Let it Happen | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Okay.

Man, like can you guys help me welcome our online family, those who are joining us online?

We're so, so glad that you're here with us.

If you're joining us in a family lounge, we're so glad that you're with us as well.

Before I jump into the message, I do want to re-emphasize um all the things that you guys just heard from the platform.

I know depending on context and when you're coming into service and um rushing and getting into your seats, and we're kind of going through the activities of the church.

It can sometimes be kind of like the white noise in the background.

But I want to encourage you to, if you're not following us on social media, that's a great way to stay connected to what's going on.

And I just want to reemphasize, please join us next week for our Christmas service.

That's where we're going to have all the extra elements and all the fun stuff.

But then on the 20th, that candlelight service is going to be a powerful sacred moment where we're just going to preach and really talk briefly around the birth of Jesus and what it means to him for him to be the light of the world.

Excuse me.

So I just want to invite you guys personally to join us for that.

So it's just going to be a great time for us as a church family.

Amen.

Amen.

I wanted you guys to join me um in the Gospel of Luke, chapter number one.

The Gospel of Luke chapter number one.

If if you're with us last week, um you will recognize that we were in Luke chapter number one last week as well.

Every year around Christmas time, I like to go through the Gospel of Luke and then go right into the book of Acts.

It's just kind of my rhythms, but I like the details in which Luke speaks from.

And last week we talked about this idea of Advent, which is from the Latin word adventus, which means coming or arrival, but it's really a posture while you're waiting.

It's really a posture of preparation.

And so what we learned last week about being patient when we're waiting for God to show up.

And I think all of us can have areas of our lives that God has done some things, but we're still waiting for some things.

And so, how do we do that?

Well, and so last week we talked a little bit about how patience is not passively waiting, but it's actively preparing, preparing for when God wants to speak.

And so we looked a little bit at the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth, and how Gabriel showed up and interrupted their lives and spoke to them and said that they were chosen to do something incredible for God.

Now we want to fast forward six months, but still let's stay in the same chapter and see that Gabriel is still on the move.

Starting at verse number 26, the Bible says this.

It says, In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David.

The virgin's name was Mary, and the angel came to her and said, Greetings, favored woman, the Lord is with you.

But she was deeply troubled by the statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.

The angel told her, Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Now listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

Verse number 34.

Mary asked the angel, How can this be since I have not had sexual relations with a man?

Then the angel replied to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you.

Therefore, the holy one born will be called the Son of God.

Now, consider your relative Elizabeth, and she is conceiving a son even in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was once childless.

For nothing is impossible with God.

See, I am the Lord's servant, said Mary.

May it happen to me as you have said.

Then the angel left her.

There's a lot that's happening in this passage, and I'm gonna spend a few moments doing my best to unpack it.

But just here's a quick thing to give you.

Mary was raised in the the Jewish context where they were expecting the arrival of the Messiah.

Naturally, they didn't know when he was gonna come, how he was going to come, but she was aware and familiar with this idea of God's chosen coming and bringing reconciliation to all of his people.

And she just finds out, this young teenage girl just finds out that God chose her to be the vessel to usher in a revolution.

Imagine that you being chosen to do something significant for God.

It's from this lens I want to talk to us for a couple of minutes about when God invites us to do something in the part that we play in it.

I want to talk to us for a couple of moments on a subject that I've entitled Let It Happen.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for for the gift of salvation that's found in the person of Jesus.

Emmanuel, God with us.

Lord, I ask for just the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that you want to speak and do in us today.

I decrease and ask that you increase and that we lean in in this moment and that you bring transformation to our minds, our hearts that's activated in our hands.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Just by a quick show of hands, how many people in here are fans of UFC?

UFC, any UFC fans?

We got it, we got a couple, we got a couple.

And for those who who aren't, basically, it's it's like that that mixed martial art fighting.

Like it's it's it's it's it's pretty it's pretty brutal.

And so I will honestly say I have never really been a huge fan of it, but but I do like watching the highlights.

Like I do love seeing like the different things.

