The Altar of Yes

Let's go, hallelujah, wow, you all are so kind, that's no need to stand, listen, I welcome all of you and I'm always excited to be with my Crossing family for the weekend. I want to send a big shout out and welcome all of our campuses, Mid Rivers, Fenton, and Grinch Trail, along with Overflow and our online community. Let's give it up for them, let's do it. I'm going to have you clap a couple of more times because let's give it up for this Praise Hymn Band, come on, they rocked it out. So thank you all for your labor of love and your pour for the weekend, we are so excited. Listen, I see y'all in shorts, actually I was going to put on shorts but I couldn't figure out the wardrobe with a suit jacket, then I realized, I looked at my legs and I haven't shaven them, they look like Chewbacca on both sides, so I decided to kind of avoid that and just wear pants. And so, thank you for looking comfortable, you look very summery, hallelujah. Well I am so, we're going to have fun, if you have never engaged with me on a weekend, we're going to have a lot of fun, we're going to have challenging truths, wow, a lot of humor mixed in. And I was able to watch you guys' baptism a little while ago and I was celebrating you all, it was an amazing two days, so thank you all for being so wonderful for the kingdom. As God is doing something on the east side, he's doing something on the west side, which is here, and he's doing something on the east side, which is where I am. This past June, we baptized 110 people for the Lord, amen, praise God. And so, we do a fall baptism as well and so far, 48 have joined that and signed up to be baptized, so God is up to something, come on, let's give it up. I got my wife with me and I thank God for her being with me, she lets me sleep next to her, amen. And brought some wonderful people with me just from my church, Jeremiah is helping me serve today, so thank you, he's one of our ministers at our church, thank you so much. And we are parenting, my wife and I get to parent an 11th grader, so someone in our church created a pillowcase with my dad's picture, my son and myself, so three generations. So, that's my dad at the top and then that's me and Josiah, he's in 11th grade, so excited

about that, he is growing up right before our eyes and trying to figure out how to get him out of the house. But anyway, I brought with me some books, actually my second book that I wrote, just released it this year called Groupie Discipleship and the thought behind this book is how we are looking for heroes in all kinds of areas and how Christianity has unfortunately created a celebratism of who we should follow in worship or who we should follow and adore, but really it's Christ that we should be following and adoring because he is our strength and source and so it's about a Christ-centric focus, it's a short read but full of profound thoughts, it's in the bookstore, welcome you to check it out if you'd be so kind and I look forward to just hearing feedback as the Lord sees fit. On last week, I was eavesdropping on last week's service that Randall gave such a wonderful sermon outline, had our brother Anthony doing gardening up here and all that stuff, I said wow, man, it's hard to find a black man that guards but he did it and I was like go bro, go! But it was amazing because it really set the tone for a great challenge out of Jeremiah the 29th chapter that we're to plant by property and we're to pray for the prosperity of the city, not just the west side but the east side, the north side, the south side because collectively we prosper together. Now you was real bland and I expected that because I know I was gonna be in a suchy-muchy crowd. So, I brought some, y'all know black preachers are a little different in a black context so in our church there's continuous communication, it's not chaos, it's a unique phenomenon of community. So I brought some cue cards because some of y'all be off. I got one more. Look at my — look, y'all ain't did nothing. In the rafters, right here, that way. Oh, we gonna have some time, I got work to do, God help me. Father, be strength to me, be a Red Bull and a God. Gatorade to me today.

And so, I want to just share with you and tying into what Randall talked about, I'm not here to bring you further good news. I'm here to bring you bad news. And the bad news I'm going to bring to you is this reality that God is requiring you to say yes. And here's the bad part about the bad news, it gets worse. You don't have a choice in the matter. God has sovereignly placed you whether you got here by train, by airplane, or by email. God has placed you in this region. God has let you see these set of problems, and he has sovereignly positioned you to be change agents. And it's now that leads me to my title for today. I'm going to talk to you from the title, The Altar of Yes. God wants a yes out of you that he hasn't gotten out of you yet. He wants to go deeper with you, and he wants to show you what a deep, surrendered yes looks like. Now, in order to do that, we're going to talk through this from a concept of acceptance, radical acceptance, and it's another word that I'll reintroduce as well. So, when we hear the word acceptance, we often think of weakness. We think we're losing. We think of giving up. But in the kingdom, acceptance is not weakness at all. It is strength under surrender. I have learned it takes more power to lay your life down than it does to fight your own way because we have this thing called volition. We fight anything that discomforts us. We fight anything that gives us some form of inconvenience.

