Just cold goes right to the bone, man. It just, it does not feel good. All right, I'll quit whining. Acts chapter 9, this morning, Acts chapter 9. Tonight we'll have our missionaries Brad and Connie Lowry will be here for the 5 o'clock evening service. Please be in your place and be ready to be a blessing to them. And they'll be giving us an update on Croatia, what's going on over there in Croatia. And those of you who are here originally at Crimson Avenue, before the merger, the Lowry's came in from Heritage Baptist Church. And when we assumed as a church we took all their missionaries in and we all became one big happy family. And thankful for that. I haven't got it done yet. I was going to put it back here. And where is it? I forget where it's at now. is of the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." I'm so thankful for what the Lord has done here. But we've got the missionaries, the Lowry's here. So, if you are originally from Crimson you haven't met the Lowry's yet. And so, you'll be here tonight and we'll see the ministry that's going on there. I'm looking forward to that. Brother Brad will be preaching. But the Lowry's a good preacher. And I think you'll find it a blessing. So that'll be tonight. All right, Acts chapter nine. You know, is this last month, I think it was, last month, 80 years ago, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on September 2nd, 1945. Anybody remember that? Brother Chuck does, and after the, it was after the absolute devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was too much for them to really keep fighting, and so it was that they boarded the USS Missouri that was docked at Tokyo Bay, and they signed an instrument of surrender at 9.04 a.m., and alongside of them signing for the Allied forces was the great Douglas MacArthur. And it was the end of World War II. It was over. It was a great time of the word I'm using today is the word surrender. Surrender. They waved. I brought one. It's a great looking flag here. They waved. I made it myself. They waved a white flag. You know, it doesn't have to be a really, it doesn't have to be a professional flag. You can take your, don't do this, you can take your t-shirt off and wave it up, right? You can haul her uncle and say, okay, I'm done, whatever. Surrender, this is surrender. What is surrender? Surrendering is a relinquishing of control to a greater or a higher or to another power. That is what surrender is. It can be peaceful, right? It can be a peaceful surrender when you realize, you know, this isn't gonna go well with me and tell you what, let's go ahead and make a deal, okay? Or it can be a surrender that's the result of just a battle and a fight and a fight and a fight that finally, it's like two bombs are dropped on your life and you finally go, okay, I get it, I hear it, I'm done, I've had enough. Surrender, I surrender. It can come both ways. It can come with a fight or it can come peacefully. A surrender can. Usually a surrender comes with peace agreements, right? They'll sign a peace agreement. And within that peace agreement, there will be stipulations and demands on the party who is doing the surrendering, right? The one who surrenders doesn't have any right to come up and say, oh, I don't know if I like this. Well, we can do another bomb. I like this. Okay, we'll do this, right? This is what happens. There are demands that are set there. And the reigning, usually from that time forward, the reigning power will have control over that surrendered power for many, many years to come, right? Sometimes there's even stipulation in there. If you break this agreement, you're done. It's gonna be over for you. And they come in and they surrender. We just saw this recently in the Middle East. We'll see how long this goes. And peace agreements and surrender deals. But you know there's also a spiritual surrender as well, amen? There absolutely is. Fallen man is at war with their creator, fighting to live life without God. That's really what it is. It's living life without God. If you notice, this is what the world... preaches to us. This is what the culture of this world is trying to tell us that, oh yeah, you surrendered to God and you didn't really need to. Listen, you just need to live life without God and it's a lot better. Do you realize that's what entertainment is, worldly entertainment is teaching you? Do you realize that's what the world's music is teaching you? That life works out just fine without God. over and over. Listen, when you can write the script and you can write it however you want it, sure you can make it look like it turns out well. But can I tell you, life proves otherwise, that the way of the transgressor is hard, the Bible says. And we've seen it over and over and over again. Fallen man is born, warring against God, fighting to live life without God. But God, listen, God is always pursuing Amen, he is. But this is the difference. Watch this, please. Not to crush us to powder. He could have