I'm not gonna necessarily do a pay-per-view, but but I'll certainly watch the highlights on ESPN.

Why not?

Well, well, I'll remember a couple years ago, several years ago, in fact, that there was a guy who was heavily favored in a match.

So he was expected to completely dominate this fight.

But but he makes an ill-advised move.

He makes a move, and now he's trapped in what we would call a submission hole.

In fact, the his opponent, because of the movement that he made, had trapped his arm in this submission hole.

And he couldn't get out of it.

So naturally, what typically happens in the sequence of events is when you're put into a hole that you can't get out of, you get to a point where you tap out because you realize, like, hey, I want to live to fight another day.

Like, I don't want to end up getting my arm broken.

So you just you just tap out, and that's when they let you know, and the other guy wins.

But for this guy, he refused to tap out.

So now, as everybody's watching this and you can hear the commentators talking, they're like, okay, normally like they tap out, like, how much longer can he endure this?

And so you can see the guy that had the upper hand, he starts bending the arm a little bit more.

And so now it went from just being a little bit uncomfortable and being hyper-extended to it flat out being dislocated.

Like it, it's it's brutal.

And you're and you're watching this in real time.

And as I'm watching this, I'm like, bro, just tap out.

Like, what are you doing?

And so the the referee's coming up, like, man, like tap out, and he's like, no.

And he refuses to tap out.

Like this guy's arm is bending in a way that arms aren't supposed to bend.

And and he refuses to tap out.

Somehow, somehow, by some crazy miracle, he manages to get out of the hold and he comes back and he wins the fight.

This is this is an epic moment.

So naturally, everybody's talking to him, and and there's a lot of there's a lot of buzz in the arena.

And so I remember when he begins to get interviewed, and they're like, okay, listen, like you were in a move that people don't get out of.

Like that you you should have tapped out.

Why, why didn't you tap out?

And and he said with confidence, he said, Mike, when the move was initially applied, it was incredibly uncomfortable, but but I knew that I wasn't gonna tap out.

He said, I'd rather get knocked out than tap out.

That's a bar.

That's a bar.

That's that I just I would love to be the type of man that would say, Man, I'd rather get knocked out than a tap out.

Like that just seems like something tough that you would say.

And as he's talking and people were clapping, they're like, yo, like this guy is is he's a man's man.

And so I'm thinking, like, man, I'm I'm not that guy.

Like the moment that you even like I tapped out, I'm done, I'm done.

Like, you want, you want, I'll I'll I'm gonna go ahead and stop at the waffle house on the way home.

Like, I I would have I would have tapped out before the move was applied, but this man allowed his arm to be dislocated, and he says, I would rather be knocked out than tapped out.

And I was like, that is that is impressive.

So I remember as I was reflecting on this, and even in preparation for this message, and I came across this, I was like, man, like that's the kind of man I want to be.

I want to be the type of man that refuses to give up.

I want to be the type of man that refuses to submit.

And God said, But that's not the kind of man I'm calling you to be.

He said, That may work in a wrestling match, but the kingdom is the exact opposite.

That submission isn't weakness in the kingdom of God, it's actually a posture of strength.

It began to mess with my mindset when I thought about the way that we perceive submission.

Because the truth of the matter is when we hear that word, all of us have a little bit of a reaction to it.

Because we all are familiar with how that word has been used and to manipulate and to oppress people.

In fact, let me give you the dictionary's definition of submission.

Submission in a dictionary says this it's meek obedience or passive compliance.

Who wants that?

Meek obedience or passive compliance?

I mean, I'm not going to get into a fight with a person in a ring, but I don't want to be described as a person who just exhibits meek obedience and passive compliance.

But sadly, people have taken that definition that was created by the world, and they see that word in the Bible, and they expect people to incorporate what the world's definition of submission into something that God actually tells us that we should do.

Let me read a passage of scripture to us that every time we're in a marriage context and we come across this passage of scripture, it makes some people uncomfortable.

There's a bad word in the Bible that I'm going to share with us.

I want to prepare your hearts.