And so, I have learned that to just yield requires a lot of power, intentionality, and trust. Well, one of the greatest tragedies that the church, and the church has its problems because the big C, the big body of Christ is full of people like yourself, and we bring all kinds of things to the table. But one of the tragedies of the modern church is that many people want the benefits of Jesus without full submission to Jesus. They are present in the house of God, the church, the gathering places, but they're not truly yielded to the lordship of Christ. They want his rescue, but they resist his rule. Well, here's the truth. A savior can be admired, but a lord must be obeyed. The word of God in Acts 2 and 36, Luke records this from Peter's preaching at the day of Pentecost, says these words. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. Some translations would say both Lord and Christ, which means the Christ, savior, Lord, ruler. We love the Christ part of Jesus. We struggle with the lordship of Jesus. How do you know? Because we rejoice at salvation, we rejoice at baptism, we rejoice at what I'll consider the entry gate to this thing and walk with Christ. And for those who are new to this journey, those who are still exploring this journey, I need to give you a dichotomy that you need to embrace early on so you won't get to a place where you're struggling with God. Here it is, here it is. I rejoice with you that the Lord Jesus is reeling you in from various tapestries of life, and he's showing his love for you, and you are feeling the love

of a God that made himself known to you in unique ways. Now, that's great. I think, though, we have reduced our walk with God to no thought of our own, to reading a devotional and going to church. And I'm not saying that is not included, I'm saying it's more. Look at your neighbor. Now, here it is, black church. Look at your neighbor, look at him, and say, God wants more out of you. Some of y'all didn't say nothing. You're so rebellious. Listen, I want us to get to the place where our surrender changes regions. I want us to get to the place where we're not just talking the talk, but we are allowing our lives to come under the rulership of Jesus, where we start looking like Jesus, acting like Jesus. Here it is, being like Jesus. Now, that's a large task and an undertaking, and it requires our yes and God's going to keep knocking on the door of our yes. And I think that's a great example of Jesus that is not just inspirational, but it is instructional in the garden of Gethsemane. Now, I'll set the tone up, and we're going to read from that in a few seconds here, because Jesus was dealing with the darkest day of his life on earth. And he shows us how to... Deal with full submission, radical acceptance, and here's the word, surrender. Tara Brach writes in her writings, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which actually is a broad category of therapists, psychotherapists, that deal with how people can transition from trauma. And it's a broad category that comes under five umbrellas,

but the core tenets tend to have similarities to it. And one of the core tenets that she talks about, but most psychotherapists also affirm, is that when you're going from a place of trauma to transition, the first thing you need to do is accept the facts. Quit rewriting the story about what could've, would've, should've been. Accept the facts, it is what it is, let's move from there. And this is very important, because until we accept the facts, we'll keep trying to romanticize what should be in our story. And then, there's the other thing core tenet, that it's okay not to like what you're going through, amen? Y'all, y'all go work with me, I thank y'all for it already. Over here, though, I love y'all. Listen, listen, it's okay not to like what you're going through. Like, it is perfectly fine to articulate, I don't like this season in my life. I don't like this setback, I don't like this heartbreak, I don't like this betrayal, it's perfectly fine. And then, another core tenet is stop the suffering, which means if the sun is hot, get in the shade. If there is something hurting you, then remove yourself from that which is hurting you to the best of your ability. So, this idea of radical acceptance is the word

