The Sound of Surrender | Pastor Paul McGee

Hallelujah. Let's give testimony to the Lord

right now and gratitude and appreciation for every time that

he has shown up, every time that he has made himself present in

some of our dire moments. Hallelujah.

And he has been faithful. He's a faithful God.

He's a faithful God. He doesn't always work on my

timetable, but I've come to understand that his timetable is

is perfect. Amen.

Whenever I got to the end of my rope and he has been there, he

has been there time and time again.

Didn't know where to turn. All the options, there were none

left. Amen.

Sometimes it gets to where everything is subtracted away

from us until he's the only thing left.

Amen. And I love the Lord today.

Hallelujah. We're glad to be in the House of

the Lord this morning. We're grateful for the champion

family being with us and helping us here on this weekend.

You want to be coming back tonight?

And brother champions going to be ministering the word of the

Lord as well. This is like a absolute same

scenario as last time they was with us.

They're going to be here. They're going home for service.

They're coming back. They've been in fair all this

past week. It's just the way it lands.

I think it has to do with shut down the Toyota.

And when fair is for you, it all just comes together.

And they've so graciously said they would do it again, come and

be with us and we're grateful. Amen, for them doing so.

As a matter of fact that their service today they're they're

looking at having 5 people being baptized today in Jesus name,

some kids and some backsliders if I understand right or

grandchildren perhaps that is, but Amen.

So we rejoice, Amen. Isn't that right?

It's always excellent when there's another name that goes

in that name that's above every name.

Amen. In watery grave of baptism even,

I'm going to be turning to the Second Kings chapter #7 and

you'll just have to use these things here called your Bible

today, all right? Amen.

We are media short, all right? And so you can use your Bibles

today. If you didn't bring the Bible

set, someone who has one, pull it up on your phone.

You probably memorized it, so you're OK Amen.

Second Kings chapter #7 We're going to be again reading the

verse #3 again, thank you to all the prayers the people gave.

Her sister Brenda Wendell went there that morning.

Her blood pressure was just just fine.

It's like there is no elevation. Her blood pressure went in and

she was here getting ready to face surgery.

She's just good. And we prayed and she just like

the Lord's going to go with me. That's what she, that's was her

parting words. Lord's going to go with me.

And he was, she was only on like bypass for like an hour and a

half. But they did 4 within that

amount of time. That's that's, that's a

physician, yes, but that's a great physician as well.

Amen. And we're thankful.

We're thankful. Second Kings 7 starting with

verse number verse #3 here the Bible says, and there were 4

leprous men at the entering end of the gate.

They said one to another, why sit we here until we die?

If we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the

city, and we shall die there. If we sit still here, we shall

we die also. Now therefore, come, and let us

fall into the host of the Syrians.

They save us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us we

shall but die. They rose up in the twilight to

go into the camp of the Syrians, and when they were come to the

uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold there was no man

there. For the Lord had made the host

of the Syrians to hear a noise of Chariots and a noise of

horses, even the noise of a great host.

They said one to another load. The king of Israel had hired

against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the

Egyptians to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in

the twilight, left their tents and their horses and their

asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.

When these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they

went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thin

silver and gold and rain, and went and hid it, and came again,

and entered to another tent, and carried thins also, and went and

hid it. Verse #4 says today here they

were saying, We go in the city, we stay out here, either way we

die. We go to the Syrians.

Perhaps we will, perhaps we won't.

The verbiage there in verse #4 is Let us fall the host of the

Syrians. There's several other

translations of the Scripture that also translate this verse.

Many of them use a different word for the word fall of let us

fall into the host. One where I read this, where I

was inspired by this, was a contemporary English version

this year says, so let's sneak over to the Syrian camp and

surrender. So with the help of the Lord

today I want to minister this the sound of surrender, the

sound of surrender. Can you help me pray right now?

Jesus God, we are in debt to you this morning God and we weigh

Lord and lean heavenly Lord Jesus upon you.

Bring every thought Lord into captivity today to the the

obedience of Christ Jesus. Help us, O Lord God, to look at

the scriptures, for in them are life God, even life God for our

present day lives. I pray, O God, and minister,

each and every individual, Lord, in this place today, God,

encourage his strength in this God, Lord, by your word, and

will not fail to thank you God for what you do.

Lord, in this place this morning, in the lovely name of

Jesus Christ, I pray Amen. In the church, say Amen, Amen.

