Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Sometimes when we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Sometimes when we.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Give ourselves and maybe some particular thing that He's dealing
with in our life, things don't always turn out the
way we expect them to. But one thing for certain,
when we are fully surrendered, they will turn out the
what is for our good, our best, for the wisdom listen,
and the goodness and the love of Almighty God.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Does that mean that.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
If we offer ourselves and full surrender to Him, that
things will always go the way we want them to go?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Absolutely enough?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
What do you think of when you hear the word surrender?
Giving up rights, privileges, and control to someone else is
not a comfortable thought. But today on in Touch the
teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley, we'll learn why surrender
is a safe thing when it means giving ourselves to
our loving heavenly Father. Stay with us now to hear
about God's condition for his full blessing.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Do you want God's full blessing that He's planned for you?
Or are you just sort of willing to get along
the best you can and just sort of take what's
coming your way and never even stop to think about
what would God do.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
In my life if he had full control of it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
What are the possibilities of the ways I could be
blessed if I let God do it his way? You see,
most Christians are not very happy with their Christian life.
They struggle over this, and they struggle over that, and
they complain about God doesn't answer my prayer, and my
need's not all being met, and God is not giving
me the desires of my heart, and they moan and
they groan, they complain about the Christian LIFs not what
(01:39):
it's all cracked up to be, and own and no
known they go, never stopping to ask the question, wonder
why things don't work out right for me? Wonder why
God doesn't seem to be favoring me? Why am I
not experiencing all these blessings? Well there is a reason,
and that's what I want to talk about in this message.
And if you will and very carefully and follow some
(02:02):
scriptures that I want to give in this passage, God
can absolutely change your life, revolutionize your life, change your
sense of circumstances, and change the flow of the blessings
of God in your life. I want you to turn,
if you will, to Romans chapter twelve, and the title
of this message is God's condition for his full blessing
(02:25):
Well Romans chapter twelve. These first two verses, he says, therefore,
I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not
be conformed of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what
(02:47):
the will of God is. What's that that which is
good and acceptable and perfect. Now, with that in mind,
I want to talk about this one condition in order
to receive God's full blessing.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
They are not many conditions.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
There's one ultimate condition that is the bottom line to.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Receive God's best.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And when you look look at this passage, it's very
evident here that God's condition for full blessing calls for
a full surrender. God's condition for a full blessing calls
for a listen, calls for a full surrender. What does
he say, I urge your brethren, for the mercies of God,
to present your body. He's not simply talking about your
physical body, but that's your whole being, body, soul, and spirit.
(03:30):
The total being as a sacrifice, living holy sacrifice acceptable
to God. Now, when you think about sacrifices, for example,
usually the word sacrifice or surrender or yield are very
threatening words to some people. And whereas they want to
talk about God's love, God's goodness, god answers, prayer, God's kindness,
(03:51):
God's mercy, long and on we go, Well, when you
start talking about sacrifice, when you start talking about surrender,
when you start talking about yielding, these are rather threatening
words because the implication is that somebody is about to
get into my business. Somebody is about to want to
control my life. Somebody is about to want to tell
me how to operate. And so therefore all of us
(04:12):
like our freedom. Well, you don't want anybody controlling us,
dominating us, telling us what to do, how to go
about it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We want freedom. What we don't.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Realize is the freest people in the world of those
who have come to the place in life to recognize
that the life fully surrendered to Almighty God.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Is the freest life of all.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So when you go back in the Old Testament, you
look at those sacrifices, people would bring their sacrifices animals
or something else that they had grown, or whatever it
might be, and they offered them to God. Now, a
sacrifice is something that we give to another either as
an act of worship or as a gift, as an offering,
and so the offerings were given, and when that sacrifice
(04:54):
was made, that sacrifice was made in this manner, you
had to relinquish, you had to give it up, you
had to surrender it. And so, for example, let's say
the sacrifice because of sin, someone would bring that lamb
and as an offering it for sacrificial offering for their sin,
they would place it in the hands of the priest.