that is used by modern society, but the Bible uses one word. Y'all ready for it? Surrender. Surrender. See, God wants us to surrender. Surrender is best contextualized in this sentence. Where your control ends is where his power begins. Amen. This is gonna be a long day. They did tell me that we don't get out till two o'clock, so I'm gonna get y'all out early at 158. I kid, so I'm like, oh my God, who is this guy? I promise you I'm kidding. Here's another way we can contextualize surrender. Surrender is not giving up. It's handing over what was never yours to carry in the first place. Amen. See, radical acceptance is the decision to stop debating God. It's the moment that you look at the plan of God and however uncomfortable and uncommonly it departs, and you say yes. Yeah, yeah, I trust you. I trust you, I surrender. But how do we do this? Well, in Luke, the 22nd chapter, Jesus is faced with one of the most dark days of his ministry. Here it is.

Satan, the adversary, the evil one, is not omnipresent. He ain't everywhere at all times. But in Jerusalem, on this day, he is present. Judas just sold Jesus up for a Lunchable. Jesus being God in the flesh, knows his disciples are about to scatter. Betrayal is upon him. He knows in a few hours, there's going to be the ripping of his flesh. But before the ripping of his flesh, he's going to be pranced around these kangaroo courts of Jerusalem. He's gonna be falsely accused in order to be the sacrifice that God accepts for all sin of all mankind, for all time, that we might have a now access point back to a relationship with God the Father. In theology, it is called the substitutionary atonement, which means what happened to Jesus is the payment for all sin that we should have been actually the ones on the cross for. He took our place. Now the darkest day is found in the garden of Gethsemane. And it's there in the 22nd chapter. I'll read, you'll look along with me, verse 39. Here's where it kicks off. Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed. And his disciples also followed him.

He came to the place. He said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw. Very important. A stone's throw, which means he was close enough to them, but farther enough away from them to be close to the Father. But they were right there. Very important. Catch the imagery. He knelt down and he prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven and strengthened him, and being in agony, this is the first time in Jesus's ministry that he prays the same prayer more than once. Very important that you get the agony of this moment, the darkness of this moment. He is fighting with everything in him. Let's keep going. He says, and I was like, verse number 43, angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthened him, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow.

Now here it is, they're right there. At the moment he needed his disciples, they were taking a power nap. Have y'all ever needed somebody in a critical moment and they were asleep? They were not attentive to your suffering? Notice everything is becoming unraveled around Jesus. It's becoming unglued. And then to end it, then he said to them, why do you sleep, rise, and pray unless you enter into temptation? I wanna talk to you from this text, not just the inspiration of it, but the instructions that Jesus shares with us through his lived example about three radical acceptances that we need to also embrace and employ in our discipleship, our walk, our journey with Christ. Whether you're new to this, whether you're true to this, whether you're one day in or 20 years in, this can be applied across the board. Here's the first one. First radical acceptance is stop negotiating the non-negotiables. That's the first step, is I've got to stop treating the will of God, the plan of God, as a rough draft. As a rough draft. Here's the problem with that, and here's the issue with that, we often come to God with our red pen. God, I don't like this paragraph. And my teachers know, as they're getting ready

to grade papers this upcoming school year, is that when you bring the red pen out, it's because the student did not quite bring the best presentation of the final draft. So they have to mark it up, they have to cross out some stuff, and then the teacher says, there is a couple of grammatical errors here, misspelled words here, you didn't quite follow the thesis and the main points here, and this is what we do with God. We say, God, there's a run-on sentence in my life. I don't like how you use however without the comma, God. That's not subject-verb agreement over here, God. We start telling God what we are dealing with in life is not acceptable, we pull the red pen out, we protest our involvement with the kingdom, and our surrender to God, because we're saying, wait, wait, God, I don't know if you got my email, but I sent it to you at issuesatheaven.org. This ain't, I didn't sign up for this. I didn't sign up for this diagnosis. I didn't sign up for this relationship rift. I didn't sign up for this painful job loss. I didn't sign up for this. Anybody been there before? Y'all know I get excited, so y'all just gotta walk with me today. Listen, you didn't sign up for it, so we pull the red pen out, because ultimately, we keep trying to negotiate with God,

