All right, good morning. My privilege to be at First Baptist of Laurel, and we've been looking forward to this time with you, and really looking forward to camp. Please remember to pray. Remember, God throughout history has always used prayer. He has told us to pray, he's instructed us to pray, and God moved. So many times, even throughout the Word of God, you see that God moved when his people prayed. And so please be in prayer this week for camp. And I'm going to be spreading the seed and I'm going to trust the Lord is going to give the increase this week. All right. And so we're glad to be with you and glad to be out here in Montana. Our home is Pennsylvania. We love coming out here. And I know coming out here, I see more cowboy boots than people anywhere else. And I know Brother Muss, and I thought he'd be wearing cowboy. He's got a different kind of boot on besides a cowboy boot. But we always love Brother Musson, and we pick on each other a little bit, and I know he's gonna come up after me, so I gotta watch out, all right? But we're gonna take our Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Colossians, the book of Colossians, chapter number two, Colossians chapter number two. So thankful for Pastor's invitation to be able to preach to you this morning, and I believe the Lord laid his palm on my heart. Philippians, I'm sorry, Colossians chapter number 2. and be looking at verses four through eight. I often like to do this. We could stand out of respect or reading God's word this morning if you're physically able to. Colossians chapter number two and verse number four, the Bible reads, and this I say, lest any man should spoil or beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit. joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and be deceived. after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Let's bow in prayer together. Heavenly Father, I do thank you that you have not left us here to our own devices or our own opinions. You have given us the written, preserved Word of God, whereby we cannot issue for our own selves our opinions, but see the very Word of God, the instructions of Almighty God. We pray this morning that You would work and use Your Word, and that we claim that promise. It will not return void, but it will prosper, nothing whereunto You sent it. We'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. When you come to the book of Colossians, of course, we know to whom is the book of Colossians written. Well, in chapter 1, the Bible makes it pretty clear in verse number 2, to the saints, their faithful brethren in Christ. They are saints. Do you know that there are saints? And if you're a real saint, doesn't mean that you're dead, amen? There are some religious organizations that teach that you can't be a saint until you're dead, and so many years later we'll vote on you and notify you whether or not you can be a saint. Can I tell you that in 1988, I remember the day where I was notified. And Father, Son, and Holy Ghost cast their ballot, and I was saved by the grace of God. And Saint Shane is standing before you this morning, having the time of his life, getting to preach the Word of God. And there are saints, and there are aints. And you're either a saint, or you ain't a saint. But if you ain't a saint, you become a saint by the new birth. Amen? And so whom is this book written to? But it's written to saints. Saints means you are a saved person. Alright? Not by other people's definitions, but by God's definition. Alright? And in our passage that we're looking at, the Bible gives us instruction. Note verse 6, it's going to be the key verse. As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Now, I'm a guy that likes to understand things. I hope you're with me this morning. And so when I look at that and I say, as you receive Christ Jesus, so walk ye in Him. Alright, so that tells me that if I'm going to know how to walk my Christian life, it's related to how I received Christ. And so I have to properly understand how I received Christ so that I can walk to receive Christ. So it's talking about saints. Now what does it mean to receive Christ? Well, in John chapter 1 and verse number 2 of the Gospel, the Bible says this, He came unto His own, and His own what? Received Him not, but to whomever received Him. To them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. And so what does it mean to receive Christ Jesus? Now, I've talked to some people and they said, oh yes, I receive Christ every week. Really? What they mean is, they believe when somebody prays over bread and over wine, And they take it that that bread and wine literally becomes the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They call it transubstantiation. And they say that's, I received Christ. Now that's not what Paul is talking about. What is He saying? But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. So clearly, to receive Christ, would you agree with me, according to the Bible, you become a son of God? That's right. All right, that's what he's talking about here. He's talking about somebody who's saved to become a son of God. All right. So how did someone receive Christ? Now, if you're saved here this morning, you're going to say, yes, this is right. This is how I received Christ. If you're here this morning and you say, well, I don't know about that. Maybe you haven't received