there's also prophets who

were in the church at that moment, and prophets gave more practical teaching.

We would see that kind of in line with agabus Right. Agabusts told about

a famine in the land, and that told the church what they should do

with this famine. That's more practical, and that was what was made up

of the church. But listen, the church had this strong foundational teaching that

was a huge part. But the Bible says, it doesn't just stop there.

It didn't just said they had good teaching and the church exploded. Right.

No, No, the Bible says here in verse thirteen, it tells

us about these teachers and these leaders. But the Bible says, in verse

two, while they were worshiping the Lord in fact and the Holy Spirit,

and the Holy Spirit said, the Bible says, listen, they had this

great teaching there, I mean phenomenal leaders Paul and barnabas apostles, and they

were, no doubt giving the teaching of Jesus to these theological training. The

foundation was laid. But it didn't stop there. They didn't say, Okay,

we've got it. We've the church's got all that need. It's got

a good preacher, it's got a good teacher, and now we just sit

and wait. That's not what they did. Because you see in our lives

as churches, many times we believe, and I've seen it being in ministry

many times. If we're going to have a church that grows, all we

need is a good preacher. If we can just get a good preacher who

can really preach the word, the church will grow. And can I tell

you today that foundationally, it is important that the church be founded on the

Word of God. But a church growth and a church explosion and making an

impact in the world. It's not so much about the preacher in the poolpit,

is that the believer that's in the pew. Because for this church,

listen, they said, you know what, we've got good preaching. We've

got good teaching. But Lord, that doesn't necessitate that we're gonna hear your

word. We're gonna hear your direction in us or what you want us to

do. So the Bible says, now, I want you to hear this.

The Bible says they had this great teaching and preaching, but the Bible

says they wanted to see what God wanted them to do. So you know

how they did that? How did they surrender to the Holy Spirit? They

surrendered by prayer, by fasting, and through their worship. You know what

they said. Sometimes we think this, and this has been a really really

passion for me as a pastor, but as a Baptist churches is this passage

of Scriptures Zachariah four or six says, now the Word of the Lord chios

erubable, not by might, not by power, but my spirit, says

the Lord. See, there's this aspect for us as church members and as

pastors, that we think that we can operate rate church by man's power.

I mean, I've been a seminary. I know to prepare a sermon.

Tannard knows how to play chords on the guitar and what songs to play.

And there's a belief that we can just depend upon our power and our abilities

and our skills and we can grow as church based upon our skills and meantimes,

churches believe that if we just get a good preacher, will be okay.

This church understood that it wasn't just the skill of the man in the

pulpit or the leaders in the pulpit. It was the Holy Spirit's power in

them that was going to lead them to change the world. And so much

so listen to this. It didn't say that the pastor and the worship leader

and the youth pastor got together and really just surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says the church came together. I mean everyone in the church,

the whole body, saying God, we're going to surrender to you in worship

God, We're going to surrender to you fasting. We're going to surrender to

you in prayer God. As a whole church, we're coming together and we

said, God, we want to know what you want us to do.

Can you imagine if everyone in this room would commit to say God, I'm

going to surrender to you in prayer God this week. I'm gonna fast every

church member here. I'm gonna fast one day this week because I want to

know what she wants to do as a church, Lord God, as we

come to worship and singing God, I'm gonna surrender my worship to you.

You see, surrender is saying God, I can't handle this. I can't

do this on my own. I don't have the power to do this.

I have the ability. Have you ever surrendered anything in your life? I

assure you have, right. We all surrendered different periods of times of our

life. There was just the last week, a few weeks ago, Brady's

mom and dad were leaving home and they were going to run the errand and

they were in her little car and they got about a mile out from their

house and the car just stopped. Well, peeps got out and got out

of the car and he kind of you know, looked underneath and didn't know

what to do. And so finally they sat there for a little bit,

called the record right, finally got it started long short, drove it back

home and and that called the mechanic. And you know what they did.

They surrendered. You know why because Peach does Brandy's mom and dad don't know

anything about vehicles. They had the engine light that popped up on the screen.

