Surrender to God’s Sovereignty | Edric Mendoza

0:00In 2015, my family traded the comfort of San Diego for a remote island in Pangasinan, answering the call to plant a church and trusting God entirely by faith. But my story actually began before I was born. During my mother's first ultrasound, doctors saw a deformed body, pressing my parents to a board. They refused and chose to love instead of here. I was born a miracle, outwardly whole. God allowed the beginning of my life to prove Proverbs 35 to 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. The world was ready to remove me, but God had already claimed me. My name is Karee Slorianti and this is God's story of building trust in my life. Living on the island for 10 years gave me very little hope and direction. A senior high came to a close, the reality of the future hit me. It was the first time I felt truly challenged to decide who I wanted to become.

1:03My dream was to play college basketball, but I had no connections and no clear path. My world revolved around the court. It was my identity and my security. We began looking at agricultural college options in Pangasinan, and for the first time, I couldn't rely on my parents' strength. I had to find my own faith to bridge the gap between the game I love and the uncertain road ahead. The turning point came when my dad asked, would you be willing to take a gap year, laying aside basketball for one year to align your life more closely with God? I was terrified to say yes meant stepping into a void where I no longer had the game to define me. I had to decide to find my own faith by trusting God instead of relying on my parents' strength. That meant I needed to surrender the one thing I truly love to the God I was only just beginning to know for myself. That surrender led us on a seven-hour

2:04journey to Manila to visit Life Academy International College. When we arrived, no tours were available. Feeling like the trip was a mistake, we made one last stop at the cup of faith. There God took over. He led us to people who gave us an official tour. To my surprise, the college offered exactly what I wanted, agriculture. During the tour on the 20th floor, I stepped onto the basketball court as a woman's team was practicing and I got the opportunity to get my hands on a ball. In a moment of divine timing, little did I know it was a well-known team and the coach invited me to join their practices. By choosing obedience over my own plans, God restored the very thing I was terrified to lose. After enrolling a couple months later, I received the acceptance letter personally from the marketing team and became the very first enrollee at LAI College. Praise God. When the weight of finances in my father's health

3:12challenge felt heavy, he reminded me, if God brought you this bar, he isn't going to let you down. The next hurdle was believing God would provide for tuition and housing. Beyond just belief, we had to trust his character to meet those needs. God honored that trust by providing both a scholarship and a place to stay within walking distance. Praise God. That experience gave me a level of trust I've never had before. Knowing that when we put God first, he is faithful to make our path straight. The months that followed were a season of refinement. My parents poured into me through weekly Bible studies and my dad physically trained and prepared me on the court each day. In that season, God led me through every trial so that the borrowed faith of my youth could finally become my own. Moving to the city alone was a shock, but it moved my faith from my head to my heart. I finally understood what it meant to rely on God as my soul provider.

4:18God didn't just give me an education, he gave me a new heart to trust him more fully. I grew up hearing stories of my parents sacrifices, but today, that borrowed faith has become my own. I have discovered that the same God who fought for my first breath is the same one who holds my future. Even now, he is daily refining my character as I surrender to the woman he is calling me to be. My trust once leaned on the strength of my parents, but today, through Christ, I am standing on a foundation that is mine. To God be all the praise, honor and glory. Thank you. Praise God. Good morning. I have some bad news and good news as we get started. The bad news is there's so much chaos and uncertainty around us, around the world, in the country, and maybe even in your own homes and in your lives. But I have good news. You are here for a reason. God has a message for

5:19you, and that's why you're here. There is no accident. And our prayer is that we will all believe transformed by His words this morning. Is that okay? So, what is it that God has for all of us this morning? What is His word for us? We've been going to the series on real faith. Have you guys been enjoying this series? Real faith. And we've been looking at the book of James. We've gone from here all the way through here. And now we're about to finish today's message centers around real faith surrenders. Can everybody say surrender? Surrenders to God's sovereignty. And don't you just love how even the worship, the songs that we sang had this whole posture of surrender as welcome you appreciate our worship team guys. Thank you worship team amazing job. Such a great way to get started. So, we want to look at this picture of surrender. This is the proper posture as we're looking at all the things happening around us today. The message is very

6:19simple surrender to God's sovereignty. The good news once again is God has a message for you. And even if there is semen chaos and uncertainty around the world, our country and your private world, God is still in control. While we praise God, God is still in control. He is still sovereign. He is still on the throne. So, the three things we will look at in the passage which you already read will be the following. We want to surrender our plans. Can everybody say plans? Say actions and say wealth and resources. So, today the message is we need to surrender our plans, our actions and our wealth to God. As we see James chapter 4, 13 all the way to James chapter 5, verse 6. Let's go to the first point. Surrender our plans to God. So, you read the text earlier and I'll bring you through it again and it's amazing how gods were just is so clear that we can just read

