Pursuing Complete Surrender — Jon Couch

Knowing Jesus When Life Falls Apart

We've got to get to the point in life where the bottom has fallen out and we say, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, but I know who I know, and it's Jesus Christ. I want to welcome you to another broadcast of This Day in the Word, the teaching ministry of This Day Ministries.

We're so grateful you've taken the time to tune in to today's broadcast. And be sure to check out our website by going to thisdayministries .org. Our prayer today is that you'll be encouraged, that you'll be challenged, and that you'll be motivated to live for Jesus today.

We know that this life is not easy, but we know that because He lives, we can surely face tomorrow. And so now let's go to God's Word and let's see what He has to say. Let's open God's Word, but before I do that, let's pray.

Father, we thank You for this day. Lord, it just continues to resonate in my mind's eye what You do when we just get out of the way. Lord, I just continue to pray that me at the top of the list would just fall at my face and get out of the way.

Lord, this is about You. Hearts need You. There are thousands of lost people in Tampa Bay that are searching for something to fill the void. The party scene's not doing it. The materialism isn't doing it.

The relationships aren't doing it. And the reason is because You are the only one that can truly fill the void. And so, Lord, we have a mission here. We have a critical mission. Not to be focused on self, but to truly get in the game, to go outside these walls to go make a difference.

To spread Your good news. And so, Lord, I'm excited by what's going on here at this church. We give You praise upon praise because we know it's nothing short of You working. It's You working as we're obedient to You calling.

And so, Lord, I pray right now in this time that we open Your Word that You would speak in a powerful way. Lord, I'm asking that You would give me Your words, not mine. Give me Your words. Move me out of the way.

We don't want to see me. We just want to see You. We just want to hear from You. And so, Lord, I pray right now as we open this glorious book, the Bible, that You would speak in such a powerful way that the hearts that are in this room right now that do not know You, that You would draw them to You.

That for the hearts that have professed but are lukewarm and not in the game, that today would be the day they get in the game. And so, Lord, I pray right now that You speak. We're going to listen, and then we're going to go do what You tell us to do.

We pray this all in the mighty name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ, and there is no other. Amen. Take your Bible. Turn to Genesis 22. Looking at several verses here, starting with verse 6. Powerful text here this morning as we continue to really investigate what it was that Abraham did.

Abraham's Faith and Complete Surrender

The faith that he had. The challenge that he faced. The faith that it took for him to truly trust in God. And as you're thinking through this, I want to just answer or ask a couple questions this morning.

And the questions I want to ask are this. Do we have such an intensity, such an urgency to see God do a mighty work? Do we have such an intensity, such an urgency to see God do a mighty work in our hearts?

Are we hungry for God? Are we hungry for God to do a work that only He can do? Are we searching for God to transform our hearts? To transform our homes? To mend marriages? To mend relationships? To take addictions and put them away?

To break the bondages of sin? Are we hungry for God to do a work? We need God to do a work like never before. And it always starts first in our hearts. And so here in 22, I want to read verse 6. And it says this in Genesis 22, 6.

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them went together. Verse 7. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father.

And Abraham said, Here am I, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told them, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So Abraham said, Here am I. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Wow. Isn't that awesome? Incredible text here. Incredible text of faith. Incredible text showing that Abraham was a leader, and he led like he was following God. He led like he was following God. He led like he was tuned into God.

He was obedient to Him. He had the antennas up, and he was constantly asking, What do you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? Oh, you want me to give my son as a sacrifice? Sign me up. I'm ready to go.

Whatever you want, it's all laid on the altar. He wanted God to do such an incredible work in his life that he was willing to sacrifice everything so that God would get glory and people would be changed for him forever.

Availability to God's Call

Verse 7 says this, But Isaac spoke to Abraham and his father and said, My father. He said, Here am I, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? This is the second instance in this text.

We've now read 12 verses in several weeks. This is the second instance where Abraham is called. The first was in the original verses we read, right? And God said what? Abraham, Abraham. And what did Abraham say?

Here am I. Now who's calling? His son Isaac. Father. And he says what? Here am I. There's a crucial, pivotal point we must learn here, and that is that Abraham was available. He was available. He was tuned in.

He was listening. Sometimes in my own life, I'm just not available at times when God calls. He'll call, I'm off doing my own thing. I'm wandering over here. You guys ever called a place like a, I don't know, let's say a tire store.

