All In: A Summer of Surrender Pt.11

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

I love it.

Well, we are in part 11 of working our way through 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, and I'm going to attempt something that I've never attempted today, ever before.

I've never given this a go.

I'm giving a 27-point message today.

You thought I was kidding, but so you're not going to be able to write down everything, but do your best.

What would it cost us to actually go all in in our faith, in our surrender to Jesus Christ?

And I give the example of me going all in in the last kind of year with the game of golf, you know, that at 49 years of age, I uh I hated golf my entire life.

And then last summer I decided I was gonna like it.

Turns out I loved it, and I went all in.

Do you remember?

I don't know if you were in the room week one, I kind of talked about that.

You know, my my my thought today is nine weeks ago, I had my right hip replaced.

I I am titanium, and uh, you know, I had major surgery, I had major surgery nine weeks ago, and this summer I went all in on healing and recovery.

And that involved a lot of prayer, that involves so many of you praying.

Like there isn't a Sunday that I haven't seen my church family, and people are like, Pastor John, how's your hip?

How are you doing?

And I'm excited to say that I'm not through that first kind of critical three months yet, but but my body has healed really well, and that's partly because I've been all in on physiotherapy, I've been all in on tension band exercises.

Let me tell you, let me tell you, I'm all in.

You know, I couldn't, I couldn't squat three months ago, I couldn't do that.

I couldn't tie my shoe three months ago, I couldn't.

And and so I've been all in on healing and recovery.

And this idea that when we say yes to going all in on something, that there's gonna be tangible fruit in our lives.

People are gonna be like, wait a sec, something's different.

And so we're gonna shift gears as we end this series.

I think we we sell ourselves short when we call this the summer of surrender.

Because this is a life of surrender.

This is all in.

What would it look like for us to go all in with Jesus?

Not just in the summer, but in this month of September as we go back to school, as our kids go back to school, as we start new rhythms and new disciplines, not halfway, not selectively, not when it's convenient, not when it's easy.

You know, surrender isn't surrender until it costs you something.

Surrender to Christ isn't surrender until there's some tension, and you're like, oh, that hurts.

I gotta, I gotta work on that.

That's a part of me that the Father wants to mold on that, on that wheel, the potter's wheel has kind of been one of our analogies.

That's one of the ways, ouch, that God wants to reform me into the image of Jesus.

It has to cost us something.

It doesn't just fit neatly inside of the life that we've already planned for ourselves.

To surrender to Jesus is to say, interrupt me, interrupt my plans, interrupt my desires, interrupt my thoughts, my intentions, my opinions, and have your way.

Be the Lord of my life.

And so we've been in 1st and 2 Timothy, and here we go.

Part one, 1 Timothy chapter 1, go all in, surrender your inner life.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

This is where we begin.

It will be impossible for us to thrive as the unanxious, loving presence of Jesus in this shattered and broken world without paying attention to our inner lives.

Some of you missed that message, and so I want to ask, how are you doing with surrendering your inner life to Jesus?

You might need to go back, have a listen to part one.

The other idea from part one was go all and surrender your story.

Paul's instructing Timothy and as such, the early church and as such, the global church and as such here in this room today.

Don't let your past define you.

You are not the thing that you did.

The enemy wants to try and tell you and deceive you into believing that you are the sum of the mistakes that you've made and to live surrendered to Jesus and say, things happened, but that's not who I am.

I'm brand new.

I'm a child of God.

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

My past doesn't have to define me.

We spend so much time and energy trying to hide from our failures because of shame, because of fear, because of control.

But I love how Paul flipped the script as if to say, let's not look at what I did wrong.

Let's examine that because of the gospel, all of the wild in me has been broken if I live yielded to Christ.

Lord Jesus, would you display our lives as a living testimony of your grace and your mercy today and every day?

Can I ask you a question?

How are you doing with surrendering your story, surrendering your past?

And then part two, 1 Timothy 2.

We talked about going all in by surrendering our prayer lives, by praying for those in authority over us.

I'm asked this question: do you pray or do you just talk about praying?

You won't survive if you don't have a prayer life.

Some of you are already in this season, you're being tempted to drift away from Christ.