They don't know anything about what that thing. They don't have any way

to check it, right, So you know what they did. They surrendered.

They called the mechanic and said come get it right, got the tow

truck that came. When the tow truck took it off to the mechanic,

mechanic called and said, hey, it's this. They didn't say, well,

you know, I don't really think that or I think it really would

be better for us to do this, or really think it would be better

to do this. No, they said, we surrender. You know what's

bad, and that's what that's what surrendering is. There's times that you've done

that, right, there's times that your car's burked down, you don't know

anything about mechanics, so you surrendered to the mechanic. There's times where your

your air conditioning in your house burn down. You don't know anything about h

back systems from home, so you surrendered to the h back guy. There's

times where your your yard, the grass is dying in your yard, and

you don't know anything about how to grow to grass, so you call Long

Cariage professional surrender, tell me what to do. There's times where your health

just fails. Right, there's something going on physically in your body, and

you know nothing about health care. So you go to the doctor and you

surrender and say, tell me what do I need to do? Can I

tell you? As we come to worship and as we come to church,

if we want to be a church that surrenders to the ministry and surrenders to

the mission, it's when we as an individual church members come to the Lord

on Sunday morning and say, Lord, I surrender. Lord. I don't

know what to do with my life. Lord, I don't know what direction

to do. I don't know where you want me to go. I don't

know what you want me to do. And so God, I surrender to

you. You know, it's interesting and we're surrendered to the mechanic, and

we'll surrendered to the doctors. And but we will come to church and we

want surrender to God. Will come in and says, you know, what

does God, what are you going to do for me today? No surrender

in worship. If we want to complete God's mission, if we want to

surrender to God's mission, it's going to be when we as individual church members

and the body says God, we surrender this church to you. Doctor Lawless

is a professor at Southeastern and I've never forgotten the words that he said.

He says, when we don't pray, we tell God we don't need you.

Just let us sit in a little bit. When we don't pray,

we said God, I don't really need you in my life. I want

to take that a little bit further. Not only do I think when we

don't pray, we tell God we don't need you, but when we don't

surrender and worship, we tell God we don't need you in worship. When

we don't fast for God's direction in our life, we tell God or we

don't really want your direction in our life. So we as individuals says God,

don't really need you in my life. God, don't really need you

to worship and God, I don't really need you in the direction of my

life. And not only can we do that individually, but we can also

do that corporately as a church. Lord, I don't we don't really need

you at Pathesda, we don't really need you to worship and God, we

don't really need your direction for the church. Can I tell you, if

we're going to be a church that changes the world, it's to be a

church that surrenders to the mission of God. And that's when we as a

church, as individuals, incorporately as a church together, said God on Sunday

morning, We're surrendering. This service is a service to surrender every every week,

God, I surrender my worship of you. God, I surrender my

prayers to you, and God, I surrender my life to you. God,

you lead me. I want you to see, not only is the

church that surrendered to the Holy Spirit, it's also a church that surrendered to

God's call. The Bible says, and now listen to this. The man

had the word of God, but and that wasn't enough. They wanted God's

leading. So they all came together and surrender to God. And worship and

prayer and fasting, and Holy Spirit spoke, the Bible says, let's look

at with me. In verse two, the Bible says A thirteen, and

the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me, Barnabas and soul for the

work to which I've called them. Now, it's interesting come to this passive

scripture. As I told you from the very beginning when we talked about the

history of Antioch up to this point. In chapter eleven it told tells us

that there were some people from Cyprus and Syreene who left and came to Antioch

and began sharing the Gospel, and people got saved and the church started from

that. Interesting about Chapter eleven is it doesn't tell us in their names.

We have no idea who those bold men were, who came from those from

that island of Cypress, from North Africa. We have no idea who they

are. But some scholars would say, if you go back to verse one,

it tells us that Simeon and Lucius are both from where sorry, which

is North Africa. I don't know this for sure, but I think it's

reasonable to think that Lucius and Simion were the first missionaries. They left Africa.

They traveled to Antioch, a wicked city, and with the heart of

reaching people for Jesus, and they just share the gospel when people got saved.