done that at any given time. In an instant, we could have all been gone and done, right? Listen, he does not pursue us to drive us into the ground and drive us into the dirt, but he pursues us, listen to this, this is incredible, to purchase us and to redeem us and to justify us and to one day glorify us to deliver us from an eternity in hell. That's a wonderful thing. But because of our blindness, you know what we do? We just fight against it, don't we? Listen, we all battle against God at times. We all come into this, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've been turned to everyone to his own way. And the iniquity of us all is laid upon him, right? Over in Isaiah it says, over in Romans, are none righteous? No, not one. No, we battle and we fought against God. So watch, the only way that God can redeem us, sometimes, many times, is to battle us until we surrender. But how does he battle? Well, He battles by pursuing us. He battles by prodding us. He battles by drawing us. He battles by convicting us, every bit of it from a heart of love. Yeah. I'm afraid today there are many Christians who claim the name of Christ or many people, I should say, individuals that are going out through the airwaves and on the TV screens and on the internet, and they have great audiences and they claim the name of Christ. Listen, who have never surrendered to Christ. They have just added Him to their life. They've taped Him onto their life. He's a little good luck charm at the time when they need it, but they have never come into a relationship with Christ from a place of surrender. And even if they have come into a place of surrender and they have been born again of the Spirit of God, I'm telling you, we're seeing it more and more and more that there is no, within them, there's a day of surrender for salvation, but there is no continued life of yielding. yielding on a day-to-day basis to the rulership of God in their life. So what does surrender look like? What does it look like? I want to look at this today in Acts chapter 9. The title is really simple, just surrendered and yielded. Surrendered and yielded. I heard a preacher one time say, I like how he said it, he said, you know, God would rather us yield but if we won't yield, He can help us surrender. See, surrender is when you get back to a corner and you say, okay, I'm done. Right? I'm done. I can't go anymore. I'm done. You know what God would rather do? He'd rather you, out of the heart, just yield to Him and trust Him. I want to look and see what a surrendered life looks like to start with, and then what a yielded life looks like. It's all right here in our text in Acts chapter 9. If you would, though, go back. You can go back to Acts chapter 7. I'm not going to go and read all of it. I'm just going to give you a quick synopsis of where we are in chapter 9. But if you go back to Acts chapter 7, Stephen is disputing with the men of the synagogue. The Bible says he's full of the Holy Ghost. He is preaching. And the Bible says they couldn't resist him. And they couldn't resist what he was preaching, and he was preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. And they couldn't resist him, so they brought him to the council, which no doubt would have been the council of the Sanhedrin. And they lied about Stephen. They said, well, he's teaching that Jesus is going to destroy the temple, and he's going to change the customs of Moses. And so the high priest then questions Stephen, and if the accusation is true. Well, Stephen takes the opportunity to preach to the council the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he begins by giving Israel a history lesson, right? He says, God brought you out of Egypt and He took you out of there and he reminded them of the promises that God made for Israel and the promise of a Messiah. And he told them though, that their fathers in times past had killed the prophets. And he said, and you killed the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at chapter seven, verse 51 through 53. Look what he says here. He says, ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye. Wow, I like that. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them, which showed before of the coming of the just one, that's Jesus Christ, of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. Look what it says here in verse 54, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. Oh, they couldn't handle it. They were so angry, they dragged him out of the city and they began to throw the rocks at him and they murdered him. by throwing rocks at him, but he murdered him by stoning. But I want you to notice here at the stoning of Stephen, who was there watching him? So many of you know this, verse 58, and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. Listen, Saul heard the preaching of Stephen. Saul would have been one of the ones that was cut to the heart. Saul would have been one of the ones that was sent into a rage when they