Speaker 1: Now, the truth is, it's really quite easy to lose
Speaker 1: your internal peace. I mean, one minute you're all everything's
Speaker 1: cool and you're kicked back and you're laid back and
Speaker 1: it feels good and you're in serenity, and the next
Speaker 1: minute you get a phone call and you're stressed out.
Speaker 1: It's very easy to lose your peace. I've written there
Speaker 1: on your outline three ways that people most often get
Speaker 1: anxious or stressed when their circumstances are uncontrollable. You feel
Speaker 1: helpless when people around them are unchangeable. They won't cooperate.
Speaker 1: Have you ever tried to change somebody who didn't want
Speaker 1: to be changed. That's stressing, isn't it. Have you ever
Speaker 1: done a little personal improvement plan on your husband or wife,
Speaker 1: are your kids and they won't get with the action
Speaker 1: and say, hey, come on, get with the plan. This
Speaker 1: is for your own good and fastest way to get
Speaker 1: stressed out is try to change somebody. You can't even
Speaker 1: change your own self most of the time. And then
Speaker 1: the third is when problems are unexplainable. You can't figure
Speaker 1: out why something doesn't work. That is stressing that causes anxiety.
Speaker 1: Now today we're going to look at what in all
Speaker 1: three of those situations, When your circumstances are uncontrollable, when
Speaker 1: people around you won't change, they're unchangeable, And when problems
Speaker 1: are unexplainable, you need to pray the prayer of surrender.
Speaker 1: It's Matthew six, verse ten. Let's read it aloud together.
Speaker 1: May your Kingdom come, May your will be done on
Speaker 1: earth as it is in heaven. Now, this may be
Speaker 1: the most misunderstood phrase in the Lord's prayer. What does
Speaker 1: it mean, your kingdom come? What in the world does
Speaker 1: that mean? May your kingdom come, May your will be done?
Speaker 1: What is God's kingdom? Well, God's kingdom is his plan
Speaker 1: for history. It is the rule and reign of God
Speaker 1: in the world. It's all that he wants to do.
Speaker 1: All his purposes are accomplished in the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: You say, well, where is the kingdom of God? It
Speaker 1: is wherever Jesus is allowed to be king. Now, since
Speaker 1: Jesus is king in heaven right now, the Kingdom of
Speaker 1: God is in he One day, when Christ comes back
Speaker 1: on earth, the Kingdom of God will be on earth.
Speaker 1: And Jesus said, when I'm king in your heart, the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God is within you. So the kingdom of
Speaker 1: God is wherever Jesus is allowed to be king. Actually,
Speaker 1: the second phrase, thy will be done explains the first phrase,
Speaker 1: Thy Kingdom Come. God's kingdom is wherever God's will is done.
Speaker 1: And so if God's will is being done in your life,
Speaker 1: guess where the kingdom of God is. It's inside you,
Speaker 1: says Jesus. Now, today we're going to look at how
Speaker 1: this phrase thy Kingdom, come, Thy will be done, How
Speaker 1: that can bring personal peace in your life. It may
Speaker 1: be a life changing message for you when you understand
Speaker 1: this truth. But first, before we can look at it,
Speaker 1: you have to settle one thing. And here it is
Speaker 1: God is God and you're not. All right now, I
Speaker 1: know that's a little simple, but we forget it very easily.
