Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:06] Good morning, church.
I want to talk today about two words, only two words. But those two words can bring up different emotions and different feelings within you. Whenever you hear those words, some of them can make you feel uncomfortable, some of them can make you think, I already know this and I want to switch off. And I encourage both sides of that equation to pay attention, to listen. Because those two words that I'm going to talk about today are submission and surrender.
Now, for some of you, especially those that come from a background or have family and a background, that have served in the military, that have served in the police, that have been on the streets, that have grew up on a hard life, who have been involved in high pressure, self reliant environments, those words, submission and surrender, they don't sound spiritual, they actually sound very dangerous.
Because in those worlds, submission means someone's got control over you and surrender means you've lost.
Very simple. Someone's got control over you and you've lost. It means weakness, it means defeat, it means you're done.
But here's what's interesting and the interesting part of this. We live in a culture now where mma, boxing, it's all mainstream now, it's big money, big boxing. And everything we look at is there. You can take a look at rugby, you can take a look at any sport, really, any contact sport.
And we've now got this fascination about what it is to watch that, to look at somebody winning and to look at somebody losing.
And if you listen to how people talk about it, when someone submits, what do we say?
We say, oh, that person, they got beat, they weren't good enough, they lost.
And that's the connotation that most people carry. The team wasn't good enough, somebody gave up, we lost in the fight. Somebody lost, they got punched in the face. Listen, a lot of these people back in Northern Ireland, back in the uk, we call them armchair pundits. A lot of these people are giving all these opinions, going, ah, they weren't good enough, they weren't this, they weren't that. I guarantee you, quite a lot of those people, they've never been punched in the face. They don't know what that feels like. And yet they're given an opinion all the time on what that is. Submission equals weakness and surrender equals defeat.
But if you actually understand that world properly, the fighting world, the mma, the boxing and stuff, that's not the full story. Because the best fighters in the world. They don't tap because they're weak.
They tap because they're aware.
They understand that they've been caught.
They understand that they've been outmaneuvered.
They understand that continuing to do what they're trying to do, even though they've been caught and outmaneuvered, is going to come with some serious consequences of broken bones, dislocations.
It's going to cause more damage.
And for them in that world, they're doing this for money. They're getting paid for this. And if they break themselves in a way where it takes six months to recover versus a month, they recover. If they just get beaten, they tap out and submit, then that means there's less money coming through the door for them.
But here's a truth most people miss.
Everyone gets caught at some point, even the best.
So it's not just about if you get caught.
It's about how you respond when you are.
I always say to my son, one in is one in.
But when you lose, you learn.
So what looks like defeat on the outside, it's often development on the inside. And some of us treat God the same way. We think, if I surrender, I've lost. If I submit, I've been beaten. But what if the reality is this, you're not being defeated, you're being developed.
Some of us don't surrender to God, not because we're strong, but because we don't realize that we've already been caught.
The difference is in the cage, tapping means that you've lost the fight. But in the kingdom, surrender.
Well, surrender is the moment that you actually start winning, when you give everything over to God, when you let him take charge. I think about wrestling and you're in the ring and you're getting beat up and stuff, and you get to the corner and you get to tap your opponent, slap his hand, and he steps in fresh, fresh as a daisy. But God steps in. He steps into your mess, where you are right in that moment of time when you surrender over to him.
But there's another group in this room.
You've been in church a long time.
You know the language, you know the verses, you might even say, yep, I've surrendered to God.
But with an honest question has to come an honest answer.
Do we actually understand it that well?
Or have we just become familiar with the words that we're saying?
Because it's possible to sing about surrender.
It's possible to talk about submission. Hey, I can even stand here and preach about it and still live completely in control.
So Whether you resist these words or you think you've already mastered them, this preach is for you, this message is for you, loud and clear. But let's look at scripture, let's anchor this, let's bring this in. And we're going to look at Proverbs 3, 5, 6. And it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight. And that word, submit, when we look at it, it comes from the Hebrew and it said yada.
And it's to know, to acknowledge, to recognize relationally.
This isn't God saying, listen, you've got to obey me because I said so. This is God saying, walk with me, acknowledge me, stay aware of me, and I'll guide your path.
One of the key things, when I read this down and I was thinking about this, and I was speaking to God about it, and I'm asking about paths and stuff like that. This is here, Walk with me, Walk with me. He will make your path straight. Walk with him. Walk with him. God's saying, walk with me.
So why are we often on another path, going, God, something's wrong here.
Can you come over here and fix this? And he's like, it's not the path that I set you on.
I'm beside you, I'm with you. But I need you to come onto my path because my ways are better.
I know the future for you, the good promises that I have for you. I know all that. I need you to come here. Trust in the Lord with everything.
And I always think of Zechariah 4, 6 when I think of this.
This is not by strength, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. In other words, this life is not built by control.
This life that we have in the Lord is built by surrender. We're not trying to force outcomes. We're trying to align with God. We're trying to align with what the Holy Spirit is telling us.
