More Than Meets The Eye

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 how many of you right now are grateful that God is a good God, that God is a great god that he is deserving of glory, honor and praise. Let’s give the Lord a clap of praise or in the chat just say hallelujah, spell it out and thank God for life. Thank God that he is a good god is great God that can do all things but fail so grateful to be in the house of the Lord this morning, grateful to be able to share and to speak and to just be able to worship the Lord in spirit and truth and wherever you are watching this from right now I pray that you would know that you are the temple of the living god and God is with you, God is for you and God is more than able to help you in the midst of whatever it is that you are going through Today, we are on week seven of I surrender of, I surrender, I surrender, say that type that out in the chat. I surrender, I surrender, I surrender week seven what a blessing what a blessing what a blessing it has been. Uh, we will conclude this series with this message and I’m just so grateful for what God has done for the journey he has taken us on and how we’re going to wrap it up together today at this time? I think before we jump into the message, I just want to just to highlight the fact that what we do with our time here is important. I’ve been talking with my wife, Stephanie a lot about stewardship and one of the pillars here of this church and of this ministry is stewardship. What do we do? Yes. With our finances? Yes. With, you know, being a good steward of what God has blessed us with financially. But what do we do with everything that God has blessed us with? How are we stewarding the gifts he’s given us? How are we stewarding the home he’s given us, how are we stewarding the finances? He’s blessed us with. How are we stewarding our lives? And I think in the midst of, to speak to uh Chadwick Boseman uh situation in the midst of such pain, in the midst of going through one of the darkest valleys of his life in that same season, he was at one of the peaks in his life and rose to such a high amount of status and fame. Uh, and to see him uh going through that, that tension of dealing with the low of fighting this, this, this disease and dealing with the high of being a sought after actor and one of the biggest movies to ever come out. Uh It lets us take a look and say, okay, how how are we starting, what God is giving us? Are we still able to execute at a high level he gave us uh several movies in the four years between his diagnosis and his departure. Uh high quality movies, movies that he probably thought about and did everything with intention because of this diagnosis. Um, and so, you know, I think for us, uh, one of the things that we can take away from this is how we stewarding the lives that God has given us. Uh, if we if our health is not compromised, let’s be grateful and thankful for that. And how we stewarding uh that gifting, if we do have compromised health, how are we starting the other areas of life that God has called us too. So the rest in peace to rest in peace and rest in power to our brother Chadwick Boseman. Uh Wakanda forever as they say. And uh let’s dive in to the text at this time. uh Luke chapter nine verse 23 through 25 says this is jesus speaking. And this has been our text that has anchored us for our journey thus far, Jesus says to them all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life, we’ll 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 loses Or forfeits himself? I have another verse and that is in first Corinthians chapter one verse 18 and it says for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The power of God. The title of this message is called more than meets the eye more than meets the eye. Dear God, I thank you so much for this time. I thank you for who you are and who you have called us to be. I thank you that you called us. Lights in darkness that you’ve called us to be salt God. In the midst of a world that needs saving Father, I thank you for who you are. I thank you Father for your goodness and your mercy. Even in the midst of a pandemic, even in the midst of of trial, even in the midst of testing, even in the midst of difficulty, Father, you are good and your mercy endures forever. So we thank you, we praise you, We give you glory. We ask for all of these things in jesus name. We pray Amen, Amen and amen. Just to recap a little bit of where we’ve been. If you haven’t been with us through the very uh through the trenches of I surrender. Uh in week one, we talked about following the leader, jesus says if anyone would be my disciple, he must first deny himself pick up his cross and follow me. And so we talked about what that looks like, What does it look like to follow the leader, what does it look like to not lead but be led? What does it look like to not be the one in the front, but be the one who’s, who’s watching the footsteps that are going ahead of you and taking notes from the individual that is leading you and perhaps not going the way you want to go. We’re not taking, the thing is with you, you want to take with you, follow the leader, deny yourself and follow christ. We said that’s so so important in part two, we talked about uh letting it go, putting things down to follow christ so many times we try and follow christ with with a closed fist, we try and take so many things with us and God is saying just let it go, just put that down, then you’ll be able to move forward, just let it go, just put that down, then I’ll be able to shine through you, just let it go, just put it down, then I’ll be then your hands will be free to accept what God is giving. So we talked about letting it go and putting things down to follow christ and why that