It's the S-word, and I want us to prepare for it, and it's found in Ephesians 5.

Brace yourself.

Wives, here's the word.

Submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

Ouch.

Because the the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.

He is the savior of the body now as the church.

Here's again, submits to Christ.

So also our wives too, third time, submit to their husbands.

We hear that word, and all of us can have some form of a reaction to it.

But that's not the only place because I believe in reading the Bible in context.

Context determines definition.

But when you see what that word submit is from the Old Testament to the New Testament, God doesn't shy away from it.

So how do we get to a place where a word that God tells us is good for us has gotten to a place where the culture tells us we should reject it?

It's because we've seen how that word has not been used to glorify God.

Here's the reality: we have seen people take the world's definition of submit and then incorporate God into it as a way to exert control and to be abusive.

Do you realize, like during slavery, that when the slaves got to a place where they no longer liked being oppressed and they began to rise up, they would quote scriptures over them found in Ephesians 6 where it says, slaves obey your master, submit.

So now I'm being compelled, and if I want freedom, that's something that God doesn't want for me, and I need to stay in this subservient position.

Manipulation of the word telling us that I should just endure the suffering as if that glorifies God somehow.

That's the first wound that the word submit is.

We we often seen that that men will read these passages of scripture in varying parts of time, and they've used this word of, you're supposed to submit to me.

And they become these overlords and dictators in their households, but they completely missed a part where it says that wives are supposed to submit because the husband is loving like Christ loves the church.

Isn't it interesting how we can look at the Bible and tell people they need to apply their part, but we're not willing to do our part?

The Bible says that the husbands are supposed to live lives of sacrifice and laying their lives down.

I found even in my own marriage, my wife doesn't have a hard time coming to alignment with God's vision as long as I'm doing my part of loving her like Christ loves the church.

But what can end up happening is we can look at these passages of scripture and we can use it as a weapon because we know that people are masterful at weaponizing the Bible for their own benefit.

And it says, You're supposed to submit to me without expecting anything from me, and so this word becomes this weighty, ugly word that strips away our individuality and removes any ounce of us being the people that God has called us to be.

I've even seen in church settings where a pastor can use words to manipulate, to control, and submit and surrender, and now people feel like, and if I have any questions, that then now I find myself in that place of being rebellious.

So I understand that that word has a very weighty meaning to it.

I understand that that word has been used and weaponized and put on people to oppress them and to strip away their individuality and to remove any questions, and that they just have to be these subservient people who have passive compliance.

But but what if, what if this idea of us getting to the place where we refuse to tap out, we refuse to submit, was actually the enemy's plan the entire time.

To get us to a place where we refuse to submit to God so that we can live life on our own terms, and that we're running away for something that God actually invites us to participate in because we know that it's good for us.

Let me give us the biblical definition of submit.

Submit is not a passive compliance, but submission in the Bible's tense, it means willingly come into alignment with God's best for your life.

That sounds a little bit different than when we say submit, be a person, be obedient, you have no willpower, you have nothing.

Biblical submission is actually a posture of power because I'm choosing to bring my vision in alignment with God's best for my life.

That is biblical submission.

It's coming to the place that ultimately I can say, there's a fork in a road, and I can continue to do things my way on my terms, or I can do them the way that God is ultimately calling me to do.

And when I choose to do that, that's me choosing to submit.

What I truly found is that submission is not something that is expressed through weakness, but it's actually a sign of maturity.

It's actually a posture of power when we look at it the way that God intends it to function.

When we understand God's intent, submission empowers our purpose.

Moses was a man who submitted to God.

Jacob submitted to God, Abraham submitted to God.

The Bible even says that Jesus not only submitted to God, but it says that he submitted himself to his parents.

Imagine Jesus, God manifested in the flesh, the creator of all things according to God's word, but he chooses to submit himself under the authority of his parents.

I assure you, that's not a posture of weakness, but it's him coming to alignment with what God says is best for his life.

Submission is willingly taken ourselves and recognizing that God's vision for me is better than my vision for myself.

