Pastor Jon Burgess
February 17, 2019 - W1907

Surrender My Needs 

Surrender

Pastor Jon Burgess

February 16 & 17, 2019

[Video – Pastor Jon Burgess interviewing Pastor Wayne Cordeiro in Eugene, Oregon]

Psalm 23 NIV says, “¹The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³ he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

No doubt, you’re probably familiar with this Psalm. People, who don’t even go to church or trust in God as their Lord and Savior, are familiar with it. It’s often spoken at weddings and funerals. It’s poetry, it’s imagery, it’s beautiful; but there’s so much more to Psalm 23 than just that—it’s actually a pathway through the highs and lows of life! 

You see the imagery of the shepherd leading the sheep to pasture where he has to make them lie down because they just want to keep going! How many of us are in that place? We just keep going, and God is saying, “I need you to slow down, to receive what I am about to bring you.” The shepherd then leads the sheep through the valley of the shadow of death! We don’t want to think about loss, death, and grief; but the shepherd says, “If you’ll trust my leadership, I’ll lead you through this. I’m not leaving you in the valley. Then he says, “I will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies,” and leads you all the way to a promise to dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

The Lord is saying that if you'll follow my lead through the highs and lows of life, you will be with me for eternity! It's all about navigating your life by following the leadership of our Lord; it all comes down to one word: Surrender; surrender to his leadership—even when we don't understand what’s going on! We’ll talk more about this during the next five weeks. 

I don't have a shepherd or a sheep to help me illustrate these truths, but I have something even better—Pastor Wayne Cordeiro from New Hope Ranch in Eugene, Oregon, where he has been training horses! He has agreed to share some parallels between the horse and the rider/the sheep and the shepherd.

It’s important to learn these truths because we will either be spending our lives being stubborn and fighting against the life that God has for us, or we will be surrendering to the life He has for us, and enjoy the blessing He bring into our lives!

Pastor Jon: So when you're not working hard at our amazing New Hope Christian College, you’re here on the ranch working hard with your horses! You shared with me the many lessons on relationship between you and your horse; and I thought about the parallel relationship between the shepherd and the sheep in Psalm 23 and you and your horse—it all seems to come down to one word, Surrender!

Pastor Wayne: Yes. The horse's optimum life isn't somewhere out in the pasture or running away from predators!  It’s really about surrendering and having a willingness to come under my care.  As a young colt, my horse had to make a decision: “Either, I'm going to care for myself or I'm going to let Wayne care for me.” Once the horse surrenders his will to me, I’m able to train him and give him purpose for his life. 

Pastor Jon: So, in Psalm 23, the shepherd makes the sheep lie down, even though it wants to keep going. The shepherd says, “No, you need to rest.” The shepherd also makes the sheep go through the valley of the shadow of death and face the problem.  And says, “We’re going to walk through this together.” How does that parallel with the training you’ve done with your horse?

Pastor Wayne: At the beginning, the horse wants to do his own thing. So if I want him to go left, he wants to go right. And if I want him to stop, he wants to go. So I have to put some training tools like these: a bit and a bridle, to hold him in check. Soon he begins to understand that if I lead him, he gets to surrender to my lead. For example, if I pull him this way, he turns his head this way, and if I pull the reign a little bit this way, just a small tug like that, he’ll bring his head all the way over. After a while, he can just feel my body and knows what to do. So these tools are not meant to constrict him; it’s actually meant to teach him to be one with me!  

Pastor Jon: So, then the conflicts we often experience is that, after giving our lives to Christ saying, “I’ll follow you,” comes a steady series of decisions to surrender my will to Christ—every single day! The problem is that we’re not fully sure we can trust God’s leadership in our lives! The most painful times in my life have been when I’ve fought God’s gentle nudges because I thought my way/idea was better than His; the best times in my life have been when I’ve finally surrendered to Him and said, in retrospect, “Oh, you’ve been trying to lead me into something better the entire time, and I’ve been fighting you on it!”  

Pastor Wayne:So, the best thing we can do is to surrender; surrendering to God is our greatest victory because it sort of makes us one with God—like Jesus! Likeness doesn’t come from fighting; it comes from surrendering! 

[End of Video]

Pastor Jon: Have you ever just reveled in the reality that if I have God, I lack nothing? Psalm 23:1 NIV says,“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”  This is important to remember because of our need-based, want-based culture, the Shepherd is saying, “If you really knew what you had when you have Me, you wouldn’t wake up with stress and fear anymore; you would wake up in peace and joy with confidence in My strength, and boldly face the challenges of life! 

Psalm 32:8-10 NIV says, “¹ I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. ⁹ Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.¹⁰ Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.”

We have control of only one thing—surrender! So, how quickly will we surrender to the One who actually has control of everything, the God who truly cares for us?  He has a place of freedom for each of us that we’ve never before experienced! But, three simple things have been distracting and keeping us from that:

1. Say “NO” To Enticements

Enticements are lures (temptations) that distract us from doing the right thing. Enticements will often come to the flesh through the familiar, such as, hunger that we think aren’t even a temptation at all: 

Matthew 4:1-4 NIV says, “¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”   Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Notice the timing of the enemy: He never comes with enticements when we are on a spiritual mountaintop. No, he comes when we are the most vulnerable: Satan came to tempt Jesus when He was hungry—something normal—to satisfy the flesh! Let’s follow Jesus’ example of how He overcame enticements to yield to sin.

When we say “NO” to enticements, we can…

Say “YES” to God’s Fresh Bread (God’s Word); it’s all we need for daily use. 

2. Say “NO” To Embellishment 

Embellishments are decorative detail or feature added to make something more attractive.  It’s not true (it's an exaggeration) to make it more interesting or entertaining to hook your attention.  Some of us fell for embellishments hook, line and sinker because they sound spiritual. 

Matthew 4:5-7 NIV says, “⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ⁷ Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Satan took Psalm 91 out of context and embellished. 

When we say “NO” to embellishments, we can…

Say “YES” To Fresh Perspective. Hold up the standards of integrity and not embellish our words because death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21a)! Our willingness to apologize when we embellish our words/lie out of convenience or make ourselves feel better will make us trustworthy in the process—understanding that it’s not about our image!

3. Say “NO” To Entitlements (sense that you deserve it)

Entitlement offers a shortcut from sacrifice. It’s a way around having to lay down our lives.

Matthew 4:8-11 NIV says, “⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ ‘All this I will give you,” he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.’”

Entitlement is a way to serve ourselves instead of the Lord, saying, “I deserve it; I earned it.” But God has called us to say, “I’m here to serve!” 

When we say “NO” to entitlements, we…

Say “YES” To Fresh Worship (brings our lives back into alignment with God)

May I encourage you to say “No” to enticements by saying “Yes” to the fresh bread of God’s Word; say “No” to embellishments by saying “Yes” to fresh perspective and fighting for truth in every area of our lives; say “No” to entitlements by saying “Yes” to fresh worship and obeying God’s command (not His suggestion) to serve the Lord your God and worship Him only. 

How quickly will we surrender to the One who’s actually in control?

Study Questions:

1.      How will you bring a fresh perspective to your relationships?
2.      How will you be an example for others who feel entitled?
3.      How will you surrender to God?
4.      What are some challenges that you have gotten through by getting into God’s word?
5.      Why is surrendering to God important?