Prevailing Church : Surrender Part 2

Lucas, your friend Derek is a very important guy in this church, he just knows where everything

is.

So surrender is the voluntary progressive yielding of my will to someone else.

And so why is it voluntary?

Because it can't be forced.

Why is it progressive?

Because it just doesn't seem possible to lay your life down in one shot.

You realize as soon as you think you've laid your life down that there is more to lay down.

And so it's voluntary, it's progressive, and it's yielding what?

Not your body, not your mind, but your will where decisions are made.

Yielding your will to someone else, in this case Christ.

And with what intent?

That oh God, you can take my will and now that you have my will, you can shape me into

anything you want me to be.

So that we said that.

And then here's another, this is the flip side of it.

It is also reckless abandon, it is also reckless abandon, it is also reckless abandon without

self consideration, without self consideration or consideration for self.

So on one hand it is very deliberate, it is intentional, it is progressive, it is voluntary.

On the other hand it carries in it the sense of reckless abandon.

And even though we use the words reckless abandon, nothing that you abandon to God is

reckless if you know his nature.

So I used to say that faith has risk in it, really it has no risk in it if the king of

the universe is the one you're risking it with.

So surrender also carries reckless abandon because otherwise we'll spend years trying

to figure out whether the cost benefit analysis allows me to surrender.

There is a reckless abandon to it and without consideration for self.

And every time you do that you'll hear God saying come.

This is what Peter did, when there was a reckless abandon of his will, his mind, his heart and

he kept hearing the word come.

The strange thing is God will ask us to do nothing that he already has not done himself

and Jesus totally, without reservations, unconditionally surrendered his life to me.

When I say to me it sounds kind of blasphemous but the fact is he totally, without reservations

and unconditionally surrendered or laid down his life for me and in that sense to me.

Don't hang on to the to me, the intent is that he did it so he showed how this can be

done.

And then we talked about the first surrender, we said the first surrender, before we surrender

to anything else, the first surrender and you can listen to this, it's on the website,

the first surrender is to rest.

And we talked about how rest is seizing, rest is seizing from self generated, seizing from

self generated striving and instead being sustained by the proceeding way of the Lord

and the presence of God.

That's what we defined rest as last time, that the first surrender is to rest where

you seize from self generated striving and you labor to enter, Hebrews chapter 4, verse

Hebrews 4:10

10 and 11, you labor to enter into the seventh day, the Sabbath because it says in Hebrews

Hebrews 4:10

4, verse 10 and 11 that God has rested, won't you now also rest and seize from your works.

So we seize from our works, we seize from self striving, we seize from generating life

ourselves and instead we lean back on his presence and the proceeding word of God, the

word that he speaks on a daily basis going out every morning collecting manna and saying

this is our daily bread, this is what we will live by, obeying Deuteronomy 8.3 where it

says man shall not live by bread but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

That we said is the first rest. The second rest we said was the second surrender is the

right to myself, the right to myself. That's the second surrender, the right to myself

and it's based on Matthew 16, 24 where it says if you want to be my disciple you must

deny yourself or in other words, hey Jacob you want to be my disciple, you've got to

give up your right to yourself and who do you give it up to? To me. So that I can do

what? So that I can pour you out, I can send you so I can bury you, so I can break you,

so I can multiply you according to my purpose. Just think of that, guys go over it again.

Just think of what he's saying, that you cannot be my disciple Jacob unless you give up your

right to yourself and you must give up your right to yourself to me says God. Why? So

that I can pour you out, I can break you and break doesn't mean he puts you over his knee

and just snaps you in two. Break you as in sculpts you so that you look like what you're

supposed to. So that I can pour you out, break you, send you out, bury you so that you disappear,

hidden in Christ, Colossians 3, bury you, multiply you because nothing multiplies without first

dying. Multiply you as and when I please with whomever I please, you must give your right

to yourself. And we said that once you do that, the moment you surrender your right

to yourself, what do you become? You become a servant son. The moment you give up your

right to yourself, you become a servant son and now your entire life is a servant son.

You're entirely dependent on the master. You're entirely dependent on the master who guarantees you the seven essentials that man was promised in the Garden of Eden.

We talked about this last week. So that's a summation of it and we'll continue from there.

