I Surrender All
Illus. Sermon central
THE BATTLE IS NOT TO THE STRONG
A few centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great conquered almost all of the known world with his military strength, cleverness, and diplomacy. One day, Alexander and a small company of soldiers approached a strongly defended, walled city. Alexander, standing outside the walls, raised his voice, demanding to see the king. The king, approaching the battlements above the invading army, agreed to hear Alexander’s demands.
"Surrender to me immediately," commanded Alexander.
The king laughed. "Why should I surrender to you?" he called down. "We have you far outnumbered. You are no threat to us!"
Alexander was ready to answer the challenge. "Allow me to demonstrate why you should surrender," he replied. Alexander ordered his men to line up single file and start marching. He marched them straight toward a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of feet to rocks below.
The king and his soldiers watched in shocked disbelief as, one by one, Alexander’s soldiers marched without hesitation right off the cliff to their deaths. After ten soldiers had died, Alexander ordered the rest of his men to stop and to return to his side.
The king and his soldiers surrendered on the spot to Alexander the Great.
TBS.(the Bible says) in Mark 6:34 NKJ
34. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
There is an old saying, never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Clearly whoever coined that phrase, wasn’t thinking in spiritual terms were they?
If your truly trusting God this morning as your one true source, you shouldn’t be concerned, about the what ifs the accuser continually throws at you!
Do you believe, God’s Grace is greater than any problem we will ever face? If your answer is yes, then how can you give into worry?
If your answer is iffy, then maybe a spiritual reality check up is in order.
So your saying to not worry at all, ever? Yes, but more importantly, God’s word said and we just read it didn’t we?
Then tell me why do so many people, let so much stuff get to them all the time?
Because we’re not focused on the benefits our relationship with Jesus, provides to us!
We try to make it about everything else but our dependency on our relationship with Jesus. Were like a worn out record say to ourselves, it’s all about right living and right doing, all of the things we think we can control, instead of right believing what God has told us will work every time!
Wow, are we thick!
And we find the answer to worry free living, in the verses right before our text scripture!
Mark 6:31-33 NKJ
31. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32. For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
The answer to stress free, worry free living, is to seek God, seek out what He wants for you. Have you ever tried it? You might be shocked to find out, what God wants for you!
One word from God is all you need!
if you will let Him, if you will give Him a chance, He will show you His capabilities.
Gods capabilities, for the poor widow woman...turned a cruise of oil, a little amount mind you....a few ounces, into a vast amount that when sold paid all her husbands debts off and left her with enough to provide for her and her two sons, for the rest of their lives!
Gods capabilities it says in the book of Matthew, Jesus told Peter to go catch a fish and in the fishes mouth would be the money to pay their taxes that was owed to Ceaser!
If you will seek God, He will supply you a Word and exceed your need. One Word from God, changes Lives! And do you know what God likes to do for us in our lives, when we untie His hands with our faith?
Ephesians 3:20 NKJ
20. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Matthew Henry said: God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. There is an inexhaustible fullness of grace and mercy in God, which the prayers of all the saints can never draw dry. Whatever we may ask, or think to ask, still God is still able to do more, abundantly more, exceedingly abundantly more. Open thy mouth ever so wide, still he hath wherewithal to fill it. Praise God!!
We are all abundantly blessed! We are all, or can be residents of that shining city on a hill if want to! If we can believe and open our mouths to praise and proclaim God’s Blessings over our lives, He will exceed every expectation! Amen?
Everyone cares about the poverty level of mankind in the world, no one wants anyone to suffer lack! But it’s a completely different story when it comes to our spiritual poverty level!
I say it’s time, we put an end to spiritual poverty and trusted God to end the mind set of worry and lack, once and for all!
Here’s how we’re going to do it....are you ready? By doing Nothing, that’s right, by doing Nothing ourselves, no scheming, no second guessing, no plan B thinking...just trusting in God’s capabilities only!!
Proverbs 3:5-10 MSG.
5-10. Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
NKJ. Says; lean not on your own understanding
Sometimes we like to lean on everything but what we know we should.
That’s why, the accuser prompted someone a long time ago to say Charlie, all this your saying sounds great....there’s just one problem, it’s to good to be true!
And to that I say, God’s Word is not mocked, God’s Word does not return void, God’s Word Declares what I have shared with you, is true and just that Good.
However instead of believing the accuser, I choose to believe and live in the peace God’s Word delivers to every situation!
Philippians 4:7 The Voice (VOICE)
7 And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One.
There is such a sweet peace, that only God can give, when one finally just places it all in His hands. And it’s a wonderful place to live!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
Have any of us arrived completely, not totally, but the more you place in His hands, the more you simply allow yourself to let go and trust in what Jesus went to the cross to accomplish for you!
The more He pours into your life abundantly and the more He takes you to new levels in your relationship with Him.
You know, when you first become born again, its like a babies progression,
first you just lay there, it seems like nothing is happening, but you are growing little by little, the more you trust and depend on Him,
Then you learn to role your self over, with His help and it’s a big deal,
The next thing you know your sitting up experiencing new blessings, like grace and favor,
and there’s another growing period, more trusting and waiting on Him and more blessings follow, And before you know it, you’ve learned to crawl around,
And all the while you continue to depend on Him as your source, growing and getting stronger every day, then one day your learning to walk,
And you start to take a few steps, but stumble,
funny thing is you don’t worry about it, because you know,
No matter what happens, you can trust Him and He will never let you down.
Before to long, walking is no big deal, its effortless and you realize as you look around at your situation, you begin to realize there is nothing God won’t do for you, or keep from you! Everything is possible with Him first place in your life!
God says, if will trust me, there is still more for you to experience, so much more, you’ve only just begun and you begin to run, and you run, and you run, and you run
And He says, Child of God I Love you, you have only scratched the surface of what lies ahead for you, you ain’t seen nothing yet!!
The apostle said; “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”
Praise God! And you can, because God’s Word Declares you can!
The apostle Paul could say that, because he had surrendered to the will of God in his life! Have you surrendered to the will of God in your life?
I’m not talking about becoming a Christian! I’m not talking about joining the church! I’m talking about establishing a relationship and surrendering your will and laying it all down at the feet of Jesus!
"Prayer is surrender-surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God."
I surrender all
All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live
All to Jesus I surrender
Humbly at His feet I bow
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me, Jesus, take me now,
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee my blessed Savior
I surrender all.
Let us pray...
