Yield Before It's Too Late (Yield)

♪♪ ♪ I'm shaking off the heaviness. I'm dancing out of my regrets. I'm throwing caution to the wind. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this. Some say it's foolishness, but I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this. Where are those shames that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I've been. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. Come on church, sing it out. I found a friend that never quits. No other love's as good as this. I don't care what anyone says. I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those shames that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I've been. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sin of cancer. My debt is paid and my record is made. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sin of cancer. My debt is paid and my record is made. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sin of cancer. My debt is paid and my record is made. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I've been. I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sin of cancer. My debt is paid and my record is made. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sin of cancer. My debt is paid and my record is made. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Come on, give Him praise, church. There's freedom in the room. Father, we're here to declare that you're the highest God. There is no one like you and so we give you praise and we give you honor. Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest, your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, your name stands above them all and the angels cry. Holy, all creation cries. Holy, you were lifted high. Holy, holy forever.

If you've been forgiven, if you've been redeemed, sing the song forever to the land. If you walk in freedom, if you bear his name, sing the song forever to the land. We'll sing the song forever and amen. And the angels cry. Holy, all creation cries. Holy, you were lifted high. Holy, holy forever. Will you keep on singing? Holy, to the king of kings. Holy, you will always be. Holy, holy forever. Lord of lords, it has nothing to do with how he has saved us, how he has redeemed us, how he has healed us, how he has comforted us, how he has provided for us. It has nothing to do with that. He doesn't need to do these things to earn our praise and yet he still shows up in these circumstances. And yet he still does these things. I'm going to invite our prayer team to come forward and maybe you're here today and you need to call upon the king of kings who gets off of his throne and meets you right in your illness. And he gets off of his throne and he meets you in your quiet, dark places. If that's you today, I would invite you to come forward. Our prayer team would love to pray with you. They'd love to stand before him with you. They would love to praise and pray because we know that at the feet of our king is the safest place for our burdens. He's the God who made the cosmos but cares about your finances. He cares about the fight you had with your husband on the car ride here, right? Like the God who made the heavens and the earth is also like, but also your throat is a little scratchy. I can help you with that. And so I would invite you to come forward. Don't worry about the people next to you. We'll make room for you to just come and receive and stand before him. That's what this time is for. But maybe you're here today and there's nothing specific that you need prayer for. Praise the Lord.

He's also gifted us with this church body that our burdens become wider because we carry them for each other in prayer. And so I'm going to pray for a handful of prayer requests that you guys have trusted us with. Representative of the many, if you're comfortable, would you just extend a hand today as we pray for and with each other. God, we come before you. Singing your praises, recognizing how holy and worthy you are of all of the honor, of all of the glory. Recognizing your power in all things and that you are the God who needs to do none of it. And yet you still meet us right here in our space. You still take our brokenness. You still provide the hope. You still bring the healing. You still comfort us in our times of need. You still are near to the brokenhearted and so we call upon you God. So the God worthy of our praise and just say help us Lord. Help us in our in our in our brokenness. Help us in our worries. Help us in our in our misgivings God. We just pray that you show up and meet us. We thank you that you meet us. We thank you that you show up in these circumstances. So we come alongside Michelle right now who's got a diagnosis where things are feeling that are looking abnormal and God if it's your will if it's your plan we pray the name of Jesus over her body right now that all abnormalities would be removed and that the next test results are clear and that you would get the glory and the honor because of what you're going to do in her body God. We thank you in advance that healing is coming her way. We thank you in advance that you are putting her on a path of health and normalcy God. We thank you for what you're going to do. We pray alongside Kenneth who's praying for his grandbabies right now Lord. We thank you for the prayers of a grandfather. We thank you for the legacy. We thank you for the prayers that are spanning across generations for these children, for their provision, for their purpose, for the path that you have for them God. We link our faith to Kenneth and just pray Lord that you would continue to show up in that circumstance. But we don't just pray that for his grandbabies today Lord. We pray that for every grandchild represented in this room today, for the prayers of the grandparents, that you would multiply them God, that you would carry them, that they would show up in fullness and extent where every grandchild represented in this room, that they have purpose and they have plan and they have protection. We thank you for the generations that will be changed because of the prayers of the grandparents in this room right now Lord. We come alongside Sean Lord who's praying over the process of becoming a firefighter.