Speaker 1: God is God and you're not. You cannot pray this
Speaker 1: prayer and you cannot be at peace until you accept
Speaker 1: that fact. And when you learn that, then you're ready
Speaker 1: to pray what I call the prayer of surrender. Now,
Speaker 1: what does it mean to pray thy Kingdom Come, Thy
Speaker 1: will be done? It means three things. Number one, it
Speaker 1: means I accept God's plan. I accept God's plan instead
Speaker 1: of my own plan for my life. I accept his purpose,
Speaker 1: his will for my life. Now, part of this, and
Speaker 1: a big part of it, is something that's very difficult,
Speaker 1: and that is accepting the things you can't change. And
Speaker 1: there are a lot of things in your life. In fact,
Speaker 1: most of the major things you didn't choose your birth
Speaker 1: or your death. A lot of those things you don't
Speaker 1: choose what other people do to you. So you have
Speaker 1: to accept the things that can't be changed. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: you change the things you can, But what about all
Speaker 1: those things you can't change. How do you have peace
Speaker 1: when when you're frustrated by something that is unchangeable, Well,
Speaker 1: worrying doesn't work. That certainly doesn't give you peace. Resenting
Speaker 1: what you can't change won't give you peace. Feeling guilty
Speaker 1: about what you can't change in the past or whatever
Speaker 1: won't give you peace. Having a pity party about what
Speaker 1: you can't change won't give you peace. All those things
Speaker 1: you don't like in your life. I didn't like the
Speaker 1: parents I got, I don't like the way I look,
Speaker 1: I don't like the talents I've given. All those things
Speaker 1: you can't change them. There's only one thing that will
Speaker 1: work when you can't change something, and that is this acceptance, acceptance.
Speaker 1: I must accept God's will in my life. Thy Kingdom Come,
Speaker 1: Thy will be done. Now. Not everything that happens in
Speaker 1: your life is God's will. I am not saying that,
Speaker 1: but you say, God, I want your will in my
Speaker 1: life when there are things that are out of my
Speaker 1: control and I can't change them. Paul understood this in
Speaker 1: Philippians chapter four. He says this, I've learned to be
Speaker 1: satisfied with the things that I have and with everything
Speaker 1: that happens. Wait just a minute, how many of you
Speaker 1: could say I've learned to be satisfied with everything that happens.
Speaker 1: I couldn't raise my hand on that one, Paul saying,
Speaker 1: I have learned to be content, to be satisfied with
Speaker 1: the things I have and everything that happens. I know
Speaker 1: how to live when I am poor, and I know
Speaker 1: how to live when I have plenty. I've learned the
Speaker 1: secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens. Wow.
Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ because He gives
Speaker 1: me strength. Now I want you to notice first, you
Speaker 1: know the amazing thing about this verse. Paul wrote it
Speaker 1: when he's in prison. He's in Rome, chained to a
Speaker 1: guard in a dungeon, and he's saying, I've learned how
Speaker 1: to be happy no matter what's going on in my life.
Speaker 1: He couldn't change his circumstance, but he says, I've learned
Speaker 1: to be content. And I want you to notice three things. First,
Speaker 1: this accepting of God's plan is a learned experience. You
Speaker 1: are not, by nature a contented person. Neither am I.
Speaker 1: By nature, we are discontented. And God says contentment is
Speaker 1: something you learn. You learn to accept the things that
Speaker 1: you can't change. And Second, it's a choice. He says,
Speaker 1: I choose to be happy in spite of my circumstances.
Speaker 1: And third, he says it's possible only through Christ's strength.
Speaker 1: Now you need to learn this first step of the
Speaker 1: prayer surrender that I accept God's plan even when I
Speaker 1: don't understand it. Why. Because the truth is, most of
Speaker 1: the things that happen in your life, God doesn't explain
Speaker 1: why they happen. Most of the things in your life,
Speaker 1: God's not going to give you an explanation. He's going
Speaker 1: to remain silent when you're going through that problem, through
Speaker 1: that trial, through that difficulty, through that circumstance that you
Speaker 1: don't like Now. I know this is going to be
Speaker 1: hard for some of you, but can you think back
Speaker 1: to when you were in grade school. In grade school,
Speaker 1: the teacher would pass out the test, you would sit
Speaker 1: down and start taking the test, and he or she
Speaker 1: would sit at the front in silence while you took
Speaker 1: the test. The teacher is always silent when the test
Speaker 1: is being given. Now, that's true in life. It's true
Speaker 1: with God. Anytime you're going through a tough time and
Speaker 1: God is silent, you're praying, God, why is this happening?