is very, very important and it’s difficult for us, but it’s one thing that we need to do and then we talked about help wanted in in part three of the of the of the series. We looked at Gideon. That’s when we dove into Gideon’s life in Gideon’s story and we said that God wants help, but are we willing to say I surrender God to my plan. I surrender from my plan. I surrender from my will from my way and I want to do what it is that you’ve called me to do. I want to help in this mission. I want to help end this journey. You need some help and I’m the one that you’ve chosen to help. But am I willing to lay things down to move forward and help out. So help want it. Then we looked at giving up your gods and in Gideon’s life in Gideon’s story, we realized that God found him in a difficult place. Found him in a place of hiding, found him in a place of of being afraid and then called him from that to do something bold, called him from that to do something daring to tear down his gods and the gods of his father, the gods of his family, the gods of his city and he does this fearfully. He does this at night, but he still does it. He’s still obedient. And so we said that even though there are difficult things in our life that God is calling us to let go of. We must let go of them. We must be the people that God has called us to be and give up our gods Part five. We talked about teaching us how to say Goodbye teaching us how to say goodbye and how uh it’s difficult departing with things, especially things that give us our security, things that maybe we find strength in. And we realized that Gideon was in a situation where he was going into war. He was going into battle and the individuals that he were with was with were too many right, You never heard of this before having too many people to go into battle with and God says no, there’s too many cut them off because if you’re going to battle with them, I won’t get the glory, You guys will get the glory. And so what we see taking place here is Gideon removing himself from these people so that God could get the glory and going into battle with a small number and God shows up in a miraculous way. So we have to realize that there are things that we have to say goodbye to. So we could say hello to God’s best for us. Last week we looked at, Here we go again. The unfortunate tale of how Gideon’s story ends, Gideon situation ends instead of trusting in God fully and surrendering on repeat. Like we’ve been discussing Gideon at the very end of his nearing the end of his life for the end of his story here in the text uh he gets power hungry and instead he collects all this gold and sets up an idol after his victory instead of giving the glory back to God, he collects glory for himself and sets up an idol that becomes a snare to him, a snare to his family. And once again, the cycle is repeated in the Book of Judges. Here we go again. The people of Israel had no king and they did what was right in their own eyes, and that brings us to today, which is more than meets the eye more than meets the eye. Now there was this uh cartoon or a movie, also a couple movies, big movies that went pretty, pretty big called transformers. And you guys are, I’m pretty sure most of you are familiar with it. It’s these uh these cars pretty much or whatever the company designates they’d be at the time, but mainly we know them as cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, boats, whatever the situation, but they can transform into uh these big fighting robots. So if you have them you can uh move their arms this way, move the legs this way and the the car door becomes an arm and all that kind of thing. And it’s a very intricate way of transforming, of pulling of pushing and prodding and of uh really forming this one, this thing that looked just like a car into now, this big fighting robot and the slogan for transformers and the cartoon back in the day was transformers uh robots in disguise transformers more than meets the eye and it’s different and it’s interesting because you think of it as one thing it comes in the picture looking like a car and then after some time after a situation there’s more than meets the eye it’s robots what they’re in disguise and they say transform and they pop up and they transform into these big rope. These big robots from just being a car from just being a helicopter. And so it looks like one thing but in reality there’s something else on the inside, there’s something else that’s different, it can transform into something else and surrender is a little bit like that surrender looks like something on the outside. It looks like perhaps defeat on the outside but surrender in christ on the inside internal is able to transform into victory, surrender on the outside it looks like defeat. It looks like Brokenness and those things are true about it but at the same time on the other side in christ jesus surrender his victory. And as we close out this series I want us to flip christ centered christ centered surrender on its head. In christ surrendering is not just weakness but it’s also strength is not just a defeat but it’s also victory. It’s still painful. Yes it doesn’t take away the fact that surrender is painful but it’s a pain that can bring healing. It’s a pain that can bring restoration. It’s a pain that can bring wholeness, Jesus says, pick up your cross and follow me Luke Chapter nine. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life, for my sake, will save it by picking up our cross. We swear allegiance to his cross by picking up our cross. We say, you know what God, I know that you are in control and I can do all things through you and I don’t know what’s best and I want to follow you. And the prerequisite to following you is denial is picking up my cross and then I follow you. That’s what it’s about Saints of God, that’s what it is about Saints of God, Jesus says, look, this is this is twisted. If you’re saving your life, you’re actually losing it. There’s more than meets the eye. If you feel like, okay, I’ve got this all together, I’ve got my four oh one K situated, I’ve got this good job right now, I’ve got my health. Right now, I’ve got this going for me Right now, my family is good right now, I’ve got uh these plans coming up, I’ve got this, I’ve got this, I’ve got this and it’s all mine, I’m going to hoard it and steward it and I’m going to hoard it and not steward it. Well, and you think, okay, I’ve got this, I’m not gonna lay anything down. I’ve got my will, I’ve got my desires, I’ve got what I want and I’m not going to lay any of this down. Whoever would save his life. If you feel like you’re saving it, you feel like you’re clutching onto it, you feel like you’re grasping tightly to it. If you save your life, the Lord says, you will lose it if you don’t lay things down before the Lord that he’s called you to lay down. If you don’t surrender all, if you say no God, I’m okay, I don’t want your way, I don’t want your will. I don’t want what you want, I don’t want to lay down what you’ve called me to lay down. No, I’m good, I’m good. I’m good. I don’t want you, I don’t want to have anything to do with you. If you say this and you turn around and walk away, jesus says, you may think you’re saving your life, but you’re actually losing it. But if you lose your life for my sake, if you give up your life, if you say God, I surrender to you, God. If it is you bid me to walk on the water, bid me to come onto the water and I will surrender the logic that says this can’t happen. And I will walk on the faith to do the impossible to do what you’ve called me to do to surrender my life, and to say, I believe in the shed blood of jesus christ. I believe in the Cross of jesus christ. I believe in the death and the resurrection of jesus christ and I’m going to walk in this new salvation that I have and this requires me laying down my life if you will lose your life for my sake, Jesus says, you will save it, jesus says, you will find it! Many of us, we’ve gained the whole world, but as we’ve seen Gideon’s life gain the whole world, but he lost his soul. Many of us, we’ve gained so much, but we’ve lost our soul. And paul writes in the book of First Corinthians to the church in Corinth, he says, For the Word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The Word of the Cross. The Cross of jesus christ is folly to those who are perishing. But to those who are saved to us who are saved, it is the power of God. The Word of the Cross is following. What are we doing when we pick up the cross, When jesus says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me. What are we picking up When we pick up our cross? When we pick up our cross, As I’ve said, we are swearing allegiance to his cross. we’re saying, look God not my will, but your will be done. I I know that you die so that I can live and you rose again so that I can have power to walk this thing out. So I’m picking up my cross and just like that we’re walking with jesus, just like that we’re picking up our cross. But when we do this we’re picking up our power. We’re picking up our power. Yeah, we’re picking up our surrender. But in picking up our surrender we’re picking up our power because we pick up his power and his strength by picking up our cross. It’s impossible to do this. Walk in our own strength. It’s impossible to do this. Walk in our own strength to walk this out in our own strength. But we pick up his power when we pick up the cross and we walk in his strength, we pick up sure our demise because we say God not my will, but your will be done. But when we pick up our demise, we also pick up our strength our strength strength to get it done. We’re picking up our ability to have victory in christ jesus. There is no victory in christ jesus without surrender. There is no victory in christ jesus without surrender. It’s the prerequisite to following him. We must surrender, we must die to self, we must die to our own way. We must pick up our cross and follow and often when we think about surrender, when we think about surrendering, we were only thinking about what we’re giving up. We’re only thinking about what we have to let go of. We’re only thinking about what we lose. We’re only thinking about the thing that we have to to let go of. But think about this when you surrender your hands are free to receive, your hands are open and free to receive what God is going to give, what God is getting ready to give. But if you clutch and you hoard and you say no God, I’m not going to lay this down. I’m not gonna let this go. What is it you’re doing, You’re not open and free to receive. When you surrender your heart is free to receive. Many of us have said, I’m never going to forgive this person for what they did to me, I’m never gonna forgive this, I’m never gonna forgive that. I’m never going to move on from this. I’m always gonna be here. This is gonna be something I replay again and again over and over. But when you surrender your heart is free to receive, your heart is free to receive. When you surrender your mind is free to receive many of us. We replay offenses, replay wrongdoings, replay situations over and over and over. When we lay those things down, our mind is free to receive. But if we look to jesus as we should be as believers. If we’re looking to jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith, then we must change our perspective. We must change our perspective. Hebrews Chapter 12 And to the writer of Hebrews says we must look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, endured the cross. That’s the that’s the surrender. And in the surrender, what we realize is, Jesus was not just thinking about what he had to let go of, I’m letting go of my life. Oh, my body will be broken. Oh, I’m I’m I’m going to be tortured and killed. It’s not, it wasn’t just thinking about that, but there was a joy that was set before him and as a result of that, he was able to endure the cross. The joy was him being seated at the right hand of the father. The joy was him being in a place where he can have make intercession for believers. The joy was was him being the bridge that connects us to God uh in this broken world. The joy for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross despising the shame and is now seated at the right hand of God. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a wonderful text, but going through it, it’s difficult, surrendering, looks like folly. It does surrendering looks almost crazy, It does surrendering looks difficult. It does. If you were to tell someone outside of the faith, someone that does not believe in jesus christ and does not follow if you were to tell someone that you surrendered or the ways in you surrendered or the things that you gave up with a mindset shift that you had to, to, to to to make, they may look at you like you have six heads, they may look at you like, this is extreme, like you’ve lost your mind, what do you mean? You don’t do this? But in christ, in jesus christ, winning looks different in jesus christ, surrendering, looks different in jesus christ wholeness looks different in jesus christ, victory, looks different in jesus christ looks different. The apostle uh the apostle Peter, one of Jesus disciples writes this he says the time that has passed, suffices for doing in first peter 43 and six, he says for the time has passed, that suffices for doing what the gentiles want to do, living in sensuality in passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and parties and lawless idolatry with respect to this, They are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, They malign you, but they will give account to him who was ready to judge the living and the dead. Uh what peter is saying here is they find it crazy that you don’t participate in the things that they participate in. It’s absurd that you don’t engage in the things that they engage in their surprise. They find it foolish, as paul said. They find it crazy that you don’t participate in. As Peter writes the flood of debauchery. So it’s not just one thing, but it’s one thing that leads to another thing that leads to another thing that leads to another thing that leads to another thing. And before you know what, you don’t have control of yourself anymore. And that’s the thing with not surrendering. We want to be in control, but we don’t realize sometimes when we don’t surrender, we’re actually losing the control that we think we have because control is an illusion. And they’re surprised that you don’t participate in this flood of debauchery with them. They find it crazy that you haven’t had a hangover in years because you’ve surrendered that a long time ago. They find it crazy. Wait, what do you mean you’re not hooking up with this person or or laying down with this person? What do you mean? They find it crazy that you say, oh my body is a temple of the living god and I can’t just connect or give myself to anyone who catches my eye or gives me attention. I’m a child of God and I’ve surrendered to him now they find it crazy that you’re not partying like you used to. How come I don’t see you here anymore. See you there anymore. See you participating in these things anymore. How come this is absurd to them? They can’t wrap their minds around it. This is foolish. Why would you give that up? Why would you lay that down? They find it crazy when you don’t clap back. They find it crazy when there’s different things that happened and you don’t respond in a way that they would it’s absurd. How could this be? This doesn’t make sense. This doesn’t add up because I’ve surrendered, surrendered my life is not my own. I’m bought with the price. I’m I’m the temple of the true and living God and I’m a child of God. I’m a son of God, I’m a daughter of God and I behave as such. It’s crazy to them. But for those of us, all right, I’m gonna say this, this is a quote from the Dark Knight rises once again. It just it just came to me, it’s none of my notes, but I would just say it when uh batman is fighting, bein once again and he’s getting beat up and he throws like a hail mary to try and win this fight. He throws these contraptions that are smoke smoke smoke screens at bain and they pop around him and bein responds to batman with this and he says uh he says theatricality and deception? He says powerful agents to the uninitiated, but we are initiated, aren’t we Bruce, which is pretty much saying we’re both in the same, we both walk through these same rights of passage were both a part of this organization that uses theatricality and deception to win our battles. So why are you using this against me to win their powerful agents against those that don’t know what’s up? But we both know what’s up. We both are on the same page, so it’s not really gonna work against me and he proceeds to to fight. But I say that to say that if you’re uninitiated, you don’t know about the life. If you’re not engaging in this walk, then surrender sounds so strange to you, but if you’re a believer and you say, oh, I’m surrendering this, I’m giving this up. God called me to lay this down and you’re speaking to another believer, they’re gonna say, oh, wait a minute, Okay, good, that’s great. I’m gonna pray with you as you lay this down, I’m gonna pray with you and for your strength as you walk in this journey, or at least that’s what they should be