7:24it and it should transform us already. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city. So, go to a city and spend a year and engage in business and make a profit. What are we seeing that's happening here? James is describing a certain set of Jewish believers. So, James is writing to Jewish believers their Christians already and in this particular text, he's starting off by saying, all right, all of you who are saying this, I will go, I will go to a city I was just speaking to someone earlier who had plans to go to Europe but because of what's happening cannot happen anymore. So, this first part are people who are making plans like all of us. James is speaking, all of us who are making plans we need to be reminded of something. So, he's saying, all of us, all of you are saying you got a plan, you're going to do this. He says, I want to remind you that you do not know, can everybody say do not know? We do not know. He says,

8:29you do not know, we do not know what your life will be like and we know that's right now because suddenly boom, because of what's happening in the middle east, so many plans, so many things have gone up in the air. The fuel prices are expected to go up so people are also concerned. We do not know what tomorrow will be like, yes or no, we do not know. And then it says, in fact, our life is so short. So, James and the Lord is reminding all of us to relook our plans and ask some important questions. When we look at our plans, do we remember that, well, we don't know what tomorrow holds and our life is so short. So, when we look at another verse that helps us appreciate this a little bit better, I want to show you, there's a verse in Luke where Jesus himself is telling a story that helps reinforce this perspective of James about planning. Look at this guy making plans, okay? I want you to count the number of I, me, my, are you following? I want you to count

9:33with me, okay? Here we go. He told him a parable saying the land of a rich man was very productive and he began reasoning to himself. So, this man making plans said, what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? Then he said, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns. He said, my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come, take your ease and drink it and be merry. And then what did God say? God said to him, you fool, this very night your soldiers are part of you. And now who will own what you have prepared? So, what are we seeing? In this first point, we're all making some sort of plan. Family, travel, work, personal,

10:39health, money. As we're looking at these plans, James is saying all of us who are making plans, we need to remember something. And Jesus is showing this parable to emphasize something. What's missing in this plan? I, I, I, my, my, my, my, me, me, me, you, he's even a third person, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you're. What's missing, guys? Fantastic. You know what's missing? Even in the plan that James was showing earlier, I will go to such and such a city at the time, what is missing is God. It's my plan. What I want to do, what I think I should be going to. It's not present. One scholar called it practical atheism. Why? You're a Christian because these are believers and he's speaking to believers, but could it be that maybe even the Christians in the audience today were making all these plans, but there is no God in the equation. So instead, James is reminding all of us, we need to surrender our plans,

11:40the Lord. Say, Lord, what would you want me to do? Let's see what James says. Actually, let's look at Proverbs. Proverbs says, you can make many plans, but ultimately who? It's the Lord's purpose that will prevail. So James carries on, as he's, we're walking to the text, James says, all right, guys, take a breather in Filipino, brake muna, right? Take a step back. As we are making plans, he says, instead of making those kinds of plans where there's no God like a practical atheist, you ought to say, what should we say? If the Lord wills, another English translation says, Lord, if you want this, if you want this, then I will do it because I only want what you want. Does that make sense? So that's what we're seeing here. If the Lord wills, we will live, do this, do that. You see, he even used to do this to that because he's reminding all of us in our planning, we need to surrender it. Lord, these are the plans that I think, but I entrust them to you,

12:45you show me the way. In fact, the Bible tells us, commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act. Commit. Everybody say commit. So what does this look like practically? Let me make it more practical. How do we bring our plans to the Lord and wait for him to show us what to do? I'm going to give you a framework that I learned from Pastor Peter very, very many years ago, that was so helpful in many major decisions. There's five things. One, two, three, four, and five. The broadest way to know if God wants us to do it, if it is His plan for us, is obviously it cannot contradict His Word, right? And then there's prayer, counsel, providence, and peace from the Holy Spirit. Let me go through it one by one, showing you the verses. This is why God's Word is so important as the first filter. All scripture. Can everybody say all? Can I hear you all say all? All. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true, to make us realize what is wrong and corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is

13:50right. Very simple. If I want to know, Lord, I'm going to commit my plans to you. You show me, obviously, first layer is it has to be according to His Word. Someone was saying, you know, this crazy person said, you know what? I feel that God wants me to leave my wife to marry this person. True story. In my dream, God spoke to me. I cannot be with this wife of mine. I have to be with another woman. Do you think that that's God's plan? Obviously not. Why? Because of His Word. That's one filter. And for the de-group leaders, this is what you can use to help people also, they're deciding, Lord, is this your plan or not? Second, prayer. It says, if you need wisdom, what does the Bible say? Ask. And we saw that in James, right? Pray, Lord, is this what you want for me or this? You show me. Please. Prayer is so important. And then there's counsel. Now, let me make this practical. When it comes to counsel, on the one hand, we look to Godly people because without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed. So, you want to look for Godly counsel, but also look for Godly counsel in the areas in which you're

