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Well y'all seem like a happy bunch this morning. Why don't I say good morning? My name is Josue Villa. I serve uh here at the church as one of the elders, uh also part of the teaching team. And as of today, my wife and I will also be leading the Elementary Kids Point ministry. So I'm going to do a plug. If anyone's not uh plugged in into serving in one of the ministries, come join us. We still need a lot of help with the elementary kids. Uh in fact, uh, my wife is kind of nervous this morning. She's teaching the kindergarten class, and that kindergarten class has grown from five to twenty one kids. I see some of them out there. So um there's a lot of places to serve. It doesn't necessarily have to be a place to teach. There's other ways to serve and help the teachers by serving snacks and setting up, tearing down, and things like that. So there's other places to serve, but no, I think this is the most important ministry. Well, we're in this series called Everyday Church because that's the vision. I believe that's the vision for the church. The idea is that no one should look at church as a once-a-week kind of thing, something that you just check off your list and then just be done with the rest of the week and go on about business as usual. But actually, the church that God envisioned and that Jesus died for was so much more than that. And I hope that that throughout this series, if you participated in the last few weeks, that this series has been eye-opening for all of us, whether you've been in church for many years, or or maybe this is you're just starting out. But I believe that that God has a grander vision than most people have for church. And and that's what we're trying to get through as we go through 1 Peter. We're in this letter of 1 Peter, and it's a letter that the apostle Peter writes to the church, a church that is struggling, and he's trying to help them to live out their faith on a daily basis. Now, people reading the letter that Peter wrote, this group of people is a group of Christians who are suffering great injustices. They are being persecuted for their faith by the government, by their neighbors, and at work. And when you are on the receiving end of injustice, every everything inside of you wants to fight back, wants to rebel, wants to make things right. But Peter's message for these believers, and I believe every believer today, is that God has called us to be different. He has called us to be different than the rest of the culture. We call this actually being counter-cultural. In other words, not following the crowd, not following what everyone else is doing, not living and doing what everyone else wants to do. But actually that our lives be radically different than everyone else that we stand, that we also stand out from the rest of the world for the sake of Christ. Now, this morning I'm gonna be reading. We have a big chunk, we have a long way to go, so hold on. But turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter 2, I'm gonna begin with verse 11, and I'm gonna focus on verse 12, which is gonna be our key verse from today. 1 Peter chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, you can reach under the chair in front of you, you'll find one. If you don't own a Bible, you can take that with you as a gift from the church. Um, we just we want to spread the word of God and uh and we want people to read the word of God and and to own a Bible. All right. Did y'all hear any of that? Do I have to start over? All right, verse 11 says, Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. Now, if you're on the receiving end of injustice, what are the sinful desires that will wage war against you? I want you to keep that in mind. Verse 12 says, Live such good lives among the pagans. Other versions say among unbelievers or gentiles, but live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. You see, when we're just living normal kind of lives, just doing what everyone else does, living the same routines every day, see, no one is going to notice. Because you're just like everyone else. Instead, Peter says, you gotta stand out, you gotta be different so that even if people attack you or wrongly accuse you sooner or later, because you are consistent in the way that you live, they will see your good deeds and glorify God. So Peter is gonna show us three areas of our lives. He's gonna talk about submission. The a way that we can really stand out in the world is in this area of submitting, submitting to God, submitting to one another, submitting to others in the world. Peter's gonna show us three areas of our lives when we can live this out on a daily basis, an everyday kind of church. And there is no better way to stand out in our culture and live for God than in the way that we submit to others. And the first area where we we can live this out is in this. If you have your worship guide, you can fill in the blanks there. But the first area is this everyday submission to human authority. Everyday submission to human authority. Verse 13 says, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority, or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God's slaves, show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. So Peter starts by giving this command, not a suggestion, but a command. Many times we read the Bible and we take them as suggestions, but this is actually a command when he says, submit yourselves. In the Bible, the the word literally means to put yourself under. Put yourself under. That means that it's something that you choose to do voluntarily. Now, submission, of course, is not something that comes natural to any one of us. Rebelliousness is natural, submissiveness is not natural. None of us like to be what to do. Raise your hand if you like to be told what to do. No? None of us like that. Our natural response is to reject authority, to question authority, to push back. Speed limit is 70. We push it a little, right? Like to go 75? You're told to be at work at 8 a.m. Either at 8:15. A parent gives a curfew, and a teenager will always test the limits of that curfew. See, but biblical submission actually comes from a willing spirit. It's not forced, it