REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Surrender for Victory (April 27, 2025)
Surrender—a word that often conjures images of defeat and failure. But what if the exact opposite were true? What if surrender actually unlocks our greatest victories?
In this powerful message, we explore the counterintuitive spiritual principle that gaining comes through giving up. While our culture celebrates control and self-determination, the Kingdom of God operates on different rules. Victory isn't found in domination or position but in releasing everything to Jesus.
The paradox that challenges our very nature: we must relinquish control to experience true freedom. As one profound moment in the message illustrates, carrying a backpack full of heavy rocks—our burdens, our sins, our need for control—only weighs us down. When those straps are cut and the weight falls away, we experience the lightness of genuine spiritual freedom.
Jesus Himself modeled this ultimate surrender. "It is finished," He declared from the cross—giving up His divine privileges, His comfort, and ultimately His life so we might have salvation. His surrender became our victory. Our weaknesses, when fully surrendered, become the very conduits through which God's power flows most effectively.
Perhaps most challenging is the revelation that surrender isn't a one-time event but a daily choice. Each morning presents fresh opportunities to say, "Not my will, but Yours." Those things we've supposedly laid at the cross often get picked back up before we even leave the building.
The invitation stands: position yourself for God's perfect will through complete surrender. When we admit "I cannot, but God can," we open ourselves to His transformative work. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave lives in believers who fully surrender.
What burdens are you carrying today? What areas of control are you desperately clinging to? True victory awaits when you finally release them at the foot of the cross.
I just want to say that, as I watched everybody continue to come up front and bring money for that second offering, I don't think that you realize the blessing not just for the family that will be blessing, but for me in seeing how much we care about one another, and sometimes it's easy to see that through finances. You know when we're willing to bless somebody financially. But I want you to just remember that it's not always about money and that we should continue to lift each and every one of us up in prayer Amen, because there are some of us who have needs that we don't even speak them out loud. There are people who have needs that we don't even understand, and we just want to continue to honor what God will do in their lives through prayer, amen. Okay, so we're going to do an age-old message that I've probably preached a hundred times. Not the exact same message, but let's be honest, I'm doing a book report on the same book over and over again, right? No, I'm just kidding, because the word is alive, because every time you open it, you find something new. I have to tell you that every time I hear the word surrender, I find something new in the word, and I want to just tell you that today we are going to have an opportunity to surrender our hearts to Christ so that we may have victory. Amen. I'm going to tell you, last Sunday we did victory in Jesus during worship and some of you young folks were like, what is this garbage? But some of you older folks were like I'm here for this, right? Yeah, because those old songs still have meaning in our lives and, honestly, the old songs are based in scripture. Right? Some of the new songs are like we're getting there, but it's a little bit loosey-goosey. Right, we were talking on the podcast a couple of weeks ago. A lot of us know the song Jireh, but we don't know what that word means. Right, we don't like to admit that, but we'll sing the songs and we'll learn the song. We don't really know what it means. But here's the thing there is victory in Jesus. That's easy to understand, right? You don't need me to draw you a map to figure out what that means. That means when you surrender to Jesus. That means when you surrender to Jesus, you have victory, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. Listen, I'm not good at a lot of things in life and sometimes I need Jesus to bring me to victory. Right?
Speaker 1:Have you ever had somebody talk about you and you want to defend yourself? Like Vicky's yellow sweater? Like somebody going to say something bad about Vicky's yellow sweater. Like somebody's going to say something bad about Vicky's yellow sweater. Listen, I heard through the grapevine that Vicky went out sweater shopping just to find sweaters for me. That's what I heard.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's true or not, but here's the point. Somebody says something and you want to defend yourself. Right, where do we ever find victory in that? Seldom do we ever. Because we're fighting against flesh and blood. Right, we're fighting somebody that can't see what God sees in us. But see, there is victory in Jesus, because when I decide that I'm not going to allow the world to mold who I am and I'm going to allow the image that God has of me to mold who I am, then I will always have victory, amen.
Speaker 1:So here's the challenge. There's this like paradox. There's this confusion or this like this weird circle that we have to get around, that we gain by giving right. Now, I don't mean we gain by giving financially. You guys were all wonderful this morning and gave lots of money here, but the trick is we can't desire to get a financial blessing from that. Our desire has to be that our reward is in heaven.