And when we look at this narrative and so many others, but specifically when we look at Mary, and what scholars ultimately conclude is that Mary's life is an example of a person who chose to bring her life into alignment with God.

Let's look at it from a very practical standpoint because I think sometimes when we look at people in Scripture, we kind of see them as these heroes and completely remove the fact that they had some choices that they had to make.

They had some nuances that they had to deal with.

And so ordinarily, I like to give you guys three practical points that are typically action-oriented.

But honestly, when I did my preparation for this sermon, I approached it like I do my devotionals.

So I just want to share some observations with you that'll bring us to a place that hopefully we can take our next step.

Can I get a good amen on that?

Here's the first thing that I just want to share with you in this text.

Recognize God's favor.

Recognize God's favor.

Recognize God's favor.

Now, when I say favor, all of us have something that comes to mind when we think about favor.

You're thinking about that time when you got the upgrade for the plane ticket and you're sitting in first class and you paid economy money.

That's that's favor.

We we all know what favor looks like.

It's the Christmas time, so we're going to the store and we drive around and then we get a parking spot in the front of the store.

Favor ain't fair.

Like we we all understand what favor looks like.

We even have Caleb who's on our worship team.

We're on a we're on a text thread with me and him and another guy, and and and we always talk about the newest, the newest sneakers that are coming out.

And when and Caleb will inevitably text, like, hey man, these these new Jordans are coming out, or these new shoes are coming out.

Who's going for them?

And so we'll say, okay, we're all gonna go for them.

And more often than not, Caleb wins and I don't.

I've concluded that based off of that metric, God doesn't love me at all.

I I very rarely win, but Caleb always wins.

I actually think he's cheating, but that's a whole nother different conversation.

But he but he always wins.

So so all of us, when we think about favor, we often think about an outcome.

We think about something that we receive that helps us to feel as if we had favor.

It's the grandiose, it's the big thing that makes us feel better about ourselves.

But but when we look at the Bible's utilization of favor, it includes none of those things.

What scripture tells us is that Mary is literally in the smallest town that has zero notoriety, zero influence.

She's just an ordinary woman who's engaged to an ordinary guy going about her ordinary life.

And the angel shows up and says to her, Greetings, favored woman of God, the Lord is with you.

She did nothing, she had no outcome that would even insinuate that she has favor on her life.

In fact, some could argue by looking at the condition that and the situation she finds herself in, it's the absence of favor.

But what if God is showing us there's a different metric that He looks at when he considers what favor really is?

What the Bible says is that the angel comes to her and he says, The Lord is with you.

See, that's the thing that determines whether or not we have favor.

And what we found with her is that even though she was in obscurity, the Lord was with her.

That even though that she was in a town where she had no popularity, the Lord was with her.

That even though she was a person that didn't have the finances, the Lord was with her.

What if I were to tell you that your outside situation does not determine whether God is with you or not?

That often it's when we're in these seasons of struggling that God will use it as the canvas through some of the most incredible things because the Lord is with you.

Maybe you don't believe that the Lord is with you, but but I found in my own life that God was with me before I was with Him.

See, I I talked to a bunch of my childhood best friends this past Friday.

We haven't all hopped on a phone call probably in over 20 years.

And we're on a phone and we're talking, and as we're talking, we're we're sharing different highlights and different things that are going on in our lives.

I'm on a Zoom call and I'm seeing guys I hadn't seen in 10, 15 years, and as I'm looking at them, I'm like, man, the years have not been good to you.

I said that, but that's what I do.

Um, but like you see people who have lost hair, you see people who have different seasons of life, and we're getting caught up, and we're on this Zoom call for four hours.

That's a lot coming from your boy, because y'all know I'm like the guy that's like, man, why didn't you text me?

But I'm on this call getting caught up with these guys for four hours, and we're we're laughing and we're joking and we're going down memory lane.

But but here's the thing when I hung up off of that call, I began to think back to the season of life I was in with some of those memories that we had.

I began to think about places that I was at because of the season of life that I was in.