You may be seated today. In society today we have been

conditioned. We've been conditioned to see

the winners, winners as the victors, whether it was a

struggle or whether it is a competition of some sort.

We want to know who came out on top.

People, people usually don't ask who lost.

They always want to know who won.

As a matter of fact, the idea of victory is is military and

competitive at its at its core, and it implies that there's an

opponent. It implies that there is a

struggle and that there is also a triumph.

Throughout scripture and even throughout history, victory is

the anthem song that we sing. We OFT times rally around the

stories such as David, a boy who defeats a giant and becomes then

in scripture a national hero. We underscored the victory even

at Jericho, we we again rally around that the people would

give forth a shout on that seventh time on that 7th day and

the walls would fall. And in the scripture history

would be made outnumbered many times but never overpowered.

You even read about how God gets the glory through Gideon's

unlikely 300 men that he went to war.

Amen with these are the stories in Scripture and also yet in

history that inspire you and I. We preach about them and we get

down hard on them and we sing songs.

There's lyrics about them. People have written some of even

named some of their sons after some of these characters because

it marks, if you will, victory in the life of scripture.

And the reason why we do this is because victory just resonates

with us. It's it's what we desire, it's

what we prefer, it's what our goals are.

It's the rallying point and the springboard for any challenge

that's coming to our life. That with hope and with the

right attitude and tenacity that we will indeed be victorious.

We're the best acquainted with victory even in our history.

Amen of the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall

pictures, a picture of triumph over communism.

And though that was almost 36 years ago, there is footage

still yet today of people breaking the wall and it's off

time, still shown as a icon of hope and of freedom.

Every 4th of July and in that 7th month we have fireworks and

we'll sing patriotic songs and we're celebrating the

anniversary of the 13 colonies that went to wrestle their

independence from the British Empire.

It's victory, so it doesn't matter if it it's the Red Sea

crossing or if it's Normandy breach, or whether it's the

Walls of Jericho or the Berlin Wall, whatever it may be, if

it's David Stone that came from his sling or Martin Luther's

dream that he spoke of on Capitol Hill.

Amen. It is according to the record of

history. Those who win that get the pin.

They they say that history is written by the victors, and it

is the victors and the victories that we commemorate.

It's what we study, it's what we pass down to future generations.

Even the Bible comes alongside us when it talks about even the

victories of our Lord in Psalms 145.

That these are the things that one generation shall praise to

another and shall declare the mighty acts.

The word victory originates from the Latin roots that mean to

conquer, to overcome, and to subdue the famed brand that many

of us even wear. Nike, means victory.

It's the Greek name of the Greek goddess of victory.

And thus for years we've been wearing our athletic shoes and

other articles of clothing heralding, if you will, victory.

We've let it hang from our key chains.

We've put it as posters on our walls.

Just VVVV is what we associate with greatness that we

associate. Medals won with victory.

Armies returning home. Victory.

Victory flags raised on the proverbial heels of victory.

Enemy silenced. All of that is our victory song.

But the fact of the matter is this.

No one lines up to take a picture with a statue of a

surrendering soldier. No, because surrender feels much

too much like quitting. It feels like defeat.

It feels like loss. It it seems to be the very

opposite of, or the antithesis of victory.

Or is it? I believe that's why the story

of Second Kings Chapter 7 catches us off guards to a

2 Kings 7 · chapter mention

certain degree. Because what we had here with

these 4 lepers was not just initially 4 lepers that were

marching to victory, but rather 4 lepers that were limping

toward a surrender. The stir story of Triumph peers

is a little stirring. And it's not too stirring though

when it starts out with Once Upon the time there were 4

leprous men came in that that doesn't make for a good story.

The guys that are in this chapter are fighting against the

incurable disease in their own bodies.

Their their condition that they have does not make them good

candidates for being a soldier. They have suffered from leprosy

and several of them, if not most of them are probably already

missing some of the extremities of their bodies.

Just stay with me here a little while.

Leprosy attacked the nerves, it led to a loss of sensation.

Therefore, all the injuries such as cuts and burns and blisters

would go unnoticed in their body and go untreated in their body

which would then lead to further infection in their body.

And so over time, fingers and toes became disfigured or even

missing due to the infection and the tissue loss in their body.

Their skin would become scaly and discolored and thickened,

and sores and ulcers or lumps would form on their face and

their hands and their feet and their ears.

