The sermon titled "God's Power in Surrender" discusses the concept of surrender in the context of the battle between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of heaven. The speaker emphasizes that if we do well and live according to God's will, sin will not have power over us. The sermon highlights the story of Paul and Silas in jail, where their faithfulness and surrender to God's plan resulted in the conversion of the jailer and his entire household. The speaker encourages the audience to examine their motivations for their actions and to prioritize Jesus in their lives.

Amen and hallelujah, what a, what a beautiful privilege it has been for me to be here. I just want to greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ. I rejoice the grace and mercy that God has had on our lives and it has been a real blessing for me to be here for the wedding and now here this morning it truly has been rich for me. I just thank God for this privilege that we can be together, that Jesus Christ is the vision we heard a lot about in the discussion here at the Bible School. I was very blessed with that and very encouraged. The title, I guess I'll start with the title, is God's Power in Surrender. God's Power in Surrender and to explain a little bit my thoughts on surrender, you know, is we're in a battle where we're fighting whether we want to, there's a battle going on whether we want to fight or not and so this, the thought on the surrender part is there's two kingdoms, the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of heaven and there's such an opposite way for the power to excel. The kingdom of the world, the more intelligence, the greater the power, the greater the machines, the more power the bomb or whatever it might be, that's normally where the victory is. Whoever has the most complicated maybe equipment and the most powerful machines and the fastest machines and those kind of things, that's normally where the victory is and it's such a beautiful thing to consider that in the kingdom of God, in the kingdom of heaven, it's exactly the opposite is where the power is. The more we're surrendered, the more power there is from God and that's a beautiful thought and that's where God's Power in Surrender. I just wanted to share that thought in Matthew 28 verses 18 and 19 and this also goes to with, here we had the scent team leaving and it is to go into all the world, but there's such a beautiful portion of Scripture here, the promise that God gives us in this portion of Scripture in Matthew 28 in verse 18, and Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. That is a command. Isn't it a very encouraging thing to ponder on? We believe in Jesus Christ. He is our King. That's who we claim to have our King and all power, all power is given to Him and so the more we surrender to Him, then there's obviously going to be more power in our lives as far as Jesus Christ. In verse 20, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen. Amen. So that is a promise that we can stand on, that it will never fail. All the power that what we are looking for as we face the battle, the battle that we're in, and like I said, whether we choose to fight is a choice we make, the battle is going on and if we're going to experience the power, the victory in our life, in our walk, it will only be through Jesus Christ. That is the only real victory and hallelujah, He is faithful. He will never, never leave us or let us down in that and so what could be more important to us than to not be slothful in that area? I had an experience here just a couple weeks ago that was a little different for me. My uncle died and I was named after him and I really wanted to go to the funeral and years ago we had a lot more contact with them than what I had in the last 20 years I guess. But going there, it was a real blessing and it was also a real burden, a real burden. And what caught my attention, I mean, the people were friendly and I appreciated that. It was a blessing to be there. And as the person that was preaching, his emphasis right from the beginning was the emphasis of there in 2 Timothy 4 where he was so encouraged. My uncle was I think like 89 years old and he was a blessing. Whenever they visited us when I was at home, he was a blessing. I was blessed with him in his life, but I never really knew much about his spiritual walk. Although it would have been different than what I would feel comfortable with. Although as far as demands or situations, what is important to them I guess I would say. But he was, as the preacher was speaking there about 2 Timothy 4, he was quoting verse 7 and he said, he fought a good fight, he kept the faith, finished his course. And as I pondered on that, I really wondered. See, I don't know what his faith was. And I know some of the things that were very important to him, but I didn't know what his faith was. And as I sat there through the message and that, it was this burden that I felt. They were so confident he kept the faith, but I didn't have the confidence. I was sitting there and I didn't have the confidence that he knew Jesus Christ. I didn't know and I still don't know. But what that did to me was, does my life reflect that I know Jesus Christ? When people observe my life, my walk, what is important? Now I might not be struggling with the fact whether I should have running water and those types of things. But does it reflect in your life? As you are