I think about people who didn't make it out of those seasons in the behavior that I had back then.

What I realized is I was favored and I didn't even recognize it.

That I was favored before I even declared that Jesus was Lord of my life because I know that there's fruit that I can see, that God was with me before I was with him.

I'm favored because I survived going into some environments that I shouldn't have made it out of.

I'm favored.

I'm favored because I'm standing here in front of you when there's other people that have made decisions that I've made that didn't make it to this point.

Maybe you're thinking that favor is found in where I live, favor is found in how much I make, favor is found with all the things that I got going on in my life.

But what if I were to tell you that survival is evidence that God has favored you before you even recognize who he was?

You are favored.

There is favor on your life because God is with you.

Naturally, what the Bible tells us is that when she hears these words, she's confused.

She's a little bit perplexed.

So the next thing that I see in this passage that I think it's helpful for us to grab a hold of is that we have to trust God's plan.

Because you have this young woman who is engaged to this guy, and she has a vision for her life.

There's an there's there's a way that she sees her life spilling out.

And we all know that even though it's a different time, that that there's not a lot of differences in the sense of this.

Okay, I'm getting married, and this is where we're going to live, and then we're gonna have children, and then this is what the next steps are gonna look like.

This is how many kids we're going to have, and this is kind of our lot in life.

So, so Mary likely had these very same things happen, but then the angel shows up and says, But God has a different plan for your life.

I can't imagine.

her trying to wrestle with this idea that that Lord I'm I was just I was just content with just living a life that honors you but but now you're telling me that you're calling me to do something significant I don't feel qualified which is why she said how is this even possible you're telling me that I am responsible for giving birth to the Messiah you're you're telling me that there's something in me that you're telling me that's going to change the world I don't see how that's possible in a very literal sense she's saying I have never even slept with a man I don't I don't know how that's possible.

If I could be honest there's many times that I believe that God has planted seeds and he's shown that I see something in you that you don't see in yourself.

I see something unique in you that you don't see in yourself and we spend a lot of time resisting it because God I don't I don't have the qualifications I don't have the skill sets I I don't I don't sense that I have what it takes to do what you're calling me to do.

So Mary's like how can this even be possible?

How can you see me in this way?

How can I produce what you're asking me to produce Mary's at this place where she gets to this wall where God is telling her I've got something so significant for your life but Lord I'm not popular.

I don't have a lot of followers on Instagram I don't have a lot of influence and God is like exactly that's the canvas that I want to use to do something extraordinary what if in your normal everyday activities God is asking you to bring Jesus into it what what if in just being a spouse God wants you to bring Jesus into that what if being a parent God just wants you to bring Jesus into that environment what if working at your job I just need you to bring Jesus into that and Lord I don't feel qualified but do you trust me?

Mary got to a place where even though she had plans and ideas and things she wanted to do she had to trust what God was calling her to do.

I'm sure that she was not thinking that she would name her first child Jesus.

And that's the moment when we feel that God is telling us to call things differently but God I wanted to call it this I want to do it my way but no I need you to call him Jesus and she had to trust him I realize that we live in a world where trust is easily broken and and trust is hard to extend but even at our core if we're honest with ourselves we all put our trust in something I I remember a couple of years ago especially when I was traveling a whole lot that I found myself at the airport and and while I was there it was one of those weekends where it was incredibly crowded there was a storm and so our connecting flight that we were supposed to get on their plane had broken down.

And so now we're at the airport and we're all waiting and people are frustrated and they just want to get home we were heading back here and and so I remember like trying my best to be patient and and listening to the gate tellers and telling us all the information and as we're talking they're like okay hey we're waiting for another plane to arrive that plane has arrived but now we're waiting for the pilot to get here because the other pilot was naturally going to fly to connecting flight but he's stuck.

