April 28th 2019 Sermon Notes:

OPERATING UNDER THE EMPOWERMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Speaker: Apostle Chris Baird
Theme: The Act Of Surrender
Text: Joshua 24:14-15
14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

God has a place for you where even if trials and temptations come you will not be affected because you are in His will for your life.

Here is Joshua at the end of his life giving the people his parting message and he tells them “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”.

Who is worthy of worship but our God.

The people responded Joshua 24:16-18 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.” Joshua responded :
Joshua 24:19-20 19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

But the people said:
Joshua 24:21
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

Definition of surrender:
1a: to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demandsurrendered the fort
b: to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another

2a: to give (oneself) up into the power of another especially as a prisoner
b: to give (oneself) over to something (such as an influence)

The issue of surrender in Christianity is allowing Christ to "take our place" through the believer, in other words, the emptying of self so thatGod may live through the believer as evidenced in Phl 1:21. Another principle central to the Christian concept of surrender is the concept of surrender to God's Will.

1.Surrender To God
Surrender to God - What's the Phrase Really Mean?
Surrender to God - it's a term you may have heard, but what does it mean, exactly? Surrender is not a word often associated with positive actions. After all, "surrender in the name of the law" usually means trouble for someone. And we know that when one side surrenders to another in battle, it's a sign they've given up any hope for victory.

2. Surrender to God - If I Do That, What Am I Giving Up?
If we surrender to God, what are we giving up? Does it mean, as it does for the enemy in battle, to give up on victory in our lives? Is God holding a gun to our heads and forcing us to give Him everything we have, like a bandit or mugger might do? To be sure, there are those who are willing to portray God in that way, especially where self-gain is involved. But when we come to know the true character and nature of God, we quickly discover how false that image is.

3. Surrender to God - A Choice for Adam & Eve
In the beginning, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them everything they needed. All that was good to eat was available and attainable for them. All, that is, except one tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Enter the serpent, the one we now recognize as Satan. Sly and deceptive in all his ways, the serpent's first move was to question the word of God, when he suggested to Eve, "Did God really say that you couldn't eat from that tree?" As we all know, suggesting that forbidden fruit may not be forbidden after all is almost the same as license. Only the wise will question the potential result of giving in to temptation.

4. Surrender to God - A Choice for All of Us
Adam and Eve were given a choice to surrender to God when He said, "you shall not" as opposed to "you cannot." The fruit of this tree is not something we're likely to find in the produce section of our supermarket, but rather it represented the alternative God offered.

5. How to surrender your heart, body, and soul to God?
In order to surrender your heart, body, and soul to God, one must be willing to yield to the sovereign claim of a righteous God. What is that claim? We need to understand that man is separated from a Holy God by sin and there must be reconciliation. The good news is that God has made a provision for man to be reconciled to Himself and that provision is found in the once-for-all sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus ***Christ on the cross.

To surrender heart, body, and soul to God, one must understand that as humans we are triune beings. We are made up of our heart/mind, body, and soul. Yielding one part of ourselves without yielding the other is impossible. If we try to separate ourselves, we become "double minded" and therefore unstable (James 1:8). However, the initial surrender is only the beginning. The surrender of your heart, body, and soul to God is an ongoing process that begins the moment one is born again as a child of God and it continues until He calls the believer home or Jesus comes again. The process is one of growth in grace and knowledge and that comes from studying the Word of God and choosing to apply divine viewpoint to the life on a daily, sometimes moment-by-moment basis.

The eternal soul of man has one of two conditions. The first is eternally separated from God. If that condition is not remedied during lifeloves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the Bible. If you truly believe and trust this in your heart, receiving Jesus alone as your Savior, declaring, "Jesus is Lord," you will be saved from judgment and spend eternity with God in heaven.here on earth by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior (John 14:6), that soul is separated from God for eternity with no remedy. The other condition is that of a born-again soul. That person will have fellowship and communication with God through the LORD Jesus Christ during this life and will then enjoy His presence for eternity. Therefore to surrender your heart, body, and soul to God, accept the LORD Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and LORD.

6 Surrender Bible Verses
What does the Bible say about surrender? A very common theme throughout scripture is the encouragement to surrender before God. Converse to surrendering to your instinctual interests, which can be selfish and destructive by nature, relinquishing yourself to God is to pursue truth and righteousness above all else. In this pursuit, we may also cast our distress upon God as we trust in Him in complete surrender. Discover how and why we should surrender to God from this collection of inspiring Bible verses!

7. The act of surrendering to God.
1 Make the decision to give up everything.
- Ask yourself if the thing or things you are holding on to is worth giving up your SOUL for?
- Have you asked the Lord what to do, while you are pondering what is the right thing to do?
- Ask yourself what immediate and future impact your decision will have on your relationships with
- 1. The Lord,
- 2. Your church,
- 3. Your family, marriage and children,
- 4. Your ability to maintain your goals of spending forever with the Lord?

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