Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 6, 2019 | Patty Diliberto - Called To Surrender - Session 1

Transcript

March 6, 2019 | Patty Diliberto - Called To Surrender - Session 1 · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I am so, so, so happy to be doing this study again.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so thrilled that you're here to do it.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you weren't here, we wouldn't have a study and I wouldn't get to do it.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just an absolute joy to see you here and to know that that God's tugging at your heart in this area, and I'm extremely excited to see what He's going to do in each one of our lives as we go through this study.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I am praying and hoping that you are going to make some great strides towards surrender as a result of this.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to dedicate ourselves and this time and this study to the Lord.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So pray with me.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh Father, we thank you so very, very, very much for coming and revealing who you really are so that we can love you more deeply and passionately.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And God, that is my prayer for this class is that we will leave in eight weeks a more devoted follower of you, a more surrendered follower of you, that we would love you so much more than we do right now.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: God, just I I beg you to let that happen because loving you is just the greatest thing we can ever do here.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Loving you and loving others.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So God, I dedicate this time, I dedicate this class, I I dedicate these ladies, and I dedicate myself to you and to what you want to accomplish with us.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So God, um bless us, I pray.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: When I was a child, I literally, literally thought that God was up in heaven keeping account of everything I did wrong.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I thought and envisioned that he had this ginormous book, and in it, you know, my name was there, but he was he was marking all the bad things I did wrong.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and the good things I did right, the things I did right.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: That I don't know why I had that view.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you had that view and you grew up going to a denomination that reinforced that or a church that reinforced that, maybe you had that same view of God.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't grow up going to church.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I guess that's just how I assumed he was.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Did anybody else feel that way?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Think that way?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: I remember standing there pondering it.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's so weird.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we we all have misconceptions about God, and today we're going to talk about the misconceptions that we have about him.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And there are some a handout on your on your um under your folder to take notes on.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot to tell you that.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: But we all have misconceptions about God.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Often those misconceptions get so embedded in us that they feel like they are truth.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: They feel like they're they're real the they're real, that this really is how God is.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Giving God access to our lives, to uncover the misconceptions and to reveal truth is one of the most important things we can ever do as believers here.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's crucially important.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: A.W.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Tozer says, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that quote.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: I talk to women all the time, all the time, and I love talking to women, but I'm going to tell you that I know that misconceptions is a big issue for women.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: We all have them.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That the giving God access to our lives and to uncover the misconceptions and to reveal the truth is called transformation.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's that process that's called transformation, and that's what God is in the process of doing it, of doing with our lives.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to rid our thinking of our erroneous thoughts of him.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to get rid of those.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: In this transformation process, we discover who God is and what Scripture reveals about him.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that truth that we learn gets embedded in us.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So rather than the misconceptions and the lies and the and the untruth being embedded, truth is embedded in us.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that truth becomes then the foundation for our faith.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's imperative to have truth revealed and embraced in our lives to dispel the misconceptions.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that when we when we think of God, that we are thinking of Him more accurately, in a more correct way, as He really is.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that this study would be a tool that God uses to actually bring you to that place where you challenge the misconceptions, where where you see the revealed truth, and where you embed it in your soul.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: The other day I was driving to work and I was telling the Lord about the great amount of work that still needs to happen in my life.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in a difficult situation for the past four months and that God has allowed, but it has really uncovered more of my sinfulness, my sinful thoughts and attitudes and selfishness, and I have had to deal with those things over the last four months.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not fun.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you this, I'm being honest in telling you this so that you will know that you are not attending a class with a perfect teacher.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're not.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have it all together, and I struggle at times.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And when difficult situations happen to me, I have to work through those just like you do.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: We are all in the same in the same boat.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I will also tell you at the same time that I have done a ton of work with God on my issues and with my issues.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And part of the reason we have this study is is because I did a ton of work with those misconceptions, with those lies, with the deceit.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that I know who he is.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have a more accurate view of him because I wrestled those things out.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Since you were here for this study on surrender, I'm assuming, I'm going to assume that God is calling you to it.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you agree with that?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have a little nudge like I need to do this?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good, because that's the Holy Spirit.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping that the intent is that, or that your thought process is that you will be taking a closer look at yourself, because you really will in this study.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's going to happen.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I and I pray that it causes you to look more introspectively than perhaps you ever have before.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that happens.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: However, this is not just going to be a navel-gazing study, because how depressing would that be?