doing, praying for you, lifting your hands up in the battle, lifting your hands up while you’re in the trenches. If you’re speaking to another believer, They need to say, okay, we’re both initiated. We both know what’s up. We’re both walking through this journey. We both have things that God is calling us to give up. I’ve been through that season before. I’ve been through that valley before you can make it through. I’ve been through those trenches before those trenches, I know are awaiting me later. You can make it through push through and because we’re speaking the same language because we’re serving the same god, because we’re giving our glory to the true and living God, we both understand okay, that we must surrender. But if you’re saying this to someone that does not know God, that is not in relationship with God, the way you’re behaving is so countercultural, it does not compute, it does not make sense. It does not add up. And as believers, we’re not called to fit in. We’re called to be in and not of we’re called to be salt and light. Those are things that do not fit in. The things that make a difference. Light brings light in darkness. It’s unavoidable. It’s unmistakable. If if you’re in a dark place and you shine a flashlight, that light will be seen so changes and alters the taste and preserves things. It’s we’re called to make a difference, recalled to stand out. But yet as believers, we want so desperately or we have this need to just blend in, just be like everybody else just do what everybody else is doing. Just move how everyone else is moving. But God has called us to be salt called us to be like called us to surrender so that he could get the glory out of out of our lives called us to surrender so that others could come to know him through our surrender. And it’s crazy to those who don’t know christ. But to us it’s the power of God. It’s the authority of God. When we lay this down, it’s not crazy to us because we know and this is gonna sound crazy if you don’t know, but if you know you know we know that this world is not our home, this world is not our home and many of us have gotten too comfortable and we haven’t surrendered too comfortable and we haven’t surrendered as if this world is our home, This world is not our final destination Philippians. Chapter three verse verse 18 through 21 says many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of christ their end is there destruction? Their God is their their God is their belly and their glory is in their shame with their minds set on earthly things. So there are many people paul is writing who are only focused on what’s good for them, what they want, how they want to move, how they want to do things how they want to move forward in life. But he says in contrast our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior. The Lord jesus christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by that power that enables him to subject all things to himself. Post says, look, our citizenship where we belong, where we’re going, it’s in heaven, it’s in heaven, Jesus even says in my father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, I go to lay down my life for you, I go to die for you, but my father’s house are many mansions and you’re gonna follow me there. I am the way I am the truth, I am. The life our citizenship is in heaven. Yeah, there’s an election coming up and doesn’t mean you should not vote. I am saying, go to the polls, go, vote. Let your voice be heard. The only way change can happen is if we make change happen. But our citizenship, this is a temporary location. We are sojourners. Peter says In first Peter Chapter two, he says, beloved, I urge you as sojourners, as a traveler as someone that’s passing through to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. You see we are not here forever. There is a home that is awaiting us. There is a home that is awaiting us in the heavens. There is a life that is awaiting us after this. So that informs how we make our decisions, that informs how we live our lives, that informs everything this world, not being our home and the amazing thing is, it’s difficult. It’s difficult to follow someone who doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do or who, you know, wouldn’t do what they’re telling you to do, right? Where soldiers were on this journey, we’re citizens of heaven. And in order to do that, we have to pick up our cross. We have to deny ourselves, we have to follow God, follow jesus. And it’s difficult to follow someone when you know that they would not do what they’re telling you to do, right? There’s this there’s this this phrase that parents sometimes say their kids do as I do not as I say, do do as I say, not as I do right, do what I say, do what I’m telling you to do, but don’t do what you see me doing, do what I’m telling you to do. But don’t don’t live how you see me living. That is that is uh counterproductive because if there’s any, if you know anything about a parent child relationship or at least someone who’s leading and someone who’s following, you’re automatically you’re gonna know you’re going to see and take in and absorb everything what they say and they do. And if you’re living a contradictory life, they’re picking up on both aspects of it. I’m so glad that we serve a God, we serve a king, we serve jesus christ who is the same yesterday, the same today, the same forever. He gives us a consistent command. And then he follows through and he does what he told us to do, he says, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself pick up his cross and follow me. What do we see Jesus doing in the text, denying himself picking up his cross and doing what God told him to do, not his way, not following his lead, but following God’s. We see Jesus