And these lesions were commonly open lesions that were oozing

with liquid and pus. Cartilage in their nose and

other facial structures of their face would begin to deteriorate

and eventually collapse. Eyebrows and eyelashes would

fall out as the nerves died. Muscle paralysis would set in,

causing their hands to curl and claw like shakes.

Their legs would weaken, leading them to a shuffle or a limp

rather than a walk. And certainly not a regimented

March on the way to a war. These four men outside of

Samaria, isolated from any others, quarantined from any

others, are not the picture of victory.

There's nothing intimidated or triumphal about their torn

clothes, or about their unkempt hair or about their claw like

hand over their mouth crying out unclean, unclean.

There's nothing victorious about these four men.

Nike isn't there doing a photo shoot for their brand name.

No one is using these 4 lepers as an emblem of hope.

They're not the next story or encouraging words to the next

generation about victory. Not these 4 leprous men.

Their bodies are riddled with disease, and they're sitting at

the city gate of a city who is under siege.

The city's been cut off from supplies coming in or going out.

There is no food or sources coming into the city.

As a result, there is famine inside the city walls.

You have famine inside the city. You have lepers sitting outside

the city. These are not conditions

favorable for victory. But after considering their

options, the four lepers muster the strength of their deformed,

deteriorating, weakened bodies to start to plod their way to

the Syrian host, which had them under siege.

They knew, and they begin to surmise.

If we go into Samaria, our home will die.

If we stay outside of the city, we'll die.

But if we go to the Syrian camp, maybe we'll die.

Maybe we won't die. And after reasoning all that,

they looked at one another and said, why sit we here until we

die? It's as though they finally came

to a mindset and understanding, an epiphany, if you will, in

their actions. Amen That you know what, there's

no reason that we should try to self preserve.

There's nothing here really that we got in our own selves that we

ought to protect. A reality check was coming up on

their life. You know what?

We aren't doing anything because we might die, but being cautious

and protective of what life we do have left is still death.

And the Bible says, they said, why don't we just go and let us

fall unto the host of the Syrians?

But whenever they stated those words, as I've seen other places

and translations and version versions of the Bible, they were

basically saying this, why don't we surrender?

They were resigned Amen to their weakness.

They weren't coming Amen, with swords.

They weren't coming with strategy.

They weren't coming with strength that they had, but they

came with this to the Syrian host.

We're coming with the willingness, Amen, to surrender

everything that we got. We're just going to leave the

outcome of life or death in the hands of the one that has the

outcome of life or death. So what shame in it was an act

of desperation. Picture now these 4.

Hobbling toward the Syrian camp 4 Now individuals, they know

they're weak, they know they're desperate.

They know odds are against them. But they decided I'm just going

to surrender to my circumstances.

I'm just going to surrender to what's happening right now and

we're going to go forward and we're going to make our trip.

It's going to be slow. It's going to take us some time.

Oh, Joe over. There's going to be dragging his

leg. But we're just going to go and

see what God might do. And that's 4 leprous men.

Hands may be all drawn up with disfigurement, dragging the

foot, nose flat because the cartilage is gone.

Scaly skin paralysis taking place in their muscles.

Here they are. There's nobody in the country

that would see those four dragon along in the sandy desert that

would be intimidated by what they saw.

But the Bible says as they made their way in their surrender,

that what was heard in the Syrian camp was, as it were, a

great army. They heard of many Chariots and

they heard many horses and they heard what they thought was the

great army. They thought somebody had

ordered some mercenaries from the Hittites and the Egyptians

to come against them. Because those 4 leprous men,

their surrender sounded like an attack.

Amen to the Syrian host. Come on, come on.

Because you think your power maybe is in the sword that you

wield. Hey, man, or in the shield that

you have, or in your rallying voice of strong strength.

But I've come to tell the First Apostolic Church on this Sunday

morning that there's many times that the greatness of your

strength is found in your surrender.

Come on. Amen.

They heard horses, they heard troops, they heard Chariots.

They felt like they were under an ambush in so much the Bible

says that they panic and they fled and they left everything

behind, right where it was. Food, silver, gold, clothes.

It was all there. You know what the amazing thing

is, Tracy? These lepers were not Privy.

They were not aware that they were a part of God's plan.

According to verse four, Sister Trout, their intention was

surrender, but the enemy camp heard an attack.