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So depressing to spend eight weeks just looking at our own sinfulness and selfishness.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what would be the point?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: We would leave depressed and defeated.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that is not what our God wants.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: He wants us to look introspectively, but but the balance of that is to look at him in all of his glory, in all of his greatness, and to really catch a bigger view of him while at the same time catching a true view of ourselves.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I hope happens, that the misconstru the misconceptions are dealt with so that we don't continue to live our spiritual lives like ostriches with our heads stuck in the sand, pretending like we don't have any issues.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's my prayer.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that as you as you see the ugliness of your sinful nature, which we all have, that you will also see the splendor of the of God Almighty.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want your view of God to broaden and to expand because it changes you.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've said for years that when your view of God changes, your view of you changes.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I absolutely know that is true because the more my view of God changed, the more my view of me changed.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: The better our perspective is of God, the less those, and listen to me here.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: The better our perspective is of God, the less those misconceptions about God will dictate or feed into our false identity.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: We have a false identity.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: The more misconceptions we have about God feeds that false identity, which is why we have to get rid of the misconceptions so that we can really see who He is and who we are.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: To accomplish this, we're gonna be we're gonna be looking at um we're gonna be looking at many examples of people in the Bible, and this is going to be encouraging to us because anytime you look at these people in scripture, you go, wow, they're just like me.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they just do the same stupid things I do and sometimes get away with it, and then God calls them out.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's encouraging for us to see that because we know that that they're doing the same things.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that God includes them in scripture is evidence to us that that he knew that we would struggle in the same ways, and so He includes He includes their stories and their struggles in Scripture.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're no different.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that that he sees fit to include them is proof positive that he loves us and is there for us to help us in our struggles.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: When we identify with these people and we see how how God dealt with them and the unique way that he dealt with them, each one of them, it builds our faith, it builds our confidence in him.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have to take a drink.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on some medication that dries out my mouth, and it's terrible.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So in the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul is clearing up some misconceptions that the people of Corinth had.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And to get a background on that, I'm going to read the um from Exodus 34, and read the background on this passage, and then we'll look at 2 Corinthians 3.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: But first, Exodus 34.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to read it, so listen up.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Moses, this is probably familiar to you.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Moses, chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them words that were the words that were on the first tablet, which you broke, which you broke.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Threw them down.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai, present yourself to me on the top of the mountain.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain, not even the flocks and herds may graze on in front of the mountain.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets, for like the first ones, and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning as the Lord had commanded him, and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood before him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, can't you just imagine this?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, he said, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Although this although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin and take us as your inheritance.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said, I am making a covenant with you.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Before all people, I will do wonders never before done in any nation in the world.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: The people you live among will see how awesome is the work I, the Lord, will do for you.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Obey what I command you today.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Be careful to make a treaty with be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going to, or they will snare you among they will be a snare among you.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and cut down their asheraf poles.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do not worship any other God, for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord said to Moses, Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, without eating without eating bread or drinking water.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant, because he had spoken with the Lord.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses's Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: But Moses called to them.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: So Aaron and the Israel and all the leaders of the community came back to him and he spoke with them.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Afterward the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: When Moses finished speaking to them, he put the veil over his face.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Then Moses would put on the veil, put the veil back over his face until he went back in to speak with the Lord.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So this transformation of Moses' physical appearance is a direct result of him being in the presence of the Lord, the holy God of Israel.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: God is purposefully exalting Moses with a physical manifestation of his glory to prove that he is the mediator.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: He is in the position as being the mediator between man and God.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: That afterglow radiance of Moses' on his face would have terrified the people and made them very uncomfortable.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: His face had such a glowing appearance that they it scared the living daylights out of them.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And can't you just picture this?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's coming off the mountain, he's holding the tablets, and he has no idea that he's just beaming out to them.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: But he watches the people start backing away from them from him in shock.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he had to go, what, what, what's back there?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: What are they doing?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then realizing it's it was him.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody says, Dude, your face is glowing.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And somebody else hands him a mirror and he goes, Whoa, wow.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: The people are scared to death.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so his he puts the veil on himself.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: But that visible radiance shows the people two things, two important things.