took Stephen out and they dragged him out of the city and stoned him. He felt the conviction of the Spirit of God at the preaching of Stephen. Now you'll notice chapter eight and verse one, and Saul was consenting unto his death. There was this persecution that was already going on against the church of Jesus Christ there at Jerusalem. But Saul went berserk after this instant with Stephen and he went totally crazy. Look at verse 3, As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committed them to prison. Paul is trying to destroy everything that Stephen is preaching about. Why? Because he's under conviction. He's saying no. What's he doing? He's battling against God right now. In chapter nine and verse one, if we get over to our text, look at this first word after it says, and Saul, yet. He's still going. He is relentless, he's not stopping. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. So Saul is gonna go into the high priest. Saul is on the council of the Sanhedrin as well. He has access to the high priest, and he's gonna ask him for letters, or you might call it a warrant per se, so that he can go to Damascus, that he can go through the synagogues, and he can go and try to find out anybody, the Bible says, of this way. Anybody that is in a believing, saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Why? So he could bring them back to a trial. And look at the pattern of this. He's at the stoning of Stephen. He's under conviction for the spirit of God. He is wreaking havoc among the churches. He is continuing yet breathing out slaughterings and threatenings. He's on his way to Damascus to find even more Christians. Can we not agree that Saul of Tarsus is at war with God? Amen? You see in verses three through five of our text, beginning with Adam, God has always pursued fallen man. After Adam and Eve sinned, they began to cover up the consequence of their sin. The Bible said their eyes were open and they saw that they were naked. And they knew that this unknown thing called death was coming, but they did not know how or when or what it would look like. They don't know what death was. They had never experienced it, had no clue what this was. And here they were in the garden, terrified, trying to cover up what they've noticed, trying to hide from God. But it was God who came to Adam, the Bible said, as he would at other times in the cool of the day. What a beautiful picture this is. Do you know that God could have left, Spurgeon said it, God could have left Adam to wonder all night. God could have left Adam in fear and trembling all night long. He could have let him sit there wondering what was going to happen, but he didn't do that because that's not, God doesn't torment us and he doesn't torture us. God came to Adam in the cool of the day and even in their sin, listen, God is pursuing Adam and Eve to restore a broken relationship. God pursued Adam and Eve. God continued and He pursued after Israel. He rescued them from Egypt. He brought them to the promised land of the covenant that He had made with their father Abraham. But Israel, as we know, rebelled over and over and over and over again. And what did God do through all this time and period is that he pursued them with his prophets, wooing them back to himself. He would use other prophets like Hosea to go, tell him to go marry a woman that would become a harlot and show a picture of Israel and their relationship to God and say, this is how you are with me, but I want you back. And he pursued them and he pursued them. And over and over again, he pursued Adam and he pursued Israel. But not only did he pursue Israel, but he pursued Gentiles as well. He pursued Nebuchadnezzar, remember? The king of Babylon, he was lifted up with pride and he walked out one day to look out over his land. his domain and his reign there. And when he believed that the greatness of Babylon was because of himself, in an instant, God struck him down. And the Bible says that he was made like a wild animal. And the Bible says that seven times passed over him, whether it was months or years, or I'm sure it wasn't days, because the Bible says his hair grew out and his nails grew out, and the dew of the grass of the morning was upon him, and he ate grass like the oxen. I mean, in an instant, God made him go absolutely nuts, like an animal. And as he went there through the time, as God has allowed, eventually, in another instant, God woke him up. You know what Nebuchadnezzar said? Daniel recorded it. In Daniel 4 and verse 34, it's recorded Nebuchadnezzar said this, and at the end of the days, it's like a testimony. I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. And what did he do when he came back to his senses? I blessed the Most High, amen, and praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation to generation. God was pursuing this Gentile king. And finally Nebuchadnezzar raised the white flag of surrender. And he said, God, you are God. You are above all. Listen, I