Pastor Jon Burgess
February 24, 2019 - W1908

Surrender My Direction

Surrender

Pastor Jon Burgess

February 23 & 24, 2019

Welcome, New Hope and those watching online! You may not realize it, but we have over 5,000 people every weekend watching us online! We’re so glad you’re with us, as you’re part of what God is doing here!

Week in and week out, we (New Hope Oahu) have hundreds of servants/volunteers that say, “I have a lot of things to do, but I feel God is directing me to do this.” And they serve and make it possible for us to do what we’re doing! They always start out doing one thing; then something happens, and they get redirected to something else!   

Every superhero has a story of origin:  Peter Parker was a high school student picked on by bullies; then, one day, he is bitten by a radioactive spider and receives superpowers and becomes super-strong and crawls fast!  But, it’s what his Uncle Ben said that redirected his life from using his powers for himself to using them to help others in need: “With great power comes great responsibility!” 

God has given each of us great power through the Holy Spirit and great gift/talent/ability; and, we have a responsibility! The question is, “Will you surrender the direction of your life to the Lord, or will you use your gift for your own benefit?” Some of us haven’t actually made that decision... 

Doreen Matsuda felt that way and shared her story with me:  She and her husband, Glenn, have been coming to New Hope since 2006—they love the church and are so happy they belong to this family of faith! However, Doreen shared that she felt something was missing in her life and wasn’t sure what it was.  Occasionally, she inquired about places to serve, but never fully committed herself because she had a busy life (serving with the Sons & Daughters of the 442nd Veterans and her professional organization)—but still felt unfulfilled and didn’t know why!

Fast forward to 2015:  I gave a message called, “Come Together,” from the book of Nehemiah; we had built a Nehemiah Wall, encouraging everyone to find a fit/place on the wall.  Glenn felt drawn to be part of our camera and video team; but Doreen didn’t feel that she fit anywhere, and kept waffling, back and forth.

Many of us can relate to that: Whether it’s where your fit is at New Hope or a direction in your life—marriage, relationships, or finances.  All of us want the Shepherd to direct us—unless He directs to do something we don’t feel comfortable with and still ask God to lead us and “show me what to do.” And when He does, we say, “Okay, God show me something else.  I don’t want to do that.  I want to do something else.  But I’ll wait on you, Lord, anything except that.”  Isn’t that where most of us are? 

As we continue our Surrender series, our topic today is Surrender My Direction to where the Lord is leading—so I wind up where He wants me!

Psalm 23:2-3 NET says, “² He takes me to lush pastures, he leads me to refreshing water. ³ He restores my strength. He leads me down the right paths for the sake of his reputation.”

We all want to sign up for refreshment, still waters, green pastures—absolutely! But, He will lead you down specific paths for His reputation! And that may be a reason we don’t want God to direct us! If it’s about me, I’m all in; but if it something that makes me uncomfortable (out of my comfort zone), I don’t really want to go down that path!  The following are two reasons why we don’t allow the Shepherd to lead our souls:

1. Will I Surrender To God’s Leading Despite Mixed Emotions?

Ezra 3:11-13 NIV says, “¹¹ With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: “He is good; His love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. ¹² But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.”

For 70 years God’s people had been slaves in a pagan land of Babylon; and during that time, the enemies of Israel had destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Now, they are free to return home and rebuild—and there is much joy! But when the older generation (older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the grandeur of Solomon’s Temple) saw the foundation, they wept aloud! The younger ones, who had never had a place of worship and had never seen the former temple, were happy and shouted for joy to finally have a place to call their own! No one could distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping because the noise was so loud. 

Two reactions:  God doesn’t correct either generation for their emotions.  It wasn’t important that they were happy or sad; but it was important that both generations came together and kept moving with God!  The older ones were sad; the younger ones were excited! But they kept moving in God’s direction, in spite of their mixed emotions!  

Wrong emotions can actually keep us from taking a step of faith and should not be a guide when making decisions; it’s okay to acknowledge them (sad, happy, somewhere in-between) but keep serving anyway!  When the Lord directs you to something, it should not be dependent upon agreement from our emotions—but stay in motion with God! Inside, we know there is a joy that comes from being faithful even when our emotions haven’t caught up with our service yet! The question is:  Will I surrender to God's leading despite mixed emotions?   

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro says, “Don’t ever make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion.”  Eugene Peterson puts it this way:  “Discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction that long outlives the emotion of the moment when you said yes.”

2.Will I Surrender To God’s Leading Despite Mixed Messages?

Ezra 4:1-6 NASB says, “ ¹Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” ³ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”  ⁴ Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, ⁵ and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. ⁶ Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.”

The enemies of Israel were trying to discourage, frighten, and frustrate the people from building the temple; and because of the mixed messages, the temple sat dormant for 12 years!  What is dormant in your life? Be reminded that when you say, “Yes,” to serving the Lord, you will also hear mixed messages from the enemy to discourage, frighten, and frustrate you. Remove courage and you get discourage What about accusation? Even though Holy Spirit knows what we’ve done, He still loves and welcomes us anyway! 

For Doreen, she was still wondering about her calling. In 2018 she heard Pastor Jon Burgess preach from a series called, "Faith In Action. "As she was exiting the building, she received an Action Step card for that week, which read, "Serve."  And she immediately knew that God was saying, “Get off the bench and get into the game; it's time for you to serve!”  

Even though Doreen has been coming to New Hope since 2006, she didn’t sign up for a ministry until 2018; and now, you would think she is running the ministry!There was a long period of uncertainty, and it’s okay to acknowledge that, but just don’t continue to delay! The enemy always wants to delay your divine design. Will you surrender your direction despite the mixed messages of the enemy and situations keeping you from stepping into your divine calling?  

As long as we’re on this earth, we will hear the still, small voice of the Lord; and the loud yelling of frustration, fear, and accusation of the enemy!  We must decide to keep following God’s direction, no matter how much the enemy yells, because the best way to shut the enemy is to obey God, who called us!  

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at  best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. ”President Theodore Roosevelt

Some of us have stopped serving and volunteering because of offense, comparison, or someone rubbed us the wrong way. Get back in the fight!  Get back in the arena!  Don’t let the enemy delay what you were destined to do!

3. Will I Surrender To God’s Leading Despite Mixed Results?

Ezra 6:14-16 NIV says, “¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. ¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.”

The prophets Haggai and Zachariah called the people back into the arena despite the mixed emotions, mixed messages, and mixed results—and the temple was completed in 5 years! Haggai 2:9 KJV “The glory of the latter shall be [was] greater than of the former!”  There is no greater joy than following God’s direction; He always directs us away from serving ourselves to serving others!

Will you serve to save a mixed-up generation? We have five generations here: The Builders 70+; Boomers, 51-69; Gen X, 36-50; Gen Y, 21-35; Gen Z, 6-20; and our little tykes, under age 6.  It will take all the generations working together to reach the next one.

Have you received mixed messages about God? I want you to hear one message:  He loves you! Let Holy Spirit release the gifts that He's already given you.  Let Him direct you into things that, maybe, you’ve thought of doing or serving.  Let him do it!  Watch how people around you will come alive because of what’s coming forth from inside of you—when you serve! 

Have you had mixed emotions about God?  Because of mixed emotions, you may be unsure of how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; I pray that everything that you’ve hoped for would be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ when you say, “Yes!” to Him.

STUDY QUESTIONS: 

1.     Are there times when emotions determine what you do? Explain.
2.     When are times when serving revealed something else?
3.     What frustrates you when you serve?
4.     What (or who) is the loud voice of the enemy?
5.     What do you need to do to get back into the arena?