We thank you that you have given him purpose. We thank you that you have called him to servanthood within his community. We pray your protection over him right now Jesus, that as he goes forward into a dangerous role Lord. We pray that you would wrap him in your arms and that he'll be protected and he'll be safe. We pray that you would guide him through this process. But God we pray that as he shows up in those circumstances, that your glory would show up on him. And people in the community would come to know your name and your hope and your grace and your goodness because of where you have placed Sean today. We pray that for the same people in this room right now Lord, who've been placed somewhere that they don't understand why they're there. They don't know what's going on, but you have a plan and a purpose for them. We pray that you would show up in that path. That your purpose would be made clear. That people would come to know your goodness and your glory. That they would come to know the King of Kings because we have shown up in purpose. We have stepped into the path that you have for us. We thank you that you have not left us. We thank you that your hand is upon us. We thank you that you've gone before us in all things. We thank you that you're a God who doesn't just show up in our circumstance. But you are the King of Kings who sits on a throne. Who looks after us. Who provides for us. Who shows up for us. Who comforts us. Who shows up in every way we could ever imagine. We thank you for your blessings. We thank you for your goodness. We love and praise you. It's a great day to pray. Amen. Amen.

And amen. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. Come on church, sing this out. In all thrones, in positions, all powers. Your name stands above them all. Jesus. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. All thrones. All thrones. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. And the angels cry. Holy. All creation cries. Holy. You and Him go high. Holy. Holy forever. You people sing. Oh. To the King of kings. Holy. You will always be. Holy. Holy forever.

Sing this out. You will always be. Holy. Holy forever. Thank you Lord. ♪ It was my cross you bore ♪ ♪ So I could live in the freedom you died for ♪ ♪ Now my life is yours and I will sing of your goodness forevermore ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ And now my shame is gone, it's not amazed ♪ ♪ In your love undeniable ♪ ♪ Your grace goes on and on and I will sing of your goodness forevermore ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪

♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and see me ♪ ♪ In love together so I can be who I am ♪ Thank you, Father, for being a firm foundation. Thank you, Lord, that we can put our trust in you when all others cannot be trusted, that we can know that you'll direct us and you'll guide us and you'll protect us. Lord, we build our lives on you. You're the only one worth building on. As we turn our attention to your word today, would you speak to us with clarity? Would you challenge us? Would you encourage us? Lord, would you do whatever it takes to make us more like your son? Thank you, Father. In the name of Jesus, we make this prayer. Amen. Thank you so much.

Yeah, be seated. If we haven't met, I'm Dan Sutherland, one of the pastors here. My honor to get to teach today. And I wanna share some news with you before we do that. Two weeks ago, I taught and I shared that we needed your prayers for the town of Davie to help our permit process to move along. As you know, we're trying to reach 1,000 new people for Christ, 1,000 new folks putting their faith in him, being baptized over a three-year period. That'd be amazing. To do that, we're gonna have to double this room and double our kids' space. So we're doing this expansion thing. And it's been slowed down at the permit process. Now, if anybody has ever dealt with a city or a county on permits, you know what I'm talking about. It's just the way it goes. Last week, Pastor Eric led us in a time of prayer as a group to pray for it to move along. This week, this is a God thing, the town of Davie let us know that they are grandfathering us in under the old code and the old permits. Crazy. So basically, things should start happening. Go, God, so grateful and grateful to you.

So keep praying and keep giving. Our service guides are gonna pass the buckets now. One of the things we do is we pray like it all depends on God. We give like it depends on us. That's what generous people do. Most of us give online, it's what I do. But this is a reminder every week that we do this together as a church. And I am very, very grateful for it. One other piece of fun news, baptism next weekend. It's my favorite service of the month when you see people that are new in their faith that are following Christ and being publicly baptized. If you want to be baptized, that QR code is probably unscannable. We just figured that out. So if that's not working, call the church office and we will be glad to set you up for baptism next weekend. We're in week two of a series called Warning Signs. And it's built off of something Jesus said right before he left his disciples. He said, I'm going back to heaven, but I'm gonna send you another helper. And he's gonna be like me and he's gonna speak everything I have taught you and he's gonna warn you about the future. Because God sees things we don't see. God knows things we don't know. God can see what's coming ahead

