Good morning church. I
Am happy to be back here. I went to church here for 20 years and then
Move to Atlanta and join a church out there
But I'm happy to be here. I'm glad that I got the
Text from Anthony to ask me to preach because like my mother said I did always want to do this
And so I'm happy to be still doing it
The title of my sermon today is giving up
Not because I'm telling you to give up
But sometimes we need to give up
Because there are times when we want to take things into our own hands and because we think we know best
And so there are times that we need to understand that God knows best and we need to give it up to him
So I'm going to open up with one more word of prayer just to ask the Lord's presence here, and then we'll get started
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you again today Lord. I pray that you
Bring your presence to this to this room Lord. I pray that you play put your hands over me Lord that these words be your
Words are not my words. I pray that we all listen myself included not only with our ears, but with our hearts Lord in Jesus name amen
So during the time of Jesus first advent the expectations of the Jewish leaders and consequently the people of Israel
Was that a Messiah would come defeat the Roman Empire
and make Israel a great nation unfortunately for the Jewish leaders and the Messiah came and when the Messiah came Jesus brought a whole new
And yet internal concept about the kingdom of God all that humans have learned about power and kingdoms was now upside down
Jesus teachings were clear that if we wanted to be part of his Kings we need to follow his rules that go against all human understanding
Paul describes things of God as foolish foolishness as he writes
I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction
But who are we who are being saved recognized the message as the very power of God
And as the scriptures say I will assure human wisdom and discard the most brilliant ideas and that's found in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses 18 and 19
Not only the message of God who became a man and died on the cross for sins is foolishness and some of the human's minds
But his teachings as well some of Jesus teachings were the opposite of human understanding
Listen to this written by Leonard Sweet in his book Jesus drives me crazy
The way first is last the way of success is service the way of attainment is relinquishment
The way of strength is weakness the way of security is vulnerability the way of life is death
The way of life is death the way of life is death
The way of security is vulnerability the way of life is death
So sometimes it seems like we have all the teachings that God came to the earth to teach
We know all of it it's right here in our Bibles but still even with all with these lists of guidelines we still think that we know best
We still think that we wake up and you know I know how I'm going to map out my day every single day and this is exactly how I'm going to do it
But God gives us the guidelines and sometimes it seems when we read this book in my personal life it's like this doesn't apply to me today
But it could apply to you tomorrow or the next day or previously you could have been like I wish I had some way of helping me get through this moment
And it was right there in the Bible but we still in our minds as humans we all do it we all think that we know best
It seems that in the spite of his teachings we still struggle to let go of the cinch of our lives
The idea of being in power is a big part of our lives
We are we are human in many areas of our lives we always try harder to keep it all under control
Don't we all do that? We all love to say that I handled it myself I had no help in this
I woke up and I conquered the day myself with no help but did you have help?
If you really think about it did you have help? Who woke you up that day?
Who gave you the strength to get out of bed that day?
Who gave you the strength when things got hard to keep pushing on? It wasn't yourself
If we don't lie to ourselves we know who really gave us that strength to achieve all those things that day
We struggle for power in the workplace
We want so bad to keep moving up
We're like hey boss look what I did
It's something that I'm struggling with now in my workplace
It seems like I'm doing all the work and I want to be recognized for it
I want someone to look at me and be like you know what I appreciate you and all the things that you do
But is that what really matters?
Work achievements, work raises, now those things are lovely
I mean we all want more money at work right?
But in the end there's a bigger goal that we're striving for
And this is just the road to that goal
We struggle for power financially
Like I said we want more money
We're willing to do anything for money
We're willing to put ourselves above other people for more money
But like this says up here strength is in vulnerability
We struggle emotionally
We want to keep it all together
We want people to look at us and be like that person has it all together
That person has no problems
But behind closed doors you have all the problems in the world that you're facing
And same way when you look at somebody else
They have problems too that they're struggling and they're as big as your problems are to you
We struggle for power in church
We want so bad to come to church and say
I give the most in tithe
I dress the best
I'm at church every single week
I'm in Sabbath school every single week
Look at me, look at me
But who are we really supposed to be looking to?