(05:15):
When they placed that offering in the hands of the
priest and he cut the throat of that lamb laid
it on the altar of sacrifice, the person who was
offering the sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sin couldn't
go back and take that lamb back. Once it was given,
it was relinquished, it was taken away, couldn't take it back.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
When people gave offerings as.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Acts of worship, they wouldn't go take the offering back,
the sacrificial offering back. It was given over, it was surrendered,
it was yielded. And so what he's saying at this point,
which his Roman readers would certainly have understood, and that
is when he says, I beseech you to present your bodies,
to make a presentation, to make an offering, an offering
(06:00):
of what our whole being, body, soul and spirit to
Almighty God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
an offering of sacrifice that is holy, that is, one
that is separated and given unto God for.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The purposes of God.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
He says, a living sacrifice, one that can mean something,
one that can be used of Almighty God. He says,
that's the reasonable right thing to do for the children
of God to live in such a fashion that their
life is a sacrificial.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Offering to Almighty God.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Now, in order for that to happen, a person has
to change their lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And here's what he says.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
He says now, and he puts this in a in
a form that says, stop.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Being conformed to the world.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He says, stop allowing the world to draw you away
from your commitment to Jesus Christ. Stop allowing the world
to pour you into its mold, so that you will
think the way they think and act the way they
behave the way they behave. That isn't who we are
as the Lord Jesus Christ that saved us from our
sins and made us his children. We are new creations
(07:03):
in Christ Jesus. We don't fit the world's mold. That's
the reason they criticize the church. That's the reason they
criticize you personally, or persecute you, a laugh at you,
or or make some smart remark about you because you
don't fit their mold. And because you don't fit their mold,
you stand out. Because you don't fit their mold. Sometimes
you make them very uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
He says.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Listen, he says, you want God's best. You present your
body a living sacrifice to Almighty God. You make a
full surrender of yourself to Him, and do not allow
yourself to be pulled away and remolded in shape like
the world. God's best blessings are going to come your way.
God offers his best, He has prepared his best. And
(07:47):
the truth is, I can either be satisfied with less
than God has to offer, or I can ask the question, God,
what would you do with me if I gave you
my whole life?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What would you send my way?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
If I offer my life without reservation, without any bargaining,
without any kind of holding back, in any area of
my life.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
What would you do? What could you do? What are
you willing to do? What do you want to do?
One thing for certain, God has prepared the very best
that He.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And his infinite wisdom and unconditional love can possibly provide
for every single one of his children. Does that mean
it will always be what I want it to be?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Not necessarily.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Does that mean that if we offer ourselves in full
surrender to Him, that things will always go the way
we want them to go. Absolutely not, Because sometimes what
we think is the best way is not the best
way at all. And sometimes when we surrender our life
to the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes when we give ourselves
and maybe some particular thing that He's dealing with in
(08:45):
our life, things don't always turn out the way we
expect them to. But one thing for certain, when we
are fully surrendered, they will turn out for what is
for our good, our best from the wisdom Listen and
the goodness and the love of Almighty God. He says
in this passage. I urge you, I plead with you,
I beckon you. Listen, he says, to present your body
(09:06):
is a living, holy sacrifice acceptable to God, the only
kind that is acceptable to God. When we come to
him in the right spirit, saying, Lord, here is my life. Now,
he has the deed to your life. The tragedy is
that many people trust the Jesus Christ as their savior.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And nobody ever told them.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Now that you've trusted Jesus as your savior, you have
given over all rights to him.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Because he is the Lord.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
We sing about him being Lord, we talk about him
being Lord, and we read the scriptures about him being Lord.
But the truth is we don't live out, we don't
acknowledge in our daily life that he is the absolute
Lord of our life. Because being Lord, he has absolute right, authority, ownership, control,
and possession of our life. Therefore, he has the right,
(09:53):
he has the awesome right to demand that you and
I walk in obedience to him. And that is that
we live a surround the life yielded to him, totally
given over to him now. So one of the basis
of that call for full surrender is the fact of
who he is. But the second one is this, and
that is simply this, that God has planned the very
(10:17):
best for us. One of the reasons he calls for
full surrender is because of what He wants to do
for us. Now look at this passage, because oftentimes we think, well,
I don't know that God loves me, and so forth,
look if you will, in Jeremiah chapter twenty nine, I
want to give you two or three verses here that
are just indications of what God wants to do in
our life. That He has planned and he has the
(10:39):
best provided for us. And so listen to what he
says in this twenty ninth chapter. He says in the
eleventh verse, for I know the plans that I have
for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not
for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you'll call upon me and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you. You'll seek me, and finally,
(10:59):
when you search for me with all of your heart,
look at that God has a plan for us. Is
his plan for you. No matter what you may think
about your life and the past, and what you don't
have and what you could have, and what you ought
to have, and what you should have, and what you'd
like to have, listen to what he says. He I
have plans for you. What kind of plan is that?
It is the best plan that an infinite, all wise
(11:20):
and all loving God.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Could and would plan for you.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
It's the very best plan you can expect, the best
you can expect, the very best that God could possibly
conceive of and plan for your life.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That is the very character of God. So if we
are needing, and if.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
We are dissatisfied and discontent, and our Christian life's not
what it ought to be, and we don't think our
relationship with the Lord is right, we don't feel intimacy
with him, I'm telling you listen, We're not waiting on God.
God's waiting on us. He wants the very best. He's
calling for a full surrender. Somebody says, well, you know,
I think it's a wonderful idea, and I would like
(12:02):
to do that, But what's the purpose of all that.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
In a way, Well, let's talk about it for a moment.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
One of his purposes is this is that God wants
us fully surrendered to him because listen, watch this now.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
He loves our worship. God loves for us.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
To worship him. He's a jealous God. He wants us
to worship him and him alone.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
How can I come to church and worship God in
the words I can sing and pray and read the
scriptures or listen to no message or whatever it might be.
