The Grace of Rock Bottom | Jonah: God's Mercy In My Mess (Part Three)

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I want to jump right back into a series that we started a few

weeks ago. It's called God's Mercy on my

Master, where we're doing an in depth exploration and a walk

through the book of Jonah. Now, thematically, the book of

Jonah is the, the, the whole overarching truth or theme is

and a reminder is your story isn't over that, that with God,

your story, it is, it isn't over.

It doesn't matter who you are or where you've been or what you've

done or even what you're still struggling with.

Your story isn't isn't over. That's the overarching theme of

the entire book of Jonah. But one of the things that that

we've really honed into is really a main principle or a

core truth of what we call a big idea that has set up this entire

series in this entire conversation through the book of

Jonah. So if you're taking notes with

us, let me go ahead and let's go back to our big idea throughout

this series, just to make sure that we're all on the same page.

God's mercy is greater than my mess.

God's mercy is greater than a mess.

No matter what type of mess you're in, no matter if it if

it's of your own making or it is a mess that you found yourself

in. I think that we would all agree,

whether you're in the room with us or we're online with us, that

we've all found ourselves and maybe even this morning, you

find yourself in, in what you would describe as a, as a mess.

And, and here's the thing about about messes is a lot of times

we start to assume that that mess is, is bigger than our God,

that the consequences of that mess is, are greater than the

power of, of our God. So one of the things that we've

been doing is we've been walking through the book of Jonah.

We've been exposed losing some common laws that we that we

believe is Speaking of, of being in a mess or finding yourself in

a mess. This past week I had the

opportunity to to get away for a few days up and up in Ellijay

to, to, to pray and to write and to, you know, just do like

pastor spiritual things, right? So it was just it was just me

sitting there on the on the couch in a in a cabin, me, my

Bible, a journal, my iPad, some coffee.

And I started hearing some rustling outside and I just

assumed that it was somebody that made a wrong turn that

turned down the wrong driveway. Because just a few minutes

before, probably about an hour before, I had made that same

mistake. I turned down the wrong

driveway, realized I was at the wrong house and backed out and

found the right house. So I just assumed somebody made

the same mistake that I did. However, the noise kept going

and I thought, well, if somebody made the wrong turn, then what

are they doing hanging out on my porch?

So anyway, I pulled the blinds open and and this is this is

what I saw. He's opening the gate.

So there he is. That's the enhanced AI version.

However, the thing that the enhanced AI version doesn't have

quite right is I think it it it widened the smile, it shrunk the

claws and it got rid of the blood around.

I mean, this was not this was not Winnie the Pooh, right?

This was not like a care bear and this was not Smokey the bear

coming to remind me that only I can prevent forest fires like

this was a hey, this may be how it ends for you type of bear.

So anyway, I immediately went from a mode of God, please speak

to me to God, please keep quiet. I don't want that thing to know

that we're in here type of mode. And I, I, I appeared out and,

and, and just watched this thing and you know, I've legitimately

thought I legitimately thought this.

I mean, if I'm lying, I'm dying. I didn't realize this is how it

was going to end for me. Can you imagine like and I

immediately thought like, man, people are never going to

believe like Ben died, how like he got attacked by a bear.

And listen, I know that that's like spoiler alert, that didn't

happen. You know, in case you want to

know how the story ended. But in that how like big

situations or big messes like they, they, they tend to do in

our minds, they, they, they, they just blow up and, and, and

they become like looking back in hindsight, they become almost

like overly dramatic. But in the moment it can become

pretty paralyzing, right? And, and I think that that

exposes, that exposes kind of a lie that we often believe when

we find ourselves in a mess. I'm not talking about a bear on

your porch type of mess, but I'm talking about like a, a mess to

where you feel that like you've hit rock bottom.

And, and here's the lie that I believe that we often believe

when it comes to rock bottom, rock bottom's the end.

Rock bottom is the end. Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever, if you find, if you find yourself and maybe

maybe you're here with us this morning in the room and online

to where your thought is. I never thought I would be here,

whatever the here is like. I never thought that I would be

feeling this. I never thought that I would be

walking through this. I never thought that like that

it would all catch up to me. I never thought that I would be

at rock bottom. And maybe you've said things

like it's over think things will never change.