14:53praying about. If it's about a particular business decision, well, who are people who understand that business? If it's about schooling, education, and who are people that are there already, that you can ask. Does that make sense? So, as you're looking for Godly counsel, don't just seek maybe your de-group leaders, your air pastor, but people who have experience in the areas in which you are praying about. Another, providence. Ah, this is where the Bible says, even if we have plans, the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord is the one that directs his steps. Carise is a perfect example of that. Lord, do you want me to go here? She found an opportunity. It's the exact course you wanted. And providentially, God provided the financing that was also necessary. So, she's like, wow, I guess this is the Lord's will and plan for me. Are you following so far? You watch the things that God does that affirm or do not affirm the directions you are going because that's what He does. Finally, peace from the Holy Spirit. Can you all read this with me, the fruit of the Spirit, but the fruit are, or is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

16:00faithfulness, gentleness, I just have to say I love joy. I mean, literally, I love joy. I'm just saying, I decided to put that in there. So, what's beautiful about this peace from the Holy Spirit, and I want you to pay attention here, is it's all or nothing? The reason the Bible says fruit is because either you have all of them or you don't have them. You can't say I have a little bit of it, so maybe this is it. This is what God wants. You have to have love, joy, peace, the patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. If you're still restless and uncertain, then maybe that's God's way of saying you don't have the full peace from my Holy Spirit saying go, are you with me? Let me make this real and a little bit more practical. So, many of you know part of my story in how I ended up getting married, but there's an interesting process that God led me to that allowed me to follow this. So, I wanted to get married at 25 and I met this girl in college

17:05who I fell in love with and I was pursuing for several years, but because we were not staying pure, we said, how can we pray about getting married? How can I God prepare about getting married when I'm not following your word? So, we decided to break it up, clean break, and we said, Lord, open hands, we want to honor you. If you want us to come back, that's up to you. If you don't want even if it breaks my heart, honestly, it's okay. We will give to you this relationship because we want to love you more than this relationship. God's word. And so for six months, I was open-handed, I was praying, I was seeking counsel, I was meeting with my de-group, and interestingly, some of those original men's de-group as we were praying, they told me they were convicted to do the same thing. They were in relationships where they were praying about whether they're getting married and they broke up with their girlfriends also. So, breaking up and seeking counsel, just waiting for God, and as I was doing all of this, seeking counsel from my de-group,

18:05from God, the mentors, people in marriages that were thriving because I wanted to seek their advice also. Providentially, I saw this young lady who I broke up with in a concert. I hadn't seen her for so many months, and when I saw her in the concert, something in my heart was still beating. I was like, Lord, I think there's still something here. Even after friends were trying to introduce me and trying to make me see other people around. I was really not that interested, but something happened providentially. And as I went directly to God, I said, God, if you want me to marry and pursue this girl, will you show me clearly? I wanted to be loud and clear. He brought me to Exodus 33-13, where God spoke to Moses. Moses was very tentative. He's like, I'm not sure God about these people. Well, if you're going to ask me to bring them, and God said in Exodus 33-13, I will go before you, and I will give you rest. And so I said, Lord, I think this is it. I had peace in my spirits. I had all the fruit. I checked again with my counsel. I got the blessing of her parents. I got the

19:06blessing of my parents. And then I popped the question like this in the actual Bible verse. Exodus 33, will you marry me? She said, yes. And now I'm married to the woman of my dreams for 25 years by God's grace, the joy of my life. So from my heart to all of you, surrender your plans to God. Follow that whole thing and say, Lord, you show me and wait for his peace to go before you and guide you. I surrender all my plans to you, God. Can you look at the person beside you and say, I surrender all my plans to God. Go, Jan. I surrender all my plans to God. What plans do you need to surrender as an application? Let's move to the second point. If on the one hand we surrender our plans, it's easy for us to think, Lord, say you now, I'll give you my future. I surrender all my plans to you. But are we doing the things we know we should be doing? So James carries on. He said, all right, after looking at those plans and how to better frame it, surrendering it to God,

20:10and saying, Lord, if you will, if you want to, here it is, I will go. We need to also say, okay, now that I know what I need to do, I need to do it. Therefore, to one who knows, everybody say, knows, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him, it is, it is okay. Is that what the Bible says? It's okay. You know, I'll forgive you. It's, you know, not a big deal. Is that what the Bible's saying? I want to emphasize this. Again, I'm just a messenger here today, and maybe this is your struggle right now. You know the right thing to do. It's clear you already have the plans. You surrender it, but you're not doing it. So let's see what James and the Bible has to say about that. To one who does not know the right thing to do, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him, it is sin. It is not okay. When we were gathering with the preachers for this Sunday,