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: One is that Moses is going to be that mediator, but secondly, that the tablets that he's holding in his hand representing the laws of God are important and need to be listened to.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: These Israelites are much more likely to listen to what Moses has to say and what God has to say through Moses if he has this manifestation of the glory of God on him.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: So God does that.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: But remember, he's been on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, not eating or drinking anything.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so not only is he glowing, but he's probably the skeletal, thin, gaunt thing.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: He probably looks more like a ghost, looked more like a ghost than he did a human.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think it would be fun.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we get to see it in heaven.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: That would be fun.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Then we see this dance that Moses did.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: He covered his face with the veil, and then he re would remove the veil when he went in to speak with God.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then when he faced the people, the veil would go back on.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, initially the people were afraid of him.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they and but what was he trying to protect them at this point, or was he trying to protect himself?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was probably trying to protect himself.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do we ever do that?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do we ever figuratively have a veil covering our ourselves?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: We totally do.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: We can't be too hard on Moses because we kind of do the same thing.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: We fall into that trap of thinking that our life should look perfect and that we shouldn't have any problems or difficulties, and that we should just be walking around with this glow about us all the time.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: But that is not reality.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: For some erroneous reasons, we we have that misconception that we're supposed to be doing this life like really well and perfectly, and that we shouldn't have the issues.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're always surprised when we have the issues.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't be, but we are.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to say that in the last 10 ish years, there's been a shift in that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: People are more willing to be vulnerable, and this is especially true for women.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Women are becoming more and more vulnerable.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Covering your face and having a facade is out.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Vulnerability is in.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: But even in that vulnerability, we have to be really careful.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be careful who we're listening to and the books that we're reading, because not everything that is out there is biblically sound.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot that is not.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have to be biblically thinking right in order to process some of the stuff.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Vulnerability is a good thing.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: But if we are only vulnerable with our peers and those on the horizontal, and we are never vulnerable with God on the vertical, then we have a big issue.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have a big problem.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now back to the misconceptions of the people in Corinth.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Paul wanted them to understand several very important things about God, about Moses, and about the veil.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: We read what he says in 2 Corinthians 3, 7 through 11.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which will last?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: There are several comparisons and contrasts that Paul makes here in this passage, in those verses.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: First, the old covenant which God made through Moses and the law and the Ten Commandments is contrasted with the new covenant that God made through the life of Jesus.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Both are from God, both originate from the same source, both of them come with glory.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: But let's look at the contrasts.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: The old covenant, the law, is compared to the new covenant.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Death that the law brought is contrasted with the life that the spirit brings.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was written on stone.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: The law was written on stone.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: What God said to them was written on stone, but for us, it's it's in the spirit, the spirit that lives inside of us.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was a fading glory, but ours is a lasting glory.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was condemnation, but ours is righteousness.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Huge differences.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so cool to see that.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: This contrast is the first thing that Paul is wanting them to understand.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Both covenants had glory, but the new covenant had a surpassing glory because of who brings it?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: One of the points that he that Paul is making here in this, in these verses, is that Moses put the veil up over his face so that the people would see, wouldn't see that it was fading, that it wasn't still there two weeks after he had been with God.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: That it was a fading glory.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't want them to know that.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: If he kept the veil on between the visits on the mountain, the other leaders would assume that he was still had still had the glow.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Originally, he put the veil on so that the people Um wouldn't have to be frightened or uncomfortable in his presence, but he kept the veil on because he didn't want him to see that it was fading.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: He would remove it when he went into the presence of the Lord for a recharge, and he would come out and he would show it, and then he would put the veil back on.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And God allowed him to do it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: That word in verse 12, bold or boldness, in some translations in the Greek, I guess I didn't have that in there, means is parishia, something like that, and it means barefacedness.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Barefacedness.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: In comparison to Moses, Paul could stand barefaced before the people of Corinth because he was part of the covenant that Jesus Christ made with his body for his people.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's that same covenant that we get to participate in.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get the privilege of standing barefaced before God, not having to hide and shield ourselves.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we get to participate in as well.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's permanent, it's not fading.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's increasing, it is not diminishing.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: We have something that surpasses what they had in the Old Testament, and that's not to dog the Old Testament, it's just to say that what we have is so much greater because of Christ.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies, God wants us to stand barefaced before Him and before others.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: He really does.