Where I am and how I am right now is where I'll always be and

how how I will always be. Or maybe in your mind you've

thought or you're thinking, if the people near me really knew,

really knew what I was going through and really know and

really knew what's going through my mind and the thoughts going

through my mind, they would have nothing to do with me.

Or maybe you're here with us this morning and you have

convinced yourself that God is done with you.

That's rock bottom. That's rock bottom.

And one of the things that we're going to do this morning is I

want to show you through the book of Jonah how God wants to

completely tear apart that lie and show us the truth.

Show us the truth that he has for us.

And it doesn't matter. Again, it doesn't matter who you

are, where you've been, what you've done, and it doesn't

matter what you're still struggling with.

God is not finished with you. So I want to encourage you, if

you have a Bible with you, find Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

We're going to pick it up in verse 17 this morning, and verse

17 is going to be kind of an overlap of where we left off

last week. Jonah chapter 1 is really about

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

God giving God, Jonah, a prophet, a call for him to leave

his hometown in Israel and to travel 500 miles east to the

capital city of Assyria, a city called Nineveh.

And Jonah essentially said no, not going to do it.

I don't want to go there. I don't like those people.

So Jonah goes down to the near seaport, up a seaport called

Joppa. He hops onto a ship heading to

Tarshish, which is modern day Spain, 2500 miles West from

where he was trying to outrun God.

And we read at the very end of Jonah chapter 1 where God really

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

sent a storm to get Jonah's attention and to get him

rerouted back on, back on track. By the time we get to Jonah 117,

the sailors of the ship, they don't know what to do in this

storm. And Jonah says, hey, listen, if

you throw me overboard, then the storm will stop.

And they're kind of uneasy with that.

But eventually, that's sure enough.

That's what they do. They throw them overboard.

And where we pick it up. And Jonah 117 is Jonah's just

like hanging out in the sea. We don't know the length that

he's hanging out in the sea, but I don't think that it is very

long. Here's how Jonah 117 starts.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days and three

nights. Then Jonah prayed.

Chapter 2, verse one. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord

his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to

the Lord out of my distress. And he answered me out of the

belly of Sheol. I cried.

And you, Lord, you God, you heard my voice.

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the Seas.

And the flood surrounded me. All your waves and your billows

passed over me. Then I said, I'm driven away

from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy

temple. I want you to notice in verse 5,

Verse 5 is going to start. If you feel that you've kind of

hit this rock bottom to where you feel that you're really

running low on hope, see if this resonates with you.

Jonah said the waters closed in over me to take my life.

The deep surrounded me, weeds were wrapped about my head.

He goes on to say, at the roots of the mountains I went down to

the land whose bars closed up on me, upon me forever.

Yet you brought up my life from the pit.

O Lord my God, when my life was fainting away, I remember the

Lord and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of

steadfast love. Then he continues on.

But I, with the voice of Thanksgiving, will sacrifice to

you what I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish,

and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Now let's get a couple things out in the open before we go any

further. First thing that we need to get

out in the open. Do I believe that there was

literally a giant fish, a great fish that literally swallowed a

man by the name of Jonah, and that man literally lived in the

belly of that fish for three days and three nights?

Yes, yes I do. I do for several reasons #1

Jesus himself referenced Jonah three different times in his

earthly ministry. And one of those times he even

referenced him while in the belly of the fish.

And, and of those three times, Jesus never alluded to that to,

to any hint or even hinted at that it was some type of like

fable or Jewish fairy tale or some type of metaphor to Jesus.

Jesus spoke of Jonah as a historical man and Jonah being

swallowed by this fish as a historical event.

And I just happened to believe that Jesus is a pretty credible

source #2 I also choose to believe that if it is in the

Bible, I choose to believe it and, and, and, and that is not

me checking my brain at the door.

By the way, just because I don't understand it doesn't mean that

I shouldn't choose to believe it.

Here's here's where I'm getting at.

I believe that it's really the height of arrogance and hubris

to cherry pick the passages of the Bible that I like and that I

understand and to accept those. But to reject the passages that

I don't like or that I don't understand and push those to the

side. And just for the sake of like

intellectual honesty, if I do not believe Jonah 117, then what

gives me any credence or hope in believing John 316?

The third reason that I believe that this was a historical event

is again, just because I don't understand it doesn't mean that

I'm going to choose not to believe it.