Speaker 1:Right, that's hard because, well, I'm going to start next week's message. I don't want to do that just yet. Okay, these are written together, so I have to stay on the straight and narrow, which is going to be hard this morning. But giving everything to Jesus allows us to gain eternal life. Amen. Giving everything, not some things, right, because some things are easy to give to Jesus. Some things we can lay at the foot of the cross today and walk away from and not think twice about it. Some things we lay at the foot of the cross and we pick them up before we walk away. Amen. How many of us been there? Thank you, jesus, I was there this morning already, right, listen, we all have these struggles. It's how we handle those struggles that make a difference.
Speaker 1:All right, in the world that we live in, just like we said last week, victory is often associated with domination, strength or control, and so when we think about being victorious, we think about being on top right. But those of us who lead have to first serve right. But those of us who lead have to first serve right. So we have to learn to be on the bottom. We have to learn to serve joyfully before we can ever be on the top. Right Now I'm going to tell you that serving is hard sometimes to be joyful about. Sometimes, when we serve, we get ourselves into projects that we ought not be in. You guys remember the time I dropped the ceiling down onto the soundboard? Yeah, that was a project I probably should not have been in. Service was not joyful that day, but there was victory in the mighty name of Jesus. Right, because we were blessed abundantly because of the project. Now, it's not always like that.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing In the kingdom of God, victory is found in surrender. Victory is found in surrender. It is not found in control, it is not found in power, it is not found in positions of authority. It is found in surrender, Amen. So when we come to serve, we surrender our hearts and the flesh, like Pastor Roger has to surrender it every time he walks in the building with me. I told him the project this morning and he's like we're going to have to find a storage shed. You keep this up, because there ain't enough room for all the things that you're coming up with. He has to surrender his flesh and know that there will be victory, because Jesus says there will be victory, amen. He walks by faith and not by sight. Let me tell you that he has to, because it's always moving up here. But here's the thing he surrenders his desire to what the will of God is right and he trusts me to bring that vision. He doesn't question the vision. He says if that's what you're seeing, then we're gonna make it happen. How many of us can do that in our lives? Not me. I don't like it when he tells me what I'm going to do, because I usually don't like his plan. Right, his plan is usually a lot harder than the plan that I have.
Speaker 1:I talk about doing things with a spirit of excellence. I believe that we should always operate in a spirit of excellence in everything that we do. Here's the hard part about doing that. When you're a perfectionist and you operate in a spirit of excellence, you want perfection and not excellence. Right, right, you want perfection and not excellence. Excellence is not always perfection. It is giving. Whatever it is that you feel like should happen, up and saying God, have your way with me and with this service. Whatever it is that I am doing, lord, I want you to do it. I want you to go before me, I want you to give me the vision. I want you to do whatever.
Speaker 1:A lot of times we can't handle that because God will say well, I don't want that, I want this instead. Amen, amen. The problem is, it's not really a problem. The challenge is that Jesus invites us into a different kind of triumph, amen, one that comes when we lay everything down at his feet. That means that if you're carrying around a burden today or an addiction today, you should be able to lay it at the feet of Jesus and walk away. But it is easier said than done.
Speaker 1:Let's go to Matthew 16, 24 and 25. Matthew 16, 24 and 25. Matthew 16, 24 and 25. It says then Jesus said to his disciples if any of you want to be, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it, but if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Amen. Now I want to just leave it right there for me for just a second, because it says if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. If you try to hang on to the life that you're living, the fleshly life that you're living, you will lose that life to death. But if you give up your life for my sake, I will save it. Everlasting life, eternal life, because we were willing to surrender everything that we have to Jesus Amen.
Speaker 1:We naturally hold tight onto our dreams, our plans, our desires. We naturally hold tight onto our dreams, our plans, our desires, but Jesus teaches us that the only way to gain real life is through giving up control. Oh, how many of us like to have control? Yeah, a couple of us, not everybody, right? Some of us like to just go with the flow. I'm gonna call all of you liars. There is something in your life that you hold on to and you want full control of, and when you lose control of it, you act like an idiot, right? Hallelujah, thank you, jesus.
Speaker 1:I know that I can act like an idiot. I know that when I lose control of something that I'm passionate about or something that I should have control over, that I get stupid, right? I say things I don't mean. I act ways I don't mean to act. But here's the thing. I have to understand that that is not what God wants in my life. He wants me to give up control and let things go so that I can be in his will, amen.