Now, I tell you that because the Bible says, as this church

is surrendering Lord to the mission that God's called them to. They surrender in

worship, in prayer and fasting to the Holy Spirit. But then they surrender

and God calls. But it's interesting, God doesn't call Lucius and Simeon.

Now, if you think about it, if you put it together, if

they're the first ones that came in chapter eleven, they had already surrendered their

lives to the Gospel. They had already left their homes. They had left

it all to go to Antioch, away from their families, their loved ones.

There are support groups, and they had abandoned it all for the sake

of Jesus Christ and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And you would think

it's naturally to think, as you come here and God begins to say,

set apart, the worst, set apart, they're separating that surely he would

already separate those who've already done it. That's not what the Holy Spirit does

here. Does it. The Bible says, the Holy Spirit says, set

apart from me, Paul and Barnabas. Now, if you go back to

what I said before, the church was founded on what it was founding on

the theological teaching of Paul and Barnabas, and you can imagine for them the

struggle of saying, Lord, don't you want to send Lucius? They've already

done it. Now, I really believe, to be honest with you,

I believe Paul and Barnabas saw the example of Lucius as Hemian and God began

working on their hearts. Can I tell you also in this pastor scripture,

Paul and Barnabas were already apostles. This was God separating them out for a

special miss and that was the mission to take the Gospel to the ends of

the earth. You know, if you think about a church, how do

we become a church that surrendered to God's mission? It's surrendering to the Holy

spirits, surrendering to God's call. And if you go back to the history

of Bethesda, you know there's times in our history that God and there was

a great commitment in our church to surrendering to mission to the Mission. You

know, from nineteen forty five to nineteen fifty six, there was a period

of time where God was changing our community and our world through the ministry right

here at Bethesda. Do you know in that time there were like it was

the largest attendance in the history of Bethesda and at that time, in that

period of time, five men were caught out a bit Bethesda into ministry.

And in particular of those five, there was a man named Bobby Travis.

Bobby Travis was a but that's the boy. He grew up in our church.

His mom and dad grew up here. His mama's name's Pearl. What

a beautiful name. William was his dad. He graduated from Bethesda High School

and in nineteen sixty four, after finishing high school, he surrendered to ministry.

He went to Southern Theological Baptist Seminary and after that Listen he surrendered to

missions. He accepted the call from the Foreign Mission Board which is now the

IMB, and he left Kentucky. He went to Darsalam, Tanzania for language

school to learn Swahili, and he spent the next years of his life sharing

the gospel in Kenya, evangelizing and teaching a school. Here's a man who's

surrendered to the call of God, surrendered to the mission right here from among

us. And can I tell you you know as well, if you're from

Bethesda, that was just the start. There's been many, many missionaries like

the Maynards and the Williams and others who have come out of our church that

God has sent. Can I tell you today, it's excited to tell you

that in July we're sending twenty of our teenagers, many of these that are

here from our school and from our ministry here, twenty students to Wahaca,

Mexico, to share the gospel. Praise the Lord for that. Amen.

Can I tell you also that in October we're taking eight to nine of our

church members to Georgia, to the country of Georgia, not the state,

to share the gospel. And listen, We're going to go share the gospel

with Kurds. Kurds are refugees of cane Intubilisi, Georgia, and there are

listen to this, there are thirteen thousand of them. Thirteen thousand. You

know how many believers there are zero zero And you would say to me,

pastor, why don't we do the the local. Why don't we do these

trips in Mexico? Why don't we do these trips to Georgia? And the

reason why is listen and I'll just be totally transparent with you. Tanner knows

this, Devin. We're hoping that as these students go, we're gonna be

watching and we're hoping that among those twenty God will call out one. They

say, don't want to go to missions. I want to surrender my life

to missions. I want to surrender to fulfill the mission. I want to

go on behalf of but that's about his church. And I want to go

to the loss of the Kurds that thirteen thousand who have never known Jesus.