So now they said so we're waiting for another pilot to show up so I'm sitting there and I'm always just doing a lot of people walking so I see the pilot like kind of come in and y'all this brother had on flip-flops and shorts he just shows up and they're like okay like so so then another pilot like had given him his uniform who was coming off like this was like and this was like a real good airline I know some of y'all thinking like I know what airline that was nope it wasn't it was it was the good one so I'm I'm watching all this I'm watching all this play out and as I'm watching it's like okay great man the pilot's here and and we're about to get started the pilot goes in he changes the people are clapping at the gate we're about to get on the plane but then I went down this rabbit hole and it was hard for me to come out of it.

Because what I overheard was this pilot was at home just enjoying his Saturday with his family.

He gets a phone call that the other pilot can't make it he leaves his house he immediately comes to the airport and he's gonna take us home that's amazing but I don't know what this brother was doing when he was at home.

It's a Saturday afternoon.

He might have been in the backyard with his family who who knows what he was engaged in but he shows up wearing his regular everyday attire and he's telling me that he's gonna fly me home and I have to trust that he's in a good place where he can take me home.

Not only that I began to look around and I saw the mechanics outside working on I'm like I gotta trust that these guys are paying attention and they're not looking at TikTok videos and they're making sure that this plane is actually able to fly back.

I begin to think about the air traffic controllers and how they have to make sure that the traffic in the sky if that's not terrifying enough that they're looking at all of these things to make sure that there's no I'm I'm beginning to spiral guys I'm sitting there looking at all these variables that can absolutely go wrong if one person isn't doing their job but I have to get on the plane and trust that everybody showed up prepared to do what they're supposed to do.

Here's where we're going to land a plane pun intended if I can trust that man can do his job to get me to my destination why can't I trust God?

God is leading us all to go to a place and to do some incredible things but it seems as if we're willing to trust these systems of the world that are profoundly flawed but is having a hard time trusting God the creator of the universe the one who says I know how many hairs you have on your head Mary had to make a decision that I can trust in the world system or I can choose to trust God.

There's gonna be something in my life that God invites me to do that's gonna require me to step beyond my comfort that's going to require just a little bit of faith but I'm gonna come to the conclusion that Lord I trust you.

God I I know that I don't have all the answers but I trust you I know that I wish I had a little bit more peace in this decision but Lord I trust you what Mary shows us is that even though God has spoken to her and said I'm gonna use you to be a supernatural vessel that's gonna literally change the world she had to come to the point of Lord I trust you.

Do you trust God in what he's invited you to do?

Do you trust him in the thing that he's inviting you to lay down so that you can pick up his calling and his purpose the third and final thing that I want to share with us is is simply this that we have to embrace servanthood embrace being a servant and this is where it all comes together.

When Mary expressed her concern the angel replied to her and said I I know that you think that you're not qualified but the Holy Spirit is going to overshadow you.

And when you look at that word and you break it down it means that God literally has you covered so she was concerned about her ability to do it but the response was I know that you feel inadequate.

That's why God chose you because if you did it in your own strength then God wouldn't get the glory so what I want to show you is God's going to take a person who's inadequate and insufficient and do some incredible things with you because God has got you covered.

I want you to understand that God has got you covered it says that the power of the Holy Spirit is going to come alongside you and empower you to do what you're called to do and our responsibility in that is to embrace what he's calling us to do.

The Bible says that when when Mary hears these words she brilliantly says I am the Lord's servant make it happen as you have said it.

Just let it happen Lord I I I don't know what it's gonna look like but let it happen because I understand that you've called me to be a servant embracing the role of a servant is not passive resignation but it's an active partnership with what God has invited you to do.

I I recall when I moved from up north with my family and God said hey I want you to move to Jacksonville Florida getting away from your parents getting away from your support but I I got something I want you to do there.

Lord I don't know anybody there.

It's the Jacksonville who's still gonna go to the Super Bowl we lost last week but it's okay we're gonna win tonight because it's the Cowboys okay so stick with me y'all stay focused.

