The Art of Letting Go // Giants Week 1

You will rejoice and be glad in it want to add my welcome to Kailas and just say welcome to all of our guests that are With us today in person welcome to all those that are online with us those that may be sitting in additional seating We're glad that you are with us today and a special welcome to the men and women watching from a correctional facility via panda Hey, we love you guys pray for your temperatures. Can we give a big welcome now to those watching behind bars in a prison facility? We love it. We love it. Love it. Love it. Love what God's doing in and through your life So we're starting a brand new series for the month of November and it's called giant several say giants We're looking at heroes of the faith that are mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 Old Testament heroes And we're going to talk about how God wants to take ordinary people just like you and me with all of our flaws And all of our baggage and all of our mistakes and use them for a great great way Hebrews chapter 12 We're going to start right here in verse one. It says therefore now everyone say the word therefore Now whenever the word therefore is used in Scripture You have to ask what in the world is the word therefore actually therefore and because therefore is referring to all The heroes of the faith that are talked about in Hebrews chapter 11 So therefore since we just finished talking about all of these heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11 And now we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses Let us throw off the things that keep you from running your grace Well, let us throw off everything that hinders the sin that so easily intangles So we can run our race with perseverance the one that is marked out for us So in this series we're imagining through the power of God's word that what would it be like if one week after another one of the heroes of the Faith came out of the stands and back into the field on the track of life and Ran a lap of your life race with you and if they were to encourage you What would their one bit of advice be to you today today? We're looking at Jacob who is the grandson of Abraham So Abraham's son was Isaac and then Isaac's son was Jacob and Jacob lived a really interesting life I think if we were to characterize any kind of situation that you and I are facing that is similar to Jacob I think it would be this what do you do when your life isn't turning out the way that you hoped it would What do you do when life is not turning out the way that you hoped it would because what Jacob was guilty of is Something that I think every single one of us are guilty of and that is this we try to control our lives We try to control our lives We try to direct lives on our terms and simply put for Jacob Life wasn't turning out the way that he hoped it would yet Jacob kept trying to manipulate it

kept trying to force it kept trying to make it happen his own way and Here's what he discovered the more that he tried to control his life the more out of control his life became and Jacob has been doing this literally since his birth It's such a funny story if you want to go and read it back in Genesis when he was born He's a twin and when his brother Esau came out first Jacob comes out grabbing his heel. It's as if he's saying no you get back in their Esau I'm gonna be first. I mean this guy is always trying to control and manipulate the situation from day one and Jacob kept trying to make his life more and more his own way with his own agenda And how many know the more that you do that the more messy your life becomes later on He wanted that firstborn thing so bad that was a big deal in that culture the firstborn Would receive the birthright so they would have the father's blessing the resources the inheritance and Jacob wanted that so bad That he ended up tricking his brother into selling his birthright for a bowl of food he tricked Esau into selling his birthright for a bowl of food and Esau in that moment traded his future blessing for his current appetite in that moment and I wonder how many of us do the same thing Then came marriage Jacob wanted one woman and while Jacob was manipulating and deceiving his own life Now he gets it turned back on him And he wanted one woman and he works for seven years to marry this woman and his father-in-law tricks him and gives him a different woman And then he ends up having to work another seven years to get what he wanted I mean his life is just mass after mass and eventually all of this manipulation Let Jacob into a crisis and I believe if Jacob were to give us one piece of advice to avoid all of the chaos Here it is write this down and that is this very simple thought very Foundational to our faith though, and that is this you've got to let God have control of your life You've got to let go and you got to let God you've got to let God have control of your life You've got to turn it over to God and say God I'm trusting you with all of my life to lead me and guide me as Proverbs 3 5 and 6 says Lean not on your own understanding. In all thy way, acknowledge me, and I will direct your path. I would even say that there's people in this room today that go to church enough to call yourself a Christian

or you're online or you're behind bars in a prison cell, enough to call yourself a Christian. But when it comes to what the Bible says, you don't really want to live under the authority of the Word of God. You don't want to give God your future. You certainly don't want to give Him control of your life and your career. You certainly don't want to trust Him with your money or your time or your energy or your hobbies. You certainly don't want to let go of those relationships that you know are not benefiting you and your walk with Jesus. So you want this Christianity thing by name. You want to make sure that you don't go to hell. You want that fire assurance thing. But God is really not the leader. God is not the one that's in control of your life. See, I believe that what we attempt to control the most often reveals where you trust God the least. And if you've ever done that or are doing that, here's what you're going to find out is that it will lead to crisis. The Bible says there's a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to destruction. And listen to me today, God didn't create the crisis, but He does allow the crisis to get our attention. And some of you right now, you're going through a school of testing right now that God is allowing because we're so stubborn.

