God is looking for people that are willing to be used for His glory. Will we stay committed to our own plans, or follow God plan?

 

 

Hello everyone. My name is Pastor Roderick caesar the third on the lead pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Jamaica queens new york and my prayer is that you would be blessed. You would be encouraged and strengthened by this word, hope you enjoy God bless Amen, Amen, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. How many of you are grateful that God saved you by grace? It is only by grace that we are saved so grateful. Uh, to be in the house of the Lord this morning and to be able to speak and say what thus sayeth the Lord for this time for this season, grateful for what God has done what God is doing and how God is going to continue to move throughout this service. Thank you so much for tuning in and being with us today. I’m so grateful for what God is doing. Hello and greetings everyone and welcome to part three, part three of our sermon series called I surrender uh, my name is Roderick caesar third on the lead pastor here at Bethel Gospel Tabernacle and wherever you are, wherever you’re watching from. I’m so grateful that you have joined us today joined us today. Uh, let us pray at this time. They’re gonna thank you so much for this time. I thank you for who you have called us to be and I pray Lord that as we uh, just surrender that you would show yourself mighty, show yourself strong and just be a part of of what we’re doing in the service today. We thank you, we praise you when we give you glory, we ask these things in jesus name, Amen and Amen and Amen. Remember we’ve been talking about, I surrender. So let’s do this with me. Do the hand signs with me, I surrender right, I surrender, I surrender. Uh it’s so important in this walk in this life that we surrender to what God is doing, that we surrender to where God is taking us, that we surrender to how God is moving uh in our lives in the process that he has us in as we move forward in him. Uh, and it’s so important before we move forward, before we go on with the rest of the series and move on to part three. I want us to take a look back. I want us to take a look back at what we’ve seen and how God has has moved thus far. We’ve seen uh that surrender is a necessity that we don’t really like to talk about surrender is a necessity that we don’t really like to talk about. But honestly, there is no success in the Kingdom of God without it, you cannot succeed in the Kingdom of God without surrender. It’s the ingredient that we all need in our lives and our relationship with God. But it’s not exciting to discuss to discuss, but we’re here to dive in once again, Our theme. I surrender is rooted in the text from Luke chapter nine verses 23-25, which says, and he said to them all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me because whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul or himself. In the first message, we looked at following the leader following the leader. We looked at tools that help us follow. We said we need to walk in the spirit. We said, we need to walk in the word we said. We need to walk with the people of God. Those are things that can help us stay committed to surrendering, help us stay committed to following. And then we looked at ways that we can surrender. So what does surrender look like in action? We surrender on repeat, which means we surrender again and again and again, which means the first time may be great, but it’s not enough. We need to surrender consistently again and again and again. Uh, the second thing we do is we surrender on mission. We surrender uh, intentionally realizing that to surrender successfully, we have to realize why God has called us to surrender in the first place and we have surrendered. Have to surrender with a plan in place. The third thing we said is that we surrender on time. We surrender on time, which means it’s not just okay, I’m just gonna uh, surrender whenever I feel like it. Yeah, but it’s so important that we surrender on time, which means that in the timeline that we’re supposed to surrender that God is merciful. Yes. And but it’s so important for us to surrender on time because there’s gonna come a time when God sends his judgment, there’s gonna come a time when God sends his discipline. So let’s surrender before we get to that point, let’s surrender on time. The second thing we looked at in our in our the next last week’s sermon was talking about let it go, let it go. We looked at what we have to let go of and what we gain when we follow christ, what we have to surrender and then what we gain when we follow christ. We realized that surrendering and walking in the way that God’s called us to walk in. It’s personal, it’s personal. It’s personal, jesus said, if any man must follow me, let him pick up his cross and follow me. It’s a personal thing. So we need to surrender. You need to surrender what your plan. We looked at moses, he had a plan, he had a way that he wanted things to work out. You need to surrender your position. We looked at Abraham and God told him to move from this place and go to the land that he would show him Abraham was willing to surrender his position. You have to surrender your perspective. We looked at Gideon, he thought one way about himself and one way about God but he had to surrender that perspective to do what God called him to do. You have to surrender your preferences? We see Peter had some preferences in what he was to eat. But when God said I want you to move another way. He had to let those preferences preferences go and move in the way that God called him to