21:14and Pastor Jobi had this wonderful insight that I will share with you. Many of us know that delayed obedience is disobedience, right? If God tells us and we don't do it, we delayed disobedience. But I like what he said. A new twist to that. He also said selective obedience is also disobedience. Let me say that again. Selective. Lord, I like this, but I don't like this. So can I just do this what I like? What is the Bible telling us? If you do that, you are sinning. It's very direct. So ask yourself this question. Let's be real and honest with God. Is there anything that you know is the right thing to do. Very clearly, and you are not doing it. CCF family, it is not okay. Maybe today, that's exactly the message you need to hear. It is not okay when you know it and you do not do it. This is why even in James, the theme is consistent. Be doers of the word, not just hears, because if we're just hearing, taking all this information,

22:18bringing all these plants, Lord, I know, I know, I know, but we're not doing it. We're really deceiving ourselves. And you will be the one to suffer the consequences. Not God, not Pastor Edrick. You are you with me. So it's so important. And let me just show you the emphasis. Jesus emphasizes this. He himself said in Luke, there's a slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will. What happened to him? He will receive many lashes, guys, the consequences of selective obedience is dire. It's not okay. So I want to bring you through a practical checklist of things that may be real to you. As we've counseled and journey with many people, these are similar themes. So things we know we should do, but aren't doing, okay? So maybe it's sharing the gospel. Is that a suggestion or is that a command? It's a command. Same with discipleship, right? And I once again, I want to just be a messenger of truth to you all.

23:20This is what real faith looks like. Surrendering to God and saying, Lord, I should have no excuse. I know that I should be sharing the gospel. I know that I should be discipling people. That's what you commanded me. Commanded all of us. So if you're not doing that, what does the Bible say you're doing? You are. That's not my words. What about forgiving? Now let me be real with you. Some people know that they need to forgive. The Bible says in Matthew 6, if you do not forgive, and you know that your heavenly Father has forgiven you, he will not forgive for that situation. It's pretty serious. God has forgiven us, and if we don't forgive, oh, big deal. So there was a period where in my journey with my father-in-law, Pastor Peter, he's been mentoring me for many years. There was a season, if I have to be very honest with you last year, where I felt like there's some things he would do and say that would hurt me. You know, we'd be in gatherings or

24:22meetings, and it's like I would say something, and he would reject my suggestions or not consider it, but everybody else, he would affirm. I'm like, something wrong with me. I was really feeling that way, to be honest. And because he's also my dad, it's like there's a little bit of the tension of, so I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I'm able to deliver the way he wants, but he's also my dad. So I'm like, there was a little bit of that tension in my mind, in my heart, and I figured, you know what? I'll just, I'm a guy. I'm a man. Let's let it ride. But it was affecting me emotionally, and I was confiding in my wife about this. So she's like, honey, why don't you just tell that? Express how you feel to him. I'm like, I don't know. It's weird. It's awkward. Because, you know, it's in the grand scheme of things, but cut the story short, I did. So I timed it, I timed it well. And I remember it so clearly, the day was, I was heading up to meet him for a retreat, and I was already thinking in my mind, you know what? Just to prove my point, because I know my dad

25:24in law. He will ask an example. He will say, give me examples, right? If I'm going to present something like that. So I was already thinking about an example, and this is what I had. When I get to the retreat, I'm sure the first thing he will say to me is not about me. Like, hey, how are you, Edrick? How was the trip? Was it long or short? He will instead go straight to work. I even told my wife this. I said, babe, I bet you. As soon as we got to the retreat, I'm like, hey, dad, it's like, hey, oh, did you join the Zoom meeting? Did you go online? I'm like, oh, no, not yet. I'll get on the meeting, and I looked at my wife. I'm like, gacha. So I said, all right, I want to speak to him. And so I did. I found the time during that, he said, hey, Dad, can I talk to you about something? And he's like, oh, sure, sure. I'm like, uh, so I don't have to say this, but can I be very honest with you? He's like, yeah, sure, sure, sure. And I was like, um, Dad, I feel like I need to perform for you to love me. And it's affecting me. And of course,