You're like, I'm not as on fire as I as I used to be.

How's your prayer life?

Try praying for your rulers instead, Tom Wright says.

Watch not only what God will do in your society, but also how our attitudes will grow and change and mature.

What would it look like for you to go all in from this day forward with how you pray, how you seek the Lord every day?

I have this new app called the Minimalist app on my phone.

And it's really kind of controlling my screen time.

And I've set a daily limit of 30 minutes on Instagram.

There isn't an app that allows me to set a two-hour limit for my prayer life.

I have to choose that.

I have to choose some of you are content to scroll for 30 minutes like I am, but you can't even pray for 30 seconds.

Go all in.

Learn how to pray.

Be a people of prayer.

Then we talked about going all in by surrendering our stereotypes.

In 1 Timothy 2, we can't ignore the fact that the very first person that Jesus commissioned to go and tell after his death and resurrection was a woman.

Let's follow Jesus.

Let's see that scripture invites men and women alike to develop their God-breathed gifts of learning, teaching, and leadership.

Would you surrender your stereotypes?

How are we doing with that?

And then part three, 1 Timothy 3, go all in, surrender your growth and your maturity.

Woo! Where are you making excuses for your sinful conduct that isn't pleasing to God?

That was the conversation.

We can't water down the gospel of Jesus Christ by not being consistent in our life of faith, consistent in our life of godliness.

Not perfect, but growing.

Let's grow, let's mature in how we are becoming surrendered more and more into the image of Christ Jesus.

How are we doing with surrendering our growth and our maturity?

Was that an idea that inspired you on a Sunday this summer?

Or is that a spiritual discipline and a practice that you are committed to?

And then we said, go all in, surrender your Christian character as a servant of God.

You might not be an overseer or a leader or an elder in Jesus' church yet, but good news, you are not exempt from paying attention to your godly character right now, because you are being developed into a disciplined follower of Christ.

You are being discipled to become a leader and an elder in Jesus' church.

If you're not there yet, we want to invite you into that process.

So don't just stay plateaued when you miss the mark because you're gonna miss the mark.

When I miss the mark, because I'm gonna miss the mark, deal with it quickly.

Keep short, honest accounts with the Father and with each other in the body of Christ.

How are you doing with surrendering your Christian character?

And the last idea from that week was go all in, surrender to the gospel.

You saying yes to going all in with growth, maturity, godly character is like a pillar, a buttress of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This matters because your story intersects with the story of every other person living yielded and surrendered to Christ and paints a picture of the goodness and the faithfulness of God and the gospel of Jesus.

It's foundational, it's secure, it's strong, it's something that future generations can confidently build their life of faith upon.

Don't ever lose sight of the gospel.

How are we doing with surrendering our daily life to the gospel of Jesus?

And then part four.

Go all in, surrender your season.

I loved this Sunday.

Five of our young guns, five of our summer staff, some young leaders shared out of 1 Timothy chapter 4.

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Our spiritual age doesn't define if or how God can use us.

Surrender your season.

These five young leaders, if you were in the room, they issued a bold challenge for us to not give into fear, not give in to excuses, not give in to the younger season that we might find ourselves in, but rise up right now, today, in this season of our lives, to lead and serve as examples of Christ's grace and mercy to the church.

How are we doing with surrendering our right now season?

Do you have excuses where you're like, God can't use me?

I'm too young, I'm too old, I know too much, I don't know enough, whatever that excuse is, surrender it.

Surrender your season.

And then part five, 1 Timothy 5, Pastor Nicole asked the question how's your surrender to prioritizing care for family, both your own biological family and your spiritual family?

How are we doing with the surrender of our care for one another, for our families?

It was a high challenge.

I gave her a very difficult passage to preach.

I heard about it at home.

More than once.

How's your heart towards those who are shepherding you and covering you spiritually?

Are you overly critical?

Or do you have your head in the sand?

Let's keep our hearts soft towards the always beautiful and often messy church that Jesus is building.

How are we doing is surrendering our care for our spiritual leaders?

We're risen through here.

Part six, 1 Timothy 6, Pastor Bennett, this idea, go all in.

Surrender your status and your opinions at the cross.