In fact, I love the quote from Mother Teresa. Here's what she says. She says, you'll never know that God is all that you need until He really is all that you have. I want to give you a visual illustration of this. Just to help us understand what can happen when we hit rock bottom. Now for some of you, you have not surrendered control over to Jesus fully. Again, you say that you're a Christian by name, but really everything else in your life doesn't really align with what the word of God says. And how many know when you keep doing things your way, you don't get the blessing of God in your life. And so for some of us, what we found is this year has been a year of a domino of discouragement. You just hear of all that's going on with war and violence and plagues and things that are happening. And you get worried and concerned with what's going on. And then the economy's out of control and prices are rising and things are going up. And you wonder how things are going to be able for you to provide and take care of your family and it just starts the way on you. It just starts the way you down. And then just out of nowhere, you were doing really well at your job, but out of nowhere your boss says, hey, we have to make budget cuts. We got to cut, you are fired.

And how many know that weighs on you? That starts the way on you. Now, how are you going to provide for your family? Now, how are you going to pay the mortgage in New Jersey? Now, how are you going to take care of those needs? And those things start to now weigh on your mind. And those things then to start affecting your children, the way that you deal with your children and the relationship you have with your spouse. You're fighting, you're grumbling, you're complaining, you have tension, things are going on. You find yourself in this place of rock bottom. And then the Phillies and the Eagles just can't even pull it together in any way, shape or form. And what do you do when life hits rock bottom? See, sometimes you have to reach rock bottom to find out that Jesus is the rock at the bottom. Jesus is the rock at the bottom. (audience applauds) See, sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom, so you'll discover he's the rock at the bottom. In fact, I've seen this event played out in our church over the last couple months. There's a man in our church named Ben Passos, he's actually here at our 11 a.m. service today. And Ben grew up in this church, Ben knew about God, Ben's parents served the Lord here at this church. But he would say Pastor Dan, there was a season where I knew the right thing, I knew the way it was to follow God,

but I just wanted to live for myself. We stopped coming to church, we stopped prioritizing the things of God, we stopped putting him first in area. And how many know, when that happens and you make those decisions, life spins out of control? To where Ben ended up in the hospital a couple months ago with issues in his brain, infections in his brain. They ran thousands of tests, they still to this day, cannot pinpoint what was causing this affection in his brain. Ben almost died in the hospital. But God in his miraculous sovereignty has been turned his heart to the Lord. Ben was miraculously healed. And I remember calling him after it, God touched him in a powerful way. He said, Pastor Dan, I told the Lord one day in that hospital, if you will just spare my life, I will give you a year of my life and I will go all in. How many know that Ben probably never wish this crisis upon himself, but those moments like that have a way of turning our heart back to the Lord? See, sometimes God let you hit rock bottom. So you discover he's the rock at the bottom. And Ben's in church today walking and he's fully well and he's a testimony of the faithfulness of God. God healed him and restored. God, do you, Ben? Love what God is doing in and through your life. And I encourage you, keep going all in for him today.

The truth is this, the bottom line is this, is we need to give God control of our lives. And if you do, here's the promise. Three things happen, three things happen. Jacob eventually gives God control of his life. The Bible says he meets God face to face at this place called penile. It's the place where he actually had this encounter with God, and I'm just outlining the text to the Genesis chapter 32. The text preaches for itself, it gives us the point. Three things happen at this place of change. Here's the first one, jot it down if you're taking notes, and that's this, when you have an encounter with God, it changes everything, and you'll find a new strength. So you don't have to rely on you supporting you anymore. So let me say it this way. You don't have to promote yourself anymore. You don't have to build your own resume or build your own reputation or make it all about your accolades or finally reach this place of self-sufficiency. The only happy place you'll ever find is if your life is fully surrendered to Jesus Christ. And when you do that, you find a new strength in life. Now watch what happens, it's Genesis 32. This is really climax of Jacob's life. So Jacob had divided his family and possessions into two groups because he's afraid that Esau is going to attack him.

