When we surrender our lives, our desires, our finances and our plans to God, we find the abundant life He promises us. When we try to live in God’s kingdom but operate by the world’s values, we fail to realize the full potential that God has for us. Surrender to Him, and you will find life. In this message, you will find your password to spiritual power. Unlock the power God has given you through His Word.
and then he says therefore i urge you
therefore brother
to present your bodies a living
sacrifice
because of the favor of god given to
those who place faith in jesus christ i
urge you i beg you i plead with you
to give all of you to all of him
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on our phones and
computers
we have passcodes
these passcodes gain you access to the
world of information
that sits at our fingertips
so much is available to us
when that pass code is put in
and the world of the internet
and all the things attached to it opens
up
if you don’t know the passcode
then you’re locked out of the access
so much is available but if there is a
passcode and
you don’t know it then
what’s available is not beneficial
it’s there but you can’t use it
but you haven’t been able to enter in
you haven’t been able to
access what’s available to you
in the kingdom of god in the plan of god
and the program of god there is
much to be accessed
regarding my life
regarding your life
and regarding god’s plan
but he has a passcode
one of the reasons why many of us live
confused lives
is we either don’t know the passcode or
don’t use it
so the benefits
that are available to be accessed are
not accessed because the past code has
been
ignored rejected or unknown
one of the big questions that we all
have with our lives is
what god wants us to do how does god
want us to do it what
how do we move forward in this thing
called life given all the
chaotic realities that we face how do we
navigate our existence
well there’s a passcode
if you know this passcode and if you use
this passcode
you will be pleasantly surprised that
what is available to you
from the lord
for your life
the passcode to which i am referring and
to which i would like to speak about
today and our call
to return to god is the passcode
simply called
surrender
when you understand this code
and activated
in your life
my life our lives
we will gain access
to god at a whole nother level
unfortunately
this is a code people don’t like
or don’t want
and so it often goes unutilized
leaving us blocked out
of what is available to us when it comes
to this thing called living
paul the apostle in one of the famous
passages in scripture
talks about this
in romans 12 1 and 2.
he’s speaking to christians he says
in verse 1 of romans 12 therefore i urge
you brethren
that includes sister in
i urge you brethren i urge you
christians
i beg you i entreat you
i’m crying out to you he speaks in
intensive terminology because he really
wants
the saints in rome and the saints
in dallas to hear it
i urge you brethren
by the mercies of god
to present your body
a living and holy sacrifice
he says christians
i want you to surrender that is i want
you
to give all of you to all of god
i want you to give all of you to all of
god surrendering is where
you yield
your
humanity
and every part thereof
to all of god
he says i urge you to do this
why is he urging you to do this he says
present your body a living sacrifice
because whatever god is going to do
in with and through you
he’s going to do it in the context of
your humanity
if he wants to speak to you he’s going
to have to have access to your ears
if he wants to deliver a thought to you
then he’s going to have to have access
to your mind
if he wants to speak through you then he
has to have access to your mouth
if he’s going to guide you he has to
have access to your feet
so in order for god to do with you
what is needed to be done he must have
access which means that the code must be
punched of surrender
where you present your body a living
sacrifice
he says now the reason you should be
motivated to do this
is the mercies of
god he says i urge you brethren by the
mercies of god
his compassionate
favor toward us
should be the motivating factor
of the surrender
he has spent 11 chapters talking about
the ma the mercies of god before he ever
gets to chapter 12.
in chapter 1 through chapter 3 he says
the whole world needs mercy because the
whole world is guilty before a holy god
that god can’t dumb down his standards
in order to meet our needs he must keep
his standards the same
and so all have sinned and fallen short
of the glory of god romans 3 23 but he
comes in chapter 4 and he says but god
has come up with a way
to provide the righteousness he that he
demands apart from works by faith in
jesus christ
he says not to the one who works
is the reward given but to the one who
believes on him it is your faith in
christ
that gains you the righteous standard
that god demands
in chapter five he says
having placed faith in christ you have
access to a whole new world of grace
where even during the tough times of
life god is there to sustain you
in chapter 6 he says this gives you a
whole new identity because you were
buried with him in baptism you were
raised to a new life and you are to look
at yourself through new eyes
he comes in chapter 7 and says that does
not mean you will not struggle
he says there will be struggle with the
old you battling against the new you for
control of you which leads him to
chapter eight
in chapter eight he says that’s why god
has given us the holy spirit so that the
holy spirit can override the flesh so
that you can live out the new life that
god has provided you at salvation
he comes to chapter 9 through 12
and the question is well if this is so
good why doesn’t israel god’s people in
the flesh have it and he says they don’t
have it because they don’t believe it
and we you don’t believe it you don’t
get it
and then he says therefore i urge you
therefore brethren
to present your bodies a living
sacrifice
because of the favor of god given to
those who place faith in jesus christ i
urge you i beg you
i plead with you
to give all of you to all of him
because your humanity
will be the mechanism through which
what god has to do
will be made manifest but he must have
access to it