And you pick up the phone and you need a tire and so you dial the number and you get the phone there and it's going ring, ring, ring. Ring, ring, ring. Welcome to ABC Tires. You've reached our automated service.

If you want Portuguese, press 1. German, press 2. Japanese, press 3. English, press 27. 27. Welcome to ABC Auto. You've reached our automated service. This is ABC Tires. And yes, if you want shocks, press 1.

I don't want tires. For mufflers, press 2. And it goes on and on. For tires, press 27. You've been on the phone for a half hour. You know where I'm going, don't you? It goes on and on and on. What do you feel like?

You feel pretty disgusted, don't you? I get pretty frustrated. I'm just trying to buy a tire from this guy. I don't speak Portuguese. I don't want a muffler. I want a tire. But yet, it's taken me forever because no one on the other end is available.

I wonder if God's doing the same thing with me. John, I've been calling you. I've been calling. You're wandering over here and you're doing this. But I'm calling you. I'm getting Portuguese, German, and Spanish, but I'm calling you.

I'm trying to get tires. I'm getting mufflers and spark plugs. John, what are you doing? I wonder if God's right now in this room, if He's calling some people. He's trying to get our attention. He's trying to get us dialed into Him.

He's trying to get us focused into Him. And all He wants us to say is, here am I. There are times where God's calling me. And I'm just not picking up the phone. I'm just so distracted by what I want and what I want to do and my plans and my agenda and all the things that go on in my world.

Have you noticed the word I'm using over and over in that phrase? My, isn't it? But it's not about me, is it? Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. Manhattan Baptist Church is back in business.

We are in the business of telling the lost about Jesus Christ. We are in the business to go make a difference. We are going to make a difference. We don't have an option to fail. We don't look at this and just hope it sticks.

We're not wishing. We know that we're God's guides. He provides. And we can make a difference as we're obedient, not to ourselves, but to Him. Is God calling you today? You may say, well, I know God's calling, but I just don't have the ability.

My answer to that one is the same as it's always been. Praise the Lord! That's awesome that you're at the point that you're so humble, that you know God's calling me to go do X, but I just don't have the ability.

And I think that's when God says, great! Now I can use you. Now you won't get in the way of my plans of what God says. He doesn't look for ability. He's looking for availability, isn't He? Are you available today?

Surrendering to Christ in the Midst of Struggle

What's God speaking to your heart even right today? Maybe you're here today, and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, and you know that life is a wreck. You've tried it all. You've got the t-shirt for all the different things.

And life is a wreck. You're in shambles. That's the reality. You have to truly give your heart to Christ. Is it going to be easy after you do? Of course it's not. The Bible tells us it's not. But you will have joy unspeakable in the midst of the struggle.

I don't know about you, but if I'm going into a foxhole and it's going to be difficult, I want to go in with God. Amen? Why walk this earthly life without God? It leads to nowhere. The things of this life, they promise happiness, peace, contentment, joy.

And I promise you this, because you know my testimony, they all led to nowhere. Nowhere! I lived for self. I did all that. It leads to nowhere. We have to get passion for Christ. But the way you get passion for Christ is to first invite Him into your hearts.

I wonder if He's calling someone here today. He's speaking to you. He's saying, I want you. I want you to accept My Son. But you've got to relinquish. You've got to say, you know what, I'm going to turn over the keys to you to do what you want to do.

I pray if that's you today, I pray you don't leave this building until you've spoken with someone. It's the greatest decision He'll ever make. Those four people that got baptized, that didn't save them, but they made a faith decision where they trusted in God.

And they said, I want to be obedient. I want to follow in believers' baptism. But they made that decision to say, I am available. I'm hearing God. He's calling me. I'm not giving Him the run around. He's calling.

And I simply said, here am I. Is God calling you this morning? I pray if He is. I pray. If He's calling you, that you would simply say, here am I. Take my life and let it be. For however long I'm here on this earth, use me for your glory.

Because I know that all this life has to offer is a dead end. It's a dead end of unfulfilled dream after another, another, another. Oh, I want to give my heart to you, and I want to make a difference while I'm here.

You are listening to This Day in the Word, the teaching ministry of This Day Ministries. And don't forget to check out our website by going to thisdayministries .org. In addition, we would count it an honor to pray for you.

When you send your prayer request to prayer at thisdayministries .org. That's prayer at thisdayministries .org. Let's now go back to the second part of this message. And let's see what God's Word has to say.

Trusting God's Provision

Verse 8 says this,. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Can you imagine being Abraham again? He knows the mission. The mission is to sacrifice his only son.