Let me ask you what those seven essentials of Eden were. First one was dignity, let us

make man in. These are guarantees. This will never be taken away from you. See the strange

thing is the seven things guaranteed in Eden to man, regardless of whether he's sinned

or not. It was guaranteed to man. And our sins are because we seek these things outside

of God. Humankind seeks these seven things outside of God. What are the seven things?

Dignity. We seek our dignity outside of God in things, in people, in wives, in cars, in

husbands, in positions, in jobs. Dignity. Second, security. When he put them in the

Eden and he said, you'll be safe here, that nothing can touch me, nothing, just think

of this, nothing can touch me because God is my protector. This is the kind of security

he's guaranteeing. So the only way I can be touched is if I break the hedge or open the

door to let the serpent in. But nothing can touch me because of the security he guarantees.

These are ridiculous securities. And what do we do? We go and seek for this outside

of God. Guys, we must think extreme when it comes to God because there's nothing average,

mediocre, middle of the road about him. Nothing. So that's the kind of security he gives.

Dignity, security. Third, blessing and provision. Blessing and provision where he said, listen,

I'm not asking you to work so that you earn a living. I'm asking you to work because I

work but I just want to provide you a living. So he provides them everything they need for

life and godliness and then he says to them, hey, by the way, why don't you work too? Because

I enjoy working. So why don't you work? I'll help you tend the garden. And so disconnect

your wages from your or your livelihood from your work. These are the things that we have

so messed up in where I cannot connect my livelihood to my work. There is no connection

really. Just think of it guys. Think of what we are saying. We are saying that the world

is wrong and that God is right and that there is absolutely no connection between work and

livelihood. When Paul says that one who is idle and does not work should not eat, what

he was trying to say was, hey, you can't sponge off people. He wasn't saying there's a connection

because God first provided provision, then he provided work. It is so deeply ingrained

in us, especially in North America where you're taught you've got to work. You've got to

learn how to work and earn a living. It's been taught to us so, so strongly that it

becomes so difficult to disconnect it. Fourth, companionship and intimacy. Companionship

and intimacy. He provided this. He said, listen, leave alone that I will walk with you in the

cool of the evening every day. With that aside, I'll also provide you someone with flesh,

like Eve, bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Intimacy and companionship. Intimacy

and companionship. If you want to get married, go back to Eden and claim your promises, man.

Don't look at Derek. If you want to get married, go back to Eden and claim your promises, man.

Claim your promises. Intimacy and companionship was promised. I wasn't through a dog or a

cat. So as much as you love your dogs and cats, and I have respect for both those animals,

please remember that if that was the case, then Adam would have gone for the elephant

because he had a memory too. And so companionship and intimacy. Fifth one. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Purpose. God gave man purpose. And in Adam's case, the purpose was, listen, I want you

to multiply. I want you to subdue. And I want you to replenish. And Jesus has taken that

very mandate and he's come and said to us the same mandate taken right out of Genesis

1, 28, plunked into Matthew 28, which is, hey, I want you to make disciples of all nations

from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth, multiply and replenish

the earth. Fill it with mature Christ-reflecting groups of people that worship me right out

of Genesis 1, 28 straight into Matthew 28. Sixth. Freedom. Where he said, I'll give

you my spirit so that you can walk in such liberty. It'll be crazy. Where you can dance

under the sun, where you can wrestle with me, where you can have the same intimacy

that I have with the father, where you can access the father like I do. Freedom. Absolute

freedom. And I don't, I mean, one of the, if I were to take one statement of freedom

in the Bible that I think represents freedom the most, what would yours be? What would

be one verse in the Bible which? Free indeed. Cool.

That's one. Another one. Because it'll be different for all of us. Any other verses

that just exemplify freedom? Nothing is impossible with God. God so loved gives absolute freedom.

My favorite one is John 13, 2. For me, that is so liberating. It says, Jesus, knowing

where he came from and knowing where he was going. He was so sure that he could walk freely

on earth. Free of fears, free of shame, free of pleasing people, free of being destroyed

by people, free of being worried about stuff, knowing where he came from and knowing where

he was going. It is such a freedom statement, man.

Yes?

You talked about intimacy with the father.

Yes.

You know why? I mean, just as not even in the case of my mind. Because I love the Christian,

I love to be a pastor, right? And you know why? God took over when he took his dad away.

He says he's the father of the women, the fatherless. He gets my, his hand is over me.

Thank you. And that was five. One more. There's one more. I know we went over this last week,

but it's so critical to know this by heart. So that these things you don't seek outside

of God. Dignity, security, provision, purpose, companionship. Oh, we finished it.