Christ. And some of these verses are familiar. So please hold with me, if you will. These are very important concepts to understand in order to walk. to please the Lord. There are four terms of soteriology. You say, Brother Shane, I just lost you. You used a $50 word. We don't do that here. No $50 word, soteriology. That is just a simple mean is the doctrine of salvation. And so what is it? There's four terms we're going to look at. So number one, under how did you receive Christ Jesus, number one is repentance. Now, according to Matthew chapter 4 and verse 17, listen carefully, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Luke 13 verse 3, But I tell you, Nay, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke 15 verse 7, I say unto you that likewise there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. Luke 24 verse 47, and that repentance and remissions of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Acts chapter 17 verse 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Acts chapter 2 verse 38, And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts chapter 3 verse 19, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Would you agree with those Bible verses I read that repentance is necessary to be saved? It is necessary in order to become a child of God. There must be repentance. All right, so you agree. The Bible says that. Next term, number two, belief. Belief is required in order to be saved. John chapter 3, verse 16, you know well. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not on him is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. It's pretty clear you have to believe in order to be saved. All right, John 5, verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. It's pretty clear in order to have everlasting life, you must believe. Acts chapter 16 verse 30, And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Pretty clear you have to believe, wouldn't you agree? How about John 6, 47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. You don't get around it. There must be repentance, shouldn't there? There has to be. Number two, there has to be belief. And number three, there must be faith. All right, Hebrews chapter 11 and verse six says, but without faith it's impossible, not improbable, not unlikely, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. All right, Ephesians. In chapter 2 and verse 8, for by grace, you know these verses, for by grace are you saved through faith, right? You have to have faith. Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Luke chapter 7 and verse 48, and he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins also? And he said to the woman, thy faith has saved thee. Would you agree with me this morning? You must have faith in order to be saved. All right, you're with me, good. How about number four? In order to be saved, you must also have confession. That's the fourth word, you must have confession. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 15. Whosoever therefore shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. Would you agree from the Bible you must have confession in order to be saved? Alright, there's four terms. All must be a part of you trusting Christ as Savior in order for you to be saved. All right, now all of these terms, please bear with me here, you'll understand why I say all these things. All of these terms are linked together. The word confession is linked to belief. You know the verses, Romans 10 9-10, that if thou shalt, what, confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and what, believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. There's a pretty clear link between confession and belief. There's also a very clear link between faith and belief. Romans chapter 4 verse 5, but unto him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. That is telling me that faith and belief are synonymous there. You can put those together. They're connected. All right, next, belief is connected to repentance. Mark chapter 1 and verse 15 and saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. It's pretty clear, isn't it? They're connected, belief and repentance. All right, so what do they mean? Well, what does faith mean? You know that faith is not your denomination. You say, oh yes, I am of the Baptist faith. No, faith is not a denomination. Talk to someone, they said, I am of the Catholic faith. Talk to another person, I'm of the Methodist faith. I'm a Presbyterian, I'm a Protestant. You know, there's all kinds of names we've got out there, don't you? But you know, when the Bible's talking about faith, never once is it talking about any denomination. What is it talking about? Well, I'm just a simple guy that believes to believe the Bible, and God tells us exactly what faith is. You know what it is? It's found in Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. It says, so then faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Where does faith come from? How do you get faith? There's only one place it comes from. It comes from God's word. So do you have faith here this morning? We're going to look at another thing. Okay, so you know what faith is. Let's look at what does the word repentance mean. Now, the Greek word for repentance is metaneo. It means to say the same thing. I'm sorry, no, that's the confession, sorry. It means to change one's