Speaker 1: What's going on in my life? Help? Help? And God
Speaker 1: is silent. This is a test, all right. Anytime God
Speaker 1: is silent in your life, this is a test. God
Speaker 1: is saying, are you gonna trust me even when you
Speaker 1: don't feel me? Are you gonna trust me even when
Speaker 1: you can't see me, hear me? I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: a million miles away. Will you accept my plan, my wisdom,
Speaker 1: my love, my goodness even when there's nothing emotionally feel
Speaker 1: any goosebumps, you don't feel anything special in your life?
Speaker 1: Will you test trust me when I am silent? God
Speaker 1: tests you like that all the time, and he wants
Speaker 1: you to pray When you're in those situations, that's when
Speaker 1: you need to pray the prayer of surrender, High Kingdom, Come,
Speaker 1: Thy will be done God. I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: on in my life. I don't know where you're taking me.
Speaker 1: I don't know where I'm going to end up. But
Speaker 1: I'm going to say this even in advance, Thy will
Speaker 1: be done. That, my friends, is the prayer of surrender,
Speaker 1: and it's the first key to peace, where you say,
Speaker 1: I'm going to accept your plan even when I don't
Speaker 1: understand it. Now, why does this bring peace of mind? Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you because the greatest barrier to your peace
Speaker 1: of mind is your demand for an explanation. Anytime you
Speaker 1: ask God why, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed,
Speaker 1: because God's not going to explain why everything happens in
Speaker 1: your life. Whenever you start saying why, why is this
Speaker 1: happening to me? Why didn't this happen? Why did he
Speaker 1: allow this? Why? Why? Why? Explanations are setting yourself up
Speaker 1: are questions like that, you're setting yourself up to be
Speaker 1: not at peace, but to be anxious, to be in turmoil.
Speaker 1: It always robs your peace. And the truth is you're
Speaker 1: probably not going to get an explanation from God. Now,
Speaker 1: there are three reasons for that. Number One, God doesn't
Speaker 1: owe you an explanation. Remember, God is God and I'm
Speaker 1: what not? Yeah, okay, So God doesn't have to explain
Speaker 1: to me why he does everything. He doesn't have to
Speaker 1: report it to me and say, by the way, would
Speaker 1: this be okay with you? If I do this? Is
Speaker 1: it okay? If I make this little change here. He
Speaker 1: doesn't report to you. You report to him. God is
Speaker 1: God and you're not. So God doesn't owe you an
Speaker 1: explanation for why everything happens in your life. He's good,
Speaker 1: he's loving, and he knows what's best. Number Two, you
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't understand the explanation even if he gave it
Speaker 1: to you. The reason why is God thinks through eternity.
Speaker 1: He sees everything that's happened in the past, and he
Speaker 1: sees everything that's going to happen in the future, and
Speaker 1: he knows what's going on in your life right now.
Speaker 1: And God thinks in terms of generations. We only tend
Speaker 1: to think of what's happened in my life, not even
Speaker 1: in my whole life, but what's happening at this very moment.
Speaker 1: I can't even see what happened a year ago or
Speaker 1: what's going to happen to year in the future. I'm
Speaker 1: only thinking about my pain right now. God is taking
Speaker 1: it all in the in the perspective of the progress
Speaker 1: of eternity. And so if God tried to explain to
Speaker 1: you why things happen to you, you're just a cog
Speaker 1: in the wheel in the huge panorama of history, in
Speaker 1: the huge panorama of history, and so God would not
Speaker 1: be able to explain to you why why this happens
Speaker 1: before this, before this, and how that thing that happened
Speaker 1: one hundred years ago is influencing this today, and what
Speaker 1: you're doing right now is going to influence one hundred
Speaker 1: years from today and on and on. So you probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't understand it. But a third reason why God probably
Speaker 1: won't give you an explanation is this, Explanations never comfort us.
Speaker 1: Some of you have had pain in your past, and
Speaker 1: through reading or therapy or counsel or talking with friends,
Speaker 1: you figured out why certain things happen in your life.