I don't understand electricity, but I'm not going to sit in the

dark or in a not air conditioned room until I do, right?

So I just choose that the Bible has it in it, then I choose to

believe it. The second thing that we need to

get out in the open is super religious people, sanctimonious,

holier than thou, super judgmental people do not and

will not like the message of Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

They won't. And if he any point in time in

the room or online, you start to feel yourself kind of getting

riled up or ticked off or the words.

But what about can't seem to like stay inside of you?

Then as lovingly, compassionately and pastorally

as I possibly can, I want to encourage you to surrender that

to God, to repent of that spirit, and to ask God to soften

your heart towards his being in alignment with his heart.

Because you my friend, have become almost dangerously close,

like the second brother, the older brother in Jesus parable

of the prodigal son. Super religious people do not

like the message of Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

Because the the message of Jonah chapter 2 is there is grace at

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

rock bottom and grace does not make sense.

It is all based on God's favor, God's love, God's heart, God's

character, not our effort. Now let's move on to more

uplifting things like hitting rock bottom.

All right, did you know that if you're at rock bottom, did you

know that we have three choices that we face if while at rock

bottom? And again, rock bottom can be

can be defined like for for for Jonah, it was obviously being in

the belly of a whale or being in the belly of a fish for three

days and three nights. That's pretty easy to spot his

rock bottom. But for rock bottom for us, it

could be the IT could be the loss or the fracture of a, of a

marital relationship or something going on within your

family. It could be the passing or the

loss of a, of a loved one. It could be a it could be an

addiction that has that has come to light.

It could be a financial crisis in your life.

It could be a mental or an emotional breakdown.

Rock bottom may look differently for for for different ones of

us, but for every single one of us, we all have three options

when we hit rock bottom. If you're taking notes with us,

here's the first one. We do have the option to stay

down. We do have the option to stay

down. You see Jonah while in the belly

of the fish for three days and three nights, he could have had

the most disgusting, smelliest pity party in all of history.

He could have just sat there and went, well, I'm here, nothing I

can do. Lost all hope.

Did you know that you and I, we also have that choice to where

when we hit rock bottom, we can make the decision just to sit in

it. Just to sit in it and sitting in

it basically is this attitude of, hey, nothing will ever

change. I'm here, I've blown it, God's

done with me, other people are done with me.

My life is over. This is how it is going to end

that that's, that's staying, staying down here.

Here's the problem with staying down is staying down puts us

into a mindset of defeat. And it's that mindset of defeat

and not God that will take us out.

It's that mindset of defeat, not God, that will take us out.

So, but make no mistake about it, we do have the option just

to stay down at rock bottom. We also have the option #2 we

have the option to spiral down. We have the option to spiral

down. In Jonah's case, Jonah had the

option to double down on his anger and his attitude while in

the belly of a fish. I would even argue it's pretty

easy to double down on that anger and attitude while in the

belly of a fish. You and I, we also have the

option to continue to make things worse.

It is possible that when we are at rock bottom to take on the

attitude of I'm just going to double down on the things that

got me here. I'm just going to continue

doubling down, disconnecting myself from a sense of community

and, and, and accountability. I'm just going to double down on

doing my own thing and, and what makes sense in my own eyes and

what makes sense in my own brain.

I'm just going to double down on taking the advice of, of some

ungodly people that the wisdom of God is not coming from them

at all. And, and we, we take on that

attitude and we find ourselves saying things like, Hey, while

I'm here, I might as well as if nothing's ever going to change.

And make no mistake about it, things can get worse.

Things can get worse if we choose to spiral down.

So we can choose to stay down, We can choose to spiral down.

Or our third option is we can choose to surrender up.

We can choose to surrender up. Jonah could have stayed down,

could have spiraled down, but he chose to pray up.

He chose to surrender up. And the same thing's true for,

for, for you and I. And, and what it looks like for

us to surrender up when we're at rock bottom is if we find

ourselves in a situation or when we find ourselves at rock bottom

because of the consequences of our own making.

This is what it looks like for us to surrender up to own it.

God, you know that I've made some really bad mistakes.

Confess it, God, those mistakes weren't just mistakes.