mind. Repentance, getting ahead of my notes here. Repentance, Greek word, metaneo, to change one's mind. That's very important. I like to understand it in this way, a change in mind that results in a change of direction. So, say I was coming to First Baptist Church of Laurel with my wife, and we're driving here, and Mandy's very happy that we chose to get a Mini Cooper to put behind our motorhome, and so we're driving here, and we pass by it, and I say, oh, lookie here, honey, there goes the First Baptist Church of Laurel. And I recognize it, but I don't turn around and come back here. Did I repent? No, I just gave the observation. That's not repentance, all right? It's a change of mind. We're going to get into that a little bit more later. All right, another term, confession. That's the word homologeo. Now, you should be able to know from those terms, homo, like homogenized milk. Homo means same. Logeo, logos, word, means same word, literally, that's how you say it, same word. So it means to say the same thing, that's what confession means, to say the same thing. Now, how did you receive Christ Jesus, putting these things together? All right, number one, you heard the gospel message, you heard that you were a sinner. Is that correct, if you're saved here this morning? Yes, you heard that you were a sinner. Now, sin was not what you defined it, because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Sin is out, God defines it. And so it wasn't like, oh, yeah, I'm a bad person, but I'm not as bad as my brother, because my brother's really bad. And of course, everybody likes to compare themselves to the worst person in the world they can think of. I'm not as bad as Adolf Hitler. Well, there's a prize. All right, so you can find anybody that's gonna be a lot worse than you, and so your definition of good and bad cannot come from you. It has to come from an objective source, and it has to come from Almighty God. And sin is anything you think, say, or do that breaks God's law. Simply, as the Bible says, sin is the transgression of the law, and that's God's law. If God says do, and you don't, that's sin. If God says don't, you do, that's sin. And according to the word of God, everybody here is a sinner. I know you got little halos floating over your heads, but there are little horns holding that halo up, amen? No, I'm just teasing. And we're all sinners, aren't we? We are. You heard the gospel message. You heard that you were a sinner. Because of your sin, you're heard from the Word of God. You're separated from God, just like Adam and Eve, when they sinned in the garden, were separated from God's presence as they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. And so all men since then have not had that relationship with God because of sin. And we also see from the Word of God that God will judge your sin. For the wages that is the penalty or the payment for your sin is death, eternal separation from God. You heard that Jesus came to the earth to save and deliver us from our sin. You heard that Jesus lived without sin and died for our sin, was buried and rose again for our sin. And so first, you heard the gospel message. And the next thing that happened, if you trusted Christ, you repented. What did you repent of? Well, you repented of what you thought was true. Perhaps you were a part of a different, and I'm sure in a Congregation this size, there's plenty of you that were raised different from being a Baptist. Am I correct about that? Yeah, you weren't raised in a church where you might've heard the gospel message, and you might've been in a different denomination or whatever, doesn't matter what you were, and they preached something, and it was not the truth of the word of God. And there's some people that teach, really, you can get to heaven, you know, as long as you pray to some saints. You get to heaven if you do some good works. As long as your good works, that always confused me. Your good works outweigh your bad works. You keep in count how many good works you got, how many bad works you count. But you're going to be in trouble at the end, aren't you? And but they say, well, I heard that. That's what I believe. And as I go to people and I ask them if they die today, if they go to heaven and how they can know. And they say, yeah, I'm going to go to heaven because I'm a pretty good guy. I remember talking to one guy. He told me he was a pretty good guy. And I said, hey, I said, what if you went down to the bank and said, give me all your money, and they give you your money, and then they hit the little button down there, and a wonderful police showed up, and they escorted you down to the magistrate's office, and you stand before that judge, and you say to the judge, you know, I know I kind of messed up this time, but I'm a pretty good guy. I said, is he gonna let you go? And the guy said, no, he wouldn't do that. I said, yeah, he wouldn't do that unless he was corrupt and wicked, right? A corrupt judge might do that. God cannot be corrupted. God is the judge. He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. And when He says in His word, the wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God, He means it. And you heard about the punishment of sin. You understood that, so you repented. You repented of what you believed was true, and now you believe the Bible. You repented of your idea of what sin is, and