No, there's a seventh one.

Oh, there's a seventh one. What's the seventh one?

No.

I think I clubbed two together. Because I think it's done.

So, I guess pastors have a tendency to always go with sevens and tenths when it was actually

six. Yeah.

Okay, so we'll continue from there. Guys, the ultimate objective of servanthood. Why

be a servant? Why give up your right to yourself the moment you give up your right to yourself?

And keep thinking of this. The only way we can work some truths into our life is to keep

going over them again and again. I must give up my right to myself. During this week there

have been multiple occasions where I had to choose whether I want to give up my right

to myself. Be it on the road, be it at the elevator, be it in a line, be it when someone

is saying something. I have multiple opportunities every week to give up my right to myself.

And the moment you give up your right to yourself, you become a servant. And the ultimate objective,

the ultimate objective of servanthood is to provide a body for his will and his glory.

That's the ultimate objective of servanthood. Why is God looking for servant sons? God is

looking for servant sons because sons have a relationship with the Father and will be

ready to do anything He wants them to do. But now that you're a son and you choose to

become a servant, just as Jesus was a son and chose to become a servant, it's now everything

that you are, your body, is basically a vehicle or a way to provide God a means to accomplish,

achieve, exhibit his glory and his will here on earth. Therefore we go to Luke chapter

Luke 1:38

1 verse 38 and Mary is there and Mary says, the angel says to Mary, you shall conceive

a child and Mary says, let it be done to me as you will. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5, Hebrews

Hebrews 10:5 Hebrews 10:5

10 verse 5, Jesus is before his Father and he says to the Father, offerings and sacrifices

you did not want, but what you wanted is a body and here I come to forgive you myself

so that you can use me to win the world back to yourself. Go to Hebrews chapter 10 verse

Hebrews 10:5

5, just read it, Hebrews 10 verse 5. The beautiful thing is there's nothing that Jesus asks of

Hebrews 10:5

us that he hasn't himself done. Hebrews 10 verse 5, because I don't think I quoted it

Hebrews 10:5

right. Hebrews 10 verse 5, here's what it says, sacrifice an offering you did not desire,

Hebrews 10:5

but a body you prepared for me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

And I said, here I am, it is written about me in the scroll, I have come to do your will

oh God. Beautifully. The objective, the ultimate objective of servanthood is, oh God, I've

gotten up, here is my body for your use, for your glory and your will. Think like this

huh? As you begin to think like this you become it. Here's another statement that really bothered

me, the ultimate objective, the ultimate objective of surrender is, oh God, I've got a body,

is the proclamation of the gospel. The ultimate objective of surrender is the proclamation

of the gospel. And I'll show you, I was a little bothered by this because you would

think that if God wants his glory shown and you provide him yourself he'll use you to

do signs, miracles and wonders and let his glory be known that way. He'll use you to

take your money and provide for the poor and he'll let his glory be known that way. But

the ultimate objective of surrender, when God is saying hey, so you want to surrender,

you want to give yourself to me, my ultimate objective with your surrender is the proclamation

of the gospel. And that bothered me because that is much harder than miracles, signs and

wonders. So if you go to Galatians chapter 1 verse 15 and 16, Paul says there that I

Galatians 1:15

was separated right from when I was born for one reason alone, to proclaim the gospel.

Go to Galatians 1, 15 and 16. Galatians 1, Galatians 1, Galatians 1, Galatians 1, Galatians

Galatians 1:15

1, verse 15. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was

pleased to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did

not consult any man. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace,

was pleased to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did

not consult any man. The point being that the reason he was set apart by God was for

the proclamation of the gospel. So we might say but that might just be Paul. So let's

go to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10. Verse 29, verse 29, verse 29,

Mark 10 · chapter mention Mark 10 · chapter mention Mark 10 · chapter mention

see one of the things Jesus would add as a suffix to everything he said was for my sake

and the sake of the gospel, for my sake and the sake of the gospel. And in Mark chapter

Mark 10 · chapter mention

10, you know this verse because we've talked about it before, verse 29, verse 29, he says,

I tell you the truth, Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or

mother or father or children or fields for me. This is exactly what born servants do.

Born servants leave their home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, fields

for me and the gospel for two things, for my sake and the sake of the gospel. We'll

fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, brothers, sisters, mothers,

children and fields and with them persecution and in the age to come eternal life. But many

who are first will be last and many who are last will be first. Let's go to verse 45.