here today, as we are here together, is Jesus Christ truly reflecting that people know that your faith is in Jesus Christ? And that was just a real eye-opener for me as I was pondering that and how it affected me. And I think God wanted to use that to really understand that it's not about the earthly things that we have or don't have, if you will. But whatever we have, that it is about Jesus Christ. All decisions that we make, that it is truly about Jesus Christ. And it was a challenge for me, I'll just say. It was a challenge for me, even after the services. There was many friendly people there and I hadn't seen them in a long time and I appreciated that. And there was different ones that specifically came. Me and my wife were the only ones there that were not of the Amish faith. There was one other person, I guess. And so it was a blessing to be there and to see that they cared and they were thankful that we were there and relating there, that was a blessing. But I just felt like, what could I do? What could I do to know that here was a whole group of people. It was a lot of people gathered, a lot of different communities. And I just didn't know. I sat there and I had no way of knowing that they really know Jesus Christ when He returns. One thing I did know is that there were a lot of people right there in our midst that were truly told that if they do the things that they are told to do, that they will be accepted in heaven. And so that, and when I share this, it's not about, and let's not go there, that we condemn others that do things different. They might, as a group, all agree on certain things. And we're not here to condemn that. That is not what Jesus is interested in. We're interested in, as we heard the young brothers and sisters here that are going with Scent One, that they have a desire to be bold for Jesus Christ, that that would be. Can we together just not be slothful in that? And I sat there, I felt helpless to what could I do. And I know for sure that God is faithful. And one thing that He was interested in is that where I am today, what is important to me, what He wants from me is all about Jesus. That does not eliminate working. That does not eliminate a lot of the things that we need to do. But He wants us to be for Him first. I knew my throat might get a little scratchy, but we'll see how it goes. In Galatians, and this is what God just prompted on my heart, thinking about Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. And as I studied that and thought about it after I had the time there at the funeral, and here Paul was able to say, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live, in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. And I had to think, does my life reflect that? Does your life, do you know that your life reflects that Jesus Christ gave His life for you? He made it completely possible that we could have salvation. And we can do so many good things. See, we look at that and they're sincere in doing good things. And I know that God wanted to get my attention in how it looks to Him when we're just doing good things. When it isn't deeper than doing good things. And we all, I think everybody here, does good things. But is it reflecting that we are crucified with Christ? That that is who we are. That is what reflects from our life as situations come up, as difficulties arise, as relationships are affected. Does it portray, does our life portray that Jesus Christ really, that I am crucified with Christ? And it's a beautiful thought. What does look well? As far as what does God consider well? That's a very simple word. And I am much more a simple person, not a complicated person. And simple words like that mean a lot to me. And they many times get my attention. And in just getting to that, what does, what is well? It was very important to Cain. Let's turn to, I wrote, I copied most of the verses here just for the sake of time. I knew it might be a little short. But in Genesis 4, verses 3 and 4, this was where, I guess I should just make a comment. This was where Cain and Abel brought offerings to God. And I don't know, I've heard a lot of different ways why Abel's offering was accepted and why Cain's wasn't. And there's many different things that it could have been, I guess. I mean, Abel or Cain didn't have any bloodshed and Abel did. And I understand that. But to me, what it meant, what it means to me, as an inspiration, Abel brought his very best and he brought what God wanted him to bring. Cain brought, also brought things. It was earthly things. It was in his own mind what he thought should be good enough for God. And what that means to me is how many times do we go through our Christian walk, our life here, and we decide, I decide what would be good for God, what would be pleasing to God, instead of just humbling ourselves and knowing that he wants it all. Anyway, here in verse 3, And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord, and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. And then as time went on, after this had happened, Abel or Cain recognized that his offering was not accepted. It wasn't what God had wanted. And in verse 6, And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? And this is where, in verse 7, is where this simple little verse, Well, what does well mean? And some of these simple words have a deeper meaning maybe than what is in verse 7, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Now