I love this message, inviting us to consider that when it comes to our opinions, we surrender those to Jesus because not everything is as black and white as we want it to be.

Not everything is as black and white as we want it to be.

But we know that what is found in Scripture never changes, never fails, never wavers, never wanders.

The word of the Lord will last forever.

How are we doing with surrendering our status and our opinions to the cross?

Number 12, go all in, surrender to godliness above all above all.

Paul wants us to understand that there's all kinds of good things in the world, things that we should enjoy, but in the appropriate way.

And the key to our contentment as we live surrender to Jesus is gratitude.

Are you grateful for what God's put in your hand to steward right now?

How are we doing with surrendering to godliness?

And then go all in, surrender yourself to the good fight of faith.

Jesus didn't just call us into this life, he lived it first perfectly.

He's like our big brother that we look up to.

Because he surrendered first, because his life and his death were surrendered at the cross, we need to choose to go all in and surrender to Jesus.

And that's where we find real life.

How are we doing with surrendering to this good fight of faith?

Are we still trying to earn it on our own?

Are we still trying to behave our way into God's presence?

Or are we building and resting on this good fight of faith?

And then part seven, Second Timothy, we shifted gears.

Surrender your fear.

Stop living as a fearful slave when Jesus paid the price for you to live as a confident child of God, experiencing and enjoying and benefiting from all the good gifts that God has provided for you.

Do you remember I talked about how our home is nuts?

It's crazy.

How nothing seems to belong to anybody, and everything seems to belong to everyone, and I'm good with that because it means my kids trust that mom and dad have their backs.

And that's a picture of heaven's kingdom.

We have to surrender our fear of like fear of lack, fear of like, am I just a servant or a slave in the kingdom?

No, you're a child of God.

You're a daughter, you're a son.

Surrender your fear.

And then in part seven, we talked about how it's important for us to go all in by surrendering our shame and our ego.

Live free from shame and live free from pride.

There are two ditches on the pathway to real life.

Not because you're so good or behave in a particular way, but because of the grace and the goodness and the love of the Father.

Jesus invites us today and every day to go all in, surrender to the life of power, where your old life and your old values are flipped upside down, have to die, and you embrace what it means to lead as a part of Jesus' kingdom.

Surrender your shame, surrender your ego.

Jesus qualifies you.

How are you doing with surrendering your shame or your ego?

And then we talked about the idea of surrendering our longevity.

This is how we go all in.

We say yes today, and again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, because we're doing the work of staying in Christ, because we're doing the work of being branches attached to the vine, drinking from the well that never runs dry, Jesus, resisting the gravitational poles of fear, shame, and ego.

Stay in it, go the distance, walk free, walk whole as a child of God, whatever it takes today, and then again tomorrow.

How are we doing with surrendering our longevity?

And then part eight.

Go all in, surrender your procrastination and your shortcuts.

That one still stings.

What easier activities are you pursuing and choosing in place of being obedient to Christ?

In place of participating in the work of sharing the good news about Jesus.

Some of you have not shared your faith with another human being in weeks, months, years, perhaps even ever.

Why?

Because you're procrastinating.

And one day you'll stand before the great throne judgment one day.

Stop procrastinating.

Stop trying to take shortcuts in this life of faith.

How are you doing with surrendering your procrastination, your shortcuts?

How are you doing with surrendering your source?

We talked about source material.

Yes, I made an Odyssey reference and a Spider-Man reference on the same Sunday.

If you missed it, you missed it.

Go back, have a listen.

But this idea of we who treat the Word of God as either convenient or casual are both blind and foolish.

Rediscover the discipline and the practice of Scripture to stay all in for Jesus.

How are we doing with surrendering our lives to the source material?

And attached to that was go all in, surrender your careful study.

Do your best to present yourself as someone who's approved.

Not approved by man, not approved by your spouse, not approved by your pastor, approved by your king.

Become an expert of God's word through careful study of scripture.

In other words, please don't take everything that you hear from this pulpit as the gospel.

Go home and fact check.

Do the work.

If the only feeding on scripture that you participate in is Sunday mornings, you will not make it.

You will be like who we're gonna learn about in a second.

You won't make it.

Your careful study of scripture matters as a part of your all-in surrender to Christ.