now you believe it as God defines it. You repented of false religion, and you believe the Word of God. You repented of how you think a person goes to heaven, and now you believe what God says about it instead. In repenting, listen carefully, you surrendered your own ideas of truth, religion, sin, and heaven. You repented. Because if you don't repent, you will not have everlasting life. Repentance is an attitude of surrender. When you come to Christ, you did not add him to a list of other gods in your life. You don't say, oh yeah, I like Buddha. And I'm like, Allah, and I'm going to add Jesus. You didn't repent from anything, did you? That's not repentance. That's not salvation. You don't add Jesus to other religions or parts of religions. When you come to Christ, you do not negotiate terms and say, God, I'll do this if you save me. He is God. He sets the terms. God does not compromise with anyone. Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and you must surrender and believe that He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, or else you have not repented. You believed. At the same time, you surrendered. You trusted that Jesus died for your sin. Next, you confessed the Lord Jesus, meaning you agreed. You said the same thing as God about His truth. You believe and agree with God's truth and now you proclaim it. So in repenting and believing the gospel, listen carefully, you exercised an attitude of absolute surrender and put your faith in Jesus Christ. Can you identify with that this morning? Is that your testimony? I pray it is your testimony. The necessity of the attitude of surrender. I want you to turn to Mark chapter 10. This has been a passage that has bugged some people through the years. I hope it'll be a help to you. Mark chapter 10 and verse number 17. Here the Bible says, And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Does it sound like this person wants to get saved? Yes. You know, when the Philippian jailer asked the apostle Paul, you know what Paul said? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Jesus says something different. Let's see why. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud, not honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these I have observed from my youth. And I love verse 21. Then Jesus beholding him, that's those next two words, loved him. Jesus loved this man who wanted to know how to get to heaven. One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross, and follow me. And he was sad at the saying, and he went away grieved, for he had great possessions. Now, why is it that Jesus did this instead of what the apostle Paul did? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Jesus has something that you and I don't have. It's called omniscience. Jesus knows the thoughts. Psalm 139, starting in verse one. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. Thou hast beset me before and behind and art acquainted with all my ways. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I flee from thy presence? Whither shall I flee from thy spirit? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. We can't hide from God, can we? And Jesus knew this man's thoughts. Jesus knew this person was not coming in an attitude of absolute surrender. You know, this man was coming, holding on to something. I heard about an evangelist from many years ago. His name was Sam Jones. Pastor, have you heard of Sam Jones from yesteryear? He was a preacher in 1800, late 1800s, early 1900s. And he told the story about a time he was preaching a meeting, and at this meeting, it was a woman of society came. Now, if I say a woman of society, do you know what I mean by that? Some of you look a little confused, so let me describe it a little bit for you. We have any ladies here that watch those bonnet movies? You know what I mean by a bonnet movie? Pride and prejudice. Pride and prejudice. I'm seeing a little bit. Okay, I got a few honest souls. All right, very good. Sense and senselessness. All right, that's another one, right? And sensibility, thank you. All right, and so Jane Austen, is that, honey, is that another one? Okay, all right, so those kind of things. So let me help you. So if you ladies have seen these, you will understand what a woman of society is. She wears prim and proper dresses. She walks a certain way. She wears her clothes and she conducts herself and she speaks in such a manner that everybody knows she is a woman of means. You know what I'm talking about now? And so he was preaching in this time frame where there was people still like that. I don't see anybody like that here, praise God. But this lady came and she came to Mr. Jones after the service. How many of you ladies have seen those movies, those Pride and Prejudice movies? All right, that's good. Now, men, men, if you watch and enjoy those movies, Brother Muston's gonna bring a box up here. He's gonna set it right here, and you're gonna put your man card in there, all right? So, it's definitely a girl show, all right? But anyways. So the woman of society comes, she comes to the meetings, and she comes to Mr. Jones after the service. And she says, Mr. Jones, I want to be saved. And Mr. Jones said, well, ma'am, why didn't you come down the aisle if you wanted to get saved at the time of the invitation? And she said, well, Mr. Jones, I am not walking an aisle. You know what