just to share a thought on that, a simple word, if we do well, we have this power of God surrounded with us. If we do not well, the devil lays right there. He's waiting. He knows that there will be something that we will do that he will be able to trip us up. It might be something that somebody says that will offend us. It might be something, but he's laying there. Just we allow him to lay there to trip us up. And that is when we're not doing well. But when we're doing well, we have this powerful protection of Jesus Christ right about us, right with us. And isn't this enough to make us really want to, that Jesus is first, that we're not slothful in this, in any of this. So that was, doing well is, if we can, we understand what well is, but do we know what God looks as well? What does God consider? For Abel it was to bring first the best, the best cuts, the best in not just what Abel thought he might be able to spare or what he decided should be good enough for God. It was what God wanted. And that's specifically what was well to God. For Cain, we see the outcome of what God didn't consider. He still brought things. He still offered. He still gave of himself from what he owned, what he had. He did give, but that was not considered well. But then God told him that if you do well, as you go forth in life and you do well, sin will not have power over you. And I just rejoiced. Hallelujah. We do serve a king that that is actually what we can depend on, what we can have for us. As you know yourself, as you look at your life, as you look at your walk, what actually motivates you to do what you do? I'm asking the question. I think we should all ask us that. What motivates you to do what you do? Is it because the church has decided, has come up with things that you ought to do? Or are you motivated because you're in the Word, because you're reading the Word? It's not necessarily that you understand all the Word. We don't necessarily understand, but our heart, we want to be there. We don't want to settle for anything less than what we really in our heart believe that is what God considers as well. And when we can do that, His blessing will be upon us. He will continue to guide and direct us in ways where we understand, hey, you know, I never give it a thought here, but why am I doing this? And this is the way the Spirit of God gives us direction. We can relate with brothers and sisters. We can walk together when the zeal is for Jesus Christ. It's such a beautiful picture, and I want to get to that. We have some examples in the New Testament of, to me, I just look at it and I say, Lord, help us. And when I say us, His children, the church, help us to really get a grip of some of these things. In Matthew 26, for the most part, whenever I read that, in Matthew 26, where the woman had that alabaster box and anointed Jesus, and that has certainly been a very precious time right there, what she did. But what has, in the latter years, has affected me more, in my current life, in my current walk with Jesus, was, let me go ahead and read this, verses 7 through 13. I'm just going to read those and then share a little bit. Verse 7 of Matthew 26. Why trouble you, the woman? For she has wrought a good work upon me. For you have the poor always with you, but me you have not always. For in that she has poured this ointment on my body. She did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman has done, to be told for the memorial of her. Now, think about that. Put yourself in the situation of where the disciples were. You know, do you realize that they really didn't think much different than what we think today? And rightly so. See, I think we can take a look at that. They knew that there were poor people, and it was just a sensible thinking. Right? But when Jesus said, no, don't think that way, she did a very precious thing. What is a real blessing to me is that the disciples did not refute. They were not offended that Jesus told them, no, the way you are thinking is not the correct way. This is something important to me. They were able to dwell with each other even when Jesus told them, what you're doing and the way you're thinking is not even as important. Even though it sounds important. Even though you do have poor, this is not as important to me as to anoint me for burial. And we don't read that. He expresses that, well, I understand you didn't realize that. But it was just, it is very precious to me to think that they were able to dwell together. The Word of God, which is what we have today. Jesus is speaking to us through the Word and obviously the Holy Spirit. That's a beautiful thing that we can be led by the Spirit in many ways that is not specifically mentioned in the Word. But does it bring conflict? That's the question. When the Word of God is meant to be the supreme, the authority, is that okay with us? Do we have a reasoning? Do we sometimes think of things and come up with ideas that really seem to be more sensible, that would make more sense? Does it bring conflict when the Word of God is upheld to the utmost, to where this is the authority? Can we dwell together doing that, actually wanting that, desiring that? This is a beautiful picture that they gave us. This happened when the disciples were there with Jesus. This really did happen and they were not offended. It built them up and let's take note, we can do it by the power of Jesus Christ through surrender. That