Mark chapter 10, verse 45. No, we won't go to Mark 10, 45. Mark 10, 29, sorry. That's

Mark 10:45

it. Oh no, verse 45 actually says it. Mark 10, 45, for even the son of man did not come

to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. But even the son

of man did not come to be served but came to serve and give his life as a ransom for

many. The point is this, guys. You were called to be a son servant and you were called to

be a son servant so that every day you could provide God a body for his glory and his will.

That surrender, the ultimate objective of that surrender is for the proclamation of

the gospel for his sake and the sake of the gospel. Glory has been unfortunately mistaken

in churches as either stuff falling from the ceiling or people falling on the floor and

that isn't glory. At the end of the day, nothing is as glorious as the gospel and the proclamation

of the gospel is the ultimate objective of surrender and you cannot escape it. Someone

wrote to me last week and they said sometimes these teachings are really hard and I said

I absolutely agree that these teachings are really hard and unfortunately we won't be

taking the easy route for the next conceivable future. But I said the way to handle it is

try not to wrestle with it but to hold on to it so that you don't let go until daylight.

You try to wrestle with it, it will break you, dislocate your hip. Because when we wrestle

with it, when we grapple with it, we try to come up with ways of thinking that will somehow

make it a little softer and every time you do that these hard truths will dislocate your

hip. The way to go about it is grab on to it and do not let go. Time and time again,

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, hold on to it, don't let go till daylight comes and what

happens then is in the process your name will be changed. But if you try to take it head

on these truths will collide with you and because we are not ready for it, the brilliance

of these truths will cause you either to say I am useless, I cannot do this, it is impossible

or you will try to come up with a way to negate or diminish the strength of these truths.

So the only way to handle this is to hold on to it saying Jesus I am not capable but

I will not let go of you and he will say let go of me, what is it to you and I will say

I will not let go of you and you see the sun coming up and as the sun comes up he says

what is your name and he changes you. That is the only way to deal with these truths

man otherwise you will have to go to a monastery and become a monk. I heard the food isn't

good. I was in a monastery two years ago, it wasn't good. It was in Austria, it was

a real monastery, beautiful, my God they knew how to build but they didn't know how to cook.

Guys here is the other thing, once you enter into servitude you enter into rulership, it

is such an odd kingdom, you enter into servitude, such a strange kingdom this is, you enter

into servitude but in doing that you enter into rulership or government.

So are they, you would think that by deciding that you will be a servant son you are letting

go of ruling, no, you are letting go of dominion, no, the moment you enter into servitude and

decide that I will nail my ear to the door post you now enter into rulership. I said

this last week, Jesus does not say well done good and faithful son, he always says well

done good and faithful servant and then he makes another statement in addition to it

which is this, well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over five

cities now come and rule over ten. So there is no question of anybody making any headway

in the kingdom without servitude because rulership comes by servitude. You can make headway in

a church but you can't make headway in a kingdom. You can make headway in the church but you

can't make headway in the kingdom meaning in a church you can be appointed to positions,

you can be elected to positions, you can have a few amazing gifts and we will give you a

position, you might play the guitar and sing so we will put you up front, all that stuff

is what the church can do for you but in that kingdom servitude is directly connected to

rulership and when God sees a servant's son he says gosh I got a king in the making here,

odd how this works. So you see that in Matthew 25 verse 23 where it says I will make you ruler

Matthew 25:23

over many things, well done good and faithful servant, I will make you ruler over many things

and so in other words rulership is tethered to the servant nature of God in you, rulership is

tethered to the servant nature of God in you, rulership is tethered or tied to the servant nature

of God in you. I said this last time and it's so worth saying because it just shocks your system,

God in its essence is a server or a servant, God in his essence is a server or a servant wouldn't

you like to be like him Jacob. God in His essence is a server or a servant wouldn't you like to be

like him Jacob.