Speaker 1: Did that comfort you? No, It gave an explanation, It
Speaker 1: gave you wisdom, but it didn't relieve the pain. Explanations
Speaker 1: rarely comfort us. And that's why when God lets you
Speaker 1: go through a situation, he doesn't always explain it. Instead
Speaker 1: of offering an explanation, he offers himself his presence, because
Speaker 1: what you need when you're in pain is God's presence,
Speaker 1: not an explanation. And God has said I will be
Speaker 1: with you always. I am always with you. I care
Speaker 1: about you. You will never go through anything on your own.
Speaker 1: And this is the first step to the prayer of
Speaker 1: surrender Thy Kingdom, Come be done, God. I want your
Speaker 1: plan in my life now. Many people pray the Serenity prayer.
Speaker 1: Millions of people pray the Serenity Prayer on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: But did you know that the Serenity Prayer has been edited.
Speaker 1: It has been shortened, and most people only know the
Speaker 1: first three lines. The actual prayer has eight more lines,
Speaker 1: and that's where the power is. I'd like for us
Speaker 1: to read the Serenity Prayer aloud together. Let's read it.
Speaker 1: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I
Speaker 1: cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,
Speaker 1: and the wisdom to know the difference living one day
Speaker 1: at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting
Speaker 1: hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking as Jesus did,
Speaker 1: this sinful world as it is, not as I would
Speaker 1: have it, Trusting that you will make all things right
Speaker 1: if I surrender to your will, so that I may
Speaker 1: be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with
Speaker 1: you forever in the next. Amen. Now, the rest of
Speaker 1: that passage explains a whole lot about the first three.
Speaker 1: You're not going to have the serenity of the serenity
Speaker 1: prayer unless you pray the rest of it. Peace comes
Speaker 1: through notice, accepting, trusting, and surrender. Those are the three
Speaker 1: things that bring peace. Accepting, trusting, and surrender. When you
Speaker 1: face an uncontrollable circumstance, you tend to do one of
Speaker 1: two things, and these are the extremes, and most of
Speaker 1: us tend to do one or the other. Some of you,
Speaker 1: when you face things are out of your control, you
Speaker 1: just redouble your efforts. You try harder, you say, I'm
Speaker 1: going to make this thing work. And the more your
Speaker 1: life tends to spend out of control, the more controlling
Speaker 1: and compulsive you become. When you feel like you're threatened
Speaker 1: by I can't control the situation, you start and react
Speaker 1: by trying to control everybody and everything in your life,
Speaker 1: and you become compulsive about it, and you want to
Speaker 1: control this, you want to control that, and you are
Speaker 1: a hyper controller, and you're certainly not at peace because
Speaker 1: you're trying to run the whole world out of the
Speaker 1: fear of what's uncontrollable in your life. The others of you,
Speaker 1: you do the exact opposite. You throw in the towel,
Speaker 1: you give up, You throw your hands up and say
Speaker 1: forget it. I'm a victim. I'm gonna roll over and
Speaker 1: play dead. I'm a victim of despair. And you play
Speaker 1: Mary martyr. You swallow and wallow, You swallow your anger
Speaker 1: and you wallow in self pity. Both of those choices,
Speaker 1: trying to control everything and everybody around you and giving
Speaker 1: in and saying I'm just a victim, those are stupid,
Speaker 1: foolish choices. What you need to do is the alternative.
Speaker 1: If what you need to do is pray the prayer
Speaker 1: of surrender, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done in
Speaker 1: my life. Thy will be done on earth as it
Speaker 1: is in heaven. Why do we pray that Thy will
Speaker 1: be done on earth as it is in heaven, Because
Speaker 1: in heaven God's will is done perfectly. Is God's will
Speaker 1: done perfectly on earth? Absolutely not. In fact, most of
Speaker 1: the things that happen on earth are not God's will.
Speaker 1: God's will is not always done. That's why we have sin,
Speaker 1: That's why people get hurt. But when you pray thy
Speaker 1: will be done, you're saying, first, I accept your plan,
Speaker 1: and second you're saying, I surrender to your control. That's
Speaker 1: the second part of the prayer of surrender. I surrender
Speaker 1: to God's control. I don't just accept a plan. I
Speaker 1: say not only am accepting your plan, I accept what
Speaker 1: you want to do with me. You're in control now.