doing this time and time again and as a result of this, he gives us this command to follow and it lets us know that if jesus did it then he’s given us the strength to do it. Amen if jesus did it, that he’s given us the strength to carry it out. Amen if jesus did it, then he’s given us the authority to make it happen. Amen Amen Amen Amen I want to see some a men’s in the chat and it’s amazing thing because what we realize is Jesus not only said it, but he did it, he paired his words with his actions and that’s an amazing thing, especially when you’re following someone, especially when you realize that you are a citizen of heaven and that you’re going somewhere, it helps us in our surrender, it helps us in our surrender. So Jesus picks up his cross 1st, He picks up his cross 1st and then he tells us to do the same. And then when before he gets to the cross and and dies on the cross. he’s speaking with with pilot, the individual that has the authority on our earthly realm to condemn jesus to death. Later we hear jesus saying, you know I lay my life down and I pick it up again and so what we realize is that Jesus is saying to to pilot pilot as saying what’s going on here, are you a king? And jesus answers and says, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, John 1836-37, Jesus Answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the jews, but my kingdom is not from the world, the pilot said to him, so you are a king, Jesus answered, you say that I am a king for this purpose, that I was for this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice so we realized that our home is not here, our home is in heaven, home is in heaven and jesus says, look my kingdom is not of this world, I know it doesn’t make sense to you, I know it doesn’t add up to you, but if my kingdom were of this world, I’d have armies fighting for me not to be delivered over to the jews, how do we know his kingdom is not of this world because when somebody tried to fight for him to fight, so he wouldn’t be handed over, he shut it down, Peter drew his sword in the garden and cut off the ear of the of the individual that tried to take jesus and we see jesus saying no Peter, that’s not the way because you know if I wanted to I could rain down fire, I can call angels, I could do all of these things to be free from this and he heals the individual that Peter harmed. That is jesus, that is surrender, that is surrender, that is surrender. That is surrender. When you realize okay this, I don’t have to fight this this way, I don’t have to do this this way. We are citizens of heaven. So we know where we’re going, jesus is our king. So we know who we’re serving and that’s a beautiful thing because we know where we’re going, we know who we’re serving and he’s our example, we know he’s gone before us and so we know that when we serve him he’s not someone that just says it and hasn’t done it, but he’s gotten it done and given us the ability to do the same. And so what’s going to help us on the fact that this surrender is more than meets the eye, what’s gonna help us to know this is to change our mindset and to shift our focus to change our mindset and to shift our focus Romans. Chapter 12: verse two says do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. That by testing, you may discern the will of God, what is good, what is acceptable and what is perfect? Say this with me, surrender on repeat surrender on repeat type. That in the chat that’s going to be so important. I don’t want us to forget that we must surrender on repeat each and every day. We must surrender our mind. The battle for your mind is raging. The battle for your attention is raging. The battle for your heart is raging. But it starts oftentimes with your mind with your mindset, with how you think with how you view yourself with how you see yourself with how you see God that starts in your mind. And it’s so important that we watch what we’re focusing on, that we watch what we’re setting our affections on with our mind. In colossians, chapter three verse two uh paul right set your mind on things that are above not things that are on the earth. In 2nd Corinthians chapter four Paul writes, we don’t lose heart for outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light and momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things are seen are transient or fleeting are not permanent, but the things that are unseen are eternal. What are we looking to? What are we focusing on? Where’s our mind focused on? Where’s our attention focused on? We must surrender on repeat. We must lay our mind down before the throne of God and say God, I surrender all. I surrender my mind too. You how we think as a result of us surrendering, how we think about pain, how we think about letting things go. That has to change. It has to change James chapter one says, Count it all joy my brothers when you encounter severe when you encounter trials and that’s difficult for us. Because how can we be joyful about something that’s painful? How can we be joyful about something that doesn’t add up? How can we be joyful about something that is causing us some sort of difficulty in our lives. Why? Because it’s bringing us closer to the true and living God is bringing us closer to the true and living God. So for us it starts with a mindset shift, how we see ourselves, how we see God, how we move forward and what it is that God has called us to do when we wave our flag to the Lord and surrender. It’s not an easy thing to do. We wave our flag to the Lord and surrender. It’s not something that comes naturally to us. We wave our flag and the Lord to surrender or lift our arms to the Lord and surrender our, raise our voice in the Lord and surrender. Yeah. It’s in a it’s it’s it’s defeat but it’s a defeat that leads