They were sin to to to give it over to God and to ask for his

forgiveness and then to say, Hey, God, I don't have the

answers of how to get out of rock bottom, but I know that

you're here with me and I know that you don't want to keep me

here. That's, that's surrendering up,

that's surrendering up. And once we surrender up, not

stay down, not spiral down, but surrender up, then God can teach

us a lie. He can, He can break us from the

lie. He can teach us the truth.

He can break us from the lie that rock bottom is the end and

he can expose us to this truth. Rock bottom often feels final,

but it's often where God starts the rebuilding, even though rock

bottom feels final. And I don't know your story,

there's no way for me to know everybody's story in the room

online. But my guess is, is there's some

of us that are here this morning that you feel like you're giving

God like one last shot. And intellectually, you know the

God of the Bible and you know that he's got your soul and you

know that following his will and his words and his ways for your

life are best. But you're just kind of blinded

and overwhelmed by everything that's going on in your life,

and you feel like it will never change.

Can I give you some hope this morning?

Even though rock bottom feels final, it's often where God

starts the rebuilding. I can't imagine how final it

must have felt for Jonah. In the belly of a fish, in the

depths of the sea. Dark, smelly, isolated.

Always wondering not only how did I get here, but like, how

will anything ever change for me?

I think that some of us, even though we're don't, we don't

find ourselves literally in the belly of a fish.

Some of us, we find ourselves with kind of with that same

mindset, with those same questions, don't we?

How will things ever change? Can I tell you something?

What may feel like a dismantling of your life may very well be

God rebuilding your life in the right way.

What may feel like everything being torn down may be God

building up a new foundation in your life.

So how do we take that hope and turn it into reality?

I think that there are three things that you and I, we've got

to keep in mind when we are facing and when we find

ourselves at rock bottom. Here's the first one that I want

to introduce you to. I get to decide the depth of my

rock bottom. I get to decide the depth of my

rock bottom. If you've been with us

throughout this series, I wonder if you've noticed something so

far. And we we've only gone through,

you know, today we'll make Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

But I wonder if you've noticed this pattern when you read

through Jonah, Jonah one, and on into chapter 2 about the

direction Jonah's heading. Have you noticed that there's a

dissension, there's a descending nature about Jonah?

For example, in Jonah chapter one, verse 3, the Bible tells us

that Jonah went down to Joppa. In that same verse it says that

Jonah found a ship in Joppa that was heading to Tarshish and it

said that he went down into the ship in Jonah 15.

We're told that Jonah went down into the inner part of the ship

to to take a nap during the storm.

And Jonah 2 verse 6 where we read where Jonah went down into

Jonah 2:6

the depths of the sea. You may say OK like that, that's

pretty interesting, but what, what's your point?

Here's the point. Jonah didn't just wake up 1

morning and find himself at rock bottom.

Jonah being at rock bottom was the destination for a direction

that he'd been heading in for a long time.

Can I say this to you again as lovingly, compassionately,

compassionately, and pastorally as I possibly can?

A lot of times when we find ourselves at rock bottom, we

don't just wake up there. We, we, we gradually drift

towards rock bottom and then the lights turn on and we realize

that we're at rock bottom again. It can be like making a

compromise here or there. It could be making like some bad

decisions or some choices here or there.

It could, it could be, it could be any number of things.

But here's the great hope, and I hope that doesn't come across,

that didn't come across as condemning or anything like

that. But here's the great hope.

Just because you may find yourself at rock bottom now, it

doesn't mean that you have to keep digging further down.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't mean that your rock

bottom has to keep going deeper. You guys say, well, Ben, how did

how can I keep my rock bottom from going deeper again, go back

to the three choices that we face.

We can stay in it. We can spot or we can stay down.

We can spiral down or we can surrender up.

I love what Jonah said in What God's word says in Jonah chapter

one verse 2. I called out to the Lord at out

of my distress and he answered me out of the belly of Sheol.

I cried and you, God heard my voice.

Can I tell you this? If you find yourself at rock

bottom this morning, that same invitation is open for you.

Turn your attention up to God. I called out to the Lord out of

my distress. Jonah called out to God in fish

guts and awe, called out to God and guess what, God answered.

Listen, if you call out to God in the midst of your mess, you

do not have to wait to clean yourself up.

He will answer you and He will welcome you with open arms.

You and I, we get to, we actually get to decide the depth

of our rock bottom. The second thing that I want to

show you is this. There are no elements of my rock

bottom that are outside of the control of God.