and God looks at us and says, when you get done throwing your temper tantrum in Costco, can you get up and do what I said do? And I've learned something. A temper tantrum does not move heaven. No, I ain't doing nothing to you. I'm not doing nothing to you. And then we say stuff like, well, God, I'll be more faithful if, I'll support the church if my money gets better, I will be all in if you give me the spouse I have already put on my Pinterest pens. And God takes your little red pen, your little dusty red, red pen, and he pitches it and say, are you done, or is you finished? See, the truth of the matter is, we negotiate with God, and Jesus is in the same place, so you're not wrong to negotiate. Here's what we get wrong at, because notice Jesus' word, and I'll get to that in verse 42. Notice Jesus is negotiating, and here's what I need to say with y'all. Y'all gotta quit looking at Jesus like Superman. He's the God man, yes, Theos Andros in theology, the God man, but he's also man. He is made from the same chromosomal structure that we are. He felt the pain of life, anxiety, and stress, and worry. He felt it all. all in his body, he saw disappointment, he saw and felt his loved ones depart,

and he felt and grieved like we do, he was human 100%. Now notice what he says in verse 42. Father, if it be your will, let this cup, this cup is a small sentence that explains the most powerful sacrifice ever made. Let this cup means the suffering, this payment of sin's debt, this distancing from the father, this betrayal of Judas who I spent three years with, this scattering of my disciples. Let this cup, let it please pass. He doesn't say this, father, let this cup pass from me because y'all read later on, he was in agony. It's okay to negotiate with God, but notice he don't stay in negotiation. He said, let this cup pass from me, here it is. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine will be done. The problem with us is that we stay in the negotiation phase way too long, and we don't get to the submission phase. Jesus got to the submission phase because he realized the quicker he submits, then that reduces how this dark cloud, how long this dark cloud remains over him. The more you fight God and the more you negotiate, you're holding yourself in a holding pattern. You want progress and God wants submission. You want pace and God wants posture. And here's the deal, here's the deal. We oftentimes stay in the negotiation phase for one of three reasons.

Let me just make sure because I get this out of line. Here it is, we view God as a boss and not a father. Now, I know we got some bosses in here. I'm not talking about you. Please don't email me at issuesatheaven.org. But workers feel that bosses don't always have their best interests in mind. So they come to the table with a full proof of what they provided for the company, the department, because they feel they have to litigate their case of value. Because a boss is responsible primarily for the well-being of the company. A father is responsible for the well-being of a child. While a boss clocks out, a father stays up. We view God as a boss. Listen, some time ago, I may have told y'all this story years ago, because I know I didn't tell y'all last year, because I remember. And I was a kid, and I had my neighbor, his name was Rodney. And we had this healthy competition between each other where we would always compete. It was healthy, it was good, he was younger than me. And so he got a swing set, and naturally, if he got one, I went to my dad to compete, and my dad said, don't even come up. Don't, don't, no, I ain't getting you nothing. So Rodney said, David, you can come over, and you can use my swing set. So naturally, I went over across the street,

and me and Rodney, Rodney, just so that you know, kind of get a visual, you can walk with me through this experience. Rodney was short and pudgy. You just gotta get the visual, got it? Got it. I was skinny and lanky, you get it? You kind of can see it, right? Okay. And so Rodney made a competition out of the swing. He said, let's see who can go the highest. So Rodney gets on first, and because Rodney had gravity working against him, I'm just telling y'all a story. I'm talking about Rodney, I ain't talking about nobody else. This is Rodney. Please don't send me an email at issuesofheaven.org. And Rodney's swinging, wee, wee, wee. Little short legs, wee. I'm like, is you done, dude? So I get on, and by the time I get on, all the girls from the neighborhood came up to the swing set. I cannot not win. I have fans to support. So I get on, and I'm wee. You know, you go back, when you go back, you gotta kick your legs back and tuck them in, and then you come down, you woo, right? And so Rodney turned from a competitor to a cheerleader,