he says now the way you make this
presentation
is by complete surrender present your
body
a living and holy
sacrifice
this surrender is all of you it’s not
like the story of the chicken and the
pig or walking down the street one day
and they came across a grocery store
that said bacon and eggs desperately
needed
chicken looked at the pig pig looked at
the chicken the chicken said you know
the grocery needs some bacon and eggs
why don’t we help the grocer out i’ll
give him some uh eggs and and pig you
give him the bacon the pigs looked at
the chicken and said you got to be out
of your mind
the chicken said well what’s the problem
what’s the problem i can give him the
egg you can we can bacon he said no
there’s a problem cause for you it’s a
contribution for me it’s the whole thing
see what a lot of folk want to do is
give god an egg here and an egg there
here an egg there an egg everywhere an
egg egg when god wants some pork chops
ham hocks and bacon
he wants the whole thing
he says present yourself a living
sacrifice
now that’s a contradictory phrase
that that phrase is contradiction
present yourself alive living
but present yourself for sacrifice dead
sacrifices were killed you put
sacrifices on the altar when christ was
a sacrifice he died on the cross
sacrifices are killed
he said present your body as a living
dead thing as a living sacrifice how can
you be living and dead at the same time
perhaps paul can help us hear in
the great scripture where he says in
galatians 2 20 i’m crucified with christ
i’m dead
nevertheless i live
i’m alive
yet not i
because i’m dead
is christ who lives in me so i’m alive
well how are you doing both paul well he
says in galatians 2 20 the life which i
now live
i live by faith in the son of god who
loved me and gave himself for me
so if paul was standing here today and
you were to ask paul paul what are you
planning what are your plans paul would
say i don’t have any until god gives
them to me
if you paul were here you say well what
are your goals well he says i’m waiting
to get instructions from the lord so
that i know what my goals are to be
to put it another way it means dying to
self
and living to him
choosing him over you
it is saying no to you when you
contradict him
he wants you to be a walking
dead thing
alive to him
dead to you when it contradicts him
he says present your body a living
sacrifice
he also says presented
holy
now the word holy is a little different
than the word righteous
righteous has to do with the standard of
right and wrong
so it’s sin versus that which is not
sinful that’s that’s righteous
holy is a unique term it is uh
a defining term of god god is never
called love love love true true truth
righteous righteous righteous but he is
called holy holy holy
holy to the third power it is a
it is a a comprehensive statement
about the uniqueness of god
the word holy means to be set apart
as unique
there’s one whole book in the bible that
deals with the holiness of god it
doesn’t get a lot of attention because
of its uh
uh
ceremonial emphasis and that’s the book
of leviticus where the holiness of god
is emphasized god puts up a no
trespassing sign
to not trample on his holiness
and three concepts are there that help
us to understand holiness
so the holiness of god while it includes
the righteous standards of god refers to
the uniqueness of god for which he is to
be held
he says i beg you brethren to give all
of you to all of him
to surrender yourself
to god
then he says
this is your spiritual service of
worship that’s how the new american
standard says it if you have a king
james version it says which is your
reasonable service
but the greek word there is a worship
term
he says your spiritual service of
worship
is in your total surrender not your
church attendance
so you could be in church but not
worshiping because you aren’t
surrendered
without the surrender there is not the
worship
so unless there is the willingness of
yielding all of me to all of him
then you can wave your hand in the air
like you just don’t care but you’re not
worshiping
you can shout you can sing
you can speak the word you can amen
but it is not worship if it’s not
including
surrender
he calls that your spiritual service of
worship
he then comes in verse two and he says
and be not conformed to this world
we explain
that this is referring to what a potter
does with clay
he conforms it into an image
squeezes it makes a plate squeezes it
makes a cup squeeze it makes a salsa
in other words he shapes it and conforms
it and what he does to do that is apply
pressure
pressure to conform it into the shape he
wants it
you and i live in a world that is trying
to pressure us
to conform to its values
it’s trying to squeeze us
to accept its world views
it’s time trying to press us to walk
away from what god says and operate on
what society says
it is trying to force us
to jettison the truth of god for the
lies of culture
and you hear it all the time you hear
christians caving into the pressure
because they don’t want to be canceled
you hear people christians who name the
name of god
caving into the pressure because they
don’t want to be rejected
because they demand to be accepted by
this world system not knowing that god
says if you accept the world you lose me
he says do not be conformed
pressed
pressured to adopt the value system that
leaves me and my
world view out
don’t allow the system
to kick me to the curb
in your value system
you see it all around us today
where the rules have changed at warp
speed
and they want to make you accept it
they’ve changed in education they’ve
changed in media
they’ve changed in corporations
they’ve changed in disneyland
and they want to force and their your
children and your youth
are in this this conforming thing and
you know how you feel when your child
comes home
and you say one thing and then they say
but my friends say
and you have to get them straight you
have to get them straight i don’t care
what your friend said
i’m your mama
well when god hears what the world is
doing to us he says i don’t care what
your friends say
i don’t care what they say out there
i’m your god
but we’re being squeezed and pressured
and pressed
to adopt the value systems and i want
you need to know in this
post-modern age
the pressure is going to keep coming