Are we drawing people in the church to look at us?
Or are we supposed to draw people in the church to look to God?
Many times that grip comes in different forms of manifestations
Such as frustration, greed, disappointment, anger, harsh words and so on
I believe that one of the greatest struggles we Christians have to let as today
Is to let go of the facts of life
The fact of life is we are Christians
Everybody out there is not Christian
It's our goal to bring them to Christianity
But we can't go out there and expect everyone to act like us
Because some of them don't know
Some of them don't know even what goes on in front inside those doors out there
So who are we to be like, you know what, I'm doing my best
And that's all I was told to do
No, one of the last things that Jesus said on earth was to go and teach
And sometimes we don't know everything either
That's why he gives us this book to go back and reference to
Our script reading today is the greatest advice we can find in the Bible about this subject
As far as letting it go and understanding that God knows best
And Caleb read it perfectly, thank you Caleb
Be still and know that I am God
I will be exalted among the nations
I will be exalted on the earth
Think for a few seconds about a moment in your life where you took matters into your own hands
And made all that was possible to have it done your own way
Do you have moments like that?
Where you achieve something in your life and you're like, I did it my way
Nobody helped me, nobody gave me advice, nobody counseled me on it
But I did it my way and I succeeded
It's hard to think back at a time if you truly think about it and say that I did it myself
In my own life I have advised God, I have counseled God
I have given him instructions on how to work the things I need in my life
I have given him instructions on how to tell him how I want things to be done
When we moved to Atlanta we struggled to find a church
We've had previous things happen in the past where it was like
We were scared to join a new church just off the fly
And that's normal going from one setting personally for my life
Going from a church where you were around the same people for 20 years
To a whole different place you've never lived in
And trying to find a new church where you don't know anybody
It can be scary
And it was hard, it was hard to put yourself out there
Me, myself, I'm a very shy person
I'm a very introverted person
My wife on the other hand, if you know my wife you know she's not shy
But it was hard finding a church
And so me and Angelica thought that you know what, we'll start our own thing
We'll make a church available for everyone
So we started an online church where she sang a couple songs
And then I gave a light word of something that we learned throughout the week
And it was a good idea
And we were like you know what, we're going to make church how we want church
And God had other plans
It didn't work out
It just became too much
It just became, there were those weeks where we didn't learn anything
Where we thought we didn't learn anything
It was just a hard week
And we're like now we have to go in front of these people, all these people who are watching
And be like I love everything
And that's not true
So we just, if I'm being honest we just stopped going to church
And it was probably the worst decision I've ever made in my entire life
To stop going to church
Because the church is the people
This building is just a building we can meet at
But you need the people of the church too when you're feeling down to encourage you to keep going
Or maybe you're called to a church to encourage somebody
And that's what church is about
Church isn't about being here at 9 o'clock to go to Sabbath school
It's not ending church service exactly at 12 o'clock because somebody's going to rip your head off because they're hungry
That's not what it's about
It's about coming here and understanding that we're all trying to achieve this goal as to get to heaven
Every single last one of us
And we're all equipping each other with the knowledge and these words to go out and to bring people along
And so when we stopped going to church it seems like everything just fell apart
Nothing was going right
We were struggling financially, emotionally, with power
We felt like nothing was in our control
And so Angelica's TO was preaching at the Alpharetta church
And he told our family, you guys should come out, I'm preaching, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
And so we went and it was a lovely church
Those people there are like, God is in that church for sure
And so when we went, we just went, had a good time, had potluck, which is always good
And so a few weeks later we didn't really go back to church
But we felt something moving
We felt something stir up inside of us like how amazing was that feeling to be in church surrounded by people who have the love of God in their heart
How amazing is that feeling?