Okay watch this so so I said okay God I I don't know what that's gonna look like but I trust you when God told me to start serving at my church I was like okay God like this is different than the church that I came from I came from a Pentecostal all black worship experience you come in when you in the daytime you leave at night you never know when you're gonna get out it's like Vegas like you're just gonna be there and then when you come out you're like wow it's dark like like that's what I came from running aisles and waving flags and all this other stuff and now I'm at this other environment this multicultural environment I'm sitting in the back row but God's like but what if I want to do something different in your life I'm asking you to lay down your traditions I'm asking you to lay down your preferences and when you pick up what I'm calling you to do I said Lord it doesn't make any sense to me but let it happen.

I remember when God told me that he was calling me into full-time ministry and when I got my job offer they literally laughed as they showed me what the salary was because it was actually laughable.

Still kind of is um I they laughed they said we're so sorry this is the best we can do and I'm like like God like you know what my bills look like and you see what they're trying to give me Lord I don't know if I can do it but God's like but you've been tithing and you said that I'm your provider will you trust me and I said Lord okay I don't know how it's gonna work but I but I trust you let it happen I I've seen over and over again in my life where God leads me to a point that extends beyond my comfort and beyond my logic and I have to fill that gap with but Lord I trust you what I believe is that submission when we understand our role in the kingdom of God it is not passive resignation but it's active participation saying God I don't know what it's going to look like but I'm choosing to submit and I'm asking you to let it happen.

James chapter 4 verse 7 it says this it says therefore submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you let me say this again therefore submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you let me bring this all together to make us adequately uncomfortable all of us are submitted to something let me say this way all of us are submitted to someone here's what this text is saying you're either submitted to God or you're submitted to the devil there is no in between so even when we say I refuse to submit to God what you're saying is because I choose to be submitted to the devil and when I'm submitted to the devil I'm choosing to distance myself from God or I can choose to submit to God his ways and what he wants from me and that will empower me to resist the devil and to bear the fruit that he ultimately wants me to bear submission is not this a passive resignation but it's taking the choice and saying I'm at the fork in the road and what the Bible says that you can either choose one of these two trees this tree here that's knowledge of good and evil you can define what's right and wrong on your own terms and on your feelings and what culture says or you can choose life and choose to do it my way but when I don't choose God I chose the devil and I wish I could say it differently I wish I could sugarcoat it I wish I could package it in a way that we could all jump up and down but what scripture tells us is that we are following one of two things we're either following our flesh or we're following the spirit and when I choose to follow the spirit it will bear fruit of life and righteousness and hope and joy and love but when I choose to follow the flesh it produces brokenness injustice suffering and we have to make a choice what am I going to surrender to my life God's way is really just our way of saying I'm choosing to surrender or submit to God.

James 4:7

Let it happen it's my job but it's God's way these are my relationships but I'm gonna steward them God's way it's my finances but I'm gonna steward it God's way this is my temple but I'm gonna steward it the way that God tells me to steward it.

These are my words and instead of me using them to antagonize and argue and tear people down I'm gonna use my words God's way to build people up yes I have my own time but I'm gonna use it in a way that's gonna bring glory to God is God's way.

These are some dreams that I have but but I want to make sure that if I'm dreaming about what God has for my life I want it to be in alignment with what he has for me so I'm gonna submit my dreams to God so it's my dreams but it's God's way.

I want to make sure that I'm worshiping God his way because the truth of the matter is all of us are vessels of worship.

And either I'm worshiping and bringing glory to God or I'm worshiping and bringing glory to my flesh.

So I'm choosing to make sure that my life brings glory to God.

It's my worship but I'm gonna do it God's way there's some challenges that I'm facing right now and in my flesh I feel like I can respond to it a certain way but God tells me to speak words of life and to exhibit peace.

So these are my challenges but I'm going to address them God's way God's way is always better than my way there's no ifs, ends or buts about it because God's way will produce life God's way will produce hope God's way will produce joy God's way will produce freedom God's way will produce healing God's way will produce a breakthrough so we have to come to the place am I going to do things my way or God's way many of us are in a wrestling match right now and we don't even realize that we're actually wrestling with God and he's saying would you please just tap out just just lay it down tap out let let let me let me begin to orient your life in such a powerful way and many of us are just like that fighter from earlier I'd rather be numb and broken than to surrender this to God.