I mean, do you just see the craziness that this man's life is, that he's living? His own brother could potentially be attacking him. And now Jacob finds himself all alone. And the Bible says that a man believed to be the angel of the Lord, or God himself, came and wrestled with Jacob until daybreak. And for some of you, that's exactly what life feels like right now. You find yourself in this tug of war. You find yourself in a wrestling match with God. But watch this, when the man saw that Jacob wouldn't give in, he touched his hip and he knocked it out of socket. In other words, God was showing Jacob, you think you're strong, but let me show you how much you actually need me and depend on me. And sometimes God allows pain to remind us that our strength was never supposed to come from ourselves. Some of you today, you're so self-reliant. And here's how you know, it'll wear you out. If you're just trusting you, good luck with this thing called life. Because trying to do everything in your own strength will wear you out. Listen to Jesus' words, Jesus' words in scripture. He says, come to me, all who are weary, and all who are burdened, and I will give you rest. Now, if you didn't know the rest of this verse, you would have thought that Jesus would have said, now just go lie down, take a nap, just relax.

But that's not what he says at all. In fact, he actually says the very opposite. He's saying, I don't want you to stop working. You actually need to go back to work. But he says, I want you to go back to work and work in a different way. I want you to do it with a different kind of strength. Watch what he says. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in hearts. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Did a little research on yolks this week. A yoke was a wooden piece placed over two oxen so they could plow together. Now there were two kinds of yolks in this culture. There were generic yolks that didn't fit every animal properly. And so these generic yolks, they would place them over these two cattle and they would rub against their shoulders and it would leave them bruised and exhausted and bloodied and actually hurt by the end of the day. It would wear them out. But then they also had these custom fitted yolks designed specifically for the animal carrying them. And they would make these custom yolks by managing-- by measuring the animal's chest and measuring the animal's shoulders. I know if they were to take shoulder measurements of me for a custom video, it would have to be a really big yoke that they'd have to make.

You did not have to laugh that hard. Come on, somebody. But then they would measure these custom fitted measurements. And this yoke would be the perfect fit for that animal. And those animals would be able to plow longer, plow harder. They would actually be able to work faster because they had this custom fitted yoke for them. And at the end of the day, they were not tired. They were not weary. They were not bruised. They were not bloody because they had a yoke that was designed specifically for them. Listen to me today, some of you are exhausted because you're trying to live a life that doesn't fit what God ever designed for you to carry. And you're doing it all in your own strength and your own energy and your own will and your own power. But Jesus says these words. He says, take my yoke upon you. In other words, let me lead you. Let me guide you. Let me direct you. Let me carry this with you. That's why the writer in Isaiah 41 says, "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint." Now what's unique about an eagle? I'm so glad you asked.

An eagle can soar without constantly flapping its wings. It's flying without needing to flap all the time. kind of life that God is inviting you and I into. I went up to visit my family on vacation a couple years ago in Lake George, which is in the Adirondacks. In about 45 minutes from Lake George, there's this lake that they took us to for the day called Eagle Lake. Now it was called Eagle Lake, great name, right? Because there were eagles that would fly around that lake and they called it Eagle Lake and I remember we did a day of boating there, we did some jet skiing and some water skiing just had a great time and I remember at one point I looked up in the afternoon and I just saw this eagle just like soaring across the lake. I mean, I'm telling you, it was just like one swoop, it was just like boom and that thing was across the lake. I was amazed, it was just like one swoop and it was across the lake. I like stood up, I got patriotic in that moment, I put my hand over my chest, I started singing my country, 'tis of the, I was like America, I was so excited, I was like, I know that's why that's our bird right there. It was just like one fell swoop and it was across the lake, it was across the lake. Check out the stat that I found out about eagles. They actually, before they leave the nest, they wait until it's called a thermal current. It's where the hot air actually rises and what they literally do is they rise off of the hot air all that thermal current and they really don't even have to flap that much. They're flying without flapping because there's this strength that lifts them and it's not a strength all in of their own self, it's a strength that's found from this thermal current that's around them. Man, you look at other birds, they're working really hard to keep up and to keep flying. You ever seen a hummingbird try to fly? That thing is like, it's just trying to stay up, it's just trying to keep itself up and that's how some of you are operating, you're going through your week and you're just exhausted,