Speaker 1:We're going to go to Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. This is a hard one. It says trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Amen, stay there for just a second Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. See, I don't understand math. Right, math is hard. Right, I'm the only one. Okay, that's fine, I don't mind admitting that I'm a little bit stupid, and that is hard stuff.
Speaker 1:Right Now I will remind you that all of you legacy members were told you wouldn't have a calculator in your pocket when you got older. Right, guess what? I got in my pocket literally every day A calculator. But here's the thing I have to trust that that calculator is right. Right, when I do that math. Now, listen, stephanie was doing math on her calculator when we were divvying up Easter eggs and I don't know how her calculator kept giving her a different number than my calculator gave me. But she was trusting her calculator was right. It wasn't right, was it? It wasn't right at all. I don't know if there was a button stuck or what was going on, but when you believe that something works the way that it ought to right, when you trust it, you don't question it. You trust your phone for everything. Hey, google, right, hey Siri? Hey Alexa, oh, somebody's phone just went off. Oh, okay, it wasn't like I said, hey, alexa, and your phone was like yes, pastor Michael, what would you like? That would be fun, wouldn't it? We trust our phones, we trust technology for everything, but we don't trust the Word of God. Right, and see, here's the thing. I've learned this, and actually I test this quite regularly Any question that you have biblically, you can ask Google and you can get an answer Right.
Speaker 1:Here's the challenge Depending on how you ask that question, the answer that you will receive, Right, ask your Bible. In whose name should we be baptized? Typically, google will say the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, because that's what the New Testament says. Okay, here's the challenge, though. If you say, why should we be baptized in the name of Jesus? It will give you all of the reasons you should be baptized in the name of Jesus instead.
Speaker 1:That's not good, because how confusing is it whenever the internet will tell you whatever it is that you want to know, whatever you want to hear Not necessarily the truth, but what you want to hear. See, the word of God is the truth and cannot be perverted. But technology can pervert it, amen. And so what I'm telling you is that when we go to the internet and we search and we ask questions, we have to understand that we are trusting a source outside of God. I have to believe that the word is true. And if you're saying I don't know where to find that in the Bible, get yourself a Strong's Concordance and look up the word. It'll give you every place that it's mentioned in the Bible and then you can go and find it and study it for yourself. Place that it's mentioned in the Bible, and then you can go and find it and study it for yourself. There is value in elbow grease, right? There is value in sweat equity whenever you're looking at the word of God, because you can Google, you can ask all your friends, you can do all that, but I'm telling you you will not get revelation like you will out of the word of God.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen, all right, okay, what was the second half of that? Seek his will in all you do and he will show you which path to take. Listen, I don't go to God just to figure out what pair of shoes I should wear. I say Lord, if you will dress the lilies, then you too will dress me right. And when I walk into the closet I just pick stuff and I just hope for best right, like Pastor Holly's probably got. How many pairs of shoes? You got Too many, she said. I don't even want to say the number, dave's sitting too close Her. She shed packed front to back with shoes. She just goes out there and digs through. No, I'm kidding. But when we know that God will dress the lilies of the valley, when he will dress the lilies, when he will care for the spirit, he will also care for us. See, I don't have to worry about all of those things because he's already worrying about them, but I'm seeking his will in all that. I do. Allow me to be presentable so that I can show your goodness and your grace and your mercy. Amen. I don't need to be dressed up to do that everywhere I go, but I do need to know that I represent him in spirit. And if he's going to dress me spiritually, then I will already be beautiful going out before the world. Amen, okay, whoo.
Speaker 1:Trusting God means releasing. Oh, this is a big one for me. This is hard. Trusting God means releasing the need to figure it all out. Whoo, ain't nobody excited about that, that's okay. I don't know if you guys are sleeping this morning or what, but I don't need to figure everything out anymore. I have to believe that God is going to go before me, figure it out and point me in the right direction. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus, because if I'm trying to figure it out, guess what's getting in the way? My desires, my flesh, it wants what feels good or what is comfortable or what is easy, not what God would want in my life. Amen.
Speaker 1:Surrender is not passive. It's not something you say, lord, I'm surrendering to you and you never think about it again. Surrender is active choice. Daily, every single morning, when you wake up, lord, I'm yours today, use me for your will. Amen, amen. Because see, when you wake up in the morning and you're groggy and you're fresh and your feet hit the floor and the enemy says, hey, guess what, I got something fun for you today, if you, just, if you only right, how many of us have had those thoughts running through our head. It's so easy to just, oh, I'm gonna, you know, oh, there's so many things and it will ruin our lives because we make an active choice to live for the world and not in the will of God.