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: If there is any part of you that you feel like you need to hide from God or from others as well, you will not be bold in your approach to God.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: God wants us to be bold in our approach to him.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: He does.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: He wants us to have great boldness, to ask great things of God.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: He really does, because he likes showing up and showing off.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: He does.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: He just does.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: God wants us to boldly and humbly, humbly approach him.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 3, 17 through 18.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: The covenant we have because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross now comes to us through the Holy Spirit.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of us the very moment we accept Christ as our Savior.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And He brings freedom.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Freedom from what?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Freedom from the need to cover ourselves.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: He brings freedom from the law, the commandments, the things that we used to have to do, people used to have to do, to be right with God.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: He brings freedom from what was fading away and freedom to approach him with no condemnation, to approach him with boldness, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: When we stand barefaced before our God and contemplate the Lord's glory, we will be transformed by that.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: We will be morphed, we get to morph into his image, not just a glow because we have been in his presence, but because he lives inside of us, we get to start looking like Jesus, Christ-likeness.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we want.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: The difference, it's different than Moses' experience, and the difference is because the Spirit is living in us.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just something we come in contact with that changes us, but it's who's actually living on the inside of us.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: The glory Jesus had and has is inherent.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, that word inherent, meaning, means that it's part of his nature.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is just part of his nature, the glory that he had.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: His glory is something that he had before he came as a baby in the manger to the earth.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And after he left at his ascension, the glory was laid back on him.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he now wants to share it with us.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's anxious to share it with us.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Moses's glory, the glory that he had on him, was derived.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't inherent for him.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was just derived because he had been in the presence of God.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: The temporary glory that Moses of Moses went away.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: But in Jesus, it's all glory all the time.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: All glory all the time.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: The apostle John tells us that in John chapter 1, verse 14.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: His glory is inherent.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's his, it's not derived, it's permanent, it's not fading or temporary.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is not temporary.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what what we get to have that and experience that same kind of glory.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have the privilege to share in this.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because our tendency in the face of a holy God is to hide ourselves, to hide the things that we don't want him to see.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Why did he values that?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's no small thing when he sees us attempting to have a more barefaced encounters with him.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want this study to do is to free you up to have a greater encounter with him.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: He knows all that we have to have to overcome, to stand unveiled in his presence.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: He knows how difficult it is.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is God's will.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is God's will that you experience ever-increasing glory with him.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is his will.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And this these things happen in the spiritual realm that we can't see when we deal with our misconceptions about God.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: And when we grow to love him more deeply, things are happening in the spiritual realm.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I pray that this study does is unleashes you to stand before him.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: The thing I think the veil that represents is probably the self and the self-life kind of stuff that we have.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is a barrier between us and God.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: We all struggle with self, right?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: We all struggle with it.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: The self-life is so prevalent in in all of us, and and um much more, I think, than we even realize.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever noticed whenever you're in a conflict or you're you're hurt by somebody or something happens that you have to you have to deal with the emotions of it?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: How selfish you are.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: How how how I mean just all the ramifications.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: You all of a sudden your the ugliness of your sin nature just comes to light.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, wow, am I really capable of that?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is yes.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: We are.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: So when our struggles come, we're smacked in the face with the self-life.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're smacked in the face with the things that we need to deal with in our life.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Our struggle with self-preservation keeps us from getting to a place of true vulnerability with Almighty God.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what the veil represents.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: That represents the self-preservation that we we all fight against.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: We might be more comfortable being vulnerable with somebody else than we are being with Almighty God.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is incredibly true about us women.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to think I'll let you in this far, but no farther.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll let you in right here, but don't ask me to remove that veil.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: How do I know that?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was exactly the same way.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was scared to death.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Scared to death to be completely honest and vulnerable with God.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even think I had it in my well house to do, actually.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I felt I had too much to hide, and so I kept the veil in place.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's true of many of us today, and it's one of the reasons, is because we are so terrified of what God's gonna find there.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons surrender is hard is because we know that if he exposes it, we either have to claim that junk and get rid of it.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's easier just to hide it.