have you ever been around people? Do you like people? Have you ever seen people that you thought were crazy…I don’t mean like actually diagnosed crazy, but just like…what are you thinking crazy? When I was growing up, I had a next-door neighbor, named Mrs. Davis. When we first moved in she was all sugar and spice. She had a nice yellow house, shrubs that were trimmed, and grass that was green, mowed and trimmed to perfection. And she had a cyclone fence…also known as a chain link fence. I was 7 years old when we moved in. She would talk to us across the fence. Things went well…for awhile…then something UN…BELIEVABLE happened! My brother and I turned into boys…you know the kind that yells and screams at each other, the kind that played army and shot each other, the kind that yelled like Tarzan (ahhh...hhe…hhaaaa),the kind that played baseball in the front yard…the kind that would crawl over her fence…instead of using the gate…and get the ball that had bounced in her yard. Something happened…she became evil. (SMILE) Now here is what really happened! She had a disagreement with my step-mom. My dad got involved…of course us boys got involved…That was the end of being a friendly neighbor. We lived at that house for 10 years. For 8 of those years there was friction…lots of friction with Mrs. Davis! There were steel glances; gossip with other neighbors, mutterings under the breath….and…I dare you stances (hands on the hips) in the front yard.

Are you ready for the series entitled Head to Heart! This series will dramatically revitalize your Christian life. It will make you a better person; most people will love you, though few will understand you. You will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly and sense His leading more often. You will share more naturally what Christ has done for you and more people will want to hear your story.

We are continuing our series today called saved, surrender, serve! I believe there is a natural progression in our walk with God. The first step we must take is be saved or to be born again…the next step is surrender…now we do surrender at salvation, but the longer we follow Christ, the more we realize all of the stuff we need to surrender, and the final step is to serve. Each one of us has a responsibility to serve God. The bible is very clear on where the majority of that service is to be…it is in the church…in the body. Of Course we are serving God wherever we go, but we serve Him, by serving HIS church. We are to serve God with vision.

Today’s message is surrender! Surrender is part of salvation. Surrender For some people there seems to be confusion about what surrender means. Some people think of surrendering as a not just a bad thing, but a negative thing. Most people do not want to surrender…because they think it means submission…submission is about force or control. In wrestling there are submission holds designed to say to the other person…you are too strong for me, so I give up.