Speaker 1: We don't like this word surrender, oh man. We don't
Speaker 1: like it because surrender means raising the white flag. Surrender
Speaker 1: means giving up. It means forfeiting the game. It's saying
Speaker 1: I've lost, you've won. Surrender sounds too much like that
Speaker 1: other word. We hate submission, and we don't like either
Speaker 1: of those words. But it's the only pathway to peace.
Speaker 1: I surrender to your control. God. You see, every morning
Speaker 1: you get up, you make a decision. Who's going to
Speaker 1: run your life? You are God? Whose agenda are you
Speaker 1: going to follow today? Yours? Or God, who's going to
Speaker 1: be calling the shots. You are God. Now, sometimes you
Speaker 1: and I think we know better, and sometimes you say,
Speaker 1: you know, I know there's some verses in the Bible,
Speaker 1: but I want to ignore those ones because they don't
Speaker 1: fit my agenda. And I know what God says here.
Speaker 1: But you know what I'm I'm just gonna pretend that
Speaker 1: verse isn't in the Bible. I'm going to ignore it
Speaker 1: and do what I want to do. I'm going to
Speaker 1: make up my own rules. And when we do this,
Speaker 1: we always use the same phrase, here's the excuse, but
Speaker 1: God wants me to be happy. Anytime you hear somebody
Speaker 1: say that, but God wants me to be happy, it
Speaker 1: means they're probably justifying something that this book says don't do.
Speaker 1: Almost inevitably, they're going to be justifying. It's trying and
Speaker 1: rationalized in their mind what God says not to do.
Speaker 1: And you know what to rationalize is rationalies. Rationalize means
Speaker 1: I tell with my head what my heart says is wrong,
Speaker 1: but I know in my heart is wrong. But God
Speaker 1: wants me to be happy. You're not going to be
Speaker 1: happy unless you do what God wants you to do.
Speaker 1: And the truth is This is the real reason you're
Speaker 1: under stress. This is the real reason you're in turmoil.
Speaker 1: You're at war with God. Anytime you try to play God,
Speaker 1: then you're in opposition to the real God. And the
Speaker 1: Bible's very clear about the effect of that. Look at
Speaker 1: the next verse. Well, first, the Bible says and sal
Speaker 1: I'm thirty seven to seven. Surrender yourself to the Lord
Speaker 1: and wait patiently for him. That's the key to peace. Now,
Speaker 1: what happens if we don't do it? Look at the
Speaker 1: next verse Roman's eighty six. If a person's thinking is
Speaker 1: controlled by a sinful self, there is death. But if
Speaker 1: his thinking is controlled by the spirit, there is read
Speaker 1: it with me, life and peace. How do you get
Speaker 1: life and peace by being controlled by the spirit, by
Speaker 1: surrendering yourself to the Lord and waiting for him. Now, obviously,
Speaker 1: in a war with God, you're gonna lose. Anybody want
Speaker 1: to disagree with that one? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Speaker 1: Your arms are too short to box with God. You're
Speaker 1: gonna lose if you get in a war with God.
Speaker 1: And so whenever you fight God God and say I'm
Speaker 1: going to do what I want to do instead of
Speaker 1: what you want me to do. You're going to have anxiety,
Speaker 1: you're going to have stress, you're gonna have depression, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have worry. You're gonna have everything except peace because
Speaker 1: you're at war with God. Now, if you want personal peace,
Speaker 1: the Book of Job, chapter twenty two tells us how
Speaker 1: to get it. Stop quarreling with God. If you agree
Speaker 1: with him, you will have peace at last, and things
Speaker 1: will go well for you. You see, God says, I
Speaker 1: want to bring your bring you peace, but you've got
Speaker 1: to accept my plan, and you've got to surrender to
Speaker 1: my control because I am God and you're not. Now,
Speaker 1: you know what is the greatest barrier to this? What
Speaker 1: keeps you from surrendering your life totally to God? Resentment?