I want to go that I might reach them for Jesus Christ. That's our

goal, is that we're leading and training them with the heart of missions and

that one day they'll also maybe go with this to Georgia and be to work

with these children. There are children that will be working with and every day

their parents send them out from their homes, which are live in kind of

a rough area. They send them out of their homes every day to beg

in the city for money. And every day they live in fear because the

police are trying to catch them begging, and they catch them to deport them

out of the country without their parents. And these children back every day living

fear every day of being caught, and they don't know about Jesus. And

we're going why Because we're going because God's called us to a mission to reach

the people to the ends of the earth. And we're praying that as we

go that God begins working in students' lives and God calls. Can I tell

you I was I was seventeen years old. It's a Sunday night service.

I can tell you where I was, sitting in the balcony in first Baptist

in the intrail, and I remember God calling me to be a pastor.

It was one of the scariest things I'd ever experienced in my life. But

can I tell you that God's call upon me at seventeen years old was just

as clear as God's called me to set God calling me to salvation. And

I pray that as we surrender as a church of worship, and we surrender

in prayer and fasting, that I really believe when we do that God's gonna

call some people in this room God's gonna keep watching online, and there's gonna

be a part of us. Listen, if we're gonna keep if we're gonna

fulfill the mission that God called us. And we surrender to God's to the

Holy Spirit. But he also has a surrender to the call. I want

you see. And you would say, why, by the way, by

the why would we do this? Why should it be important for us?

Can I tell you? Because Jesus surrendered for you? You know? John

six thirty eight says, for I've come down from heaven not to do my

will, but the will of one who sent me. Can I tell you

Jeesus, Jesus led heavens, the home of Heaven, to come and live

on this earth for you. You were his mission filled. And because he

left it all for us, may we even all for him? Amen?

But you see, and only was it a church that surrendered to the Holy

Spirit. It was a church that surrendered to the Holy Spirit's call. And

we should surrender to the Holy Spirit's call. But lastly, here we surrendered

those in whom the Holy Spirit calls. The Bible says here in this pastor

of Scripture, at look what happens in verse two says, set apart from

me, Barnabas, and saw for the work to which I have called them.

In Verse three says then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands

on them, and they sent them off. You imagine that that was a

humbling service. Here's the two men that started the church and taught them for

a whole year, and now God says, separate them from me, send

them out. The Bible says, they prayed and fast again. That's just

more surrendering to the Holy Spirit. God. We want, not what we

want, we want what you want. Surrendering, you know the idea of

surrendering. And by the way, by laying hands on them, they're not

laying hands on them to anoint them, if you will, nor to appoint

them. I understand that they're laying on hands on them as not to anoint

or appoint them. God had already appointed them as apostles, and God had

already anointed them. So you said, pastor, why were they laying their

hands on them. Then laying their hands on them was a sign of commissioning

them. It was a sign of demonstration that they were approving what God had

called them to do, or what the Holy Spirit was leading them to do.

It was saying, in essence, we are sending you out, but

we are sending you out with our Listen this with our blessing. Now you

think about that, this is Paul and Barnabas, and this is a church

that says we surrender to you, Holy Spirit, God, will surrender to

your call. And then now this is not the pastor who comes up and

he lays hands. The entire church came around Paul and Barnabas. They put

their hands on and the whole church in agreement said God, we are sending

them out. We're commissioning them, and we are sending them out with our

blessing. God, we know this is what you want. And God,

we we're sending them out with our blessing, with our approval. Now this

is where it gets real serious. Why right, Because many of you would

and me as well, right would say, Lord, I'll surrender to you

in prayer, I'll surrender you in worship, I'll surrender to you in fasting.

But God, don't ask me to surrender my child. God don't take

my grandson. God don't take that leader. God don't take that individual.

There's some of you today as you hearing the sermons, says, Oh,

Lord, I feel what you're doing. But God, not me. But

surrendering for the church, we'll saying God, We're going to send them.