praise you. I honor you. You live forever and ever. Your domain is everlasting domain. You are God, amen. God pursued him. God pursued Adam and Eve. God pursued Israel. God pursued Gentile kings. And here in chapter 9, God is pursuing this assault of Tarsus. He's breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the church of Jesus Christ. He's on his way to Damascus. He's gonna root out any believer he can find hiding in the synagogue or trying to proselytize and bring others to Christ. He's determined to bring them back to Jerusalem to stand trial before the council and no doubt the high priest. And I'm sure he had been just as happy to see them stoned just as Stephen was. You see here in verse three, it says here, and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus. He's forging on in his battle against God. He's just moving on and moving on, trying to quench the drawing and quench the pursuit of God. And he's forging on against the church of Jesus Christ. You know, later Paul's gonna write and says, hey, I did it ignorantly though. God had mercy on me. He really thought he was doing what God would be pleased with. And God wasn't. But regardless here, Jesus is continuing to pursue Saul of Tarsus. And he stops him. You see verse 3. Suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. He stopped him. Saul fell to the ground. I said one day he fell off the mule the donkey was riding. Sherry says, where does it say that? I'm the preacher. It doesn't say that. She'll be preaching tonight. Wonderful message. Joke. It just said he fell to the ground. He fell to the earth. And he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, that's his Jewish name, No, God didn't change his name. He had two names. He had a Roman name and a Jewish name. The Bible doesn't ever say God changed his name like he gave Peter a name. Yeah, he was a full Roman citizen by birth as well. Saul, why persecutest thou me? Wait a minute. He was persecuting Christians. He was wreaking havoc against these churches. Why persecutest thou me? Listen, because an attack or neglect of the church of Jesus Christ is an attack or neglect of Jesus himself. It's pretty big. Colossians 1.18 says he's the head of the body, the church. What is the body? The church. What is the church? A called out assembly, an ecclesia. There's no universal church. There's no invisible church, right? You know what this Crimson Avenue Baptist Church is? It is a body, it is a church, it is an ecclesia of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his. HE'S THE HEAD OF THE BODY, RIGHT? HE'S THE HEAD OF THE BODY. 1 CORINTHIANS 12, 13, IT IS NOT SPEAKING OF A UNIVERSAL CHURCH. IT SAYS, YOU KNOW, BY ONE SPIRIT OR BY WAY OF OR THROUGH ONE SPIRIT, SALVATION, ARE WE ALL BAPTIZED INTO ONE BODY? WHAT IS THE BODY? WELL, IT'S AN ECCLESIA. IT'S A CALLED-OUT ASSEMBLY. EVERYBODY WHO IS SAVED, THEY ARE BAPTIZED INTO A BODY. AMEN. ROMANS 6, 3, AND KNOW YOU NOT THAT SO MANY OF US AS WE'RE BAPTIZED INTO JESUS CHRIST, WE'RE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? How are we baptized into Jesus Christ? Well, what's his body? The church, where are we baptized into? The body, right? So when we're baptized into the church, we're baptized into Jesus Christ. This is him. This is his body. He left earth, he went to heaven to accomplish, you know, and apply the blood and accomplish his role as our intercessor and all that he does today. But as he left planet earth, he left his body here through his churches to continue to seek and to save that which was lost. See, every believer that is saved and baptized into a New Testament Baptist church has been baptized into the body of Christ. See, what you do to this church, you do to Jesus. What you do for this church, you do for Jesus. What you neglect of this church, you neglect of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where you are disobedient in this church, you are disobedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. What you withhold from His church, you withhold from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? Boy, that's a good response, isn't it? Brother Ryan, that's the best response he could have had. Who art thou, Lord? He can't see anything. He's been blinded. His eyes are closed. He's just been knocked to the ground. Look at the answer we have here. I am Jesus. Whom? Whom thou persecutest. You're persecuting me, soul. You're coming against me. So, I like what he says next. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. that sharp long, that long pole with a sharp end on it that they would prick and goad those sheep to move or cattle to move. And if you ever do that, if you've had any type of livestock and you've tried some type of a prod to get them to go and you watch them, they'll kick at you. Like, get that thing out of here, right? They'll kick at it. This is what imagery the Lord Jesus gave here. Paul, it's kind of hard for you to kick. Listen, you can kick against God, but you're not gonna do it successfully. We were trying to get a cow, me and my granddad were trying to get a cow into the stanchion there. And I don't know why he wanted it in there, but he wanted it in there. It was in the barn lot and he couldn't get it and couldn't get it. And the cow was running through the lot, and I think Paul was probably about 78, 79 at the time. I forgot how old he was. He might have been about 80 at the time. And anyway, this cow comes running around, and he had already been poking at it, trying to get it down in there. And this thing was going wild to come around, and it just come right up in back of him. It just about ran into my grandfather. He fell on the ground and just dropped flat on the ground. The cow jumped over the top of him and went on. He was looking out the gate just chewing. I mean, he wanted out of the gate. He wanted out of the corral. And my granddad got up and he had this long pole. He goes, I hate to do this. And he ran at that thing. cram that thing and that cow went up through the gate out into the fence and he knocked the gate off the everything just tore it all up went out to the field and granddad put the fence back and just threw the gate back and let him go and I'm sure he was eating she was eating pretty soon after that but yeah no listen an animal may get away but you won't It's hard for you to kick against the pricks. Jesus was pursuing Paul. Jesus said it right here, you're kicking against the goat. The way I'm putting, you're kicking against it. Ever since the stoning of Stephen, ever since the, I should say the preaching of Stephen and the stoning of Stephen, you have been kicking against me and you're not gonna do it for very long. And finally, he has been battling against Jesus and Paul is gonna finally throw up the white flag of surrender. I'd throw it up, but I got rid of it. See, this is how some people, they just get rid of the flag. Oh, I found it. Found it, this is a nice flag. And you can wipe your hands off with it too, it's a nice rag. No, Paul finally threw the flag up. He finally surrendered, yeah? But watch, this surrender, put that down. This surrender didn't come peaceably. It came with a battle. God had to knock him down. God had to blind him. And God had to get his attention to finally, in verse six he says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? I'm ready. So now we see, remember what we talked about surrender? You have surrender, you have the white flag goes up, but then you have the conditions of surrender. The power that is over you is now gonna stipulate what the conditions of surrender look like. In verse six, look what he says. God says, and he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. You know, here Paul was astonished and trembling. I don't think Paul ever lost the fear of the Lord in the rest of his life. It's sad so many believers and so many of us have lost the fear of the Lord. Yeah. He's just a good old boy, right? He's just a man upstairs. He's just this, he's just that. Can I tell you the God of heaven can snuff your life out in a second. You better be thankful he loves you. He's a God of love and compassion and mercy. Praise the Lord. What will thou have me to do? Here's the conditions of the surrender. Arise, go to the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Yeah. Look at verse 15, But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, he's talking to Ananias here, for he is speaking of Saul, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my namesake. He is a chosen vessel Here's the conditions of the surrender, Saul. Here's my conditions. You are gonna serve me the rest of your life. And you're gonna go out and preach the gospel to not only the Gentiles, but you're gonna be a witness of me unto all of Israel. I want you to serve me. What was the evidences of that surrender? Are there any evidences of Paul's surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ? Well sure there are. Look at verse 20. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues. Where is he? He's at the synagogue of Damascus that he was on his way to try to root out any believer that he could find. And you know what he is? He's one of the believers in the synagogue that he was going to try to root out. Amen. God has a great sense of humor. I love it. He preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God. and all that heard him were amazed and said, is not this he that destroyed them which called on his name in Jerusalem and came hither for that intent that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt in Damascus, proving that this is very, very Christ. Look at verse 28 and 29. And he was with them coming in. and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him and they had to lower him down in a basket and get him out. You see, there is an evidence of the surrender of Paul to the stipulations and the conditions of the article of surrender. He went out immediately and did what God had