comes from deep inside. And Peter wants that this submission that he's talking about to come from the heart. Now you can submit and do it, you can submit to whatever is being asked of you and do it with a bad attitude or a bad spirit, but it won't make a difference in anyone's lives. But the biblical submission that Peter is talking about here is done when done consistently, it actually has an impact on other people's lives. And that's what Peter is shooting for. It points people to God. Now, Peter knows that this command that he's giving to this group of Christians is not easy, but he gives them some compelling motivations to be submissive. And the first one is this is that a submissive spirit honors God. A submissive spirit honors God. Look at verse 13 again. He says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority. See, when submitting is not easy, we're reminded that there's a bigger cause. Christians are not to submit to the government authorities only when you agree with our policies, or only when you like the leader, or only when you you have a cool teacher or a cool parent. Our main motivation is always to submit because it honors God, because it pleases him when his children submit out of a pure heart and are obedient. Now, school is starting for most kids tomorrow, right? How many of you kids are excited? Any kids excited about school? No? Teenagers, no? Wrong answer, right? No, you should be excited, right? We submit out of reverence for God. But when submitting is not easy, just remember this, alright? Imagine a month from now, if you some of you parents, imagine a month from now when the teachers really get to know your kids. Okay? Imagine you go to a parent-teacher conference and the teacher says, Johnny has a rebellious spirit. I don't know why I came up with Johnny. Maybe I was thinking Johnny Manzell, but it's just an just an example. Johnny has a rebellious spirit, he doesn't listen to instructions, he doesn't obey, he won't do his work. Now let me ask you, what would be your reaction as a parent? Maybe defensiveness, but maybe for me, I think it would be embarrassment, actually. Because my child represents me. But what if instead I go to that conference and you go to that conference and the teacher actually says, your son, your daughter is such a great kid. He, she does everything we we ask him to do. He says, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, has a great attitude, does things even when he's not it's not asked of him. How would you feel as a parent? You'd be proud. You would be honored. You see, when we have a submissive spirit to those in authority over us, it honors God. Because as his children, we represent him, we do it for the Lord's sake, Peter says. Because even when life is unfair, we love God and we do it for his sake. Friends, when when life is hard, when ministry is hard, it's always a good reminder for me, and I know for others that are in ministry. It's a good reminder we're actually doing it for God's sake. Ultimately, we do it for him. Whatever is asked of us, we do it for him. And friends, this goes for every area of our spiritual life, every area of our spiritual journey, whether it comes to serving or giving, contributing, we don't only serve, we don't only give when we agree, when we like the leaders, we always do it for the Lord's sake. Another reason we should be motivated to submit to human authority is because a submissive spirit makes our testimony credible. It makes our testimony credible. Look at verse 15 again. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Now, I wouldn't go around calling people foolish, right? Peter's doing this to the church, but now the people that Peter writes to, once again, they're they're being mistreated, they're being treated unfairly, they're falsely accused. In fact, the government is accusing these Christians of insurrection because Christians were going around saying Jesus is Lord. They were proclaiming Jesus is Lord. In actuality, the Roman government said, no, Caesar is Lord. These groups of Christians were accused of cannibalism because the culture was misunderstanding communion. And they said, these people are meeting and they're eating and drinking blood and eating flesh and all sorts of crazy things. These Christians were accused of incest. Why? Because they called each other's brothers and sisters. There was all this hostility against Christians, all these accusations, and of course, the natural response was to get defensive, to fight back, to slander back. But Peter's going to teach him a different way. He says the only way to silence the opposition is to live such good lives and to live a life of submission and to treat others better than yourselves. Think of the testimony, friends, because the New Testament also teaches us not only to submit to human authority, to submit to others, but to submit to one another. Church. The testimony to the world if we practice submitting to one another for the sake of Christ. What would the what would the world see? Don't you think people would notice? Don't you think people would say, wow? That church, those group of Christians, they're different. But I like their difference. I like how they love one another. I like how they stand for one another. I like how they submit to one another. They don't rebel against one another. They don't reject one another. Imagine the testimony for the sake of Christ. I'd like to be that kind of different. You see, the living out daily submission for the sake of God honors God, but it also makes our testimony credible. Now I know some of you right now have come have come up with all these questions. Well, what about, you know, when we teach kids, well, what about this? I know if maybe at this point we there's a lot of what ifs. What if someone does this to you? What if you're in my situation? And that's the question, right? Are we really expected to submit to human authority no matter what? Well, there is one exception. When the government or any human authority asks us to do something that clearly goes against God's will, then we always choose God. For example, Shadrach, Meshach, and Bednego were told, worship the statue, stop worshiping your God, worship the statue, or you'll