and he's saying, go higher. I said, say less. I got fans. Well, I evidently lost concentration as I was going back and coming. I just saw the smiles on my fans. And I'm going up, and I lost grip because I lost concentration, and I catapulted into the air. Twenty feet in the air, bird looking at me eyeball to eyeball saying, you don't belong here. I said, shut up. I know I don't belong here. It means you can tell me nothing. So naturally, I'm trying to grab hold to whatever I can. I'm in the trees now. I'm in the trees. So I grab hold and I grab the most flaccid, flimsy branch because I'm on the outskirts of it and I'm hoping this hose has enough tension to hold me it down. So I grab all these leaves as I'm coming down and I hit the ground. Boom, broke on. Bone protruding through the arm. Very painful. I ain't had no pain like that ever in my life. I'm screaming. I probably blacked out a few times. I don't remember. Well, I'm screaming loud. Help! Right, loud. Help! I'm in pain. So much pain. I ain't experienced no pain like that. Well, anybody remember the old air conditioning system where you would lift all the windows up in the summer and put a fan? Anybody? Come on, show of hands. Anybody had that? That was our central air. Well, as a result, because I was yelling, you could hear my voice. So my big brother, who was a father figure, he played football for Universal Orchestra, Pine Bluff, and later at NIU. And so he's a linebacker. He comes out, he hears my cry. He comes out, he assesses the situation and sees what pain I'm in.

He says, David, I got to get you to the hospital, but I got to pick you up. He said, I'm going to pick you up. It's going to hurt, but I got you. Okay, you don't know when to shout. He says, I'm going to pick you up. It's going to hurt, but I got you. Okay, let me one more time. I'm going to pick you up. It's going to hurt, but I got you. And listen, thank you so much. I'm going to tell some of y'all today that, listen, you're in a painful season. God's going to pick you up. It's going to hurt, but God's got you. Now, do something with me on this morning. Look at your neighbor, eyeball to eyeball, and tell them God's got you. Come on, tell your neighbor, God's got you. Look at y'all. Y'all doing it this time. Praise the Lord. Blessings and salutations be unto thee, Selah. I'm just picking on y'all. Don't beat me up, please. Here's the deal, we view God as a boss and not a father. Another reason why we sit in the negotiation phase is because we believe we're better authors than God. We write the story better than God. We say, God, I think my definition of good and your definition of good is different. And then another reason is we want resurrection without death. See, negotiations is our way to find a loophole around the suffering. You say, God, I want a breakthrough, which is resurrection, but I don't want to break down, which is crucifixion. So, we bargain with God to give our comfort and our convenience while yet asking for his power. And the two don't go hand in hand. See, the kingdom doesn't work that way. The power is in the surrender, not around the surrender. So, let me move expeditiously here. See, the peace that you're looking for is not found in winning the argument with God. It's found in losing the argument. You've been litigating against the best advocate in the world. And you may be a lawyer. Some of y'all ain't been to school for long, and yet you think you are better talking than God. Well, God, let me just tell you like this. I have a list.

In fact, let me send you my Pinterest pin so you'll know what I'm looking for. You just sat there and cut all these pictures out of somebody's magazine and pasted it on a board and called it your vision board, and you're saying, God, you see all the work I did? He's, I don't care. God says, that's your vision. But what if your vision requires suffering? What if your vision requires transformation? Now, if that's the case, and that is the case, I need to share with you all, we oftentimes look at God and we start negotiating with God. We say, Lord, I'll support the church when I get more money, or I'll support the church when I do better, or I'll support the church, or the church don't even need me. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Together, we can get the world transformed. We say, God, I'll be all in when you send me my husband or my wife. La, la, you're just going to use another reason to say, well, Lord, you know, we're trying to date. So, it's a lot of stuff we do. We say, Lord, I'll forgive them when he or she apologizes. God said, that ain't hard work. Ain't hard work. So, that leads me to the second point of our surrender, radical acceptance. Verbalize your surrender before you feel it. We often wait to feel surrendered before we say we're surrendered. We wait for that warm, fuzzy feeling, you know, that kumbaya feeling. And we're like, okay, I feel it. Like, let me surrender today for a few minutes. But I found something out about our feelings. Our feelings are a game. leads, not a guide. We gotta quit letting our feelings lead our faith. See, we're waiting for feelings, and God says, emotions are liars. Emotions will have you doing some crazy stuff under the sun if you're not careful. See, the truth of the matter is this,