move and then you have to surrender your power. We looked at Esther who had power to sit back had power. Uh but she had to surrender her power to God’s power so she can move in a way that was pleasing to the Lord and do what the Lord had called her to do. We do all of these things. We let go of all of these things. We surrender all of these things so we can gain eternal life relationship with christ and the things that come with it, the things that come with it and that brings us to our message today. What comes with a relationship with christ turn to your neighbor. Go in the chat and let’s say responsibilities, responsibilities. Oh oh responsibilities type in the chat. Say I am responsible. I am responsible, I am responsible man. I didn’t think you’d hear that this morning. Right? We are responsible. We are saved. When we are saved. We must surrender surrender is the doorway. The doorway not only to salvation but to sanctification as well, not only to salvation to being saved from sin, but being sanctified, which means being more like christ walking in the ways of holiness. Walking in the ways of Righteousness, paul writes in romans chapter six verses 19 he says, I’m speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations for just as you once presented yourself and your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness now present your members as slaves to righteousness, which leads to sanctification. We have a responsibility to present ourselves to God as as righteous to God as righteousness, which leads us to being sanctified. Sanctification is a process. It’s not an overnight thing. It’s a journey, it’s not an overnight thing. And in first Thessalonians paul writes, he says, this is the will of God for you, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, and he goes on to write about that. But it’s so important that we know that sanctification is a part of the process. It’s a part of the process and we have a responsibility as people of God as as people in God’s kingdom as Children of God, to surrender and a responsibility to walk in those those things that call us to be sanctified in surrender. There’s a letting go in surrender. There’s a death to self in surrender. There’s a letting go, but the letting go is not just so that our hands are empty, but it’s to pick something up. We pick up our cross. We get to work and we realize that there are things that we have to do. There are things that we have to do. Ephesians chapter two verses 8 through 10 paul writes this. He says for by Grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, Not as a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. What does this mean? Pastor Rod? Well, what this shows us is that we are saved. Yes, from something, but we’re also saved for something. We’re saved not just from something, but were saved for something. What this means is that you have an assignment that’s attached to your name. You have a cause that’s attached to your call. You have a role that’s attached to your righteousness. There is something that you and that only you are appointed and anointed. To do. Your mother can’t do it for you. Your father can’t do it for you, your sister, your brother, your spouse, your friends cannot do it for you. Your assignment is attached to your surrender. Something that you have to do. It says that we are his workmanship. We love. Oh Ephesians two. We love that. Oh I’m saved by Grace through faith. Yes, that’s great. It’s not of your own doings of the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. Oh God doing all the work. God is doing all the work. We are his workmanship. Yes. God created us. Yes but what he’s created us in jesus christ for good works. Yes. He put some work in. He created us. But he created us to work. He created us to get something done. Which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them. There is an assignment attached to you. There is an assignment attached to your name. There is an assignment attached to you. So you’re saved for something not just from something. Yes. We celebrate that God saved us from death. That God saved us from sin. That God saved us from all of the things that come with sin and come with death. But God saved us for something to do something to accomplish something. While we are here we are saved for action. We are saved for an assignment. We are saved for adventure. Not just to sit back and say okay God take me when you’re ready. I’m gonna say no no no. We are called to something. Something outside of the box. A life with christ is a life that has twists and turns a life of adventure. A life of assignment. A life of action. And this brings us to the individual today that we’ll be looking at and his name is Gideon. We mentioned him briefly last week, but I want to dig a little deeper into Gideon’s story today. Turn with me in your bibles to the Book of Judges, chapter six Judges. Chapter six I’ll be reading two verses three verses uh 14 Through 16 judges chapter 6 14 through 16 and the text says, and the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do I not send you? And he said to him, please, Lord, how can I save Israel behold my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my father’s house. And the Lord said to him, but I will be with you and you shall strike the media nights. As one man. Today’s message is titled Help. Wanted Help. Wanted Help Wanted. God wants to use us for his glory. God wants to use us for his glory. If you ever walking around with pre pre covid, you see a lot of times outside you’re going for a leisurely stroll, stress free stroll or just a stroll to get stuff off of your