be thrown in a furnace. And these three, they decided to obey God and would not bow down before a statue, even though the government demanded of. When Daniel was told to stop praying to God, he didn't stop. He'd rather obey God than human authority. When the apostles after Jesus' resurrection went around spreading the gospel, teaching, and spreading their sharing their faith with others, the government told them, you gotta stop. Stop sharing your faith. Stop talking about Jesus and all this resurrection stuff. Acts 5.29, the Bible tells us, but Peter and the apostles, Peter and the other apostles replied, We must obey God rather than human beings. Friends, that's the exception. In many countries around the world, Christians have been told not to preach Jesus. But you know, right now, as we live right now, the day that we're living, there are many faithful people who have submitted to the government in every area. But when it comes to preaching Jesus and obeying God's will, they submit to God first. I think soon, maybe not in our lifetime, maybe it may be in our children's lifetime, and that's why we have to prepare them. I don't know, they'll have to make decisions like this. We don't face that kind of persecution in the United States right now, but who knows? Who knows what it'll be in a decade or 20 or 30 years from now. But another way that Peter says you can live this out is also in every day's submission at my job. Every day's submission at my job. Look at verse 18. Slaves, in reverent fear of God, submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscience of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. Now I know that none of us here are slaves, not we don't live out this kind of slavery that Peter is talking about. But I believe that if submission was applicable to Christian slaves, how much more to Christians today in the workplace? Now there's a study out there that shows that most people are unhappy with their jobs, and the main reason that people are unhappy is because most people dislike their supervisors or their bosses. Right? I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand if you're in that category, but I'm just gonna assume that maybe there's one or two of you here. Right? Um, what does the Bible say about the situation? Well, because we want to honor God and because we fear God and we are commanded to submit to our bosses, watch this in verse 18. Not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. Let me ask you, how clear is the Bible? How clear is the Bible? Not too clear, it's very clear. I know, at least in this case, I know that it's hard to submit when things aren't fair. I know it's hard when to submit when we're mistreated or when we think we're being mistreated at work. But Peter says this is our opportunity to stand out and to honor God without a doubt. If you have a harsh manager or a boss or coworkers, without a doubt, it's unpleasant. It's unpleasant to face this on a daily basis. But friends, Peter reminds us there's a higher purpose that we're living for. We submit in these circumstances because the world is watching, our coworkers are watching, other people are watching, and this is an opportunity to stand out, to be different, to be holy, to submit, not just join the gossip, but to submit with a willing spirit, to do it with a transformed heart. Friends, it really does make a difference. It does. The next time you have an opportunity to talk about Jesus or about the church, your testimony will be credible, it'll be worth listening to. When this has been a consistent theme in your life. You see, Peter says, we are most like Jesus. We are most like Jesus when we suffer injustice for doing good. Actually, that's when you know that you have a true servant's heart. In our culture, we see being a servant or serving others as volunteering to do good deeds. We sign up to teach a kid's class, we sign up to serve the homeless, we sign up to serve the shelter. And we are called to do all those things. We're called to serve our community. But that kind of serving is usually on our own terms, on our own schedule. But the real test, I believe, the real test whether you whether you truly have a servant's heart is when you get treated like one. What's your response when you get mistreated? When you're belittled. Anger, defensiveness, rebelliousness. Peter says, Well, that's when you'll know what's in your heart. Some might say, This is just a hard teaching. And I agree. Some might say, God doesn't really expect me to endure such harsh and unfair treatment. But listen to what Peter says next, verse 21. He says, To this you were called. To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins and his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. See, church, Jesus leaves for us the ultimate example. He didn't want to be crucified, but he submitted to his father's will. He was falsely accused, insulty, belittled, mistreated, and yet. Peter says he did not retaliate. He never sinned with his mouth. You see, Jesus, if anyone had the right to defend himself, it was Jesus. To lash out, to get vengeance, but instead, he entrusted himself to God because he knew. He knew that his father in heaven is one who judges justly and who is fair and he will act fairly in due time. Jesus understood that it wasn't just about him. That there was a greater purpose. By not retaliating, by not sinning. He completed his work. He bore our sins on the cross and he died so that you and I could live. And everything that he endured, everything that he went through, all his wounds, all his frustration, all that embarrassment, all of that brought healing to us. And Peter says the suffering that Jesus endured should be an example to us. And the word example here actually means a pattern that we can follow. Our three-year-old at home, she's not in school yet, but she sees her brother and sister going to school and doing work at home, and she wants to learn along with them. And so my wife started giving her some homework just to kind of get her out of the way, you know, while she's teaching the other two. But on Thursday, she showed me, I got home and she showed me, look, Daddy, her work. And actually, what it was, she was that day