There are no elements of my rock bottom that are outside the

control of God. Again, let's go back to Jonah.

Jonah must have felt like everything was just completely

out of control, right? That he had no control over any

of it. But I want to read through that

passage and I want to keep going back, keep going into verse 3

where it says I called out Jonah said I called out to the Lord

out of my distress and he answered me out of the belly of

Sheol. I cried and you God heard my

voice. That is not just information for

us about Jonah. That's an invitation for us to

surrender to God. Check this out though, verse 3

for you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the Seas, and

the flood surrounded me. All your billows, all your waves

passed over me. Here's what I want to get you to

do. Look at the note sheet that you

received on your way in. At the top of that note sheet is

the passage that we just read all of Jonah chapter 2 and then

Jonah 2 · chapter mention

throwing in Jonah 117. I want you to circle a few words

there. I want you to circle the words.

Find the words your waves and your billows, your waves and

your billows. Then after you circle them or

underline them, why don't you look up here?

Whose waves and whose billows gods?

Whose storm and whose wind gods? Whose great sea gods?

Whose great fish gods? Nothing was out of the control

of God. You know, Jonah looked around

and he had no control. And I would even argue that when

Jonah looked around and he focused on all the things that

he had no control over, everything was chaotic.

But then when he started to realize and he makes this

turning point, his prayer in verse 3, your waves and your

billows start to realize God, I have no control over it, but

you've never lost control over it.

Guess what? The chaos turned to surrender.

The chaos turned to surrender. Here's what I want you to know.

If you find yourself at rock bottom or if there's somebody

that you know that finds himself at rock bottom facing a

situation that they have no idea how to get out of and they've

they're, they're, they're teetering on just giving up is

remind them. And maybe this is a reminder to

you that what you don't have control over, God never lost

control over. And when you start to realize

that, that thought begins to pivot to surrender, and it

begins to pivot your attention because when you look at all the

things that you can't control, what do we do?

We panic. When we look at the things that

are always in God's control, what do we do?

We pray. There's a huge difference there,

but make no mistake about it, there's no element of our rock

bottom that is outside of God's control.

And the reason that that is such great news and gives us great

hope this morning is because we don't have to focus in on all

the things that we don't have control over.

We just got to focus in on all that He has control over.

It's a huge, huge hope. And once we realize that there's

no element of our life that God does not have complete control

over man, that changes everything.

That changes everything. And then it leads us to the

third and final point that we're going to talk about this

morning, Where I lack God names himself.

Where I lack God names himself. Did you know that there are two

elements, 2 elements to surrendering to God,

acknowledging where I lack, and turning to the God that doesn't.

That's it. God, I lack the capacity or the

ability to change anything about this situation, but you don't.

God, I lack the capacity and the ability to change that person's

heart or mind, but you don't. God, I lack the capacity or the

ability to change anything about this circumstance, but you

don't. God, I'm struggling because I

lack the ability and the capacity to, to change how I

feel about everything that's going on.

But you don't. And once I realize, once I

realize what I lack and that there is a God that does not

lack in that area, that leads to surrender.

Let me kind of put some boots on what surrender means for us.

It means that we call out to God specifically call out to God,

not not these, not these template prayers, not these

like, you know, God bless the gift and the giver type of

prayers or or not, not like the, the, the, the rope prayers.

I'm talking about like getting super, super specific.

And I want to give you some tools this morning.

Did you know throughout the Bible there's certain names,

There are different names given to God.

Now, the overarching name given to God is Yahweh or Jehovah.

But there's certain names that list not only who he is, but

what he does. And I think that it's really

important for us to call out specifically to that God and

name him specifically. So, for example, I want to show

you some of the names Jehovah Jireh.

Jehovah Jireh, if you were struggling, if you're struggling

with need this morning, not want but but legitimately need, call

upon the God who provides his name is Jehovah Jireh.

Here's another one. Jehovah Rapha, do you need

healing? Physical, mental, emotional,

spiritual? Do you need healing?

Jehovah Rapha, He is the God who heals.

How about this one, Jehovah Shalom.

Are you struggling with with anxiety to where when you go to

bed at night, you lay your head down, you close your eyes, but

even though you want your body to turn off, your mind is just

racing? You struggling with stress and

anxiety and worry. Are you trying to, to, to, to

solve today? What's tomorrow's problems?