mind and you’re looking at you see in a, in a in a store, you see a sign that says Help Wanted means they’re looking it means they’re looking to hire someone for a specific need. They’re looking to to bring someone on board for a specific task. And God wants to use us for a specific need, use us for a specific task, Use us for his glory, God wants to work through us so that he can be glorified. God wants to work through us to solve some problems. See the beautiful thing about God is he doesn’t need our help because he’s God, but he wants to, he chooses to use us to accomplish his will, use us to accomplish his will. He could very well use someone else. We see in the book of Esther this is a possibility Mordecai says to Esther, as I mentioned last week, don’t think that you could just sit back and escape because if you don’t do something, God can maybe raise somebody else up to get it done because God is going to work with or without you, he’s gonna move with or without you. And sometimes we get stuck in our comfort. We get stuck in our wants, we get stuck in our desires. We get stuck in our inability and difficulty to surrender. But what Gideon shows us is we need to be willing to surrender to be the help that God needs the help that God wants. And so let me let’s give us some some context here in the Book of Judges. We see where judges now, chapter six, one of the common themes in the book of Judges is this phrase. It says there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. We see now Israel has now been into the promised land. This is after the book of Joshua. So Joshua, their leader now moves them into the promised land and works with them and they conquer all these different nations and now they are set up in the land and then Joshua dies. But before he dies he says you know you have to honor God, you have to obey God if you guys rebel, God is going to send nations to oppress you. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord Joshua dies. And then like many of us Israel, they get what’s promised, they receive what’s promised. And then they forget the giver of the gift they received what was promised to them and then they forget the giver of the gift, they get comfortable, they lose their edge, they forget to surrender and instead they walk in what they feel is their security. And as a result of this they do detestable things. They bow down to idols. They offer foreign sacrifices. They engage in cult like practices that they’ve seen from the nations that are around them, from the nation’s that they’ve defeated. They now worship multiple gods and and walk away from the true and living God, walk away from the commandments that were given to them by moses and by Joshua they walk away from from God and as a result of this as a result of them doing what’s right in their own eyes, the bible says whom God loves. He also chasen’s so God oppresses them. He sends nations to oppress them, nations to distress them. Nations to raid them. They served bales and asteroids and all these other idols and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. It says in Judges chapter two. And so whenever they marched out to fight, whenever they marched out to go, it says that the Lord was not with them. The Lord was actually against them. When they walked out, the Lord was actually against them to harm that harm them because he had warned and sworn to them and they were in terrible distress. So what we see here is the giver then sends the getter. Right? God now sends the getter. The getter is a situation a person for any in in Israel’s case of people that get you to seek God again, that get you to fall to your knees in prayer that get you to find yourself doing your devotions or praying harder or turning down your plate and fasting or reading your word or asking for deliverance, That get you to run to the throne room of God that you would not otherwise run to have this situation not sprung up in your life. And so we see this is on repeat in Israel’s life time and time again they rebel. God sends a nation, They rebel. God sends a nation, They rebel. God sends a nation and in between the rebellion and the nation, God raises up a judge. That’s why this book is called judges. He raises up people someone who is raised up for such a time as this. Someone who was raised up for the purpose of helping Israel come back to God and helping Israel to be delivered from their oppression. Gideon is one of these judges. Samson is one of these judges. We see Samson is known for his strength and we see what Tyler this is help wanted. Why Samson Samson’s strength wasn’t just so he could look in the mirror and flex all day, I don’t know his strength was to help Israel get out of oppression to help Israel fight the Philistines. We see Deborah was another judge and she was a prophetess and she didn’t just use it for her own game. But it was help wanted, She used what the Lord gave her her skills her wit and rose to the challenge. She was a military strategist and helped to deliver Israel out of oppression. And now we see Gideon in the sixth chapter of Judges, 40 years after Debra comes and brings peace to Israel, Israel again sins in the sight of the Lord again, they run and flee from the goodness and mercy of God again, they run and flee from the commands of God and they bow down to idols and they make foreign sacrifices and they do what’s evil in the sight of God and right on schedule, God sends another nation. Midian comes in and oppresses Israel for seven years, seven years they come they steal their crops and this once great nation of Israel that conquered Egypt is now cowering and hiding in