and warn us if we are listening. So this series is about warning signs and it's compared to the warning signs on highways. We see those as we go along as well. Last week, Pastor Eric started us off with stop. Sometimes the spirit says stop. Quit doing that. Wrong direction, uh-uh. And he shuts us down. If you weren't here, go back and enjoy that online. Today we're going to talk about yield. What does it mean to yield? What is a yield sign? How does that work? Here's what the scripture says, John 16, 13. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will tell you about the future. That's the prediction that he'll warn us. Now, we have warning signs in lots of places in our lives. We have them on the dashboards of our cars. How many of us ignore them? Yeah, I've been there and done that. That can burn up an engine. I've been there that long and done that. Don't do that anymore. You want to pay attention to when the spirit says, hey, stop, hey, slow down, hey, yield, hey, U-turn, hey. Be careful, be careful at this spot. So today we're looking at the yield sign.

What does it mean to yield? On a highway, it means give some other car the right of way. Now, I think South Floridians are challenged by the idea of yield. We think a yellow yield sign means go fast and get in front. I mean, it's kind of like hit the gas sign. It's not what it means. Here's a couple of laws concerning the yield sign. If you're merging onto a freeway, the cars already on the freeway have the right-of-way, not the car merging in. If you're on a traffic circle, the cars already on the traffic circle have the right-of-way, not the new car merging in. If two lanes are merging into one lane, the lane that continues has the right-of-way, not the lane that is merging in. We have to yield when we drive. And in an even bigger way, we have to yield to follow Christ. We have to submit to follow Christ. We have to surrender to follow Christ. Now, in this teaching, you're going to hear me use yield, submit, and surrender interchangeably. That's because the scripture uses those three words interchangeably. What does it mean to yield? Here's your first blank. You were wondering if I was ever going to get to it. You ready? Yielding to God means surrendering control. I love that and hate it at the same time. I know my life is better when God's in charge, but I got to admit, I do like being in charge. I know it runs better when it's running on his wisdom, but isn't it kind of fun sometimes to just put your hands back on the wheel? I mean, we struggle with yielding control. We struggle with submitting.

We struggle with surrendering. I think sometimes it's because we don't understand the nature of surrender. Look at Romans 12.1. Submit your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship. Scripture defines worship as me constantly giving me back to God, a living sacrifice. Now, Old Testament, sacrifices were an animal that you would sacrifice and offer to cover your sins. In the New Testament, Jesus has paid for our sins, so now sacrifice is a new concept. Sacrifice is me living for God. Sacrifice is me being a living sacrifice, a living surrender, a living submission. Here's the problem. When we put ourselves on the altar and say, I'm all yours, we can get up and leave the altar. I mean, sometimes we make decisions on Sunday that are gone by Monday, or we make decisions in a crisis moment that don't get followed through. We have to learn the nature of surrender. So we're going to look at surrender, submit, yield today, and what does it mean in the Scripture? Three levels. Listen for the one that's got your name on it today, okay? Number one, you'd expect this. The first submission is to God. We yield to God. We surrender to God. We submit to God. Ephesians says it this way, don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. If you don't know what God wants you to do, it's generally because you haven't read the Scripture or listened to the Spirit or asked Him to show you, because He will.

Scripture says, you don't know what to do, ask me. I'm willing to show you what to do. Many times it's because we're not ready to give up what we want to do. We still want the control piece, but literally it's about this idea that we understand what God wants. So here it is, right at the end, He's God, we're not, so we yield. That's how it works. He's God, I'm not, I surrender, I yield, I submit. He's the driver, I'm the passenger. He's in charge, I'm not. He's the manager, I'm not. A yield sign means give the right of way to God. Write that in your notes. We yield the right of way to God. That means the right of choice, that means the right of decision making, that means the right of goal setting, all these rights. Every right that we think we have personally, we surrender to God. Now again, how do you know what God wants you to surrender? How do you know what God wants you to do? We look first to Scripture, so put a letter A in there, submit to Scripture. I should have put the A, but I didn't. We just did an entire series called It's All in the Word. If you missed any of the weekends of that series, I suggest you go online, listen to them. Pastor Eric put this series together, amazing series about how God uses the Bible, His Word, His Scripture, to give us everything that we need and to teach us what to do. Look at what the Bible says about the Bible. It's already interesting to me