you're just weary, you're just wearing yourself, you're just trying to stay alive and then you come to church 1.7 times a month, like the average American and you're like, oh, it feels so good to be in the presence of God and you walk right back out into your way, into your plans, into your agenda and you're struggling to keep up, come on someone, you need a new strength today, you need to make up your mind, am I going to live under my own power or am I going to live under the power of the Holy Spirit that's leading me and guiding me and directing you? I'm telling you, the only difference is this, are you going to let God have control of your life? You're preaching about 67 percent better than you're responding this morning, that's okay, alright? Here's the second thing is this, the second thing is this, you're going to get a new identity, you're going to get a new identity. Now let me tell you something that's really not even a true statement, you don't get a new one, you get the one that you were always supposed to have, you get the one that got originally created for you, but you went your own way and you started writing a different script with a different name attached to it and that's why Genesis 32, 27 through 28, the angel says, what is your name? Now the angel already knew his name, but he's making Jacob come face to face with the identity he already created for himself and Jacob says, my name is Jacob, which literally means deceiver, trickster, liar, I'm a mess, that's who he's been his whole life, from the moment of birth he's been a deceiver, but watch what God says next, he says your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel because you've struggled with God and with humans and you've overcome, Israel means prince with God, in other words, you see yourself as a manipulator, you see yourself as a liar, you see yourself as this is always the way that I've been, but when you turn to God, God says, I'll make you a prince, I'll make you a leader of nations, I'll place my hand upon you and that's what you need to know about our God is God doesn't see you as you are, but he sees you for who you can become. I've got good news this morning, it doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter where you've been, it doesn't matter the past sin that you've gotten caught up and God can

still use you, God can use anybody. God loves to use the foolish things of the world to confound the wisdom of the world because he's the only one that wants glory from the world, God loves to do that, think of your Bible and think of all of the people that God used, I'll tell you some of them today, Joseph was a conflict, Gideon was a coward, Rahab was a prostitute, Jeremiah and Timothy, they were too young, David was a murderer and an adulterer, Elijah was suicidal, Jonah ran from God, Naomi was a widow, Job went bankrupt, John the Baptist, he ate bugs, Peter denied Christ, the disciples fell asleep while praying, Zacchaeus was too small, Paul was a murderer and Lazarus was dead, God can use anybody, God can use anybody. Now what the enemy wants to do is he wants to take what you did, the issues of your life and make what you did who you are, that's called condemnation. is a builders term. It means what you did makes you unfit for use. But the Bible says that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. See what the enemy wants to do is he wants you to define yourself by your sins and by your wounds. And let me tell you that you are defined by wounds but by the ones that Jesus took on the cross for you, not your wounds. And my Bible says that by his wounds we are healed. We're made new. We're made clean that your pain and your purpose can actually be the launching pad for God's greatest calling on your life. I'm so thankful today that God doesn't call the qualified but he qualifies those he calls. And I'm telling you church if you let God have complete control of your life, he'll write a new script. He'll make you a new you. He'll make you better than new which is actually really the original design for your life. Here's the third thing. The third thing is this. God bless you. God bless you. And that is this. You'll find a new joy. You'll find a new joy. What I've discovered about joy is this is that joy is not circumstantial. Joy is not external. It's internal. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh happiness, that depends on your happenings but joy depends on whose hands your life has placed him because true joy is found in Christ and Christ alone. In fact, I define joy as this. Joy is a supernatural delight in the person of God and the purpose of God. I don't just love God. I love his ways. And when you discover that kind of joy, your circumstances don't have to change for your perspective to change on the inside. That's why the writer of James says this in chapter one. He says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters. When you go through trials and testing, knowing the testing of your faith,