Speaker 1: Resentment against God. Now you may not want to admit this,
Speaker 1: but there's some things in your life you're mad at
Speaker 1: God about. You still blame him for those disappointments. You're
Speaker 1: upset with him because life hasn't turned out the way
Speaker 1: you wanted it to. And that underlying resentment keeps you
Speaker 1: from totally surrendering to God. You're mad at God, you're
Speaker 1: blaming him for your unhappiness. Now, let's just get real
Speaker 1: practical What is it in your life that you're still
Speaker 1: angry at God about? Can a Christian be angry God
Speaker 1: all without a doubt, without a doubt? Some of you
Speaker 1: are angry at the way God made you look. You
Speaker 1: don't like your appearanceshaf God bade me? Look? Why didn't
Speaker 1: God make me more beautiful? Why didn't God make me
Speaker 1: like pastor Rick? Then my life would be great? I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a hunk, a hunk of burning love. Yay baby.
Speaker 1: And you don't like the way you look? And you
Speaker 1: know what, you're still mad at God because God made
Speaker 1: you the way you look. Some of you are still resentful.
Speaker 1: Why didn't God give me different parents? Why did I
Speaker 1: have to get my dad? My mom? They're looney? Some
Speaker 1: of you are disappointed in your marriage. It's not at
Speaker 1: all what you expected it to be, and you're blaming
Speaker 1: God for it. And some of you are still resentful
Speaker 1: about a handicap or a birth defect, or a business
Speaker 1: you started and failed, or a marriage that failed. For
Speaker 1: the fact that you're not married and you're still single.
Speaker 1: What are you caring resentment at God over? What are
Speaker 1: you still angry at God about? That kind of thing
Speaker 1: is keeping you in turmoil, keeping you at war with
Speaker 1: God and keeping you from experiencing the love and peace
Speaker 1: that He wants to pour out in your life, that
Speaker 1: unfulfilled dream, and you're mad at God about it. Don't
Speaker 1: blame God. Just relax and say God, Thy will be done,
Speaker 1: Thy will be done, Thy Kingdom Come. I accept your plan.
Speaker 1: I surrender to your control, because the war with God
Speaker 1: is keeping you from peace. Now. Sometimes you go out
Speaker 1: and in all sincerity, you pray, you work, you think
Speaker 1: you're doing the right thing, and you go out and
Speaker 1: you do what you think God wants you to do,
Speaker 1: and it just flat out bombs. What do you do
Speaker 1: with that? Don't worry. It's all a part of God's
Speaker 1: plan and he's moving you to where he wants to
Speaker 1: take you. The Bible says this in Isaiah twenty six
Speaker 1: y three. You Lord, give true peace to those who
Speaker 1: depend on you because they trust you. Now, your life
Speaker 1: is never going to be problem free. Ias is a
Speaker 1: reality of life. You all know ias. It's always something.
Speaker 1: Let's just say that together. It's always something. And if
Speaker 1: it's not one thing, it's, oh, you know this, it's
Speaker 1: always something. You see problems. Your life is like a
Speaker 1: big aircraft carrier. And the problems are like planes out
Speaker 1: there circling lined up waiting to land, and you have
Speaker 1: about ten or twelve or twenty or thirty planes waiting
Speaker 1: to land on your deck right now. And so just
Speaker 1: about the time you get one in and you get
Speaker 1: that plan, that problem solved. Number two plane moves up
Speaker 1: to number one position, and number three moves up to
Speaker 1: number two. The moment you get number two landed, guess
Speaker 1: what number three is now number one. And the rest
Speaker 1: of your life, you're going to have one problem after another,
Speaker 1: after another after another. You have to have learn You
Speaker 1: have to learn how to have peace in spite of
Speaker 1: your problems and in spite of conflict. If you're only
Speaker 1: at peace when you're on vacation, you're going to have
Speaker 1: peace very little in your life. You have to learn
Speaker 1: to trust God's care even when you have problems. By
Speaker 1: the way, why do we have so many problems in
Speaker 1: the world. There are three reasons why we have problems
Speaker 1: in our lives. Number One, a fallen world in a nutshell.