caves, cowering and hiding in mountains, cowering and hiding because the media knights would come like Locusts. The text says in number both they and their camels could not be counted and they laid waste to the land as they came in and Israel was brought very low and the people of Israel cried out to the help of the Lord. This once great nation that all other nations feared was in the land that God promised them. But they were oppressed in the land that God promised them. But they didn’t have peace in the land that God promised them. But they were unable to move around as freely. Why? Because they were out of alignment. And sometimes when you’re out of alignment, what shouldn’t be a problem becomes a roadblock. Sometimes when you’re out of alignment, when you’re so far away from your assignment, what shouldn’t be a problem actually can keep you from progressing and you keep tripping over it and move it and not being able to move forward when you’re out of alignment out of position, Israel was in the land of Promise. Yet they were hiding in caves. Israel was in the Land of Promise. Yet they weren’t able to act and move as freely as they needed to. Why? Because their heart wasn’t connected to the true and living God to the source of their strength. So God had to discipline them. God had to send the nation to oppress them to drive them to their knees to say God, we repent, deliver us from this evil, deliver us from this nation. Israel wanted help and Gideon then becomes the instrument that God uses to answer the problem. The Angel of the Lord in Judges chapter six verse 11, The Angel of the Lord came and sat under a terrible at Europa which belonged to joe as the abuser right while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in a wine press to hide it from the media nights. Now the Angel of the Lord here, depending on different texts or scholars, scholars would say that the Angel of the Lord is a a picture of christ in the old testament where christ shows up in the old testament. If the Angel isn’t listed specifically as a Michael or Gabriel making a specific announcement and it just says Angel of the Lord, this could very well be jesus christ showing up before new testament in the old testament. And so he shows up and the Angel of the Lord says, sat under this tree and what we realize is we see this man named Gideon, the son of joe as the abuser right and he’s beating out wheat in a wine press to hide it from the media nights Gideon. What we see later is he becomes an answer to a problem. But we see that he felt the problem, that he was under the oppression of the problem, that he understood better than most the problem. He grappled with the problem. He had a heart for the problem. He wrestled with the problem and he adjusted under the problem. Now we’re far removed from this time period and what was done here. So I’m gonna tell you right now that you don’t beat out wheat in a wine press. Those are two things that do not mix a wine press is a pit or a large vat where grapes are collected and juices pressed and squeezed from them and it was channeled into a large container. Wine presses were usually dug in vineyards, but Gideon was not pressing grapes in the wine press. Instead, he was beating wheat in the wine press and wheat is not beat in a wine press. It’s actually done on a threshing floor. And to thresh wheat is the process of loosening the edible part of a grain or crop from the husks to draw straws and to draw straws from which it is attached. So pretty much you lose the edible part from the non edible part, which gives you grain, which gives you food, which gives you sustenance and he’s doing this in a place that it should not be done. He’s making a when life hands you lemons right, make lemonade, but it’s not really ideal. It’s like he’s trying to make lemonade out of oranges and it’s somewhat working and he’s making it work, but it’s not ideal. He’s out of alignment because Israel is out of alignment and he’s having to adjust and making it work, but it’s not ideal. He’s making the wheat out of the wine press and making the things happen that need to happen. But it’s not ideal. It’s under difficult circumstances in his dysfunction. He’s making something function and many of us as a result of this pandemic. There have been things that have come our way that we are, it’s far less than ideal, but we had to make it work. We’ve had to adjust. We’ve had to adapt. We’ve had to be quick on our feet and it has not been ideal, but we’ve learned to function in a state of dysfunction. We’ve learned to function when things are out of alignment and we’re making it work. But it’s far from ideal. Gideon did not like this. It was humiliating to him to have to feed his family this way to have two instead of of of having grapes in the wine press to thresh wheat in the wine press, it was backwards, it was a different way of, of doing things, it took some adjusting, it took him thinking outside of the box. And even though things got done, it was not ideal. And for some of us, there are many things that we have picked up perhaps in the midst of the pandemic, it’s not ideal. But hey, we’re making it work. We’re thriving. We’re putting, you know, 11 step out in front of the other, one ft in front of the other and we’re making it work for some of us. Even before the pandemic, there were situations or habits that we picked up that we learned to operate in dysfunction. And God may be saying right now, okay, I I want you to come out of that for right now for this season, I want you to come out of that and we see what takes place is the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon and says to