Brother Jones said then? Ma'am, you can't be saved. Next night came, he preached. The woman came back. The same thing happened. The woman met him after the service and said, now, Mr. Jones, I told you I want to get shaved. He said, well, ma'am, are you going to walk the aisle? She said, no. This continued the entire week. She would meet him every day after the service. She kept coming back to the service, and he says, the very last night of the meetings, she came before the service and met with Brother Jones. And she said, Mr. Jones, I just want you to know, tonight, when you give the invitation, I'm gonna walk the aisle. And Brother Jones says, ma'am, you don't have to wait till then. You can get saved right now." And there, they knelt at the front of the church, and she trusted Christ as Savior. You know, the problem was she wanted to get saved in her terms, not God's. You must have an attitude of surrender when you come to Christ. Some of you recognize, yes, I remember when I trusted Christ, these things happened, but now we need to get back to our original text that we looked at, because in Colossians 2, what does it say? As ye have received Christ Jesus, so what? So walk ye in Him. Isn't that what it says? That's why it's so important to review how you trusted Christ. When you came to Christ, you came in an attitude of absolute surrender. How do you walk your Christian life? Same way. It's the same way. It's an attitude of absolute surrender to God. Lord, whatever you want me to do, that's what I'll do. Isn't that what the Bible says anyways? I mean, Romans chapter 6 and verse 13, it says, neither yield, that's the idea of surrender, yield to your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. You're members of instruments of righteousness to God. Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, then Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me. And so there needs to be an attitude of surrender after we get saved. Hey, when you got saved, you didn't make demands of God and tell him the way you're going to get saved. He told you how you're going to get saved. And you know how you live your Christian life? Not telling God how you're going to live. Surrendering to how God wants you to live. I remember, I'll just give you a little bit of my testimony. I started growing in my Christian life quite a bit when I was in high school, and it came, I think it was the end of my 11th grade year, and I was reading my devotions, and God just impressed upon my heart through my devotions. By the way, most life-changing moments have come from my devotions. And God really does work when you seek Him with all your heart. He really does. And so I was reading, and the Lord just pressed upon my heart, and nobody preached on this or anything. It was just God working on me to give up TV or any Hollywood movie for an entire year. Yeah, she's like, what? Yeah, and it was just me. I didn't tell anybody. I didn't go and broadcast it and say all that kind of... It was just between me and God. And you know, I was reading so much of Matthew 5, 6, and 7 all the time, and it talks about when you do good, do it in secret, so don't... tell everybody, and so it was one of these decisions I made myself, just me and the Lord. And it was tested. I mean, we had a class party, Christmas party at somebody's house, and they were watching TV, and while they were watching TV, I was between the wall and the back of the couch with my Bible. Read my Bible. Nobody knew I was there. And I just found ways to be secret about it and that kind of thing. So for an entire year, I didn't watch it. You know what happened in that year? I grew so much of my Christianity. Like, I can't describe it to you. God did such a wonderful work that year. There was times I read my Bible, no, no joke, for four hours in a day. I didn't realize how much extra time I had if I stopped watching TV and movies. When God impressed it upon my heart, I just simply surrendered it. I decided I'm going to do this for a year. I don't know what God might call you to surrender. I remember there was a time I was working on a produce farm, and this produce farm, you don't make a lot of money 15 years old on a produce farm, you know what I'm saying? I was getting $5 an hour. And the farmer dropped me off. He picked me up at 5.15 in the morning. It dropped off about 10 o'clock at night, six days a week. I learned what hard work was. And I would work and I'd work. And then he wouldn't pay me at first because he didn't have any money. He didn't have any money until July when the stand opened. So I would work in May. I'd work all of June. Once school was out, I'd work all of June. And he gave me maybe $100 at all. And then after that, I had to wait till the stand opened, and then he started paying me. And I trusted him. And throughout the years, he always would pay me eventually. And so that's what he would do. And so when he'd pay me, he'd pay me in cash. He basically took the money that was from the stand, and that's what he gave it to me. And I remember I went to church, and I was just a teenager, and I was sitting there in the pew, and Lord laid upon my heart to put all the money that was in my wallet in the offering plate. Now, I don't know why, but I was sitting in the pew, and I was wrestling over that. I was like, well, I already gave my tithe, you know? And I'm just sitting