How can I come to God and really worship Him
that is, this is the living, sovereign.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
God of the universe.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
How can I worship God at the same time reserving
areas of my life for myself? How can I come
to God and genuinely and truly worship God and at
the same time reserving areas of my life that I
am unwilling to yield to Him. I'm here to tell
you it is not genuine, true worship. All the pray,
(13:00):
all the singing, all the preaching, all the reading of
the scripture, There's no substitute acceptable.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
To God other than full surrender. God.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I want you to have you in my life, whatever
that is. Let me ask you a question. How can
I come to the Lord's House and worship Him when there's.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Some area of my life I refuse to surrender.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It may be financial, it may be that God's been
telling you to tie for years and years and your
years to God.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I'm gonna praise you. I'm gonna worship you. I'm going
to serve you.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I'm gonna do all these things five percent. God's all
lying handle what you're saying is I think about this.
You're saying to this God whom you worship, I praise you,
I worship you, but I don't trust you. It's real simple,
isn't it. I mean, when it just gets down to
it's just real simple. How can I worship a God
(13:52):
I don't trust.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
You.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
See, one of the reasons he wants the full surrenders
because he wants genuine, true worship. A second reason he
wants full surrender is because he wants our service for him.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
To be effective and fruitful.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Now a person can serve the Lord with that being
fully surrendered, There's no question about that.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And here's what happens.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
If we are serving God in the flesh the way
we want to do it, we're gonna have our way.
What happens is God may use some decisions that are made,
or he may use what we say. But you know what,
we going to miss the blessing. And besides that, it's
not going to have the impact that could have.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Think about this, why do you want to live your
life and not make the full impact. Why do you
want to live your life and not receive the full blessing?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Listen? Why do you want a little bit when you're
can have more? Why you want to be what you
are when you can be something else?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Why do we want to risk going through life trying
to figure things out having our way when God's way
is the best way and he is more than willing
to show us what his way is. So one of
the things he wants he certainly wants worship. And the
second thing he wants is certain he wants service, And
third and they watch this. The third thing he wants
is listen to watch this. One God wants freedom to
(15:11):
bless us. He's in a Wait a minute, Is he omnipotent?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yes he is.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
If he's omnipotent, I can't give him freedom. Well let's
see if that's true. Does God have principles by which
he governs things?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yes? He does. Would God violate his own principles?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Know?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
He would not.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
What's one of his principles? Obedience brings blessing. Whatever we sow,
we reap what we sow more than we so later
than we so so Therefore What happens is when you
and I fully surrender our life to him, we let
it all down, no bargaining. Think about this for a moment.
How in the world can you bargain with God? Many
(15:46):
people here people say, well that God, if you'll do thus,
And so here's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Let's go back to what we said, never a beginning
to whom do we belong? God right sole ownership, He
owns us and.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
All that we have. So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
What are you going to bargain with God with when
you don't have anything? Anyway, you can't bargain with God.
And so the whole idea of trying to manipulate you
can't manipulate God. And so we come to acknowledge we
don't have any bargaining rights.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We don't have anything to bargain with.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
It's a matter of obedience or it's a matter of disobedience.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And what he's simply saying here to us is this.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
He says, present your body a living sacrifice, because listen,
in order to worship God properly, he's got to have
all of me in order for the service to be
really internly acceptable and really fruitful and make an impact.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
He's got to have all of us, and not only that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
In order for God to be able to bless us
the way he wants to, he's got to have freedom
to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Now, watch this.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He's not going to violate his own principles. He's not
going to violate his own character. Whatever we sow, we
reap what we saw more than we so letting me.
So blessing follows obedience. God, listen, cannot condone disobedience, He
cannot condone rebellion.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
He does not overlook.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Sin, He does not ignore our ignoring him and insisting
on having our own way.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So, therefore here's what we do.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We say God, I want you to bless me, and
we slam the door. God, I want you to bless me.
But we choke up the channel because we position ourselves
so as because of the principles about which God operates.
He's not going to pour the fool listen to the
blessing upon us when we have refused listen to surrender
every aspect of our life.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Is it easy to give it all up? No, it's not.
Is it the right thing to do? Yes it is.