One more statement before we go on to the third surrender, and that is that faith increases

through faithful service. Faith increases through faithful service. So, servitude results in an

increase of faith because as you prove yourself faithful, man, he says, okay, you handle five

cities, let me give you ten. No, God, don't give me ten because I can hardly handle five. Nope,

you take ten. Now you've got to start walking on water. It is brilliant. Faith increases with

faithful service. And how do you measure faithfulness? It's very difficult, guys,

very difficult because Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 4. He says, what is expected of a

steward but to be faithful? And he says, so I will try to be faithful but by the way, you can't judge

me because only one knows how well I'm doing with what I have been given. You can't judge me but

just because I think I'm innocent doesn't equate me either. 1 Corinthians 4. And so it becomes this

very hard thing. How do you judge whether someone is being faithful? Very difficult. You may think

they haven't done what they're supposed to do but what if in the eyes of God they were? How can you

judge them? It's very difficult. Just keep that in mind. But faith increases through faithful

service. So servanthood has a direct relationship to increase in faith. Therefore then, when I

choose not to be a servant, my faith begins to stagnate. My faith begins to stagnate.

Any questions before we go on to the third one? Hey, when Chad and his wife come, be a little

more responsive for the first day or so. After that, go back to normal because when new people

come the first day, if they feel a little encouraged, they usually have steam for the

next four days. So just smile and do a couple of um-hum's at the right time. Because I just

realized I asked a question and there was absolute silence and that's perfectly okay with me because

I know you're listening or I've convinced myself that you're listening. Over the years, certain

defaults set in. But just encourage them the first day. After Thursday, they'll be fine.

The third surrender is the right to self-determination. The third surrender is the right to self-determination.

All this is so politically incorrect. The right to self-determination. How can we define that? It

is to want what your will does not want. It is to want what your will does not want. Terribly,

if only we could have stopped after the second one. It is to want what your will does not want.

It is to be so dead in your union with Christ that you have no will but his and so your will

doesn't count anymore. It is to want what your will does not want. We'll give examples. It is

to want what your will does not want because you love someone more than life itself. It is to want

what your will does not want because you love someone more than life itself. This is the ultimate

place of surrender where I don't want to God but I will. Look, Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane

and he says that in Matthew 26.39, Jesus cried, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,

but not my will. It is to want what your will does not want. Desire those guys. We have to start

marching towards this. If I get there in two or three years, great. If I get there in one year,

brilliant. It is to want what your will does not want. It's an absolute surrender. The word

surrender is a dirty, dirty, dirty word. It goes against the grain of everything human,

but it's such an awesome word. Aren't you glad you belong to a God who makes such demands of you?

And the only way you can respond to this demand is by liking him. There's just no other way around

it. So it is to want what your will does not want because you love someone more than life itself.

Matthew 26.39 is one example. Let me give you another example. John 21.18. And Jesus is saying

to Peter, hey Peter, when you were young, you would dress yourself up. We think it's very cute

when kids, when they're two years old, decide what they want to wear. And parents talk about it

fondly, repeatedly. And so when you were a kid, Jesus said to Peter, you used to dress yourself

up and you would go wherever you wanted. But now that you are older, and he didn't mean age,

and now that you're older, listen to these words. But when you are old, you will have someone else

dress you up. You will stretch your hands out to them. You will have someone else dress you and

lead you where you do not want to go. And Jesus was talking about how Peter would be crucified.

And John is writing his gospel after Peter's death. And he must have had such hindsight as

he wrote that. Ah shucks. Jesus had said this about Peter and that's what happened to Peter.

And there was a time when Peter denied Jesus because he wanted his own will. And yet from what

it said, he asked to be hanged, to be crucified upside down. How do people change like that?

Partly because of this thing called love and partly because of this willingness to surrender.

Because Peter had the same advantage that you and I had. Because as long as Jesus was alive,

Peter was pretty messed up. And then when the Holy Spirit came, everything changed.

I love this next line. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. This is difficult. But before we go to

that next line, let me give you one more scripture to talk about this. Luke 14 verse 26. Luke 14 verse

Luke 14:26 Luke 14:26

26. If anyone comes to me and does not hate, then he gives a list of things you need to hate. As in

the word hate there is loveless. The word hate there means loveless. And then it ends with this.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate your da da da da da da da and your very life, then Jacob,

you are not worthy of being my disciple. If anyone comes to me and does not hate, and he gives a whole

list, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. So what are we guys? What are we then? What are

we? Maybe you're at that place already. What am I? Because I don't think I've come to a place where

I love my life less. I like my right of determining my will. Hold on to it preciously. And then we come

to this beautiful line. I'll write it down. The ultimate objective or goal of self-sacrifice.

Goal of self-sacrifice. That's why I started with that song. The ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is

to lay my life down for my friend. And I mean Jesus Christ. This now begins to help me walk

towards that end. That the ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is to lay my life down for my friend.