I love what a scholar said about this past this church. He said,

this church built churches not for worship, but build a church with God's heart

to send people out. So many times we think churches about us and building

it for us. This Church of Antioch understood building the church was to build

people up that they might send them out. And when God called them to

that, they didn't reluctantly says no, no, no, they're ours,

No, none of I said, no, We're sending them out with our

blessing. We surrender our worship to you, Father. We surrender to your

call and God. We render our members to you God, they're yours and

God. We just want to surrender to your mission, even if that meant

sending out people from among us. God will surrender add an Iron. Judson

was one of the first Baptist missionaries that were sent out to Burma. Had

such a heart for the Gospel to reach the unreached of Burma. The story

goes that he was dating a girl named Anne they've been dated for some time,

and he wrote her a letter to ask to kind of propose to her,

and she didn't respond for a little bit, and he finally went to

her and asked her about it, and she says, well, I think

you need to ask my mom and dad. So she wrote a let He

wrote a letter, and this is a famous letter in missionary history. He

wrote a letter to her dad, and this is what he wrote to her

dad. A month after, he says, now I have to ask you

whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see

her no more in this world? Where do you consent to her departure and

her subjection to hardships and to his missionary life? Where you consent to expose

her to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern

climate of India, to every kind of want and distress, to degradtion,

to insult, to persecution, and perhaps violent death. Can you consent to

all this? And can you consent to all this? Listen to this for

the sake of the one I mean of him who left Heaven's home and died

for her and died for you. Can you consent to this and hope and

soon meeting your daughter in heaven with the crown of righteousness. You know,

you would say, why was this that Anne's dad, by the way,

they were married, And two weeks later after they married, they got on

the boat to go to Burma, India, and they lived their life the

rest of their life in India reaching people for Jesus Christ. And you would

say, pastor, why was Anne's dad so willing to surrender his daughter to

missions? Why did he give his blessing for God so loved the world that

he gave his only begotten son, that who shall ever believe in him shall

not perish. I have every lasting life that whosoever was Ann's dad, and

he knew that God gave his son for him, and the least he could

do was give his daughter to the one who gave his son for him.

Can I say to you today, if we want to be a church that

surrenders to God's mission, we got to surrender to His Holy Spirit. We've

got to surrender to God's call, and we've got to surrender those whom God

calls. Will you pray with me? Father? I pray that this would

be a time of surrender. Lord that we come and Lord, we've heard

your word. And Lord, I pray that this will be a time Lord,

that we would Lord, just in prayer and worship, we would free

our minds in the heart of any distraction, and right now, Lord,

to be a time Lord where we would say, God, we need you,

Lord, God, we need you in a worship God, we need

your direction for our lives. We need your direction for our church. And

so God, we surrender to you. Lord, we surrender to your Holy

Spirit. Today. I pray there'd be some that right now that God you're

calling. Maybe it's calling into ministry, maybe it's calling into mission. But

Lord, I pray it be those today would not resist your call. Be

be those today says Lord, I'll surrender if you call me. And Lord,

I pray there be moms and dads and grandparents and church members that said,

God, who you call God, will surrender because you surrender. You

gave it all up for us Jesus. Lord, I pray this will be

a time. I pray that be those as we come to this time invitation

and Tendor's going to sing in a moment. God, I pray that be

this altar would be full of church members if wo just come and said,

God, we want to be at church that changes our community and God,

we can't do it on our power or our might or our strength. God,

we need you. And I pray that be those who have come to

this altar and just cry out for you to God to do amazing things in

and through us, that God, we would fulfill the mission that You've called

us to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Lord. I

pray there's someone here that doesn't know you're as Lord and Savior God, they

would realize today that God, you surrendered, Lord, your life for them.

God, you surrendered to God's call. You left heaven for them,

and you did it all because you love them. That God, you sent

your only son that they might find forgiveness of sin and a new life in

You Jesus. And I pray they be those today, right now, right

where they are what croy out to you. God. I need you,

Lord, I need you forgive me of my sins. God. I believe

that you died on the cross you came for me, and today Lord,

I can fess I need you. I need forgiveness, I need salvation,

I need eternal life. Lord, I give my life to you today.

I pray there be those that prayer a prayer like that and surrender their life

to you, Lord today for the first time, or however you lead us,

Lord, may we just surrender Lord to you right now. Your name,

we pray Jesus to