It's the wist thing to do.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yes, it is, and after it's done, we look back
and say, thank God, thank God, thank God, you finally
got me to see that it was the wisest.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Thing to do, to yield everything to you. It easy, No,
it's not.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
But what I want you to say is, if you
want God's full blessing, when you say God can't do something,
somebody says, oh, I can't believe you say that God.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Can't do anything.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
He cannot act outside of his own character, that is
his own self imposed character.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
He is not going to violate his own law.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So if we choose to have it our way, live
in rebellion, disobey him, withhold things from him, just going
to do it our way, you know what, he can't
do it. So we're the ones who are responsible for
the slowdown in the blessings of God. And some people
live their whole life and you know what, they'll complain
all their life and look back and think, oh God,
(18:40):
what did't this happen to mean?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Why didn't that happen to mean? Why did this happen?
And why did that happen?
Speaker 1 (18:43):
And the truth is, because we decided we were smarter
than God. God said I want to fill your hands.
You say, well, Lord, I'm willing for you to fill
my hand.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
But it's like this.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Let's suppose I had one hundred dollars bill in my hand,
and that was very valuable to me, and so I
wouldn't open my hand. You said, I'll just exchange what
I want to give you what you have. I said, now,
I'm one hundred dollars have. I'm had one hundred dollar
bills long time, so can't let this go. And you
(19:17):
pull out ten thousand dollars and say, here's what you
could have had if you'd opened your hand. I'm here
to tell you, my friend, that is exactly the way
most people living their life. They're holding on the pennies
when God has blessings innumerable. They're holding on listen, holding
on to what they can do in life. When you
can discover what God can do in your life, why
(19:39):
not discover what God can do in your life? Give
him the privilege and the privilege listen. Demands a full
surrender of my life. Why if God pours out a
full blessing, he wants to be in full control. How
can God give his best? How can he give all
that he's planned unless we're willing to give him full, absolute,
(20:01):
total Listen, authority, write privilege, which is his anyway to
rule and to reign and to govern and to guide
our life.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You're listening to in Touch, the teaching Ministry of doctor
Charles Stanley. God blesses the surrendered believer with a fruitful life.
If you're fighting him for control, give up the struggle
and yield to him. We'll hear more about God's condition
for his full blessing tomorrow and you can listen again at.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
In Touch dot o RG.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Also on our website you'll find many resources that can
encourage you to leave your burdens with Jesus and allow
Him to live through you. And if you'd like to
have a copy of today's complete message, you can order
online the title is God's Condition for his Full Blessing,
or order our teaching set a firm foundation. Our web
(20:57):
address again is in Touch dot OG or call one
eight hundred in Touch If you prefer, you can write
to us at in Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia,
three zero three five seven. We spend a lot of
time trying to make things work out just right, but
(21:18):
our way isn't always the best way. Today's moment with
Charles Stanley is just ahead.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
At times, life can be stormy and each one of
us will face many trials. Questions are asked, and doubt
may set in. The answers are found through faith in Jesus.
He is within every believer, always ready to offer us comfort,
hope and peace in times of great trial, so you
can trust Him with any circumstance. To order doctor Stanley's
(21:47):
book How to Let God Solve Your Problems, call one
eight hundred in touch or go to in touch dot
org slash store. As your children and grandchildren grow up,
how will you help them learn about Jesus? Doctor Charles
Stanley's first devotional for children, every Day with Jesus. It's
fun and colorful, filled with devotions, scriptures, prayers, and more.
(22:08):
Based on doctor Stanley's best selling devotional Every Day in
His Presence, this children's version is written to help kids
know Jesus better. To order every Day with Jesus, call
one eight hundred in touch or visit InTouch dot org.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
You're listening to in Touch. God has good in store
for believers, but good doesn't always mean easy. Here's a
moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Who wants to live the kind of life where everything
is just sort of hum drum, and I want to
be sure that everything just works out right, and I
just don't want to take any risk.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I want to be careful.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I know what God is saying, but but but but
but listen, God is going to require us if we
surrender ourselves him. He's going to require us things that
will challenge us. How do you think he grows us up?
He grows us up by giving us challenges in our life,
things that are difficult for us, things that are hard
for us, things that oftentimes we don't like, we don't want.
We would never choose why because we're singing from our viewpoint.
(23:14):
When you see it from God's viewpoint, what we don't
like and what's difficult for us and hurtful for us.
What's God doing growing us up, maturing us? He says,
that's good. Whatever drives him to us to him is good.
Whatever makes us christ like is good. God says, I've
got good, stood up to you. What I want is
a life fully surrendered, like a living holy sacrifice, so
(23:35):
that I can pour at the best that I have
and all that I.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Have for you. Visit us at in touch dot org
to learn more about the fulfilling life God has in
store for all those whose trust is in Christ. And
if you gained new insight from today's program that helps
you grow in your faith, please tell us about it tomorrow.
On in Touch, God extends his love to everyone, us
(24:00):
as his followers who are surrendered to Him now and
for eternity.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I hope you'll join us Tuesday as.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
We wrap up our series of firm foundation on in Touch,
the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is
a presentation of in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains
on this station through the grace of God and your
faithful prayers and gifts.