him, the Lord is with you, Oh mighty man of valor. Gideon is operating in his dysfunction. God shows up and says, God is with you. God shows up and says I’m with you. Mighty man of valor. Gideon is doing something out of fear. He’s operating because if he did actually beat the wheat at the wine press, this is a place where the media knights could come and raid him and take his weed and kill him and all these things. So he’s saying no I want to do this in a safe way. But in a way that, you know isn’t conventional, but then in the midst of him doing this, God says, look I’m with you, oh, mighty man of valor. And then Gideon says, please, my Lord, if you’re with us in verse 13 of chapter six, then why has all this happened to us and where all the wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us saying did not the Lord, God bring us out of Egypt. But the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian. Gideon is being rational. You’re saying, look, if you’re really with us, then show us your with us. I’ve heard stories of what you’ve done in the past, but that’s not what I see right here I’ve done, I’ve heard stories of your triumphs in the past, of how you brought us out of Egypt. But look at my present, that was the past. But look at my present. Look at the pain that I’m in. Look at this, look at the the discomfort that I’m in, look at the agony that I’m in. Look at how I’m functioning in dysfunction. If you’re truly God, then this wouldn’t be the case if you’re truly with us, then this wouldn’t be the case the Lord has forsaken us. And now we’re given into the hand of Midian Gideon was too familiar with the problem, well acquainted with the problem. and then in verse 14, the Lord turns to him and says go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian, did I not send you? Hold up. Wait a minute. We got a problem here. Um, uh, I was just telling you what the problem was. You know, I mean, I don’t really feel like I was going to be the answer to the problem. I’m just like, you know, you know, there’s a problem. You gotta fix it. You got to handle it. But then God turns to him and says, no, no. You’re the answer to the problem. I need some help. You want some help. You are the help. You’re the answer to this problem going, this might of yours and Save Israel from the hand of Midian. Did I not send you? And then Gideon says, what many of us would say, depending on how we see ourselves. Please, Lord me. How can I Save Israel, My clan is the weakest in Manasseh. And I am the least in my father’s house. And the Lord said to him, but I will be with you and you shall strike the media nights as one man. Gideon’s perspective automatically had him disqualified for this call automatically. Look, my clan is the weakest and I’m the weakest in my client. I don’t know if you heard, but we had to push up contest and I’m not, I’m not the one that’s not, I’m not the one you need. How about you go ask my cousin. How about you? Ask my brother. How about you grasp this person, That person. Anyone but me. I’m not your guy, not your guy. You’ve got the wrong one. Look at what I’ve done. Look at what they’ve said about me. Look how weak this is. Look how look how far I’ve straight look at all these difficulties that I’ve been stacked up against. Look at this deficiency that I’ve had. Look at what I’ve been born into. Look at the name that I have looked at the person that should have been there to protect me but didn’t. And now this happened. Look at all this that stacked up against me. Look at all of these things that disqualify me. But God says, look, I’ve called you, no matter how you feel about yourself, no matter what you feel disqualifies you. I’ve still called you. I’ve still appointed you. I’ve still anointed you. I have help. You need help. And I’ve called you to be the help In the midst of the situation. I’ve called you to be the answer to your prayers, I’ve called you to do this. Are you going to accept the call? Are you gonna step up to the plate? Because he’s saying, look, this is why I can’t do it. This is why I can’t do it. This is why I can’t do it. This is why you’ve got the wrong person. God. And God in classic God form doesn’t say no, actually giddy. And you’re quite strong. You’ve got this going free. You’ve got this. You’ve done this. You’ve you know, he says, I’m enough. God says I am enough, I will be with you, I will be with you. And if you have me, you have all you need. So surrender your perspective, surrender your woe is me and say, look God, you know what? You’re right, you’re right, you are enough. But we have to surrender both perspectives, the perspective of ourselves and the perspective that we may have about God. That’s incorrect. Surrender those things. God says, I will be with you. You’ll strike Midian as one man, Gideon is human though he’s like us and he wanted to be sure he had his doubts. He’s like, are you really God? Is this really you You know it sounds good and all you shall strike the media night says one man sounds like a great call something. I wasn’t really praying for. I wanted you know, us to be delivered. Didn’t know what would be the answer. But now that you’re saying I am is this really you got how how do I know he had his doubts and like many of us, he says to this angel, this this christ in the old testament, he says, look, if I found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it’s you who’s speaking with me, Look, don’t leave, I’m gonna go real quick. Don’t leave until I come to you and bring up my present and set it before you. God says, I will stay until you return. So Gideon went to his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes