Sermon Central
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The Act Of Surrender Series
Contributed by Anthony Zibolski on Apr 10, 2015 (message contributor)
Summary: Surrender in todays society says weakness and empowerment. The Lord desires us to surrender to Him so that we can be empowered by His Spirit to lead our lives.
The act of surrender
Introduction-
As we continue to look at being like Jesus, I would like to talk about surrendering our lives to Him. The act of surrender.
The world’s definition of surrender would be an act of failure, an act of greater power defeating a weaker power. I want you to see what God says about surrender and what that looks like in a dedicated believer’s life.
Webster-
“To yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand.”
(The stronger overtaking the weaker)
God’s definition as it applies to our lives –
When it is concerning the things of God and about submitting to a higher power, we would not have a chance. God could overtake us at any time, but God in His mercy and love has given us a choice with our lives. The world’s definition is of power and God’s is by love.
“ I urge you brothers and sister, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship.”
The day that you did or the day that you would decide to give your life to Jesus, it was a commitment.
You made that by your choice that you wanted Him to be Lord of your life.
That day you went from running things to giving Him control.
We as humans settle in the fact that He has saved us but we forget the agreement that goes with it.
Salvation is free, you cannot earn it, but you have made a commitment to Christ for the rest of your life.
The nation of Israel was an example of people today-
They serve God and fall away.
They would get themselves in trouble and then turn back to God.
When things were good, they would forget God.
God was often having to correct them and lead them back into a relationship with Him.
We talked in a bible study this week how it is impossible to live our lives based upon the Ten Commandments. We cannot because all have sinned and fallen short and if you have ever broken any one of those commandments, without Jesus there would be no redemption. Because of our sin nature, without Jesus, we have no savior. It is not about being a good person.
God has an expectation of us and we should have an expectation of Him.
His expectation of us is that we are faithful to the commitment that we made to Him. He is a God that keeps His word and takes very serious our vow we made to Him. The aspect of God that we often forget is that the Old Testament is full of Scripture pointing to a jealous God. It is like a marriage covenant. He is totally committed to us and He in turn asks us to be totally committed to Him.
Our expectation of Him is He is a Holy God that will do what He says and keep all His promises that He has made to us.
He does not share His throne with anyone or anything. In fact, the first 3 commandments are relational with Him.
1. “You shall not have other gods before me.”
2. “You shall not make for yourselves an image in any form.”
3. “you shall not take the name of your Lord in vain.”
This morning, I have a two point message
I. Profile of a totally surrendered life- what does a God surrendered life look like.
II. Cost of surrendering our lives to God- They call it sacrifice for a reason.
I. What does a God surrendered life look like?
Our verse tells us that we must be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.
A number of things jump out to me-
It is amazing how many say that they are committed to God and the things of God yet are not involved in anything that has to do with God.
You cannot be a living sacrifice to God and not be actually involved in the things of God.
Holy and pleasing to God-
We must see that as marching orders to be like Jesus, to be acting like Jesus, to want to see like Jesus.
At one point, we stop thinking it is all about us and it becomes all about Jesus.
Jesus practiced a surrendered life.
He modeled it everyday that he walked this earth.
The obvious response total surrender to God would be to allow God to so captive our hearts for today and forever that we are compelled to give up our lives to him- from love, not duty, for worship, not works.
The key question becomes “How do I cultivate a life of sacrificial services.”