told him to do. But not only, listen, not only was there that day of surrender, not only was there that moment when Paul raised up the white flag and said, thou art Lord, whatever you want me to do, I will do it. He also lived a life of surrender. Jesus took him to the Arabian desert for three years and taught him. He was called to be sent out from the church at Antioch to be what we would call a missionary today. He went out and preached the gospel throughout the Gentile world, starting in the synagogues, preaching Christ and moving out from there. He was told not to go to Asia. When he wanted to go to Asia, he desired to go into Asia and the Holy Spirit said, no, you're not gonna go to Asia. And as while he surrendered to that, yielded to that, he got a dream in the night that Macedonia called and they went to Macedonia in Greece and had a wonderful, wonderful fruit from their labor there. He went to Jerusalem knowing that there was gonna be trouble. He went to Rome where his ministry would finally come to an end. His life was marked by a yieldedness to God at every step of the way. Some of his last words that he ever wrote to Timothy, he said in chapter four, verses six through eight, I am now ready to be offered at the time of my departure is at hand. I fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, look at the assurance. I'm telling you, you know what a life of yieldedness and surrender brings? It brings a life of complete assurance. He says, henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but also to all them, but unto all them also, that love is appearing. What confidence he had in the Lord. Paul was pursued by the Lord Jesus Christ. He was pursued. He surrendered. And he went on to live a life yielded unto God. Yielding at every moment of the way. You know God is pursuing today. He hasn't stopped. He's pursuing the lost. Romans 10, 17, that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. In John 6, 44, Jesus said, no man comes unto me except the father who has sent me draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. Jesus is pursuing with his word. He is pursuing with the working and the drawing of the spirit of God. He is pursuing the lost, but he's also pursuing the saved. Those who have already surrendered in salvation. Those who have already thrown up the white flag and said, yes, Lord. Yes, I agree. I believe you. I'm lost. You've heard the gospel. You know your condition. You know you're in trouble with God. And you surrendered that day to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful day it was. Isn't it crazy? This is another total paradox of the world, that surrender could be the most joyful thing you could know in your life. I'm telling you, the greatest day in your life is when you surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. But maybe there's some other areas of your life you haven't surrendered yet. Aren't we funny creatures? That we can trust God for our eternity, but we can't trust Him for tomorrow. We are a strange lot, aren't we? Maybe there's another area of your life where you haven't surrendered to the will of God. Yeah. Maybe husbands and fathers, you've been being called to be the priest of your home. You've been called to teach the word of God. You've been called to live the word of God. You've been called to be faithful in the word of God. And maybe you haven't surrendered to that. You're too busy with other things. Maybe mothers and wives, you've been called to follow that husband who's supposed to be following God. You've been called yourself to teach the Word of God. Oh yes, the children is not to forsake the commandment of their father, forget the commandment of their father, or forsake the law of their mother. It is to teach them the Word of God. And mothers, maybe you've There are those that have been called to, you're being called over and again to teach your children and to follow your husband and live the Word of God and to live in faithfulness. Maybe it's just faithfulness in your life that God is calling you to surrender to. You know, there's so many that are just not faithful today. Churches will empty out in the night service. I know some people have ailments and things. I'm not talking about that. But there are people that are full-bodied, abled, and well, right, to be in the house of God, right, but they're empty. Why? Faithfulness. Faithfulness to Jesus. It's His body. Maybe God's calling some to faithfulness, to surrender finally to a life of faithfulness. Maybe God is calling in the area of giving and you're fighting God over control of your money. Can I remind you this morning, it is not your money, amen? It was given to you by God and haven't you noticed in your life that he can take it away faster than you can even blink an eye? Solomon says it takes wings and it flies away. We've done our taxes and you go, we had that much money, there's no way. Where'd it go? The Bible says when the judgment of God is there in your