Sometimes when we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Sometimes when we.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Give ourselves and maybe some particular thing that He's dealing
with in our life, things don't always turn out the
way we expect them to. But one thing for certain,
when we are fully surrendered, they will turn out the
what is for our good, our best, for the wisdom listen,
and the goodness and the love of Almighty God.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Does that mean that.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
If we offer ourselves and full surrender to Him, that
things will always go the way we want them to go?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Absolutely enough?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
What do you think of when you hear the word surrender?
Giving up rights, privileges, and control to someone else is
not a comfortable thought. But today on in Touch the
teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley, we'll learn why surrender
is a safe thing when it means giving ourselves to
our loving heavenly Father. Stay with us now to hear
about God's condition for his full blessing.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Do you want God's full blessing that He's planned for you?
Or are you just sort of willing to get along
the best you can and just sort of take what's
coming your way and never even stop to think about
what would God do.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
In my life if he had full control of it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
What are the possibilities of the ways I could be
blessed if I let God do it his way? You see,
most Christians are not very happy with their Christian life.
They struggle over this, and they struggle over that, and
they complain about God doesn't answer my prayer, and my
need's not all being met, and God is not giving
me the desires of my heart, and they moan and
they groan, they complain about the Christian LIFs not what
(01:39):
it's all cracked up to be, and own and no
known they go, never stopping to ask the question, wonder
why things don't work out right for me? Wonder why
God doesn't seem to be favoring me? Why am I
not experiencing all these blessings? Well there is a reason,
and that's what I want to talk about in this message.
And if you will and very carefully and follow some
(02:02):
scriptures that I want to give in this passage, God
can absolutely change your life, revolutionize your life, change your
sense of circumstances, and change the flow of the blessings
of God in your life. I want you to turn,
if you will, to Romans chapter twelve, and the title
of this message is God's condition for his full blessing
(02:25):
Well Romans chapter twelve. These first two verses, he says, therefore,
I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not
be conformed of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what
(02:47):
the will of God is. What's that that which is
good and acceptable and perfect. Now, with that in mind,
I want to talk about this one condition in order
to receive God's full blessing.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
They are not many conditions.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
There's one ultimate condition that is the bottom line to.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Receive God's best.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And when you look look at this passage, it's very
evident here that God's condition for full blessing calls for
a full surrender. God's condition for a full blessing calls
for a listen, calls for a full surrender. What does
he say, I urge your brethren, for the mercies of God,
to present your body. He's not simply talking about your
physical body, but that's your whole being, body, soul, and spirit.
(03:30):
The total being as a sacrifice, living holy sacrifice acceptable
to God. Now, when you think about sacrifices, for example,
usually the word sacrifice or surrender or yield are very
threatening words to some people. And whereas they want to
talk about God's love, God's goodness, god answers, prayer, God's kindness,
(03:51):
God's mercy, long and on we go, Well, when you
start talking about sacrifice, when you start talking about surrender,
when you start talking about yielding, these are rather threatening
words because the implication is that somebody is about to
get into my business. Somebody is about to want to
control my life. Somebody is about to want to tell
me how to operate. And so therefore all of us
(04:12):
like our freedom. Well, you don't want anybody controlling us,
dominating us, telling us what to do, how to go
about it.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We want freedom. What we don't.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Realize is the freest people in the world of those
who have come to the place in life to recognize
that the life fully surrendered to Almighty God.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Is the freest life of all.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
So when you go back in the Old Testament, you
look at those sacrifices, people would bring their sacrifices animals
or something else that they had grown, or whatever it
might be, and they offered them to God. Now, a
sacrifice is something that we give to another either as
an act of worship or as a gift, as an offering,
and so the offerings were given, and when that sacrifice
(04:54):
was made, that sacrifice was made in this manner, you
had to relinquish, you had to give it up, you
had to surrender it. And so, for example, let's say
the sacrifice because of sin, someone would bring that lamb
and as an offering it for sacrificial offering for their sin,
they would place it in the hands of the priest.