Speaker 1:Every morning, ask yourself what area of my life am I still clinging to the flesh? What area of my life am I still clinging to the flesh? You know, god's been doing a work in me for the past probably year and I still ain't got it yet. And he keeps doing it and he's moving and he's shaking and he's trying to break this up inside him. And every morning I get up and it's just stupid, right, and I know that it's stupid, I know that God wants better, and yet I choose. Why am I doing that? I'm not asking you why, because I already know why. It's because if I don't surrender every single day, I will continue to live for the world. Now I'm going to tell you a secret that I don't know if any of you know Surrender leads to freedom.
Speaker 1:How many of you knew that? Hallelujah, thank you, jesus is. Surrender leads to freedom. Whom the sun sets free is free, indeed, hallelujah. Here's the thing I don't want to be in bondage anymore. I don't want to be walking around in chains, I don't want to be in the fire, I don't want to be in the lion's den. I want to be free. But the only way that I can be free is to be willing to surrender whatever is happening in my life to the will of God, to the will of God. Surrender is not losing right. Surrender is not. You're not losing anything when you surrender it to God. You are gaining freedom. You are gaining freedom.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 3.17,. It says For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In this house today, there is freedom. Amen, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. I want you to look around real quick and I just want you to take stock. We had 100 people in this building last Sunday. There were 100 people here last Sunday. Can you believe it? Thank you, jesus. Roger. How many is here today? 61. There are 40 people who decided that they didn't need to be free.
Speaker 1:I'm not being mean, I'm just telling you the truth, because when we choose the world over God, then we're missing something. We don't have that awakening. You know we talk about the dry bones coming to life. Let me tell you there are dry bones in this house today. Amen, there are dry bones and the problem is is some of them are going to leave here dry. They aren't going to come to life.
Speaker 1:Because we don't have a desire to be free, we don't have a desire to be alive or to be awake. We have a desire to be comfortable, to be awake. We have a desire to be comfortable, to be comfortable, and the world will be okay with you being comfortable. You know you want to complain and bellyache, you want to have all of the complaints and that's fine. The world will welcome you with open arms. But God says there is no need in the kingdom for that. Why is there no need? Because you are free, you are set free. You are set free, you are not sick, you are not in pain, you don't have financial issues, because God is going to bless you through that valley. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Listen, we were in our young adult chat and somebody said that this illness is going around and I'm like I am not proclaiming that, I ain't taking it. Listen, my family has been blessed. We haven't been sick all year. We didn't get sick last winter and I'm going to tell you we ain't getting sick the rest of this year. And if I say we're going to get sick, guess what? We're going to get sick. I don't want to be sick, I don't want to be in pain, I don't want those things in my life and I don't want those things in my life. And I'm not going to claim it. Listen, I'm not. If I choose to claim it, if I choose to say it, proclaim it and take it on as mine. It will be mine forever. It will be mine. I ain't doing it. You guys can have it, you can keep it. Don't come to me and tell me well, pastor Michael, I'm real sick right now. No, you ain't Now.
Speaker 1:Listen, your flesh might feel sick, but I'm telling you, your spirit is alive and well and that's where you need to be focused. Listen, take your Tylenol, make sure you get your Sudafed, whatever it is, whatever it is that you feel like you're, that's fine, that's fine. But I'm not claiming it in my spirit, because when I get sick, I get tired, and when I get tired and sick, I get sick and tired. I get sick and tired of coming to church, I get sick and tired. Listen to everybody else. Tell me what my life should be and how I should do.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you iron sharpens iron. Right Now I want you to hear something Iron doesn't sharpen iron in some nice and pretty way. When you sharpen iron with iron, sparks fly right, and so when those sparks are flying, you know something's happening right. And so if, oh, it's just, I'm just, I don't wanna Listen, I'm telling you you aren't and you don't need to be the Spirit of God. God does not want you to live in shame, in sickness, in poverty. Everything that he has given you is good and that's what you need to claim, amen.