And what I believe God wants to do is he wants to let us know that this is not a posture of weakness but this is actually a posture of strength.

When I think of back to the fruit of my life before Jesus and I look at the fruit in my life since Jesus it doesn't mean that there's an absence of pain but there's absolutely the presence of peace and I believe what God is inviting us to do is choose what we're choosing to be submitted to with every head bowed and every eye closed someone asked this question of us all of us have things that we're holding on to more appropriately things that are holding on to us and I believe that these are the moments that God is saying are you willing to surrender this to me so you can walk in the strength of what I've called you to do and ultimately who I've called you to be sometimes we're holding on to toxic relationships sometimes we're we're holding on to our own way of thoughts we're we're holding on to things that we know that God has been asking us would you please lay this down so that you can pick up my purpose you could pick up my power and you could be a vessel that's used for my glory so everybody in here this is a sacred moment but it's between you and God if there's something that you know I need to I need to surrender this to God.

I need to just let it happen it could be relationships it could be addiction it could be a myriad of things but I believe there's a grace here that can bring us to a place of healing if that's here if that's you and there's something you know that you need to surrender to God would you boldly lift your hands on the count of three one two three I'm surrendering it to God I'm surrendering it to God.

Amen amen God bless you amen amen amen before I go into prayer I want to ask one more question.

Maybe you're in here and what you actually need to do is surrender your life to God.

Because when we think about the Garden of Eden and God offered that incredible choice you can choose to live life where you define what's right and wrong on your own terms and that's going to produce fruit and consequences or you can choose to allow me and my ways to set you up so that you can reproduce and have life.

So surrendering our life to Jesus it doesn't mean we become mindless drones but it means that we're choosing to go the way that God has us to go we're gonna be blessed because God says we're blessed.

We're gonna look at the way that he calls things we're gonna orient ourselves around the way that he's called us to function, knowing that it's gonna produce life and peace.

So if you're in here with us and you're away from God but you know your next step is to surrender your life to Jesus not even surrender submit.

We're gonna call it what it is I'm gonna bring myself in alignment to God's ways.

If that's you want to count of three I want to include you in a prayer in just a moment.

One, two, three surrendering my life to Jesus amen.

Amen amen amen.

God bless you amen amen church we put our hands together and celebrate with everybody just making a choice to bring their lives in alignment with God.

Here's what I want us to do we're gonna go into a time of of worship and and then Nate's going to come up and give us some instructions particularly for those who are saying yes to Jesus but let's all stand to our feet I want to pray over us just really quickly and then we're gonna worship and lift our hands and believe that the Holy Spirit and the power of God is going to give us the strength that we need to lay some things down so that we can make room for what God wants to do.

With every hand lifted up I want you to receive this Heavenly Father God I pray in the name of Jesus that you see every one of the burdens and things that we've been carrying the areas of our lives that we refuse to surrender to you.

It may be our finances it may be our time it may be our relationships things that we know that are not in alignment with you and we're hoping that we can figure it out on our own terms but it's not producing health it's not producing righteousness God and we're just numb and broken.

But Father in the name of Jesus we lay down our ways and we pick up your way we make the choice to take the most powerful posture that a believer can take and that is saying God we want your ways and not my ways so Father I pray over every one of these precious people I pray that every chain is broken off of them in the name of Jesus I call out the chains of addiction to pornography and sickness in the body Father I pray healing over your precious people God I pray healing over relationships God that we can begin to control our tongues and control our minds that we can be vessels of peace that can bring changes into environments that would otherwise not happen.

God I command hope to come upon your people and I pray Father that if there's anything that's not like you that's in our lives show it to the light God and give us the strength to walk away from God show it to us in our jobs show it to us in our homes show it to us with our relationships God because we want to be vessels that can say let it happen let it happen in my marriage let it happen in my finances let it happen with the things you've called me to do Lord let it happen have your wedding in Jesus' name come up and let us watch it one more time for listening we hope you enjoyed today's message we'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and review and share what you've heard today.

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