(05:15):
When they placed that offering in the hands of the
priest and he cut the throat of that lamb laid
it on the altar of sacrifice, the person who was
offering the sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sin couldn't
go back and take that lamb back. Once it was given,
it was relinquished, it was taken away, couldn't take it back.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
When people gave offerings as.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Acts of worship, they wouldn't go take the offering back,
the sacrificial offering back. It was given over, it was surrendered,
it was yielded. And so what he's saying at this point,
which his Roman readers would certainly have understood, and that
is when he says, I beseech you to present your bodies,
to make a presentation, to make an offering, an offering
(06:00):
of what our whole being, body, soul and spirit to
Almighty God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
an offering of sacrifice that is holy, that is, one
that is separated and given unto God for.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The purposes of God.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
He says, a living sacrifice, one that can mean something,
one that can be used of Almighty God. He says,
that's the reasonable right thing to do for the children
of God to live in such a fashion that their
life is a sacrificial.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Offering to Almighty God.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Now, in order for that to happen, a person has
to change their lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And here's what he says.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
He says now, and he puts this in a in
a form that says, stop.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Being conformed to the world.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
He says, stop allowing the world to draw you away
from your commitment to Jesus Christ. Stop allowing the world
to pour you into its mold, so that you will
think the way they think and act the way they
behave the way they behave. That isn't who we are
as the Lord Jesus Christ that saved us from our
sins and made us his children. We are new creations
(07:03):
in Christ Jesus. We don't fit the world's mold. That's
the reason they criticize the church. That's the reason they
criticize you personally, or persecute you, a laugh at you,
or or make some smart remark about you because you
don't fit their mold. And because you don't fit their mold,
you stand out. Because you don't fit their mold. Sometimes
you make them very uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
He says.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Listen, he says, you want God's best. You present your
body a living sacrifice to Almighty God. You make a
full surrender of yourself to Him, and do not allow
yourself to be pulled away and remolded in shape like
the world. God's best blessings are going to come your way.
God offers his best, He has prepared his best. And
(07:47):
the truth is, I can either be satisfied with less
than God has to offer, or I can ask the question, God,
what would you do with me if I gave you
my whole life?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What would you send my way?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
If I offer my life without reservation, without any bargaining,
without any kind of holding back, in any area of
my life.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
What would you do? What could you do? What are
you willing to do? What do you want to do?
One thing for certain, God has prepared the very best
that He.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And his infinite wisdom and unconditional love can possibly provide
for every single one of his children. Does that mean
it will always be what I want it to be?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Not necessarily.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Does that mean that if we offer ourselves in full
surrender to Him, that things will always go the way
we want them to go. Absolutely not, Because sometimes what
we think is the best way is not the best
way at all. And sometimes when we surrender our life
to the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes when we give ourselves
and maybe some particular thing that He's dealing with in
(08:45):
our life, things don't always turn out the way we
expect them to. But one thing for certain, when we
are fully surrendered, they will turn out for what is
for our good, our best from the wisdom Listen and
the goodness and the love of Almighty God. He says
in this passage. I urge you, I plead with you,
I beckon you. Listen, he says, to present your body
(09:06):
is a living, holy sacrifice acceptable to God, the only
kind that is acceptable to God. When we come to
him in the right spirit, saying, Lord, here is my life. Now,
he has the deed to your life. The tragedy is
that many people trust the Jesus Christ as their savior.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And nobody ever told them.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Now that you've trusted Jesus as your savior, you have
given over all rights to him.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Because he is the Lord.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
We sing about him being Lord, we talk about him
being Lord, and we read the scriptures about him being Lord.
But the truth is we don't live out, we don't
acknowledge in our daily life that he is the absolute
Lord of our life. Because being Lord, he has absolute right, authority, ownership, control,
and possession of our life. Therefore, he has the right,
(09:53):
he has the awesome right to demand that you and
I walk in obedience to him. And that is that
we live a surround the life yielded to him, totally
given over to him now. So one of the basis
of that call for full surrender is the fact of
who he is. But the second one is this, and
that is simply this, that God has planned the very
(10:17):
best for us. One of the reasons he calls for
full surrender is because of what He wants to do
for us. Now look at this passage, because oftentimes we think, well,
I don't know that God loves me, and so forth,
look if you will, in Jeremiah chapter twenty nine, I
want to give you two or three verses here that
are just indications of what God wants to do in
our life. That He has planned and he has the
(10:39):
best provided for us. And so listen to what he
says in this twenty ninth chapter. He says in the
eleventh verse, for I know the plans that I have
for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not
for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you'll call upon me and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you. You'll seek me, and finally,
(10:59):
when you search for me with all of your heart,
look at that God has a plan for us. Is
his plan for you. No matter what you may think
about your life and the past, and what you don't
have and what you could have, and what you ought
to have, and what you should have, and what you'd
like to have, listen to what he says. He I
have plans for you. What kind of plan is that?
It is the best plan that an infinite, all wise
(11:20):
and all loving God.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Could and would plan for you.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
It's the very best plan you can expect, the best
you can expect, the very best that God could possibly
conceive of and plan for your life.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That is the very character of God. So if we
are needing, and if.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
We are dissatisfied and discontent, and our Christian life's not
what it ought to be, and we don't think our
relationship with the Lord is right, we don't feel intimacy
with him, I'm telling you listen, We're not waiting on God.
God's waiting on us. He wants the very best. He's
calling for a full surrender. Somebody says, well, you know,
I think it's a wonderful idea, and I would like
(12:02):
to do that, But what's the purpose of all that.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
In a way, Well, let's talk about it for a moment.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
One of his purposes is this is that God wants
us fully surrendered to him because listen, watch this now.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
He loves our worship. God loves for us.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
To worship him. He's a jealous God. He wants us
to worship him and him alone.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
How can I come to church and worship God in
the words I can sing and pray and read the
scriptures or listen to no message or whatever it might be.