26:28even in the moments where I may have felt slided or hurt by some of the comments, I've forgiven you, but I wanted to let you know that it's like, what? What? What? Why? Give me an example. Okay, I was like, I'm ready. Ready with an example. I'm like, I'll give you an example. So on the way up here, I was expecting, you know, like, hey, how are you, son? You know, good to see you. Instead, you said, did you go on the Zoom meetings? Like, ah, okay. And I know what he was going to think. He was going to think, what do you propose? I do. So I already thought about that, right? I'm like, I'm going to propose something. It's like, so he said, what do you propose? I do. So I said, Dad, maybe when you first see me, you can say, hey, Edrick, how are you? Simple. And he's like, ah, okay. So you know what? After that moment, he's like, you know, Edrick, he said, and I'm sorry that you felt that way. I did not know that you were feeling like that, that you felt that you had to perform for me to love you. So I'll be more conscious. And I will say, how are you? Thank you for that practical suggestion. So you know what? I kid you not. Almost 99% of every encounter

27:29after that, when I first see him, you know what he will say to me? Well, Edrick, son, how are you? Praise God. Praise God. I'm sharing that to be real with you guys because there is power. It being able to not just forgive, but find ways to reconcile and bring it to the person so that God can smooth it over and you realize, whoa, my dad didn't even know these things. And so that was great and honestly very healing for me, even if I initially thought I didn't need it because I'm a man, I actually really needed it. So forgiveness is so important. What about worry? The Bible tells us, do not, everybody say, do not, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made to know to God. Are you worrying right now? We know the right thing to do is not to worry, but instead what? In everything, pray, bring it to God with thanksgiving and then you watch God work. If you are worrying right now,

28:33selective obedience. Consuming content. In the same Philippians passage, the same thought process. It's interesting how worried and these two things came very close to each other because maybe this is part of why you feel anxious. Is the content you are consuming. It says, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute. If there is excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. What have you been dwelling on? What are you reading? What are you scrolling? What are you consuming as content? What are you reading for books, papers, news? News. What is it that you're feeding your mind and heart with? Is it something that is descriptive of any of those adjectives? If it isn't, then once again, we know the right thing to do. If we don't do it, what are we doing? Sending. Selectable obedience. What should we do? Look at the person I didn't say, I surrender all my actions to God. Go. Tell your neighbor, I surrender all my actions to God. Here's the

29:35application question. What is it for you that you know he wants you to do, but you are not doing? Finally, today's message, surrender to God's sovereignty, which means we looked at plans. We've seen actions. The final passage tells us our, I put that in quotation marks because we know we don't really own anything, but for purposes of the conversation, we will frame it as yours. James finishes the passage that we're looking at with this. Come now, you rich, weep and how for your miseries which are coming upon you. Now, I need to be clear about this. Is James against and condemning all rich people? No. Is there anything wrong with being rich? In and of itself, no, but what is important is the way we handle these resources. Although this passage is specifically calling out a very rich set of people who are doing all these horrible things, this passage applies

30:37to all of us who have been entrusted with things to steward, whether it's a little bit or a lot. Are you with me? Let's look at the problems that James is calling out here and see how we can apply that in our life so that we can surrender even our resources and, well, say, Lord, this is yours. Show me the way. Are you with me? Let's do it. So, come now, you rich, weep and how for your miseries which are coming upon you, your riches have rotted. Everybody say rotted and say, moth eaten. So even rusted and the rust will be there. What are we seeing here? The problem that's happening to these people when it comes to the resources God has entrusted to them is they were hoarding. There's so much stuff that it is rotting, it's getting eaten, it is rusting. So, whatever your financial circumstance right now, are you holding on to these things? Are you holding on to these things so tightly that you're not sturdying them anymore or you're maybe placing your trust in

31:40these things more than the person who owns all the things? Are you with me? So, that's the first thought. The second is, guys, the truth is, even if you acquire all these things and hoard them, we're living in the last days, yes or no. And because it's the last days, what will happen when it's all done? It is futile. So, you really want to rethink the way you're handling money, maybe holding on to it, grabbing so tightly and God wants to remind you of these things as well. And He carries on. Behold the pay of the labor who mold your fields and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you. What is happening here? To these same people as they're storing the resources, they're exploiting other people. They're just using people to obtain their end means. In fact, it says, they're outcry. It's so great and God will see this. So, if we look at verse 5, it carries on and says, you've lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of one ton. Can everybody say one ton? Are you hungry for Chinese food? This is not the Chinese noodle,

32:47all right? So, led a life of one ton. One ton is excess in Filipino sobra sobra sobra naan. And this is where you even have, you know, in Filipino-conditioned Manipo babies, all this like sobra naan. Way excessive. That is unnecessary. So, that's what he's calling out. In your life right now, whether you have a little or a lot, are you being excessive? Because it can be excessive both ways. Binge-nang-binge. Shopping-nang-shapi. So, excessive. And then it says, pleasure. The problem with pleasure in this case, does God want us to experience pleasure? I love how in Proverbs, it says, in His presence, there's pleasure forevermore. Is pleasure a God inventing, yes? But the problem with wealth and resources, as you're seeing here, is it becomes misdirected. I am now delighting and having pleasure in the things, rather than in the giver of the things. Are you with me? That's what's happening. Not me. Excessive. So, this is the problem here. And then he carries on.