and that’s why you have to fight
spiritually
because they’re going to press you to
adopt a system of values that leave
god’s value system out he says be not
conformed to this world
don’t let this world system
determine your value system
but let that value system be determined
differently
and
distinctly
and he tells you how
he says
but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind
first thing he says is give god all of
you living sacrifice second thing he
says is give the world none of you do
not be conformed but then he says be
transformed that’s a different word
it’s the word metamorphosis
it’s a caterpillar becoming a butterfly
transform conform is outside pressure
transform is change within
the butterfly is embedded in the
caterpillar becomes a crystallist
and then a cocoon
and then it emerges
the reason why we’re not having emerging
change on the outside is we’re not being
transformed on the inside
and the reason we’re not being
transformed on the inside is because the
world is conforming us
and we haven’t surrendered
once surrendering takes place
and
you say no to the value systems of the
world
the word transformed in the greek is
passive god takes over and begins the
transformation process
this is a story about a man named jed a
poor mountaineer barely kept his family
fed
then one day he was shooting for some
food and up from the ground came a
bubbling crude oil that is texas tea
jed clampett
ellie mae
jethro
grandma
made up a family known as the beverly
hill village
these hillbillies were from the hills of
tennessee
struck oil
and became multi-malt
they relocated
to beverly hills
but the thing that made the program so
funny
was they brought tennessee values with
them
so they were in a new world but
operating by old values and you know
what that made them a joke
because even though they were now
wealthy
with new resources they were operating
from an old world view
and mr drysdale as much as he wanted to
make life better for him couldn’t
because they would not let go
of how they were raised
they weren’t let wouldn’t let go of what
they had become accustomed to and one of
the reasons we’re not progressing is
we’re still tied into how we were raised
it’s still tied into the secular
viewpoints of our secular education
of our non-christian perspective or what
the media is trying to force down our
throats and because we are buying into
that we may belong to the kingdom of god
but we brought the kingdom of hell with
us
and therefore not taking advantage of
all that god has for us
because of a refusal to surrender he
says this is a transformation
of the mind
what god will begin to do
as you take the truth of his word
having surrendered the life
having said no to the values that
discard god and his truth
is he will begin to reshape
and reorder
your thinking
because you’re now bringing your
thoughts in line with him
he will not allow that to
germinate within you
if he has to compete with the values of
the world that you embrace
but he says i will transform your mind
and bring my thinking into your thinking
so that my thoughts become your thoughts
see that’s when when when god is taking
over when what he’s thinking you’re
thinking at the same time he’s thinking
it
so your framework is beginning to shift
and the butterfly within you is
beginning to
form
because he now has full access to you
because you’re fully surrendered yes to
him no to the world
and so his spirit can reshape the
thoughts and you know
a believer is not
conformed to god but conformed to the
world because they will reject what god
says in favor of what the world says
or in favor of how they were raised or
in favor of what they think even though
you show them clearly what god says
well the question is well what’s the
payoff for this if i go this way if i go
this route
what’s what’s the benefit he tells you
in verse 2
so that you may prove what the will of
god is
that which is good acceptable and
perfect
guess what the payoff is
the will of god
the will of god for you
now watch this
god has a will a plan for every life
when you accept christ you have now
entered into the plan
that plan covers every detail of your
existence from the time of your
conversion to the time of your death or
the rapture
he has a will
we deviate from that will because of our
own carnality our own fleshliness but
when we get on track
through submitting to god and saying no
to the world
there’s a transformation of thinking
that takes place
and you will prove what is the will of
god
he says you will prove what the will of
god is
now let me give you the good news the
good news is
if you give god all of you give the
world none of you become renewed in your
thinking you won’t have to find god’s
will god’s will will find you
he says you will prove that means you
will see
unfolding
you will see working out the will of god
because he’s gone ahead of you
proverbs 3 5 and 6 uh trust in the lord
with all your heart lead not to your own
understanding in all your ways
acknowledge him and he will direct your
path it is his governing guidance
through situations circumstances people
to even through problems that he begins
to steer things and interrelate things
then he says perfect
it means
it will complete its goal
if you don’t want to live an incomplete
life
he says operate in the will of god and
you do that by giving god all of you
giving the world none of you
and letting god shift your thinking into
his value system
and then he feels comfortable
to govern guide direct correct
change tweak
and the beautiful thing about it is
you can make that decision
now
we don’t have to continue to live in
uncertainty
with regard to what god is doing not
because we know it all but because we
know he’s going to shape our thinking
and bring his thoughts into our thoughts
so that our thoughts are his thoughts so
that we know how to think in terms of
his will
one of the great experiences of life is
seeing god change your mind
you were thinking about going one
direction and he brings things around so
that you think differently about that
thing
about that job that career that that
move that you want to make i mean or or
reinforce your mind about something it’s
where he enters into your thought
processes through a myriad of different
ways
in order to guide you
according to his will
you