Speaker 1:Do you guys remember that time I brought that really heavy backpack in full of rocks and I tried to get Mel-Mel to carry it and Mel-Mel couldn't lift it up, so I had Doug come over and carry it. Listen, if you were carrying that on your back every day, that big, heavy backpack full of big, old, heavy rocks, all of those burdens, all of those worries, and somebody came and cut those straps and it fell off your back, you would feel free, amen. Let me tell you your spirit can feel just as free today, in the mighty name of Jesus. Your spirit can feel just as free. All right, I know that this is another stretch for you guys. You're going to struggle with this thought.
Speaker 1:Jesus was the ultimate example. Jesus was the ultimate example. Jesus was the ultimate example. What do you mean, pastor Michael? Come on, think about it for just a second. He modeled surrender when he said it is finished. He modeled surrender when he said it is finished, hands stretched out on a cross, dying for the sins of the world, for the world that wasn't even in existence when he was hanging there, but for all eternity. He was willing to die for the sins of you and I. He was willing to surrender his own life so that we might have salvation. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus.
Speaker 1:If that doesn't exemplify what surrender should mean in our lives, then I don't think we get it. Because surrender isn't just saying, oh, I don't want to drink soda anymore, so I'm going to lay that at the foot of the ground. I'm saying I'm going to make a change in my life so that I can be healthy again. I'm going to make a change in my life so that my spirit man can be bigger than my flesh man. That's what I'm talking about when I say surrender. I'm not talking about the little things those matter, but I'm saying when we make change in our lives, we're giving up big things. Amen. I'm changing my lifestyle in order to give my life to God. You guys are boring this morning. It's fine. It's fine.
Speaker 1:Philippians 2, 7 and 8. It says instead, he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. I want to stay there for a second because it says he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. I want to stay there for a second because it says he humbled himself in obedience to God. See, we humble ourselves to the people around us, right?
Speaker 1:I've been told that I'm a bit much. I know hard to believe, hard to believe, and so when I go to a group of Methodist pastors or wherever you know these little like, I have to turn it down. My wife said to me yesterday I had main character energy going on. I was like, probably so. But it's who? I am right, but I have to learn to dial that back. But I dial that back for the people around me. I don't want to dial it back for the people around me. I want to dial it up for God. Amen, I want to dial it up.
Speaker 1:And so when I get excited about Jesus, I want the world to get excited about Jesus. Right, that's what. Listen, we are in a Pentecostal church and I know sometimes it's hard to remember, but we are in a Pentecostal church. You're allowed to preach back a little bit. You're allowed to give me some amens and some hands. Listen, you ain't clapping for me, you're clapping for Jesus. Amen, right, we're getting excited about who Jesus is and what he's doing in this place today. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. All right, where are we at?
Speaker 1:That was Philippians 2.7,. Right, jesus didn't cling to status or power, or even comfort. Amen, because he said it in the garden. Should it be your will? Let this cup pass from me. And God said oh, I'm sorry we got to do this. We got to do this because the world is full of sin. You know, I got stuck on Noah for a while and I'm still kind of stuck on Noah a little bit, and I just keep thinking that you know Noah, or that God had decided to eradicate the world of the human flesh because it was so sinful and yet Noah found favor with God and that he and his entire family were saved because he had found favor with God. Can I tell you that your family will be saved through your favor with God. Your family will be saved through your favor with God. Your family will be saved because of your favor with God. But in order to have favor with God, you have to surrender all. What does that look like? How hard is that? Listen, his surrender led to your greatest victory, amen. His surrender led to your great.
Speaker 1:You may sit here mumbling under your breath about how you didn't want to be at church this morning. You may be thinking about oh, pastor michael, just shut up already so we can go have lunch. You might be thinking a lot of things. You might actually actually be thinking about the football draft Go Browns, yay, whatever Five QBs. We can do something with that right.
Speaker 1:Lord, have mercy If we can't sit in the building that he has blessed us with and surrender our hearts to him. What do you think we're going to do when we walk out of these doors? Render our hearts to him. What do you think we're going to do when we walk out of these doors? We're going to pick up the world and we're going to carry it along with us. How many of you guys have ever? Well, pick a store, insert whatever store you want. How many of you have ever walked in for one thing and you're walking out of the store like this Should have gotten a cart right. Should have gotten a cart right. My wife and I, we have an agreement we can't go to Target anymore If we want to save money. We can't go to Target because, well, we're going to go in and we're going to get sissy in an Easter dress, right. We come out and we got $700 worth of stuff and we're dragging. We had to buy an extra car in order to get it all home. Right, like that's.