she was going to learn how to make lines because she wants to make letters. So Lindsay gave her a pattern, just connect the dots. And it was about the whole page full of just connect the dots, make a straight line. And of course, none of the lines were straight, but that's okay. She's just three. I'll give her, cut her some slack. But, you know, that that's what Peter is trying to get to. Jesus has left us a pattern. Jesus has left the entire life that he lived was a pattern for us. That's why he came to earth to show us how to live. He left the pattern so that we would just follow the dots. That's what his life is. That's what the Bible is about. It's just following the patterns. At church, if you're struggling in life, you're confused and don't know how you're supposed to be living life. Many people come to church and they're just confused. And I just encourage you, just start just simply by just making a commitment to go to Sunday services. Just start there. We know that Sunday's not everything, but start there. Maybe then you make other commitments to pick up a Bible and just start reading about Jesus. When when people ask me, you know, well, I've never read the Bible and I don't know if I could read it. I will you don't have to read the entire, you don't have to start reading from Genesis. Why don't you just read about Jesus? Why don't you just start with John? The book of John. He'll tell you everything. Why don't you start with Luke? And just look at look look at Jesus. Look at his life. And just start following his pattern. Just connect the dots. Follow the dots. See, that's what that's it's as simple as that, friends. It is. Last Peter says there's another area in our life where we can live out submission. And it's this, it's everyday submission in marriage. Chapter 3 says, Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives. When they see the purity and reverence of your lives, your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her Lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. Husbands, in the same way, you thought you were gonna get away, right, husbands? There's a message for you too. Husbands, in the same way, be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. So Peter starts chapter 3 saying, Wives, submit yourselves in the same way, right? The same way as what? Well, in the same way as Jesus. Now Peter says in marriage we are to practice submission because even difficult marriages have a purpose. Now, if you're not married, let me just side note here. God doesn't want you to get into a difficult marriage. Okay? The Bible has proven, has been proven, and is reliable, has reliable wisdom and truth about how to choose a mate. Okay, that's not what the sermon is about this morning, but I just want to say that side note. There's a lot of wisdom there that I wish people before they got married would just follow that. Before they just jump into a relationship. It would be very wise to follow it. But what Peter's talking about here is that in his time, some of these people were married before they became Christians. And it became especially difficult for women who had unbelieving husbands, who hated that their wives were part of some kind of movement. They were following these apostles, they were following this church, and they made life miserable for them. And Peter says to them, even in your in bad marriages, even these bad marriages, they have a purpose. And that purpose is that your spouse should know Christ. And that's why Peter tells the women to submit to their husbands. Because the husbands, he says, the husbands, if you do this consistently, if this is a pattern of your life, he says the husbands will take note of their wives' behavior. And not necessarily their words. Sometimes it's important to speak the name of Jesus, other times it's important to just show him instead of just saying it. And Peter says, in this case, just win them over by your behavior. Win them over by your kindness, win them over by your service. Be consistent about it. You don't have to win them over with arguments and words. Peter says, win over your husbands by the purity and the reverence of your lives. Focus on the inside. He says, just as much, just as much time as you give to the outer beauty. Nothing wrong with that. But just as much time as you give to the outer appearance, give as much time to the inner beauty. Watch your soul, watch your attitude, watch your heart. Don't just be about nice hairstyles and jewelry and fine clothes. He says, every woman should have inner beauty. That comes from what? He says, that beauty that comes from a gentle and quiet spirit. Peter says that is attractive in God's sight. And I know that every woman is different. We all have different personalities. But I believe the Bible gives emphasis to Christian women having this kind of spirit because it honors God and because it is winsome. It is winsome to the world. It is winsome to our families. To husbands, Peter also has this word. He says, husbands, treat your wife well, treat them with ultimate respect. Treat them as your partner, not as your servant. He says, because you are, both of you, you're co-heirs to the life of grace that God gives you. Husbands, be the spiritual leaders. Be the spiritual leaders to your wives, to your children. The spiritual well-being of your family depends on you. I know we have repeated this over and over, but the Bible repeats it over and over. It's the husband's responsibility to lead your family well. And if you don't, family life will not go well. In fact, Peter says God will not hear your prayers. Husbands, it's our responsibility to lead our children, to lead our wives closer to God. It's not our wives' responsibility to be pulling us to church or to serve or to get involved. It's our responsibility. We teach by example. Now I know some of you men might say, well, I'm not sure where to start. Well, can I just give you some quick pointers? Maybe make maybe make a family commitment to worship God on Sundays. Maybe start there. Just make a commitment. No matter what, our family's gonna worship. That's something that I decided for our family. Lindsay didn't decide that for us. We don't just put, you know, see what how it