How can I come to God and really worship Him
that is, this is the living, sovereign.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
God of the universe.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
How can I worship God at the same time reserving
areas of my life for myself? How can I come
to God and genuinely and truly worship God and at
the same time reserving areas of my life that I
am unwilling to yield to Him. I'm here to tell
you it is not genuine, true worship. All the pray,
(13:00):
all the singing, all the preaching, all the reading of
the scripture, There's no substitute acceptable.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
To God other than full surrender. God.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I want you to have you in my life, whatever
that is. Let me ask you a question. How can
I come to the Lord's House and worship Him when there's.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Some area of my life I refuse to surrender.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
It may be financial, it may be that God's been
telling you to tie for years and years and your
years to God.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I'm gonna praise you. I'm gonna worship you. I'm going
to serve you.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I'm gonna do all these things five percent. God's all
lying handle what you're saying is I think about this.
You're saying to this God whom you worship, I praise you,
I worship you, but I don't trust you. It's real simple,
isn't it. I mean, when it just gets down to
it's just real simple. How can I worship a God
(13:52):
I don't trust.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
You.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
See, one of the reasons he wants the full surrenders
because he wants genuine, true worship. A second reason he
wants full surrender is because he wants our service for him.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
To be effective and fruitful.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Now a person can serve the Lord with that being
fully surrendered, There's no question about that.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And here's what happens.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
If we are serving God in the flesh the way
we want to do it, we're gonna have our way.
What happens is God may use some decisions that are made,
or he may use what we say. But you know what,
we going to miss the blessing. And besides that, it's
not going to have the impact that could have.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Think about this, why do you want to live your
life and not make the full impact. Why do you
want to live your life and not receive the full blessing?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Listen? Why do you want a little bit when you're
can have more? Why you want to be what you
are when you can be something else?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Why do we want to risk going through life trying
to figure things out having our way when God's way
is the best way and he is more than willing
to show us what his way is. So one of
the things he wants he certainly wants worship. And the
second thing he wants is certain he wants service, And
third and they watch this. The third thing he wants
is listen to watch this. One God wants freedom to
(15:11):
bless us. He's in a Wait a minute, Is he omnipotent?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yes he is.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
If he's omnipotent, I can't give him freedom. Well let's
see if that's true. Does God have principles by which
he governs things?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yes? He does. Would God violate his own principles?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Know?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
He would not.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
What's one of his principles? Obedience brings blessing. Whatever we sow,
we reap what we sow more than we so later
than we so so Therefore What happens is when you
and I fully surrender our life to him, we let
it all down, no bargaining. Think about this for a moment.
How in the world can you bargain with God? Many
(15:46):
people here people say, well that God, if you'll do thus,
And so here's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Let's go back to what we said, never a beginning
to whom do we belong? God right sole ownership, He
owns us and.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
All that we have. So let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
What are you going to bargain with God with when
you don't have anything? Anyway, you can't bargain with God.
And so the whole idea of trying to manipulate you
can't manipulate God. And so we come to acknowledge we
don't have any bargaining rights.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We don't have anything to bargain with.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
It's a matter of obedience or it's a matter of disobedience.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And what he's simply saying here to us is this.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
He says, present your body a living sacrifice, because listen,
in order to worship God properly, he's got to have
all of me in order for the service to be
really internly acceptable and really fruitful and make an impact.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
He's got to have all of us, and not only that.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
In order for God to be able to bless us
the way he wants to, he's got to have freedom
to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Now, watch this.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
He's not going to violate his own principles. He's not
going to violate his own character. Whatever we sow, we
reap what we saw more than we so letting me.
So blessing follows obedience. God, listen, cannot condone disobedience, He
cannot condone rebellion.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
He does not overlook.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Sin, He does not ignore our ignoring him and insisting
on having our own way.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So, therefore here's what we do.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We say God, I want you to bless me, and
we slam the door. God, I want you to bless me.
But we choke up the channel because we position ourselves
so as because of the principles about which God operates.
He's not going to pour the fool listen to the
blessing upon us when we have refused listen to surrender
every aspect of our life.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Is it easy to give it all up? No, it's not.
Is it the right thing to do? Yes it is.