and the path of a flower and he basically cooks up this really dope meal, puts it before God. And the angel of the God says okay now take the meat and the unleavened cakes and put them on this rock and pour broth all over them. And he did so, so Gideon says look this is a test, I’m gonna figure out if this is God that’s called me and his love language has got to be food like come on, I gotta whip them up adult meal, gonna get the seasoning just right. Everything is gonna be perfect. Boom! He has this nice spread, he spreads it before the Angel of the Lord and what this shows us is there is a process to revelation. There’s a process to revelation. A journey to understanding a preparation that must take place. There is time that must be spent in preparation, sacrifices must be made surrender must take place, instruction must be followed. He said look I’m going to prepare this. It took some time. It took some effort. It took some energy. It took him dropping his schedule and saying, okay, I’m gonna go do this so I can hear from God many of us, we want the rewards, we want the results, but are we willing to surrender and put in the work, we want the rewards, we want the results. But are we willing to surrender and put in the work? We want to hear from God, but we don’t want to turn down our plate. I want to hear from God, but I’m so much on a fast, fast, nah, I mean I can run fast, but you know, we’re trying to hear from God, but don’t wanna fast, we want to be financially stable, but we don’t want to save, we don’t want to stop our bad spending habits. We don’t want to tie them to the Lord. We want to get healthier, but we don’t want to change our diet and begin to exercise everyone other rewards. But what about that work? We want to have better relationships, but we’re not willing to confront the things within ourselves or have necessary and difficult conversations with others, revelation and transformation needs to take place. But in order to do that, surrender is necessary. Surrender is necessary in every sphere. So we see that Gideon took the time to surrender and say, look, I’m gonna whip this up, I’m gonna get this, this this meal going, I’m gonna lay this meal before the Lord and he does so and we see that the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touch the meat and the unleavened cakes and fire sprung up from the rock. Science what? No, it doesn’t make sense from the rock and consume the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. And then Gideon perceived that he was the Angel of the Lord. I don’t know about y’all, but I’d be like, So you mean I made that whole meal, cooked it up, prepared it and you just burned it and left. You didn’t need it, you didn’t digest, You just say, oh it’s good, you could have used a little bit more of this little, no, no, no, you just burnt my meal and just left. The Lord vanishes and the food doesn’t get eaten. What shows us is what God does with our offering may not be what we expect, but we’re placing it in his hands, were surrendering it in at his feet, were laying it down and sometimes the way God will operate with what we have given him with what we’ve given him is outside of our understanding. But will we trust him? Even though it’s not what we expected? Well, we trust him, even though it doesn’t add up in a way that makes sense to us. Will we surrender to his way even though it’s different from ours, jesus is what I am the way the truth and the life that means he has a way that varies vastly from your way will we surrender to that way, even though it’s different from ours. Gideon says, Alas, O Lord God, I have now seen the Angel of the Lord face to face. But the Lord says to him peace be with you do not fear you shall not die Gideon at this moment when he realizes oh my God I’ve seen God I’m worthy of death because of the sin that’s within me because of the holiness that God is. No man can see God and live, I’m gonna die. And God says not so I’ve got work for you not. So um there’s help wanted peace be with you do not fear you shall not die. Gideon makes an altar of the Lord and and says now from this day forward things have changed up. He honors the Lord and afterwards he receives his marching orders and we’ll get into that a little bit next week. But what I want us to to gain from this is that in order for us to surrender and be the help that God wants us to use to walk in our assignment we must first surrender to the will of God, surrender to the will of God. But as we surrender we need to know we need to know we need to know that our assignment is not just about us. Our assignment is not just about us. Many of us we hear what God says and we say oh yeah it’s about me and about to have my name in lights. I’m about to help this person and help that person and it’s gonna be they’re gonna say what a great wonderful person you are. And this is how it’s gonna know our assignment is not about us now, hear me, It does not mean you can’t promote yourself, it doesn’t mean you can’t promote your brand, it doesn’t mean you can’t uh make an impact. That doesn’t mean you can say, oh no, and you hide in the background and don’t say anything, no, no, you can say all of those things, you can promote yourself. But in the midst of that, you understand that you are not the thing that this that this uh promotion revolves around that as you’re promoting yourself as you’re promoting your brand as you’re trying to push and hustle and do what God’s called you to do that, it’s not about you, it’s about God, it’s about giving him glory. And even if it’s not a faith based thing, you still realize that it would not