And the M is a capital M. And the F is a capital F for my friend. That I can now begin to fathom.

Now Jesus, I call you my friend because you call me your friend first. Jesus, you've been there

since I can remember. Even before I was a believer, you were around and I was aware of you.

Jesus, every day you're such a part of our lives. Don't know what we would do without you.

Even calling you best friend sounds so pathetic because we got BBFs and MBFs and all that stuff

here too. But oh God, I understand this. That the ultimate goal of self-sacrifice is laying my life

down for my friend. That would be the ultimate sacrifice. And Jesus, I'm going to start marching

towards it because you have done so much for me that this would be a tiny, tiny, tiny thing

I can do in return.

Kapish, Sela?

Isn't it awesome? We get an opportunity to actually lay our lives down for your friend.

Gosh, we got tons of time left. What are we going to do?

Yeah.

Yeah, sorry. Can you ask that again?

Yeah, perhaps it's semantics, but it's inside my head and unfortunately I'm the one teaching.

So the right to myself is okay. I will allow you to, I will allow God to use me as a servant in

your life. Okay, so that's right to myself. Right to my will is oh God, he's been using me as a

doormat far too many times. He's exploited me. He's done this. He's done that. And I've been a

servant as you wanted. That's it, Father. Now I have the right of self-determination where I choose

not to because I will not let you continue to do what you're doing. So right to self-determination

goes deeper than the right to myself because on one hand I'm allowing God to use me as a servant,

but there are things that I really don't want to do, oh God. And strangely enough, God will not beg

or force and therefore the right to self-determination is when I say not my will but yours be done.

Jesus had no desire, personal desire like in his flesh. It wasn't like put me on the cross, put me

on the cross. No, but my God there was something else beyond that that he was looking at and

therefore he lays down his will. And it's a right given to every human being, the right of

self-determination. If he wouldn't be human, if these two things were not given to us, the right

to yourself and the right to self-determination are two wonderful things given to man. And it was the

two things lost in the garden. The right to self and the right to self-determination were given and

therefore they could choose to eat off the tree. If those were absent, we wouldn't have a problem,

but they were both present.

So how do we go about this? How do we get closer to surrendering to these three things?

I think our greatest enemy is

self-preservation. Our greatest enemy is self-preservation and we come from a stock

that has been practicing self-preservation ever since Adam hid and blamed Eve. It's been going on.

We come at least physically from a stock like that, not spiritually.

Self-preservation is my greatest enemy to surrender and some of it is because of

the wounds that you carry and I carry, the pain, the fear, the anger, the pretense that I have to

and you have to bear because of the wounds that you and I carry. I read this line somewhere, it

says, we are wounded people and it is easier to love from a distance because I won't bump into

your wounds and you won't bump into mine. We are wounded people and so it is easier to love from

a distance because that way I won't bump into your wounds and you won't bump into my wounds.

Therefore, when I will hide my fears or I won't let you get too close to my fears and if you do,

you might see anger for a second which I have learned now to pretend and suppress but the best

way is to keep you at a healthy distance. Self-preservation is sometimes because of the

fear, the pain, the anger, the blame, the hurt that has been caused and because of the wounds we carry

that are not healed yet. See, God can rewrite a memory from his perspective if you disown the wound.

God can rewrite a memory from his perspective if you disown the wound but to disown the wound,

you have to uncover it and admit it. You have to receive healing and forgiveness

and offer forgiveness. Till that time, it's impossible for these wounds to go so we end up

living lives of self-preservation and one of the things that none of us said is that the word

freedom must be equated with another word. If you are free, then there is another thing that happens

immediately in your life. If you are free, you will be transparent. Freedom and transparency go

hand in hand. The freer a person is, the more transparent their life is.

Transparent doesn't mean come and take over my life, come and invade my life.

Transparent means you have the ability to see through and when they see through you, they see someone.

Transparent isn't this is who I am. If you like it, take it. If you don't like it, don't take it.

That's not transparency. That's obnoxious. Transparency is hey, if you look into my life,

you'll see right through me and you'll see Jesus.

So the first thing that enables self-preservation is the wounds you have

that are a result of pain, hurt, betrayal.

Blame and sometimes pretense and sometimes what happens is guys, all this

expresses itself in anger that is either suppressed or explosive.

Perfect example of someone who went through all this and what did Jesus do first as soon as he

started walking on the beach. The first thing he dealt with was Peter's censor.