What was just a limp toward surrender on the earth had

become war in the years of the enemy.

Hey, man, the very sound of surrender.

Can I tell you? The very sound of four

desperate, diseased men dragging themselves forward in surrender,

amplified in heaven as a fear from fearsome assault against

the adversary. Their surrender, even in the

face of their weakness, sound sounded like an attack.

Someone say Amen. So you have more power in your

surrender than you do your strength.

But we've been conditioned to only celebrate strong celebrate,

if you will, what has the dynamic connection, direct

connection of absolute victory in our eyes.

The apostle Paul said this is in your Bible, 2nd Corinthians 12

and 10. The apostle Paul said, when I am

weak, then am I strong? How can you say that, Paul?

Where's the reasoning behind that, Paul?

But you must go back just a little bit on that verse.

Paul said, I take everybody say pleasures.

He says I take pleasures in infirmities and reproaches and

necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ sake,

Paul. Still it seems like you're

talking nonsense. Well, when you look at the word

pleasure here in the Greek, in the New Testament, the word

pleasure means to do willingly another word way.

In other words, Paul saying I take pleasure in distress.

He says I, I, I willingly give myself to it, that surrender.

He says I'll willingly surrender to persecution.

I'll willingly surrender to reproaches.

I will. And since I surrender, he says,

the power that comes is in my surrender, not my bulking it,

not my fighting it, not me putting up my fist against it.

But when I just surrender to the outcome who has all outcomes in

his hands, he says when I am weak, then am I strong?

There is a strength in your surrender.

What are you saying? I'm saying don't try to fight

it, don't try to distance yourself from it.

Just take pleasure willingly, do willingly.

Give surrender to all circumstances come what may.

And somehow, some way, my surrender will sound like a

defeat and an attack upon my adversary.

Would be wrong this morning the label the Apostle Paul and those

4 lepers as powerless. Powerlessness is a condition,

but surrender is a decision. All right, that's good.

Even powerless may lead somebody to surrender, but it isn't the

same thing. Surrender is powerful because

it's a voluntary choice to release control.

Stay here outside the walls. My control.

Go into the walls, my control going to the Syrians.

I don't know the outcome, but I'm going to willingly just give

myself. I'll have any control over this.

I don't have any control over this.

That's powerful because you released your ability of having

any control, of having any say of being able to lean in on the

situation you're giving up and giving over.

And when you surrender, God's amplifying your surrender, God's

amplifying that release. God's amplifying that release of

control and saying, I want to make it sound like an attack.

Someone say yes. Whenever you do that, whenever

you surrender, whenever you give up, whenever your actions are

saying God, it's you. I don't have nothing in this.

I'm yielding my will. I'm yielding my plans, I'm

yielding my control. When you're saying God, it is up

to you. And when you're doing that with

God in mind, that's not defeat. You know what that is?

That's really worship. Come on, glory, that all that

being all struck by who he is when you release your control

and you're like it's hands off for me.

It's just up to you God, then that means you have faith that

whatever he does concerning the outcome will be what needs to be

done. And if he doesn't take it away,

maybe he'll take me through. That's worship.

When you surrender, that's worship, and that is indeed a

powerful. Amen.

Amen. Someone say glory so we can live

our days as though if we're not in control of the outcome, we

don't have the wherewithal to go forward and be totally put

together as we do with a strong voice of a rallying cry and a

strong March with the stamping of our feet head in the

direction of our adversary. Then it's just not going to be

very good. It's not going to be it's not

going to be victory. And we go with that type of

attitude. We'll miss the very core of what

our Bible all even centers around.

Can I remind you this morning that the greatest history ever

recorded of the grandest battle was written with indelible ink

upon the pages of Scripture about a man that was mocked and

beaten and pierced and flogged and crucified and mutilated

beyond recognition? He triumphed uncontested with

victory, not because he fought, not because he called down the

Legion of Angels, not because he put his best legal defense in

court, but because while his feet still clung to the dirt in

the Garden of Gethsemane. Amen, He said.

Not my but pine be done. That was surrender.

That was surrender, and it made all the makings of an attack on

the grandest Dale for hell in the world.

Your savior. Your savior flexed his power

through his surrender. Yeah, Pat, we know he had other

opportunities, Amaya. I mean, when Judas and the band

show up with their swords and their Spears and their clubs to

the Garden of Gethsemane and he says, whom seek ye?