And so we finally decided to go back and the moment we stepped in the doors
Now this was three weeks prior
We stepped in the doors and people remembered our first names
And I just took that as a sign from God, I'm supposed to be here
You're supposed to be here
And so as a lot of you know, we moved our membership over there
And it is amazing being back in church
Let me tell you, God knows exactly what he's doing
And the fact that some, and even myself, the fact that I can wake up some days and say
You know what, God, I got this one
The fact that I can wake up and say that for all the things that he's done in my life is crazy to me
It's crazy to me to think that I think any kind of thought that I know better than him
We take control of our lives and rely on our own understanding
But when we do that, we take away the sovereignty of God and having control over our lives
A quick look in the Bible as you can find out that God has always been in control over everything
The very first verse of Psalms 46 begins this
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble
Do you think that Moses was in despair when the people of Israel were cornered between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army?
Do you think that Moses took time to advise God and tell him what to do?
Of course not
Moses stayed still for he knew God
When he asked God who he should say, when he asked God who he should send, God sent him
God told him, I am who I am
Another great example of staying still is found in the life of David
As Saul was persecuting him, David has Saul's life in his hands twice and both times he decided to spare the king
One time he said to Saul, may the Lord judge between you and me
and may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you
Be still and know that I am God
That was the attitude of Job also when the whole world came tumbling down on him and he lost everything
He even came down with a terrible disease
This man went through everything you could possibly imagine, some things that we couldn't even imagine
However, one of his well known phrases at the book in Job chapter 19 verse 26 it says
And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God
How many of us can say that?
When we look at our lives and think of the worst time in our lives
How can we sit there in that moment when everything is going wrong and be like
I'm still looking to God
What is our mind going through?
This is it
I give up
It's too much
I can't take it anymore
Now we don't say I can't take it anymore, I give it to you God
We just say I'm giving up, I can't take it
And we just let everything go
But Job, he says, yet in my body I will see God
That is amazing
In retrospective I feel that God has never forsaken us
Just like the Red Sea, he waited at the last minute and he was still
Brothers and sisters, I don't know exactly what you're going through in your life
But I can tell you this, we serve a God who is mighty
A God who is able to deliver us though it may not be the way you expect
But it will be the best way you could ever desire
I encourage you to be still and let go of the control of your life
Even when things won't work out the way you want, remember the words of Paul
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good
For those who are called according to his purpose
There are things in life that I wish I could go back and change
That's my initial first thought when I think back on those things
But now I know that it was the journey that God put me through
I know that he allows us to go through moments of where we need to be taught
Because like I said we like to take control of our things
And God gives us free will doesn't he?
And so he's like, okay go ahead
He's like, go ahead, if you know best really truly take it
But he's always right there when we come back to him
When we know that we're wrong and we know that we messed up by thinking that we have it
He's like, come to me and I'll give you rest
That's another thing that I've been going through myself is giving it all to God
And that's why I wrote this because I had a moment two weeks ago
Where I was in my work truck and it was the end of my day
And I had pulled back into the warehouse and I was just sitting there
It's 97 degrees outside and I've been delivering packages in the heat all day
And my boss doesn't seem to think that the trucks need AC
And I'm sitting there just pouring sweat and I'm just like, is this really for me?
Is this really what I want to be doing in my life?
Is there something greater that I could be doing at this moment?
And I just remember thinking like this is the moment where I'm going to take my life into my own hands
And I'm going to do what I want to do
And I don't know if I told you this Angelica, probably not
But as I was walking out of the warehouse I was stopped by one of the
He's the guy who drives the cars to clean up all the boxes and stuff
And he stopped and looked at me and he was like, hey do you live around here?
And I was like, yeah I live in Marietta
I'm actually looking for a church, is there somewhere that you recommend?
And I remember telling him there's a Marietta and I told him that I was an Adventist
And we got into a conversation about what that is, you know the whole rigmarole of that
And he was like, because initially he first came up to me and he was like, you know I'm really busy on Sundays
And I was like, well I got the place for you then
I remember telling him there's a church in Marietta, Marietta Seventh-day Adventist Church
I said, this is where the pastor of my church came from
But if you're willing to drive to Alpharetta, it's a little bit of a trek
But this is where I go to church
And I promise you, you will feel the love of God in this church
And in that moment as I was walking out to my car I started to cry
Because as my family knows, my mom knows, she raised me to be a very emotional person, as she is
And I started to cry and I was like, I'm exactly where I need to be
God put me in this place for a reason
He opened up the doors for this job so easily, how could I deny that that was him?