it's doing something within you. I know everything can be crazy on the outside. I know your world can be falling apart but you can still have joy because it's developing perseverance within you. Now watch what happens in our story today. Genesis 32, 29. Jacob said, please tell me your name. But he replied, why do you ask my name? There's not enough time to go over all that I am. He says, you don't really need that mental understanding in this moment. Then he moves on in the text and he says, then he blessed Jacob. He blessed Jacob. Now the word blessed is one of the most misunderstood and misused words in Scripture. We think when we talk about blessing and the blessed life, we think that means money or possessions or stuff, but that's not it. The word blessed is the word macarias in the Greek and it really has nothing in the original meaning to do with money or stuff or influence or followers. It has everything to do with this internal joy. In the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, Jesus uses that word blessed macarias over and over and over again. He says, blessed. In other words, everything can be crazy around you. Your life can be falling apart. Your job can be falling apart. Your finances can be falling apart. But you can still have this internal joy. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Here's the point that I'm saying, give your life fully to God and there's nothing this earth can do to take away the joy that he's placed inside of you. There's joy unspeakable and full of glory that's found in Jesus and Jesus alone. Come on, someone say amen to that. So when you have an encounter with Jesus, you find new strength. You receive a new identity and you find joy that the world can't manufacture. The world can't give it. The world can't take it away. So imagine if we're sitting down with Jacob after he had this encounter. He meets his maker this moment. He'd say, give me some advice. Give me some advice on this ordinary person to live an extraordinary marked life by God. You're written in the hero of the faith chapter. Jacob, tell us what would it look like to finish well the race that has marked out for us? I better give us some final thoughts, some final advice, just some real quick tips as we close today. Here's what he would say. I believe he would say, brokenness proceeds breakthrough. Brokenness proceeds breakthrough. Nothing can happen until you give in. And part of my job as your pastor is to help you understand the nature of God because some people see God as judgmental. Some people see God as this God that just expects perfection. Some people see God as this legalistic God. Listen to me today. It's not about performance. It's not about perfection on your own, on your best day, your righteousness is like filthy rags

in the presence of a holy God. Now listen, when we say yes to Jesus, of course, there should be this lifestyle hopefully aligning more and more like Jesus. Sanctification, looking more like Christ as the life we live honors Jesus and we follow Jesus. But listen, even on my best day, I never can measure up to what God is calling me. How about you? God's looking for someone that's not perfect, but he's looking for someone that has this posture that says, God, I can't do this without you. God, I need you. Here I am. while holding on to who you still think that you should be. My point is this, you've got to open up your hands and you've got to surrender. You have to surrender. All throughout Scripture, God invites us into this place of complete surrender because brokenness precedes breakthrough. Psalm 51, 17, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart." David says, "God, you will not despise." 1 Peter 5, 5 through 6, very strong words. God opposes the proud, but He shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand that He may lift you up. And some of you need to make that decision today. God, I was wrong. I've been trying to control everything myself, but today you can have it all. God, you can have all of me. The second bit of advice I believe that Jacob would give us is this. You must lose yourself to find yourself. You've got to lose yourself to find yourself. You must lose yourself to find yourself. Your life will never become what God intended until you're willing to let go of the life that you've been trying to create by yourself. That's why Jesus speaks to the crowd in Mark 834 and He says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life, you're going to lose it. But whoever loses their life for me and for the sake of the gospel will save it.

Jesus is not inviting us to a life of comforts and ease as a disciple, but a life of sacrifice and surrender." Now, Jesus was speaking to the crowd in that moment. He's speaking to this crowd and there's nothing wrong with a crowd. There's nothing wrong with a crowd. We're going to have a crowd moment in a couple Sundays as I ask you all to bring your one. And I bet there's many people at Christmas, at the movies that enjoy just coming to Calvature today. There's probably a crowd that are watching us online. There's a crowd that's with us behind bars watching this on replay. At some point this week, there's nothing wrong with being in the crowd. Jesus loves crowds. He called out to the crowd, but He said, "Don't just stay in the crowd. You've got to be a disciple. There's more to this. Be with Jesus. Become like Jesus and do what Jesus did. It's not just about coming to church every once in a while. It's not just about watching online every once in a while. You've got to go all in with God. You've got to give Him your life and you've got to run the play. You've got to say, "God, all that you have for me, I want it. And if I need to make changes, and I need to surrender, and I need to die to the flesh, and I need to choose your way over my way, I will do it because I'm all in on following you." You've got to be a disciple. The third thing He would say is this is ultimately when you give God control, number three, you find fulfillment beyond what you even could imagine. When you find yourself on God's terms, you find fulfillment in a way that you never dreamed. And I want you to see this in Scripture because really it's an invitation. I know you've got to take notes, you can go ahead and just put them away. You've got to write this with your head in this moment.