But let's look at surrender. Let's deal with surrender first, because a lot of people get stuck here.
The world says, surrender equals give up, game over, you've lost. You're right.
But in the kingdom, surrender is not given up, it's given over.
It's that moment that you say, God, I'm not carrying this anymore. God, I trust you with this because I can't do it.
And we look at Jesus. Jesus is a perfect example of this. And you can jump to Luke 22:42, where he says, not my will, but Yours be done.
He's talking to God. He's crying out to God in the garden of Gethsemane, and he's saying, listen, I want you to take this cup from me, but it's your will, not mine. That's going to be done here, and that's surrender. Psalm 55:22 says, Cast your cares on the Lord.
And Galatians 2:20 says, I have been crucified with Christ.
I.
It's not me anymore.
I am looking at God. I'm looking at Jesus as my perfect Savior, who died on a cross, who got there for me. Surrender is releasing control, not because you're weak, but because you trust who's in control.
If he knows the path that he has set out for me, and he knows the good things that he has planned for me, then surely his path is going to be better than the one that I'm going to choose over here.
I've been there, I've done that.
I've chosen the wrong path time and time again.
As a young man, as a man growing up in faith, I chose the wrong path. And I had to continually come into submission with God's will, with his plan for my life. I tried to run from it.
But he says that he will leave in 99, he comes after the 1. He came after me, searching for me, to lift me up from where I was, to place me on the path that he has planned for me, that I get to co labor with Him.
And that's important.
When we talk about submission, submission is about choosing alignment.
But the world says submission equals control.
And I'm sure that we can reflect over the last five years and then we can take a look at history and we can look at the last 500 years, the last 5,000 years. We can look at where control comes into things. It's domination, forced obedience.
But biblically, submission is choosing alignment with someone you trust.
And you flick back to what I was just saying earlier on when I said surrender is releasing control, not because you're weak, but because you trust who's in control. And submission is choosing alignment with someone you trust.
Do you trust God?
Do you trust the plan and the purpose that he has for your life?
Do you ask him daily? Do you invite him into everything? Do you talk with him and go, God, I can't do this without you. Right? God, what are we doing together today?
Because I want to do what you want. I want to have some control in there. I want to be able to say, well, listen, I want to go to work today because I need to earn money to do this. But who do you want me to speak to within this?
Where do you want me to go today? Because we could turn around and we could just use the old spiritual abuse card. God didn't tell me to go to work today, so I decided not to go to work and I wanted to go and do this instead. That's just stupid.
Yeah, we don't deal with that stuff. But biblically, submission is choosing alignment with someone you trust.
I gotta know his word. I've gotta understand what he says. I've gotta know how he speaks to me. And that's a journey we go through, that journey of listening to God. How does he speak to you?
Because he speaks to everybody. It might not be that audible voice that goes, do this. It may be that sincere knowing in your heart of, wow, I wouldn't think of that.
You're asking me to do this. Why those words? Why that thought? Why that person get curious as to how he's speaking?
But Romans 12:1 2 talks about renewing your mind.
Beli.
Every day. We gotta renew our minds every day. And there's a reason for that. That's submission.
I gotta take control of my mind every day because it wants to run off and it wants to do different things. So I've got to submit my mind daily. I've got to renew it. James 4. 7 says, Submit yourselves, then to God.
Resist the devil within that.
There's obviously more with it, but it says, submit yourselves, then to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee. But the submission comes first.
Hebrews 12. 9 says, Submit to the Father and live.
And I encourage you. These scriptures, go look them up, read them, pray about them, ask God to reveal to you more from them. But they are there to. To be delved into.
But let me say it like this. Submission is choosing alignment again and again and again and again.
And the difference is surrender is the moment that you release control.
Submission is the daily decision to choose alignment.
You surrender once, but you submit every. Every day. And Luke 9, 23 tells us to take up our cross daily. 1 Corinthians 15:31 says, I die daily.
Jesus surrendered.
He surrendered and he submitted.
He didn't go to the cross because he was overpowered.
He went to the cross because he'd already released control.
He already trusted the process. He already trusted God his Father in heaven.
He knew everything to come, the suffering that he would go through, the pain that would be agonizing for him. But he trusted the process. He trusted that process. For you sat here Today, he trusted that process for you, but he trusted that process for the generations that are coming after you, for your sons and your daughters, for your grandkids and your grandkids, grandkids for them. He also suffered and submitted and surrendered on a cross.
And he walked every step in alignment with the Father.
But if you've been hurt, submission fills on safe.
And I don't think there's a single person in here that could turn around and say that they've never been hurt before in this life.
Even as Christians, we've been hurting, non Christians, definitely been hurt.
But submission, it feels unsafe. That person's going to hurt me again. That person hurt me before. Well, this person's doing something similar to somebody who hurt me before. We start to project it out there going, well, somebody done it once to me, which means everybody's going to do it to me.
