Welcome to the Believer's Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made

and we will rejoice and be glad in it Previously we talked about the spirit-led life of

the believer We talked about the importance of following the leading and the guiding of the Holy Spirit

Today we will begin a new series of studies about being transformed by the Spirit The ultimate goal

of a spirit-led life is transformation So let's get into the message today and I want

to start by talking about surrender giving God full control of your life That is

the first step in the process of being transformed by the spirit There come a time in every

believer's life when knowing about the word and the spirit must become more than something we acknowledge and

agree with It must become something we surrender to There is a difference between believing in God and

surrendering to God Many know Jesus as Savior but few allow Him to be Lord The

message of the gospel is not I need to try harder to be better No the message

is surrendering your life so Christ can live through you Philippians 2:13 says for it is God who

works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure The amplified reads for it is not

your strength but it is God who effectively at work in you both to will and to

do that is strengthened energizing and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose for His

good pleasure The Christian life does not start with your effort It starts with surrender

So let's define surrender Surrender is the transformative act of yielding oneself all of you completely to

the will and the authority of God The apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2

I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies

to surrender totally your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your

spiritual act of worship And then he continues on by saying do not be conformed

to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind In this text Paul says to present

your bodies as a living sacrifice Now this language was intentionally used because this is the language that

his audience would have understood from the Old Testament sacrifices Under the law the Old Testament sacrifices were placed

on the altar and they were consumed Living animals sacrificed at the altar as an act of worship But Paul

is saying we are living sacrifices which means we can choose to surrender to the will

of God or not to surrender Worship is not just the act of singing songs It is a life we

give totally unto the Lord God is not asking for Sunday morning rituals He is asking for all

of your decisions all of your desires all of your plans He wants your future He wants

your identity your relationships to be submitted and surrendered unto Him Your will your entire life surrendered unto Him Because

if God does not have our will if God does not have our entire life then he does not have

your entire surrender We have to say unto him Lord I surrender all everything to you

Number 2 surrender requires letting go of your control of your life One of the greatest battles in the believer's

life is the battle for control Many believers want God to help them do what they already

have purposed to do They've already made up their mind their own future their own destiny

But true surrender says Lord not my will but your will be done True surrender says

he God must increase but I my will my control must decrease Most believers just

invite God along for the ride That they have decided to go on and then expect God

to bless what they want to do They say Lord bless my plans instead of

saying Lord give me your plans for my life Surrender means I stopped asking God to adjust to

my life and I began adjusting my life to God and His will Your breakthrough is not after

you try harder Your breakthrough begins after you let go and let God Number 3 transformation is the work of

the Holy Spirit Paul says in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 do not be conformed to the world

but be transformed The word transformed is metamorpho and it means to be changed from the

inside out The world is trying to conform you The Holy Spirit wants to transform

you The world tries to conform you with comparisons with others Who's better Who's richer The world tries to

conform you through culture my race your race white church black church which causes division and

disunity There is no black church There is no white church There's only one church and Jesus Christ

is the head of that church The world tries to conform you through fear How can I control my

future How can I control my destiny It teaches you not to rely on God but

rely on self to get you to where you desire to be The world tries to

conform you through worldly desires status position money self importance They want you to be fixated on these things

instead of allowing God to elevate you to promote you Psalms 756-7 says For exaltation comes neither

from the east nor west nor out of the desert It is God who judges

He brings down one and exalts another Promotion elevation status position comes from God not from self-fort

that the world wants you to focus on In contrast the Holy Spirit transformed you He transformed you with his

presence He transformed you with his word He transformed you with his still small voice He

transformed you with his love He transformed you with his grace This is the work of the Holy Spirit

transforming you into the image of Christ from the inside out Transformation is not self-improvement Self-improvement

says fix yourself Self-improvement says I can do it However the Holy Spirit says yield yourself surrender yourself You don't

transform yourself you surrender and the Holy Spirit now can transform Just like a clay pot cannot

shape itself it must yield to the hands of the potter In Jeremiah 18 it says that when the

clay resisted the potter's hand it became ruined not because the potter failed but because

the clay refused to yield to what the potter wanted it to do When we resist the spirit we distort

and we delay what God is trying to do in our life and God is trying

to transform us from the inside out to the image of Jesus Christ And when

we yield now the potter God through His Spirit can do His work So we need to stop

fighting what the potter is doing in our life and surrender our lives to his will his plans and

his purposes So what does surrender look like on a daily basis The first thing we

need to know and understand is that surrender is not a one time emotional moment or event

Many of us answered the altar call and we surrendered our life that day We made Jesus Christ our Lord

and Savior But surrender is not a one time emotional event or a moment It

is a daily intentional purposeful act of your will daily we have to say Holy

Spirit lead my thoughts daily we have to say Holy Spirit control my responses how I act how I react

to situations and people daily we have to say Holy Spirit speak through me that my words may be seasoned

with grace to the hearer daily we have to say Holy Spirit interrupt any plans that I have that

don't align with your will for my life Is a daily surrendering of self unto the Lord So let me

leave you with this Surrender is not about being perfect It is a lifestyle a

mindset God is not asking us to be perfect He's asking us to be yielded He's asking

us to be surrendered unto Him Right now the Holy Spirit is dealing with our hearts There is something a

habit a relationship a mindset a desire That you have been holding on to God is saying give it to

me Not some of it not part of it but all of it Give it to me

God desires all of your life not whatever you decide to give to Him This week I challenge you to

pray this prayer every morning Holy Spirit I surrender my life to you I surrender my will to

you I surrender my desires to you Holy Spirit I surrender my habits to you Holy Spirit I surrender my

thoughts my emotions to you Holy Spirit I surrender my identity my future my destiny unto you

Holy Spirit take control of my life Teach me to yield and surrender more and more day by day Holy

Spirit shaped me into the image of Jesus Christ Not by my might nor by my power but by your

spirit Holy Spirit I yield I surrender all to you today in Jesus' name I pray Amen

Do this every morning and watch what God through the Spirit begins to do in and

through your life Be blessed