when we read what Scripture says about Scripture. 2 Timothy, all Scripture's inspired by God and it's useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we're wrong and teaches us to do what is right. This is the reason we give 30 minutes of time every time we gather publicly as a church to reading the Scripture, studying the Scripture, asking God to speak through the Scripture. This is the main way He speaks to us. Now, church, let me encourage you. Don't go to the Scripture as a minimum requirement Christian. That make sense? I mean, sometimes we go, okay, okay. It says we gotta give. I'm gonna give a little so God will leave me alone about giving. Oh, wait, wait, wait. It says I'm supposed to be involved with the church so I'll show up once in a while. What's the minimum I can do? You don't want the minimum with God. Why is that? Because God is an all-in God and He blesses all-in followers. And if there's anything in this world that's worth going all-in for, surely it is God.

I don't want to cheat God. I don't want to skimp on God. Be all-in. We want to submit to Scripture. Letter B on submitting to God is submit to the Spirit. How do we know what God wants us to do? We look at the Scripture first. We read it. But if we don't see it in the Scripture, we listen to the Spirit. John 14 says when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative, the Holy Spirit, He will teach you everything and He will remind you of everything I have told you. Next series we're doing after this one is called Overflow. And it's gonna be a series about how the Spirit works in us, don't miss this, so He can flow through us. That we want to live in the overflow of what God's doing here as it spills out on others around us. Going to be a fun, fun series. The first submission is to submit to God. Church, look this way. Nothing in your life is gonna be right until you fully submit to God. Nothing. We can keep banging our head against the wall

of trying to do it ourselves. Nothing is gonna come together the way it's supposed to come together until we totally submit to God. Turn to your neighbor and say you need to submit to God. Tell them. Yep, true for all of us. Okay, that's the first submission. The second submission is where some of us struggle, interestingly. That is submit to others. The Bible teaches that you submit to God first, but you also submit to others. Now everybody, I want you to hear my heart on this. Everybody in this room has been burned. Everybody in this room has trusted someone who hurt you. Or you have followed someone who misled you. Or you have submitted to someone who wasn't worth submitting to. We do submit to others, but we're picky about who the others are. This is the balance in the Christian life. Nowhere in Scripture does it tell you to submit to people that are dumber than a rock. If they're dumber than a rock and you submit to them, you're gonna be dumber than the rock. That's not it. The idea is find people of wisdom. Find people of God. Find people who when they speak,

you want to pay attention to what they say to you. So we submit to others. Now let's look at what the Scripture says about that. James 3. The wisdom from above, that is the wisdom from God, is pure, it's peace-loving, it's gentle. Look at the last part. And willing to yield to others. Sometimes the wisest thing I can do is listen to the counsel of the people that God has put around me. And they speak with wisdom. Most of the time when God speaks, it's through His Word or His Spirit or His people. He speaks through the people He's put in your life. So here's a long definition of what it means to submit to others. Ready? I'll give it to you twice. Yielding to others. Submitting to one another means yielding your personal rights, prioritizing, that's the first word to write in, the needs of others, and practicing humility in your relationships. Now the reason some of us won't submit to others is we can't handle the humility. We can't handle that we might need somebody else. We can't handle that maybe God needs to speak to us through somebody else. There's a great passage in Ephesians 5 about marriage. It is the most quoted passage in the Bible about marriage. I think it's also the most misunderstood passage in the Bible. We're not doing

a teaching on marriage, but I am going to use marriage as an example of how submission to others works in the kingdom of God. Here's what it says. We tend to start Ephesians 5 search with verse 22. Verse 22 is the verse that famously says, wives submit to your husband as to the Lord. Now I think one of the reasons we tend to start with that verse instead of the verse before it is many of the teachers are men and they kind of like pointing out what the women are supposed to do. Can I be that honest? But the passage starts in verse 21. So let's go back and read it open mindedly. It says submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Another translation says submit to one another as you're already submitted to Christ. The first submission is to God in marriage in other relationships. The second submission is to others. The third submission is to your role. Write those in. Marriage is three submissions. Submit to God. That's why in a Christian marriage one man committed to Jesus plus one woman committed to Jesus plus Jesus equals a Christian marriage. Don't leave him out. It's not the union of two, it's the union of three. That's the way it works. So submit to God first then submit to each other. When Mary and I got married we looked at each other and said we're going to do whatever it takes to stay married. Now one of the reasons was we were already best friends and I've been mad enough multiple times to leave my wife. I've never been mad enough to leave my best friend. Not even close. She's my best friend. Even when she's wrong I'm not leaving her. That was a joke people. Everybody knows wives are never wrong. Come on. It's the idea that we submit to God and then we submit to each other and then you submit to your role. This is why verse 33 gets left out. By