We feel unsafe within that. And if you've had to survive, if you've had a hard life, if you've had an upbringing where it's just been survival, constant going against the world, trying to do the right thing, but always ending up doing the wrong thing just so you can get a bond of money, bit of money, just so you can feed yourself, just so you can look after your kids, whatever that looks like. Surrender feels impossible because you've done everything in your strength.
How can you trust anybody if it's you that's looking after you all this time?
God's not asking you to lose control to somebody unsafe. He's asking you to release control to someone who is good. We need to know the nature of God. If we need to know the nature of God and we want to know the nature of God, then we gotta look at Jesus because he was good and he was perfect. If we find Jesus, we fall in love with Jesus, then we see the Father and we fall in love with God, creator of all the heavens and the earth, of every single thing, who knows every single thing about you.
I've got to submit and surrender to not knowing enough to want to know more.
So what does this look like, surrender?
Well, it means letting go of outcomes.
I don't know the outcome.
Sincerely, I don't. I don't know the outcome.
I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I release control, say, God, you've got this. I'm walking out things in my life at the minute.
I don't know the outcome, but it's okay, God, you do.
I've just got to be obedient. I've got to be obedient. In this moment.
This moment in time is my obedience. This moment in time is my surrender. This moment in time is my submission.
God, what are we doing today?
I want to be obedient in that I've got to release control.
What have you got to release control of? What's going on in your life at the minute that you need to release the control of because you're not affecting the outcome. Well.
And that submission means that we choose alignment daily and we follow God's way even when it costs, because we don't see the big picture. Maybe it costs a friendship. It's okay.
God's working and there's something bigger than that friendship going on, a relationship, whatever it looks like, whatever it costs, surrender is God. I release this submission as God. I walk with you through this, but let me bring it together.
Surrender without submission, that just becomes passive.
Submission without surrender, that becomes striving.
But together you stop forcing life and you start walking by the spirit.
Not by might nor by power, but by the spirit, says the Lord.
You're not losing your life when you surrender to God.
You're releasing control and choosing alignment with the one who knows where you're going.
What are you still trying to control?
Where do you need to choose alignment through everything in your life right now? What are you submitting to?
What are you surrendering to?
At what point have you turned around and said, jesus, I tell you what, I'm gonna put you on the shelf. I wanna park you in the corner.
I'm not gonna use you here because I don't trust what you'll do.
I don't trust what you'll say.
I don't want to do what you're going to tell me to do.
There's a sense I don't want to do what you're going to tell me to do, which means you already know the answer, which means you already know the word of God. You're just choosing not to listen. You're choosing to ignore where you are right now in everything that you're doing and everything that you've done.
What are you submitting to him? What are you giving over to him?
You know, we've talked about submission and we've talked about surrender.
And here's the truth I want to leave you with today.
God will meet you exactly where you are in your mess, in your confusion and your pain and the questions that you have.
Because to put it simply, God's not afraid of your starting point, but he refuses to leave you even when you choose to go another way. He loves you too much for you to follow your own path. He finds you in your direction and he calls you into his.
And that's the invitation of Jesus.
Follow me, not adjust me to your life.
Don't fit me into your plans, but leave your way and come on to mine. Proverbs 3, 5, 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight.
Notice it. Submit to him is surrender.
And what does he do?
He straightens what you could never fix on your own. He leads you where you can never see clearly. He restores what you've been trying to hold together. And some of us have been asking God to bless our paths, but he's waiting for you to trust him with walking the path that he has set for you.
Some of us are just holding control so tightly, and it's exhausting you.
And today Jesus stands in front of you, not condemning you, not rejecting you, but inviting you.
Follow me.
Close your eyes where we're satisfied.
I want to ask you for a moment, no distractions.
Why are you still holding the will?
Why are you still saying, God, I've got this?
Because surrender is not just a moment. It's a choice you make in that moment, a decision to trust him more than you trust yourself. And if that's you today, and if you're saying, God, I don't want to keep going my way anymore. I want your way. I want your path, I want your direction. I want your restoration. Right where you are.
I just want you to respond.
A simple hand in the air or come forward for prayer.
Thank you for the hand.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You might even want to just whisper this.
Jesus, I surrender.
Not halfway, not conditionally, completely and fully.
I surrender my plans. I surrender my control. I surrender my direction. And I choose to follow you.
Because the truth is, God meets you where you are, but he refuses to leave you where you choose to go.
He finds you in your direction and he calls you into his and his path, his path. That's the one that leads to life.
Now, if you've raised your hand today, thank you. We will have some of the prayer team come now and stand with you and sit with you in prayer.
And if you're still in a moment of on decision, then please just stay seated where you are and somebody will come to you and somebody will stand with you and they will pray with you.
But I just want to thank you so much for listening today.
Have a blessed week.
Thank you.
[00:23:27] For tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers Life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team, and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