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's easier, but it's not better.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Not if we want more of God.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that you will be giving him unhindered access that will that will surface the radiant, blocking self-stuff so it can be dealt with and taken away.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Transformation is what happened the moment that we accept Christ.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: We begin that process of transformation, and it will continue to go until we reach heaven, until we are perfected in heaven.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: We will never reach that perfection here, ever.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: But God desires to bring you in and through that morphing process.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: He wants that for every single one of us.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: He seeks to transform us into the image of Christ, and he wants to do it with ever-increasing likeness of Christ.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: I want that.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want that.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have wanted that for a lot of years.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: And because I've wanted it so much, it has motivated what I've done.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: It motivates me to expose more, to be more open, to be more uncovered.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want that?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think you probably do, or you wouldn't be here at this study.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't come back in two weeks, I'll know you do.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll know, well, I thought I did, but now she scared me to death, so I don't think I do.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: A.W.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Tozer says, we must simplify our approach to God.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: We must strip down to essentials.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: We must put away all effort to impress, and come instead as a little child would come, unhindered by preconceived ideas or logic.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Come, trusting the Father completely, come, depending on God to take you by the hand and lead you where He wants you to go, knowing it will not lead to danger, but to fellowship with Him, to greater fellowship with Him.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Surrender is such a difficult topic.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I am telling you, I would never, ever, ever, ever have chosen to write a study on this topic had God not point blank told me to do it.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how He had to do it.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: This study is a response to God's call to me.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: Twour years ago, I was at 10th and Mulvaine at the stoplight, ready to turn in to come to church for something.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And God spoke in the most audible voice that I have ever heard from the back of my minivan.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: At least it was in the minivan, but you know.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I want you to teach on surrender.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: My immediate response after I turned around and looked to see if somebody truly was in the back of the van was, Yes, Lord, I will teach on surrender.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I had every intention in doing it, but I didn't obey God in teaching on surrender in the way I knew he was telling me to do it.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Through the years when he would bring it up to me again, remember my directive, I would say, I would give him excuses and I would say, Well, I am teaching on surrender whenever for all the women that I'm counseling with, I teach that.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Any class that I'm privileged to teach, I talk about surrender.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: I keep it in the front of my mind, God, but I always knew that I was giving him excuses and I was not giving him obedience.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: I always knew that.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I did those things.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: I did them, but it wasn't enough.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't what he wanted.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then in March 2015, a young woman whom I serve alongside asked for a meeting with me.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when she came, she said, I have a word from the Lord for you.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, This has never happened to me before, and I've known for six months what he wants me to say to you, and I haven't done it.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've prayed about it, but here it is.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: And she handed me a card and she said, God wouldn't even let me say it in my own words.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted me to say it in his words.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so the card, his word to me was, I, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Alpha, Omega and Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, want you, Patty De La Reto, to do a study on surrender.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Be strong and courageous in me.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: And when I could speak and breathe again, I told her, I've known this for 22, three, 22 years.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've known that that was his directive to me, and I haven't obeyed him in it.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: I cried the entire day.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I had given him excuses instead of obedience.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: That evening I said, Lord, you get me up as early as you want, and I will do this.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: I will be obedient.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: He woke me at 4 a.m.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: the next morning, and within one hour, he had given me the chapter outline for the first chapter.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew that I was done with that.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the next morning, same exact thing, 4 a.m.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: He wakes me up wide-eyed, bushy-tailed, and gave me another outline.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: I never do anything in outline.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so this was very unusual.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: Did that for eight days.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Woke me up every morning, 4 a.m.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: The lessons I had taught through the year-long chronological Bible study came flooding into my mind as he gave me the outlines.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just all these lessons, all the teaching that I had ever done, just things kept popping out as soon as he would give me the outline.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, this represents this, and you know, just the whole thing.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was amazing, honestly.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it encouraged me because I knew that if I had not been diligently studying and teaching the word, those lessons wouldn't have been there.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so I felt like it wasn't too late, but God was saying, do it now.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: This study represents four years of writing, editing, and tweaking, and it comes from my years of experience of leading, counseling, teaching, pastoring, and loving women.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why now?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why this in this study on surrender now?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because God is serious.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's serious.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: There are things that God wants and needs his people to do in this world at this time, the end times, and they will do those things best if they are surrendered.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why now?