life, it's like putting your money in a bag with holes in it. God says when we're right with her that he rebukes the devourer for us. He rebukes the devourer that comes and devours things. Maybe there's a surrender with money. Not just on what you give, but where you spend it and what you spend it on. It's all His. There's some things that God has no pleasure that we'd spend our money on. They don't glorify Him whatsoever. Could you imagine taking God's money and going to a casino? Could you imagine taking God's money and going to some other form of gambling? Could you imagine that? He said, man, this message was way better at the beginning. Just gotta preach the book. Maybe it's an attitude. God has been calling you to a place of surrender in your lack of forgiveness, in your fear, in your worry, in your bitterness. Maybe it's an attitude. Maybe it's advice. God has been pursuing you and chasing you down to surrender up. Surrender up the alcohol, to surrender up the tobacco. I'm talking to saved people. This happens? Yes, it does. Surrender up the pornography, surrender up the social media, surrender up the gambling, whatever it is. Maybe it's a vice. Can I tell you whatever you're fighting against? And listen, we know when we're fighting against the drawing of God. You are never gonna know the peace and joy that God has for you until you surrender it to Him. You will not. Surrender to God is the strangest thing, isn't it? As I said earlier, to most people, surrender means great loss. But this surrender here means great gain. When we surrender to God, we gain everything. We lose everything that is out to destroy us, and we gain everything that is good for us. Paul said it was joy, it was joy unspeakable, he says it, and full of glory, amen? David said, then will I go unto the altar of God, that's a place of sacrifice, right? I will go unto the altar of God, and unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Paul said, or David said, I'll come to the place and I will, listen, I will submit, I will submit to God at a place of an altar because why God, God, God is my exceeding joy. Isaiah 51, when Israel finally surrenders to King Jesus, Isaiah prophesied and said, therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. See, this is the joy of surrender to God. This is what Satan says, no, it'll be awful. No, it'll be terrible. Somebody's just gonna run your life. God wants you miserable. He wants you doing this and saying this and going over here and doing that. Friend, can I tell you, he's lied to you before. He's been a liar from the beginning. I don't know why you'd believe him now. See, listen, salvation is not about adding Jesus to our life. Salvation begins with surrender to God. And from that very first day of surrender, the Christian life is about a continued pattern of yielding to Christ. And that's where the joy is. I wish Brother Bob Healy could be here today. I'm sure they're watching. He told me how he was, he pastored 25 years faithfully out in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. And all of us who know Brother Bob, love Brother Bob and Miss Betty, what a joy they are and what a joyful spirit they have, what precious people they are. Brother Bob told me one time that he was a truck driver and he had that old, it was a Peterbilt, wasn't it? Was it a Peterbilt cab over? I think it was, no, he had a long nose on that one, didn't he? Was it a cab over? I don't, I don't. He was Cabover and he loved that. I think it was a dark blue truck. He told me all about love that truck and he was running from God. God was calling him to preach and he said that truck got sideways. I guess it was south of Kansas City somewhere or something. It got south and it got sideways on him and wrecked that truck and walked away from that truck unscathed by the grace and the mercy and the miracle of God. And you know what he did? He went to preaching because he knew it. You know what? He threw the white flag up. Hey, it wasn't the best way to surrender, but it was surrender. Amen. I was just telling Sherry this morning, I was just thinking about this this morning. When we came to Nixa, we were praying about this and the opportunity was here for us to come. It was about the year, what year is it? 2015, beginning to middle of the year, I guess, 2015. And we had been asked to come and to come on as the assistant pastor and I'd been praying about it and praying about it and praying about it. Probably praying too much about it. And I remember coming to this one day, and I remember thinking kind of this monologue in my own mind, kind of role, you know, playing this out of my own mind. No, I don't know. I don't think. Maybe this isn't the best. Maybe this isn't it. I don't think. Can I tell you, I didn't really, I wasn't that excited to come. Does that sound wrong? Yeah. Can I tell you something? I don't know if anybody should be that excited to come. I think the Lord should bring you here. When you come with confidence of