there, and it was at least a couple hundred dollars. You know what a couple hundred dollars is when you work $5 an hour? a lot of money. And so I started, this is really the Lord telling me to do, you know how you go through your mind, it's just me thinking of this, I'm just, I'm in there, I'm miserable as could be in the sea. And then when the offering place come around, I'm really uncomfortable. And you know, I decided I just got my wallet and I just put the money in. And I had great peace after that. And you say, well, I mean, the Lord doesn't ask me to do that every time. I don't know if he did, he'd provide anyways. But I just felt at that time in my life, where my walk was, it was the first job I ever had, the first time I ever made a lot of money. And it was like, for that moment, the Lord was testing my surrender. If I ask you to give your money, would you give it? And in my heart, I thought about that, and I said, Lord, it's yours. And when I gave it over, it wasn't the money, it was my heart. I was surrendering to God. And the Lord will test you in different areas of surrender. I mentioned during Sunday school, I had ambitions to be an engineer. What I was going to do with my life I love mathematics. I was going to be an engineer. My grandfather was an aerospace engineer, designed one of the first Boeing aircrafts, and that's what I was going to do. I had the school picked out. I was going to make a lot of money, because I like math, and I was going to make a lot of money with it. That was my plans. It was the very last thing I surrendered, as I surrendered a lot of things throughout high school. And when I surrendered, finally surrendered that, that's when God called me into evangelism. It wasn't until after I surrendered. I wonder, you're a young person here and you've been fighting God, unwilling to surrender to whatever God calls you to do. You know, another thing that happened is God called me to surrender my music. I was raised in a very conservative home. We had good music in the house. I remember when I was a little kid, I didn't know much about music. At five years old, what can you know about music? You know what I mean? You don't have a lot of discernment. But we had a TV at home. And I guess I'm old, because my parents used me for the remote control. And because we didn't have a clicker, there was a knob. Some of you will get that. Some of you are like, wow, yeah, you're old now. So they'd be like, every time the commercial would come on, and it'd be like rock music would come on, they'd be like, Shane, go turn down the channel. Go turn down the TV. So pretty soon, it was like automatic. I hear a certain music, go right up, turn it down. Mom and dad didn't even ask you to do it anymore. Then we'd go to the neighbor's house to get our hair cut. She had a salon. And over there, they're playing that kind of music. So I say to my mom really loud, mommy, that's bad music. My mom was embarrassed. But as a little boy, I could hear there's a difference between what I was allowed to listen to and what I wasn't allowed to listen to. Would you agree that makes sense to you? Well, then as I got older, I had to start choosing for myself what music to listen to, and I was involved in a lot of music and singing and competitions and things like that. Well, then I got involved as there were some friends of mine that were into the praise and worship music, or CCM, or Christian rock, or I don't know, whatever you want to call it. And so, I started listening to that too. And I started really liking it. I didn't at first really resist it, but then I started really liking it. And I thought it really made me feel close to God, like I just... something inside me just made me feel close to God listening to it. I remember I'd be listening to music, and sometimes the tears would be coming down. I'd be crying. I was that sincere and earnest. But listen, while I knew I was disobeying my parents, I knew my parents wouldn't let me listen to that, but I put it in my car, and I would listen to it when they weren't there. So here I am, feeling close to God with tears coming down while I am outrightly disobeying God by disobeying my parents. Would you agree with me? You know, that's the way sometimes sin can be. You say, oh, but it makes me feel close to God. Let's open up our Bible and find out what makes us close to God rather than our emotions. And so it came to my, I started wrestling over this thing because I started reading my Bible and getting rid of sin in my life, and I was convicted about music, and so I got rid of some of the harder Christian, like the Christian rock songs, and I kept the Praise and Wish songs, because I really liked some of those. And so, and I was wrestling, I was struggling in my heart, like which one's right, which is wrong, you know? And I don't, I like this one, I wanna keep this one, but I'll get rid of this one, and I kept slicing it all up. And finally, God gave me a verse from the book of James, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I said, Lord, I surrender it. I don't need to listen to what makes me feel good. I want to listen to what I know exalts your name and you would be pleased with. And I want to be able to listen to my music, and no matter who hears me, I would not be embarrassed. I want it to glorify you. And so I got my music conviction. Hey, I have so many friends that