So they're journeying along. They're going along. And Isaac goes, Hey, Dad. Yeah, I'm here. Here am I. He goes, Where's the fire? Where's the wood? Where's the lamb? Oh, we've got the fire. We've got the wood.

But I don't know where the lamb is. God will provide. Isn't that an incredible faith? He knows why he's going. He's not revealing to Isaac what's going on at this point. He's simply just trusting in God.

In order for great things to happen in my life, in your life, and in Manhattan Baptist Church, we have to become a church that is sold out to trusting in God. We have to get into the realm of, OK, we don't know what's going to happen.

We don't like this. It's not good. It's lousy. But we're going to trust God. No, no, no. We're not going to say it. We're not going to give this lip service to it. We, by our actions, are going to trust God.

We're going to walk His road and allow Him to handle all the consequences. We're going to be obedient to Him regardless of the cost. Imagine fathers, dads, wives, children. Imagine what happened in your house and my house if we embraced that philosophy.

If we embraced it and said, we are going to serve the Lord regardless of what the world says, regardless of what the peer pressure says. We will serve the Lord at all costs. Can you imagine what happened in your house?

That we'd raise the bar, that we'd elevate, we would love people, that we'd do it in complete surrender and obedience to Jesus Christ. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary, made a profound statement. He said this, God's work done God's way never lacks God's supply.

Isn't that awesome? God's work doing it His way. Not our way. Doing it His way. Going His direction. Following His lead. When we do that, it will never lack His supply. He will always supply because where God guides, God provides.

Amen? What's God speaking to your heart right now? You say, wait a minute. Wait, I hear you, but I'll be quite honest with you. I'm tempted to fear. That, I believe, is the greatest tool in the enemy's toolbox.

Overcoming Fear Through Faith

He takes doubt. He takes worry. He takes threat. Well, I know God's calling, but I just don't know what my family's going to think. Well, I know God's calling, but what are my neighbors going to think?

Well, I know God's calling, but what are my co-workers going to think? Well, I know God's calling. What is X? What is Y? The fear. He plants those seeds of fear in our heads. And what does it start doing?

We start waffling, don't we? Well, maybe God really wasn't calling. Does He really want me to go do this? Does He really want me to accept Him as my personal Lord and Savior? Now I'm starting to waffle and I'm doubting.

Here's a great quote here from my good friend, Elliot Oswit. He says this, Fear is a tool of the enemy that he uses to weaken the faith of the believer. Isn't that good? Elliot was a man who went to a hotel room many years ago because he wanted to end it all.

He went there with a gun, and before he could commit the act to end it all, to dull the pain. Marital problems. There was all these issues going on. And he wanted to end the pain. He couldn't take it any longer.

He had just had it. And he just so happened. You know what I mean by that, don't you? He happened, right? It was a God incident. Amen? He happened to go to a hotel room where he saw a Gideon Bible there on the table.

He opens the Gideon Bible, and before long he's in the Word, and he puts the gun down. And this day, he is one of the more popular Gideon speakers around the country. Sharing his testimony, how God radically gripped his heart in that hotel room by his living words.

Available? Will God provide? Oh, I fear! I fear! I can't do this! You're right, you can't do it! I can't do it! But God can! God can do it! But we've got to get out of this realm of worrying and fretting.

We just need to lay it all on the altar. To lay it figuratively on the altar and say, God will provide. God will make a way. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up. But I'm going to trust Him to handle all the consequences of my obedience to Him.

God's Supply According to His Riches

What's God speaking to your heart right now? Philippians 4 .19. One of my favorite verses says this,. And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That was Paul speaking there.

Paul was shipwrecked. He was beaten. He was abandoned. He was thrown in the bus by friends. But yet he said, And my God shall supply all your needs through Christ Jesus. That's what we've got to get to.

We've got to get to the point in life where the bottom has fallen out. And we go, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. But I know who I know. And it's Jesus Christ. Sometimes we fear the evil one and we fear the world more than we bask in the glory of His power and His majesty.

I pray today, whatever God is speaking to your heart, that you would listen and say, here am I. Be available. He will provide. And the last part says this. Verses 11 through 12. But the angel of the Lord called to Him from Heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.

And so He said, Here am I. Number three already, right? He's available. Look at this. Isn't this awesome? In 12 verses. Here am I. Abraham is so in tune with God that he's there and he's listening intently for God's voice.