the way if you think ladies that submitting to your husband is hard listen to what God says to the husbands. Husband love your wife the way Christ loves the church. That's the hardest verse in the New Testament. Jesus loves his church enough to serve her every time every way. Wow I'm supposed to be Jesus in my home. Man that's what that verse says. We need to grab that we submit to God first. We submit to each other and then we submit to our role. All of us do that in lots of relationships. Did you get all three of those? Submit to God. Submit to each other. Submit to your role. That's where we're headed. Each man must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband. That's the balance at the end of the passage. So let me share to you how this works in my life. I'm just going to share the others that I submit to. Okay I absolutely submit to my spouse my wife. That is not because the scripture says husband submit to your wife. It's because she is the smartest wisest best friend I have ever had and I don't do anything without her counsel. Nothing. Why would you ignore your best source of wisdom? I've had guys say to me yeah but she's the wife you're supposed to figure it out. Dude who cares who's supposed to figure it out. Listen to your spouse. speaks through them time after time. I also listen to my pastors. I've got 30 years experience on Eric, doesn't matter. He's my pastor. God speaks to him to me all the time. Speaks through him to me all the time. I submit to Pastor Garland.

I submit to Jessica and also to Carson who are now pastoring as well. I submit to the spiritual leaders in my life. And I also submit, this is important, to my godly friends. Notice the word, godly. Do I submit to all my friends? No. I got one friend who's been married five times and wants to give me marriage advice. Sorry. Dude, you don't know how to stay married. You can't help me with my marriage. I'm 50 years ahead of you. No thanks. Not gonna work. But there are friends that God puts in my life to speak wisdom to me. And by the way, they don't have to be wise on every subject. It's okay if your wise friend on one subject, marriage, is not your wise friend on another subject, finances. God uses different people to speak different truth if we submit, if we submit. I'll give you an example. A little over a year ago, my wife decided that the Honda Pilot that she loved was no longer a good car for her. Now, we always buy used cars. It's just part of our philosophy.

And we love Hondas. The Honda Pilot is an awesome car. She's had two in her lifetime, over 20 years of driving them. But here's the reality. About a year ago this past spring, so 15 months ago, her right knee was so bad it needed to be replaced. Her left knee's so bad it needs to be replaced. And her back went bad all pretty much in a few months time. And the first step into a Honda Pilot is a high step for a woman that's five feet. She just couldn't do it anymore. So she said to me, I think we need to find a car for me that's lower to the ground. We did. We now drive a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek Bright Orange. I think it glows in the dark. It's sittin' out there. You'll see it when you come out. And literally, you don't even have to step into it. You just slide into it. I mean, that sucker is low to the ground. Much better for her. We decided we'll give the Honda Pilot to our kids in Kansas City. Now, in actuality, they paid a small price for it. They didn't want us to just give it to them. We didn't want them to have to pay what it was worth.

We made it work. And I announced the plan. Hey, the car is in Fort Lauderdale. The kids and grandkids are in Kansas City. I'm gonna drive all night to Kansas City and deliver the car and stay a couple of days and fly home. And Mary said, that's not wise. I said, what do you mean? I've made that 1,500 mile trip several times. She said, yeah, when you weren't 70. I said, babe, I love driving through the night. It's not wise. So I thought, I gotta get some help here. So I talked to Eric, Pastor Eric. Gonna give the kids the car. They're paying for it. It was working out great. Gonna give it to them. Small gift kind of thing. Partly gift, partly they're buying it. Hey, I'm gonna drive it out there. Dan, that's not a good idea. I'm thinking, I need some help here. So I go to my go-to, Pastor Garland. He's been my go-to for 35 years. And I said, Gar, I'm thinking about driving the car overnight to Kansas City. No, you're not going. What did I do? I didn't go.