love, that I had grown up with, I should say, friends that I had grown up with, they love the praise and worship music. And the biggest problem I find with them is they would not be willing to give it up if God asked them to. And really, that's the problem. It's an unyieldedness before God. If God asks you to give it up, should you give it up? Yes. Hey, if God asks you to give up some friends, should you give it up? I know so many people, they're getting trapped by their friends, and they keep dragging them down. I mean, I was talking to this one kid from years ago, he's raised in a good church, and he made a profession of faith. I don't know if he's really saved, but he had a problem with alcohol, and the problem was, he'd go to his rehab, and he'd try to get his life straightened out, and he'd go back to his same friends that he had before that were drinkers. You know what happened? He just starts drinking all over again. Listen, there's some friends that are gonna drag you down, and you just have to come before God and say, Lord, I wanna be friends with whomever you want me to be friends with. You know what the blessing of that is? Well, I got rid of some friends in my life, and the Lord has given me some wonderful friends, right, honey? And we're just so thankful what God has given us. And here's a real spiritual surrender, all right? I went to Bible College in Lattimore, North Carolina. The college is called Ambassador Baptist College. And I got there. I was raised in Pennsylvania. I was not raised in North Carolina. And I got to the school and they had a rule that men, boys, were not allowed to wear shorts. I never heard of that before in my life. Anywhere. I mean, it's a thing down south, I found out later, a little bit more in different places, but I never heard of that my whole life. I mean, we have a huge Christian school, very conservative. We play, I mean, our school ran like 500, and we played like five other schools that were close to that size, Christian schools and good schools. And so, but anyways, we all wore shorts for basketball, for soccer. You know, we didn't for baseball, because you're sliding, that's dumb. And so, but we wear shorts, and I didn't think nothing of it. And then I got to Bible college, and they're like, men are not allowed to wear shorts. And I was very perplexed. And I thought to myself, girls are allowed to wear a skirt down to their knee, and you can see their legs. Is there something about a guy's hairy legs that's gonna be more distracting than a woman's leg? And you can see my brain does not compute, this does not compute. And so you know how long it took me to get over it? About one hour. You know why? I figured I was there to preach, learn to preach. I wasn't there to wear shorts. That's not why I went. But you know, I knew some guys there, and they couldn't get over it. They'd complain about it, and I'm like, this isn't why we're here. Who cares? You go to the Marine Corps, you're gonna tell them what you're gonna wear? Good luck with that, bud. Listen, when I signed up for God's Army, Last time I checked, he's the commander. He's the captain. And if he tells me to surrender something, I just need to surrender it. I need to walk the same way I was saved in an attitude of surrender. Are you willing to say, Lord, I'll give up anything you want me to have with open hands? Some people say, the Lord, well, the Lord hasn't asked me to give up anything, so I don't have to give up anything. You know, those verses I read, if any man will come after me, let him take up his cross, deny himself, denying yourself is surrender. You know, you're gonna have to deny yourself something. God calls all of us to deny ourselves something, and so if you say, God has never told me to surrender anything, I'm gonna ask you, are you saved this morning? Because God surely has asked me to surrender a lot of things. And he's asked all of his disciples to surrender things. And he's going to ask you to surrender things. And you know, when you surrender and you take up that cross and you carry that cross, you know when you're carrying a cross. You know what I'm talking about? Like, do you know when it's sitting there? When God called you to surrender something, you know what he called you to surrender. And perhaps there's some here this morning, you already know what God has called you to surrender. Perhaps this morning's the time to do it. Or some people say, I don't know if I've given up anything. Well, when you pick up a cross, you certainly know it. Let's bow in prayer together. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the Word of God. Lord, I pray this is a help. Oh, Lord, I'm asking, Lord, that you would prick a heart that has not yet repented, believed, and confessed the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that today they would come in an attitude of surrender and trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. And Lord, I'm asking also for believers, Lord, that you would persuade them to stop fighting, but to come to God and add it to the surrender. And whatever area of your life you are working in this moment, would they bring it before thee? Surrender it, Lord, so that they might know what the scripture teaches by their experience as you receive the Christ Jesus, the Lord. So walk ye in him. For this, we'll thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.