Speaker 1:We know that we can't do certain things. We do that when we leave the church too. When we leave it at the cross, we pick up more on our way out. You leave something there, and I leave something there, and Dale leaves something there, holly leaves something there, dave leaves something there, and then, all of a sudden, I come back and I gather up everybody's stuff and take it with me. Right, because you know how easy that is, because when it gets laid down at the foot of the cross. The enemy still thinks it's shiny, right, it's still pretty, it still looks good to somebody else. And it is hard because then those people end up in your path, right, the enemy says you're not going to, or God says you're not going to live that way anymore. You lay it at the foot of the cross and within 24 hours you've run into somebody that's living in that same sin and all of a sudden you're like, yeah, it's not so bad, but there are other people doing way worse, right, and we pick it back up. And then we pick up that plus three more, and then we end up doing this, that and the other, and pretty soon we're bogged down and we've got that backpack back on full of rocks and we can't get past the sin and the shame.
Speaker 1:Listen, when we surrender, we can truly unlock God's power in our lives. Now, I know that sounds crazy like unlock. It sounds like you're playing a video game. Right, you got to unlock the next level. It's true, we can sit in church all day long. We can pretend to be saints while we're sitting here, right? But until we are willing to give up whatever is going on in our lives, we're willing to lay it down at the foot of the cross, we will not unlock all of God's power. The same power that rose Jesus from the grave lives in us. That means that we can cast out demons, we can move mountains, but many of us don't believe that.
Speaker 1:Listen, I ain't never tried to raise anybody from the dead before. Honestly, that would scare the daylights out of me. Be praying for somebody, they pop up off the table. Oh Jesus, right, oh Jesus. That would be scary. But he says we can do it, and so we should be willing to say that we can do it. Right, listen, there are some people I probably don't want to raise from the dead. Let's be honest with each other. But if he tells me that I can, then I should believe that I in fact can. And when I doubt what God says, I have not unlocked all of the power of God. I have not been willing to accept his full mercy and his goodness and his grace. I have been willing to take what little bit I want to believe until he brings me to that next level. Amen, okay. 2 Corinthians 12, 9 and 10, it says each time he said my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. So now I am glad to boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ can work through me. Stay there for just a second.
Speaker 1:Men, we don't cry, do we? We don't cry in front of other men, that's for sure. Why not? We don't cry in front of other men, that's for sure. Why not? Because we cannot be vulnerable, because we fear what people will think. If God can use me in my weakness better than he can use me in my strength, then I want to be vulnerable. I want to be friends with men who I can have an emotional conversation with, and that's not something to worry about, right? But the problem is, the world has told us that we have to be strong in the flesh, that we have to be strong in the flesh. Chop off a finger, don't cry. Shake it off. Dave flips a lawnmower over on himself. Don't cry, right?
Speaker 1:Listen, I went and saw this man in the hospital right after that happened, in good spirits, like it never happened. I'm like I would whoo. He's a tough man, right? He does manly work, right? He used to put trans rebuild transmissions in cars. I'm not even sure what the transmission looks like, right, ask me about ADR or rev par. I can help you with that.
Speaker 1:But most of you are like what are you talking about? Listen, we're different. That's okay. We should be able to be strong in the spirit and emotional with one another, because in that weakness God will work through us. That's why I take pleasure in my weakness and in the insults, hardships, persecutions and trouble that I suffer for Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong, then I am strong.
Speaker 1:Surrender is genuinely admitting that I cannot, but God can. I cannot, but God can. All right, surrender prepares us for greater purpose. Amen, because some of us think that we should be doing all the things. Some of us think we should have ministry of our own and we should be able to do this, that and the other, but we haven't fully surrendered to God so that he can speak into our lives. Amen, amen, amen. Because, listen, surrender is the first step. Listen, I'll be honest with you, because this, again, is what I do.
Speaker 1:When I was leading worship, for a long time I had not surrendered to God when I was doing that, because I like to sing, right, I love to do worship. Now there was a lot of like I wasn't doing it just for myself, but I definitely wasn't doing it just for Jesus. God had to take that away from me in order for me to recenter my life. That was an ugly path for a couple of years until we figured it out. And did you know that he did not allow me to do worship until he called me back home? Everywhere I went, something crazy would happen and that worship would fall apart Every single time. Listen, here's what I'm telling you. My inability to surrender wrecked other churches. It's not funny. Your inability to surrender and then try to step into service will wreck whatever ministry you're stepping into. It will wreck it because God is going to say no, no, no, you cannot stop trying and he's going to remove whatever the circumstance is. And sometimes that's tearing apart. Whatever the listen. When I was doing worship, we went to a church one time and we were's tearing apart. Whatever Listen, when I was doing worship, we went to a church one time and we were.
