NEW YEAR, NEW SURRENDER

0:03 When I graduated from college, one of the first things that I wanted to buy was a brand new car. I was so excited. So I researched. I was intentional because I believed that your car says something about who you are. When you're driving, you're not just driving, you're communicating. I'm red Corvette, F350, gray Buick sedan. So I bought a Jasmine green Acura Integra two-door hatchback with a spoiler and a sunroof. I loved that car. Thank you. I love driving down the highway with the sunroof open and the music blasting. I felt like I had made it. So fast forward about 12 to 15 years, I got married and we had our first child. And when Selah was about two months old, I got a call from a family member and they said, we have a vehicle that we're looking to trade in. Still got a lot of good miles on it. And we thought maybe you guys would want it. And then she said one word, minivan. And I said, oh no, no, no, no. I'm not a minivan person. But we decided to go check it out. And so we got there and I have to tell you, the first time I touched that handle and the door slid open, something inside me shifted.

1:34 I mean, I could get that car seat in and out so easily. When we opened up the back end, there was so much storage. I could put a stroller in there and a diaper bag in there and half the kitchen and oh, so many cup holders. And so that day, I surrendered the very last bit of coolness I had and I became a minivan mom.

1:59 Surrender is hard. Surrender feels like defeat. It feels like giving up, giving in, falling behind. But what I felt like I was losing that day, I realized was really me making room for something better. In scripture, surrender is not weakness at all. Surrender is actually the pathway to power. We see it over and over in the stories of scripture. We see that God would move not before someone surrendered, but because they surrendered. In God's economy, surrender is not giving up control. It's not losing power. It's actually the release of power. As we're going into this new year, there are many of us who are already looking ahead. We are thinking about how we can take control, how we can take charge.

2:52 It's time to take action. We wanna have a plan. We're setting goals. We're making changes and all of that is good. But I wanna challenge you today that maybe we need to be asking a question. Maybe we need to be asking God, what do you want to add to my life this year? Maybe even more importantly, God, what do I need to put in your hands this year? Because God's power flows when we surrender control. We're gonna be looking at 2 Kings chapter four. As someone who was desperate, overwhelmed, and empty, and she experienced God's power because she was willing to surrender. So let's pray, and we're gonna get started. Dear Heavenly Father, we give this time to you. Father, I know that there are some people in this room and they are excited about the new year.

3:48 They're anticipating what is ahead of them. I know there are some people in this room though that are tired. They're just glad that 2025 is over and they're hoping for a restart this next year. And then there are others that are anxious. They don't know what's around the corner and they're afraid. And so Father, I ask that wherever we are today, that you will meet us there and that you will give us a glimpse of what you wanna do in 2026. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. So in 2 Kings chapter four, starting in verse one, it says, the wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, your servant, my husband is dead and you know that he revered the Lord, but now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves. This woman is a widow, but she's not just a widow that's grieving, she's panicking because the creditors are coming.

4:49 And in this culture, you didn't just file for bankruptcy, you didn't just restructure your debt, you didn't just risk losing your house, they could actually come and take your kids. And they could sell them as slaves and use that money to pay off your debts. So she is absolutely desperate. She just lost her husband, and now she's facing the possibility of losing her boys, her heart, her future. And so she reaches out to the prophet Elisha. Now in the Old Testament, prophets were God's spokespersons. They were a primary way that God communicated to his people. And so when she goes to Elisha, she's not just asking advice from a man, it's actually an act of surrender. She is going to God and she is bringing him her situation. and that's the first thing that she surrenders. She surrenders her situation.

5:43 She recognizes that she cannot handle this on her own and so she looks to God for help. Now, I can relate to that. When I'm desperate, when I'm at the end of my rope, I have no other options, I am quick. It is instinctive for me to go to God. My problem is when my situation still feels pretty manageable. I'll ask advice from a friend. I'll try to be strategic and make a plan. I try to fix it myself. And this is such an important reminder to us that God wants to be with us in every situation. See, it's perfectly fine to go and ask for advice. Scripture tells us to seek the wisdom of others. And it's okay to use your brain. God says, if you will ask me for wisdom, I will give it to you. So there's nothing wrong with those things, but the problem is the sequence that we do them in. So often we go to those things first instead of going to God first.

6:36 In Psalm chapter 55, verse 22, it says, cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken. In 1 Peter 5, 7, it uses similar language. It says, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Scripture tells us to cast, not to hold, not to manage, not to carry it as long as you possibly can. It says to release it, to let it go. It's a picture of a fisherman. who casts the line. He doesn't just cast the line anywhere. He casts it where the fish are. He casts it where the life is. And that's what we are to do spiritually. Not to just look anywhere for whatever help we can get, but instead to start with, God, what do you want to do? How can I trust you with this? We've gotta be willing to surrender our situation.