It's the wist thing to do.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yes, it is, and after it's done, we look back
and say, thank God, thank God, thank God, you finally
got me to see that it was the wisest.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Thing to do, to yield everything to you. It easy, No,
it's not.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
But what I want you to say is, if you
want God's full blessing, when you say God can't do something,
somebody says, oh, I can't believe you say that God.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Can't do anything.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
He cannot act outside of his own character, that is
his own self imposed character.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
He is not going to violate his own law.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So if we choose to have it our way, live
in rebellion, disobey him, withhold things from him, just going
to do it our way, you know what, he can't
do it. So we're the ones who are responsible for
the slowdown in the blessings of God. And some people
live their whole life and you know what, they'll complain
all their life and look back and think, oh God,
(18:40):
what did't this happen to mean?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Why didn't that happen to mean? Why did this happen?
And why did that happen?
Speaker 1 (18:43):
And the truth is, because we decided we were smarter
than God. God said I want to fill your hands.
You say, well, Lord, I'm willing for you to fill
my hand.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
But it's like this.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Let's suppose I had one hundred dollars bill in my hand,
and that was very valuable to me, and so I
wouldn't open my hand. You said, I'll just exchange what
I want to give you what you have. I said, now,
I'm one hundred dollars have. I'm had one hundred dollar
bills long time, so can't let this go. And you
(19:17):
pull out ten thousand dollars and say, here's what you
could have had if you'd opened your hand. I'm here
to tell you, my friend, that is exactly the way
most people living their life. They're holding on the pennies
when God has blessings innumerable. They're holding on listen, holding
on to what they can do in life. When you
can discover what God can do in your life, why
(19:39):
not discover what God can do in your life? Give
him the privilege and the privilege listen. Demands a full
surrender of my life. Why if God pours out a
full blessing, he wants to be in full control. How
can God give his best? How can he give all
that he's planned unless we're willing to give him full, absolute,
(20:01):
total Listen, authority, write privilege, which is his anyway to
rule and to reign and to govern and to guide
our life.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You're listening to in Touch, the teaching Ministry of doctor
Charles Stanley. God blesses the surrendered believer with a fruitful life.
If you're fighting him for control, give up the struggle
and yield to him. We'll hear more about God's condition
for his full blessing tomorrow and you can listen again at.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
In Touch dot o RG.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Also on our website you'll find many resources that can
encourage you to leave your burdens with Jesus and allow
Him to live through you. And if you'd like to
have a copy of today's complete message, you can order
online the title is God's Condition for his Full Blessing,
or order our teaching set a firm foundation. Our web
(20:57):
address again is in Touch dot OG or call one
eight hundred in Touch If you prefer, you can write
to us at in Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia,
three zero three five seven. We spend a lot of
time trying to make things work out just right, but
(21:18):
our way isn't always the best way. Today's moment with
Charles Stanley is just ahead.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
At times, life can be stormy and each one of
us will face many trials. Questions are asked, and doubt
may set in. The answers are found through faith in Jesus.
He is within every believer, always ready to offer us comfort,
hope and peace in times of great trial, so you
can trust Him with any circumstance. To order doctor Stanley's
(21:47):
book How to Let God Solve Your Problems, call one
eight hundred in touch or go to in touch dot
org slash store. As your children and grandchildren grow up,
how will you help them learn about Jesus? Doctor Charles
Stanley's first devotional for children, every Day with Jesus. It's
fun and colorful, filled with devotions, scriptures, prayers, and more.
(22:08):
Based on doctor Stanley's best selling devotional Every Day in
His Presence, this children's version is written to help kids
know Jesus better. To order every Day with Jesus, call
one eight hundred in touch or visit InTouch dot org.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
You're listening to in Touch. God has good in store
for believers, but good doesn't always mean easy. Here's a
moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Who wants to live the kind of life where everything
is just sort of hum drum, and I want to
be sure that everything just works out right, and I
just don't want to take any risk.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I want to be careful.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I know what God is saying, but but but but
but listen, God is going to require us if we
surrender ourselves him. He's going to require us things that
will challenge us. How do you think he grows us up?
He grows us up by giving us challenges in our life,
things that are difficult for us, things that are hard
for us, things that oftentimes we don't like, we don't want.
We would never choose why because we're singing from our viewpoint.
(23:14):
When you see it from God's viewpoint, what we don't
like and what's difficult for us and hurtful for us.
What's God doing growing us up, maturing us? He says,
that's good. Whatever drives him to us to him is good.
Whatever makes us christ like is good. God says, I've
got good, stood up to you. What I want is
a life fully surrendered, like a living holy sacrifice, so
(23:35):
that I can pour at the best that I have
and all that I.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Have for you. Visit us at in touch dot org
to learn more about the fulfilling life God has in
store for all those whose trust is in Christ. And
if you gained new insight from today's program that helps
you grow in your faith, please tell us about it tomorrow.
On in Touch, God extends his love to everyone, us
(24:00):
as his followers who are surrendered to Him now and
for eternity.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I hope you'll join us Tuesday as.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
We wrap up our series of firm foundation on in Touch,
the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is
a presentation of in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains
on this station through the grace of God and your
faithful prayers and gifts.
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