the Lord, then you'll want to be here. Amen. But I remember thinking in my mind, I don't know, I don't know. And as I began to say no in my mind, you know what began to overwhelm me was this feeling of disobedience. And I said, no, this is of the Lord. This is of the Lord. And we came. Amen. Yeah. Raise the white flag. Agree to the terms of the surrender and live every day yielded to God. Can I ask you this morning, are you born again? Do you remember the day that you met Jesus? That white flag went up. You knew He was pursuing you. You knew you were lost. You knew you were on your way to hell. You knew you were condemned. And you turned to Him and called upon Him and believed and repented and called upon Him. Do you remember that day that you surrendered? If you can't remember that day this morning, can I plead with you to come today? Can I tell you, you know what, if you haven't come to Him, it's very likely that heaviness is on you this morning. And the Holy Spirit of God is drawing you this morning. You know, you know, before it's too late, you know you need to be saved. You know you've never come to Christ. But maybe you're here this morning, you're born again. And you know it, you remember the day. But the question from here on out is, are you yielded? Is your life marked by a continual pattern of surrender? Had a guy tell me years ago, I was trying to witness to him, he goes, oh kid, I got religion years ago, I'm fine, I got religion years ago. No, he didn't get anything. And it was evident by his life. But there are some of those Christians out there As they are saved, they are born again, they put their faith in Christ, but their life is not marked by a continual pattern of surrender. Is your life marked by a pattern of surrender? Is there something specific today that you have been fighting God against? Can I implore you this morning to surrender your will to Him and yield to Him today? Maybe you're going through a pattern in your life. You can feel the fighting. You know when it is. You know the difference between just the struggles and the worries of life and just the hardship and the valleys of life. You know the difference between that and when you're just fighting against God. You know it, you know it. I would like to do with all that's within me to tell you to surrender to Him today. surrender to him today and walk out of here with the joy of the Lord that has probably been missing for a long time. Father, I am so thankful that you pursue us. Lord, it's no doubt that your children get away from you at times. And it's no doubt that we can live a life that's not marked by yieldedness or surrender to you. And Father, it's pretty plain throughout your whole word. that the joyful life and the restful life and the contented life is a life of trust and yieldedness and surrender to you. There may be those today that need to come to you today and just throw up the white flag and surrender to you. Would you do that work today? There may be somebody here today that's not saved. Would you, your Holy Spirit, draw them today, that today they'd come and get saved. Whatever the need is today, would you do that work? And we'll thank you for what you do. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand this morning for the invitation. Piano's gonna play this morning, the invitation is open. Are you surrendered in every place? In every way? Is your life marked by a pattern of yieldedness and surrender? Maybe there's a little area. There's just one little place. If you would tell somebody what it is, they'd say, that's it? That little thing there, really? Listen, it doesn't matter how little it is. It doesn't matter how large it is. All that matters is that we live a life patterned by yieldedness and a surrender to Him. Have you really surrendered all? Does he really have it all? No doubt there's some here that are living a life of surrender. The Lord's not pointing anything out and this would be a good time just to ask the Lord to help you. to continue a path of yieldedness, to help you stay alert and awake and aware. But I know that no doubt there are some that need to throw the white flag up today and surrender to Him. Shhh. You know, with surrender comes a need for sacrifice. And so many don't wanna sacrifice for the Lord. It's amazing what we will sacrifice for. We'll sacrifice for all sorts of things. We can sacrifice, we have the capability. But sadly, it's what and who we're sacrificing for what has created such a grave change in our nation and our churches. Amen. Well, don't forget tonight, five o'clock, we'll be back and looking forward to the service tonight. And we're gonna be dismissed in a word of prayer. And I get around, say, greet one another, say hello, and just greet our guests that are able to be with us. So glad you're able to have our guests with us today, and look forward to seeing y'all back. All right, we're gonna be dismissed in a word of prayer. Brother David, would you close us in prayer, please?