33:51You've condemned and put the death, the righteous man. Wow, what's happening here? And we see this in some circumstances, abuse of power. You use these resources to abuse and push your way. Maybe it's in your company. Maybe it's in your business. Maybe it's in your own circumstances, when you interact with other people. So, these are the dangers that are happening and the wrong things in handing God's resources that James is calling out. So, let's recap. We want to surrender well to God. This is what we're seeing, hoarding, exploiting, misdirected desires, excessive. And we want to see what the Bible has to say. How do we then reframe it? How do we then use God's wealth and resources properly? Let's look at Timothy. Paul is speaking to the same group of people. The same Greek word for rich here is the same Greek word in rich in James. But it applies to all of us, once again, as a practical way to handle the dangers we saw earlier. Let's take a look. Instruct those who are rich in this present world, not everybody saying not, not to be

34:54conceded or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. Uncertainty, we saw that earlier, but instead on who? But on God. So, this first reminder for all of us is to hope in God and not in money. Look at the person beside you and say, hope in God not in money. Go and then say, give me some money. No, no, no, no, I'm just kidding, don't say that. Hope in God, obviously, hope in God. That's the first perspective here. And it says, God richly supplies. Don't you see how beautiful that is? And maybe this is the message God is saying to your circumstance right now, he's saying, I richly supply with all things. And what does it say to enjoy? He says instruct them to do good, to be rich in what? Good works. So, let's call that out. Good works. To be generous, generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation of the future. What is the treasure of a good foundation for the future? We'll use the word eternal investing,

35:58so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. Eternal. Everybody say eternal. I love this. This changed me radically in the area of money, and for those of you that know, I had a show before, I was a financial planner, so I love, love, love, love this. In fact, this is what Jesus has to say about that eternal perspective. Do not store for yourselves treasure because, as James called out, Moth and Ross destroy them. Feaves can break it and see it, but instead Jesus commands us, store up for yourselves treasure where? In heaven. Don't you just love that? Treasure in heaven. Where none of this will happen. What does this look like? So, let's take a look. From hoarding, we should instead look at strategic giving. What is strategic giving? Don't just give recklessly. Make sure that you maximize the resources that God has given you. For example, when beggars knock on our door, instead of giving money, which we don't know, not sure we'll go to the right place, we give food, nutritious food, and we give a gospel track strategic giving.

37:02In the church, there's so many opportunities for us to say, Lord, which of the ministries can I give to so that it will help advance the great commission which you ask all of us to do, share the gospel making disciples? So it could be in missions, places we cannot reach, but by supporting, they can reach them with the gospel. It could be through education, and there's so many platforms in CCF to do that. Uplift Pilipinas is a powerful tool to be able to help the underprivileged get education, transform them, and help discipleship carry on. Or the college, which we talked about earlier, it's generous scholars that help move people and help them have opportunities or elevate the youth movement, empowering and equipping these young people to go and make disciples and transform the next generation, strategic giving. It could also be God is saying, we need to look at good works. This could be giving your time to volunteer and serve in a ministry. It could be joining outreach in things like Tulong Taiyo, the program that's designed

38:05to help with relief and rebuild communities. It could be, I've already said this, I'll say it again, it could be your good work. And saying, oh Lord, I surrender my resources to you, is I'm going to start a small group and really put in the time and energy to do that. Instead of misdirected desires, we want to hope in delight in God, instead of being excessive and wasting these things, we want to internally invest. What does this look like? I said I wanted to share with you. There's this historical event that became the backdrop for this principle that really, really changed my heart and mind when it came to stewarding God's resources. In 1865, the Civil War in the United States ended in April of 1865. When the Civil War was happening, there were the Northern Territory, the Union, everybody say Union, and then there was the South or the Confederate. So two parties at war in America and in 1865 in April it ended.

39:11Who won the North? Who lost? Obviously, the South. Now, what's interesting about this piece in American history is there were two currencies. There was the Confederate currency, the money that the people in the South were using, and then there was the Union currency, the money that the people in the North were using, and this has become the origins of what we see as the US greenback or the US dollar today. The reason I'm sharing this is Randy Alcorn in his book The Treasure Principle shared something about this, as I said, and the principle has changed me. Here's what we need to pay attention to. In April of 1865, when the South lost all of this money became worthless. Let me say that again, all of this money became worthless because there was only one currency for the whole nation and that was the Union currency. I want you to pay attention to that. That is the centerpiece of this metaphor. Here's the question that Randy Alcorn had that I have for all of us. If you were