We shipped the car and had a party here. Why? Because when God is speaking wisdom through your spouse, your pastor, and your best friend, dang it. Listen. Hello. We don't ignore multiple sources of wisdom. This is why the scripture says that there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors. Now, don't take wisdom from people that don't have any. Everybody's got an opinion. I'm not telling you, go see which way the wind is blowing and collect a hundred opinions. No. You trust the people that are worth trusting in your life. You submit to God, and then. and you submit to others. Here's the third submission. This one is actually the most challenging for some people. And it's already been said, you submit to your role. You submit to your role. Now, there's a big concept that's confused, so let's spend a little bit of time here. All authority is based on roles. There's no such thing as authority in life that's not based on roles. That make sense? You write that in, gonna do a bunch of blanks here all at once.

That means someone's in charge in a role, somebody's in charge, and someone is following. So all authority is based on roles, somebody's in charge, somebody's following. Let's walk through how that works in a kid's life. Kid's born into a home and figures out, mom and dad are in charge. They feed me, they change me, they take care of me, they set the rules. I don't always like it, but they're in charge. And then the kid goes to school. Here was my experience in elementary school. I learned fairly quickly that the teacher's in charge in the classroom, and if you cause the teacher enough problem, you'll have a personal time with the principal. Who's in charge of the whole school. I learned this lesson the hard way. I kept banging into the wall of consequences until I finally said, that hurts my head. I think I'll stop. We all have a role. That means somebody's in charge and somebody is following in every relationship in life. Now here's the part we miss. You ready? Write it in. God is the source of all authority. Now I did not say that everyone in charge does the right thing.

That's not true. I did not say all authorities are godly. That's not true. I said God is the source of authority. How do I know? Look at what scripture says, next verse. Everyone must submit to authority, for all authority comes from God. Wow. How do we work that out? I mean, I've had some authority figures in my life who were clueless. We have to work through where authority comes from and how we respect it. Now let me say this before we delve in, before we dive in. Some of us have had bad experiences with authority figures. Been there, done that. And if we're not careful, it turns us into an anti-authority mindset. For we no longer trust government of any kind. We no longer trust police of any kind. We no longer trust the boss of any organization. We no longer trust institutions themselves. The list of who we no longer trust goes longer and longer and longer because the anti-let's resist authority feeling in us is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Some of you go on, what's the problem? The problem is that's not the spirit of following Jesus.

Because the spirit of following Jesus is submit. Follow, surrender, yield. Now yes, yield to the right persons, absolutely. Yield in the right moment, absolutely. But we can't afford to fan the flames in our own souls of anti-authority. I know some of you've had tough experiences with the police. I've taught my kids and my grandkids to respect them. Now I have said to them, not all police people are good. There's some rotten apples in every barrel. I'm a farm boy, I know what that expression means. I know exactly what it means. But God puts people of authority in our lives that until they've proven they are not worthy of respect, we respect them. There are moments where you can respect the person and there are moments when you have to just respect the position. Thursday night when I taught this lesson, we had two of our police officers, woman and a man, sitting on the front row. They didn't know what I was teaching on. I just thanked them both. I just said, you both put your lives on the line. Thank you, and I know it's not easy. Thank you. In the last service, Jamie was here, the mayor of Cooper City. I said, you know what I like about Jamie? He is in a position of respect, mayor,

but he's also a person of respect. He's a servant. He's a sweetheart. He turned red, I didn't care. We have to teach this. By the way, if you want to know what you're teaching, what have you passed on to your kids? When we complain about the boss continually, we teach our kids to complain about the boss. When we complain about the police continually, we teach our kids to be anti-police. When we complain about the government continually, we teach our kids to be anti-government. I'm not saying buy everything lock, stock, and barrel. I've made it clear, you don't take wisdom from people that are dumb as rocks. But when God puts somebody in a place of authority in my life, I am going to follow until they prove they are not worthy of being followed. And at that moment, we got other decisions to make. Make sense, church? Turn to your neighbor and say, you can follow me, it's all good. Yeah, we have to do that, guys. It's the way that it works. So I have a role to play at the local church. I'm not the pastor, I'm one of the pastors. I have a role to play in my house. By the way, let me say this to the men, too. I was counseling a couple not too long ago,