Speaker 1:It was bizarre. I don't even know what kind of church it was at this point. It's one of those things like if you don't ask, don't ask, don't tell. You know what I mean. So we walk into this church and they're like hey, do you want to be on worship? So we had to take this class. If you wanted to lead, you had to take this. The class is a class that the pastor made up himself. Now, I'm not trying to take any credit away from that because I didn't finish the class. Let's be honest with each other. You know where that's going right.
Speaker 1:And so I walk in, we sit through the first class and then my friend you guys know her, kelly she used to come up here and sing for us every whip stitch. She's one of our best friends. She loves to do wild things with her hair and so she had done that side shave thing that ladies were doing for a little while and she had like a heart or a star or something shaved inside of her head. It was wild hair, let me tell you. And that pastor told her because of your hair, you cannot serve. That's what he said. And I was like well, if she can't serve, I ain't serving. I'm going to show you right. And we wrecked that worship team. That's not fair to the rest of the people on that team. It's not fair to that ministry that I would be so unwilling to surrender my heart to God that I would wreck somebody else's ministry right?
Speaker 1:I'm telling you today surrender your heart before you come and try to serve. Amen, because it's a question that I'm going to ask you Are you ready to serve? Have you surrendered your heart to God? Have you given him everything that you know you need to give up. That is not easy to do. He asks us to surrender to equip us for greater. Jeremiah 29 11.
Speaker 1:For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Right, he knows the future he has for you. Listen, I don't know the future he has for you. Sometimes he reveals those things to me, but not always. And so some of you I look at whenever you say Pastor Michael, I want a whatever, I'm like. No, you don't. You might think that you do, but really you're more on the disaster side than on the hope side. Is that fair? Like some of us, we come in thinking we want, we want, we want, I'm capable, I'm ready. And then you get there and you realize, whoa, you weren't ready. That's a disaster. Amen. He knows the plans that he has for you. His plan will always be better than ours, and surrender is positioning ourselves for God's perfect will. Amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is not a one-time event, this is a daily choice. Can you guys play some prayer music for me, please? You wake up in the morning, not my will, but your will. Lord, I trust you. I know that everything that's going to happen in my life is because of you. And Romans 12, 1 says and so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Speaker 1:Today, jesus is calling us to lay it all down. Today, jesus is calling us to lay it all down. Today, jesus is calling us to put it at the foot of the cross. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this little cross and I'm just going to move it right out here out front, and I want to give everybody in the building a chance to just come forward, kneel at the altar, just. I don't. Whatever you feel like you need to do, I want this to be personalized. I don't want this to be directional, but I want you to have the opportunity to lay it down at the foot of the cross this morning. This is an open invitation to say more of you, less of me. This is an open invitation for you to say I want your plans and not my plans. Amen, plans and not my plans, amen.
Speaker 1:Father, today, I thank you for the surrendered hearts that are in this building. Lord, last week we had three people come to you and surrender their hearts. And, lord, three doesn't even sound like a big number, but the kingdom of God grew by three. The kingdom of God grew by three and today I believe it will grow again. Today, I believe that as we rededicate our lives, as we resurrender some of the things that we've picked up from the cross, that, Father, you will make meaningful change in our lives, that we will be able to lay it down and never touch it again. Breakthrough is coming in the name of Jesus. Breakthrough is coming in the name of Jesus. Father, we are prepared to level up, we are prepared to move to the next. Whatever it is, father, god, whatever you may have for us, we are prepared for it. Our hearts, our minds, our bodies, father, god, lord, I thank you for the people in this house. I pray that you just lead them and guide them, direct them, father, touch their hearts this day, allow them to understand the importance of what we're doing in this moment. I thank you, I praise you. I give you all the honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have the tech team just play some music. If you need to leave, that's fine. Please do so quietly. If you want to gather and chit chat, that's okay too. Do it out in the hallway. But today I want to give everybody in this room the opportunity to just bring whatever burdens they're carrying to the foot of the cross. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus, hallelujah. Thank you.