40:18living in the South, and let's say you knew you had one year, there's one year to go. It's April of 1864. It's one year before the South will lose and all of the money is worthless. Here's the question for all of us. What will you do with your money if you're in the South? What will you do? So a smart person will say, well, how much do I need to survive for one year in the South? Right? Makes sense. Once I know how much I need to survive, I will only keep that amount of currency for one year because that's all I will need for one year in the South. All the rest of my money, what will I do? If you're smart, Penoise, we're very smart. What will we do? We will convert all of the rest of our money into this currency because this is what, after one year, well, aren't it? It's not going to be worth anything. So I will only keep what's good for one year

41:19because I'll need it since it's still valid. But after one year, all of my money, or even through that one year, I'm converting everything else. I don't need this. I don't need this. It's going to be worthless. I need to convert it into the union currency. I think you all know where I'm headed with this. The beautiful principle here is the same for us today. We know that all of this stuff we cannot take with us to heaven. So the Bible tells us, invest and put your treasures in heaven. So we want to be able to ask ourselves, Lord, how much do you really want us to stoward that will help my family, what we need, our plans, our future. And all of this is what we need. And now that we have this, everything else I will convert into the currency of heaven. I will make sure I invest in eternity. I will give you a praise God. Praise God. So here's what it looks like. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving. Friends,

42:23are you holding on? Or you want to say, Lord, whatever I have is yours. And as I do that, you will put things in my hand because you own everything. Whatever I have, I'll do the best to stoward and just plan and say, Lord, this is what I need for my family. But everything else, I'm going to convert to the currency of heaven because it's going to be worthless when I die. Are you with me? That's the heart of this whole message. And that's what eternal investing looks like. I surrender all my wealth to you, God. I will use your wealth the way you want. So question for all of you and us is this. In what ways can I stoward God's money better? I said I had good news for you guys. A message of God for all of us. I mean, it's all of the chaos and uncertainty. What is that message? Surrender to God's sovereignty. Look at the person beside you one more time and say surrender to God's sovereignty. Go. I have a bonus for you. A family who will share another story. I said instead of share it myself, I want you to hear it

43:26from them. A powerful story of what surrender looks like across all these areas. Let's please welcome Randall and Lee Elizarde. For years ago, I faced one of the greatest fears a mother could experience. I was diagnosed with cancer. At that time, our children were only six and four years old. And the question that kept running through my mind was this, will I still be here to watch my children grow up? When I first heard the diagnosis, I felt overwhelmed with fear and uncertainty. But what way on my heart the most was my children. There were nights when I would watch them sleeping and quietly pray. Lord, please allow me to stay. Please allow me to see them grow up. In those quiet moments, God began teaching me something very important. I had to surrender

44:29everything to him, even my deepest fears as a mother. And trust that the same God who loves my children, even more than I do, holds our future in his hands. As a husband, it was painful watching the person I loved most face as a frightening battle. I wanted to take away her pain, but I knew I could not. What I could do was stay strong for her, pray for her, and keep leading our family to trust God. Enjoying that season, God showed us that we were not walking through this journey alone. Through our de-group, our church family, our friends, and our relatives, God surrounded us with people who prayed for us and encouraged us. We truly experience what it means to be part of a spiritual family. God also showed us His provision in amazing ways. Cancer treatments are

45:30very expensive and many times we wondered how we would manage everything. But again and again, God provided through family, through friends, through our church community, and even through people we did not expect. Through every hospital visit, every test result, and every treatment, God reminded us that He was still in control. Instead of asking, why is this happening? We began asking, Laurie, how can we honor you through this? In fact, during our difficult time, my father was also diagnosed with cancer. But by God's grace, we were able to share the gospel to him, and before he went home to be with the Lord, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Praise God. Today, our hearts continue to hold on to the truth that God is sobering.

46:36Even when we do not fully understand His ways, we know that He is good, faithful and in control. After completing chemotherapy, the doctors finally declared something we had been praying for. No evidence of disease. Praise God. Today, I stand here healthy again, not because of our strength, but because of God's grace. Looking back now, we can clearly see God's hand throughout the entire journey. There were moments when the path felt heavy for me to walk, but now I realized that during those moments, God was carrying me. And through this journey, we learned a truth that is found in Romans 828, that God works all things together for good for those who love Him.

47:36Even though I lost my hair, my confidence, and even a part of my body, I gained so much more. I gained a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. I gained more time with my family. And I learned to focus on what is truly essential in life. And let go of the things that are not. And in a way, I never expected the cancer journey became one of the most beautiful things that happened in my life. So, if you are going through a difficult season today, we want to encourage you with this. Even when life feels uncertain, even when the road is painful, God is still sobering. And the same God who carried us through this journey is the same God who will carry you. All glory and honor belong to Him alone. Let's finish. Surrender to God's sovereignty. We learned three things. Surrender our plans. Everybody say plans. Say actions.