and the husband said, you know, I have to tell her all the time, I'm the man of the house. The Bible says you have to submit to me. Have I used the phrase dumb as a rock today? First of all, if you have to announce you're in charge, you're not in charge. Figure that out. And secondly, nowhere in Scripture does Jesus demand that we follow him or that we submit to him. He doesn't demand it, he invites it. He wants it, he knows it's a place of blessing. If we husbands will love our wives as Christ loved the church, which means to serve them constantly, 24-7, they'll follow. They'll follow out of respect. They'll follow out of you being the rarest cat they've ever met. And you won't have to demand a thing. It's not about my rights, it's about yielding. It's about submitting. It's about surrendering. Let's wrap this up. Is yielding, surrendering, submitting a one-time thing? I wish it was. I really do wanna tell you yes, but the answer really is no. It's a continual thing. We surrender our lives to Christ,

we surrender our lives to Jesus, we surrender our lives to him, we surrender our lives to him, we surrender our lives to Christ once to come into his family. We say yes to Jesus, and then we keep surrendering day after day after day after day. So is it a continual thing? Yeah, it is, it is. Here's the continual thing. You ready? We'll give you the formula. Yield, that's point number one. Yield some more, that's point number two. And keep on yielding. Oh, let's change the verb. Surrender, surrender some more. Keep on surrendering. Submit, submit some more. Keep on submitting. And here's the awesome part. Oh, church, don't miss this. When I do yield, when I do submit, when I do surrender, I experience the peace of God. Because I'm right with him, yielded. I'm right with others, yielded. I'm even right with the role he's called me to play in this life, yielded to my design. Each week in this series, we are finishing with a moment of silent or reflective prayer.

We're gonna pray a little bit. A moment of silent or reflective prayer. We're gonna do that today. But I want to tell you the prayer I'm going to ask you to pray before we do it. Here's the prayer. Lord, show me what I need to yield to you. And the answer is going to be totally different for each of us because the Spirit of God is going to speak to each of us. Keep your notes out. That's what goes in that last blank. But we haven't prayed the prayer yet, so let's pray it. So if you just join me in a minute, let's pray together. Father, show me what I need to yield to you. Show me what I need to submit. Show me what I need to surrender. Thank you, Father, for putting your finger on the thing that we need to give to you and on the person we need to give to you. Help us do it. It's our prayer in Christ. Amen. Go ahead and fill in that last blank. The one thing I need to surrender is blank. You put what God spoke to you. Some of you already knew. Others, he spoke it to you. He spoke to me Thursday night while I was teaching this. I want to tell you a story and we'll be done. I grew up in a very traditional, fundamental Baptist church. There's some great things about that and some not so great things. But we had a choir who sang in all of our Sunday services,

and they had a choir loft, which was a seating area up behind the pulpit. So, in this church, we had steps that came up to the stage all across the front, and we had a pulpit, and then we had a choir loft back here. This particular Sunday, I was a 14- or 15-year-old boy in the choir loft because we were doing a youth choir Sunday. Pastor got up to speak. He talked about surrender. I didn't pay much attention. I hate to admit it. So, he got to the end and he said, okay, we're going to practice surrender today. He said, here's how we're going to give today. The ushers are going to come, and they're going to call you one row at a time to walk forward, and we're going to put the offering plates on the steps all across the front, and we're going to ask you to walk up and give. Everybody relax. We're not doing that here. It's a story and a real one. I thought, I want to see how this works. So, sure enough, the ushers started with this side of the room and moved across to here. It took 10 or 12 minutes. I mean, we sang the same song 16 times. They finally got to the last row, and there was a little girl sitting about where you are. She was maybe 7 or 8. She was the last one. She came and she stood for what seemed like 60 seconds in front of the offering plate.

I know what she was thinking. I don't have anything to give. And then all of a sudden, she turned around and sat in the offering plate. And I'm sitting up here in the choir loft, wasted. I mean, the tears are just flowing whether I want them to or not because she got it. She got that the thing God wants most is me. Would you quietly, reverently stand to your feet and join me as we sing a song of surrender. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. All to Jesus, I surrender all. ♪ I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And I will ever love and trust Him in His presence any day ♪ Let's sing it out. ♪ I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And all to Thee, my blessed Savior ♪ ♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And all to Thee, my blessed Savior ♪ ♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And all to Jesus I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And all to Jesus I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ I will ever love and trust Him in His presence daily live ♪ Come on, everybody sing this out together. ♪ And I surrender all and I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And I surrender all and all to Thee, my blessed Savior ♪

♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And I surrender all and I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪ ♪ And all, all to Thee, all to Thee, my blessed Savior ♪ ♪ And I surrender all to Him I freely give ♪