7:30 If we go on in verse two, the story continues. Elisha replied to her, How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house? Your servant has nothing there at all, she said, except a small jar of olive oil. Elisha said, go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. So Elisha asks her, what do you have? And I can picture this woman. She goes into her kitchen and she opens a cabinet. She goes, nothing. She opens another cabinet. Nothing, another, nothing. And then she goes into her pantry and she opens the door and she scans the shelves. Empty, empty, empty. Except for the top corner of the very top shelf, there's this little jar of olive oil. And almost as an afterthought, she says, well, I have that. But where she sees nothing, Elisha sees something because he has God's perspective.

8:27 And so then he says, go to your neighbors and ask for empty jars and don't ask for just a few. He's tipping her off. God's about to do something, but she doesn't get it. She's thinking this doesn't make sense. This jar of oil is so insignificant. It's absolutely irrelevant. It's inadequate. But what she doesn't know is that God can see something that she cannot see. God didn't ask what she didn't have. He's asking her to give what she does have. And so we learn the second thing. We need to surrender our perspective. We need to trust that God can see things that we cannot see. We need to be willing to take steps of faith even though we can't see the outcome. That's what happened with Noah. God told Noah, I want you to build an ark because I'm gonna bring rain and a flood. And Noah goes, what's rain?

9:22 He'd never seen it before. But he trusted that God could see what he couldn't and so he took a step of faith and he was obedient. The same thing happened to Joshua. Joshua was leading the people, the Israelites, out of the desert, and he wanted to lead them into the promised land. But there was a roaring river, the Jordan River was in their way, and God said to him, take a step into the river. And Joshua was thinking, is this just gonna wash me away? How's this gonna help? But when he took that step of faith, trusting that God could see what he could not see, the water stopped flowing, and the entire nation of Israel was able to cross the river into the promised land. God asks us to trust him. Do you remember those chain reaction toys? I think they were pre-Legos. It was one of those things where you lift a latch and it releases a bar that goes down a track, that then hits a lever, that raises a door, that releases another ball and it goes down another track until at the very end, it inflates a balloon.

10:23 The last step seems like it has nothing to do with the first step. There's a disconnect. And so often that's where we get stuck with God. We don't see the connection. we're praying God inflate the balloon inflate the balloon and God's saying lift the latch just lift the latch we pray God please heal my marriage you have got to change my husband and God says, you need to forgive your father. We say, God, help me get this new job. I just wanna raise so that I can pay off my debt so that I can be more generous to you, and God says, honor me with a tithe. We say, God, this year, the one thing that I'm asking for is I just wanna get married, and God says, serve in my house.

11:21 That's where she is. But see, we don't see the connection. We think one has nothing to do with the other. And God is saying, trust me, if you will just lift the latch, I am ready to inflate the balloon. So often what feels unrelated to the answer may actually be the first step toward it. We have to be willing to surrender our perspective. If you go on in verse four, Elisha continues to give her instruction. And he says, go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars and as each is filled, put it to one side. She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. And when all the jars were full, she said to her son, bring me another one. But he replied, there's not a jar left. And then the oil stopped flowing.

12:16 In 2 Timothy chapter three, it says that all scripture is God-breathed and useful. that that means that every detail in the Bible matters. But I have to tell you, when I read these verses, I kept thinking, what does it matter that she go inside and shut the door behind her? Why did God tell her that? Why does he care about her location and how much privacy she has? And I still don't know the answer to that. But I do know what happens in the next verse. It says that she left him and she shut the door behind her. She did exactly what God told her to do. And that's the lesson for us. It's so easy for us to say, God, help me, God, help me. But it's much harder to pray, God, I will do whatever you say. So often, God will show us what he wants us to do. Maybe it's through his Holy Spirit and he prompts us. Maybe it's through reading scripture and something just jumps off the page.

13:09 Or maybe you hear a sermon or you have a conversation with someone and God just helps you to see what the next step is. and then we become master negotiators. We go, God, I see what you want me to do, but you know, could we just tweak it just a little bit? God, I see where you're leading me, but you know what? If we would take a turn here, it'd be so much faster. We keep trying to negotiate and we need to do what she had to be willing to do. We have to surrender our plan. Surrender our plan. Instead of trying to get God to do what we think is best, We need to trust that God knows what's best. There may be some of you that this last year, you said, God, I'm lonely, I need community. And so God led you to Fellowship Church. And so each Sunday, you sit in one of these seats. And over and over, you hear us talk about Bible study classes that we have, connect groups, support and recovery groups, serving teams that you can be a part of where you can build community.

14:09 And you keep thinking, I want community, I want community. but you're not willing to take the first step that God has laid out in front of you. Maybe you're thinking, God, this year, I just wanna be closer to you. And God says, you know, the way you build a relationship with me is the same way that you build relationships with other people. Talk to me, communicate, spend time with me. Set aside time to pray. I'm listening. I wanna tell you things. Spend time in my word. I wanna show you who I am. I wanna help you to see who you are. I wanna get to know you. And we go, God, that sounds great, but God, I am just so busy. I mean, my kids get up so early in the morning or I have to work so late at night or my day is so full of errands and carpool and we give excuse after excuse after excuse why we don't have time. But then we get a phone call from a college buddy and we can calm out 15 minutes.