I want your heart for this last moment today, Romans 12, 1 through 2. Here's what it says. The writer is speaking and he says, "So here's what I want you to do." In other words, if this message spoke to you in any way today, if it didn't, come on back next week, we'll have another one for you. But if this message spoke to you in any way today, God helping you, here's what it says. Take your everyday ordinary life. Take your sleeping, your eating, your going to work, your walking around life and place it before God as an offering. God, here it is, you can have it all. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing that you can do for Him. Listen to what he says, "Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God, fix your attention on God. When you do that, you'll be changed from the inside out, readily recognize what He wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God wants to bring the best out of you, developing well-formed maturity in you." Now, I love that. Listen to what the writer said, "Take your everyday ordinary life. Take your marriage. Take your kids. Take your career. Take your money. Take your hobbies. Take your calendar. Take how you spend your time and your energy. Take every part of your life. And would you place it before God as an offering?

Would you just say to the Lord today, "God, here's my life. You could have it all." You know, I do that most Sundays before I preach to you. I'm so grateful for what the Lord is doing here at our church. I love you. I'm so blessed to be your pastor. And I usually get here pretty early on a Sunday morning. I get here pretty early and spend some time usually praying for you. Pray for you even before you get here, Lord, that them not hear the words of Dan McCarthy. May they have a fresh encounter. May they hear your words spoken to them today. I usually run through the sermon one time just to go through it, collect my thoughts, make sure I'm ready to go. And then I'll usually spend some time just praying and I'll normally say something. service and tuck into that room for a moment and get a glass of water before I go out, I usually say this to the Lord at some point almost every single Sunday. I'll say, God, if you can never find somebody that can do this better than me at Calvary Church, they can have it. Because listen to me today, I don't need this. I need God. And I say, God, you don't have to place me even in a prominent place. You don't have to place my family in a prominent place. You don't even have to place us in America if you're calling us to the opposite side of the world. Because I don't want to fall in love with a position. I don't want to fall in love with a platform. It's really nice to do this. It's great to do this. I love what you're doing. I'm honored to do this. I'm not looking to do anything else with my life. But God, I want to remind you every single week that I want to stay in love with you first. And listen to me, that's the kind of surrender that God wants from every single one of us. When we say, God, here's my life. Here's my agenda. Here's all that I am. And I think when we have that posture, God goes, I can bless that. I'll give you more. I'll keep you planted right where you are. Because the heart is saying, God, if you call me to do anything, I'm willing to do that. Come on, could you say that over your life right now? Whatever you are doing with your life, wherever you've been, could you say, Lord, I'm not going to be so well adjusted to the culture around me, that I'm going to forget

your ways and your goodness and your leading and your guiding. Here's the closing thought for today. You'll never know what your life could have been until you handed over to the one who created it in the first place. So how about we do that right now? Come on, every head bowed, every eye closed in this moment. And so God, we don't want to manage on our own. God, we're not good at that. I am terrible at that. Every time we do, we get confused, we get tired. It's a mess. God, we want to be people that offer you our first, offer you our best, offer you our lives, our hobbies, our families, everything that we have. Come on, if you just want to do this today, just as a an application of this message, would you just turn your hands over before the Lord your seat and just offer up your lives to the Lord? God, we're giving you control right now. God, give them the courage right now to let go of that relationship. It's not doing it your way. God, give them the courage to say yes to your word and no to the things of this world. God, give them the courage to say, God, here it is. It belongs to you. I don't know what it is, but God does, and God's a good Father, and He can reveal in one moment that whatever it is, our life belongs to you. We thank you for it in Jesus' name.