will happen and I rejoice. Another account that I would like to just share a little bit on is in Luke 10, verses 33 to 34. And this is where the Samaritan went to Jericho and you all, most of you, I believe, know that story and it's a beautiful parable that we have there. And I just want to point out something here. So I'll just start right in with verse 33. But a certain Samaritan, which they were certainly not considered the spiritual people, and I don't think they were, but here we have someone. I see this Samaritan just like me. I had a need, I had a deep need, I needed Jesus. I needed, and this is the parable that he used to represent that, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him. Who told him to do that? Why did he do that? Was there anybody there that told him, Hey, here's an opportunity. I think it would be good if you could go tend to this man. Him being alone, just being alone, nobody telling him what to do, but his heart, and that's the point, is our heart in such a way that it's not just when somebody tells us to do something, but our zeal, our desire, our walk truly is that when we're alone, that we're motivated to do the right thing, that we're motivated to look at someone else's need, that that is actually what we're looking for, what we're living for. It's not, well, if I've got a lot of work to do, I really need to get this done, and we start thinking, is it really, do I have time for that, or is it, and nobody knows, nobody in church, no other Christians know when we make a decision, how we made it. Does that affect what we decide, or can we, as the Samaritan, nobody told him, it was just his heart to help this person and do more than what was required. Praise the Lord we have these examples for us today, if we can just pick them out and take note. Another one is in Acts where Paul and Silas, and this is a beautiful picture, I mean, this has been for a long time, it has ministered to me deeply of how easy it is for us to take a look at something and maybe not pick up what God wants. If we're in the flesh, many times, if it isn't, when we're not doing what we're doing, or the decisions we make is not about the furtherment of Jesus Christ, the furtherment of the kingdom of God, if that is not the motivation, many times we will make decisions simply by what makes sense at the moment to mankind, and we might not consider that as serving the flesh, but it certainly is a form of that. At the moment we make a decision that is what makes sense to us. Here they were preaching, and I'm just going to read it, and then in Acts 16 starting in verse 23, and when they had laid many stripes upon them, this was because they were preaching the word of God. It was because they were teaching the people that Jesus was the Messiah, and that we need to pay attention to the things that Jesus taught us, and it was bringing a real stir to the Jewish community, because there were so many things that were contrary to what they had been taught, to what they were teaching, and they saw themselves as the learned ones, as the ones that have it together, and so because they were just continuing on being bold, and when we say we want to be bold for Jesus, what is that? Do we want to be bold as long as we don't get the resistance, as long as we don't get labeled as radical or whatever? When you blend humility, meekness, love for Jesus, and passion, when you blend those together, a blessing most certainly will come out of that, but it will not always be pleasing to the flesh, whether the one's listening or the one's delivering, and we know that, but here this was the case with Paul and Silas, and when they had laid many stripes upon them, and they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks, even at that point would we have started thinking, hey, maybe this is not what God wanted me to be doing. I mean, this most certainly isn't bringing peace, and so evidently I'm not doing what is required. Is that a pattern we might have, or do we know when the Spirit of God, do we know the difference? Do we know the difference? Do we understand when the Spirit of God is prompting us and guiding us versus when we're thinking through things, and this makes sense, and well, I think this would be better. Do we know the difference? And that is we will understand the difference when our passion is first of all for Jesus Christ. Let me keep reading. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loose. I'm going to pause there. First of all, Paul and Silas were not singing because the circumstances were beautiful. They were not singing and praising God because the circumstances that they were in was making them happy. This is a beautiful thought to me, that in having been beaten, having been whipped, being put in prison as a very wicked person, put in the stocks, and yet in that circumstance, they were able to praise God, sing hymns. And I believe it was truly that that peace, that joy was in their heart. And we can do the same. The power of surrender actually does that to us, that we're okay. We're not looking for a beautiful bed of roses. We're looking to have Jesus in our heart. And then there was this earthquake, and their bands were loosed. And in verse 27, and the keeper of the prison, awakening out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had all fled. This is another amazing thing. Only this can happen as Jesus Christ is in our life. This can only happen when our life is surrendered and our faith and trust is totally on Jesus. That can only happen because reasoning and sensible thinking would be okay. The jailer is going to kill himself, and we're going to be able to be free. That would be the sensible. That would be the first thing. That would be what would be needful. And so that's how we would think that through. But when there's a love for souls, when the love for souls is number one, they thought of the jailer. He's going to kill himself. He just got done. They knew that there was a bitterness in him. They knew that there was an anger against God. And they had such a love for this jailer that they stopped him, even if they would have been put back to prison. They stopped him. Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Now this was the work, the very purpose. Everything that had been happening up to then would appear as if the blessing of God was not on Paul and Silas to be preaching the word. But all the way up to here, now there's some results. Let's not get discouraged if we don't see results right away. But this was a beautiful result. And then he called for a light, and this would be the jailer, and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And read on there. His whole house was saved. Just think about the circumstances that they were in, that they were willing to be faithful in, that even when resistance came, even when there was things said and they were rejected to that amount, the power of God came through at that moment. And that must have been one of the highlights, the beautiful things to be able for the jailer to repent, for the jailer to see his need and to come to them, what can I do? Have we been there? Have we been to Jesus, asked Him, what can I do? Unless we get to the point where the jailer was, yes, we might have done some awful things. We might have thought some awful thoughts. But have we come to Him with a heart? I don't want anything else. I just want to know what can I do to be saved. And through that heart, through God being able to touch him, through Paul and Silas, the whole house believed. We read that they all believed after going through all that. That's a beautiful thing. And I'd like to bring this to a closing. There's a couple more scriptures I'd like to read here. In Psalms 51, again, where does the power of God come from? It comes through surrender. Let's never forget. It's surrender, but it is... I'll read here what God sees as well. In Psalms 51, in verse 16, For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offerings. Have we tried that already? Has that been a part of our life? That we just simply wanted to do good things. And we wanted to do something that looks good to the people and to God and that we know He must be pleased with. But here He has some very important counsel for us. In verse 17, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise. That's a promise. That's a promise. And I want to close with Matthew 19. I think we're familiar with this. It's just an encouragement. Not one person here is going to be able to sum up enough power, enough strength, enough good to be able to do that. Even to have a broken heart. Even to have a broken and contrite heart, we will not be able to try hard enough to really have that, what God is looking for, but a surrendered heart. Absolutely will do it. And in Matthew 19, verse 26, But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. I want to leave that with you. It is true. Hallelujah. Amen. I just want to say thank you, Brother Henry, for sharing with us this morning. God has shown us this week the importance of resting and the amount of conquering we can actually do when we decide to rest and give up and be powered off of God's fuel rather than us spinning our wheels. It seems like sometimes in our lives we can get so busy with the event after event after event that life throws at us that we don't have time left to even sit down and we start feeling like Jesus who didn't even have time to eat with His disciples. And in those times we read those verses that call us to wait on the Lord. And sometimes wistfully we're like, man, I just wish I could. I just wish I could just wait on the Lord. But here comes the next thing. Here we go. I think it's important to think about not only in that vicious cycle, but in that vicious cycle is what I call it, how do we actually come to a place where from the rat race we go into a state of waiting and being empowered on and become effective in trusting the Lord for our strength. I think it has everything to do with how much of control we give up to the Lord to work all things out for good and are willing to just hand off to the Lord those concerns that we have and take things as they come, not from the world and not from life as it's handed to us, but rather from the Lord and say, God, can You straighten out my schedule so that I can rest in You? Or rather, I choose to rest and then whatever comes my way, it's as if it's handed from the Lord then. That was a major reminder for us this morning. Thank you, Brother, for sharing with us. Amen. Thank you for listening. We hope this message has blessed you. If you would like additional messages, please visit our website at ccfsermons.org. Call us at 855-55-CHARITY or write to us at Charity Christian Fellowship, 59 South Groffdale Road, Leola, PA 17540. This ministry is supported by your donations. May Jesus Christ be Lord of all.