to victory. Yeah. It’s saying God, I don’t know what’s best for me anymore. And I surrender to you. I don’t know what’s best for me anymore. And I surrender to you. It’s a defeat. Yes. But a defeat that leads to victory, jesus, whole life on earth. His whole life on earth was the definition of surrender and the definition of more than meets the eyes. He is our example. He is our example. Think about this for a second, God became flesh. A God. The God, the only god wrapped himself in creation and became flesh immediately. That right there is more than meets the eye, a king, A king that was born in a stable that was born in a manger that was wrapped in swaddling clothes that had humble beginnings. If you looked with your naturalized at the beginning is without the announcement of the angels, without the prophecies that came before you would think this that there’s there’s nothing, there’s nothing here but there is more than meets the eyes, a boy who looked like he had gotten lost. But really he was about his father’s business. Why? Because there was more than meets the eye a teacher who chose individuals to follow him and spent years depositing into them because to him he knew that in them there was more than meets the eye a messiah whose methods of healing of delivering of teaching were unorthodox were countercultural were revolutionary because there was more than meets the eyes a savior who used an instrument of death to be a vehicle from which life springs forth. He knew it had to be this way because there was more than meets the Eye. You see death looked like defeat, but it was actually deliverance. Death looked like defeat, but it was actually salvation. Death looked like defeat, but it actually brought healing. Death looked like defeat. But it was actually something that gave us victory because there is more that meets the eye. The cross was used as an instrument of death was used as an instrument of humiliation. Was used as an instrument of embarrassment, was used as an instrument of torture. Yet jesus christ uses it to triumph over the enemy Colossians. Chapter two says. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the un circumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all of our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Imagine the dismay the horror of the enemy to realize, okay I thought I won, I got this in the bag. Imagine you’re watching this, you’re seeing this, jesus christ crucified, embarrassed and put to shame and now we realized that all along it was the plan for victory. It was the conduit through which victory would come because it was more than meets the eye look like a humble carpenter that just got in above his head that tried to start a revolution. They killed him. Okay we’re done with that and that’s it but there’s more than meets the eye why? Because jesus surrendered and because he surrendered and it was God’s will that this take place. We now have life as a result of him surrendering and dying. We now have a life. None of this would have been possible had it been for the power of surrender. So as I close and as the team comes up it’s so important for us to know that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to surrender. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to surrender. Yeah. It may look weak. Yeah. It may look like you’re losing everything or losing what you hold so dear. Yeah it feels painful. Yeah you maybe don’t want to go through it. Yeah maybe seems like there are better options but don’t forget that when it comes to surrender in christ there’s always more than meets the eye and he said to them all. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me for whoever would lose his life would save it. Whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, what’s saving for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself. So everyone stand with me today, the day after the next day, every day and together my prayer is that we will be able to say, I surrender, I surrender I surrender. Let’s pray dear God, I thank you so much for this series. Thank you for how you’ve been leading us. You’ve been guiding us. You’ve been strengthening us. Help us to know that there is more than meets the eye. God help us to know that in the midst of the difficulty of surrender that you are in control. We thank you. We praise you. We pray God that we would continue to be the people you’ve called us to be live the life that you’ve called us to live with. Thank you. We praise you when we give you glory. We ask these things in jesus name. Amen. Amen and Amen if you’re here, You’ve heard this message. You’re listening, you’ve heard this message and you don’t know, jesus christ. You don’t have relationship with him, I’m gonna ask you to just repeat after me in this prayer. Your God, thank you for your son jesus. Thank you for his life for his death and his resurrection. I pray Lord, you will forgive me of my sins, cleanse me of mine righteousness and make me whole in you. I’m new today. Thank you for salvation and jesus name, we pray amen and amen and for those of us that have gone through this series, I just want to say a prayer of surrender. Dear God, I pray that we would lay down what you called us to lay down. They would surrender and give up what you’ve called us to give up. And I thank you Lord for your goodness, your mercy and your compassion towards us. Your patience towards us, your forgiveness towards us. I thank you that you’ve given us the strength to lay these things down, the strength to follow you. We won’t fail to give you the praise to give you the glory to give you the honor. We ask all of these things and she’s this name. Amen and Amen. God bless you was my prayer. Thank you. 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.