That guy was so messed up after that betrayal, man. You can't imagine what, I mean sometimes I've

kind of tried imagining what Peter went through. I mean he was the leader, he promised the world

and within a matter of six hours or three and a half or four hours he had sold Jesus.

And now people don't know because nobody knew he had done this except for the non-disciples.

Nobody else knew so he's carrying the guilt of this, hey, because he hasn't told anybody yet

because the servant girl and the other soldiers know but none of his compatriots know and he's

going fishing and he's trying to do everything possible and then he sees Jesus at the beach and

this is, you can imagine how on one hand he doesn't want to face up to Jesus on the other

hand how can he resist someone who he has dearly loved. He jumps out and the first thing he does

is go fall at Jesus' feet and Jesus begins this process of I know what happened because he just

looked at him when the cock crowed the third time and the first thing Jesus deals with this

is that there's just no way around self-preservation as long as I hold on to these things guys, just no way.

Any questions?

Sorry which one?

Pretense.

Yeah, yeah, oh sorry pretense.

I think some of the ministry you did was to take care of these things right with people, no you Sue.

Yeah, where you deal with the pain the hurt of people so that they can get past this place

where otherwise you go into self-preservation man and self-preservation is the enemy of surrender.

And once I can't surrender then everything really is about me it's not about God.

Any questions?

Okay so here's a question that I want to ask.

Can Jesus help himself to your life at will? Can Jesus help himself

to your life at will? Be careful how you answer this. I was thinking of saying yes and then I thought what if he actually does?

Can Jesus help himself at will to my life? What does that look like?

What does that look like?

What does that look like?

What does that look like?

Here's what it looks like.

He'll begin

to use your life

to serve

his interests

and purposes

in others.

That's a catch eh.

It's really got nothing to do with you.

It's taking your life and giving it away as he pleases because of his interests and purposes in others.

Can Jesus

take

anything from your life at will?

Can Jesus help himself to your life at will? What does that look like?

What does it look like? Here's what it looks like. He'll begin to use

your life to serve the interests and the purposes of others and you won't have a say in it

nor will he require your permission.

You can have a say in it but the intent is you don't have a say in it and he won't need your permission to do it.

What's scary is if you go down this route we might think it's actually the devil.

When it's God.

Cause our ultimate example and model is Jesus. This is what happened to him. The father said, okay Jesus,

can I help myself to your life at will? What does it look like father?

Can I begin to use your life to serve the interests and purposes of Jacob, of Nick, of

whoever?

And that's exactly what he did. Went scooped whatever he wanted out of Jesus's life and did what he wanted with it

so that today we see a harvest.

And here's the other thing. This is where it really gets ugly. If you say yes to this,

it's not like Jesus reaches out his hand to do it.

He uses someone else's hand to do it and that is when it gets ugly.

Because if Jesus used his hand,

the nail scarred hand, I worship you Lord. But when it's my pudgy hand, it's a whole different thing.

Or Dawn's,

yeah, then it's a whole different thing.

Now do you see

what Jesus meant? Now he's restored Peter and Peter's standing there. Look at what Jesus says. Do you love me?

Because the ultimate expression of

surrender,

the ultimate goal of self-sacrifice for a friend is when you lay your life down for your friend.

And what is Jesus saying to Peter when he says feed my sheep?

It sounds very pastoral. Feed my sheep as in stand behind the pulpit and preach. No.

What he's saying is, hey, do you love me? Well,

if you love me, then pour out your

life. That is what feed my sheep means.

Feed my sheep is not a message. My God, we think it's just a simple teaching.

It's not a teaching. Feed my sheep means blooming. Go pour out your life, man.

And so he's asking Peter three times. He asked him, do you love me?

Peter says, of course I do.

Second time he says, you know.

Third time he says, stop asking me these questions.

You know better than to ask me as in, you know my heart condition.

And Jesus each time replies, feed my lambs, feed my sheep as in pour out your life.

Not feed my sheep as in on Sunday.

Pour out your life. Hey, don't you do that with your children?

I mean, when does it stop when they turn six, 16, 26?

Pardon?

19. You wish. 90. Yeah, that makes sense.

John 21 17. Do you love me? Feed my sheep as in pour yourself out and my God, pour yourself out for

reverent sheep that just want to hear the master's voice. No, pour yourself out on unkempt head

butting stubborn

strays that resist the voice of the shepherd just as I did for you Peter.