feels outside that day. It's a commitment. And we grow through that. Maybe after that, make other goals. Maybe read the Bible with your kids. Read God's word for yourself. Talk about God at home. Point things back to God. Everything that happens, just point them back to God. And see, when you do that, you will be building habits that will help you. It will help you as they grow. It will help you when in their teenage years, when they become young adults, when ultimately you want your children choosing Jesus for themselves. You have to start now building those habits, building those patterns. So what do we do with all of this, all this submission talk? Well, Peter finishes out chapter 3, verse 8, by telling him to just accept and live out your everyday calling. Accept your calling and live it out. Verse 8 says, Finally, it's always funny when the apostles say finally, or when a preacher says finally and they still have about 30 minutes to go. But he says, Finally, he still has two chapters to go, which Hardy's gonna cover next week. He says, Finally, all of you be like-minded. The church, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing. See, that's countercultural. Someone does you wrong, you bless them. That's different. The world does not practice that. God wants his church to practice that, to live that kind of life. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good. They must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. See, friends, you and I, we were called to a different kind of life. And Jesus invites us to humble ourselves, to swallow our pride, to live our lives for him, even when life, even when circumstances don't seem fair. He has a calling for you, he has a calling for me. And you and I, we were called to follow in his footsteps. We were called to live submissive and holy lives that honor God. We were called to win people to God. That is our purpose, that is our calling, not always with our words, but with the consistency, the consistency of our reverent lives, the way that we submit to God, the way we love God, the way we love one another, the way we respect other people. Friends, we are not going to win people over to Christ by having arguments on Facebook. We're not. It speaks, it speaks, it doesn't speak well for the church. You're not gonna win them. But it will, you will win people over with kindness, you will win them over consistent love, you will win them over with respect. That's a countercultural kind of life that's being different than the rest of the world, even though everything within us says differently. But because we have God living in us, because we have his Holy Spirit in us, we can be different if we just listen to his voice. You and I, we were called to this different kind of life. He has a calling for us. We were called to follow in his footsteps, we were called to live submissive and holy lives that honor God. We were called to win over these people, over to God. I know I know submissiveness is not easy, it's not a popular thing to teach, it's not a popular thing to hear. But friends, it has great worth. It has great worth in God's eyes. One more thing. You can't all of a sudden develop a submissive spirit by sheer willpower. Okay, you can't go to work tomorrow and just say, I guess I'm gonna try to be submissive. Not gonna work. Nope. See, Peter understands that this only comes, this change only comes from a transformed heart. You can't transform your own heart. You need a bigger power. You need a savior to save you from your sins and to change your heart. This is the only way that the Christian life is possible. You can't do it out of self-power, self-strength. It comes from Him. You cannot submit yourself and live a life of humility before others unless you first submit yourself to God. Peter later in the letter in chapter 5 says this, 1 Peter 5, 6, he says, humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. What does it mean to humble yourself before God? It's simply admitting to God that my way is not working. It's admitting before him that I've rebelled against him. I've tried to do things my own way, I've ignored him. I've ignored his word, I've ignored his wisdom, I've ignored his truth. It's admitting before him that I've been disobedient. No excuses, God. That's what humility looks like. But it's also, friends, it's also understanding that God gives me grace. That he sent his son to die in my place. Listen to this, where there's humility, there's always grace. When we humble ourselves before God, you will always encounter grace. There is forgiveness for my sin, but only God can do that. And when I humble myself before Him, when I admit my sin, when I admit my wrongdoing, it's then that God meets me. And he says, God, he promises that he will give me a new heart and change my life. And my question to you this morning if you've never accepted this free gift, will you accept it today? Will you just humble yourself before God and say, God, forgive me? But I want to receive your grace. I want it, I want to transform heart, and I want to follow in your steps. At this time, um, after I lead us in prayer, we're gonna invite those who are believers, those who have entrusted themselves to God. Not perfect people. God is not looking for perfect people. My wife wrote a note to my kids on their first day of school this last week, and she doesn't know that I read it, but I I read one of them, and it's it's just it's just tremendous. Um, seven-year-old is she's like a perfectionist. She hates when she gets one problem wrong. And so my wife writes to her, Tabitha, what I what I want from you is for you to know that God doesn't expect you to be perfect. But he does want your heart. He wants you to be a friend to others and to love others. And friends, many many people can't approach God because they think that God expects something from them that he really doesn't. He doesn't expect perfectionism from us. He expects us to admit who we are, admit our shortcomings, and to depend on him fully for forgiveness and for a changed life. Will you do that? Will you surrender to him, all of us? Whether you've been in church for a long time, or maybe this is your first time, God invites you to surrender to him.