Speaker 1: Adam choked, Adam blew it. He's sinned sin into the world,
Speaker 1: and we live in an imperfect world ever since, and
Speaker 1: so because sin is in the world. People do things
Speaker 1: that are wrong, and you suffer as a result. Other
Speaker 1: people cause problems that you didn't cause, and and that's
Speaker 1: that's one of the main causes of problems. The second
Speaker 1: reason is you have an enemy and his name is Satan,
Speaker 1: and Satan wants to mess your life up. He wants
Speaker 1: to destroy you. He wants to make you ineffective as
Speaker 1: a child of God. And so you not only got
Speaker 1: the world working after you, got the devil working after
Speaker 1: you too. The third reason you have problems is your
Speaker 1: own poor decisions. You make a lot of dumb decisions,
Speaker 1: dumb choices, and so do I, and so we cause problems.
Speaker 1: Most of the problems I bring on myself. Now, if
Speaker 1: you got your own poor decision making, and you got
Speaker 1: the devil, and you've got a fallen world, it's no wonder.
Speaker 1: That's enough problems to keep you going the rest of
Speaker 1: your life. But let me give you fourth. Sometimes problems
Speaker 1: are nobody's fault. Sometimes they're not anybody's fault. Sometimes God
Speaker 1: just allows them for a different reason. One time Jesus
Speaker 1: was walking down the street and his disciple saw a
Speaker 1: man who was born blind, and the disciples said, Lord,
Speaker 1: this guy's blind. He must have done something wrong. Who
Speaker 1: did something wrong? Was it his parents who did wrong?
Speaker 1: Who sinned? Or did he sin? Now that is such
Speaker 1: a contemporary approach to problems, because today, when you get
Speaker 1: a problem, you always say either it's caused by my
Speaker 1: parents or by me. It's either blame your parents or
Speaker 1: blame yourself. And so they said, who caused this problem?
Speaker 1: My parents are me and Jesus. You might write this
Speaker 1: verse down. John nine three said, quote neither John nine three.
Speaker 1: He said this happened so that God's power could be
Speaker 1: displayed in this man's life. Now, listen, sometimes you're going
Speaker 1: to have problems that aren't caused by sin of others,
Speaker 1: aren't caused by your own sin, and aren't caused by
Speaker 1: the devil. You're going to have problems because God let
Speaker 1: them in your life so that God's power could be
Speaker 1: displayed in your life. Now, there's a great promise that
Speaker 1: goes with the prayer surrender Thy Kingdom, Come, Thy will
Speaker 1: be done. If I worry that and live that, what
Speaker 1: does God promise Matthew six thirty three. God will give
Speaker 1: you all you need from day to day if you
Speaker 1: live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your
Speaker 1: primary concern. What is the Kingdom of God? His will
Speaker 1: in your life and His will in the world. If
Speaker 1: you say Thy will be done and you live that,
Speaker 1: he says, I'm going to take care of all your needs.
Speaker 1: I accept God's plan for my life. I surrender to
Speaker 1: God's control for my life, and I trust God's care
Speaker 1: for my life. Then God says, I'm going to take
Speaker 1: care of all your needs. So are you really at
Speaker 1: peace today? Or really? Is there turmoil going on in
Speaker 1: your heart? Are you experiencing anxiety and turmoil and stress
Speaker 1: over some area that has not been yielded to God? Question?
Speaker 1: What in your life do you need to surrender? I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, but you do and God does.
Speaker 1: Aren't you tired of being at war with God? Aren't
Speaker 1: you tired of being in turmoil? You can have God
Speaker 1: promises the peace of God. You can have that, but
Speaker 1: first you must make peace with God before you can
Speaker 1: have the peace of God. How do you make peace
Speaker 1: with God? Last verse in your outline Romans six thirteen.
Speaker 1: Give yourself to God. Surrender your whole being to Him
Speaker 1: to be used for his righteous purposes. He wants you
Speaker 1: to live a purpose driven life. He wants you to
Speaker 1: surrender your whole being to him. Say God, I want
Speaker 1: to live for your purposes. Your plan. Thy will be
Speaker 1: done in my life and on earth, as it is
Speaker 1: in heaven.