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Quite simply, God says now.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Surrender is dear to the heart of the Father God.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Dearer than we can even imagine, I'm sure.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us know that we are to grow in Christ-likeness.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: And in Scripture, Christ-likeness is more defined than surrender.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: But surrender is what Jesus demonstrated so beautifully to us.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: The reason the Father loves when we are surrendered is because we look a whole lot like the Son when we are surrendered.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's dear to the heart of the Father.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's what we constantly see in the Gospels that the Lord Jesus was totally surrendered to the will of the Father.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: Complete, total, perfect surrender to the will of the Father.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that is why it's dear to the heart of the Father, because the Son demonstrated it so beautifully.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: When he sees our surrendered life, he sees his son.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: When we are surrendered to the will of the Father, like Jesus was surrendered to the will of the Father, great glory and honor will come to God through us.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: This study on surrender is by no means the end all to surrender, because I don't even think that's possible.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I pray that this study will be the beginning point for many and a continuum for many, and perhaps for some, a vehicle where you reach a truly surrendered life, not perfect, but knowing that when God speaks, you're going to listen and do what he tells you to do.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible is full of individuals who learned how to be surrendered to the will of God.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham, Moses, David, the apostles, Peter, Paul, all the apostles, Mary Magdalene, all of his disciples, and so many others from the past 2,000 years.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't start out that way, and for some it was a long journey to becoming surrendered.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: But we see throughout Scripture how God faithfully led each one of them individually, and the same will be true for us.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're all on our own unique journeys.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: I can't make any guarantees to you that you will actually end up in a place of surrender.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't make those guarantees because you are the variable.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: You are the variable.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know yet how God might use this study in your life.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: You get to choose, and your participation, your participation and your openness to God will determine how much you are actually impacted by it.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: All I can do is whet your appetite or direct your path or be your cheerleader and encourage you toward it.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: But you are the one who gets to decide.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you actually become a more surrendered believer in Jesus.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love this quote, and I don't know where it comes from, but the quote is: it is through surrender that God begins to untangle the soul and releases us to the life and relationship for which we have been created.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a very tangling society, a tangling culture, and our souls are tangled up, and we have to have them untangled.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: The more our soul is untangled, the greater our experience of God will be.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: A.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: W.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tozer says, God created our souls to be satisfied only with the divine everlastingness of the word-made flesh.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: The spiritual soul place is familiar and yet it's unfamiliar to us at the same time.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there is always, always mystery attached to it.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: The spiritual realm is here inside of us because of the soul that we have, and it's up in heaven with Jesus.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's all around us.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the many reasons that surrender is a such a difficult topic because of where it takes place, because it takes place in the soul, in the will, in the mind, in all of that.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Surrender is a spiritual, ethereal thing that takes place in these places, but it and it's struggled out through the spiritual realm, which makes it hard.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: This journey to surrender will require patience with me and with yourself and with God.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth Elliot once said one does not surrender in a life in an instant.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a one and done.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is this goes on and on and on.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: This study is just more insight, more information.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: On the topic of surrender, but it can be a step in your journey to get you further along in that.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: But there are some definitive places we can get to, and I want you to get to those places.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because the God who created everything that you see and everything that you don't see loves you to distraction and wants you to know it.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's in Philippians 1 6 it says, being confident of this, that he who began the good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's his job.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he's committed to it.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's committed to you.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: This surrender journey is his and it's yours.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's ours.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Comparing ourselves with one another is not going to serve any good purposes in here, right?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're all unique.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're all on our own journey.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: However, sitting at our tables and enjoying fellowship and discussions is going to be beneficial to us as well.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I ask that whatever is spoken about at your table, that you keep it confidential with your table.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that we encourage and build each other up.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: Please do your best to do the homework that you have in your folder.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, you have two weeks worth now, so just go ahead and do two weeks worth of homework.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: Some days there will be four days of homeworks, and some, I mean, some weeks there will be four days of homeworks, and some there will be five days.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: So look ahead and see how many you need to account for.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you are struggling with anything, please let me know.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: Please email me after I email you today and in a group email, email me back and tell me how I can more specifically be praying for you because I will be praying for you.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't look to me as the expert because I am not the expert.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is God's journey.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: He has you on.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: He is the expert and he knows exactly where you are and where he wants to take you.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: He knows everything.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: He knows how fearful you are, and he knows the hurdles you will have to get over.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: He knows and he cares for you more than you can even fathom.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he will take good care of you.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: We are all in very good hands with our Heavenly Father.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy, Satan, he doesn't want you on this journey.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: He really doesn't want you on this journey in a big way.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you have been met with resistance even coming here today and being in this study, it's because he doesn't want you to be a more surrendered believer to Jesus Christ.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: The ground that he has gained in your life, he doesn't want to relinquish.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want it to be gone.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to continue to control you with the self-stuff.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: We have to get rid of it.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: You should expect opposition to this study.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: You should expect thoughts like, oh, I don't need to do this.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't have time for this this week.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: Expect it because it will come.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: He will do that.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want you to be more surrendered to God because he knows that if you are, you will be dangerous.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Dangerous to him and dangerous in God's kingdom.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I I pray for these sisters in this room.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that you protect them by the power of your might.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for them, Lord, because you've called them to this.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: And what that means is that you are wanting, desiring to bring them in closer and closer and closer to you.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that they will be committed to that.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that they will be committed to this journey so that they can experience that outcome of more of you.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, God, please just hold us close to your heart so that we might do this thing.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we might dispel the misconceptions that we've had about you.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we might strip away the self-life that keeps us like a veil before you.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that we can defeat the ways the enemy has lied to us and deceived us.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that we can be more yours, so that we can have more of you.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you do this thing.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.