even be possible without God’s help, without you being anchored to God, without you surrendering to God without you saying, look God, you know which way I’m going to take, you know which way I’m gonna move, you know which way it should go. And so it’s not about me, because if it’s about me, it all revolves around me and if it revolves around me, there’s no way it’s gonna last. If it revolves around me, there’s no way it’s gonna outlive me. If it revolves around me, there’s no way it’s going to be as successful as I, as I want it to be, or as it needs to be, or as God wants it to be, this thing that I’m doing what God has called me to do, it’s what God has called me to do. And as a result of that, it’s not about me, it can’t be about me, our assignment is not about us. Secondly, as I close and as the team comes up, many of us, we have grown too comfortable operating in our dysfunction, operating in our dysfunction like Gideon, we’ve learned to oppress wheat in the wine press and we say, okay, that may be fine for this season or for that season. But no, no, no, God is calling us into a new season of refreshment, a new season of refinement and we need to know the difference. And third, and finally, if God has called you, if God has called, you know that he is with you, if God has called, you know that he is with you Hebrews. Chapter 11, verses 32 through 34 says this, the writer of Hebrews, he’s talking about the Hall of Faith, the heroes of the bible. The heroes in scripture that we realize that God is saying, okay, these are people who we are taking note of. He says this in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 32 to 44. And what more shall I say, for, time would fail me, I don’t have enough time to write about about all. All of this time would fail me to tell you of Gideon of Barack of Samson of Jeff, theft of David of Samuel and the prophets who through faith, they conquered kingdoms, They enforce justice, They obtained promises. They stopped the mouths of lions. They quenched the power of fire. They escaped the edge of the sword. They were made mighty and made strong out of weakness. They became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight. You see, we’re just at the beginning, beginning of Gideon’s journey. But here in Hebrews, we see a bit of the end that Gideon was someone who was made strong out of his weakness, who became mighty in war and put foreign armies to flight because God was with him. Gideon said, oh, not me. God, you’ve got the wrong one. He said, look, as long as I’m with you. As long as you’re obedient. As long as you surrender, I’ve got the right one and I can use you for my glory. I can use you for my glory. So realized that if God is with you, if God has called you, he is with you. If he’s with you, then you’re gonna win. If he’s with you, then you’re not going to fail. If he’s with you, He’s behind you. 100%. And if God is for you, who can stand against you understand that God wants help. He wants help. He wants you to be the help. You have to realize you have to say God, I surrender, I surrender to you will surrender to your way. Use me. You want help and I want to be there to help you. Thank you God for calling me. Thank you God for equipping me. And I pray that as you used me, you will be glorified. Thank you in jesus name. Amen. That’s what we have to say. That’s the prayer we have to pray so that we can be used by God. Amen. Amen and Amen. God bless you is my prayer. God bless you is my prayer at this. Uh, I’m just want to pray for everyone watching and then we’ll make a special appeal. God, I thank you so much for your, your people. I thank you for your sons and your daughters. I pray that those that are listening for those that are far from you and want to come closer for those that are maybe in in relationship with you. But perhaps they’re not being used as they should. Or perhaps they’re not uh, looking for opportunities. Or perhaps they’re just sitting by the wayside waiting for you to come rapture your church. I pray Lord that you would stir up a desire in your people to be used for your glory. There’s help. Wanted as a sign everywhere. Will you step up to the call? I thank you and praise you for your people, encourage us in this time, we thank you in jesus name Amen and Amen Now if you are here and you do not know jesus christ as your Lord and savior, you don’t have a relationship with him, but you want one, you know you need one, you know you’ve been doing things your own way and you say God look, I need help. I have a help wanted sign on my heart, I needed every single day it’s time to surrender today. If that’s you, if you know you need jesus, I’m gonna ask you to pray, pray and repeat after me. Dear God, I thank you that you sent your son jesus to die for my sins and cleanse me from all iniquity. I pray that from this day forward I would walk in the new life that I found through you. Thank you, I praise you and I give you glory. Ask these things in jesus name Amen and Amen. Give yourselves a round of applause. Your life has changed from this day forward, God is good. Hello again, Pastor roderick caesar third here, thank you so much for watching my prayer is that you were blessed. You are encouraged and strengthened by that message. If you would like to be a blessing to the ministry, you can text B G T F. I 277977 Again you can text B G T. F. I 277977 to sow a seed into the ministry and we thank you. Thank you so much for your generosity. Or you can visit our website at b g t f i dot us for more information. Thank you so much. Once again, I hope you are blessed. I’m praying for you. We love you here at Bethel God bless.