He said with Jesus. And he said, I am he.

Just those few words, they fell backward to the ground.

So we know there was power in his voice, but that's not what

he chose to exercise. He says, I'll show you one more

powerful than that. What's that?

Beat me, mock me. I'll give myself to it.

I'll surrender to it. And through his surrender, Amen.

Death, hail, the grave, and sin were conquered not through his

fight per SE, but through his surrender.

On Calvary, hanging there on that tree darkens, covering the

earth from the 3rd to the 9th tower.

But somewhere in that time spent there, the scripture denotes

Speaking of Christ, and he cave up the ghost.

They didn't take his life. He surrendered his life.

And when he surrendered, the veil that was in the temple

written twang from top and bottom by invisible hands of

surrender. The earth, the quake, and the

rocks were rent by the invisible hands of surrender.

The graves of people just outside the city were opened by

the invisible hand of surrender. It looked like surrender, but it

was really an attack. Let's clap our hands right now

and give some honor to the King of Kings today.

Note John 10. Note John 10 and verse #18 the

red letters of Jesus speaking. He says no man taketh it, yet He

refers to is his life, since no man taketh it from me, but I lay

it down of myself. Erica, Jessica, that surrender

says I lay it down of myself. Look what he says.

He says I have power. If I say power, I had power to

lay it down and I have power to take it up.

Take it again. Notice what Jesus is doing here.

Jesus is calling His choice to lay down his life, His choice to

surrender. He's calling that power, I have

power, I have power, and it's coupled with his surrender.

Those lepers appeared to hobble in the Syrian camp of their own

volition, but there was really another power at work was the

power of their surrender. Look at verse five.

Once again, they come into that place and the Bible says,

behold, there was no man there. There's no one to be found in

the Syrian camp. Can we just stay here for a

moment? But the whole while that they're

making their journey from the gate of Samaria to Syria, they

don't know what's happening. I think that's important.

They don't know what's happening.

And when they arrive, they can see that there has been

occupancy here, enough indicators that someone has been

here. If I can say it like this, the

coves that the fire is still hot, someone's not left too long

ago. This is not like someone's been

gone from here for weeks, but someone has just left recently.

Oh, God help me. And there's no one here.

When you look at this and you go back to verse #5 the Bible says

that that that they left. They left, they surrendered.

When they did this, it says they rose up in the twilight.

Everybody say twilight. They rose up in the twilight to

go into the camp of the Syrians. It's interesting for me to

denote that a little later in the same book here, same

chapter, the Bible also says in verse #7 that the Syrians or the

Syrian host, they arose and fled in the twilight and left their

tents and their houses and their asses, even the camp as it was,

and fled for life. You know what that tells me,

Brother Reese? That whenever the boys finally

got together, the consensus, I don't have no control over this.

There's no sense in self preserving.

And they looked at each other and said, why do we sit here?

Why don't we go fall into the host?

Why don't we go surrender? The moment they got up, the

Syrians got up. The moment they started marching

toward the camp, the Syrians started leaving the camp.

That's how quick your surrender can sound like an attack to the

adversary. It don't have to be a one day

delay or a two week delay. The moment you totally

surrender, it sounds like an attack.

It sounds like horses and Chariots and a great army for an

ambush upon your adversary. Yes, left everything 10s horses

asses can just left the camp as it was.

What competition really is it? I'm breathing hard folks.

On Friday they thought I had pneumonia.

OK or Thursday and so until right now this morning

preaching, I'm still not all the way there.

What competition are 4 leprous men against the Syrian Army?

What competition are they for the champion?

None. None.

But neither is the Syrian Army nor any other army a match for

surrendered lepers. Adversary, don't raise your

voice too high because of the condition you see me in, because

of the scabbing on my skin and the defigurement of my face and

the wilting of my arms, because I still got one move and it's

called my surrender and it Trump's my condition.

It Trump's. It Trump's all that.

Why? Because surrender.

People don't care. Surrender people don't care.

They don't have anything to lose because they've already made a

choice. It's not their choice and it's

liberating and it's freeing not to be in control and to

relinquish that to someone else. What will be, what will be, and

what will be isn't up to me. That's surrender.

I want to talk about the power in

a surrender. We must go backwards again then,

for a little bit further background of the story in

Second Kings chapter #6 because some Mary's under siege, there's

a lot of uncustomary things happening because of the famine

and because of the siege. A donkey's head for getting meat

from it is at an exorbitant price.