It goes on to say this,. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Parents in the room, think about your child laying there.

You put him on the altar. You're trusting God so much that you're willing to do whatever He says to do. And what happens? The angel shows up and says, Time out! Time out! Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

Abraham! Abraham! Here am I. I've got great news for you. You just aced the test. Don't we remember what happened in verse 1 here? Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. It was a test, wasn't it?

Abraham passed the test. It says here in this verse, I know, in the Greek that means I recognize, I see firsthand that you fear there's a reverence. This isn't like I'm afraid of the dark. I fear I'm afraid of the boogeyman.

This is a holy awe in reverence. He says here, that the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham! Abraham! He said, here am I. He said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him.

For now I recognize, I see firsthand, that you have a holy reverence of God and you have not, here it is in the Greek, restrained, you have not held back, you have not kept for one's self. In layman's terms, we could say that Abraham was unselfish.

Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will, even if it means giving my only son, I want you to be glorified. I want you to be praised. I want me to get out of the way as you were exalted. That's what Abraham's saying.

Faith That Steps Into the Water

What's God speaking to your heart this morning? Joshua 3 .13 says this,. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off.

The waters come down from upstream and they shall stand as a heap. They're carrying the ark of the covenant across the Jordan. And what had to happen first before the water would stop? The souls of their feet had to touch the water first.

It's easy to stand on the bank, isn't it, and just kind of go, Boy, I hope those waters stop. They had to step into the water. There had to be action. What's God speaking to your heart this morning? I'm sure there's some people in this room right now that God is leading you to do something.

He's leading you to do something in His will that makes zero sense. Zero sense of the flesh. He's saying, psst, psst. He's waiting to hear a, Here am I. Here am I. Oh, I can't go do that. I don't have the ability.

Good. Will God provide? You better believe He'll provide. Here am I. Here am I. As they stepped in the water, guess what happened the rest of that story? The waters parted. See, it took faith. It took action.

It wasn't, okay, you stand by the shore, wait for the waters to part, then get in. That's not the way it works, because otherwise there's no faith involved. You have to go in faith. You have to step out in faith.

You say, God, nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will, I'm going to trust You with the consequences as I step in the water, and I will believe in Your promises that they're true. I believe You will make a difference.

I believe in Your Word. I believe You can do what You said You're going to do. But I know first I have to be obedient and follow where You lead. That's hard to do, isn't it? It's not easy. But as Livingston said, the great missionary, this is what he concluded as I closed here this morning.

Livingston's response from Africa when the missionary society asked him if he had found a good road, good road, so that other missionaries could easily join him. This is his response. If you have men who will come only if they know there's a good road, I don't want them.

I want men who will come if there is no road at all. That's what we need in South Tampa. We don't need people with ability. We need people with availability. We need people that say, oh, I don't understand this.

I don't know where we're going. I don't know the road. But I want to go make a road. I want to make a road for Jesus. I want to make a difference. For the time I'm here on this earth, I want to make a difference.

I don't want to get to the end and say, why didn't I? I don't want to get to the end and say, oh, I accumulated all this wealth and the cars and the houses and the bank accounts and I'm empty on the inside because I did nothing with my life other than be selfish.

I want to get to the end and I want to hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And so I pray today, as God leads you, just do whatever He's asking you to do. Don't listen to me. Listen to God.

Don't follow me. I will let you down. Follow God. Follow God in obedience. He can repair your home. You say, wait a minute. He can. Yes, He can. God can do it. Oh, I can't get rid of these addictions.

God can do it. Oh, I can't do this. I can't go here. God can do it. But we've got to be able to go make a road when there is no road. We've got to make a difference. We've got to be intentional. We've got to be urgent.

It's high time we get in the game starting today and let's go take South Tampa for Jesus Christ. You have been listening to This Day in the Word, the teaching ministry of This Day Ministries. All of these messages are recorded at Manhattan Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida.

And we would love for you to worship with us in one of our Sunday services. Our Sunday morning service is at 1045 a .m. And our Sunday evening service is at 6 p .m. If you have any questions regarding Manhattan Baptist Church, feel free to call the church office at 813 -831 -1951.

That's area code 813 -831 -1951. In addition, we greatly need your help to keep this program on the air. Radio time is extremely expensive, but we believe in the mission of taking the gospel to the masses.

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We're grateful for your listening and we're grateful for your support. Let's all go out intentionally and urgently this day and let's make a difference for Jesus Christ.