48:40Wealth to God. We looked at James chapter 413 to 5 verse 6. I want to close with one verse and one focus on the person who exemplifies the greatest modeling of surrender. His name is Jesus. Look at this beautiful picture. Jesus withdrew from the people that He loved and cared about, about a stone throne. He knelt down and began to pray. And I get emotional whenever I see this, because it's it's such a tender moment between God, the Father and the Son, when He says, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup. And this cup is not a physical vessel. It is the wrath of God on sin that Jesus is now going to bear for all of us, which is why He died on the cross. Sometimes we fail to realize what that meant. But here He is showing His humanity saying, Father, if it's okay, please, if it's your will, remove it.

49:43But his beautiful words were, yet not my will, but yours be done. What a powerful example of surrender. Jesus surrendered it all to the Father for all of us, because He loves us so much that He might pay for the price of our sins to bear the cup of wrath from God and say, I want these guys to be restored to you, Father. So I surrender my life for them, because I love them. I want to close with that thought and ask you to ask that hard question, have you been able to surrender? Have you been able to surrender your whole life to Jesus? Maybe some of you who are here today, you've heard of Jesus, you've studied Jesus, but you have not experienced Him as your Lord and Savior today can be the day that you surrender your whole life to Him. Then everything else we talked about will make sense. For everybody else, we will pray that indeed we leave here changed,

50:50surrendering our plans, our actions, and our wealth for our sovereign God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you that you are indeed sovereign Father. You are in control. You are still on the throne. And we make two prayers as we close our time together, Father. The first prayer we have is for all of us who are already Christians who know you and have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We've surrendered to Him. Our prayer is, as we've done that already at some point in our journey, that today we are reminded. We surrender all of our plans, all of our actions, all of our wealth to you, God. And however you have spoken to us specifically that once again we would not just be hearers but doers of your word. And for all of our guests, family, friends, loved ones who have not yet received Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their life, they have not surrendered their life completely to Him. Now is the chance you can do that. And you can experience the joy that comes from that surrender, the peace that comes from that surrender, and the

51:53pleasures forevermore in heaven with God and Jesus and the rest of the followers of Jesus. If you want that you can pray something like this, dear God, today I surrender. I ask for forgiveness for the sins I've committed and I thank you that Jesus paid for them all. And so I receive that in humility and gratitude. And as I receive Jesus as the Savior of my life, I now completely give my life over Lahat, Lord, all of my future, my plans, my desires, all the ambitions, challenges, I bring it to you and I make Him the Lord of my life. Thank you for this opportunity. And as I do this, I now look forward to the joy and the peace and eternity with you where there's pleasure forevermore. Thank you so much, Father. We pray that you bless us as we go, find us faithful so that as we journey with you in a surrendered posture, when our time is done, you will say to each one of us, well done,

52:53good and faithful servant. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen. God bless, guys. Good day, CCF, I'm welcome to Sunday Fast Track where you ask real life questions and we give you biblical truths. I'm Eden Mendoza and I'm here with my dad, Pastor Good morning dad, how are you? Good son, glad to have you here. So we've been discussing the book of James and the topic of real faith. So are you ready to answer some questions? Let's go. All right, so our first question is today we talked about surrendering to God's sovereignty. For those who are new or who have never heard of the concept of sovereignty, how would you define biblical sovereignty and how would you compare God's sovereignty to the world's sovereignty? Sure, so the word sovereignty in Philippine context at least is probably heard a lot when you talk about territories, right? There's a big political and geopolitics around the territories of the Philippines with our neighbors and so they hear the word sovereign territory. So that word

53:57sovereign in that context is basically who's in control, who has control over the area and that's the same use when it comes to God's sovereignty, who is in control. So the next part of the question is what does God's sovereignty look like? I think it's a great reminder for all of us, you know, for for for recent events, many people asking questions, you know, what should I do as a result of what's happening around me? Should I make this decision? Should I make that decision? It's a great reminder even to the message that God is still in control and He's in full control. So what does that look like? We have two options either we can look to God who is in control or we can look to other advice and opinions around us that the world might give on what to do with the things happening in our lives. Between the two, I would obviously recommend the sovereignty and the perspective of God because He is the one that is truly in control. What we might hear from the world will be limited, might be subjective, can change, nobody expected these wars happening, for example price hikes all these things, but God is in full control. So if we want to find direction for our lives on a

55:01practical note, we look to God who is sovereign and in control and can show us the way. Thank you so much, Dad. Pastor Dad actually, we're answering these questions and that's it for CCF Sunday Fast Track, everyone. God bless.