People are purchasing doves, dung or consumption.

Mothers are agreeing one night to cook their child to eat, and

the next night we'll cook my child to eat.

It's not hopeful times. It's not victorious times.

The King of Israel is perplexed. Nothing's changing, nothing's

happening. Prices are too high to eat and

there's not even much to eat. Even if there was anything to be

sold, this is not good. He paid a visit to Elisha the

prophet to discuss his concern in no uncertain terms.

It's there in Scripture, but it's not my preaching element

right now. But he talked to him about the

siege and the famine, the drastic measures that the people

were taking in the city because of all this.

He spoke to this with Elisha. I like this.

Elisha being the prophet, could look through the annals of time,

God to give him the gift. He could look through the annals

of time and see the outplay of the situation.

And Elijah responded concerning this prophetic outlook of what

was to come. And this is what Elijah

essentially told the king of Israel.

He said everything will change by tomorrow.

No, no, no, you don't understand.

We've been under siege for days, if not weeks.

This, this didn't happen in a moment.

We are not just in famine and at this place because this happened

in 24 hours. This has been going on for a

while and you're telling me everything's drastically going

to be different by tomorrow? You're telling me in a 24 hour

period of time? He said that the cost of food

would drastically lower and decrease and they would have the

ordinary. Staples that they were used to

having in the city just in a short 24 hours.

Amen. They would have it if not in

abundance, but they for sure wouldn't be scarce concerning

that. And by tomorrow in 24 hours.

How in the world the Bible says in second King 7 verse #2 then

the Lord whose hand the king of Israel leaned, there's a man

there in the king of Israel is kind of leaning upon this man.

There's no doubt he's somewhat emotionally destroyed.

You know, you can be so, so much under the power of, of an

emotional situation. It can affect you physically

that you just don't have the energy or the wherewithal that

seems like to go on and hold yourself on.

He's leaning on somebody here. And the person whom he is

leaning on answered Elisha and said, behold, that the Lord

wouldn't make the windows in heaven.

Might this thing be, you know what that was?

It was the words of disbelief. It was the words of doubt.

He's like, we live in the city. We know what's going on in the

city. We know how long it's been going

on in the city. And who are you to tell us it's

going to change in 24 hours of time?

He's skeptical. He's skeptical.

He said the only way that this would be possible, as if the

heavens were written, their windows were open.

That's the only way that this would be.

But folks, what this boils down to is this.

It's the difference that one day can make, especially when

someone in that day surrenders. Hallelujah, when they surrender

to their circumstances, when they give whatever they got and

release control to someone outside of their circumstances

and conditions and they give it over to God.

It's the difference of what 24 hours can mean when somebody

surrenders. Amen.

There is sometimes a coupling in scripture of the surrendering

mentality. We see Abraham taking that only

begotten son Isaac up on the Mount of Moriah and he

surrendered the life of that boy there only to find rather than

bringing a knife to his neck, there was a ram that's preserved

and caught in the thicket. We read in scripture of dear O

Hannah, who was barren for years and could not produce a child

and went to the temple every year offering the prayers and

sacrifices, that when she got in that posture, yes, God, I want a

child, but I'll surrender that child to you.

That God would give her the legacy of a man called Samuel,

which the Bible says none of the words that that man spoke would

fall to the ground. There's something about a

surrender that it's Esther, though up to this time she tried

to hide her identity of being a Jew.

When she seen the situation, she said, I've not been into the

king for 30 days. If I go, there's a good chance

I'd die. But she says I'm going to

surrender. If I perish, I'll perish.

And it was to the saving and preserving of her people.

It's a mate. It's amazing what surrender

really sounds like Jehoshaphat.

He's in a peculiar place. He's got any enemy armies

against him. He's got the Moabites.

He's got the Ammonites, He has other armies besides the

Moabites in the Yemen heights that are breathing ferociously

down his neck. You know what Jehoshaphat did in

that scenario? He didn't try to walk the dog.

He didn't try to put on a facade to hide what he was feeling and

thinking. The Bible tells us in Second

Chronicles 20 that he cried out and to the Lord and he said, for

we have no might. Let me put it in this term,

we're just like a bunch of lepers at a gate and we're

deteriorating daily. We have no might, he said

against this great company. We don't have the power to

conquer the Ammonites. We don't have the power to

conquer the Moabites or any others that are stacked up

against us, he went on to say. Neither know we what to do.