Some of you are waiting on a fresh word from God, but you haven't touched your Bible in months.

You haven't received from the revealed will that He's already written down for you.

You're hoping for some magical prophetic word from a holier person or some some writing on the wall or a whisper in your living room.

But you haven't touched your Bible.

Surrender to the careful study of scripture.

How are you doing with that?

Point 20.

We're whizzing by here.

Surrender your response to temptation and to sin.

It's gonna happen.

What are you gonna do when it happens?

Stop responding to temptation like a shovel that collects poop when in fact you are meant to respond to sin as an I said poop.

I did.

And if you missed that message, then you have no idea why I said poop.

Go back and listen.

You're meant to respond to sin as an honorable vessel, set apart, holy, useful for the master's purposes.

This is meant to be our response to sin.

Sin and temptation are rampant on planet earth.

We're not exempt from it just because we call ourselves Christian.

So you get to choose.

Part of your surrender to Christ is how you will choose to respond.

How are you doing with your response to sin?

Pardon 9, 2 Timothy 3.

Pastor Brian invited us to consider what it's going to cost us to surrender this phrase.

I give up.

Don't concede, don't quit on the mission.

Just because things look evil in the world, don't quit.

Do your part in showing the world that God's loving ways are the answer to all these levels of chaos and destruction.

There is a kingdom set apart from the kingdom of this earth, and we're invited to champion that kingdom.

Don't quit.

How are you doing with your I give up moments?

And then he issued this beautiful surrender to gullibility.

I loved it.

Go all in with your discernment.

How many of us are living scampering for solutions without ever surrendering fully to the solution giver?

I love this truth that he shared.

Spiritual warfare is fought on two fronts.

Number one, the enemy, false teachers and false uh teaching.

And number two, our soul care.

Stick close to Jesus, constantly nurture your first love.

How are you doing with gullibility?

Do you have discernment?

Are you pursuing your first love, Jesus?

And then he shared, go all in like the Bereans.

And this idea of surrendering our face to the book.

We can't lead where we haven't been.

And you're called to lead.

There's a purpose on your life to lead as a part of Jesus' kingdom.

But you can't lead other people where you haven't been yourself.

Paul tells Timothy, look to me, look at my life, look at my track record, follow me as I follow Christ.

And we all have to be able to declare this as some at some level as we participate in God's great mission of discipling others.

Because the Great Commission isn't for a select few, it's for All who call on the name of the Lord.

You're meant to consider how you are being sent out, scattered out as a follower of Christ to make disciples, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to disciple others in this way.

And you won't be able to do it if you can't surrender your face to the book.

And then part 10.

2 Timothy 3, go all in.

Surrender your excuses.

Participate in the preaching of the word.

Some of you are like, didn't we hear this already?

Kind of.

Yes.

Paul repeats himself in the second letter.

Why?

Because he's about to die.

And this matters.

Stop it with the excuses.

Participate in the preaching of the word.

Some of you are like, but I'm not a pastor.

Whoever limited the gift of teaching and preaching to the shepherding pastoral role.

Stop it.

You don't need a pulpit or a platform or a microphone to teach other people the good news of Jesus.

You just need to say yes.

When it's favorable, yes.

When it's less than favorable, yes.

No matter how many people are indifferent or even reject that message, we can't shut it off.

Keep the tap open.

And this is for all believers.

How are we doing?

The surrendering our excuses for not sharing the gospel.

I loved this idea of going all in by surrendering our emotions.

We have to stay composed in the midst of other people wandering off, following after empty quests, a calmness of spirit, a sober mind full of self-control.

What God is asking from all of us is for loyalty and perseverance.

Not loyalty to a person, not loyalty to a cause, loyalty to the kingdom of heaven, for continued obedience, even when we can't see the results.

Surrender your emotions.

Some of you are beat down, despondent, afraid, terrified, worried, concerned.

Surrender your emotions to Jesus.

And then Pastor Bennett's challenge was go all in, surrender the reward.

He asked it this way.

Are we sitting back with an attitude that says, well, I believe, so therefore I'm saved?

Or are we realizing that the decision to follow Christ is also a call to action, to be transformed, to run a new race, and to one day stand before God, the righteous judge, and receive the actual reward that's waiting for us.