15:04 Or my mom calls and I give her a 30 minute rundown of the last two weeks of my life. God says I want that too I want to be closer to you and I'm showing you the plan will you take the first step you see the miracle didn't start for this widow when the oil was multiplied the miracle started when she shut the door it was her act of obedience that started God's flow So let's go on to verse seven.

15:35 She's filled all the empty jars. The oil has now stopped flowing. And it says in verse seven, she went and told the man of God and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left. If you go back to the beginning of the story, what did she ask God for? She asked him to pay off her debts. And what did God give her? God gave her enough to not only pay off her debts, but he also gave enough so that now she and her sons had something to live on. God did what he says he is in Ephesians chapter three. He says, I am the God who can do more than you can ask or imagine. And that's exactly what he did for her. She asked for one thing and he said, I'm happy to do that and I would love to do more. But look at how he did it. In verse three, it tells us that he did it through her neighbors.

16:31 I'm picturing her neighbors who were very aware of what had happened to her. They knew that her husband had died. They knew she was a widow. They knew she was grieving. They may have even been aware of her financial situation. They may have been so concerned that they were actually praying for her. But they must have felt like they didn't have what she needed to solve her problem. They didn't have the money. They didn't have the resources. But when she came to them asking for empty jars, they were willing to give what they had. And because they generously gave her more than just a few, God was able to bless her and fill everything that she had received. Because they were so generous, God was able to bless her generously. Do you see the connection? Now I wanna be careful here because God is sovereign. Even if her neighbors had been stingy and hard-hearted, God would have found a way to have met her needs.

17:30 But isn't it beautiful how God wants to use us to be a part of his plan? How God may actually want to use you this year to be an answer to someone else's prayer. I just recently got to live this out in real time. I know a single mom, she's a friend of mine, and she and her kids have gone through a rough couple of years. They've seen God over and over though, faithfully meet their needs. And so just before Christmas, she sent a text to a group of us. We're mixed moms. We're part of a connect group of moms of teenagers. And so we have a group chat. So she sent a message and she simply said, the transmission on my car just went out. It's gonna cost thousands of dollars to fix and I don't have it. Please pray that God does something. And so we started praying. Now the two Sundays before, we were in a series here at Fellowship Church called The First Gift.

18:27 And in this series, we learned about the importance of bringing the tithe. That's bringing the first 10% of everything that I earn back to the Lord. It's an act of faith. It's also an act of worship. I'm trusting that when I bring the first, that God is going to more than provide for everything that I need. And then we also learned about the law of generosity, that when we give generously, that God will bless us generously, not to make us all rich, but so that we can then be generous to others. That is God's economy. And so another mom in our group chat sent a text and she said, after this last series, I've been convicted that I need to tithe. So on Sunday, I tithed. I brought my tithe as an act of worship. And on Monday, God returned the money to me sixfold. So send me your Venmo so I can bless you.

19:23 and then another mom, she sent a text and she said, my husband just got a paycheck we weren't counting on. We wanna help you and then another mom reached out and said, I just got an end of your bonus I wasn't counting on, we wanna bless you and so between people who were willing to be generous and some things that she was able to sell on her own, she was able to collect enough money to pay so that her transmission could be repaired before Christmas even got here. Now, none of these families are rolling in cash. None of us are sitting around with stacks of cash in our house, looking for opportunities to give it away to people. But all of these families were willing to bring their empty jars. this year, God wants to do something in your life.

20:21 I may not know you. I may not know your story. I don't know what you're facing, but I can confidently say, God wants to do something in your life this year. But the first step to experience God's power flowing in our lives is being willing to surrender to him. Surrendering our situation, putting it in his hands, surrendering our perspective, trusting that he can see what we cannot, surrendering our plan, being obedient as he shows us the next step to take. And as we do that, we will experience his power. But there are some here that you're hearing that and you're going, I can't even imagine how I'm gonna do that. Surrendering is so hard. It is such a big risk. But I want you to know that when you surrender to Jesus, it's not risky. It's safe. because you're surrendering to someone who already surrendered himself for you.

21:20 God loves you so much. He created you and wants to have a relationship with you. But he knew that because of our sin, because of our weakness as humans, that there's a gap between us and God and God loved us enough to send Jesus. And Jesus was willing to come and to surrender his life. And when he gave up his life and he died on the cross for us, he was bridging that gap. And the way we can experience that relationship is by saying, I turn from my old way of living. I repent of my sin and I'm gonna turn to Jesus and I'm gonna surrender my life to him. And when we surrender to him, it changes everything. Because God's power flows when we surrender control. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father.

22:12 You are so good. You are so faithful. You are so generous. And so I ask that you would help each one of us, no matter where we are, that you would help us to just trust you. Father, show us what it looks like to surrender to you. Father, when the road seems dark ahead, when we can't see what's around the next turn, help us to instinctively just turn to you and just trust that you're gonna guide us one step at a time. Father, I thank you that you loved us enough that you surrendered to us first. Thank you, Jesus, for coming and dying for us. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.