Do you, do you need that sense of peace and and calm to come

over your over your mind? Jehovah Shalom, the God of

peace. If you're struggling with

loneliness, Jehovah Shema. Jehovah Shema literally means

the God who is there, the God who is there.

Wherever you are. Jehovah Shema, he is there.

If you're struggling with timidity, with fear, with

feeling lesser than insecurity. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, is my

banner, that I am not here on my own strength, on my own accord.

I am here in the name of the Lord Most High.

I am a son. I'm a daughter of the king

Jehovah Nisi. If you're struggling with past

guilt or shame, Jehovah Secondu. Jehovah Secondu is the Lord is

my righteousness. You ever felt that whisper of

like when you hear somebody that says, hey, God wants to do great

things through you. God's not finished with you

almost hear that whisper of accusation.

He's not talking to you. If people knew what you've done

in your past, you'd be disqualified.

If people know what you still struggle with, you'd be

disqualified. Jehovah Secondu is the Lord is

my righteousness. My righteousness is not based on

me. It is based on what has been

bestowed upon me because of what Jesus has done for me.

I stand covered in his blood and I stand in his righteousness,

not on my own resume. If you struggle this morning

with sinful strongholds, Jehovah and Kadesh, Jehovah and Kadesh

is the Lord who sanctifies you. Struggling with a habit or

you're struggling with an addiction.

You're struggling with a stronghold.

You're struggling with a strong pull to go back to what Jesus

has set you free from Jehovah M Kadesh God, you are the one that

sanctifies God. Would you sanctify me?

Sanctifies just another way of saying that I am in process of

becoming who God created me to be.

God, would you continue processing me forward in

righteousness? And then this morning, if you're

struggling with a lack of direction and you need guidance,

Jehovah Raha, the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want. Let me ask you a question this

morning in the room online. Here's the question.

Who do you need to turn to? How do you need to turn to God

and how do you need to call upon God this morning?

How do you need to specifically turn to God?

Listen, in just a moment, I'm going to pray over us and we'll

have another opportunity to stand and to worship God through

Psalm. But it's really an invitation

for you to respond. And we're all going to respond

in one of three ways. We will respond by staying down.

We will respond by continuing to spiral down, or we will respond

by surrendering up. God puts the ball in our court

and allows us to the side. Listen, what seems chaotic to

you right now is still in the control of God Almighty.

My encouragement, I beg you, and I plead with you to turn it over

to Him. Surrender up to him.

And how that looks is if you want to come down and pray with

a pastor, we'll have pastors down here.

If you want to come down and just kneel down at the front and

spend some time in prayer and maybe even bring somebody with

you, then come down and pray. Surrender up to God.

The way that we surrender up is most often on our knees.

So this morning, will you stay down?

Will you spiral down, spiral down, or will you surrender up?

God, we thank you and we love you for your word.

God, we thank you that you have given us the life and the

writings of this prophet Jonah that reminds us that no matter

how far we may have run from you, no matter how fast we have

tried to run from you, God, we can never outrun you.

We can never outrun your love. We can never outlaw outrun your

plans for us. God, the plans that you desire

for us are good. They are for our good and for

your glory. God, many of us this morning, we

either find ourselves at a rock bottom or God, we find ourselves

in the life of someone else that we're close to, that they are at

a rock bottom. So God, whether it is us,

ourselves or us, on behalf of someone that we love, God, I

pray that you would break down any hesitations, any walls, any

hesitations for us to surrender up to you, God, for us to look

at all the things that we don't have control over and to

understand. If we focus on that God, we

panic. But if we focus in on all the

things that we have no control over but the those things, those

same things you've never lost control over, God, that gives us

a sense of hope that no amount of money can ever buy.

And God, that knowledge that what may be chaotic to me is

always in can in your control. God, it's under that guise and

it's through that lens that we surrender to you this morning.

So God, I pray that you would move in, in, in might.

God, I pray that you would move in freedom.

God, I pray that you would go to the deep and the secret places

of all of our hearts and our minds this morning to do what

only your Holy Spirit can do to provide freedom.

God, remind us that you are not finished with a single one of us

yet. God, may we be surrendered to

you. And it's in Jesus name that we

pray. Amen.

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You can head over to our website, Riverbend Church dot

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