How could I deny that he isn't leading my path?
How could I deny that he isn't the light under my feet?
How could I?
A lot of times the reason we want to hold onto things ourselves is because of fear
Fear of things being different, fear of things not going the way that we want to, fear of things changing
But there's this famous song, it's called Fear Is Not My Future
And this song, every time I listen to this song, again I cry, let's all, you know
And these are the lyrics of this song, this is the chorus of the song that gets me every single time
And I want you to apply this to you, whatever you think that your future is right now
I want you to apply this to your life and think that this is not the end
It says, Fear Is Not My Future, you are
Fear Is Not My Future, Sickness Is Not My Story, you are
Heartbreak Is Not My Home, you are
Death Is Not The End, you are
And as I listen to those words I think back of all the times that it felt like I couldn't go on
And I felt like I was doing everything wrong and I felt like this is going to be the end
This is where my life, I've done all that I can do
God says this is not the end
You have nothing to fear because I got you in my hand
And the Bible says when you're in His hand nothing can pluck you out of it
So as we leave today, I want all of us, even including me, to think back at the time
Or in the future times that we think that we have it, that we know what's best for us
We can think, I know someone who has it best
And we can share these words to other people because people out there, they don't know like we do
They don't know that we have someone that we can turn to no matter what
And He always knows what's best, they think that this is it for them
They think that this is their future
And so we have these amazing words to tell them that that fear is not their future
God is their future if they will allow Him to, God will help you in ways that you can't even imagine
In ways that you didn't even know that you had a problem
God will fix that problem before you even come to that problem
I was talking to a friend, I was actually talking to Sam the other day
And this friend of ours, he's kind of been hinting that he wants to get into church
Or kind of hinting that he wants to talk about God
But then when you talk to him about God, he makes it a joke
But the other day I had a really good conversation with him, he was talking to me, he's like, you go through a lot
He's like, you wake up at 6.30 every single day, you have back pain and you work
And then you come in here still with a smile, he's like, how do you do it?
And I was like, if I'm being completely honest, it is not me putting a smile on his face
When I see people and I know that people need encouragement and people need love and people need happiness
God is the one who puts a smile on my face
Because you never know who's looking at you
You never know who's looking at you when you're down and you're somber
And you have this face on you that says, I can't do it anymore
There could be someone looking at you right now that's saying, I need encouragement
And if you allow God to put a smile on your face and give it to him
They're going to be like, I want what that person has
This person is going through a lot but I want what that person has
The strength to put a smile on their face and be happy and be joyous
Isn't that what we all want? We all want to be joyous and happy
Well, God is love
And love inherently makes us all happy, does it not?
Whether that's when people cook for you
Whether that's when people give you gifts
When people spend time with you
When people give you words of affirmation, whatever it is
Love inherently makes us happy
But worldly love makes us happy temporarily
Because then we're looking for the next way to feel that love
We're looking for the next way to feel that void of like, I need something
But God says, I have something way better for you
I have my love and that's eternal
So as I close, I want us to remember that God has it for you
And I'm sure you've probably seen it in like a hobby lobby or somewhere on Facebook
They say let go and let God, right?
But it's true, we need to let go
And that's why the title of my sermon is giving up
Because we need to give up
We need to give up on our own understanding
And lead into his own understanding
Amen? Let us pray
Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you again, Lord
We thank you for these words
We thank you to know that you are a God of love
And that you are a God of understanding what's best for every single person
Not just a wide span of like, this will help everybody
But you know us individually and what we all need individually, Lord
I thank you for this moment to come back and be with the people that I grew up with
And giving me these words and putting these words on my heart
Not only that it will help other people learn about the things that you've taught me, Lord
I hope that we can leave this church and understand that we give everything to you
And we understand that you will know what's best for us even when it's scary
You know that nothing will harm us and that you won't give us more than we can take, Lord
Amen