don't let your emotions drive the bus when your spirit has the map. Now, now, now, Jesus was aware of the pain in front of him. However, he was more aware of the Father's promises for him. He knew, after suffering, there was this beautiful thing called resurrection. He didn't commit to a possibility, he committed to a certainty with the Father. Now, now, I know you're like, hold on, it don't look like that right now for me. I'm here to tell you all, I've experienced enough loss to last a lifetime. I'm not here to compare notes with you, I'm not saying yours is less, mine is more, I'm not trying to be in the Olympics of let's see who suffered the most. But I am here to tell you all, there is an after this to that. Bars. There is an after this to that. It won't always be like it is. Now, why y'all giving me that little, you're not aware before, I never said I was. But I'm here to tell you about a Father who is faithful. I'm here to tell you about a kingdom that does not lose. That even with a diagnosis, God's gonna win. That even with a setback, God's gonna show up. That even with a rift in relationships, God's gonna heal. It may not feel good, but nevertheless. Okay, okay, y'all.

Amen. I'm gonna just keep this on me right now. Listen, Jesus says it, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Now, here's what you need to begin to understand, is that when we feel anxiety rising this week, I want you to practice pre-decided agreement. Do not wait for the situation to resolve in the middle of the mess. Open your mouth and say, God, I accept your plan. When the medical report come back, God, I trust you. When the situation gets ugly, God, I believe you still. Proverbs 18 and 21 talk about the power of our tongue. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. We gotta use the power of our tongue to kill the rebellion of our flesh against submission. We gotta speak yes until our heart catches up to our mouth. We gotta speak yes even when we don't like it. God, I trust you, God, I trust you, God, I trust you. In fact, Psalms 103, verses one through two, here is King David. We don't know what David is going through, but all we know is David is going through something. There's not a theologian that can point to exactly what, but David is dealing with some stuff, y'all. Look at what David says. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

This is an open-book test. Who is David talking to? I heard it over here. Himself. David is talking to himself. David is saying, I don't like what I'm going through, but I command my soul to still bless God. God. David is saying I didn't feel like being in church today. I didn't feel like leading or worshiping with the worship team today, because if you only knew what I was going through, right? We got a whole diary of stuff. God, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this, don't like that, don't like this. And here's what David says, stop. He says, bless the Lord. Remember what he's done. Remember how far he's brought you. Remember the last thing that was suppose to kill you didn't kill you. Remember how he got you freed from suicidal ideation with the help of counseling and therapy. Remember how you was ready to tap out, but God rescued you.

Can I get an amen and a clap? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Bless the Lord. The last point of preaching today. Talking and teaching today. In black church we say preaching. Anyway. I got 10 minutes. Y'all think y'all can help me in 10 minutes? Can we land this plan together? Embrace the death so you can have the life. That's the last radical acceptance. Embrace the death so you can have the life. I know this is gory talk, but I promise you if you see what Jesus did and you employ those principles, you'll see something change in your situation. Now, here's the hardest practical truth of our talk. Radical acceptance usually feels like loss. You're losing your preference. You're losing your control. You're losing your timeline. By 28, Lord, I'm supposed to have, you know, married, two kids, a dog. All the stuff that we do. All the stuff that we say.