We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

I'm talking to someone here this morning that's in a position

that you are swirled, if you will, by negativity.

You are swirled by the adversary, you are swirled by

negative reports, and you're standing in the position and

you're just being honest with God.

To say I don't have the power, I don't have the wherewithal, I

don't have the answer. Everything is against me.

I don't know what to do. I don't know where to turn.

I can't go anywhere. I can't move forward.

I can't move backward. But I say without reservation,

my eyes are upon you. I surrender.

I surrender. Remember, those words flowed out

of the mouth of Jehoshaphat. There was a prophet there.

His name escapes me right now. Let me see if I can find him.

His name was Jahazel. Amen.

Whenever the Jehoshaphat said he surrendered, you know what

Jehoshel said? He said tomorrow.

He said tomorrow ye shall not need to fight this battle.

Stand still. Let's see the salvation of the

Lord Jehoshaphat. Surrender.

Release divine ambushments toward his adversary the next

day. Your paddle cries in your

surrender. Your paddle cries in your

surrender, your powers in your surrender.

Your tomorrow is in your surrender.

Musicians can come today. None.

You staying with me this morning.

We've been taught that victory belongs to the strong.

We've been taught that it only belongs to those who fight and

conquer and overcome. Scripture teaches us that some

of God's greatest victories begin with surrender. 4 lepers

limping toward what they perhaps maybe thought was the end.

And yet God Brother Fred turned it into a beginning for the

nation of Israel. Their surrender shook an entire

army bear, Weakness as it were, became their weapon.

My question to you today, if we can just close our eyes right

now. My question to you today is

this. What if your next victory don't

or won't come from fighting harder, but maybe from letting

go? What if he's What if your

adversary is not intimidated by your strength?

What if he's really, though, terrified by your surrender?

Because real power, it's not always seen in the glistening

sword above your head. Sometimes it appears with both

hands outstretched, palms open to heaven.

Surrender and our message today. Jesus didn't win by resisting

death. He won by laying down his life

to death. And in that we are two.

He's lived his life as an example for us, and so we got to

follow that same path. That seems paradoxical, but

that's the Kingdom of heaven, right?

He that's going to be greatest must become least.

It's the upside down Kingdom. He that desires to be first must

be last. The servant is the master of

all. Now follow that path.

You may not be dying on the cross, but you might be inviting

you to surrender control. Surrender your plans, surrender

your fears and be in that same posture.

Say God, not not my will, but yours be done.

So my admonition to this group of people here today is go on

and rise up and get up in your twilight.

Limp forward with whatever energy you got to do so, and

surrender. Because in essence, God isn't

really waiting on you to win. He's waiting on you to give up

winning on your own. So I just want to be one of

those lepers today and look at my buddy and say, hey, why don't

we sneak on over to the enemy's camp and surrender and let's

just see of heaven makes it sound like an attack.

This altar is open today. There's people sitting in this

place today. You've been dealing with things

that's intimidated you and you don't feel like you have any

control, no power to change. And the fact of the matter is

you don't. You don't have control, but you

still have one tool in your arsenal, and it's surrendering

the outcome. It's surrendering the results.

It's surrendering the circumstances over to a God that

will do justly and will do rightly and relinquishing it all

into hands that are capable of taking care of whatever needs to

be taken care of, both you and your circumstance.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about the sound of your

surrender. It could be, maybe it will be a

little difficult, but it could be just a walk to the altar

today that as you begin in your surrender, there is a walking

way of the Host from their camp. Because all they can hear as

you're walking those feeble steps, all they can hear is

horses and Chariots and a mighty army.

Because that's what your surrender sounds like to Theo.

This altars open today. the Champions going to prepare a

song. But we need to, we need to touch

heaven right now. We need to come, Amen.

And we just need to fall before the hands of God.

We need to come and we need to release our life and our

circumstances just in the hand of a noble God, Amen.

In the hands of a God that's able to do, to perform, to act,

Amen. To keep, to safeguard whatever's

necessary in the matter at hand, Amen.

Let the opposing team hear the sound of your surrender today.

Halla Mama Shia. Hallelujah.

Thank you. Come on, champions.

Let's glorify God. Let's talk to him right now.