And here we are.

Part 11.

I just whizzed through 26 points.

Paul writes to Timothy, Do your best to come to me soon.

For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Cresce has gone to Galatia.

Titus to Dalmatia.

Luke alone is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you, for he's very, very useful to me for ministry.

I love that one.

Because earlier on in Acts, we read about Paul and Mark having a big fight.

And Mark left.

You know, we serve a God of redemption.

I love that Paul says, get Mark.

Bring him.

He's useful.

When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus at Troas.

Hey, also, the books.

Above all, the parchments.

Verse 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm.

The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

Beware of him yourself, Timothy, for he strongly opposed our message.

At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

May it not be charged against them.

Do you hear the grace and the love in Paul's tone?

I love it.

Verse 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear.

So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

By the way, would you uh say hi to Priscilla and Aquila, to the household of Onesophorus?

Erastus remained at Corinth.

I left Trophysimus, who was sick, at Miletus.

Do your best to come before winter, Timothy.

Ubulus sends greetings to you, as deputdons and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.

The Lord be with your spirit, grace be with you.

I want to close with this last point, number 27.

Go all in.

Surrender your whole life and your relationships with an open hand.

Paul gets personal with Timothy in this closing.

Demas lost his first love.

He deserted.

Don't be a demas.

These other people have been sent out to serve the kingdom elsewhere.

Luke and Mark, they're either useful to me.

Alexander the coppersmith, beware of that guy.

He did me great harm.

He's strongly opposed.

To be clear, I read and I hear real sorrow, real pain, and real joy in these closing updates on specific people.

And I want to pastor you for a moment, if I can.

You know, at first reading.

As a pastor at 50 years of age, I found myself reading through the through the lens of Paul.

I found myself thinking about the people that have deserted me, deserted us.

Found myself thinking about the people we've sent out to serve the kingdom elsewhere.

I found myself thinking about people that have done me great harm.

And the Holy Spirit said, Hate, could you reread it?

As the church.

Could you reread it as Timothy?

And upon rereading it, here's what I discovered.

I don't want to desert.

I don't want to, I don't want to abandon the mission.

I want to do my best to stay faithful.

Points number one through 26 matter.

Because if I if I live daily in the will of God and in surrender to Jesus, maybe I can stay faithful to this mission.

Maybe, just maybe, God could use us to be sent out to plant a new church in Sherwood Park or Spruce Grove or another province or another nation.

Maybe God could find us faithful to be sent out as a people, as a family on mission.

I don't want to be guilty of causing other people great harm.

Do you hear the reread?

The reread allows me to take weeks one through ten, points one through twenty six, and say, Jesus, I surrender.

I want to stay in this place of surrender.

I want to stay in this sweet spot of being all in.

Through it all, good and bad, celebration and pain, the Lord stands by us, strengthens us, so that his message might be proclaimed.

And the Lord stands by and strengthens those who stay in it, who don't quit, who don't abandon, who don't desert, who don't cause great harm and leave, who run their race well, who pay close attention to the cost of living surrendered.

The picture we get as we take leave of this intimate and personal letter is of a man facing serious trouble and likely death, beset with problems and anxieties, but who nevertheless remains determined to bring every single aspect of his life into the orbit of the gospel itself.

The royal proclamation of Jesus as Lord.

He lives in the present world, Paul, Caesar's world, but already as a cheerful citizen of the world yet to come, Jesus' world.

He longs to see Timothy working hard and effectively for Christ, as he himself has done.

And as we listen in to his end of the conversation, we're left in no doubt as to what kind of advice Paul would give us today.

What's it gonna cost you, church?

Today and every day, from this day forward, to live fully yielded, all in, surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Some of you, yeah, but that person deserted me, and that person hurt me, and that person moved away, and that person got sick.

The cares of this world, the pain of relationship, can I challenge you?

Open-handed, kingdom-minded.

This is all his, not mine, not yours, not ours.

Jesus, build your church.

Jesus, find us faithful.

Surrender every aspect of your life and your relationships to the Lordship of Christ.

Are we too tight-fisted with people that we lose sight of the mission?

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.