should be happening in this season. And we try to accept God's will while still holding on to our own life. And I think that's the catastrophe of Christianity. Is that we still have our agenda. Like, literally, you can leave church and totally disavow anything we talked about. And come back to church and all we know is that you went to church. But what if God is asking for your yes on Monday? What if he's asking for your yes next week? How about all week? What if he's asking you to surrender in your core in a way that you've never surrendered before? I'm talking about, this hurts me, but I trust you. This is painful, but there's a purpose behind it. This setback I didn't have on my top 10 list, on my bingo card, but I trust you. What if that is what God is after? Now, let me go to you real quickly. In Matthew 16 and 25, Jesus says these words, for whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. This is all about changing out your agenda for the kingdom. Now, radical acceptance means I accept God's timing as much as I accept God's plan. Fast water, for the sake of an analogy, implies flood. Still water implies death. God isn't trying to flood you with temporary feelings. He's trying to deepen you

with a permanent character transformation. I remember the psalmist says it this way. He says it this way, 23rd Psalm, for he leads us beside, what kind of waters? Still waters. See, still waters is on behalf of the sheep because God will lead you to streaming waters or fast-paced waters because that implies flood. See, still water is about peace. Still water is about provision. Still water is not about pace. We're trying to pace ourselves out of suffering. But maybe God is not changing the situation, although you prayed 50 times for it, because God is using the situation to change you. I'm trying, I'm trying, God. Give me a red bull. I kid, I kid. So here's the thing. Stop trying to rush the process of this season. Luke 22, verse 44, here it is. Jesus is saying this. This is, again, second time praying. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. I'm no doctor, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn. And what most physicians will tell you is that under great strain, under great grievous strain, you can pop a blood capillary

that will ooze through the sweat glands, and out of the sweat glands will come blood. I don't want you to see that as hyperbole. Jesus is in pain. And let's look at it again. It says, and being in agony, he did what? Prayed. How? Earnestly. So when you're going through your toughest time, there's no time to tap out. It's time to pray. How? More. Earnestly. See, God is requiring you to stick with him when it ain't comfortable. Okay, okay. All right. I want you, I got homework for you at the end. I want you to think this through. Just imagine for me for one moment. I want you to write down all your, quote unquote, what you want in this life right now, and I'll see you writing it down mentally. Now do it right now, because you're gonna be mad at me when I say the next part. And when you get to writing it down mentally, you're writing it down, one, two, three, got it. Okay, got three things you want right now.

Crumple it up and throw it away. And say, God, I trust you. You got me. I know some of y'all know the Invictus poem, and you master of your, no, you're not. God is the master of your life. He's gonna lead you, he's gonna guide you, he's gonna form you, and here's the last scripture as we stand all over the house. I got five minutes to spare. That's great for a black preacher. Come on. Let's stand all over the campuses, overflow. Romans 12 gives us this powerful truth. I want us to read it together. If y'all could fly it up there for me. Here it is. Read it with me. Therefore. I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. That's it. Will you offer yourself to him? Well, what if I don't get what I want? See, that ain't it. Negotiate, you still negotiating.

Will you offer? Will you say, here's my life, broken pieces, here it is. Here's my life, setbacks, medical diagnosis. I didn't expect, but I trust you. I want to give you this homework. This is your homework going forward. You can take a picture of this, or you can write it down. But here's the first thing. I want you to stop negotiating. Remove the if and put a yes there. If, if, if, nope, yes, I trust you. The second thing I want you to do is to speak your surrender. I want you no longer to be led by your feelings. Not doing that anymore. I'm not going to use my feelings as my guide, but simply a gauge. And then the last thing I'm going to ask you to do is to let it die. Release controls, what I mean. For my type A's, I already know you're cringing. What, control, what, ah, God, you're not on time. This picture's taking two minutes longer. Oh my God, the reservations are not, oh, oh, ah. Call, call. God says nope. Before we close out, can I pray for you and over you? All over campuses, as well as online. Would you bow your heads with me? My prayer's going to be very simple and short. God, our God, we humbly thank you for being so faithful.

We even know that even in the midst of suffering, you're present. My prayer is that you would give these, your people, under the sound of my voice, the patience they need to trust you in the season that they're in. That they would be reminded of your faithfulness, your goodness, and that, God, you would give them the courage to endure in this season, knowing there's an after this to this. I pray now that you would bless them to have full surrender. No more negotiating, no more what ifs, no more I'll do this if you do that, but say, Lord, I say yes to your will. Father, thank you for there being a radical revival of yes men and yes women throughout the body of Jesus Christ. Let the earth feel the power of such surrender. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.