That is what he's asking.

I'm done.

I'm heading this way.

I don't know when I'll get there, but I ain't planning on three years. I want to get there faster.

Because I'm already 50 something.

Guys,

we'll here's what we'll be teaching in the future. Second Corinthians 5, 14.

The love of God compels me.

How is it that these guys became servants to the point where they would

give up anything, do anything,

surrender anything. They all had the same advantages that you and I had.

Some of them came from really rich backgrounds, some from poor backgrounds,

but they all had this ability to lay down, surrender all for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

Providing their bodies not just as a means to carry something somewhere or carry the treasure somewhere,

but providing the bodies to be burnt on the stake, torn apart by horses, sawed,

Hebrews 11 talks about it. How did they do it?

One of the ways and we must talk about it, we will, I'll teach about it,

is the love of God compels me. How does the love of God compel someone to do something like that?

I mean,

I don't necessarily see it in this room, and I'm sure you don't see it in me.

How does this happen?

That's the first one. The second one is from

from

John 17 23

John 17 23 and Romans 5 5.

Basically, it is Jesus' prayer to the father and he says, father, can you make them one with us?

Can you make them one with us?

So that

our love may flow through them and they will be known as our disciples. Our love may flow through them.

And the world may know

that you send them and they are my disciples.

Romans 5 puts it this way, we can't round it, we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

I mean, have you gotten to a point, and I ask this with suspicion that you haven't, and if I'm wrong,

too bad.

Have you gotten to the point, because I have not, have you gotten to the point, and I'm not the measure of this church, I'm just saying,

have you gotten to the point where it is impossible to suppress or exhaust his love through you for others?

Have you gotten to the point where it is impossible to suppress

or exhaust his love through you for others?

Is this what

fuels you?

Where you can't suppress the enormous love that God has through you for others, where you can't exhaust it,

I can understand, can't suppress it,

where it's continuously surging forth.

Is that how you view the world?

Because if it is how you view the world,

to my God, you're already on fire, man. This is actually called being on fire for God. Fire is liquid

love that the Holy Spirit brings through you that cannot be suppressed,

but it's so molten that it begins to pour out and there aren't enough containers to contain it,

because Romans 5.5 says the Holy Spirit brings it.

Where you cannot sit because you are compelled,

the love of God compels me, says Paul, to go and

speak to others and proclaim the message of reconciliation. I cannot stay still. It's that touch by the fire song.

If you are there, my God,

blessed am I

that you are in this church and I'm the pastor of this church, and if you're not there,

we'll go there, man, because I desperately want to go there.

There is no other reason for our existence, everything else.

Aligns when the kingdom comes?

First.

And so ask yourself this question as we sing a couple of songs. The first question is

when Jesus met the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10 verse 21,

Mark 10:21

he said,

one thing you lack.

And then he said, go sell.

What is this one thing that

prevents, what is the one thing that is your strongest reason for self-preservation?

Let's think of that for a couple of seconds.

What is the one thing that you need to sell if you have to take a step towards

ending self-preservation and commencing surrender?

What is the one thing that Jesus would confront you with saying, hey, you lack in this, Jacob,

and this is preventing you from letting go of self-preservation and from commencing surrender.

What is the one thing? Just think of it for a couple of minutes.

You lack one thing, Jesus said.

Then he said, go sell this.

What is the one thing you lack? And what would you have to sell so that you can be free of it?

Holy Spirit, please ask that you do with the light of your life what no one else can do.

Eliminate

recesses in my life so that

what is dead is exposed so I can sell it.

So

What are the two things about

Father, I'm assuming you brought it to our minds.

Help us not to forget what you've just shown us.

Help me not to forget what you pointed out.

The two factors that prevent me from surrender or servitude.

I almost assumed the right to be this way because I have the right.

Help me not to forget the things you pointed out so that I can uncover it before you.

Holy Spirit, I trust you.

I trust that the work that you have begun you will complete because my words can't do it.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Hey guys, I hope you understand how powerful these teachings are.

They're very, very powerful.

They go really far deep into places that we usually don't examine.

And the teaching is powerful.

It has nothing to do with me.

It has everything to do with what God wants to do in our lives because of what he wants to shape us into.

He's sharpening a spearhead.

I want to sing, on my knees again, Surrendering All.

That's one of the songs I want to sing and then we'll see if we need to sing any other song.

Thank you.